Dragon's Time

SIX

The sun rose steadily, in the sky. Keeping pace with it, a trio of lights glowed, always in track with the dawn. The Dawn Sisters.

They traveled alone, brilliant orbs of the morning sky. For five hundred Turns and more they had lit the morning sky of Pern. Alone.

A flicker of movement appeared beside them, so small that no one on the planet below would have noticed. But, for the first time in hundreds of Turns, the Dawn Sisters had company.

Lorana looked silently at the three huge shapes floating near her. Only one was close enough to see clearly and it hung almost above her, brilliant and blinding.

Her breath grew cold and it became harder to breathe.

Come on, Minith, back.

And, presently, the Dawn Sisters were alone once more.

Back from the cold of between, Lorana took several deep breaths, favoring the warm air near Igen while she plotted her next move.

That was fun, Minith told her. Are we going again?

Are you ready?

Soon, Minith said. Lorana laughed at the queen’s honesty. As her understanding of Minith grew, Lorana began to wonder more and more about Tullea, past, present, and future. The queen was comfortable with her and not overly worried about being away from her rider—that had to say something good about Tullea. And then there was B’nik. The Benden Weyrleader was a fundamentally good man and devoted to Tullea. Prickly, difficult, stubborn, opinionated, vengeful—yes, those were all parts of Tullea. But kind, loyal, loving, and honest were also in her character.

I’m ready, Minith announced. Lorana chuckled and climbed back onto the queen’s neck, shelving her consideration of the queen’s rider for a later time.

Very well, Lorana thought, forming the image of the coordinates in her mind. Let’s go.

This time they arrived not in the glare of the large ship but in its shadow. Lorana had learned from the previous two jumps that they would have minutes before the air turned too cold and thin to breathe. On the first jump, she’d brought Minith as high into the sky as she could imagine, looked at the bright lights of the Dawn Sisters and had re-imagined the image as closer and brighter to get even nearer to them. With the view from their second jump, she was now able to bring them this close.

In the great ships’ shadows, Lorana could look down on Pern below her without being blinded by the reflected glare of the Dawn Sisters. She took a quick look up at the ship closest to her and saw that it was named Yokohama. The name tripped off the tongue easily.

Below her, in crystal clarity, lay Pern. She could make out the eastern coastline, bathed in the light of morning, and, farther westward, the dim shadow-shrouded middle of the continent with Telgar and Igen. She tried to pick out the Weyrs but couldn’t: The distance was too great and clouds added some confusion to her view.

The snowy wastes of the north reflected the sun brightly, nearly blindingly, and Lorana looked away from them quickly, blinking to clear her eyes.

It’s time, she said, as she felt the first chill in the air around her.

Back once more on Pern, Lorana found herself looking at everything with new eyes. She had never truly realized how beautiful her planet was, how amazing that it could hold life, that it held all of them protected from the harsh chill of space.

She realized that, following the Dawn Sisters, it would take a full day to see all of Pern. No, she thought to herself, not a full day—just parts of one. The sun lit a full third of the planet—say, a quarter if allowing for the confusion of the shadows of sunset and sunrise. If she timed it right, it would take her only four more jumps to see all of the planet.

I’m tired, Minith confessed. Can we rest?

We’ve got all the time we need, Lorana assured her, climbing down and leaning against the queen’s belly. We should go carefully, we’re going far higher than is safe.

I could feel it, Minith agreed. The cold coming in and the air getting bad. After a moment she added with a tone of surprise, I think I can hold the air longer, keep the cold out.

You hold the air? Lorana repeated in surprise.

It comes with us, Minith said. When we go between, we bring it and it comes with us when we come out of between.

And you could hold it? Lorana asked. Something nagged at her, something more than just the beauty of their homeworld, something more than just the peril of their time. She shook her head and the moment passed. Holding air, Lorana thought as she closed her eyes with a deep sigh. Something to do with holding air.

I could, Minith agreed sleepily.

They awoke when the sun had set and it turned cold.

Ready? Lorana asked Minith as the queen roused herself.

Cold, the queen told her. I’ll need to eat after.

We’ve missed a meal, Lorana agreed and she climbed up and strapped herself in firmly. Can you hold the air this time? I’ll try.

Minith cupped air, leaped upward, and, with Lorana’s sure guidance, went between between one downbeat of her wings and the next.

The Dawn Sisters were above them once more, the great Yokohama nearest. Below them, Benden and the east coast were dark, dim. The west of the continent was now bathed in sunlight from the edges of Telgar all the way to Tillek Tip. Lorana picked up the spot where she knew Tillek Hold lay, but could make out no sign, except perhaps splotches that marked different fields outlying the hold. She looked down the length of the coast, toward Southern Boll, shimmering on the horizon, nearly out of sight.

It was so beautiful she felt her heart ache with joy and love for her planet.

No one has seen this in five hundred Turns! she thought to Minith in awe. And it’s beautiful.

I’m holding the air, Minith said excitedly. Can you feel it?

I can, Lorana said approvingly, not the least perturbed that the queen deemed the vista spreading beneath them less noteworthy than her own very remarkable feat. It was clear that somehow Minith had brought even more air with them or was holding it better than before. Well done, Minith.

Lorana took another long look down, sighing at the beauty beneath her. She had seen all the northern continent, her home. Aside from the snowy wastes, she could see no place that was not already fully occupied where it might be possible to raise weyrlings to maturity.

Besides, there’s the food, Lorana thought to herself, realizing how her stomach was grumbling.

Come on, Minith, let’s eat, Lorana said, imagining the perfect place for the queen to hunt. It would require going back in time some more—to a time when the game she wanted would be plentiful—but Lorana could easily imagine it and they would make it in one slightly longer jump between.

Eagerly the queen agreed and they winked out, leaving the Dawn Sisters once more in sole possession of their vantage point over Pern.

Lorana allowed herself a pleased smile as Minith bugled in pleasure as she sighted her prey. The queen leaped and pounced, tearing down one of the large, unwary, herdbeasts that had grazed for Turns unmolested in the canyons and plateaus near the abandoned Igen Weyr.

Game was plentiful here, far more so than she’d been led to believe from Fiona’s tales of Igen Weyr—the settling of which was some months still in the future of this time. Perhaps, it was just that Fiona, daughter of a Lord Holder, wasn’t as well-versed in managing herdbeasts as Lorana, daughter of a herdmaster.

She felt Minith’s delight as she gorged on the hot blood of the fresh kill, felt her tearing into the warm flesh and savagely ripped meat from the carcass as she slaked her hunger.

Lorana’s stomach rumbled, reminding her that the queen dragon wasn’t the only one who needed food. She’d drunk her plenty from the nearby stream that fed the Igen river, but, thirst quenched, her hunger redoubled.

I could get you a beast, Minith offered with a flash of joy mixed with pride as she imagined herself hunting and tearing down another one of the large herdbeasts.

It would be a waste, Lorana said. I don’t eat as much as you.

Minith gave the mental equivalent of a draconic shrug and continued happily chewing on her meal, freely relaying every hunger slaked, every morsel of meat torn.

There had to be traders nearby. They would have fire-lizards, too, Minith could track them on those—fire-lizards liked talking with dragons.

Fire-lizards. Lorana closed her eyes and sighed as she thought of Grenn and Garth. She was still immensely pleased to know that Grenn had survived the fantastic trip back in time, the evidence of which was in the three-linked locket that Tullea had found in the Ancient Rooms when they’d been working on the cure for the dragon sickness.

Tullea had only given Lorana the locket when she’d come back from High Reaches Weyr with her queen cured of the illness. That locket had included Grenn’s picture—he was perched on the shoulder of a scar-faced man. Was Minith protected from disease now that she had had the cure? Should Lorana worry about re-infecting the queen?

She thought for a moment and shook her head. The cure made the sickness impossible. The disease could not spread to Minith, her body had been so completely changed. Someday, perhaps another illness might come that could affect the dragons, but it would be thousands of Turns at least. For now, no dragon inoculated with the cure could catch the sickness. That much, Lorana admitted with a bittersweet feeling, she’d accomplished.

Lorana, Minith spoke to her softly, look up.

Lorana peered upward and saw a small green figure hovering above her.

Hello, Lorana thought to the fire-lizard. Are you hungry?

I’ve plenty, I can share, Minith added. The fire-lizard turned toward the queen in the distance, squawked in surprise and disappeared between.

Minith, Lorana added thoughtfully, could you kill another for the fire-lizard?

It won’t eat as much as you, Minith remarked, even as she leaped into the air, searching out a fresh kill.

Kill it cleanly, please; it’s going to be my lunch, too, I suspect.

I thought you liked yours only after you’d flamed it all smoky, Minith responded, her tone tinged with curiosity.

I suspect I’ll get my smoky fire and cooking soon enough, Lorana said, rising to her feet and scanning the horizon. Your kill will give me something to trade.

Soon enough, Lorana spotted the distinct shapes of several trader drays lumbering on the horizon. She was in a cool, grassy spot while they still toiled with their wide wheels in the desert sand and heat.

She waited. The green fire-lizard returned, skittishly scouting the area out. He gave a small sound of delight as he noticed the fresh kill, but at Minith’s urging, he took a bite only from the queen’s leftovers. Minith said approvingly, That’s right, the other is for the humans.

The humans arrived soon enough. A very tall man, with shoulders so broad and muscled he looked as though he could lift one of the workbeasts himself, left the lead dray and approached her slowly, his eyes squinting against the light. From Fiona’s description, she knew he was Azeez, the trader who had helped—or would help—the injured dragonriders and young weyrlings who would shortly come back in time to Igen Weyr to recover and grow into maturity. And he had piercing green eyes, so like those that Tenniz had spoken of when describing his wife.

Standing back by the dray was a tall, lanky boy. He was younger than when she’d last seen him, but very recognizable as Tenniz.

“Is Javissa your daughter, then, that she is with Tenniz?” Lorana asked as the man came within earshot.

The man’s eyes widened and he stopped, taken aback. He glanced beyond her to the gold hide of Minith.

“I do not know what you are talking about,” the man replied haughtily.

“That’s Tenniz beyond you,” Lorana said, pointing. “He sees the future.” She sighed, her expression sad. “He and I will meet in the future.”

“In the future?” Azeez repeated. He gestured for Tenniz to join them. Tenniz rapped on the side of the dray and, as he moved to join them, a figure emerged from within the dray, taking guard. Lorana caught a glimpse of green eyes, a smattering of freckles on a swarthy face, jet-black hair, a trim figure.

“Javissa,” Lorana breathed, surprised not only at the accuracy of Tenniz’s description of her, but also of her beauty. She was truly as remarkable, with her pure, piercing green eyes and delicately etched face, as Tenniz had said.

“What did you say?” Azeez asked, moving closer toward her so as to keep the others out of her sight.

“I said Javissa,” Lorana said, moving slightly to one side so that she could see beyond him and nodding toward the lithe form climbing down to take guard position beside the dray. “She is beautiful.” She cocked her head at him. “She’s your daughter?”

“She is,” Azeez admitted. “But how do you know this?” Azeez had a good reason for the question. His dark eyes were nothing like his daughter’s, his features were more broad, and his build was large and massive, while Javissa’s was thin and light.

“Tenniz,” Lorana said, gesturing to the approaching youth who raised his head at her naming.

“How long have they been married?” Lorana asked.

“They’ve been together for most of their lives,” Azeez said. Lorana detected some hidden feeling in the older man’s voice, as though he didn’t approve of their union, but had resigned himself to it. “They’ve been partnered now for three.”

“And they have just one child?” Lorana asked, her eyes going to Javissa’s figure, spotting the signs of a nursing mother; signs that in her slim shape were only subtle hints. Lorana saw the way Azeez tensed nervously and she stretched her arms out at her side, palms out.

“I’m sorry, I know this may be a great shock to you,” she said. “In this time, we’ve never met, but I’ve heard about you.” Her eyes cut toward Tenniz. It was hard to see this young man with the memory of the cairn at Red Butte still fresh in her mind. “And I’ve met you already.”

“In the future,” Azeez breathed, his eyes going wide and worried as he turned his gaze from her to Tenniz behind him and back again.

“You are the beacon!” Tenniz said as he took in Lorana fully. He raced up toward her and dropped to one knee in front of her. “How may we help you?”

“I thought to trade,” Lorana said, smiling down at the serious young man and wondering what he could possibly mean by “beacon.” Behind him, she heard Azeez gasp in surprise—the word clearly had significance to him. Her stomach growled, reminding her to attend first to her business. Explanations could wait for later.

“Minith was kind enough to dispatch a large herdbeast, I was hoping to trade you the raw meat for a cooked meal, and perhaps some conversation.” She paused and looked beyond to the dray. “Is Mother Karina with you? I would like to meet her.”

Not long afterward, Lorana found herself in a circle with eight traders around a small fire, its flames barely visible in the afternoon sun. Lorana watched as they prepared the carcass, carefully saving the skin and other choice pieces, while carving the meat into smaller, manageable portions.

In the shadiest spot, Mother Karina sat on a stool and, nearby, Javissa, also ensconced on one of the light canvas stools, was feeding her baby.

“She’s the one?” Mother Karina asked Tenniz.

“Yes.”

Mother Karina eyed Lorana for a long while. “Do you have any trader blood?”

“My father was a beastmaster, we roamed between Benden, Bitra, and Lemos,” Lorana said, shaking her head. She was surprised by the knowing looks exchanged between some of the traders.

“The Plague?” Mother Karina asked.

“No,” Lorana said, deciphering her cryptic question. “My father was killed after by a blow to the head from a frightened beast.”

“Your mother?”

“Mother, brother, and sister were all taken by the Plague,” Lorana said, the pain of that loss welling up once more in her heart. She could take Minith to see them, save them—her lips tightened and she shook her head slightly as she banished the thought: if she could have done it, she would have, just as J’trel had told her over a Turn ago—rather, Turns in the future still to come. You cannot break time, she reminded herself, her eyes straying sadly to the young Tenniz.

“So, you said you wish to trade,” Mother Karina said.

“I thought just—” Lorana broke off, remembering spatterings of conversations with Fiona. She hadn’t heard all about their trip back in time to Igen, but she had heard enough, and more when she’d been given Tenniz’s locket. Her hand twitched and she moved to place it out of sight under her tunic.

Her movement was her undoing, for Tenniz gestured toward her, asking, “May I see it?”

“Do you know what it is?”

Tenniz frowned. “I see snatches of the future,” he admitted, “not all of it.” He shook his head as though giving up on his chance for one fragment of the future. “I know it is important.”

“It is dangerous to know too much about the future,” Lorana cautioned.

Tenniz smiled and nodded firmly. “That I understand.”

Lorana found herself grinning back, almost able to forget her last moments with him; moments in her past, but still in his future.

“It does no good to cry about what will be,” Lorana murmured to herself, struggling to hold back tears.

At that moment, Tenniz broke into a wracking cough. Lorana recognized it and was surprised that she hadn’t heard it from him before now—clearly the cough got worse as time went on.

“True,” Tenniz said when he recovered, glancing swiftly at Javissa and then back to Lorana, “but it is also foolish to hold back grief when it comes.”

“So we should cry today for what will be tomorrow?”

“We should cry when we hurt, let the tears cleanse us, and move on,” Tenniz replied.

Mother Karina cleared her throat loudly, catching their attention and said somewhat emphatically, “Perhaps I should let you two conduct the trade.”

“I’ve said that before,” Tenniz agreed dryly. Karina glared at him, but the younger man did not flinch.

“You would give away everything,” Karina swore.

“And what’s the harm in that,” Lorana wondered, “if the one you trade with does the same?”

Karina and several of the traders looked astounded at the notion.

“Profit comes when both feel they had fair bargain,” Lorana said.

“You are a trader!” Karina exclaimed.

“My father used to say it,” Lorana said with a shrug. “I thought it only common sense.”

“Common sense among traders,” Azeez said, eyeing her intently. “Among crafters and holders, the thinking is different.”

“Worse, with dragonriders,” one of the others muttered darkly.

Lorana searched for the speaker but could not identifty him, so she chose to speak directly to Mother Karina. “I am a dragonrider, I was the daughter of a holder, and was considered by many to be a crafter.”

Karina’s eyes picked out the offending speaker, glaring, “Abab, you need to learn more of silence. Speak not for another month, and trade not for thrice that.”

Abab lowered his eyes, his face dark with shame.

“He has shamed us,” Javissa spoke up, shifting her baby from one arm to the other. She turned toward Lorana. “We are in your debt.”

“If hot mouths were not allowed to speak, there’d be no breezes,” Lorana said, dismissing the issue. Again the traders exchanged surprised looks. Lorana creased her brow. “Is that another trader saying?”

“It is,” Mother Karina agreed. “But Javissa speaks rightly in this.”

“Listen to her,” Tenniz said, his voice sounding odd, full of vision.

Lorana laughed, raised a finger and shook it at him. “Never pretend, you’ll fool no one!”

Tenniz flushed, but across from him Javissa’s voice peeled with laughter and she had to use both hands to hold her baby as she giggled. “I told you!”

“When you have told me your visions, they have had a sense of Power behind them,” Lorana said to the young man. “A sense of rightness, a strength that cannot be denied.” She frowned for a moment, adding, “It is akin to the dragons’ power.”

“You are not here by accident,” Mother Karina said. “What sent you?”

Lorana quickly glanced away from Tenniz, her eyes straying toward Javissa but the green-eyed woman was quick-witted and her eyes widened; she knew what had sent Lorana. Lorana shook her head at the girl, willing her to hold the secret, and Javissa gave her an imperceptible nod in response.

It was all for nothing.

“I did,” Tenniz said. His eyes met Lorana’s. “Our paths have crossed once already for you.”

“Yes,” Lorana agreed softly. “Some Turns in the future.”

“She’s the one?” Javissa blurted suddenly, her eyes on Tenniz.

Tenniz nodded bleakly.

“Why is it that you are to spend the last night with my husband?” Javissa demanded of Lorana.

“Instead of you?” Lorana guessed, shaking her head. “I do not know.”

“That’s not your dragon,” Tenniz said suddenly, as if fitting pieces of a puzzle together.

“Tullea is Minith’s rider,” Lorana agreed. “She offered her to me in exchange for—” Lorana broke off, not knowing what to reveal.

Tenniz didn’t hear her, his expression changing swiftly as he intoned, “The way forward is dark and long. A dragon gold is only the first price you’ll pay for Pern.”

“Is this true?” Karina breathed, looking at Lorana, then Tenniz, as the lad recovered from wherever he had been and sighed deeply with fatigue. “Have you paid with a dragon gold?”

Lorana nodded, the tears flowing from her eyes and she bowed her head into her hands, unable to look at the traders anymore, unable to think of anything save Arith and her own empty womb.

Arms surrounded her in silence. She smelled the warm, wet baby breath of little Jeriz, felt the kind warmth of Javissa, felt the strength of Azeez gathered behind her, felt Mother Karina’s arms on her shoulder, in her hair, caressing it while crooning wordlessly, felt Tenniz in front of her, his hands on her knees.

“In the name of all traders, I claim this one,” Karina spoke in a voice that was deep, melodious, authoritative.

“We hear this claim,” the traders chanted in response—even Abab spoke, clearly released for this from his silence, his voice firm, unwavering.

“Lorana is ours, flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood, until the ending of the days,” Karina continued.

“Flesh of flesh, blood of blood,” the others chanted back.

“As her heart wills, so shall we do,” Karina said. “Her price is our price, nothing is too great.”

“Her heart wills, we will pay the price,” the others chanted in response.

“I name you Beacon, the light of the way,” Tenniz’s voice spoke up, strong and vibrant.

“Beacon,” the traders agreed.

“Ask what you will of us, your price is paid,” Karina said, ending the ritual.

Lorana opened her eyes slowly in wonder, staring at the eyes surrounding her. In the distance, she felt Minith’s strong approval, the queen’s sense of rightness in this moment, of her own commitment.

“I cannot ask too much of you,” Lorana said out loud, meaning her words for Minith.

You hear my heart, Minith corrected her. You hear all the dragon hearts.

“There is nothing you cannot ask,” Javissa spoke for the traders, leaning closer to Lorana. She lowered her voice for Lorana’s ears alone as she explained, “The only offense you can give is not to ask in need.”

“I would not have you lose by it,” Lorana said. “Of course,” Tenniz agreed. “But you are Beacon. Traders will square accounts.”

“What do you mean by Beacon?” Lorana asked him.

Mother Karina answered, gesturing toward Tenniz. “Once in a generation, if we are lucky—and we try to be lucky—we are gifted with one who can see something of the future.”

Lorana nodded, she’d learned this already from the future Tenniz as well as from Jeila, Shaneese, and Fiona.

“In the hundreds of Turns since we’ve been on this planet,” Karina continued, “our seers have spotted several Beacons.”

Lorana gave her an inquiring look.

“One was Torene,” Azeez said.

“She could speak to any dragon,” Lorana said, recalling her Teaching Ballads. “Is a Beacon one who can speak to dragons?”

“More,” Karina said. “More even than we understand. All we know is that when we find a Beacon, we support her.”

“Always to our profit,” Azeez added.

“Sometimes in ways that take time to reveal,” Javissa said.

“But always to our profit,” Karina concluded. “So we know that supporting you will be to our benefit.”

“Which makes it easy to offer our help,” Tenniz said. He shook his head at Mother Karina.

“So, what help can we give you, Beacon?” Karina asked.

“Firstly, call me Lorana,” Lorana said. She paused then, as she remembered what Fiona had said about her journey to Igen Weyr and how the traders were ready for them, had laid in supplies.

“I think there is something you can do,” she said. “And I think it will be to your profit.”

Quickly she explained what she wanted, sketching out the details as she recalled. She spoke of medical supplies for the injured, of gathering food for about one hundred and fifty—she couldn’t quite remember the exact number and wondered if that was good enough or if she should go forward in time—

“Oh!” Lorana said, suddenly startled by her own thought. The others looked at her expectantly. She shook her head and apologized, “I hadn’t realized something.”

“You’ve no fear of secrets with us,” Karina vowed.

“Sometimes it is dangerous to know too much of the future,” Lorana said.

“True,” Tenniz agreed.

“Continue,” Karina said, nodding in acceptance.

“You will have to keep your fire-lizards from them,” Lorana said, continuing her train of thought. Moments later she was finished, having recalled all she could. As she waited for them to digest her proposal, certain looks and movements that had occured amongst them while she’d talked took on a new meaning, and she said, “You’ve been using Igen as a depot, right?”

Tenniz chuckled at the expressions of surprise on Azeez’s and Mother Karina’s faces. “Beacon!”

“We have,” Azeez agreed. “Do we need to stop?”

“It would help if you could clean the quarters somewhat,” Lorana said. “When they arrive, they’ll have injuries and younglings.”

“I see you didn’t answer the question,” Azeez said, eyes twinkling. “But we will do as you ask.”

“Thank you,” Lorana said. “And when you see them, say nothing of me.”

“Of course,” Karina agreed. “But it is getting later, we’ve had our meal, our custom is to rest in the shade before nightfall and then move on.”

Lorana yawned at the notion.

“Why don’t you join us?” Javissa offered. “You can sleep here, or in the caravan.”

“Here would be cooler,” Azeez noted. “A nap would be good,” Lorana agreed.

It took a while to settle, partly because Jeriz was fussy. Lorana held her arms out in offer to Javissa, who passed the baby over shyly and with only a trace of reluctance. Jeriz whimpered at first in the taller woman’s arms, but then smiled and drifted to sleep, rocked quickly to drowsiness by Lorana’s greater height, which gave her rocking motions greater sway.

“He never does that with strangers,” Javissa said in an awed whisper as she took him back and lay next to him on the pile of cushions that the other traders had set out.

“He’s nearing two, isn’t he?” Lorana asked, eyeing the boy. He was not large, his bones thin and small like his mother’s.

“People think he is younger,” Javissa said, with past affronts remembered.

“You are hoping for another?” Lorana said, just turning her words into a question at the last moment. Javissa nodded shyly. “A girl?” Javissa smiled. “Is that a seeing?”

“Most mothers want at least one girl if they’ve got a boy,” Lorana said, dodging the question. She yawned once more and closed her eyes, easing her breathing. Beside her she heard Javissa yawn in sympathy and then the ligher sounds of her breathing and the faster, much lighter sound of the baby.

It was near dark when she woke and she looked up suddenly, startled. Tenniz was staring down at her.

“I have seen you like this,” he said in a low voice laced with wonder and fear.

“You have,” Lorana agreed.

“You were sick, you needed help,” Tenniz said. “And I had everything I needed.”

“Yes.”

“I have an image of you crying, cold hard rocks, a flat high place,” Tenniz continued. Lorana lowered her chin in a nod, and sighed deeply, near a sob. “This is when we first met?”

“Yes,” Lorana said.

“And it makes you sad,” Tenniz observed with an expression of apology on his face.

“It was a good thing,” she assured him. “You helped more than you know.”

“Be careful when you say that to a seer!” Tenniz told her with a chuckle.

Lorana’s lips twitched upward in agreement.

“I couldn’t tell you at the time,” Lorana said, rolling to her side and propping herself on one arm. “I want you to know now that you helped me a great deal.”

“Thank you,” Tenniz said. “That’s a comfort.”

Lorana moved and pushed herself into a squatting position. Her head was slightly above Tenniz’s, but she met his eyes. “What do you know of that future?”

“That I can tell you?” Tenniz asked. Lorana nodded. “You’ve been there already.” Lorana nodded again. Tenniz shook his head in wonder at the notion. “Is it hard to travel through time?”

“Not so much physically as it is emotionally,” Lorana said, “at least, for me.”

Tenniz’s eyes took on a slightly wistful look, but he shook his head and cleared them before saying, “I know that I die before my daughter is born.”

“Is Javissa pregnant already?”

Tenniz shook his head. “We’re trying; soon.”

“What else do you know?”

“How do I know that I won’t tell you something you don’t know already?”

“I’ll stop you if you try,” Lorana swore. “And will you tell me things I don’t know?”

“Perhaps,” Lorana said. “If it seems right.”

“Fair enough,” Tenniz said after a moment. “I know that when we meet, I will die.” Lorana nodded. “And you will bury me.” Lorana’s eyes clouded with tears even as she nodded, her lips trembling. “And that will be a great honor. No seer has been buried by a Beacon.”

“It’s an honor I would prefer you avoid,” Lorana told him.

“Yes,” Tenniz agreed. He gave a sad sigh, then continued, “But we cannot break time.”

“J’trel tried; he failed,” Lorana agreed.

“Rides a blue in Ista, correct?”

Lorana nodded. “He saved my life.”

“All honor to him.”

The rest of the camp stirred. Jeriz was tetchy and calmed, once more, in Lorana’s arms. She passed him back reluctantly, saying, “I must go.”

“Will we see you again?” Karina asked.

Lorana shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said truthfully. Then, with a grin, she pointed at Tenniz. “Ask him.”

Where are we going? Minith asked as they rose above the clearing in the star-lit night.

The Dawn Sisters, Lorana told her. Let’s see what they see. She formed the image in her mind, and Minith took them between.

Lorana paid no attention to the great ships above and beside her, peering instantly over Minith’s neck to view the ground below. As she’d hoped, Tillek tip and the west coast of Pern were just barely visible as dark smudges on the horizon. Below her, bathed in sunlight—

“I never heard of this!” Lorana said in astonishment. She was about to order Minith down to the new land spreading below them when she felt it.

Something stirred nearby. She turned in her seat, craned her neck up, looking for movement. Only the three great ships, Yokohama nearest. The ship appeared no different but it felt different.

Almost … Lorana tried to recall a memory of a similar feeling. Yes, almost but not quite like what she’d felt at Tillek when they’d returned the ancient artifacts to the sea. Something had been alive there, in the deeps off Tillek tip.

Tentatively she stretched her senses. Nothing. Or perhaps … something sleeping, dreaming deep thoughts unlike any she’d felt before.

Minith, do you feel something?

Cold, the dragon replied instantly.

Let’s go, Lorana said, setting in her mind a closer image of the lands she’d seen below.

They arrived at a promontory and began a long, slow sweep of the land beneath them. It was lush, green, luxuriant. There were no clearings or any sign of the presence of man.

This will do, Lorana said, urging Minith back between. She had work to do now. We have the place, let’s see if we can use it.

Lorana patted Minith affectionately as they glided silently into Fort Weyr’s Bowl in the dark of night. The watch dragon had been happy to let her rider sleep and agreed to forget their arrival. It was cold, snow clung to the top of the heights, decorated the Weyr Bowl below, muffling all sound.

Minith touched down with exquisite delicacy. Lorana stretched her senses and smiled. Fiona.

She felt the much younger girl wake, even as she felt Talenth’s alert questioning mind, not all that much different from the full-grown queen she would meet in the future at Telgar Weyr. But now both rider and queen were young, untested.

No one else arrived stealthily in the dead of night to join her, so Lorana knew that it was up to her to lead Fiona back in time to Igen Weyr.

Lorana spoke to Talenth, heard Fiona’s question, the queen’s response even as she climbed down from the Benden queen and sent silent orders to the dragonets in the weyrling barracks. Presently, Lorana saw the small form of the new queen rider stick her head out of the queen’s weyr. Lorana, used to the slightly taller and much more self-possessed Fiona of Telgar times, was amused by the hesitancy she saw in this younger counterpart.

She smiled to herself as Fiona came down the queens’ ledge and toward them.

“Get dressed,” Lorana said, feeling tendrils of curiosity emanating from Melirth’s weyr. “We must be quick. We can’t wake the others.” Lorana restrained an urge to hug Fiona; to feel the kind heart and brilliance of the younger woman again would be almost like … home. She saw Fiona looking at her, trying to determine her features.

“Why? Where are we going?” Fiona asked.

“Igen,” Lorana said, challenging Fiona into action.

“I can’t leave Talenth.”

“She comes, too,” Lorana said. “And the weyrlings.” She glanced at the barracks, urged the dragonets to speed. “They’re coming now.” She saw doubt in Fiona’s eyes. “We have to hurry. They need to see you and Talenth go or they won’t follow.”

“Follow?”

“They need to come with you to Igen.”

“How do you know?” Fiona asked. “It’s already happened,” Lorana told her. “You’re from the future!”

“You must hurry,” Lorana said, suddenly worried that something would go wrong, something Fiona hadn’t mentioned.

“Xhinna,” Fiona cried, turning back toward her weyr. “I need to—”

“She stays.” Lorana turned, alerted by Minith, toward a figure racing from the Living Caverns. Again, she had to keep herself from calling out with joy as Terin, much younger, still a child, raced toward them. “You may come.”

Talenth crept out of her weyr, glancing furtively at Melirth’s quarters, and hopped from her ledge onto the soft snow below.

“We can’t go between,” Fiona protested. “And Talenth is too young to carry my weight.”

“You’ll ride with me,” Lorana said, wondering why she hadn’t thought of this beforehand. “As for between … you’ll have to trust me.”

Lorana turned as she heard noise from the weyrling barracks and spotted two boys.

“Hurry!” she told Fiona, charging back to Minith and climbing quickly to her neck. She leaned down and held a hand out to Fiona. “I know when we’re going!”

“Talenth will be safe, won’t she?”

“My word on it,” Lorana said, grasping Fiona’s hand and pulling her up. It was strange having the weyrwoman riding behind her. “Quickly, they must see us go between.”

Talenth!

I have the image, I can see where to go, Talenth responded calmly.

“Doesn’t she have to be flying?” Fiona asked.

Lorana smiled. “Talenth, jump!”

They went between, Lorana feeling for and holding the little queen’s presence firmly in her mind. She heard Fiona call frantically, Talenth! and heard the queen’s unfazed response: I am here. We are fine.

It will be longer than normal, we are going back in time, Lorana told Fiona to calm the girl.

Don’t you need to go to Igen now first?

I’ve already been there, Lorana said, surprised at how familiar and yet, how different, Fiona’s mind felt. She felt the young girl’s growing sense of wonder, felt her wonder to herself if perhaps Lorana was really Fiona, herself, from the future.

In a way, Lorana thought, she’s right. It was strange, Lorana thought, how much of what Fiona is learning from me now, I learned from her later. She took heart in that, pulling forth Fiona’s unconquerable optimism and armoring herself with it.

Whee! Look how high I am! Talenth exclaimed with joy as they burst out into the warm morning Igen air, slightly more than ten Turns back in time from when they’d started.

Careful! Just glide down, Fiona cautioned.

Okay, Talenth said, disappointed.

“This is Igen Weyr,” Lorana called over her shoulder. “Your new home.”

“It’s awfully warm. I thought it would be cold and windy, even here.”

“We are slightly more than ten Turns back in time,” Lorana said, remembering Fiona’s exclamation when she’d recounted the tale Turns from now. “I thought you’d prefer to start with warmer weather. This is the second day of the seventh month of the four hundred and ninety-eighth Turn since Landing.”

Minith landed lightly and Lorana turned to Fiona. “Get down.”

As soon as Fiona touched the ground, Lorana urged Minith back into the air, eager for the next stage of the journey.

Lorana and Minith returned to Fort Weyr and quickly arranged the weyrlings.

“Fiona is waiting for you,” was her response to any objection. F’jian and J’nos rallied any waverers and soon they were following the strange queen between back in time to Igen Weyr and the lonely Fiona.

F’jian spotted Fiona as she ordered Talenth out of the way of the swarm of weyrlings. “Did you see us?” he called as Ladirth came to a halt. “We flew!”

“We only glided,” J’nos corrected as he slid down his brown’s foreleg. “But we went between!”

Lorana was pleased when F’jian told Fiona, “If we hadn’t seen you do it, we wouldn’t have dared to try.”

“Where is everyone else?” J’nos asked, looking around the Weyr expectantly.

Lorana listened to Fiona and the weyrlings gabble in a distracted manner until Fiona steeled herself and came to her.

“Hello!” Fiona called up. “Can you bring back the other injured dragons and riders?”

Yes, Lorana thought. Instead, she said, “For that I’ll need help.”

“I don’t think we could give you any help,” Fiona said reluctantly, gesturing to the dragonets. “They’re too small; it’s a wonder they managed to get here at all.”

“Oh, it’s no wonder,” Lorana said with a laugh. “And I’m sure you’ll be able to help with what needs doing.”

Lorana urged Minith upward and between once more.

She arrived again in Fort Weyr. This was the moment she had been waiting for, ever since she realized who it was who brought Fiona back in time to Igen Weyr. Now she would get the answer to the question: Who had helped her with the injured dragons and riders? Who was the other mystery queen rider?

As Minith sloped her way toward the ground, Lorana saw that the bowl was full of activity, all quiet, all muffled by the night and the snow.

Her heart leaped when she felt Talenth’s touch and she cried with joy when she saw Fiona look up and wave at her. She landed right beside the queen and rider, racing to give her a hug.

“It’s so good to see you!” the two women said simultaneously, falling into each other’s arms with relief and tears. It did not last long. Fiona broke the embrace first. “We have to hurry.”

“So it was you,” Lorana said. “The second queen rider.”

“And did you notice our accomplices?” Fiona asked, waving a hand toward the others. Lorana recognized J’nos and J’gerd.

“Where’s F’jian?” Lorana asked in surprise.

“I can’t tell you,” Fiona said, her face abruptly void of expression. Then her humor slipped back into her and she grinned. “But when you find out, you’ll be pleased.”

Quickly they arranged for the injured riders to be carried, the injured dragons to be escorted, and, with the merest leap, all went between to the warmer climes of Igen, to rest, recover, and grow.

They stayed only long enough to deposit their charges and for Lorana to see young Fiona waver, wobble, even as the older one seemed to shrink in on herself. Too many me in the same time, Fiona apologized, jumping between with the others as soon as she could. Lorana followed suit, but did not follow them.

It was a merry meeting, Lorana told herself as she considered her next steps now that she knew that she could bring young weyrlings safely through time.