Anne McCaffrey - Dragonsong

“Hatching’s soon,” G’sel suggested, grinning and giving Elgion a wink.

“He’ll be here for that certainly,” T’gellan agreed.

Then Rill creeled for a bite to eat while the bronze rider chided G’sel for turning the lizard into an importunate beggar. Elgion noticed T’gellan, himself, finding a titbit for the little bronze, however, and he, too, offered Rill some meat, which the creature daintily accepted from the knife.

By the end of the meal Elgion was ready to brave Yanus’s worst displeasure and wrath to find a fire lizard clutch and Impress a fire lizard of his own. That prospect made his inevitable return easier.

“I’d better do you the honors, Elgion,” T’gellan said, rising at last from the table. “And I’d also better get you back early. No sense aggravating Yanus more than necessary.”

Elgion wasn’t certain how to take that remark or the wink that accompanied it, particularly as it was now full dark and for all he knew, the Hold doors were already barred for the night. Too late now to wish he’d gone back as soon as the dragonriders had returned from the Fall. But then he wouldn’t have met Rill.

They were aloft, Elgion reveling in the experience, craning his head to see as much as possible in the clear night air. He had only a glimpse of the Higher Benden Range hills before T’gellan asked Monarth to take them between.

Suddenly, it was no longer full dark: the sun was a handspan above the glowing sea as they burst into the air above Half-Circle Harbor.

“Told you I’d get you back early,” T’gellan said, turning to grin at the Harper’s startled exclamation. “We’re not supposed to time it, but all in a good cause.”

Monarth circled down lazily so that everyone in the Sea Hold was gathered on the holdway when they landed. Yanus strode a few paces ahead of the others while Elgion searched the faces for Alemi’s.

T’gellan leaped from the bronze’s shoulder and made a show of assisting Elgion as the entire Hold cheered loudly for their Harper’s safe return.

“I’m neither crippled or old,” Elgion muttered under his breath, aware of Yanus’s approach. “Don’t overdo it.”

T’gellan laid his arm across Elgion’s shoulders in a comradely fashion, beaming at the oncoming Sea Holder. “Not at all,” he said out of the corner of his mouth. “The Weyr approves!”

“Sea Holder, I am profoundly embarrassed at the inconvenience…”

“No, Harper Elgion,” T’gellan interrupted him, “any apologies are the Weyr’s. You were adamant in wishing to return to Half-Circle immediately. But Lessa needed to have his report, Yanus, so we had to wait.”

Whatever Yanus had been about to say to his erring Harper was neatly blocked by T’gellan’s obvious approval. The Sea Holder rocked a bit on his feet, blinking as he reorganized his thoughts.

“Any fire lizard sign you discover must be made known to the Weyr as soon as possible,” T’gellan continued blithely.

“Then that tale is true?” Yanus asked in a grumble of disbelief. “Those…those creatures do exist?”

“They do indeed, sir,” Elgion replied warmly. “I have seen, touched and fed a bronze fire lizard; his name is Rill. He’s about as big as my forearm…”

“You did? He is?” Alemi had pushed through the crowd, breathless from excitement and the exercise of hobbling as fast as he could down the holdway. “Then you did find something in the cave?”

“The cave?” Elgion had forgotten all about his original destination that morning.

“What cave?” demanded T’gellan.

“The cave…” and Elgion gulped and then boldly embroidered on the lie T’gellan had begun, “I told Lessa about. Surely you were in the room then.”

“What cave?” demanded Yanus, stepping close to the younger men, his voice half-angry because he was being excluded from the conversation.

“The cave that Alemi and I spotted on the shore near the Dragon Stones,” Elgion said, trying to give the proper cues. “Alemi,” Elgion had to address T’gellan now, “is the Sea Man who saw the fire lizards last spring near the Dragon Stones. Two—three days back, we sailed down the coast and saw the cave. That’s where I think it’s likely we’ll find fire lizard eggs.”

“Well, then, since you’re now safely in your Hold, Harper Elgion, I will leave you.” T’gellan couldn’t wait to get back to Monarth. And the cave.

“You’ll let us know if you find anything, won’t you?” Elgion called after him and received only a wild arm gesture before the bronze rider swung himself up to Monarth’s back.

“We offered him no hospitality for his trouble in returning you,” Yanus said, worried and somewhat aggrieved by the bronze rider’s precipitous departure.

“He’d just eaten,” Elgion replied, as the bronze dragon beat his way upward above the sunset-lit waters of the harbor.

“So early.”

“Ah, he’d been fighting Thread. And he’s wingleader, so he must be back at the Weyr.” That did impress Yanus. Rider and dragon winked out, drawing a startled exclamation of delight from everyone. Alemi caught Elgion’s eye, and the Harper had to suppress his grin: he’d share the full jest with Alemi later. Only would the joke be on himself if after all the half-truths T’gellan found fire lizard eggs…or a piper…in the cave?

“Harper Elgion,” said Yanus firmly, waving the rest of the holders away from them as he pointed to the Hold door. “Harper Elgion, I’d be grateful for a few words of explanation.”

“Indeed, sir, and I’ve much to report to you of happenings in the Weyr.” Elgion respectfully followed the Sea Holder. He knew now how to deal with Yanus with no further recourse to evasions or lies.

When Menolly roused, she was in a quiet dark place and something crooned comfortingly in her ear. She knew it was Beauty, but she wondered how she could be so warm all over. She moved, and her feet felt big, stuffed and very sore.

She must have made some sound because she heard a soft movement and then the glow in the corner of the room was half-unshielded.

“Are you comfortable? Are your feet painful?”

The warmth beside Menolly’s ear disappeared. Clever Beauty, Menolly thought with approval after an instant’s fear of discovery.

Someone was bending over Menolly now, securing the sleeping furs about her shoulders; someone whose hands were gentle, soothing, who smelled of clean herbs and faintly of numbweed.

“They only hurt a little,” Menolly replied untruthfully because her feet had taken to throbbing so hard she was afraid the woman could hear them.

Her soft murmur and her gentle hands denied Menolly’s stoicism.

“You must surely be hungry. You’ve slept all day.”

“I have?”

“We gave you fellis juice. You’d run your feet to ribbons…” There was a slight hesitation in the woman’s voice. “They’ll be fine in a sevenday. No serious cuts.” The quiet voice held a ripple of amusement. “T’gran is convinced you’re the fastest…runner in Pern.”

“I’m not a runner. I’m just a girl.”

“Not ‘just’ a girl. I’ll get you something to eat. And then it’s best if you sleep again.”

Alone, Menolly tried not to think of her throbbing feet and a body which felt stone-heavy, immobile. She worried for fear Beauty or some of the others would come and be discovered by the weyrwoman, and what would happen to Lazy with no one to make him hunt for himself and…