3489.05.27

Time travel is a strange thing, H'lee mused as they settled, all weary, on the sands of Benden Weyr's Hatching Grounds on the seventh day.  We wake sometime in the morning, feed the dragons whatever we can, check their hides for cracks, check our gear, and at noon, go into the Weyrbowl where we can get everyone off the ground at once.  Then Silvara gives our dragons coordinates based on the nighttime sky, and we go between to that time, and it's nighttime again.

Aloud, he grumbled, "I could stand to actually get a full night's sleep between trips.  This arriving in the middle of the night and leaving by noon is getting exhausting."  T'lon muttered something unintelligible in agreement.

"Now?  Really?!  Okay, okay.  EVERYBODY OUT OF THE HATCHING GROUNDS!" came the exhausted but commanding bellow from Sikra.  Dragons, riders, and Weyrfolk scattered in every direction as Reesteth rumbled and lashed her tail before her rider shushed her.

H'lee knew that particular growl - the gold dragon was ready to clutch.  At first, he felt exasperated.  Couldn't she have waited until they were where...no, when...they wanted to go?  But then he realized something wonderful: he'd FINALLY get a full night's sleep!  In fact, he could probably sleep all day tomorrow!  Reesteth had always been a pretty reliable clutchmother when it came to how long it took to lay her eggs: she consistently took 55 minutes to lay each egg.  Of course, they had no idea how many eggs she would lay, but it would almost certainly be more than ten, so that would be at least nine hours of relative peace and quiet; once laid, they needed to wait at least 12 hours before risking moving them, and 24 hours would be better.

T'lon was the one who got everyone organized and away from the Hatching Grounds.  The biggest problem, so to speak, was the dragons: they couldn't lounge in the Weyrbowl where they might be seen by suspicious, prying eyes, but none of them wanted to stay in the same room as a clutching queen.  In fact, even the other two queens didn't want to be there!  It was fortunate it was dark; the dragons slipped out through the upper entrance and into the weyrs surrounding the two Hatching Grounds entrances.  These were east-facing weyrs, which meant morning sunlight streaming in for the dragons to sun themselves in while remaining concealed.  Of course, for the riders, that meant the dawn sun bursting into the rooms while they were trying to sleep.

Unfortunately, the two other queen riders worried that Reesteth's clutching would stimulate their dragons.  The golds had risen a few days apart, so Selianth should clutch in about three days' time, and Saraidth four days after Selianth, but it wasn't unheard of for one gold dragon to affect others that she was near.  They had another five days' travel before they got to where...when...they were going.  Except it wasn't really five days, it was only about three, because they were only staying put for about half a day...

H'lee's head hurt.

The point was, Selianth would almost definitely clutch before they finished their trip, so they'd be delayed another day, but Saraidth probably wouldn't clutch until afterward.  H'lee couldn't believe they'd made it through with 35 dragons.  But Saraidth HAD to wait to clutch until they got to the end of their journey, because it was unlikely that they had enough dragons to carry all the eggs between times.

And then there was Reese.  The little gold was despondent most of the time, except when they first arrived each day: she'd perk up and flutter around for a bit before plunking down somewhere out of the way and looking miserable.  H'lee suspected that, if the firelizard had her way, she'd have gone back...forward...shardit...in a single jump instead of a series, just so she could get to her master more quickly.  But that wasn't safe for her, something that one of the other riders must have impressed on her.  Probably Silvara.

After the dragons were settled, a small conference was called: Sikra, Prilla, and Emylee; T'lon, D'ver, and T'zal; H'lee, Silvara, Lery, and Alina.  H'lee wanted to sleep, not go to a meeting, a sentiment that, judging by the various scowls and sleepy expressions, was shared by most of the others.  "It occurred to us," Emylee started, "that we don't know if this fellow Learyam will be waiting for us at the Weyr when we get there.  He didn't give us a date to arrive, but gave us charts with the astronomical phenomena for several dates in the year 3941.  We targeted the spring equinox because according to the newspaper clippings he sent, enough Thread had fallen for it to have been definitively identified and panic to be starting to set in among the holders, which should afford us some level of protection, but it's early enough in the year that most Falls will freeze or drown, so we're not desperately needed yet.  So we need some way of telling Learyam we've arrived, if he's not waiting for us."

H'lee sighed.  He'd been taking care of Reese for the most part, because she'd been sent back in time to him, specifically.  "I'm pretty sure Reese's antics each time we finish a jump are her trying to sense him.  I can't believe she hasn't left on her own to get to him already.  When we do arrive in a time where he exists, that will probably be the last time we see her."

T'lon chimed in, "Well, then, let's put a note on her telling him where we are, and make sure it's secure before we do that last jump, so that as soon as we get there and she takes off, she'll take the message to him?"

"The last TWO jumps," Lery pointed out.  "The last jump is only going to be, what, 50 years?"

"52," someone interjected, although she didn't wait for anyone to correct her.

"We don't know how old this Learyam is.  He could easily be old enough for her to sense him on the next-to-last jump."  H'lee wrinkled his nose at her.  That would just make Reese so happy, he thought sarcastically to himself, if they made the next-to-last jump and she'd gotten excited because he put the message tube on her, and then she couldn't find her master.  But that didn't mean it wasn't a good point, and he sighed again, this time resignedly.

"H'lee, you better be the one to write the message," Sikra delegated.  "Remember, don't get too detailed.  We don't want to put our entire plan down in writing, just in case it's intercepted."  There was a pause as everyone shifted uncomfortably; most of them had had some sort of adverse experience with written information being intercepted by the AWs, whether it was simple blackmail or actual physical harm.

H'lee nodded.  "Can do.  But not tonight.  If there's nothing else, can we go get some rest for a change?"  The last came out somewhat plaintively, bringing tired smiles to most of the others in the room.  Sikra dismissed them with a wave, staying seated where she was - they'd met on the Stands, and she would be staying there until Reesteth finished clutching.  Someone, probably Lery or Alina, had set up as comfortable a pile of furs as possible between two rows of seats, where the goldrider would be secure and somewhat out-of-sight.

#Site-Main-Plot

3489.05.28

H'lee had slept the sleep of someone who'd drank an entire skin of fellis wine.  He didn't notice when Alina left his bed in the morning to prepare something for everyone to eat, nor when the children roused and went in search of that same food.  Only his full bladder and Seeth's hunger finally roused him.

They weren't really prepared to stay in one place very long.  All of the dragons were looking a little gray and needed fed, but how were they supposed to get something to eat out here?  The dragons had all stayed inside as instructed when the sun came up.  About mid-morning, they discovered food: wild wherries had moved into several of the upper-level weyrs on the opposite side of the Weyrbowl.  But how were they going to catch the beasts without being discovered?  Finally, one of the greenriders, who had the smallest dragon, sent her dragon out to catch some wherries.  They were taking a risk that no one would notice a flock of wherries taking off from the supposedly-empty Weyr in the middle of the day.  The green was small and fast and snatched three fat, lazy wherries off the ledge of one weyr before they realized they were in danger.  It was a battle of wills between her and her rider to bring her back to the Hatching Grounds, though, to feed the clutching queen first (ten eggs and counting).

A blue dragon joined the hunt, and the pair managed to drive a small flock of the stupid creatures down to the Weyrbowl, where riders and Weyrfolk waited with nets, bows, and spears.  No one dragon truly got a full meal, but they all had at least two birds to eat, and the queens had three - enough to sate their hunger without leaving them food-heavy.  By the time all the dragons were fed, Reesteth had finished clutching: 13 eggs, including one that was clearly a gold.  H'lee smirked slightly, and the various women in his life rolled their eyes in exasperation.

That afternoon, H'lee composed the note for Learyam:
Hopefully that was vague enough to confuse anyone who didn't know what was going on, but specific enough to convey the meaning to its intended recipient.

He crawled off to bed as soon as the sun fell behind the ridge.  He'd get a good, full night's rest and tomorrow, they'd continue onward...

3589.01.17

"Fardles!" H'lee cursed when they came out from between into a cold that was nearly just as dark.  Apparently, there was a blizzard tonight.  The thirteen dragons carrying their precious cargo rumbled anxiously and hunched around their fur-lined carrying cases, orienting themselves and making a beeline for the warmth of the Hatching Grounds, led by the nearly-frantic Reeseteth and trailed by the 21 other dragons and their burdens.  Now that the eggs were laid, the gold clutchmother wasn't quite as standoffish toward the other dragons, but they all settled on the overhead ledges as quickly as they could be unloaded.  She didn't curl up to sleep until she'd situated her eggs exactly the way she wanted them, under the watchful eye of her rider.

Morning came and the wind continued to howl outside, creating snow-devils that obscured even the keenest dragon's vision.  There would be no hunting for wherries this time, which was unfortunate, since the blizzard would obscure the dragons' movements, but the wind was just too unpredictable.  The riders from the northern weyrs recounted past blizzards to pass the time until they couldn't wait any longer to leave.

3689.06.02

Their nighttime arrival this time couldn't have been more different from the one they'd just left: balmy, almost oppressively so, and not a tickle of a breeze.  The humans were quickly undoing jackets and removing hats as the dragons glided silently into the Hatching Grounds.  Although H'lee didn't have any of the more powerful psionic abilities, he had an uncanny sixth sense for when someone was where they weren't supposed to be - Silvara had hypothesized that it was actually a type of auror ability - and right now, he felt like they were being watched.

Seeth...do you see anything?  The brown dragon also felt unsettled.  They landed at the aerial entryway into the Hatching Grounds and turned to scan the Weyr.

No.  But I do not have a watchwher's night vision.  I tell Warrelith.  The brown conveyed his and his rider's sense of not being alone in the Weyr to Warrelith and Silvara.  If they weren't alone, hopefully she would be able to locate and subdue the person or persons.  A few minutes later, the sensation faded, making H'lee feel even more on edge.  If it had stopped abruptly, he would have suspected that Silvara had found someone and knocked them unconscious.  This gradual fading felt like...something else.

As much as H'lee wanted to sleep, this took precedence.  He called T'lon, who made a roster of guards - with 34 dragons, they could guard both entrances to the Hatching Grounds in one-hour shifts until the following afternoon, ensuring no one was shorted too much on sleep.

The hue and cry went up only about four hours later.  If not for the golds and Silvara's and Warrelith's watchfulness, this stop might have been the end of their journey.  The 13 dragons designated to carry the eggs dove to the Sands as the Weyrfolk scrambled to bundle the vulnerable embryos into their carrying cases and load them on the dragons.  No one had removed their riding straps, and very little gear had been unpacked, which saved them precious time.  However, there was no safe way to get them all out into the Weyrbowl - Silvara had to take them between from inside the Hatching Grounds.

3789.09.01

As soon as the dragons materialized over the Weyrbowl of Benden, Sikra sent Silvara to Fort Weyr to see if it was empty.  Silvara returned much too quickly - Fort was not safe.  Fear began to creep through the ranks of riders and Weyrfolk.  They couldn't stay hovering outside in Benden!  But the dragons were exhausted, they had to rest; and there were injuries that needed treating.

Silvara's gifts determined that Benden Weyr was empty, for now.  She didn't think they'd been seen at Fort, she had intentionally chosen to materialize in a dark corner of the Hatching Grounds, and had known immediately that the Weyr wasn't empty.  It seemed that, if those in Fort were descendents of the people who had attacked them now 100 years previous, they had concluded (incorrectly) that the riders would not choose to arrive in Benden Weyr because of the "obvious" danger, and therefore hadn't set any watches on the Weyr.

Only one of the dragons, a green who had been helping guard the ground-level entrance at the time of the attack, had been injured, and not badly.  Her pride hurt more than the gash on her nose, but H'lee attended to her anyway.

The human injuries were more serious.  Several Weyrfolk had rushed to the entrance to help the green and her rider.  There were three broken arms, a set of cracked ribs, one dangerously deep knife wound in a man's thigh, and numerous minor cuts, scrapes, and bruises.  Most of the injuries were treated within an hour; the knife wound took longer.  Meanwhile, the dragons perched precariously on the ledges and flicked their wings, their eyes whirling dangerous reds and oranges.  Reesteth practically hovered over her eggs, and even her rider found it difficult to keep the queen from flying out to attack those who had threatened them.  The other golds were being attended by the bronzes and browns, who kicked up sand and kept up a low growl.

"We can't stay here," Prilla said finally.  "None of us will be able to rest right now, and staying, keeping up this nervous energy, will just exhaust us further.  I say we go ahead and take the next jump.  Maybe they'll have given up and we'll be able to rest."  She didn't sound too confident.  There wasn't much argument; the other riders were too tense to rest, and they knew that when they finally reached that point where they couldn't stay awake any longer, an army would be able to march into the Weyr without rousing them.  The Weyrfolk were not pleased, particularly not the Healers, but they could also see the looming problem.  Adrenaline would only keep a person going for so long.

3889.12.09

Another winter's night, H'lee groaned inwardly as they materialized. This one was clear, though, and nearly as bitter-cold as between itself. And clear enough to see the fire in the Watchtower - and for that person to see them and set up the alarm. Dragons bugled a challenge as the goldriders and Silvara struggled to find the reserves they needed to make one last jump, hoping against all hope that this time, it would be safe.

A fire flared on the ground below, and then a burning globe surged upward on an arc, heading straight for the center of their formation. It was the last thing H'lee saw clearly before the blackness of between enveloped him.

3941.03.10

Silence.  That was H'lee's first sensation as they rematerialized.  Part of him couldn't believe they'd made it.  He could barely focus his eyes on the Weyr Watchtower that sat opposite them - devoid of life.  Even the plantlife was gone.  It took him a moment to realize what must have happened: Thread must have fallen here.

As though to confirm his thought, the scent of decaying flesh reached his nostrils.  He couldn't tell where it was coming from.  It took him several moments to realize he was alone, and fear set in.  But then came the reassuring puffs of displaced air that heralded the arrival of other dragons.  Then he felt the keen building up in Seeth's chest - someone wasn't coming back.  He clamped down on Seeth's desire to express his grief, and saw all three goldriders' gray faces as they struggled against the same grief, not just of their own, but of the other dragons'.  He looked around frantically, finally locating Silvara and Warrelith a dragonlength below them...and falling.  No, not falling, gliding.  Warrelith was in control of his descent.  The fact that he was willing to land suggested that there was no one left in the Weyr who wished them harm, though it didn't mean the Weyr was empty.

He wasn't consciously aware of these thoughts.  The only thoughts he was truly aware of were that at least one of their own had perished on the last jump, and they were going to lose more unless they found something for the dragons to eat, and soon.  That thought caught Seeth's attention, and the brown turned to glide toward the lower end of the Bowl, where, historically, they had kept herdbeasts for eating.  It was partly muscle memory - that's where food should be; but before they'd gone far, H'lee realized most of the other dragons where heading that direction, too, even those not from Benden.  He finally focused his bleary eyes on the end of the Bowl...and nearly threw up.

The once-pristine lake was fouled almost beyond recognition: the partial carcasses of what must have been half a hundred herdbeasts floated in the lower end, and H'lee thought he saw something resembling human bodies among them.  Most of the greens and blues collapsed on the shores, and only exhaustion kept them from swimming out into the water to get something to eat.  The larger browns and bronzes alighted long enough for their riders and passengers to dismount, unburden them, and remove riding straps before surging into the water.  These dragons fetched partially-dissolved remains and brought them to the shallows where the smaller dragons could retrieve them and eat.  The three bronzes lurched into the air to take the largest carcasses to the Hatching Grounds for the queens.

The stench was bad.  H'lee estimated it had been two or three days since Thread had fallen, although given the cool weather, it might have been more.  Several people had staggered away from the lake to empty the contents of their stomachs, and even the Weyrlingmaster and Dragonhealer felt the urge to follow.  The dragons were taken care of.  Or as much as they could be, under the circumstances.  He started trying to count the dragons - he needed to find out who had died.  There!  One of the blues.  He could picture the man's face, but he couldn't dredge the name up.

"Dad?" a young voice said.  It took him a moment to realize the call had been directed at him.  He turned toward the sound, to see Lerane standing there, holding Allie's hand.  "Mom said to make sure you and the other riders get back up to the Lower Caverns."  H'lee blinked slowly, then clenched his eyes shut and nodded.

"I'm alright, Lerane.  Find out if there are any other children down here and get them, too, okay?  I need to check on your Aunt Silv."  He felt Seeth's reassurance that the dragons were okay, and an image of Warrelith near the infirmary.  H'lee suddenly wasn't entirely certain he wanted to go near there - how many had died in the doorways, trying to get inside before Thread got them?  He sensed that it was going to take several days to clean everything up.  And what if they weren't alone in the Weyr?  What if they were discovered?  Surely, SOMEONE must have survived!

Somehow, his feet found their way to the Infirmary while he tried to wrestle with those questions.  The next thing he was conscious of was someone grabbing his arm and directing him to a bench.  "Sit down, man, before you fall down!" came the brusque voice of Master Healer Tikal, Silvara's teacher and mentor.  Apparently, all this jumping around through time hadn't disoriented that august figure as much.  The Healer bellowed something that H'lee didn't bother trying to decipher, since it wasn't directed at him.

"Silvara?"

"She'll be fine after a good, long rest.  Probably have a headache for a while.  Seeth brought Warrelith one of the carcasses.  Nasty business that.  I'd seen pictures of Threadscore, but..."  Even a man as experienced in healing as Tikal was put off by the sight of the ravaged herdbeast.  "Here, let me look at you."  The man shone a light in H'lee's face that made the brownrider wince away.  "Any injuries?"

H'lee shook his head.  "I was asleep on one of the ledges."

"Alright, get yourself off over there by Silvara and get some sleep.  I need this bench for the next patient!"  With that, the older man gave H'lee a gentle shove toward a corner where Silvara could be seen, stretched out on a cot and tucked in under several blankets, under Warrelith's watchful gaze.  Seeth had settled beside the blue, further exaggerating his diminuitive size.  There was an empty cot next to Silv, and H'lee toppled onto it.  He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

3941.03.11

It was nearly afternoon before H'lee woke - dehydrated and famished.  Seeth was still oblivious to the world.  The Infirmary was quiet.

He suddenly realized, he hadn't seen Reese during the previous two jumps.  The firelizard had been traveling on his pack.  And he hadn't had time to put the message tube on her collar!  He swore creatively, drawing Master Tikal out of one of the other rooms.  "Oh, good, you're awake.  Alina was looki--"  H'lee didn't hear the rest of the statement as he hurtled out of the Infirmary, heading for the Lower Caverns and the Hatching Grounds.  The Healer sighed and shook his head.  "Always running about like the world's about to end," he muttered, going back to what he'd been working on when he'd heard the cursing.

H'lee didn't know where his pack was, but it didn't surprise him that it WASN'T in the Infirmary.  It was probably in whatever room Alina or Lery had spent the night in.  He stumbled to a halt as he neared the Lower Caverns, shocked at the rows of white linens laid out on the ground.  How many had died?  The Weyr itself wasn't vulnerable, it was solid rock - anyone inside should have been safe!  As he gawked, a pair of drudges lurched out of one of the side entrances, carrying a body.  It was then that H'lee realized that many of the sheets appeared to cover whole bodies, not partially-eaten ones.  What...

He heard a shout and saw the tall form of his best friend waving at him from near the Hatching Grounds.  With one last look at the ghastly tableau in front of the Lower Caverns, he changed direction and limped wearily toward T'lon.  "You look like I feel," H'lee croaked when he was within comfortable speaking distance.

"I was going to say the same thing about you," the bronzerider retorted.  "Selianth and Saraidth are both clutching.  Sikra wanted to see you as soon as you were able.  Have you gotten anything to eat yet?"  At H'lee's negative response, he continued, "I think Sikra has some food, but I'll send someone up with more."

"What--?" H'lee started, gesturing back toward the field of corpses they'd just left behind.

T'lon shook his head.  "Sikra's better equiped to answer that, I think.  I haven't slept since we got here, I was heading down to check on you and Silvara before crashing myself."

H'lee made half-hearted shooing motions to send his friend on his way before turning to stagger into the council room, where the three goldriders, looking rather worse for wear, sat in various states of exhaustion around the table.  Sikra managed a weak smile when he came in, which he returned before he caught sight of the food and klah on the side table.  He redirected his steps toward the sustenance, too tired to care what the Weyrwomen thought of his lack of manners.  Apparently, they were also too tired to care, because no one said anything or even so much as looked at him reproachfully.

"How are Selianth's and Saraidth's clutchings going?  Did they get enough to eat before...?" he asked after he'd eaten a few bites and drunk down half a mug of klah.  Prilla nodded, her half-closed eyes containing the vacant look of someone who's not entirely focused on what's in front of her, of a dragonrider who's in close contact with her dragon.  He turned toward Sikra and Emylee, and they both nodded.  Emylee's gaze wasn't turned inward quite as much as Prilla's.

"Seeth, Roth, and the others were most solicitous.  I can't say the quality was what our ladies are accustomed to, but it did the job," Sikra said.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes while H'lee ate and drank.  Finally, he gestured toward the Bowl.  "Some of those were Thread-kill, but not all of them," he stated.

Sikra winced, and it was Emylee who answered.  "We're not entirely sure what happened yet.  If anyone here was still alive when we arrived, they either left or haven't been found yet.  It appears people have been living here for some time.  Lery and Alina say the storerooms are stocked - not as well as they could be, perhaps, but more than adequate for 32...31 dragons, the weyrlings, and the 100 or so Weyrfolk who came with us.  Lery says there must have been a couple hundred people living here, judging by the stores.  I don't know how many bodies they've found at this point.  There were some in the lake, and maybe a couple dozen near the ground-level entrances, all Threadscored.  They must have tried to get inside, or dive under the water, when it Fell.  The others we've found appear to have just dropped dead where they were standing, doing whatever they were doing at the time.  Not a mark on them.  No sign of disease that Master Tikal could find, and no indication that anyone had been sick, beyond the normal wintertime sniffles.  We've even found tunnelsnakes and wherries that were inside that are just dead, same way.  A few of the Threadscored were pulled inside, but most of them weren't even dragged inside, like there was no one to even try to pull them to safety."

H'lee frowned, trying to dredge up some memories of things Silvara had told him about her gifts.  An overdose from a powerful psi, such as a telepath, empath, or healer, could perhaps stop a targeted person's heart.  But could it affect a hundred people at once?  They'd have to ask Silv - Tikal had long ago acknowledged that she was far more powerful and knowledgeable in most of the gifts than he was.

Then he remembered why he'd gone charging headlong out of the Infirmary, and he sat up suddenly.  "Have you seen Reese since we arrived?  I never got a chance to put the message tube on, and the way we were jumping about..."  Sikra and Emylee looked distressed, and he wasn't sure Prilla had even heard him.  "I was going to check my pack, she'd been traveling inside it.  The message tube was in there, too, so maybe she took it of her own volition."  Although golds were notoriously intelligent, he didn't put much stock in the firelizards thinking those kinds of things through.  From the skeptical looks on their faces, the two goldriders thought it very likely, either.  "Not much we can do about it now, I guess.  I don't want to risk going to one of the other Weyrs until all the eggs are laid, anyway."

"After everyone's had some rest, we'll send one or two to each of the Weyrs where we can hide eggs, make sure everything is okay before we take the eggs through.  We'll be able to move them early tomorrow, while it's still dark, I think."  Sikra sounded far more confident than the others looked.  But then, she was the most senior of all of them.

"You need a fair amount of rest before you go, too.  You'll have to jump like we did to avoid the problems we had, that'll be exhausting again.  And you HAVE to get back safely!" H'lee emphasized.  He didn't feel like Emylee or Prilla were taking him seriously, but maybe that was just because they were distracted by their dragons clutching.  Sikra nodded solemnly, but didn't seem as concerned as he thought she should be.  But what more could he do?  Finishing off his mug of klah, he looked at the Senior Weyrwoman, "Unless there was something else?"  The woman shook her head and he excused himself, heading for the Lower Caverns.  He reached for Seeth, but the brown was still sound asleep.

He could hardly believe the chaos in the Caverns.  He could swear there were more than the hundred or so Weyrfolk they'd brought with them.  And of course, Lery and Alina seemed to be everywhere at once.  He leaned against the wall and watched the two of them, thinking to himself (and not for the first time) that he'd been blessed in more ways than one when he'd ended up with the two of them.  It would have been so easy for jealousy to spoil their working relationship, but instead, it seemed that their joint romance with him had strengthened their partnership.  He also caught a glimpse of Nylee and Lerane, who seemed to be in charge of a makeshift creche.  He smiled, lingering in a moment of domestic tranquility, before stepping away from the wall.

Alina spotted him first and favored him with a quick smile before returning to giving instructions to the Weyrfolk in front of her.  They were a hodge-podge group.  Most of the Weyrfolk they'd chosen to bring forward were Journeymen and -women Crafters.  The reasoning was that a skilled person can empty a chamberpot, but a drudge can't build a proper wall.  A handful of particularly talented drudges had been brought - mostly young folk who were intelligent enough to advance beyond their birth rank, and who fell into the age group suitable for Candidacy.  And truthfully, drudges usually became skilled in their duties; a carpenter might not know the most efficient way of changing sheets on a bed, but can get the job done, while a drudge will know how to do the task more efficiently.  So giving careful instructions to those who weren't accustomed to doing drudgery was important at this juncture.

It appeared that Lery was mostly running the kitchen areas while Alina handled the housekeeping.  The latter caught up to him just as he got to the kitchen doorway.  "Is it true?  Both Selianth and Saraidth are clutching right now?" she asked anxiously.  It wasn't unusual for two golds to clutch on the same day in different Weyrs, but usually if that sort of thing happened in the same Weyr, it led to injuries, both human and draconic.  H'lee confirmed the statement.

"I think Sikra's put Reesteth between the two of them, and they're on opposite ends of the Sands.  That seems to be keeping things calm right now.  That and the fact that they're too tired to cause much trouble."  He stopped to study the two women: both of them had dark circles under their eyes, but their shoulders were back and faces animated, not the slack-jawed, blank-eyed look he'd seen on the other riders.  "You non-riders must not be as tired as us," he said with a weary laugh.  "You're making me tired just watching you!"  That brought him to the reason he was searching for them.

"Have either of you seen Reese?  Or my pack?  I never had a chance to put the message tube on her before our last couple of jumps..."  Alina slapped her hand over her mouth and looked alarmed.

Lery just shook her head. "I haven't seen her.  But your pack is in Lerane's room."  Lery had always kept separate quarters from H'lee because neither of them were typically deep sleepers, and one or the other of them were always getting called away on some Weyr business or other - her for Lower Caverns business, him for weyrlings.  Alina, on the other hand, slept like a log, so she had actually moved in with H'lee because his quarters had ground-level access (since weyrlings can't fly for their first nine months).

He thanked them and snatched a sweet roll of the counter - earning him a threatening swipe with a spatula - and headed for Lery's quarters.  They'd been empty, of course, for however many centuries.  Eleven?  Something like that.  But to him, it was only a couple of weeks since they'd lived there.  The jumble of packs heaped in the main room explained why his pack was in Lerane's room and not in the living area.  Lery must have become the drop-off point for every pack that got stripped off the dragons down at the lake the night before.  He could tell, just by looking at his pack, that the gold firelizard was gone.  He cursed softly and opened the pack to look for the message tube.

He couldn't find it.  He cursed more loudly and started emptying the pack.  Surely it had to be in here.  Had she taken it?  No sign of it.  He sat on the edge of the cot and stared at the mess he'd just made.  She took it.  That had to be the only explanation.  Unless it had fallen out during that last jump...no, it couldn't have, it was inside the secured pack.  But the pack hadn't been secured when he got here and opened it.  Damn.  He sagged, putting his face in his hands.  Nothing he could do about it now.  Either it had fallen out somewhere, or Reese had seen it and taken it with her.  If it had fallen out, he'd probably never know.  He wasn't much for "just hoping" that something would work out to the best, and he didn't seriously think the firelizard had taken it.

Seeth was still asleep.  And that sounded like a good plan.  He'd done everything he could for right now.  Nearly ever dragon and rider was sleeping so soundly that a Hatching could start and most of them wouldn't notice.  The pain of losing one of their own and the minor injuries they'd sustained could wait until they'd all slept their fill.  H'lee stretched out on Lerane's bunk and quickly fell asleep.

When he woke a couple of hours later, he cleaned up the mess he'd made pulling everything out of his pack and headed for the Hatching Grounds.  He needed to assess the clutches.  He didn't feel very good about most of the Weyrfolk they'd brought forward - most of them were too old for formal Candidacy, because they'd needed the skills more than impressionable youngsters.  Now he was regretting that decision.  Those skills wouldn't be much use to anyone for the first year, they just wouldn't have time outside of learning to care for and work with a dragon.  They'd need to find a source for Candidates.

He didn't realize that Selianth and Saraidth had started clutching pretty much as soon as they'd arrived, and they were finished by the time he got there.  All three goldriders were finally asleep and didn't stir when he entered.  Even the dragons barely registered the change.  He slowly climbed the steps to the highest point of the Stands.  He knew Reesteth had 13 eggs.  He counted: 14 for Selianth and 12 for Saraidth.  39!  H'lee felt a little faint.  Ideally, they'd have twice as many Candidates as eggs...how on earth was he going to find 80 suitable youngsters within the next 3-4 weeks?!

He had to stop and try to calculate things.  No.  Reesteth's eggs were only...3 days old.  Shard this timing it thing.  And curse whoever discovered the ability in the first place!  It made his head hurt!  So he had 4 weeks.  Of course, he'd put 2 weeks in the message for Learyam.  But they thought they were going to be several more days arriving.  Blast and botheration.  Was more time better?  He didn't know.

Now he tried to assess the contents of each clutch.  He blanched slightly when he realized all three of them had gold eggs.  That...that was going to be a handful.  He laughed a little hysterically.  T'lon was going to be furious.  Well, there wasn't much more he could do here until tomorrow, when they'd need to move the eggs.  Maybe they'd wait an extra couple of days.  The gold dragons wouldn't be too keen on being separated so much from their clutches, it might be better to wait to move them until after the queens started their return trip.  He sighed.  That would probably depend on whether or not they were discovered.  Surely someone would come looking to see what had happened after the Threadfall.  He could hope that someone had already been and fled from all the death, but that didn't seem very realistic.

He made his way slowly out of the Hatching Grounds.  Seeth was just starting to stir, and he was feeling a bit peckish.  And rotting meat was just NOT going to do the trick this time, he needed real food.  A couple of other dragons roused at his rumble.  They were all hungry.  Great.  Where...then he saw the herdbeasts by the lake.  That got Seeth's attention.  H'lee cursed.  Oh, no you don't!  Not until we know where they came from, how many there are...you may just have to go fishing today!  Seeth's head swung back toward his rider and he thumped his tail in agitation.  He did, however, reach out to stop the other two dragons who had woken and were thinking along the same lines.  Just then, a pair of figures broke away from the buildings by the lake and separated out three of the herdbeasts into a corral.  They must have been watching for the dragons to wake up.  Seeth, take me down there so I can be sure about what they're doing.  He limped toward the brown, who also lurched toward him in the awkward ground gait that dragons had.  H'lee scrambled onto his dragon's back and they glided down, causing a fairly significant upset among the herdbeasts.  Of course...they hadn't seen dragons before, not in generations.  Right.

"Did you single those out for the dragons?" he called as he slid off Seeth's neck.  One of them gave him a thumbs up gesture, so he slapped Seeth on the neck.  "Alright, big guy.  Only one, though, okay?  And let the other two come down here, too."  While Seeth snatched one of the herdbeasts and the other two dragons glided down for theirs, H'lee shuffled over to the barn.  He was surprised to see several dozen more herdbeasts inside the barn!  "Where did these come from?"

"There was a big ol' herd outside the Weyr.  Headwoman Lery had us bring them in last night.  They're a little skittish, but you can't really blame them.  Looked like they might have broken out of an enclosure somewhere, not sure how they survived Thread and whatever else it was that killed everyone.  They'll keep everyone fed for a few days, anyway.  She told us to keep an eye out when the dragons wake up and put some of the steers in the pen there for them, and keep the cows with calves in here so they wouldn't get spooked by the dragons and spoil their milk."

Well, that was one less thing he needed to worry about right now.  "Sounds like a good arrangement to me.  I think I'll go get myself something to eat, and then resume my imitation of a log for a while longer."  And he proceeded to do just that, but actually going to "his" weyr, as Weyrlingmaster, instead of sleeping in the Infirmary or Lery's chambers.

3941.03.12

H'lee woke briefly when Alina came in sometime during the night.  A few murmured endearments and he was fast asleep again.

His next awakening wasn't nearly as languid.

SCREECH in his face.  Eyes open and try to focus on the delicate, triangular-shaped gold object in front of his nose.  It moved, and a quieter, but no less demanding, squawk issued from it.  He raised a hand to rub his eyes and try to orient himself, then cursed as a sharp pain shot through his thumb.  That was enough to wake him up fully, and he realized that it was a gold firelizard demanding his attention.  With a message tube on her harness.  And apparently, she was hungry.  He groaned.

Seeth huffed at him from his ledge.  About time you woke up.  We've been trying to rouse you since the sun came up.  H'lee glared at his dragon, then transferred the look to the firelizard, who matched his glare with a hungry stare of her own.

"I don't have any food here yet, you'll have to get some from the kitchens," he said, rising and going to retrieve the message tube.  She nipped his fingers again, not allowing him access to the message tube.  "I don't have anything!" he growled irritably.

In the cupboard.  Alina sent something down earlier, the brown dragon informed him, earning himself another glare.

"Well, why didn't you say so?  Or did you just want to see me get my fingers bitten?"  He opened the cupboard and found a glass of milk and a plate of biscuits and butter, and a couple strips of some unidentified meat.  He didn't want to think too much about where the meat might have come from and gladly passed them off to the firelizard while he buttered the biscuits and drank the milk.  After she wolfed down one slice, she let him remove the message tube from her harness.


It took H'lee a moment to realize that the gold firelizard must be Reese - she looked much better than the last time he'd seen her! - and that the clever creature had taken his note to her master.  And that man was clever enough to pick up on the code he'd started.  He needed to tell Sikra and the other goldriders.  Reese was looking at him expectantly.  "I need to craft a reply with Sikra, you can come with me if you want," he told her, holding out an arm.  She chirped and fluttered up to his shoulder.  As they left the weyr, she bobbed her head respectfully at Seeth, who blinked in surprise at being afforded such attention from a gold, even if she was just a firelizard.

He limped out and stared across the Bowl, toward the Hatching Grounds.  With an inward groan at the distance, he started across the way.  He could stop at the Infirmary on his way by and check on Silv.  He limped on into the Infirmary and saw his cousin sitting against the wall, slowly sipping at something in a cup.  "Is that klah, by any chance?" he asked wistfully as he approached.

"It is, but you don't want any of that batch.  It's laced with fellis for her headache," Master Tikal spoke up from behind the brownrider.

H'lee made a face.  "Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea.  Except I need to talk to the committee about how to respond to this," he held up the message tube.  "I just wanted to check on Silv before I headed for the Hatching Grounds."

"Hmph.  I wish those three women would come down here for a check-up, now that their queens are done clutching," the Master Healer snorted.

That gave H'lee an idea.  Seeth, would you politely convey to Reesteth, Saraidth, and Selianth that I would like to meet with their riders in the Infirmary?  I'm not sure I'm up to walking that far yet.  And Roth, too, please.

There was a pause as the brown relayed the message as requested.  Reesteth says hers and theirs will come down soon.  Roth--  The backwash of wings and thump of a dragon landing outside finished Seeth's sentence for him.  The bronzerider sauntered in, looking much more refreshed than H'lee thought was fair.

Reese and Meesha sat up and eyed each other suspiciously.  The two never had worked out their issues.  Reese clearly thought the younger Meesha overbearing, while Meesha apparently blamed Reese for the overturning of her world.  Meesha hissed and T'lon tapped her nose reproachfully.

"Blast.  T'lon, could you send Meesha up to get Lery, at least?  Maybe Alina, too, although I think at this point, she'll go along with whatever we decide."  H'lee kicked himself for not thinking of that sooner - T'lon and Roth could have brought them down.

T'lon smiled and looked at his gold, who twittered and took off.  She returned moments later, chittering at T'lon, who looked surprised, then amused.  "Apparently, Lery is already on her way down with Sikra, Emylee, and Prilla.  Meesha thought she might get a treat in the kitchen, but they've already left."  The little gold huffed dramatically.

A few minutes later, the head women of the Weyr arrived.  Tikal and a couple of other Healers swooped down on the goldriders, and Sikra gave H'lee a hard look.  He tried to look innocent.  Her lips quirked and they submitted to the Healers' examinations and ministrations.  Lery backed them up.  "It's about time we got you three into the Infirmary.  You've been white as sheets for two days!"  She nodded decisively, clearly approving of the minor deception.  H'lee handed over the note, which Silvara and T'lon had read while they waited for the women to arrive.

"I had said two weeks because I thought we'd be taking more time to get here," he said with a sigh.  "So I'll have to update that.  I'm just worried about this idea of meeting with...who?  I wish I knew who it would be.  Him, I trust.  But others?  How many times have we been told we could trust someone, only to have it backfire?"

Sikra spoke up.  "While I appreciate your caution, I don't know how much we can afford, H'lee.  Or rather, how much YOU can afford.  You need Candidates.  You can't stay here - clearly this Weyr was occupied before...whatever it was...happened.  Which reminds me, Silvara, Tikal - could a rogue Gift have killed everyone here?  Maybe someone who panicked when Thread fell?  So many people apparently just dropped dead in the middle of whatever they were doing.  And Thread didn't consume everything organic like it normally would have.  AIVAS said Thread wasn't a sentient creature, so it doesn't seem likely that a Gift could do that, but...I don't know how else to explain it."

Tikal consulted with Silvara, before allowing as how it could possibly explain the loss of all the people, herdbeasts, tunnelsnakes and so on within the confines of the Weyr.  But without a first-hand examination of a Thread, he couldn't say whether or not their Gifts would impact it.

"We're getting off-topic," T'lon reminded them as Meesha and Reese squawked at each other and preened.  "You described Fort Weyr to them, didn't you, H'lee?"  The Weyrlingmaster nodded.  "Then I suggest we keep it to a small group of us - we wanted to spread the eggs around anyway - and include Silvara in that group.  We can certainly hide the eggs well enough to not be found easily, and Silv can assess anyone who comes to visit.  If they prove to be unfriendly, we can simply hide and not show for this meeting."

H'lee frowned.  He didn't think it would be that easy, but he didn't have any real argument against it.

"Besides, we need supplies," Lery added.  "If you go and enter the Hold on foot, as isolated holdfolk, you can trade for supplies, Search for possible Candidates, and get a feel for what's going on."  H'lee's frown turned into a grimace.

With that, the three riders in the room who were staying were volunteered to be part of that group.  T'lon was graceful and charming enough to pass scrutiny; H'lee was the one that was known to the party they'd be meeting; and Silvara would be able to tell if there was going to be trouble.  L'nex, X'lel, Bierte, and Laysa were selected as the other four members of the party.  They would stay out of sight during the get-together unless needed, but they would go to the Hold to help scavenge some supplies.

They composed a response to Learyam.