“Thank you,” J’riz said, unaware of her thinking. His voice cracked between the first word and the second and Xhinna laughed, chucking a hand at his ribs, as she said, “Now I know why Bekka does the talking for you!”
“She’s not that different,” J’riz said, again losing control of his voice, this time on the third word. “Her voice changed, too.”
“Of course,” Xhinna agreed.
“But she’s not that bad,” J’riz said, glancing up at her, his green eyes flashing as he gave Bekka a sideways look, “for a girl!”
“You’re still ticklish, green rider,” Bekka said, raising her hands menacingly.
“But I’m faster than you!” J’riz laughed and darted away.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Xhinna said, smiling at Bekka. Then she looked at J’riz, who continued to keep just out of Bekka’s reach, and said with a nod, “Thank you, green rider.”
“No prob-lem!” J’riz squeaked as Bekka caught him with a tickling hand on the far end of her lunge. “Bekka, you’ll wake Qinth and then we’ll be oiling again.”
Xhinna left them even as she heard Bekka’s Pinorth rouse from her nap and send a demanding plea toward the two riders.
“Oh, no, see what you did!” Bekka cried. “You woke the bigger dragon, you fool!”
That evening Xhinna was surprised when she didn’t see Taria at the cooking fires for dinner.
“She’s eating by the Meeyus,” an exhausted-looking Jirana said. She yawned widely. “I was watching them all day, and Taria and J’keran volunteered to relieve me.”
“Actually, only Taria volunteered,” X’lerin put in as he moved over to seat himself by Xhinna. “J’keran has extra duties.”
“Extra duties?” K’dan asked, joining them. “Does this have anything to do with our missing supplies?”
“Missing supplies?” Javissa turned her sharp eyes to the group and moved briskly toward them. She gave her daughter a sharp look. “Go to bed.”
“I’m not tired!” Jirana protested, her exclamation belied by the huge yawn that followed.
“Now!” Javissa said, waving toward the rope ladder that led to the tops of the broom trees. “And mind you go carefully!”
“Taria says that she’s been excellent with the Meeyus,” X’lerin said approvingly as Jirana headed up the rope ladder.
“If she’d slack up on her chores, then I could fault her for it,” Javissa said. She turned to cast a fond look in the direction of her youngest. “She’s been doing them perfectly. But …”
“The Meeyus are giving her a chance to be grown up,” K’dan said.
“She’s so eager,” Javissa said wistfully. “It’s not enough that she’ll have the Sight—she wants it immediately.”
“Can you blame her?” K’dan asked. “She’s living in the shadow of not only her father but also her brother.”
“And she probably just wishes she could get on with her life,” Xhinna added.
“There’s more than that,” Javissa said, glancing from Xhinna to X’lerin to K’dan. Her lips thinned as she came to some decision. “She wants the Sight to see if there will be a future for Pern.”
“Oh!” The word burst from Xhinna’s lips.
“I’m sorry—,” K’dan began, but stopped as Javissa raised a hand.
“It’s on all our minds, Harper,” Javissa said. “It can’t be kept from the children, particularly her.”
K’dan frowned even as he nodded. “Tiona and Kimar talk about it.”
“Well, I believe that Tenniz didn’t send us here for no reason,” X’lerin said.
“Ah, but he didn’t send us here,” Javissa said apologetically. “He sent Lorana to the Dawn Sisters and she found the Eastern Isle.”
“Fiona sent us a note,” Xhinna reminded her. When Javissa looked confused, Xhinna added, “Remember? The note we got back in Eastern Weyr? Or rather, she will—Turns from now.”
“But we’re not sure why,” K’dan said.
“I have to trust that it’s to save Pern,” X’lerin said.
“I hope so,” Javissa agreed fervently. She jerked her thumb back toward the broom trees. “And my little one so desperately wants to be a part of it.”
“In the meantime, Xhinna, any luck in finding a suitable clutching spot?” X’lerin asked.
Xhinna shook her head. “Tazith and I spent the day looking west, but it’s all the same—flat, with broom trees and grasses.”
“No place safe from tunnel snakes, then,” X’lerin declared.
“Or Mrreows,” K’dan added.
“Well, we’ll keep looking tomorrow,” X’lerin said. “Something will turn up.”
“I hope so,” Xhinna said. “But we’re running out of time. Taria’s Coranth could clutch any day now.”
“And, even if we find a suitable spot, we’ll only solve half our problem,” K’dan said.
The others looked at him and he explained, “Where are we going to find Candidates?”
FIVE
By Hearts Sundered
In the end, Coranth decided for herself. She chose the nearest sandy beach within flying distance of their Weyr, a spot north of Colfet’s cove.
Xhinna was furious with Taria for not getting instructions from her, furious with Coranth for her choice, and hurt that neither thought to tell her or Tazith so that they could return rather than continue their long scouting.
Instead, the first Xhinna learned of it was when she arrived back at the Weyr and was congratulated by a smiling X’lerin.
“Where’s Taria?” Xhinna asked, looking around. “Where’s Bekka?”
“At the Hatching sands,” X’lerin said, sounding confused. “You didn’t know?”
Xhinna shook her head.
“I’ll have Kivith give Tazith the image,” X’lerin said immediately. “I was just arranging a guard,” he explained. “We’ll be there directly. J’keran’s there now with Perinth.”
“Good,” Xhinna said.
“This is going to stretch us out, isn’t it?”
X’lerin said, frowning. Xhinna nodded. “We’ve got the Weyr, the Meeyus and the herd, Colfet’s cove, and now these sands.”
“We haven’t seen any Mrreows since …”
“But we don’t know about the tunnel snakes,” Xhinna said, itching to get airborne and glancing anxiously toward Tazith.
“Go!” X’lerin said. “We’ll be along shortly.”
Xhinna gave him a grateful nod and took off.
Are you ready? she asked Tazith, realizing how tired and sore she was and guessing how tired her steady blue must be—although he would never admit it to her. She radiated love to him: He was amazing, he was tireless, he was the best blue on all Pern.
I am, Tazith agreed, neither modest nor boasting, merely accepting her word at full value. Shall we go?
Xhinna clenched her jaw as she circled down over the sandy beach and picked out Taria among the others. The green rider looked up at her and then quickly to her side where R’ney stood. He offered her his hand and she took it before looking back up toward Xhinna and waving. Why did Taria feel she needed R’ney’s support? Xhinna wondered.
By the time Xhinna landed, she’d worked herself up into a near fury, ready to lash out at Taria, at Coranth, at R’ney.
Shh, there is nothing wrong, Tazith told her. His tone was as matter-of-fact as his earlier acceptance of her praise.
Unless I make it wrong, Xhinna thought to herself, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. She ran toward Taria, grabbed her and scooped her up, spinning with her in her arms as she planted a great kiss on her partner’s lips.
“How many did she have?” she asked excitedly, waving an acknowledgment toward R’ney as she let Taria back down to the ground.
“Eighteen!” Taria said proudly, glancing toward her proud but exhausted green.
“Talenth only had three more when she first clutched!” Xhinna told her.
Taria’s face fell. “Talenth is a queen—you ca
n’t expect that from a green.”
“I don’t,” Xhinna said, suddenly feeling defensive. “I meant it as a compliment.”
“Oh.” Taria sounded like she didn’t give that much credence.
Xhinna moved toward the nearest egg and touched it lightly. It was warm. “It’s soft.”
“It’ll harden,” Taria declared, glancing toward her green. “She chose this place all by herself.”
Xhinna glanced around critically. “Is it far enough from the sea?”
“It’s high tide now,” Taria said, pursing her lips tightly. She gestured at the gap between the edge of the sea foam and the nearest egg. “And there’s a whole dragonlength’s distance.”
“What if we get rough weather?” Xhinna muttered. “How will we protect the eggs then?”
Taria flushed angrily. “This is the best she could do,” she shouted, and Coranth raised her head, eyes whirling toward red as she reflected Taria’s anger. “Who are you to judge, you didn’t find anything better!”
“I’m not judging,” Xhinna said, confused at how the conversation was spinning out of control. “I’m merely thinking, planning.”
“You shouldn’t have let Tazith chew firestone,” Taria said.
Xhinna did a double take at this abrupt change of topic.
“This’ll be the last time they clutch,” Taria said, shifting her body in R’ney’s direction. “So you’d better hope they all hatch.”
“X’lerin’s on his way with guards,” Xhinna assured her. “We’ll keep a watch day and night.”
“Good.”
She’s acting like she just had a mating flight, Xhinna thought in surprise. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the way R’ney moved, half toward Taria, half away from Xhinna.
Could they …
Yes, Tazith told her calmly. Xhinna’s face blanched as she looked from R’ney to Taria and back.
“X’lerin’s coming,” she said abruptly, turning back to her blue. She jumped up onto him and urged him skyward.
Airborne, with her back to everyone and everything, Xhinna let her tears flow.
“Xhinna?” Bekka asked cautiously when she saw the rider dismount onto the broom trees of Sky Weyr. “Why aren’t you at the beach?”
“Headache,” Xhinna said, glancing hopefully toward J’riz. The boy was fast asleep, lying next to where Bekka sat, propped up on one arm.
Bekka glanced toward J’riz, a smile playing on her lips, then back to Xhinna. Her face darkened.
“Oh, dear,” she said. She turned toward her queen. “Tell you what, help me oil Pinorth and I’ll see what I can do to massage you myself if J’riz isn’t awake when we’re done.”
“Thanks,” Xhinna said. Bekka motioned toward her queen and Xhinna led the way.
At barely three months old, Pinorth was still a good bit smaller than Tazith. Oiling her was an easy task, mind-numbing, thoughtless work that allowed Xhinna to distract herself completely with the familiar motions and quiet joy of a job well done.
“When she rises …” Xhinna began, looking at the well-formed queen and seeing her full grown, rampant, a force in the sky.
“That’s Turns to come,” Bekka said, shaking her head with a fond look at her queen. Absently she patted Pinorth’s neck, then reached over to scratch at her nearest eye ridge. She met Xhinna’s eyes frankly. “Is this your first big fight?”
“Maybe our last,” Xhinna said, working to keep the fear out of her voice and not at all surprised that Bekka could imagine the cause of her headache.
“Only if you’re an idiot,” Bekka said. “And I never saw that in you.”
“She and R’ney—”
“And what do you expect?” Bekka cut in. “You practically threw them at each other! All it lacked was you publicly blessing the union.”
Xhinna took a step back, stricken. Had she? Had she done this to Taria and not realized it?
“She wants children,” Bekka said, changing tack. “You want children.” She gave Xhinna a shake. “Didn’t you learn anything from Fiona?”
“I—”
“To be honest,” Bekka cut in, “I think you should be grateful it was R’ney and not J’keran.”
“Xhinna!” K’dan called from one tree over, moving swiftly toward them. When he was close enough he said, “X’lerin’s Kivith told my Lurenth and … well, I thought that if you wanted to talk …”
“Bring him to the beach, talk on the way,” Bekka told Xhinna. She glared at the bronze rider. “And, if you don’t mind, K’dan, you might consider sleeping people—” she nodded toward J’riz “—as well as sleeping dragons.”
A smile played across K’dan’s lips and he gave her a half-bow. “My apologies, gold rider, I shall bear that in mind.”
“Especially as now, no doubt, you’ll be asking me to watch your brood while you’re gone.”
“Would you?” K’dan said, his smile growing bigger.
“She’s a good person,” Xhinna said as Tazith bore her and the harper skyward.
“Bekka?” K’dan asked.
“Yes.”
“She bears a lot on her shoulders.”
“Oh, we all do!”
“Yes, indeed,” K’dan agreed. His tone grew more thoughtful. “You more than others.”
“Certainly not more than X’lerin.”
“X’lerin only has to learn how to be a Weyrleader,” K’dan said, “which is something he’s had more than three Turns to consider.”
“And I?”
“You have to learn how to be the first woman blue rider since the Ancients came to Pern,” K’dan told her.
“I’ve got Fiona and Lorana and, I hope, you to guide me,” Xhinna said.
“They would be happy to do so were they here,” K’dan agreed. “As for myself, I can only guess the way.”
“What should I do?” Xhinna asked in a burst of despair.
“Ah,” K’dan said, “I was hoping to ask you that!”
“What?” She’d been talking about Taria and R’ney but K’dan seemed to have changed the subject.
“Do you think that you’re the only one here who doesn’t know what to do, blue rider?” K’dan said. “Do you think that X’lerin knows more? You should know better, because you and he trained together.”
“But—” Xhinna cut herself short. Did no one know what to do? Everything was different here. The rules of the Weyr weren’t quite what was needed—they need something similar but not quite. Xhinna gave K’dan a startled look.
“Ah, you’ve figured it out!” K’dan said with a chuckle. “We’re on uncharted waters, as our friend Colfet has said. We don’t know our way forward.” He sighed. “It was easier when we were at the Weyr, when all we had to do was fight Thread.”
“And we can’t even do that—we don’t have enough dragons,” Xhinna said with a sigh.
“Yes, we have to solve that problem, too,” K’dan agreed. “But for now, Xhinna, the question is—what are you going to say to them?” He jerked his finger to the riders on the beach below.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, we can’t stay up here all day,” K’dan told her. He leaned forward so that his lips were closer to her ears. “If I were Fiona, I’d probably say go with what your heart tells you.”
“I don’t know what my heart is telling me!”
“At which point, she’d probably say: ‘Good.’ ”
Despite herself, Xhinna laughed.
“Best get it done soonest,” K’dan said as he helped her climb down off Tazith’s neck. He turned her toward the oncoming throng. “If you want my advice, I’d say: Start with the one most hurt.”
Xhinna took a deep, steadying breath and nodded jerkily. She waved K’dan ahead, veering toward R’ney. The brown rider viewed her approach apprehensively, saying as soon as she was in earshot, “Xhinna, I’m sorry. The excitement of the clutching, and Taria—well, there are no excuses.”
“Only apologies,” Xhinna said. The brown rider lowered his head in s
hame. Xhinna moved forward and touched his shoulder lightly. “Mine should be the first.”
R’ney gave her a startled look.
“You’re a good man, hardworking, conscientious,” she told him. “I’ve always known that Taria wanted children and that someone would have to help in that.” She shrugged. “I was surprised and hurt that Coranth clutched without me, that Taria didn’t tell me, and then to find out that you two had … made your decision without my knowing … well, it was too much for me all at once.”
“It wasn’t so much a decision, as a heated moment,” R’ney said. “And if it hadn’t been, perhaps we would have kept our senses enough to tell you.”
Xhinna shook her head. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t.” R’ney gave her a look of surprise. “It had to happen sometime, and this really couldn’t be a better time.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Xhinna said. “Consider that in ten months’ time, all the dragonets, including yours, will be ready to start their first flights.”
R’ney nodded cautiously, trying to follow her logic.
“After that, things will get hectic, particularly as somewhere around that time we can expect our mature dragons to rise again, so now is the best time to start a new life in our Weyr.
“But let’s keep that to ourselves, okay?” she asked, giving him a wink.
“Certainly,” R’ney replied, surprised at her recovery. “And I can assure you that it won’t … I won’t … we won’t—”
“Have another moment of passion?” Xhinna filled in, easing him out of his embarassment. Guiltily, R’ney nodded. “I certainly hope you don’t mean that! Taria wants more than one child, you know. And you’ve got a duty to Pern.”
“I wasn’t thinking of duty,” R’ney admitted miserably.
“R’ney, I can’t think of anyone I’d like more to see as father to Taria’s children,” Xhinna told him emphatically. She turned, looking around. “Now, I’ve got to talk with her, too.”
“Can I come?”
“Brown rider, you made yourself part of my family when you fought to save the hatchlings,” Xhinna told him. “Of course you may come.”
Taria was too shocked by the approach of both R’ney and Xhinna, moving together companionably, to think of running away.
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