“Be that as it may,” and Mirrim gave the foot bandage a final twitch, “we’ll see you don’t have any such
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trouble with your feet. Now, Fll bring you something to eat You must be starved…”
Now that the worst of the dressing was over and the numbweed had deadened the pain in her feet, Menolly was definitely aware of the emptiness in her stomach.
“So I’ll be right back, Menolly, and if you need anything after that, just shout for Sanra. She’s below on the Floor, minding the little ones, and she knows she’s to listen for you.”
As Menolly worked her way through the generous meal Minim brought, she reflected on some harsh truths. Definitely Mavi had given her the distinct impression that she’d never be able to use her hand again. Yet Mavi was too skilled a healer not to have known that the knife had missed the finger tendons. She had deliberately let the hand heal with drawn flesh. It was painfully clear to Menolly that Mavi, as well as Yanus, had not wanted her to be able to play again.
Grimly Menolly vowed that she’d never, never return to Half-Circle. Her reflections made her doubt Manora’s assurance that she could stay at Benden Weyr. No matter, she could run away again. Run she could, and live holdless. And that’s what she’d do. Why, she’d run across all Pern … And why not? Menolly became pleased with the notion. Indeed, there was nothing to stop her running right to the Master-harperhall in Fort Hold. Maybe Petiron had sent her songs to Masterharper Robinton. Maybe they were more than just twiddles. Maybe … but there was no maybe about returning to Half-Circle Holdl TTiat she would not do.
Tie issue did not arise over the next few days whfle her feet itchedMirrim said that was a good sign of healingand she found herself beginning to fret with impatience at her disability.
She also worried about her fire lizards now she wasn’t able to forage for them. But the first evening when Beauty reappeared, her little eyes darting about the chamber to be sure Menolly was alone, there was
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nothing of hunger in her manner. She daintily accepted the morsels that Menolly had carefully saved from her supper. Rocky and Diver appeared just as she was drifting off to sleep. However, they promptly curled themselves up to sleep against the small of her back, which they wouldn’t have done if they’d been hungry.
They were gone the nest morning, but Beauty lingered, stroking her head against Menoll/s cheek until she heard footsteps in the corridor. Menolly shooed her away, telling her to stay with the others.
“I know if s boring to stay abed,” Mirrim agreed the third morning with a weary sigh that told Menolly Mirrim would gladly have swapped places, “but it’s kept you out of Lessa’s way. Since the … well,” and Minim censored what she’d been about to say. “With Ramoth broody over those eggs, we’re all treading hot sands until they Hatch, so it’s better you’re here.”
‘There must be something I can do, now that I’m better. I’m good with my hands …” and then Menolly, too, halted uncertainly.
“You could help Sanra with the little ones if you would. Can you tell any stories?”
“Yes, I …” and Menolly all but blurted out what she’d done at the Sea Hold,”… can at least keep them
amused.”
Weyrbred children were not like Hold children, Menolly discovered: they were more active physically, possessed of insatiable curiosity for every detail she cared to tell them about fishing and sailing. It was only when she taught them to fashion tiny boats of sticks and wide root leaves and sent them off to sail the skiffs in the Weyr lake that she had any rest the first morning.
In the afternoon, she amused the younger ones by recounting how Tgran had rescued her. Thread was not as automatically horrifying to Weyr children as it would be to Holders, and they were far more interested in her running and rescue than in what she was running from. Unconsciously she fell into a rhyming pattern and caught herself up sharply just before she’d