Terin’s eyes flashed but another yawn stifled her retort and with a sheepish look she gestured for the Weyrwoman to precede her.

As they made their way through Talenth’s empty weyr and into Fiona’s quarters, she whispered, “We’ll need to be quiet, I don’t want to disturb Lorana.”

“I can’t sleep anyway,” a voice from the bed startled them. The room grew lighter as Lorana turned over a glow. She gave the two others a quizzical smile as she explained, “The baby’s kicking.”

“We’re going to wash off all this muck,” Fiona said, gesturing to the remnants of the dragon ichor, “why don’t you join us?”

“A warm bath might help,” Lorana agreed. Fiona moved quickly to her side, gesturing for Terin to help. Solicitously they helped Lorana out of bed, ignoring her protests—“I’m not that big!”

Somewhere along the way, Fiona dozed off to be woken by a dig from a giggling Terin.

“I was saying,” Terin told her making it clear that she’d spoken before she’d noticed Fiona’s slumber, “that this is the first time that the three of us, recipients of Tenniz’s gifts, have been together for months.” She frowned at Fiona thoughtfully as she added, “Have you gotten any closer to figuring out his meaning?”

“Well,” Fiona began slowly, “as there’s a queen egg on the sands, I suspect we know what your gift means.”

Terin sniffed wistfully. “I wouldn’t presume that egg is meant for me.” She turned to Lorana. “Wouldn’t it be for you instead?”

Lorana gave her a questioning look and Terin responded, “I mean, your prophecy implies that you’ll have another queen, doesn’t it?”

Lorana flicked her eyes away, expression grim.

“Well, mine makes it clear enough,” Fiona said cheerfully, “Tenniz said it would all work out.” She glanced Lorana’s way, adding, “And in many respects, I think it already has.” She caught Lorana’s dubious look and continued, “We’ve weyrlings and eggs on the ground, we’ve dragons that can fly when just months before we feared we’d have none—and new life on the way. I think things will only go on getting better.”

Even if she didn’t quite believe it herself, Fiona knew that she had a duty to appear unworried, cheerful. And, maybe there was more truth than hope in what she’d said. Perhaps things were getting better.

They finished quickly and Fiona made certain that Terin made it back to her weyr before turning in. By the time she got into bed, Lorana already looked to be asleep. Fiona pursed her lips as she wondered whether to continue their earlier discussion, but, with a weary sigh, decided to leave it for morning.