“Jeila’s Tolarth is just as ready,” M’tal said.

“But she’ll be going back to Benden, won’t she?” Fiona asked.

“Not if she’s any sense,” M’tal said with a chuckle. Fiona looked at him, confused, and he explained. “Tullea can be … a little difficult.”

“I imagine she’ll be better now,” Lorana opined diplomatically. She told Fiona, “She’d been timing it back at High Reaches Weyr so her temper was difficult.”

“But you weren’t like that, were you, Weyrwoman?” Bekka asked Fiona, bristling with loyalty.

“No, I felt different,” Fiona said. She glanced toward M’tal and Lorana. “I wasn’t the only one. T’mar and several of the weyrlings felt much the same way. We were tired even before we went to Igen—all except Terin.”

“Hmm,” M’tal murmured thoughtfully. He glanced inquiringly toward Kindan.

The harper shook his head, lips pursed in a frown. “I recall nothing like that in the Records.”

“But there wasn’t much mention of timing,” Lorana said. She glanced toward Fiona as she added, “I think the Weyrs were trying to keep it a secret.”

“With good reason, if Tullea is anything to go by!” M’tal agreed.

“Speaking of secrets,” Lorana said, glancing toward Kindan and M’tal, “when were you going to tell me that we don’t have enough dragons?”

“Lorana, that’s not fair,” Fiona rebuked her gently. “You’ve only just discovered the cure! Before that there was no point in worrying about our numbers.”

Lorana ducked her head in acknowledgment.

“So how many do we have?” Kindan asked.

“We’ve forty plus two here,” Fiona said, looking around for a slate and, not finding one, gesturing for Bekka to get one. The young girl grinned at her, glad to be involved in the discussion, and raced off and back with the first slate she found. Fiona handed it back, saying, “This one has a recipe on it; I don’t think Shaneese will thank you if it’s erased.”

Bekka’s next sojourn was longer but more productive: She returned followed by a small procession of weyrkids towing a large teaching slate.

“Much better!” Fiona agreed as she erased the board with the duster and wrote down the names of the weyrs with columns for fighting strength and queens. She filled in Telgar first with 40 and 2.

She had arranged the chart from northeast to southwest, so Telgar was in the middle. With Lorana’s aid they soon had it filled out:

“We should have three thousand fighting dragons for a Pass,” Kindan said sourly. “And as many as thirty queens.”

He turned to M’tal. “As soon as possible, I’d like to visit Master Zist and Verilan.”