"How do we even know that the ancients did things the way we do?" Mirrim demanded, "storage, and workhalls and such."
"Because, my dear child, neither human nature nor human needs have changed since the earliest Records we have."
"That doesn't mean they left anything in the mounds when they left the Plateau," Mirrim said, frankly dubious.
"The dreams have been consistent in some details," Robinton said with more patience for Mirrim's ob- structionism than Jaxom would have accorded him. "The fiery mountain, the molten rock and lava raining down. People running..." He paused, looking ex- pectantly at the others.
"People in a panic!" Sharra said. "They wouldn't have had time to take anything with them. Or very little!"
"They could have come back after the worst of the eruption was over," Menolly said. "Remember that time in western Tiliek—"
"That's precisely what I had in mind," the Harper said, nodding approval.
"But, Master," Menolly went on, confused, "the ash spewed out of that volcano for weeks. The valley was eventually level with ash," she made a flat gesture with her hand, "and you could see nothing of what had been there for the debris."
"The prevailing wind on that plateau is southeast, and strong," Piemur said, and his gesture was one of sweeping clear. "Didn't you notice how strong it is?"
"That's precisely why something was left for us to see from the air," the Harper said. "I know it's just an off-chance, Jaxom, but my feeling is that the eruption caught the ancients completely unaware. Why, I can't comprehend. Surely people who could hold the Dawn Sisters in the sky in a stationary position for who knows how many Turns ought to be wise enough to identify an active volcano. My surmise is that the erup- tion was spontaneous, totally unexpected. The people were caught going about their daily tasks in cot, hold, crafthall. If you can get Ruth to focus those disparate views, perhaps we could identify which of the mounds were important from the numbers of people coming from it, or them.
"I am not able to get to the Plateau to do my own exploring, but nothing prevents my brain from suggest- ing possibilities of what I'd do if I were there." "We'll be your hands and legs," Jaxom offered. "They'll be your eyes," Menolly added, gesturing to the fire-lizards on the crossbeams.
"I thought you'd see it my way," the Harper said, beaming fondly on them all.
"When would you like us to try?" Jaxom asked. "Would tomorrow be too soon?" the Harper asked plaintively.
"All right by me. Piemur, Menolly, Sharra, I'll need you and your fire-lizards!"
"I can arrange to come, too," Mirrim said. Jaxom caught Sharra's closed expression and real- ized that Mirrim's presence would be as unwelcome to her as to himself.
"I don't think that would work, Mirrim. Path would scare the Southern fire-lizards away!"
"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Jaxom," Mirrim replied, brushing aside that argument.
"He's right, Mirrim. Look out in the Cove right now. Not a single fire-lizard that isn't banded," Menolly said. "They all disappear the minute they see any Other dragon but Ruth."
"It's ridiculous. I have three of the best-trained fire- lizards in Pern..."
"I must agree with Jaxom," the Harper said, smiling with sincere apology to the Benden dragongirl. "And, though I quite agree that yours are undoubtedly the best-trained fire-lizards in Pern, we don't have time for the Southern ones to get used to Path."
"Path needn't be in evidence—"
"Mirrim, the decision has been made," Robinton said firmly, with no trace of a smile now.
"Well, that's plain enough. Since I'm not needed here..." She stalked out of the hall.
Jaxom noticed the Harper's gaze following her, and he felt acutely embarrassed by her display of tempera- ment. He could see that Menolly was also disturbed.
"Is her Path proddy today?" the Harper asked Menolly quietly.
"I don't think so. Master Robinton."
Zair chittered on the Harper's shoulder and his ex- pression changed to chagrin. "Brekke's come back. I was supposed to rest."
He half-ran out of the hall, turning briefly at the door to put his finger to his lips as he quickly ducked into his room. Piemur, his expression bland, took a step sideways to fill the space so precipitously vacated. Fire- lizards zipped into the room. Jaxom spotted Berd and Grail.
"Master Robinton really should have rested," Menolly said, nervously twitching sketches across the table surface.
"He wasn't exerting himself," Piemur pointed out. "This sort of thing is bread and meat to him. He was going out of his skull with boredom and with Brekke fussing over him when you weren't. It isn't as if he was up on the Plateau, digging about..."
"I told you, Brekke," F'nor said, his voice carry- ing from the porch as he and his weyrmate mounted the last step, "you worried for no reason at all."
"Menolly, how long has Master Robinton been resting?" Brekke asked, coming right up to the table.
"Half a skinful," Piemur replied, grinning as he pointed to the wine on the back of the chair, "and he went without a protest."
Brekke gave the young harper a long and searching look. "I wouldn't trust you for a moment, Harper Pie- mur." Then she looked at Jaxom. "Have you been here all afternoon, too?"
"Me? No indeed. Ruth and I slept until Mirrim woke us."
"Where is Mirrim?" F'nor asked, glancing about.
"She's outside somewhere," replied Menolly in a voice so devoid of tone that Brekke glanced at her apprehensively.
"Has Mirrim been..." Brekke pressed her lips in a thin, disapproving line. "Drat that girl!" She looked up at Berd, and he immediately darted from the hall.
F'nor was bending over the maps now, shaking bis head with pleased surprise.
"You lot work like twenty, don't you?" He grinned at all of them.
"Well, this part of the twenty has done quite enough work," Piemur said, stretching his arms until his joints cracked. "I want a swim, to wash the sweat from my brow, and the ink from my fingers. Anyone coming?"
Jaxom's acceptance was as enthusiastic as the two girls' and, with F'nor's jocular complaint about being deserted ringing in their ears, they all made for the beach. Jaxom managed to grab Menolly by the hand as Sharra and Piemur pelted around the bend.
"Menolly, how did Master Robinton know?"
She'd been laughing as they raced down the path, but now her eyes darkened.
"I didn't tell him, Jaxom. I didn't have to. I don't know when he figured it out. But the facts all point to you."
"How?"
She-ticked off reasons on her fingers. "To start with, a dragon had to return the egg. Only way. Prefer- ably a dragon who was totally familiar with Benden Hatching Ground. The dragon had to be ridden by someone who wanted earnestly to return that egg, and who could find it!" The last qualification seemed to be the most important. "More people will figure out it was you now."
"Why now?"
"No one in the Southern Weyr returned Ramofh's egg." Menolly smiled up at Jaxom, and put her hand to his cheek, giving him an affectionate slap. "I was so proud of you, Jaxom, when I realized what you and Ruth had managed to do! Prouder even because you didn't noise it about. And it was so critical just then for Benden to believe that a Southern rider had relented and restored Ramoth's egg..."
"Hey, Jaxom, Menolly, c'mon!" Piemur's roar dis- tracted them.
"Race you?" Menolly said, turning and dashing for the beach.
They weren't to have much time for their swim. Mas- ter Idarolan's ship reappeared, the blue full-catch pen- nant flying from its foremast. Brekke called them to help gut enough fish for the evening's meal. She wasn't certain how many of those now at the Plateau would return to Cove Hold for dinner but cooked fish could be served in rolls the next day, she said, cheerfully ig- noring the protests. She sent Mirrim off with supplies for Master Wansor and N'ton, who planned to make an evening of star-watching or, as Piemur said irrev- erently, the Dusk-Dawn and Midnight Sisters.
"And what do you bet Mirrim tries to stay ther
e the night, too, to see if Path does keep away the Southern fire-lizards?" Piemur asked, a slightly malicious grin on his face.
"Mirrim does have well-trained fire-lizards," Men- olly said.
"And they sound just like her when they scold everyone else's friends," Piemur added.
"Now that's not fair," Menolly said. "Mirrim's a good friend of mine..."
"And as her best friend you ought to explain to her that she can't manage everyone on Pern!"
As Menolly prepared to take umbrage, dragons be- gan popping into the air over the Cove, and with their bugling no one could hear anything else.
The dragons were not the only ones in good moods, An atmosphere of intense excitement and expectation pervaded the evening.
Jaxom was grateful for his afternoon's nap, for he wouldn't have missed that evening. All seven Weyr- leaders were there, D'ram with some private news for F'lar's ears about the affairs in the Southern Weyr, and N'ton, who stayed only part of the evening since he was sky-watching with Wansor. There were also Mas- tercraftsmen Nicat, Fandarel, Idarolan, Robinton, and Lord Lytol.
To Jaxom's surprise, the three Oldtimer Weyrleaders, G'narish of Igen, R'mart of Telgar and D'ram now of Southern, were less interested in what might lie hidden in the settlement than N'ton, T'bor, G'dened and F'lar. The Oldtimers were far more eager to explore the broad lands and the distant range than dig to unearth their past.
"That is past," R'mart of Telgar said. "Past, dead, and very much buried. We have to live in the present, a trick, mind you, F'lar, that you taught us." He grinned to remove any sting from what he said. "Be- sides, wasn't it you, Flar, who suggested that it's use- less to muddle our brains thinking how the ancients did things... that it's better to build for ourselves what is useful for our times and Turn?"
F'lar grinned, amused to have his words returned. "I suppose I'm hoping that we'll find undamaged records somewhere, filling in the holes in what came down to us. Maybe even another useful item like the enlarger viewer we discovered in Benden Weyr."
"Look where that got us!" R'mart exclaimed, whooping with laughter.
"Undamaged instruments would be invaluable," Fandarel said, very solemn.
"We might just find you some. Master Robinton," Nicat said thoughtfully, "because only one section of that settlement sustained much damage." He had every- one's attention. "Look," he drew out a sketch of the general site, "the flow of lava is to the south. Here, here, and here, the cones of the mountains broke, and the flow followed the slope of the land, away from much of the settlement. The prevailing wind also car- ried the ash away from the place. From the little dig- ging I did today, I found only a thin layer of volcanic debris."
"Is there only this one settlement? When they had a whole world to occupy?" asked R'mart.
"We'll find the others tomorrow," the Harper assured them, "won't you, Jaxom?"
"Sir?" Jaxom rose, half-startled by his unexpected inclusion in the main discussion.
"No, to be serious, R'mart, you may be quite cor- rect," F'lar said, leaning forward across the table. "And we really don't know if the eruption made the ancients leave the Plateau immediately afterward."
"We won't know anything until we've entered one of those mounds and discovered what they left behind, if anything," N'ton said.
"Go carefully, Weyrleader," Master Nicat told N'ton, but his glance took in everyone. "Better still, I'll send a craftmaster and a few steady journeymen to direct the excavations."
"Show the tricks of your craft, eh. Master Nicat," R'mart said. "We'd better learn a thing or two about mining, right, Masterminer?"
Jaxom stifled a chuckle at the expression of puzzle- ment and then indignation on the Masterminer's face.
"Dragonriders mining?"
"Why not?" F'lar asked. "Thread will Pass. There'll be another Interval on us all too soon. I promise you one thing, with the Southern lands open, never again will the Weyrs be beholden to anyone during an In- terval."
"Ah, yes, a very sound idea, Weyrleader, very sound," Master Nicat prudently agreed, though he would plainly need time to assimilate such a revolu- tionary idea.
The dragons lounging on the shore crooned a wel- come to someone,.
N'ton suddenly rose. "I must join Wansor in our star-watch. That must be Path and Mirrim returning. My duty to you all."
"I'll light your way, N'ton," Jaxom said, grabbing a glow basket and unshielding it.
They were well out of hearing range of the others when N'ton turned to Jaxom. "This is more to your fancy, isn't it, Jaxom, than flying tamely in the queens' wing?"
"I didn't do it on purpose, N'ton," Jaxom said with a laugh. "I just wanted to see the mountain before any- one else did."
"No hunch this time?"
"Hunch?"
N'ton threw a companionable arm about his shoul- ders, chuckling. "No, I suppose it was inspired by the fire-lizards' images."
"The mountain?"
N'ton gave him a bit of a shake. "Good man!"
They saw the dark bulk of a dragon settling to the beach and then two gleaming circles as Lioth turned his head toward them.
"A white dragon has an advantage at night," N'ton said as he pointed to the visible hide of Ruth a little to one side of his bronze.
I'm glad you've come. I've an itch I cannot reach, said Ruth.
"He's in need of attention, N'ton."
"Leave the glows with me then, I'll pass them on to Mirrim so she can find her way to the point."
They separated as Jaxom moved aside to attend to Ruth. He heard N'ton greet Mirrim, their voices carry- ing on the quiet night air.
"Of course, Wansor's all right," Mirrim said, sound- ing peevish. "He's got his eyes glued to that tube of his. He never knew I came, never ate the food I brought, never knew I left. And further," she paused, taking a deep breath, "Path did not scare away the Southern fire-lizards."
"Why would she?"
"I'm not allowed to be on the Plateau when Jaxom and the others try to coax some sense out of the South- erners."
"Sense? Oh, yes, seeing if Ruth can focus the fire- lizards' images. Well, I shouldn't worry about it, Mir- rim. There are so many other things you can do."
"At least my dragon is not an unsexed runt, good for nothing but consorting with fire-lizards!"
"Mirrim!"
Jaxom heard the coldness in N'ton's voice; it matched the sudden freezing in his own guts. Mirrim's petulant comment resounded over and over in his ears.
"You know what I mean, N'ton..."
Just like Mirrim, Jaxom thought, not to heed the warning in N'ton's voice.
"You ought to," she went on with the impetus of grievance. "Wasn't it you who told F'nor and Brekke that you doubted if Ruth would ever mate? Where are you going, N'ton? I thought you were going..."
"You don't think, Mirrim!"
"What's the matter, N'ton?" The sudden panic in her voice afforded Jaxom some consolation.
Don't stop, Ruth said. The itch is still there.
"Jaxom?" N'ton's call was not loud, meant to reas- sure, but the sound carried back.
"Jaxom?" Mirrim cried. "Oh, no!" Then Jaxom heard her running away, saw the glow basket jolting, heard her weeping. Just like the girl, speak first, think later and weep for days. She'd be repentant and hang- ing on about him, driving him between with her need to be forgiven her thoughtlessness.
"Jaxom!" N'ton was anxious.
"Yes, N'ton?" Jaxom dutifully continued to scratch Ruth's backbone, wondering why Mirrim's cruel re- mark did not rankle as it ought. Sexless runt! As he saw N'ton striding toward him, he was aware of a curious sense of relief, of relaxation deep inside him. The memory of those riders, waiting for the Fort green to mate, flashed through his mind. Yes, he'd been re- lieved then that Ruth had proved disinterested. He could somewhat regret that Ruth would be deprived of that experience; but he was relieved that he would never be called upon to endure it.
"You must have heard her." There was a tinge of hope in N'ton's voice that Jax
om hadn't.
"I heard. Sound carries near water."
"Blast the girl! Scorch the girl! We were going to ex- plain... then you took the fire-head, and now this. The opportunity hasn't presented itself..." N'ton's explanations came out in a rush.
"I can live with it. Like Mirrim's Path, there are other things we can do."
N'ton's groan came from his guts. "Jaxom!" His fingers closed tightly on Jaxom's shoulder, trying in the contact to express his inarticulate regret.
Anne McCaffrey - Pern06 White Dragon Page 40