BooksBarbecue
Back Dragongirl
Chapters (33)
  1. Other Books by this Author
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. For Readers New to Pern
  6. Chronology of the Second Interval/Third Pass
  7. Fort Weyr, AL 508.2.2
  8. Fort Weyr, AL 508.2.5
  9. Fort Weyr, AL 508.2.6
  10. Fort Weyr, early morning, AL 508.2.7
  11. Fort Weyr, later, AL 508.2.8
  12. Telgar Weyr, later, AL 508.2.8
  13. Telgar Weyr, early morning, AL 508.2.9
  14. Telgar Weyr, late evening, AL 508.2.9
  15. Telgar Weyr, early morning, AL 508.2.10
  16. Telgar Weyr, later, AL 508.2.10
  17. Telgar Weyr, late evening, AL 508.2.10
  18. Telgar Weyr, Threadfall, AL 508.2.11
  19. Telgar Weyr, morning, AL 508.2.13
  20. Telgar Weyr, morning, AL 508.2.15
  21. Telgar Weyr, next morning, AL 508.2.16
  22. Telgar Weyr, morning, AL 508.4.15
  23. Ista Weyr, afternoon, AL 508.5.5
  24. Keroon Threadfall, morning, AL 508.5.21
  25. Telgar Weyr, evening, AL 508.5.26
  26. Telgar Weyr, early morning, AL 508.6.19
  27. Telgar Weyr, evening, AL 508.6.25
  28. Telgar Weyr, morning, AL 508.6.28
  29. Telgar Weyr, early evening, AL 508.7.17
  30. Fort Weyr, second hour, AL 507.11.18,
  31. Telgar Weyr, evening, AL 508.7.21
  32. About the Author
  33. Copyright

C’tov’s question sent a chill through Fiona; she’d heard this only days before from Lorana—and read it in the Records even earlier. What did it mean? Clearly it meant something special, that she, Lorana, and now C’tov remarked upon it. She sat back and let the rest of the conversation spill over her, engrossed in thought.

“A day of glory—that’s the Hatching,” H’nez told him chidingly.

“I figured that,” C’tov said with a dismissive glower for the older rider before returning his attention to Kindan, “but what about the last bit: ‘In a month, who seeks?’”

“Well,” Kindan said with a wry look toward Fiona, “the current thinking is that the last line is merely a harper’s twiddle said to make the whole verse rhyme.”

“And how many of the Teaching Ballads are riddled with such twiddles?” H’nez asked archly.

“It’s easier to remember that which rhymes and trips off the tongue, H’nez,” Kindan said without any hint of apology in his tone. “As far as I can recall, though, all the other Teaching Ballads are without embellishments.”

“So what makes this an embellishment?” C’tov asked.

Kindan shrugged. “If it’s not, I can’t decipher its meaning.”

“Maybe that’s when dragons can go between,” Fiona spoke up into the uneasy silence that had fallen. The others turned to her incredulously.

“I suppose it’s possible,” T’mar said. He glanced toward Kindan with a warning look as he added, “But I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“We had Impressed not much more than two months before we went back in time to Igen,” F’jian said.

“And I still wouldn’t recommend it,” T’mar reminded him with a quelling look.

“Anyway, even if they were old enough to go between,” C’tov said thoughtfully, “they’d be too small to fight Thread.”

“Too small to carry firestone!” F’jian snorted in agreement.

“Two Turns at least,” H’nez agreed tersely, looking toward T’mar. “Three is better.”

“Two in a pinch,” T’mar said.

“And we’re in a pinch, there’s no doubt!” F’jian exclaimed.

T’mar nodded, then glanced at Fiona with a sad look. The Weyrwoman needed no dragon to interpret it: Two Turns or three—either was too long for Pern.

Telgar Weyr, evening, AL 508.6.25

TWENTY-ONE

Eyes faceted,
Eyes fearful.
Hearts beating:
Beat as one.

Telgar Weyr, evening, AL 508.6.25

Fiona smiled as she spied a glint off the red-blond hair of the figure walking through the entrance into the Hatching Grounds as the last rays of sun filtered through the Weyr Bowl that night.

“I figured you’d be here,” she called out, waving Terin over to her, not worried about disturbing the group of weyrchildren clustered nearby—they were not sleeping, too excited at the prospect of the Hatching the next day; most likely, in the morning.