Энн Маккефри - Dragon’s Kin

“A dragonrider?” Renna squeaked.

Kindan nodded.

“Here?”

Kindan nodded again.

“Now?”

“Right now, in fact,” J’lantir agreed as he stepped into the shed. His cheerful look changed to startlement when he realized that the speaker was not Nuella. Then he cheered up again, looking at Nuella. “Your secret is out. Good! I was afraid—”

“Her secret is not out,” Kindan said, shaking his head. “Just compromised.”

J’lantir’s face fell. “Well, that may make things more difficult,” he said. “You see, the reason I’ve been gone so long—no, rather the reason why I’m back now is because things aren’t going well.”

“What do you mean?” Nuella asked.

“Wait a minute,” Kindan said, forestalling her. He turned to Renna, whose eyes were as big as saucers. “Renna, please go inform Master Zist that J’lantir is here. He may want you to bring refreshments, too, but please tell him that I’ve asked you to come back. Don’t say any more to him—tell him we’ll explain later.”

“I’ll be all ears,” Nuella murmured, her face gleaming with her usual humor.

...and Renna was already here when J’lantir arrived,” Kindan finished explaining to Master Zist. The Harper’s color had returned to a more normal shade from the bright red of rage it had been when he had first found Renna in Kisk’s shed.

He had been ready to tear Kindan’s head off for letting Renna in on the secret—he had a few hot words for Nuella, too—but Kindan had managed to get the first word in and refused to be silenced until he’d finished telling the full tale. Master Zist let out a long sigh. “J’lantir was just about to tell us why he had come when I sent Renna off to get you.”

“Hmmph,” the Harper said at last. “My Lord J’Lantir, first let me apologize for delaying you in delivering your message—”

J’lantir waved aside the apology. “No need, Master Zist, no need at all,” he said graciously. Then he wagged a finger at the Harper, adding, “And I thought we’d agreed to dispense with the formalities.”

“But you call me Master,” the Harper protested, “I could hardly not return the honor.”

J’lantir laughed. “I only do that because your young charges here all go blue in the face if I don’t.” He added conspiratorially to the Harper, “You must tell me how you do it, someday. It’s a trick I’d like to use on some of my riders.”

Master Zist chuckled appreciatively. “I’m afraid it comes from all my years at the Harper Hall, intimidating young scamps worse than Kindan here.” Then he frowned. “Well, maybe only just as bad as him.”

Renna returned at that moment, bearing a pot and several mugs. “They sent me down with some hot klah,” she told the group. She glanced apprehensively at Master Zist, then looked to Kindan and Nuella for comfort. Kisk butted at Kindan and gave Renna a cheerful mrrp, at which point the girl visibly relaxed.

“Well, pass the cups around, child,” Master Zist barked at her. When she jumped and nearly dropped the pot, he added calmly, “I’ve heard the whole story now and I won’t bite. But I’m sure I need a warm cup of klah, and I wouldn’t doubt our dragon-rider friend here is still chilled from between.”

Kindan and Nuella both moved before Renna’s panicked reaction spilled the pot. Kindan retrieved the pot and mugs, while Nuella put a reassuring hand on the girl’s shoulder and pulled her out of the way. With a flourish, Kindan poured klah for the dragonrider and the Harper.

Nuella held her hand out, saying, “I’m more parched than anything, but I’ll also be glad for the heat.” Kindan filled a mug and carefully guided her hand to it.

Shortly they were all settled on the straw floor, gathered in a semicircle facing J’lantir. Renna had been as polite as her awe of the dragonrider permitted when she had been introduced, and J’lantir, for his part, had gone out of his way to make her feel more comfortable.

“So,” he said at last, “you probably want to know what’s been happening.” He paused. “I apologize for not getting back to you sooner, but things got rather out of hand. Weyrleader M’tal had hoped that I could train the watch-whers that look to Benden the same way that we’ve managed to train Kisk here.”

He nodded politely to the watch-wher, who blinked happily at him and nodded back. J’lantir and the others chuckled at her behavior. Kisk reared her head and chirped mournfully to Kindan until he reached up and scratched her eyeridges, saying, “It’s all right, they’re just proud of your good manners.” Kisk glanced around at all of them, decided that Kindan was correct, and settled back down, making noises of self-satisfaction.

“Such a well-behaved watch-wher,” J’lantir agreed. Then he drew a breath and continued, “Sadly, we did not get the reaction we had expected. Many of the wherhandlers could not believe that their watch-whers would talk to dragons, and still others refused to believe that there was anything that any dragonrider could teach them about their friends.”

He shook his head sadly. “And the truth of it was that they were right,” he told them. “For all that I tried, for all that Lolanth tried—” He smiled fondly at the mention of his dragon. “—we couldn’t get any of the watch-whers to work with us.”

“Whyever not?” Nuella wondered. “You had the scrolls Master Zist wrote for you, and the training is fairly straightforward. Were they just too simple to understand?”

“I think that the underlying problem was that there was too much telling and not enough showing,” he replied. “M’tal and I had several long talks on the topic, and we came to realize that the best way to teach wherhandlers was to have someone who hadn’t Impressed a dragon but who had taught a watch-wher show them how to do it. Someone who wouldn’t intimidate them.”

He looked straight at Nuella.

“He’s looking at you, Nuella,” Renna whispered.

“Of course,” Nuella agreed. “He wouldn’t be looking at Kindan because he has to stay with Kisk, and it’s not like she’ll be able to go between to follow him.”

But then Nuella proceeded to marshal all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. “J’lantir, I’m afraid that that’s not a good idea. I’d love to do it, but my father—”

“Nuella, this is your chance to do something,” Kindan interrupted her. “Training the watch-whers will help save lives, Weyrleader M’tal said so.”

Nuella ducked her head in acknowledgment but persisted, “My father doesn’t want anyone to know about me. He’s afraid that once they find out I’m blind, no one will want to marry Dalor or Larissa and—”

Kindan had been watching her with narrowing eyes ever since the dragonrider had made his proposal. Closing his eyes in thought while Nuella spoke, he reached a hand casually to rub Kisk, only to stop as he felt a jolt of fear travel from the watch-wher to him. He gave Nuella a look of surprise, whispering in awe, “You’re afraid!”

Kindan’s announcement stopped her cold. She groped for words, trying to deny his accusation, but couldn’t say anything. Kindan reached across and grabbed her hand.

“Nuella,” he said sincerely, “you have never been afraid of anything.”

Uncontrolled tears spilled from her eyes. “They’ll talk! They’ll laugh at me and they’ll—”

Kindan grabbed her in a hug and patted her back awkwardly. “No,” he said softly. “No, they won’t.”

“But I won’t know where to walk. I’ll stumble and trip over things, and they’ll know I’m blind!” she wailed. J’lantir exchanged a distressed look with Master Zist.