It was easier to think of an imminent birth than tax her tired mind with imponderables such as sick riders in three Weyrs, a Masterhealer who was not signing outgoing messages, the disciplining of a rider and a harper who disobeyed their Weyrleader, a wing-torn dragon who would be weyrbound for months, and a sick healer who might be dying.
Malth says Berchar is very weak and S’gor is very worried, Orlith told her in a gentle, drowsy voice. We have decided that the woman has carried a male, Orlith continued. Moreta was astonished. Since Orlith very rarely used the plural pronoun, she must be referring to other dragons.
How kind you are, my golden love! Moreta shielded her face with her hands so that no one in the cavern would see the tears in her eyes for her dragon’s unexpected kindly distraction, and her everlasting joy that, of all the girls standing on Ista’s Hatching Ground that day Turns ago, Orlith had chosen the late arrival for her rider.
“Moreta?”
Startled, Moreta looked up to see Curmir, K’lon, and F’neldril standing politely before her table.
“It was I who insisted on conveying Lord Tolocamp,” K’lon said firmly, chin up, eyes shining. “You could say that I hadn’t actually heard the Weyrleader’s order of quarantine since Rogeth and I were asleep in a lower weyr.” Outrageously K’lon winked at Moreta. An older, weyr-bred rider, he had not been best pleased when Sh’gall’s Kadith had flown Orlith, making the much younger bronze rider Weyrleader in L’mal’s stead. K’lon’s discontent with the change in leadership had been aggravated by Sh’gall’s overt disapproval of K’lon’s association with the Igen green rider A’murry.
Moreta tried to assume a neutral expression but knew from Curmir’s expression that she failed.
“You did as custom dictates!” Moreta would allow that much
138 Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
latitude. “The Fort Holder must be conveyed by this Weyr. You brought his family back?”
“Indeed not, though I did offer. Rogeth would not have objected but Lady Pendra decided that she and her daughters could not break the quarantine.”
Moreta caught Curmir’s gaze again and knew that the harper was as aware as everyone else in the west as to why Lady Pendra would not break the quarantine. Moreta had great sympathy for Alessan’s predicament. Not only was he still saddled with the Fort girls, but all the other hopefuls of the Gather were still at Ruatha.
“Lady Pendra said that she would wait out the four days.”
“Four days, four Turns,” F’neldril said with a snort, “and it wouldn’t change their faces or improve their chances with Alessan.”
“Did you see Master Capiam, K’lon?”
K’lon’s expression changed, reflecting annoyance and remembered offense. “No, Moreta. Lord Tolocamp required me to set him down in the Hold forecourt, so I did. But immediately Lord Campen and Master Fortine and some other men whose names I can’t recall bore him off to a meeting. I wasn’t admitted to the Hallto protect me, they said, from contagion, and they wouldn’t listen when I explained that I’d had the plague and recovered.”
Before she could speak, the watchrider’s dragon bugled loudly. Sh’gall and his wing had returned at last. As Moreta rose hastily from the table, she could see the dust roiled up by the dragons’ landing.
All are well, Orlith reassured her. Kadith says the Fall ended well but he is furious that there were few ground crews.
“No ground crews,” she told the three men by way of warning.
Sh’gall came striding through the second dust cloud created as the dragons jumped to the weyrs. The riders ofSh’gall’s wing followed a discreet distance behind their Weyrleader. Sh’gall made directly for Moreta, his manner so threatening that K’lon, Curmir, and F’neldril tactfully stepped to one side.
“Crom sent out no ground crews,” Sh’gall shouted, slamming gloves, helmet, and goggles down on the table with a force that sent the gear skidding across the surface and onto the floor. “Nabol mustered two after Leri threatened them! There was no illness at Crom or Nabol. Lazy, ignorant, stupid mountaineers! They’ve used this plague of Capiam’s as an excuse to avoid their obligations to me! If
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern 139