Fiona cried with delight as Terin stood boldly in front of the queen egg, her eyes intent, her expression determined. The queen egg burst into shards under the pounding blows of the dragonet inside. The movements were so quick that it was hard to know who was more eager—queenling or headwoman—but in the instant the gold was free from her shell, she was thrusting her head toward Terin’s outstretched arms and creeling in delight as the green-eyed girl became her one and only partner forever.

Fiona heard T’mar beside her make an indeterminate noise and elbowed him sharply just on principle. He dodged the worst of it, giving her a grin before turning toward Terin and shouting, “What’s her name?”

“Her name is Kurinth!”

“It was over too soon,” Fiona lamented as she recounted the details to Bekka and Lorana later.

“And Kindan didn’t Impress?” Bekka asked, still shocked at the revelation.

“Kindan didn’t Impress,” Fiona said. She noticed that Lorana kept her expression carefully neutral.

“Well, at least we’ve got twenty-one more weyrlings,” Bekka said. “And another queen.” She rushed on, “And soon Talenth and Tolarth will rise again and there’ll be more eggs on the Hatching Grounds.”

“There will,” Lorana agreed. Fiona flashed her a concerned look, for Lorana’s tone was on the chilly side of neutral, but she decided not to make an issue of it.

“And you,” Bekka said, turning back to the ex–queen rider, “will be having your baby at nearly the same time.”

“So you’re hoping Kindan will become a father and a dragonrider at the same time?” Lorana asked the youngster in surprise.

“It’s been done before,” Fiona told her, adding with a grin, “Besides, it’s not as if he won’t have plenty of help with either!”

Lorana allowed a smile to play across her lips but said nothing and, not long after, feigned fatigue to send her companions away.

“‘Rest, eat, pee’—that’s what my mother said pregnant mothers do,” Bekka prattled on confidently as she and Fiona made their way back to the Kitchen Cavern. Bekka swiped a fresh roll from one of the bakers with an impudent grin before darting away to find Birentir and update the Weyr Healer with her reports.

Fiona lingered, looking for Shaneese or Mekiar, feeling a growing unease even as the sounds of the weyrlings drilling outside in the Weyr Bowl provided a comforting distraction to her cares. She found herself a seat near the hearth and looked wistfully toward those working there until one took pity on her and brought her a pitcher of juice—juice!—and fresh rolls.

At least in her time with Lorana and Bekka she’d managed to fill in some of the gaps of her knowledge of pregnancy and could now safely ascribe some of her current feelings to the changes going on in her body.