“And it was a disaster,” K’lior finished. He shook himself.

“The Weyrs are autonomous, they rule themselves,” H’nez said.

“Maybe …” Cisca began tentatively. All eyes turned toward her and she flushed. “Well, it would be awkward, but perhaps we could offer to help them.”

“Help?” H’nez exclaimed, eyebrows arched in surprise. “Help a full-strength Weyr?”

“I doubt D’gan at Telgar would appreciate such an offer,” M’kury said with a sideways glance toward H’nez.

“I’m not sure I’d appreciate such an offer in similar circumstances,” K’lior said. Cisca gave him a shocked look. “Coordinating different riders from other Weyrs can be difficult, can even cause greater injuries.”

“So we’re to say nothing to Telgar?” Cisca asked, glancing at the wingleaders, including K’lior. K’lior pursed his lips in a grimace and then nodded. “Even though his dragon is among the sick?”

The others looked at her in surprise, so she added, “Didn’t you hear the drum message to Kentai this morning?”

“I did,” Fiona said. She flushed as she confessed, “But I didn’t think about what it might mean.”

H’nez glanced at her, then said to Cisca: “You can’t ask a man like D’gan to—”

“See reason?” Cisca asked.

“Stand down in the face of his duty,” K’lior corrected her.

“No,” Cisca said with a sigh, “I suppose not.”

Fiona reached over and patted the Weyrwoman on the shoulder. “It will be all right.”

Cisca glanced up at her and shook her head. “You can’t say for certain.”

“No,” Fiona agreed, “but we can hope.”

Tintoval caught her eye. “Could you help me with the last of the rounds?”

“Of course,” Fiona said. Immediately, she summoned Talenth, who carried them up to the first level on which they had patients.

“You seem to have read my mind,” Tintoval said as Fiona helped her dismount. “I was hoping we’d avoid the stairs this time.”

“Actually, I wasn’t really thinking,” Fiona admitted.

“What did you do during the mating flight?”

“I went to Igen,” Fiona said. “I thought reading Records might distract me.”

“And did your search of the Records give you any hints on how to deal with Weyrwomen?”

Fiona shook her head.

“I would have thought as much myself,” Tintoval said to Fiona’s surprise. With a laugh, the healer explained, “They were written by the Weyrwomen, mostly.”

“Oh,” Fiona said, “I missed that.”

“So what would have helped were Records of how they dealt with their terrible, upstart, snappish, recalcitrant junior weyrwomen,” Tintoval said, smiling. “Take that and just reverse it for how to deal with Weyrwomen.”

Fiona frowned. The topic was not something she wished to pursue at the moment. The healer seemed to notice, for she merely gestured with a nod for Fiona to precede her as they made their way to their first patient.