“You, D’ltan.” She pointed to the weyrling with the strongest-looking hands. “Cut me lengths of that cloth as long as Dilenth’s leading edge. A’dan, wash your hands with this oil and dry them, then repeat the process twice, just patting your hands dry after the third. We’ll have to oil our hands frequently or get benumbed by the weed as we work. You, M’barak.” Moreta indicated the tall weyrling. “Thread me needles with this much thread”she held her oily hands apart to the required length“and keep doing ‘em until I tell you to stop. You, B’greal”she looked toward the third boy“will hand me the reeds when I ask for them. All of you wash your hands in redwort first.
“We’re going to support the wing underneath with cloth stitched
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to the wingbone and stretched from the dorsal to the finger joint,” she told A’dan, watching his face to see if he understood. “Then we mustif you have to get sick, A’dan, do it now and get it over with. Dilenth and F’duril both will find it reassuring to have you helping me. F’duril knows you’ll be the most loving and gentle nurse that Dilenth could have. A’dan!” She spoke urgently because she needed his help. “Don’t think of it as a dragon wing. Think of it as a fine summer tunic that needs mending. Because that’s all we’ll be doing.
Mending!”
Her hands oiled, she took the fine-pointed needle from the weyrling’s hand, willing A’dan to fortitude. Orlith?
I can only speak to his green, T’grath. Orlith said a bit tartly. Dilenth needs all my concentration and none of the other queens has
returned to help.
In the next second, however, A’dan shook himself, finished washing his hands, and turned resolutely to Moreta. His complexion was better and his eyes steady though he swallowed convulsively.
“Good! Let’s begin. Remember! We’re mending!”
Moreta jumped up on the sturdy table, beckoned him to follow, and then reached for the first length of cloth. As Moreta made her first neat tacks along the dorsal, Dilenth and A’dan twitched almost in unison. With Orlith’s control and all the numbwecd on the bone, Dilenth could not be experiencing any pain. A’dan had to be anticipating the dragon’s reaction. So Moreta talked to him as she stitched, occasionally asking him to stretch or relax the fine cloth.
“Now I’ll just fasten this to the underside. Pull to your left. The leading edge of the wing will be thickno help for itbut if we can just save enough of the mainsail … There! Now, A’dan, take the numbweed paddle and smear the cloth. We’ll lay on it what wingsail fragments remain. This is a very fragile summer tunic. Gently does it. M’barak, cut me another length. That tendon’s been badly stretched but luckily it’s still attached to the elbow. Orlith, do stop him flicking his tail. Any movement makes this operation more difficult.
Moreta was grateful when Dilenth’s exertions abruptly ceased. Probably another queen had arrived to support Orlith. She thought she saw Sh’gall but he didn’t stop. He wasn’t attracted to this aspect
of Threadfall. “Retaining that tendon is a boon,” she said, realizing that her
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verbal encouragement to A’dan had faltered. “I’ll have those reeds now, B’greal. The longest one. You see, A’dan, we can brace the trailing edge this way, using gauze as support. And I think there’re enough fragments of membrane. Yes. Ah, yes, he’ll fly again, Dilenth will! Slowly now, very gently, let’s lay the tatters on the gauze. M’barak, can I have the thinner salve? We’ll just float the pieces … so …”
As she and A’dan patiently restored the main wingsail, she could see exactly how the clump of Thread had struck Dilenth. Had F’duril and the blue dragon emerged from between a breath earlier, F’duril would have been bowled off Dilenth by the searing mass. She must remember to point out to F’duril that good fortune had attended their reentry.
They retrieved more sail fragments than she’d initially dared believe. Moreta began to feel more confident as she stitched a reed to the tendon. In time the whole would mend although the new growth, overlapping the old, would be thicker and unsightly for seasons to come, until windblown sand had abraded the heavier tissue. Dilenth would leam to compensate for the alteration on the sail surface. Most dragons readily adapted to such inequalities once they were airborne again.