“Will someone quiet this lot?” demanded the small, dark woman, confronting Menolly, her fists on her riding belts, her eyes snapping with anger. “Ramoth! If you would ... ”

Abruptly, complete silence reigned in the huge kitchen cavern. Menolly felt Beauty trembling more violently than ever against her neck, and the talons of the two bronzes dug into her arms and sides.

“That’s better,” said Lessa, her eyes brilliant. “And who are you? Are these all yours?”

“My name is Menolly, please and,” Menolly glanced up nervously at all the fire lizards perched silently with whirling eyes on ledges and hanging from the ceiling, “not all of these are mine.”

“Menolly?” Some of Lessa’s anger abated in her perplexity. “Menolly?” She was trying to place the name.

“Manora told you about her, Lessa,” said Mirrim, which Menolly thought greatly daring and very much appreciated. “T’gran rescued her from Threadfall. She’d run her feet raw.”

“Ah, yes. So, Menolly, how many fire lizards do look to you?”

Menolly was trying to figure out whether Lessa was annoyed or pleased, and if she had too many fire lizards would she be sent back to Half-Circle. She felt Mirrim prod her in the ribs.

“These,” Menolly indicated the three clinging to her and felt Mirrim dig her again, “and only six of those up there.”

“Only six of those up there?”

Menolly saw Lessa’s fingers drumming on her wide riding belt; she heard one of the dragonriders muffling a sound; and glancing up saw that he had his hand over his mouth. But his eyes were dancing with laughter. Then she dared look at Lessa’s face and saw the slight smile on the Weyrwoman’s face.

“That’s makes nine, I think,” Lessa said. “Just how did you contrive to impress nine fire lizards, Menolly?”

“I didn’t contrive. I was in the cave when they hatched, and they were hungry, you see. I’d a sackful of spiderclaws so I fed them ... ”

“Cave? Where?” Lessa’s words were crisp but not unkind.

“On the coast. Above Nerat, by the Dragon Stones.”

T’gellan uttered an exclamation. “You were living in that cave? I found jars and pots ... no sign of fire lizard shells.”

“I didn’t think fire lizards clutched in caves,” Lessa remarked.

“It was only because the tide was high and the clutch would have been washed away. I helped the queen put them into the cave.”

Lessa regarded Menolly steadily for a long moment “You helped the fire lizard?”

“Yes, you see I’d fallen over the cliff, and they—the queen and her bronzes, from the old clutch, not these here,” and Menolly jerked her chin at Beauty, Rocky and Diver, “they wouldn’t let me get off the beach until I helped them.”