Part 21 (2/2)
Lessa nodded her head in agreement. ”Ramoth, Canth, would having no Weyr upset you?”
We didn't always live in caves, Ramoth replied, somewhat haughtily as she rolled over in the lake. Sizable waves rushed up the sh.o.r.e almost to where Lessa and F'nor were seated on a fallen tree trunk. Ramoth replied, somewhat haughtily as she rolled over in the lake. Sizable waves rushed up the sh.o.r.e almost to where Lessa and F'nor were seated on a fallen tree trunk. The sun here is warm and pleasant, the water cooling. I would enjoy it here, but I am not to come. The sun here is warm and pleasant, the water cooling. I would enjoy it here, but I am not to come.
”She is out of sorts,” Lessa whispered to F'nor. ”Let Pridith have it, dear one,” she called soothingly to the golden queen. ”You've the Weyr and all!”
Ramoth ducked under the water, blowing up a froth in disgruntled reply.
Canth admitted that he had no reservations at all about living Weyrless. The dry earth would be warmer than stone to sleep on, once a suitably comfortable hollow had been achieved. No, he couldn't object to the lack of the cave as long as there was enough to eat.
”We'll have to bring herdbeasts in,” F'nor mused. ”Enough to start a good-sized herd. Of course, the wherries here are huge. Come to think of it, I believe this plateau has no exits. We wouldn't need to pasture it off. I'd better check. Otherwise, this plateau with the lake and enough clear s.p.a.ce for Holds seems ideal. Walk out and pick breakfast from the tree.”
”It might be wise to choose those who were not Hold-reared,” Lessa added. ”They would not feel so uneasy away from protecting heights and stone-security.” She gave a short laugh. ”I'm more a creature of habit than I suspected. All these open s.p.a.ces, untenanted and quiet, seem ... indecent.” She gave a delicate shudder, scanning the broad and open plain beyond the lake.
”Fruitful and lovely,” F'nor amended, leaping up to secure more of the orange-red succulents. ”This tastes uncommonly good to me. Can't remember anything this sweet and juicy from Nerat, and yet it's the same variety.”
”Undeniably superior to what the Weyr gets. I suspect Nerat serves home first, Weyr last.”
They both stuffed themselves greedily.
Further investigation proved that the plateau was isolated, and ample to pasture a huge herd of foodbeasts for the dragons. It ended in a sheer drop of several dragonlengths into denser jungle on one side, the sea-side escarpment on the other. The timber stands would provide raw material from which dwellings could be made for the Weyrfolk. Ramoth and Canth stoutly agreed dragonkind would be comfortable enough under the heavy foliage of the dense jungle. As this part of the continent was similar, weatherwise, to Upper Nerat, there would be neither intense heat nor cold to give distress.
However, if Lessa was glad enough to leave, F'nor seemed reluctant to start back.
”We can go between between time and place on the way back,” Lessa insisted finally, ”and be in the Weyr by late afternoon. The Lords will surely be gone by then.” time and place on the way back,” Lessa insisted finally, ”and be in the Weyr by late afternoon. The Lords will surely be gone by then.”
F'nor concurred, and Lessa steeled herself for the trip between between. She wondered why the when between when between bothered her more than the bothered her more than the where where, for it had no effect on the dragons at all. Ramoth, sensing Lessa's depression, crooned encouragingly. The long, long black suspension of the utter cold of between between where and when ended suddenly in sunlight above the Weyr. where and when ended suddenly in sunlight above the Weyr.
Somewhat startled, Lessa saw bundles and sacks spread out before the Lower Caverns as dragonriders supervised the loading of their beasts.
”What has been happening?” F'nor exclaimed.
”Oh, F'lar's been antic.i.p.ating success,” she a.s.sured him glibly.
Mnementh, who was watching the bustle from the ledge of the queen's weyr, sent a greeting to the travelers and the information that F'lar wished them to join him in the weyr as soon as they returned.
They found F'lar, as usual, bent over some of the oldest and least legible Record skins that he had had brought to the Council Room.
”And?” he asked, grinning a broad welcome at them.
”Green, lush, and livable,” Lessa declared, watching him intently. He knew something else, too. Well, she hoped he'd watch his words. F'nor was no fool, and this foreknowledge was dangerous.
”That is what I had so hoped to hear you say,” F'lar went on smoothly. ”Come tell me in detail what you observed and discovered. It'll be good to fill in the blank s.p.a.ces on the chart.”
Lessa let F'nor give most of the account, to which F'lar listened with sincere attention, making notes.
”On the chance that it would be practical, I started packing supplies and alerting the riders to go with you,” he told F'nor when the account was finished. ”Remember, we've only three days in this time in which to start you back ten Turns ago. We have no moments to spare. And we must have many more mature dragons ready to fight at Telgar in three days' time. So, though ten Turns will have pa.s.sed for you, three days only will elapse here. Lessa, your thought that the farm-bred might do better is well-taken. We're lucky that our recent Search for rider candidates for the dragons Pridith will have come mainly from the crafts and farms. No problem there. And most of the thirty-two are in them: early teens.”
”Thirty-two?” F'nor exclaimed. ”We should have fifty. The dragonets must have some choice, even if we get the candidates used to the dragonets before they're hatched.”
F'lar shrugged negligently. ”Send back for more. You'll You'll have time, remember,” and F'lar chuckled as though he had started to add something and decided against it. have time, remember,” and F'lar chuckled as though he had started to add something and decided against it.
F'nor had no time to debate with the Weyrleader, for F'lar immediately launched on other rapid instructions.
F'nor was to take his own wingriders to help train the weyrlings. They would also take the forty young dragons of Ramoth's first clutch: Kylara with her queen Pridith, T'bor and his bronze Piyanth. N'ton's young bronze might also be ready to fly and mate by the time Pridith was, so that gave the young queen two bronzes at least.
”Suppose we'd found the continent barren?” F'nor asked, still puzzled by F'lar's a.s.surance. ”What then?”
”Oh, we'd've sent them back to, say, the High Reaches,” F'lar replied far too glibly, but quickly went on. ”I should send on other bronzes, but I'll need everyone else here to ride burrow-search on Keroon and Nerat. They've already unearthed several at Nerat. Vincet, I'm told, is close to heart attack from fright.”
Lessa made a short comment on that Hold Lord.
”What of the meeting this morning?” F'nor asked, remembering.
”Never mind that now. You've got to start s.h.i.+fting between between by evening, F'nor.” by evening, F'nor.”
Lessa gave the Weyrleader a long hard look and decided she would have to find out what had happened in detail very soon.
”Sketch me some references, will you, Lessa?” F'lar asked.
There was a definite plea in his eyes as he drew clean hide and a stylus to her. He wanted no questions from her now that would alarm F'nor. She sighed and picked up the drawing tool.
She sketched quickly, with one or two details added by F'nor until she had rendered a reasonable map of the plateau they had chosen. Then, abruptly, she had trouble focusing her eyes. She felt light-headed.
”Lessa?” F'lar bent to her.
”Everything's ... moving ... circling ...” and she collapsed backward into his arms.
As F'lar raised her slight body into his arms, he exchanged an alarmed look with his half brother.
”How do you feel?” the Weyrleader called after his brother.
”Tired but no more than that,” F'nor a.s.sured him as he shouted down the service shaft to the kitchens for Manora to come and for hot klah klah. He needed that, and no doubt of it.
F'lar laid the Weyrwoman on the sleeping couch, covering her gently.
”I don't like this,” he muttered, rapidly recalling what F'nor had said of Kylara's decline, which F'nor could not know was yet to come in his future. Why should it start so swiftly with Lessa?
”Time-jumping makes one feel slightly - ” F'nor paused, groping for the exact wording. ”Not entirely ... whole. You fought between between times at Nerat yesterday. ...” times at Nerat yesterday. ...”
”I fought,” F'lar reminded him, ”but neither you nor Lessa battled anything today. There may be some inner ... mental ... stress simply to going between between times. Look, F'nor, I'd rather only you came back once you reach the southern Weyr. I'll make it an order and get Ramoth to inhibit the dragons. That way no rider can take it into his head to come back even if he wants to. There is some factor that may be more serious than we can guess. Let's take no unnecessary risks.” times. Look, F'nor, I'd rather only you came back once you reach the southern Weyr. I'll make it an order and get Ramoth to inhibit the dragons. That way no rider can take it into his head to come back even if he wants to. There is some factor that may be more serious than we can guess. Let's take no unnecessary risks.”
”Agreed.”
”One other detail, F'nor. Be very careful which times you pick to come back to see me. I wouldn't jump between between too close to any time you were actually here. I can't imagine what would happen if you walked into your own self in the pa.s.sageway, and I can't lose you.” too close to any time you were actually here. I can't imagine what would happen if you walked into your own self in the pa.s.sageway, and I can't lose you.”
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