She lives? The Masterfarmer stopped again, dropping Lessas arm and staring at her with anger. She lives? Her throat should be cut, her body …
She lives, Masterfarmer, with no more mind or wit than a babe. She exists in the prison of her guilt! Dragonfolk take no lives!
The Farmer stared hard at Lessa for a moment longer, then nodded slowly. With great courtesy he offered Lessa his arm when she indicated they should continue.
Fnor did not follow for the events of the day were taking a revenge of fatigue on him.
He watched as Andemon and Lessa joined the others at the main table, saw the Lemos and Telgar Lords come over. Lytol and young Jaxom with his white Ruth were nowhere to be seen. Fnor hoped Lytol had taken Jaxom back to Ruatha. He was more grateful to his discovery of fire lizards than at any other single time since Grall had first winked at him. He walked quickly toward the steep flight to his weyr, wanting to be with his own. Canth was in his weyr, all but one lid closed over his eyes. When Fnor entered, the final lids sagged shut. Fnor leaned his body against the dragons neck, his hands seeking the pulsespots in the soft throat, warm and steadying. He could hear the soft loving thoughts of the two lizards curled by Brekkes head.
How long he stood there he couldnt gauge, his mind rehearsing the Impression, Brekkes release, Jaxoms performance, the dinner, everything that had jammed into one eventful afternoon.
There was much to be done, certainly, but he felt unable to move from the presence of Canth. Most vividly he recalled Andemons shock when the man realized that Flar had proposed the end of dragonmen. Yet Flar hadnt. He certainly had some alternate in mind.
Those grubs yes, they devoured Thread before it could burrow and proliferate. But they were repulsive to look at and commanded neither respect nor gratitude. They werent obvious, or awesome, like dragons. People wouldnt see grubs devouring Thread. They wouldnt have the satisfaction of watching dragons flame, sear, char, destroy Thread mid-air before the vicious stuff got to earth. Surely Flar realized this, knew that men must have the visible proof of Threads defeat. Would dragonmen become tokens? No! That would make dragonfolk more parasitic than Thread. Such an expedient would be repugnant, insupportable to a man of Flars integrity. But what had he in mind?
The grubs might be the ultimate answer but not particularly after thousands of Turns of conditioning not an answer acceptable to Pernese, Holder, Crafter, commoner and dragonman.
CHAPTER XVI
Evening at Benden Weyr
Later Evening at Fort Weyr
FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS, Fnor was too busy to worry. Brekke was recovering her strength and insisted that he return to his duties. She prevailed on Manora to permit her to come down to the Lower Caverns and be of some use. So Manora put her to tying off the woof ends of some finished wall hangings where Brekke could also be part of the busy Cavern activities. The fire lizards rarely left her side. Grall twittered with conflicting wishes when Fnor went off on errands, so he would order her to stay with Brekke.
Flar estimated correctly that Asgenar and Bendarek would accept any solution that might preserve the forests. But the incredulity and initial resistance he encountered showed him what a monumental task he had undertaken. Both Lord Holder and Craftmaster were frankly contemptuous of his claims until Nton came in with a panful of live Thread it could be heard hissing and steaming and dumped it over a tub of verdant growths. Within a matter of moments, the tangle of Thread which they had seen poured over the fellis saplings had been completely consumed by grubs. Dazed, they even accepted Flars assertion that the pierced and smoking leaves would heal in a matter of days.
There were many things about grubs that the dragonmen did not know, as Flar was careful to explain. How long it would take them to proliferate so that a given area could be considered Threadproof; the length of the grub life cycle, what density of grub life would be necessary to ensure the chain of protection