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"How? Who? When?" Capiam's terse questions to Moreta were hoarse whispers but so intense was his voice that it caused a hush and Desdra whirled to face him.
Shrugging off discretion with a nervous laugh, Moreta answered him. "How is walking down the roadway. Who is us, for I can count on your silence and that is as essential as needlethorn, and when has to be now, before I have time to reconsider this aberration." She gri
"No, my shoulder was only dislocated," the bronze rider replied diffidently, "but I can't stand seeing the wings form without me. Pressen needed someone to bring Ruatha what we can spare from our stores, so I volunteered." B'lerion did not look at Oklina, who was standing breathlessly beside him, but bowed with tacit sympathy to Alessan. "I have wanted to express-" He broke off, sensing Alessan's distress.
"There is something you can do to help, now that you're handy," Moreta said, and B'lerion gave her a startled look. She drew him to one side and explained the situation and made her audacious request.
"I concede," he said, darting quick glances at Capiam and Alessan, "that the matter is urgent, even overwhelmingly so"-he spread the fingers of his uninjured hand in appeal-"but it is quite one thing, Moreta, to add a few more hours to a day, and a completely different matter to flit across months. You know very well that it's damn dangerous!" He kept his reply low while trying to argue sense into her. Though B'lerion might often behave with apparent disregard for proprieties, he was far from careless and irresponsible.
"B'lerion, I know where we need to go, in both Ista and Nerat. I know when needlethorn is ripe to be harvested. The ging tree is always in bloom. I have seen the rainforest resemble a green face with a thousand dark-rimmed eyes-"
"Highly poetic, Moreta, but not exactly the guide I'd need."
"But it is a when. And to get the proper coordinates we've only to check the autumnal position of the Red Star. Alessan would have the charts. It's rising farther and farther west. One only has to calculate the autumnal degree." She could see that that argument did much to reassure B'lerion.
"I had not really expected to spend my free afternoon harvesting needlethorn . . ." His protest was halfhearted as he came to a conclusion that Moreta hastily reinforced.
"We can spend as much time as we need there, B'lerion, and still harvest what is so desperately needed now. But we must go now. I have to be back at the Weyr for the end of Fall. Nabeth is equal to the feat."
"Of course he is. But they'd know"-he jerked his thumb at the waiting group-"that we had traveled forward in time, Moreta."
"Capiam and Desdra already know it's possible." She gri
"So they did." B'lerion recovered from his astonishment.
"We will also have to use the ability on the day the vaccine is distributed."
B'lerion blinked wildly, glancing about him, but his gaze fell more regularly on Oklina's figure and Moreta began to relax. "I could, actually, see the Weyrs condoning that application, Moreta."
"They do not need to know we have taken time today. Who knows you've been here?"
"Pressen and that lad out there."
"I'll send M'barak off on an errand. Surely we can expect silence from Oklina, so that gives us a working party of six. We must make the time, and take it, B'lerion. Weyr, hold, and hall ca
"I have to concede that, Moreta." B'lerion looked out over the debris strewn in the roadway and fields. "The change here is staggering. " He grasped her hands tightly, his grin giving her the assent she required. "I'll have Nabeth speak to Orlith. If she agrees, what difference would a few moments make among friends?"
"Tell Orlith it's for the ru
"You and your ru
When Moreta outlined her plan to Capiam, Desdra, and Alessan, she received startled demurrals from each one that they didn't have the time to join the expedition.
"Master Capiam, it takes no time from now, today, this hour, to do what I have in mind," she replied to their protests with vexed severity. "Alessan, you can surely arrange matters in your Hold for an hour's absence. It will take longer than that for the cart to collect Dag and the men to herd the mares and foals down. What will you do? Watch bottles spin? The risk I fear is a breach of discretion about the entire project. Capiam and Desdra already know about the dragons' ability, and they earnestly require the needlethorn. I know I can count on Ruathan honor to respect dragonrider privacy. B'lerion is fortuitously here, willing and able. Nabeth is well able to carry six of us and, in a day's hard harvesting, we will accomplish what is necessary to insure the plague does not spread across the continent again. No one else will be the wiser. And that is also essential!"
"Six?" Alessan asked into the thoughtful pause.
"It is your sister's company B'lerion seeks."
Desdra chuckled. Capiam gri
"You mentioned time paradox, Moreta," Capiam began.
"That would not apply to us in this venture, so long as none of us return to Ista on the day the ging trees flower."
"Highly unlikely," Capiam agreed with a humorous grimace.
"The ravines I have in mind can only be reached from a high cliff. I harvested there many Turns while I was still at Ista."
Alessan hesitated a moment longer, his eyes straying from Follen to the men waiting outside with saddled ru
"Another minor but extremely important detail, Alessan," Desdra said. "Your beasthold is well kept, but not exactly the proper environment if one is producing quantities of a serum which must be free of contamination." She indicated the droppings of the lame beast.
"A wise precaution," Alessan agreed, then smiled wryly as he added, "The removal should take not much more than an hour. What supplies should we bring with us?"
"Carry-nets," Moreta replied quickly. "The rainforests will provide everything else we're likely to need."
B'lerion came striding back, a grin wide on his face.
"Nabeth found it unusual to talk to two queens at once but you have permission to go and not be long about it. I sent M'barak off to High Reaches Hold for more of Master Clargesh's apprentice bottles. And there'll be more at every major hold in the west, I shouldn't wonder. Clargesh was so proud of them. That will keep him busy."
"Good, B'lerion, now find a jacket for Oklina to wear."
"She is rather special in an understated way, isn't she. Clever of Arith to notice. No wonder I've been attracted to her."
"Wait till the egg has hardened, my dear friend. Each one splits in its own way."
Capiam and Desdra were directing Follen and Tuero to reposition the vaccine manufactory. When Alessan returned from dispatching the men to collect Dag and the ru
"Had to find the charts, my dear Moreta. I am not jumping without a more positive coordinate than 'a green face with a thousand dark-rimmed eyes.' We'll have to arrive at dawn to be perfectly certain, for the moons will both be visible then." He brandished his fist to signal success and readiness.