All The Weyrs of Pern

"What happens, though," Robinton said, his composure recovered, "if the one man"-and he gestured to F'lar-"who can keep this planet united and the young Lord Holder who has earned the respect of Hall, Hold, and Weyr should be lost to Pern at this very critical stage?"

F'lar gave a rueful laugh. "I don't intend to be lost, and if I will not go where I expect the Weyrs to follow, how can I ask them to go?" He took Lessa by the arms, appealing to her. "I must go, Lessa. Surely you see that."

"I do," she snapped. "But I don't have to like it. Furthermore, I'll go with you two fools!" She laughed at the startled reactions. "Why not? There're plenty of queens now to continue dragonkind. Ramoth's still the largest dragon on the planet and the bravest, going where no one dared go before. I think we three deserve the right!" She lifted her chin, haughtily oblivious to persuasions. "When do we go?"

Piemur let go a bark of laughter. "Just like that?"

"Why not? We don't have Threadfall for another two days. Jaxom?"

Three dragons bugled from the mounds beyond the building. Lessa, F'lar, and Jaxom smiled.

"I won't tell Sharra." He paused while Jancis savagely muttered something to the effect that Sharra wouldn't let him go. "I wouldn't be so sure of that, Jancis," he said, giving her a quelling look. "But there are a few things I must put in order. And to be perfectly candid, I'd like a good night's sleep. It's been a busy day!"

"Tomorrow then?" Lessa said, pi

"Certainly! I'll send Meer to Ruatha with a message that I'm staying over at Cove Hold."

"A good idea," F'lar said, quirking one eyebrow in amusement. "Mnementh is pretty excited... '

"Ramoth, too," Lessa said, and frowned. "We can't risk some other dragon sensing what we plan. There are fortunately no other dragons at Landing right now."

The three riders discussed with Aivas and the others every aspect of their unprecedented leap between. As the riders became more and more confident of success, the others began to cease their opposition, lapsing into nearly morose silence.

"If we do not leave soon," Robinton said into a pause as the three dragonriders were studying their landing site at the highest magnification Aivas could produce, "some of our more perceptive students will start speculating about the length of this meeting."

"A good point," F'lar said cheerfully. "Aivas, can you print out a copy of what's on the screen right now? We can study it further at Cove Hold."

"I'd've thought it was burned in your brains already," Lytol remarked caustically.

"Nearly," Jaxom replied gaily. He was buoyed by the confidence that F'lar and Lessa exuded, not realizing that each was infecting the other. Jaxom had not missed Lytol's frequent brooding looks, but after those first protests, his old guardian had only been silently reproachful.

Aivas printed three copies.

"This facility would not recommend such an exploration if any foreseeable danger was involved," Aivas said to reassure the skeptics.

"Foreseeable is the important word," Lytol said, and walked out.

15

"I've never seen so many fire-lizards!" Jancis exclaimed as she helped Piemur and Jaxom wash Ruth in Cove Hold's lagoon.

Lessa, F'lar, and D'ram were similarly occupied, assisted by other members of the Cove Hold research staff. Lytol and Robinton had gone to oversee the preparation of the evening meal. The atmosphere was tense with anticipation, and Jaxom hoped that the stress would not be communicated to the Hold people; fortunately it was not unusual for the Benden Weyrleaders and the Ruathan Holder to enjoy Cove's hospitality.

Ruth, have the fire-lizards twigged tomorrow's journey? Jaxom asked. He refused to think of it as an "attempt," which implied the possibility of failure.

They're excited because I am. Ramoth and Mnementh are, too. Look at their eyes! But the little ones don't know why they're excited.

Jaxom put some extra effort into scrubbing Ruth's left wing. There were hundreds of questions rattling about in his brain, but to settle on any one of them and find an answer was beyond him. This was not at all like the day that he and Ruth had gone hunting for Ramoth's queen egg. He had been a boy then, struggling to achieve manhood, to be both Lord Holder and dragonrider and to avert a major confrontation between the Southern Oldtimers and Benden Weyr. This also wasn't as spontaneous an acceptance of challenge as that morning's EVA had been. This was a pla

And the three best dragons, Ruth added.

Aware that his roiling thoughts might also leak to the fire-lizards, Jaxom earnestly pulled soothing images to the fore in his mind. Just then a fire-lizard arrived from between with the faint pop of reentry. It was Meer-in all the excitement, Jaxom hadn't even noticed that he had disappeared.

So it did not exactly surprise him when Sharra strode into the Hold while they were finishing their di

"Darling, what an unexpected surprise," he said, rising to greet her with an embrace. "There's nothing the matter at Ruatha, is there?" he added with a fair pretense of alarm. He ignored Piemur, who was rolling his eyes.

"No, nothing's wrong at Ruatha," Sharra said in the tone that always made him wary. But she smiled with genuine warmth at the others. "It's just that the biology team is starting the dissection tomorrow. Mirrim said shed convey me up. G'lanar pointblank refused. I hope I'm not interrupting..."

She was disabused of that notion by offers of klah from Lessa, wine from Robinton, and sweet breads from Jancis, while Piemur hastily drew another chair up to the table.

"G'lanar bring you?" D'ram asked.

As she nodded, Jaxom left Piemur to settle his wife and strode out to the porch to offer hospitality to the Oldtimer. But Lamoth and his rider were already airborne, circling to the east above the lagoon, disappearing into the night sky.

"I didn't catch him," Jaxom said. "He ought to have at least joined us for a cup."

D'ram brushed away Jaxom's discontent. "G'lanar was always a surly one. How does he happen-to be at Ruatha these days?"

Jaxom gri

"It does them both good to feel needed," Sharra said, her eyes glittering at Jaxom although her tone was social.

Jaxom wondered what on earth Meer had conveyed to her that had brought her to Cove Hold. His own message had been i

It was also very like Sharra to say nothing to the point in company. But he began to worry about how to dissemble when they were alone in their sleeping quarters. As the dragonriders whiled away the after-di

"I've a new song from Menolly," Master Robinton said, gesturing for Piemur to bring him his gitar and to get his own. He unrolled the score, passing a copy to Jancis to put on the rack for Piemur. "An odd tune, unusual for our Masterharper Menolly. She says the words were written by young Harper Elimona," he went on, plucking a string to tune the instrument. Piemur corrected the pitch of his and, reading the music, soundlessly fingered through the chords. "But a lovely haunting melody and words to lift hearts at this point in a Pass."