“How much do they understand?” Elgion asked, taking the chair opposite G’sel so he could see Rill better.

“To hear Mirrim talk about her three, everything,”

T’gellan snorted with good-natured derision.

“I can ask Rill to carry a message to any place he’s already been. No, to a person he knows at another Hold or Weyr I’ve taken him to. He follows me no matter where I go. Even during Threadfall.” At T’gellan’s snort, G’sel added, “I told you to watch today, T’gellan. Rill was with us.”

“Yes, so tell Elgion how long it takes Rill to come back from delivering a message.”

“All right; all right,” said G’sel with a laugh as he stroked Rill affectionately. “And when you’ve one of your own, T’gellan ... ”

“Possibly, possibly,” the bronze rider said easily. “Unless Elgion here finds us another clutch, well just have to stay jealous of you.”

T’gellan changed the subject then to ask about Half-Circle Hold, general questions that did not embarrass or compromise Elgion. T’gellan evidently knew Yanus’s reputation.

“If you feel too isolated there, Harper, don’t fail to fly the signal and we’ll pop you up for an evening here.”

“Hatching’s soon,” G’sel suggested, grinning and giving Elgion a wink.

“He’ll be here for that certainly,” T’gellan agreed.

Then Rill creeled for a bite to eat while the bronze rider chided G’sel for turning the lizard into an importunate beggar. Elgion noticed T’gellan, himself, finding a titbit for the little bronze, however, and he, too, offered Rill some meat, which the creature daintily accepted from the knife.

By the end of the meal Elgion was ready to brave Yanus’s worst displeasure and wrath to find a fire lizard clutch and Impress a fire lizard of his own. That prospect made his inevitable return easier.

“I’d better do you the honors, Elgion,” T’gellan said, rising at last from the table. “And I’d also better get you back early. No sense aggravating Yanus more than necessary.”

Elgion wasn’t certain how to take that remark or the wink that accompanied it, particularly as it was now full dark and for all he knew, the Hold doors were already barred for the night. Too late now to wish he’d gone back as soon as the dragonriders had returned from the Fall. But then he wouldn’t have met Rill.

They were aloft, Elgion reveling in the experience, craning his head to see as much as possible in the clear night air. He had only a glimpse of the Higher Benden Range hills before T’gellan asked Monarth to take them between.

Suddenly, it was no longer full dark: the sun was a handspan above the glowing sea as they burst into the air above Half-Circle Harbor.