As she hastily checked for any blood seeping from his bandages, F’lessan lay there, supine, limp arms over his head, gasping for breath, his face pale even in the darkened room, his left leg jutting straight out over the end of the bed.

“A bit sudden, isn’t it, Tai,” he said, opening his eyes. “I’m thirsty.” That was plaintive. The next was definitive. “And I do not want any fellis juice. I want water, lots of it. Cold.”

Limping a little because she’d strained her bad leg, Tai paused at the door to listen for any activity in the hall, and then slipped as quickly as she could back to F’lessan’s sickroom. She took the pitcher and the glass from the table and returned with them. Maybe she should have found some wine, or something sweet, for the shock. Now that she had had a few moments to get accustomed to the uncovered eye, it could have been worse: Golly had some sight. It must have been much worse for F’lessan, not able to check but very able to lie in that bed, numbed with the weed and fellis, thinking, thinking, and thinking. There would be considerable relief in knowing just how bad it was.

She got back with no one the wiser in the sleeping weyrhold. She poured water for F’lessan, who dragged himself to a sitting position on one elbow. He drained the glass. She arranged pillows and pushed him back against them before she took a long swig from the pitcher to quench her own thirst.

“More, please.” He held up the empty glass. When she refilled it, he sipped in mouthfuls this time. She drank again from the pitcher. The water was nearly gone. Should she get some fruit juice from the kitchen? Sagassy could be relied on to have a beaker cooling there. It wasn’t just the sea that had made her mouth dry.

When she made a move to leave, he caught her hand. “Don’t go, Tai. Don’t leave me, my very dear green.”

“Golanth’s patch, I should replace it.”

He grabbed at her hand, his fingers unexpectedly fierce. “No, he can use the lids if he needs to shield … what’s left to see with. He hated that patch. I promised I’d get it off.”

“If you’d only told us!”

Eyes closed with exhaustion, he gave a weak smile. “Would you, Tai? Would you have flouted Wyzall, Ballora, all of them?”

“Yes!”

His smile broadened, tinged with doubt, as he turned his head on the pillow toward her, his hand patting hers.

“Yes, I would have,” she said firmly.

Then he scowled. “And what were you doing away from Honshu in the middle of the night, dear rider?”

She grinned. “We went swimming.”

“Swimming in the middle of the night?” he cried, astonished.

“Belior’s up and it did me a lot of good.”