Fiona’s eyebrows rose in agreement, adding dryly, “So Sonia has just told me.”

“They know about M’tal, don’t they?”

“Of course,” Fiona said. The loss of a Weyrleader was the sort of news that traveled instantly through all the Weyrs. She shook her head sadly, saying, “It must be a double blow for Dalia, on top of losing C’rion.”

T’mar nodded, his lips pursed tightly. “At least she’s got S’maj,” he said a moment later. “He’s a seasoned rider; that should be some help.”

“But Bidenth won’t rise until after her clutch has Hatched, so there could be a lot of friction beforehand,” Fiona said. She frowned, adding, “I can’t recall all that many bronzes at Ista, come to think of it.”

T’mar thought for a moment. “S’maj’s Capith isn’t much younger than M’tal’s Gaminth.”

“Age has nothing to do with a mating flight.”

“But it can affect the size of the clutch,” T’mar said, “particularly if both dragons are elderly.”

“You know,” Fiona said, shifting abruptly in her chair, “I hadn’t realized how few bronze dragons we now have.”

T’mar bit off a quick retort, instead cupping his chin in his hand thoughtfully. “Not all that many more than the queens themselves,” he agreed after a moment.

“There are more bronzes at Fort, Benden, and High Reaches,” Fiona said.

“Particularly true for Fort, but not so much now with a queen egg,” T’mar said. “Benden probably has the most bronzes per queen, Ista has the least with just the two bronzes and two queens.”

“And we’ve lost quite a number of bronzes in the past half-Turn,” Fiona said, raising her eyes to catch T’mar’s. “We’re likely to go on losing them, as they’re usually wingleaders, too.” She shivered. “What if we lose them all?”

“I suppose you’d have to make do with a brown.”

“Even if a queen would let a brown catch her, wouldn’t the clutch just naturally be smaller because the mating flight would be shorter?”

“Probably,” T’mar agreed with a grim look of his own. “Although, if we keep losing bronze dragons at this rate, we—rather, you—may find out before too long.”

“Perhaps we should consider conserving our bronzes,” Fiona suggested. T’mar shot her a look that she shrugged off, saying, “Just as we do with our queens.”

“So if a Weyr’s strength in bronzes falls to just one, you’d recommend keeping that bronze out of a Fall?” T’mar asked, adding, “I’d like to see you explain that to someone like S’maj.”

“They need someone at Ista to cheer them up,” Fiona said, clearly having reached this conclusion without reference to the rest of the conversation. “Someone like M’kurry.”