After he ate a thin slice of the large herdbeast (which is what H'lee was calling them himself, for lack of a better name at the moment) laid on top of a ration bar and got his bath, H'lee was dragged off by T'lon and a couple other Weyrlingmasters to discuss shelter with the Lord Holders and Craft Masters.

Lyam and Rrisith, as one of the youngest Weyrlingmaster pairs, had taken a short, low-elevation flight and examined their immediate surroundings. Several miles to the east was another river which fed into the same ocean that this river did; they had seen islands far to the north and east and what looked like mountains to the southwest and across the river to the west, although they couldn't speak for the elevation of the region since they didn't travel far from camp. The peninsula they were on had some deep gullies, although there didn't appear to be caves or anything of that sort in them. The gullies appealed to some who thought it prudent to conceal themselves in case their grey-skinned captors returned.

The shore opposite where they'd all woken up was more rugged, and some argued that it would offer more privacy. Although the dragonriders were being consulted, there seemed to be some trepidation, as though the Lord Holders and Crafters thought the dragonriders would claim the best for themselves, or even pack up and leave everyone behind. After all, the dragons could go between, so they could return to Pern at any time, right? When that question came up, H'lee squashed it quickly. "Dragons can't go between with cracked hides, it'll kill them. They can't go anywhere until they heal and it's going to be a while. Seeth's hide will take weeks to heal up properly."

He and the other riders were adamant that the dragons wouldn't be flying more than absolutely necessary (although they agreed that a certain amount of aerial surveying was necessary, but they'd have to rotate which dragons were used). "Personally," H'lee said, "I'd rather stay here. The ground is relatively clear and the dragons have room to stretch out and sun themselves without having to move too much. They'd have to crawl around to find perches across the river and risk cracking their hides worse."

Seeth, would you ask Henriettath to have Alyena join us here, please? He didn't receive a verbal answer from the brown, although there was a hint of annoyance in his mind-presence. H'lee sent a burst of sympathy, love, and apology, knowing that his dragon was trying to sleep as much as possible right now, primarily to minimize the amount of pain he was feeling.

He turned his focus back to the meeting. "Well, look, we've got hatchets. They're not large, but they can still bring down trees. So we can cut logs to build shelter. But that takes time, and we need some shelter now. There's plenty of stone around, but we'll have to dig up enough to be useful, and we don't have shovels or picks. If there are any Smiths who survived the trip with us, maybe they can fashion something more useful out of some of the extra knives and hatchets. But again, that takes time. What can we use now?"

When Alyena arrived, he asked her if she knew anyone who might have AIVAS knowledge; perhaps one of them could offer a solution for their problem.

Seeth asks if you'll go find H'lee. He's in some sort of meeting. The gold sounded sleepy and annoyed at being disturbed. She, like Seeth, was sleeping to help ignore the pain of her cracked hide.

Alyena cringed. So many people were treating her like she had all the answers. I may be Henriettath's rider, she thought bitterly to herself, but I'm not a Weyrwoman! She took her time, finishing the dividing of a five-stalked herb she had found, separating it into its different parts into crates that had been set aside for the purpose. Only then did she scan the little groups that had formed as evening fell and spotted the leaning form of H'lee.

She slipped up to the group, trying to remain inconspicuous, but H'lee noticed her anyway and beckoned her forward. He asked her if she knew anyone with significant AIVAS knowledge. She scowled, and while others might have thought it was a frown of concentration, it was really of frustration that even H'lee was treating her as though she was a leader.

Unfortunately for her state of mind, she actually had an answer for him. "Alex, rider of green Rainith, has studied many AIVAS records," she replied, somewhat stiffly.

After delivering that information, she leaned in and hissed in H'lee's ear, "I'm not a Weyrwoman! I wish you would all stop treating me like one! I don't have all the answers!" Her voice cracked on her last sentence and she turned and hastily strode away from the group to stare out into the gathering darkness, her back to the fires that were popping up all across the field.

H'lee accepted Alyena's answer calmly and started to reach out to Seeth again. He stopped before he disturbed the slumbering dragon and instead flagged down one of the children who were running around, seemingly oblivious to the predicaments their parents were attempting to solve.

"Go find a young greenrider named Alex and bring her back here, would you?" he asked the boy.

He'd intended for Alyena to remain in the discussion. As their only goldrider, she would, of course, have to ultimately lead the dragonriders, though not, perhaps, the whole mass of people who had been dropped unwillingly on this planet. However, the ire in her harsh whisper surprised him.

He let her stalk off to the edge of the conversation and pondered her statements for a moment. It was unlike a queenrider to not wish to be Weyrwoman, though he had to admit, she had not yet officially graduated and probably did not consider herself a full rider. And in truth, her dragon was not yet fully grown, although she was mature. He sighed then and rose to limp after her.

When he reached where she stood, he moved beside her and joined her in staring out over the hills that stretched as far as he could see. "Alyena," he said finally, "you are Weyrwoman. You are our only gold and the dragons have accepted you and Henriettath as their queen. Nor have we been free of Thread for so long that the Holds will not look to us, the dragonriders, for strength, and to you as our queen. It is not fair, but it is the truth. You had best buck up and get organized.

"Alina has been Headwoman for several years. She and the Holds' Wardens should be your best friends. Talk to them tomorrow."

He tried not to be too harsh, he didn't want to hurt her any more than the hurt they'd all been feeling all day. But she needed to put some steel in her spine and act the goldrider he knew she was - if she wasn't the queenrider he knew her to be, she would never have Impressed Henriettath. The dragons were never wrong.