Part 21 (1/2)

”Oh, I have some of that,” she told him.

”Well, it doesn't do you any good in the jar, you know.”

”Yes, I know,” she said, ducking her head, her tone low and apologetic.

””Hey, I'm not scolding, he said gently, putting one finger under her chin and lifting her head. ”What'd I do wrong?”

”Oh, nothing,” she replied and pushed his finger away, giving him a too-bright smile. ”I get silly notions sometimes. Don't pay me any mind.”

”Oh, I don't,” he replied so blithely that she gave him a startled look. ”Just go on with lathering up that beast of yours He turned to a new page and removed the pencil from behind his ear. Go on.”

”Iantine's gone on you, Debera,” Grasella said, eyeing her barrack mate shrewdly.

”Iantine? He's sketch-mad. He'd do his big toe if he had nothing else to pose for him,” Debera replied. ”Besides, he'll leave soon for Benden.”

”Will you miss him?” Jule asked, a sly look on her face.

”Miss him?” Debera echoed, surprised at the question.

I will miss him, Morath said in such a mournful tone that the other dragonets turned towards her, their eyes whirling in minor distress.

”What did she say that's got them all upset?” Jule demanded.

”That she'd miss him. But, love, he's not Weyrbred,” Debera told her dragon, stroking her cheek and then her head-k.n.o.b. ”He can't stay here indefinitely.”

”If anyone asked me, I'd say Iantine would like to,” Sarra put in.

””No-one's asked you,” Angie replied tartly.

Has he ever done anything, I mean, beyond sketching you, Deb?” Jule asked with an avid glint in her eyes.

”No, of course not. Why would he?” responded Debera, and fl.u.s.tered. That was the trouble with having to sleep with the others. They could be terribly nosy, even if they weren't as mean as her stepmother and sisters had been. She t pry into where they were when they were late in at ”I give up on her,” said Jule, raising her hands skyward in asperahon. ”The handsomest unattached man in the Weyr and she's blind.”

”She's Morath-besotted,” Sarra put in. ”Not that any of us is much better.”

”Most of us...” and Jule paused significantly, ”know that, dragons may now be a significant factor in our lives, are not everything, you know. Even old T'dam-d.a.m.n has a weyrmate, after all.”

”We don't have weyrs yet,” said Mesla, speaking for the first. She took everything literally. ”Couldn't have anyone in here with you gawking.”

Debera knew she was blus.h.i.+ng: her cheeks felt hot.

”That hasn't held you back, I noticed,” Sarra said to Jule, ducking her head knowingly.

Jule smiled mysteriously. ”From the only Weyrbred resident this barracks, let me a.s.sure you that our wishes can influence our dragons' choices.”

”They won't rise for another eight or ten months,” said though she had obviously taken heed of Jule's remark.

”Jule, suppose your dragon fancies a dragon whose rider can't stand?”

”You mean, O'ney?” and she grinned at Angie's discomfort.

The girl overcame her embarra.s.sment and snapped back y enough.

”He's impossible, even for a bronze rider. you ever heard him go on about how his wing is always in compet.i.tions! As if that was all that mattered!”

”To him it probably is,” Grasella said, but, ”Jule, I'm more worried about the blue riders. I mean, some of them are very nice guys and I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings, but they don't like girls.”

”Oh,” and Jule shrugged indolently, ”that's easier still. You make an arrangement with another rider to be on hand when your green gets proddy. Then the blue rider gets his mate, if he's got one, or anyone else who's willing - and you'd better believe that anyone's willing when dragons are going to partic.i.p.ate. So you bed the one you like, and the blue rider his choice, and you ALL enjoy!” The girls absorbed this information with varying degrees of enthusiasm or distaste.

”Well, it's up to yourselves what you do, you know,” Jule went on. ”And we're not limited to this Weyr, either.

”Oh!” and she let out a gusty sigh. ”I'll be so glad when we can fly out of here anytime we want.”

”But I thought you were arranging matters with T'red?” Mesla said, her eyes wide with consternation.

”Well, so I am, but that doesn't mean I might not find someone I like better at another Weyr. Greens like it, you know”.

”Ah, but can we go to other Weyrs?” Sarra asked, waggling a finger at Jule. ”In four-five months, we'll have Fall and then we'll really work hard, ferrying firestone sacks to the fighters.” Her eyes gleamed brightly in antic.i.p.ation and she hugged herself. ”We'll be doing something a lot more exciting than having just one mate and plenty of kids.”

Debera averted her face, not wanting to take part in such a ridiculous discussion.

Something bothers you, Morath said and slowly lowered her head to her rider's lap. I love you. I think you re wonderful.

Iantine does, too.

That confidence startled Debera. He does?

He does! And Morath's tone was emphatic. He likes your green eyes, the way you walk, and the finny crackle in your voice. How do you do that?

Debera's hand went to her throat and she felt really silly now.

Can you talk to him, too? Or just listen to what he's thinking?

He thinks very loud. Especially near you. I don t hear him too good far away. He thinks loud about you a lot.

”DEBRA?” Sarra's loud call severed that most interesting conversation.

”What? I was talking to Morath. What did you say?”

”Never mind,” and Sarra grinned broadly. ”Have you got your Turn's End dresses finished yet?”

”I've one more fitting,” Debera said, although that subject, too, caused her embarra.s.sment. She tried to argue with Tisha that the beautiful green dress was quite enough: she didn't need more.

Tisha had ignored that and demanded that she'll choose two colors from the samples available: one for the evening and another good one for daytime wear. Everyone in the Weyr, it seemed, had new clothes for Turn's End. And yet, something in Debera had delighted in knowing she'd have two completely new dresses that no-one had ever worn before her. She had, she admitted very very quietly to herself, hoped that Iantine would notice her in them. Now, with Morath's information, she wondered if he'd notice at all that she was wearing new clothes.

”Speaking of weyrs,” Mesla said.