Kindan shook his head; halfway through, the motion dissolved into a wide yawn. Fiona frowned toward Lorana who, as expected, followed the harper a moment later with her own yawn. With a look of exasperation, Fiona joined them a moment later.

“Where are you going to sleep?” Fiona asked, trying to imagine where to set a bed. She saw the way Kindan set his jaw and gathered that the harper and Lorana had discussed this earlier and had decided to sleep in their chairs. “Oh, no you’re not.”

Talenth, Fiona called, would you be a love and ask Seban if he and Bekka can watch T’mar tonight?

I was sleeping, Talenth responded petulantly.

Just be a dear and ask.

There was a pause before Talenth responded: They come.

Fiona shivered in the cooling night air. “It’s too cold.”

She went into the bathroom and came back out with a bundle of blankets. Kindan reached for one but Fiona pulled it away from him. “These are for Seban and Bekka.”

The sound of approaching footsteps alerted them to the ex-dragonrider’s approach. He was carrying his daughter cradled in his arms.

“Oh!” Fiona cried in surprise. “I didn’t mean to wake you!”

Seban smiled and shook his head. “I was still awake when Talenth called.” He glanced down tenderly at Bekka and added, “And she’ll want to check on T’mar.”

“I can kit you out with blankets,” Fiona said, gesturing with a firm nod of her head for Kindan to relinquish his chair. “I’m going to take Kindan and Lorana to my weyr, that way they’ll be close by and rested if there’s any need.”

“That sounds wise,” Seban said. He waited until Fiona was satisfied with her arrangement of blankets before taking his seat and was immediately wrapped with another set of blankets over him.

“Warm enough?” Fiona asked, wondering if they might need more blankets.

“We’re fine, Weyrwoman,” Seban told her with a smile.

“Then we’ll take our leave of you and wish you a good rest,” Fiona said, gesturing for Lorana and Kindan to precede her.

“We could sleep somewhere else,” Kindan said, glancing toward Lorana for confirmation.

“What? And have me freeze?” Fiona retorted, stepping forward and linking her arms with the other two. “I’ll sleep at the outside, so that I can be closest to Talenth,” she added winningly. “The bed’s so large, you two probably won’t even notice me at all.”

“I doubt that!” Kindan said. He glanced toward Lorana. “When she was still a child, her favorite trick was to figure out a way to get me to stay the night at Fort Hold, then crawl into bed with me.” With a snort, he added, “By morning, she’d have me either on the floor or stuck in a corner.”