Moreta - Dragonlady of Pern

CHAPTER II

The second race was over a greater length, the winning poles having been moved down the field and farther apart to accommodate the larger number of middle-distance runners.

«Have you an entry in this race, too?» she asked Alessan as the runners charged away from the start.

«No. I got either spindly sprinters or massive carters from my crosses. But one of my holders has a strong contestant, blue with red hatching are the colors. Not that you can distinguish them.»

The field had already begun to stretch out when suddenly an animal in the middle of the pack fell, tripping two others. Moreta could never watch a bad tangle without apprehension. She was holding her breath as she silently urged each animal to its feet. Two rose, one groggily shaking its head, the second running on down the field, riderless. The third made no effort to rise.

Moreta picked up her skirts and began to run toward the fallen runner.

«It shouldn't've fallen.»

«Close-packed field. Tripped.» Alessan kept pace with her, caught up in her concern.

«Not that close, and it wasn't a trip fall.» She saved her breath for running even when she had seen that the two riders were examining the fallen beast and that handlers were running up from the starting line. «Orlith, what's wrong? Why doesn't it get up?»

As she got closer, Moreta could see the sprawled beast's sides heaving. Its nose touched the ground yet it made no effort to rise. That was unusual enough. Runners preferred to stand.

«Did it break a leg, Orlith?»

«It can't get its breath,» one rider was saying to the other. «It's got a bloody nose.»

«Probably ruptured a vein falling. Just get it to its feet. Here, I'll help.» The second rider begun to tug at the bridle.

«Orlith, wake up! I need you.»

«It should've got to its feet. Lord Alessan! Lady Moreta!» The first rider turned anxiously to them, and Moreta recognized the man as Helly, a capable herdsman and racer.

«It cannot breathe,» Orlith responded sleepily. She sounded a bit grumpy at being roused. «It's lungs are full of liquid.»

Moreta knelt at the animal's head, noticing the distressed flare of the nostrils, the bloody discharge. She felt for the pulse in its throat, weak and far too erratic for an animal that had only run a few dragon-lengths before falling.

Around her men were shouting that the runner should be assisted to its feet. Several positioned themselves to heave. Moreta waved them off imperiously.

«It can't breathe. No air is getting into its lungs.»

«Cut into its windpipe. Who's got a sharp blade?»

«It's too late,» Moreta said as she peeled back the upper lip, exposing the whitened gums.

The onlookers knew, as she did, that the animal was dying. From the finishing line the sound of cheering drifted back to those circling the taller. It gave one final sigh, almost apologetic, and the head rolled to the side.

«Ain't seen nothing like this before,» the second rider said. «And I been riding since I could tighten a girth.»

«You were riding it, Helly?» Alessan asked.

«Yes, doing a favor for Vander. His jock was sick. I've never ridden it before. Seemed quiet.» Helly stopped, considered. «Too quiet, now I think about it. Rode in the first race, and this one was all ready for me … Broke well at the start as if it wanted to work!» Helly's tone was a mixture of despair, anger, and surprise.

«Could've been the heart,» one of the onlookers suggested in a tone of broad experience. «That takes 'em sudden. No way of telling. Runner in good spirit one moment, dead the next. Takes people that way, too.»

Not, Moreta thought, with a bloody nasal discharge.

«Here now,» a loud voice cried. «What's the matter here? Why isn't this animal … Oh, Lord Alessan. Didn't know you were here!» The race manager had pushed his way into the circle. «It's dead? Excuse me. Lord Alessan, but we do have to clear the track for the next race.»

Alessan took the shaken Helly by the arm. Moreta stepped to the man's other side, leading him through the pathway courteously made by the crowd.

«I don't understand it. No, I don't.» Helly was obviously in shock.

Moreta realized that she still had the wine goblet and held it up to Alessan, who quickly unslung the wineskin and poured a full cup. Moreta gave it to Helly. The racer drank the contents in one gulp.

«Helly, what happened? Did it plait its legs or something?»

The stocky man, dressed in Ruathan colors, staggered as he realized who was assisting Helly. While trying to hold a pad of wet toweling to his forehead, he also attempted to bow to Alessan and Moreta. And staggered again.

«Helly, what happened? Oh, shards!» The last was said in a low voice as a cart bearing the dead animal off the track rumbled into view.

«Vander, are you all right?» Helly demanded. He handed Moreta her goblet and went to the stunned holder. Helly supported Vander in the wake of the cart.

Moreta, Alessan by her side, watched the activity of Gather races swirl and close behind the sad procession. Men, laden with tack or blankets or buckets of water, briskly moved toward the picket lines. The sound of urgent conversations and shouts was occasionally punctuated by the squeal of excited runners.

«I cannot remember a respiratory illness that would result in such a remarkably swift death,» Moreta said.

«I'd've said the animal was only stunned by the fall and would have gotten it to its feet,» Alessan remarked. «How did you know what ailed it so fast?»

«My family has always raised runners,» she explained quickly, for it was not common knowledge outside the Weyrs that she and Orlith worked together in healing.

«Your early training must have been remarkable. I thought I'd learned a thing or two about runners.»

«If you bred that sprinter while looking for endurance stock, you have.»

Just then two runners, long-distance racers by the look of them, were led past, and Moreta kept her eyes on them until they mixed into the crowd.

«Nothing wrong with them, is there?»

«Oh, no. They look racing fit. Not so much as a nervous sweat on them.»

«Has it been crossing your mind that Vander's runner dropped dead of an illness?»

«It crossed my mind,» Moreta agreed, «but it's highly unlikely. Helly said the runner wanted to race. A sick one wouldn't. Could have been the heart.»

«Well, I'm not looking for trouble. Not today, at my first Gather.» Alessan frowned and turned slowly on his right heel, casting his eyes down the rows of picketed runners. «It has to be a fluke. I know Vander. His hold's a good day's ride south. He's been saving that particular runner for this race.» Alessan sighed. «We can have a look at the rest of his string. They'd be picketed over here if I recall the assignments.» Alessan took Moreta's arm, guiding her to the right.

If the beast had been fit, Moreta thought, how could its lungs have filled so quickly? She considered asking Orlith but she sensed that the queen had returned to sleep. Runners did not have the same priority with the dragon as they did with the rider.

Alessan pulled Moreta to him suddenly as a rangy beast plunged past them, its eyes wild as it anticipated its race, the rider barely able to stay in the pad. Two handlers jogged along, at a distance respectful of the kicking range of an excited runner. Moreta watched its progress to the starting line.

«Well?» Alcssan's tenor voice asked in her ear.

She was abruptly aware that she was still in his loose protective embrace.

«No, that one seemed far from ill.» She moved away from him.

«And here's Vander's picket.» Alessan counted them. «As I recall he'd entered seven. Did you say you were from Keroon? This is a runner he bought from Keroon last Turn.»

Moreta laughed as she let the runner sniff her hand. She stroked its head until it accepted her touch then she felt its warm ear for the breed tattoo.

«No, it didn't come from my family's hold.»

Alessan grinned at her whimsy as he examined the other animals. «They're in good shape. Vander got here two days ago to rest them well before the races. I'll have a word with him later. Shall we get back to the races, Shells!» The shouts and movements of the crowd indicated that the next race had started. Alessan looked abashed. «Now you've missed another race.»

«I watch the racing because, in my exalted position as Weyrwoman, that is much more dignified than scrambling around the pickets. Which is what I would rather do. Now that we're here, could I see your winner? I've a suspicion that only a sense of duty to your guest has kept you from checking it.»

The relief and delight in Alessan's eyes confirmed her guess. He had just indicated the proper direction when a short man with the heavy chest, well-developed arms, and thin shanks of a rider trotted toward them, his face wearing the broadest of smiles.

«Lord Alessan? Have you been looking for Squealer?»

«I have indeed, Dag. Well done! Well done!» Alessan shook Dag by the hand and thumped him across the shoulders. «A fine race. Perfect!»

Dag gave Moreta a stiffly correct bow.

«You are to be congratulated on training a winner,» Moreta said. Then she couldn't resist adding, «It's a few people could contrive against Lord Leef.»

Dag's expression was one of shock, betrayal, and consternation. «Lady Moreta, I wouldn't … I didn't.»

Alessan laughed and gave Dag a reassuring clout on the shoulder. «Lady Moreta's runnerhold bred. She approves.»

«Where is this Squealer of yours, Dag? I very much want a closer look at such a success.»

«This way, Lady. And now he's not all that much to look at close on, mind you,» Dag began in the deprecating way of all devoted handlers. «Over to the right, if you would. I walked him cool. Lord Alessan, and washed him down with tepid water. Race didn't take a thing out of him. He could go again …» Dag caught himself short with a startled glance at the Lord Holder and the Weyrwoman.

«It's a full male then?» Moreta asked, rescuing Dag from indiscretion.

«That he is. On account of him looking so weedy, I always managed to convince the herdmaster that he was too young yet to be gelded, or too sickly, and shouldn't we wait awhile. Then I'd sneak him off to another field.»

«Turn after Turn?» Moreta was impressed by such devotion.

«Squealer doesn't have any distinguishing marks to set him in a man's mind,» Alessan said. «There he is.»

Suddenly Moreta faced a scrawny, thin-legged, big-kneed, midbrown runner, standing all by itself at the end of a half-empty picket line. In a pause during which she wracked her brain to find something creditable to say about the beast, all she could see was the length of empty pickets. «He has a kind eye,» she said, blurting it out. «Well placed in the head.» As if Squealer knew he was under discussion, he turned his head and regarded her.

«Intelligence, too. Heart. Calm.» Squealer ducked his head, seemingly agreeing with her points so that all three laughed.

«There really isn't much good you can say about Squealer,» Alessan said, absolving her from further comment. He swatted the runner affectionately on the neck.

«Squealer won his first race, Lord Alessan. That's all that needs to be said of him. May he win many more. But not,» Moreta added slyly, «all on the same day.»

Dag groaned and turned away with embarrassed mortification.

«Lord Alessan, had you expected many more entries?» Moreta asked, gesturing toward the unused pickets.

«Dag, you were assisting Norman …»

«Well, we did expect a fair turnout, what with fine weather over the past sevendays and plenty of holds to shelter strings on the road. Come to think on it, I'd expected Lord Ratoshigan to sail his sprinter up, that one he's been winning with all season. That herdsman of his was boasting at their Gather.»

«I'm not sorry that we didn't get to pit Squealer against the best in the west, but perhaps Ratoshigan's absence ensured his win.»

«It did no such thing,» Dag protested vehemently and then realized that he was being teased. «He's cooled off now. I'll just take him back to the beasthold above.»

«Starting line or finishing?» Alessan asked Moreta.

«Let's see if we can get in a finish.»

They moved at a leisurely pace for people wishing to see an imminent finish, but their path took them between pickets and that pleased Moreta as well.

«I wonder why Ratoshigan didn't come.»

«His absence is a boon.» Moreta did not try to mask the acid edge to her voice.

«Perhaps, but I'd've liked to pit Squealer against that sprinter of his.»

«For the joy of beating Ratoshigan? Well, I'd approve of that.»

«Southern Boll is beholden to Fort Weyr, isn't it?»

«That doesn't mean I have to like him.»

«Yet you'd drink that sour wine Lord Diatis makes.»

Moreta had opened her mouth to reply when she was suddenly drenched with water. A colorful and original string of invective in Alessan's angry voice told her that he had not escaped the slops.

«Who has distressed you?» Orlith's response was immediate and, as Moreta stood there, eyes closed against the water draining from her hair, she needed the moral support of her queen.

«I'm only wet!» Moreta stolidly informed her queen.

«The sun is warm. You will dry fast.»

«Only wet?» Alessan roared. «You're soaked.»

The erring handler, belatedly discovering that he had launched a full bucket of dirty water at the Weyrwoman and the Lord Holder, who didn't ought to be strolling along picket lines when everyone else was off watching the races, proffered Moreta a towel, but the rag had been used for many purposes and merely compounded the problem. Alessan was shouting for clean water and fresh clothes and the location of a vacant tent.

The commotion was sufficient to attract everyone not engrossed in the race just starting. Assistance was offered, and people began running here and there on Alessan's orders while Moreta stood, her beautiful new brown-and-gold gown plastered to her body. She tried to reassure the mortified handler that she took no offense, all the while knowing her long-awaited afternoon of racing was doomed. She might just as well summon Orlith and go back to the Weyr. She might get her death of cold going between in the soggy ruins of her Gather dress, but what choice had she now?

«I know this is not what you're accustomed to, Moreta,» Alessan was saying, pulling at her sleeve to get her attention. «But it's clean and it's dry and will do to watch the rest of the races. I can't be sure if my mother's ladies or my sister can get your gown and cloak dry by evening, but I am certain that suitable gowns will be displayed in the Hold for your consideration when the races are over.»

Alessan was holding out a clean brown shift in one hand, sandals and a pretty belt of colored cords in the other. He was gesturing toward the race manager's striped tent when the handler rushed up with clean, steaming water in his bucket and a bundle of clean towels draped over his shoulder.

«Come, Moreta, do let us set things to rights?» The softly spoken appeal and the very real distress evident in Alessan's eyes and manner would have swayed a character far more obdurate than Moreta's.

«And yourself, Alessan?» she asked courteously as she bundled her soaking skirts for the short walk to the tent. The right side of Alessan's Gather finery was soaked.

«You, I fear, took the brunt. I'll dry out in the sun. While we watch the races?» His sly question was part entreaty.

«I'll be quick.» She took the fresh clothing and let the handler place the bucket and cloths in the tent then she entered, dropping the flap.

Her undershift was wet as well, so she was pleased that the brown shift was woven of a sturdy fabric. Her hair was gritty from the slop water, which had been used to sponge down a runner's dusty legs. She buried her head quickly in the clean water, washed her face and arms thoroughly, making lavish use of the supply of cloths. She was dressed and outside the tent just as the cheers announced the finish of the fourth race.

«Now I believe that you were once a holder lass,» Alessan said with a soft chuckle. He handed her a full goblet of wine. «The Benden did not get wet.»

«Well, that's luck!»

The handler bobbed an approach, apologizing and bowing and generally so abasing himself that Moreta cut him short by remarking that worse things had come flying out of a picket line, and she was grateful it was no more than dirty water. Alessan escorted her toward the finish line.

«Last one was a sprint, only five entries,» he mentioned as they walked.

«And Squealer wasn't entered?» She laughed as Alessan gave her a pained look, imitating Dag.

The next races were exciting enough to make up for those she had missed and to blot out the tragedy of the second. She and Alessan, looking far less the Lord of the Hold with his fine clothes puckered and soiled, found themselves vantages near the finish and sipped wine. They made private bets about winners when Moreta refused to allow Alessan to mark her with the wagermen. She enjoyed, too, being right in the midst of the racing crowd as she had so often been as a young girl in Keroon, in the company of her childhood friend Talpan. She hadn't thought of him in Turns.

An enterprising baker passed among the finish-line crowds with a tray of hot spiced rolls. Moreta hadn't realized how hungry she was until the aroma wafted over to her.

«I'm host today,» Alessan said, noticing her reaction. He took her arm and they pushed their way through to the baker.

The flaky pastry was stuffed with a savory mix, and Moreta quickly devoured three rolls.

«Don't they feed you in the Weyr on a Gather day?» Alessan asked.

«Oh, the stew pot's always simmering in the Cavern,» she replied, licking her fingers appreciatively. «But stew wouldn't taste half as good as these spiced rolls do right now.»

Alessan was eyeing her, a curious expression on his face.

«You're not at all what I expected in Weyrwoman Moreta,» he said in a candid tone that captured her complete attention. Wearily she wondered what Sh'gall had said of her. Alessan went on, «I got to know Leri rather well. She usually stays on for a word with the ground crews …»

«I would if I could,» Moreta said, countering his tacit criticism, «but I have to return to the Weyr immediately after Fall.»

«Have to?» Alessan's right eye quirked high.

«Did you never wonder who takes care of dragon injuries?» She spoke more sharply than she intended because she had been able to forget that they would rise to Fall in two more days, and more dragons might be injured. «I'd thought that the Weyr must have the best of the healers, of course.» Alessan's reply was so formal that Moreta regretted the quick retort. She laid her hand on his arm, hoping to restore the ease of their relationship.

«I never realized it might be you.» He smiled and covered her hand with his. «What about another spiced roll before someone else eats them all?»

«Lord Alessan …» Dag came rolling up to them. «Runel's going on about Squealer being a sport. I tol'im the breeding, but he won't take it from me.» Alessan's expression became pained, and he closed his eyes briefly.

«I was hoping to avoid Runel this Gather.»

«You done pretty well with everyone else, Lord, but I can't do this for you.» Alessan inhaled the breath of one resigned.

«Who's Runel?» Moreta asked. The two men regarded her with astonishment. «You mean, you've escaped Runel?» Amusement chased resignation from Alessan's expression. «Well, you must meet him at least once.»

Dag made a sound, half protest, half fear.

«And the race is due to start,» Alessan reminded Dag. «Weyrwoman, that's the only thing, short of Fall, that will halt Runel's recitations.»

By now, Moreta was intrigued.

«He's over there, with those cronies of his.» Dag pointed.

Moreta noted first that the three men stood isolated by a clear space from any immediate neighbors. Two were holders by their badges, one from Fort and the other wearing Ruathan colors; the third was a wizened herdsman whose clothes reeked of his craft despite the fact that they looked well brushed. The tallest of the men, the Ruathan holder, drew himself up proudly as he noticed Alessan's I approach. He spared Moreta only a passing glance.

«About that sprinter of mine, Runel,» Alessan began briskly, addressing himself to the herdsman. «I bred the beast myself, four Turns ago, out of the sprint mare Dextra, Lord Leef's by Vander's brown stallion, Evest.»

Runel's expression altered dramatically. He threw back his head and unfocused his eyes, wide-opened. «Alessan's sprinter, Squealer, won the first sprint race at the Ruathan Gather, third month, forty third Turn of the sixth Pass, bred by Alessan out of Dextra, five times winner at sprint races in the west, Leef by Vander's Evest which was nine times winner over sprint distances. Dextra's sire, twice winner, by Dimnal out of Tran, nineteen times winner. Dimnal by Fairex out of Crick, Fairex …»

«There he goes,» Dag said to Moreta in an undertone, shaking his head ruefully.

«He just keeps on?»

«And on and on. He'll recite the lineage of Squealer back to the Crossing,» Alessan murmured, standing with hands clasped in front of him and seeming to give Runel the courtesy of his attention.

«He's only good with western racing, though,» Dag added critically.

«He's eidetic? I've heard about them, but I've never heard one personally.»

«Just give him a name of a racer and he's away. Trouble is he has to start at the beginning.»

«Isn't he starting at the end with Squealer's win today?»

Runel's voice had settled into the sing-song of winners, sires, and dams.

«The latest race is his beginning, Lady Moreta.»

«Does he go to all the Gathers?»

«Those he can get to.» Dag shot Alessan a look.

I would be surprised if the Lord Holder knows half the races Runel attends, Moreta thought to herself.

«He's not much good otherwise, that's certain,» Alessan said, unconcerned. «My father saw that the oldest sons were well apprenticed. Runel's memory serves a purpose,»

«Bore you to death, it would,» Dag muttered unappreciatively, glancing over his shoulder at the race flats. «It's starting!» Reprieve was the overwhelming emotion. «Race!» he said in a loud voice directly at Runel.

Runel's companions began to tug at his arms. «Race, Runel! Race is starting!»

Runel came out of his recitation trance and looked about in surprise.

«Race is starting, Runel,» the Fort holder said reassuringly as he began to guide the eidetic toward the finish line.

Alessan drew Moreta to one side, and Dag scurried behind the Lord Holder while the trio marched off. Moreta could not help but see that a path cleared before Runel more quickly than if Alessan and she had wished passage.

«You should hear him on the 'begats.'»

«As you have?»

«Indeed and I have, at every birthfeast.» Alessan spoke with feeling and rolled his eyes upward.

«I'd've thought the man would be more valuable in the Harper Hall than in a hold.»

«My father had the good sense to prevent that.»

«Why? With that memory …»

«Because his granduncle was a harper here and remembered more than was prudent on too many occasions.» Alessan grinned with malice. «I think my grandsire made sure to turn the trait to less … ah, shall we say … remunerative topics? I believe there have always been blood relations in the Harper Hall, undoubtedly in the Records Rooms, scanning hides and committing them to memory before the ink fades completely.»

They found a place at the line and observed the hotly contested finish of the sixth race. As they passed the wait for the next race, they overheard bits and snatches of conversations. References to the new Lord Holder and the quality of the Gather were in the main complimentary, though Moreta enjoyed Alessan's discomfiture at some of the candid remarks. The weather dominated most discussions.

«Too warm, too soon. We'll melt this summer.»

«Can't say as I mind mild days instead of rain and blizzard, but it ain't natural. Upsets the rhythm of the Turn.»

«M'herds won't settle with insects hanging on in the warm, pestering 'em. Terrible cases of sores. Beasts don't want to eat. Don't want to move. Muddle and moan together, they do.» «A bit of frost would do us the world of good. Freeze down those tunnel snakes. Breeding fierce they are this year with no cold to lay 'em.»

«Can't decide to shear now for a short crop and give 'em relief from the heat or let 'em lose condition panting under long hair.»

«We needs us some snow. We needs it to kill what grubs beneath the soil, what sucks life from our good seed, and what makes a field sour. We needs frost and snow in good measure.»

«You ought to be relieved, Alessan, that all they complain about is the weather. After all, no holder expects the Lord Holder to be able to change the weather. The Weyrs do that, you know.» She pulled her mouth down in a grimace that made him grin.

The final race had a surprise ending for two runners crossed the finish line, right in front of Moreta and Alessan, without so much as a nose between them. The argument over which animal won grew so heated that Alessan came forward to mediate, dragging Moreta with him. To settle what could have been a nasty situation, Alessan loudly proclaimed that he doubled the purse so that neither contender would be disappointed for the fine excitement they had provided the Gather.

That was just the right decision to end the race meeting on a high note. Owners, riders, handlers, and spectators dispersed from the flats in the best of all spirits.

«You're a sensibly generous man, Alessan.»

«I thank you. Lady Moreta. Ah, just in time,» he said, and Moreta turned as a handler led up a big-boned, long-backed runnerbeast saddled with a thick pad in Ruathan colors. «My lady, your mount.»

«This is what your father expected you to breed?»

«This is what I did breed for my father,» Alessan replied with a broad grin. «Squealer's type was a bonus.» He gave her a leg up and waited while she hooked her leg on the broad pommel before he swung up behind her.

«I think I prefer your Squealer,» she said as the beast lurched forward at Alessan's urging.

«There speaks the racing enthusiast, not the prudent holder.» He turned his head left as they moved off across the stubble field, and Moreta knew that Alessan had only deferred the puzzle of the empty picket lines for the duration of the races.

«It's not like Ratoshigan to miss a chance for Ruathan marks. They could sail right up the Ruathan River,» Alessan said, giving her a tight smile for his inattention. «Soover, you know him from Southern Boll, ought to have come short of Fall, fire, or fog. I hadn't realized that the weather, for all your unwillingness to change it, was of such widespread concern.»

«There's no lack of people at this Gather,» Moreta said. The stalls were still doing a good business despite the numbers attracted by the racing.

People had already begun to take places at the tables about the dancing square. The aromas of roasting meats wafted enticingly on the wind, the pungency of spiced wherry dominating.

Alessan had ridden straight up across the field and now turned their mount up the roadway. Moreta glanced up to the fire-heights, covered in sun-baking dragons. There seemed to be more, and she noticed Orlith flanked by another queen. Tamianth of the High Reaches, judging by her size and color.

«Some creatures like the sun and the warm,» Alessan said. «Does all the sunning help them endure the cold of between?»

Moreta shivered involuntarily, and Alessan's arms tightened about her. She rather enjoyed the unexpected intimacy.

«When we fly Thread, I'm grateful to the cold of between,» she replied obliquely, her thoughts on the Fall in two days.

Then Alessan reined the beast up the ramp to the forecourt, its heavy feet clumping hollowly and alerting the guests there. Moreta waved cheerfully at Falga, the High Reaches Weyrwoman.

«Wasn't your new gown ready, Moreta?» Falga asked as she walked to meet them while Alessan halted their mount.

«A new gown?» Alessan's startled question fell on Moreta's ears only.

«You'll see it next Gather, Falga,» Moreta replied blithely. «This is my race-watching dress.»

«Oh, you and your races!» Falga smiled tolerantly and turned back to the holders with whom she'd been talking.

Suddenly Tolocamp appeared, his genial smile not completely masking his disapproval of Moreta's dusty appearance.

«I'll just slide off, thank you. Lord Tolocamp,» she said, politely ignoring his offer of assistance.

«If you'll follow me, Lady Moreta,» Lady Oma said, breaking through the press of people and taking charge.

Relieved to be able to retire gracefully from Tolocamp's critical gaze, Moreta followed Alessan's mother. In the instant her eyes met Lady Oma's, Moreta knew the woman disapproved of her as much as Tolocamp did but more for upsetting her own plans for her son's afternoon entertainment than for Moreta's hoyden behavior. As they proceeded through the Hall, splendidly decorated for the Gather, and up the stairs into the Hold's private corridors, Moreta felt the weight of Lady Oma's rebuke in her silence. In Lady Oma's own apartments, however, a variety of gowns, skirts, and tunics had been hastily assembled, and from the bathroom drifted the moist scent of perfumed water and the giggles of the girls who were preparing it.

«Your gown has been cleaned, Lady Moreta,» Lady Oma said, closing the door behind Moreta. «But I doubt it will be dry before the dancing.» She cast a measuring glance at Moreta, ignoring the dusty brown shift. «You're thinner than I'd thought. Perhaps the rust …» She indicated the garment, then canceled that suggestion with an impatient gesture of her other hand. It was reminiscent of Alessan. «It is in no way comparable to your own gown. This green one is more suited to your rank.»

Moreta went to the rust dress, fingering the texture of the plain but soft fabric. She held it up to her waist and shoulders. The fit would be good through the body, though the skirt was short above her ankles. She glanced at the fine material of the green dress. She'd sweat in it dancing the way she intended to dance for having lost part of her racing.

«The rust will do very well, and I'm grateful for the loan of it.» She smiled around at the women in the room, trying to locate the donor but no one met her glance. «This will be fine. I won't be long,» she added, smiling again as she entered the bathing room and pulled the curtain across. She hoped they would all take the hint and leave.

She lolled longer in the warm scented water than she intended, easing muscles made tense by the afternoon's excitements. Only when she finally emerged and was rubbing her hair dry did she hear a noise in the outer chamber and realize that someone was waiting for her.

«Lady Oma?» she called out, dreading the answer.

«No, it's only Oklina,» an apologetic young voice replied.

«Did you find the shift?»

«I'm in it.»

«Do you need help with your hair?»

«It's short enough to dry quickly.»

«Oh!»

Moreta smiled to herself for the chagrin in the young voice. «I'm distressingly self-sufficient, Lady Oklina,» Moreta said, pulling the rust dress over her head, «except that I cannot do up the back of the gown.» She pulled the curtain aside as Oklina rushed forward, nearly colliding with Moreta and almost collapsing with embarrassment at her awkwardness.

Oklina bore a marked resemblance to her brother but none to Lady Oma, if indeed the woman was the girl's mother. The dark complexion, which suited Alessan, did nothing for the girl yet she had a sensitivity in her face and a grace of movement that had its own appeal. And, Moreta noted enviously, thick long black plaits gleamed in the well-lit room.

«I'm awfully sorry it's only me. Lady Moreta, but it's time to serve the roasts and with so many guests …» Oklina deftly settled the bodice to Moreta's hips and began lacing the back.

«If I had been watching where I walked,»

«Oh, Marl wanted to sink into the ground with the slops. Lady Moreta. He rushed here to us with your gown and hovered in the washroom, fretting about the stains. You must have been furious to have a new gown ruined in the first wearing, before you had a chance to show it off or dance in it.» Oklina's voice reflected her awe, which was quite understandable since she was obviously wearing a dress handed down from older sisters.

«I shall dance much more easily in this.» Moreta twitched experimentally at the rust skirts.

«Alessan sent word that you had to be enticed with a gown pretty enough to make you stay for the dancing.»

«Oh?»

«Oh!» Oklina's eyes widened at her indiscretion, and she blinked back sudden tears, her expression very solemn. «He hasn't been to a Gather or danced or sung or been himself since Suriana died. Not even when he became Lord Holder. Tell me, was he pleased when Squealer won?»

«Ecstatic!» Moreta smiled gently at the girl's obvious adoration of her brother. «Creditable win, too. Five lengths.»

«And he actually smiled? And enjoyed himself?» At Moreta's reassurance, the girl clasped her hands under her chin, her dark eyes shining. «I did see the start,» her expressive face clouded briefly, «and heard the yells. I'll bet the loudest was from Alessan. Did you see Squealer afterward? And you met Dag. Dag is never far from that runner. He's been so devoted. He knows so much about racing because he rode for Lord Leef before he got so old. He can spot winners every time. He had faith in Alessan's breeding when everyone else thought he ought to give it up before Lord Leef,» Oklina broke off with a gasp. «I talk too much.»

«I've been listening.» Moreta was not unaccustomed to outpourings of repressed emotions. «I think Squealer is going to repay all the time and effort Alessan, and Dag, have put into him.»

«Oh, do you really think so?» The prospect brought a fresh spasm of delight to Oklina. «Listen, the harpers have begun.» At the sound of music, the girl wheeled to the window, its metal shutters open to the darkening sky.

«Well, then, let's go dance. It's time to enjoy ourselves.»

For a moment, Oklina looked apprehensive, as if she wouldn't be allowed to enjoy herself. Younger members of Hold families were often saddled with the onerous duties of a Gather, but Moreta would make it a point to see that Oklina did dance. The girl smiled graciously and gestured for Moreta to precede her from the room.

The corridors and the Hall were empty, but drudges were opening the glowbaskets arranged on the forecourt as Moreta and Oklina hastened by. Moreta paused on the ramp, to look up to the fireheights. Orlith slept, eyes closed, in the setting sun, likely to remain somnolent until the evening breeze chilled the air. Other dragons, their rainbow-colored eyes gleaming, watched the scene below.

«Oh!» Oklina's tone was a yip of delighted fear. «They are such awesome creatures.» She paused, then blurted out, «Were you terribly scared?»

«When I Impressed? Very much so. The Search reached my father's hold the very day of Impression. I was scooped up and taken to Ista in a scurry, told to change, and then shoved onto the Hatching Ground before I knew exactly what was taking place. Orlith,» and Moreta could never suppress an exultant smile at the memory, «forgave me for being late!»

«Ohhhh,» Oklina expelled a long sigh of bliss.

Moreta waited, recognizing the girl's yearning to be found on Search and to impress a queen dragon. Once when faced with such envious yearnings, Moreta had felt unaccountable guilt over her good fortune at Impressing Orlith, her friend, her sure consolation, her life. That reaction had gradually been replaced by the knowledge of the great gap between wish, fulfillment, and acceptance. So Moreta could smile kindly at Oklina while her mind reached out to her sleeping dragon. «If my brother hadn't been my father's successor, he might have been a dragonrider,» Oklina confided to Moreta in a sudden whisper.

«Really?» Moreta was startled. She hadn't heard that Ruatha Hold had been approached for one of its sons, not since she joined the Weyr ten Turns before.

«Dag told me.» And Oklina nodded her head vigorously to support her statement. «It was twelve Turns ago. Dag said Lord Leef was in a fury because Alessan was to be the heir, and though Lord Leef told the dragonriders they could have any other member of his Hold, Dag said that no one else was acceptable to the dragons, how do dragons know?»

«Search dragons know,» Moreta said in a mysterious voice, a rote reply after so many repetitions. «Each Weyr has dragons who sense the potential in youngsters.» Moreta deepened the mystery in her voice. «There are folk, weyrborn, who've known dragons and riders all their lives who don't Impress, and complete strangers, like myself, who do. The dragons always know.»

«The dragons always know …» Oklina's whisper was half prayer, half imprecation. She stole a quick look up the fire-heights as if she feared the somnolent dragons might take offense if they heard.

«Come, Oklina,» Moreta said briskly. «I'm dying to dance.»