All the Lords have been shown how Fnor broke off as he realized the trend of her thought. Berd and Grall reacted to Brekkes fright with nervous squeals and fanning wings. No, no, Brekke. He cant, Fnor reassured her. Asgenar has one a week or so younger and he was saying how difficult he found it to send his Rial about in his own hold.
But Merons had his longer. It could be further along …
Nabol? Fnor was skeptical. That man has no conception of how to handle a fire lizard.
Then why is he so fascinated with the Red Star? What else could he have in mind but to send his bronze lizard there?
But he knows that dragonmen wont attempt to send dragons. How can he imagine that a fire lizard could go?
He doesnt trust dragonmen, Brekke pointed out, obviously obsessed with the idea. Why should he trust that statement? Youve got to tell Flar!
He agreed to because it was the only way to reassure her. She was still so pathetically thin. Her eyelids looked transparent though there was soft flush of color in her lips and cheeks.
Promise youll tell Flar.
Ill tell him. Ill tell him, but not in the middle of the night.
With a wing of riders to direct between time for larval sacks the next day, his promise slipped Fnors mind until late that evening. Rather than distress her with his forgetfulness, he asked Canth to bespeak Ntons Lioth to pass the theory on to Nton. If the Fort Weyr bronze rider saw anything that gave Brekkes premise substance, then theyd tell Flar.
He had a chance to speak to Nton the following day as they met in the isolated valley field which Larad of Telgar Hold had picked to be seeded by grubs. The field, Fnor noticed with some jaundice, was planted with a new hybrid vegetable, much in demand as a table luxury and grown successfully only in some upland areas of Telgar and the High Reaches Hold.
Brekke may have something, Fnor, Nton admitted. The watchriders have mentioned that Nabol will stare for a long time into the distance-viewer and then suddenly stare into his fire lizards eyes until the creature becomes frantic and tries to rise. In fact, last night the poor thing went between screaming. Nabol stalked off in a bad mood, cursing all Dragonkind.
Did you check what hed been looking at?
Nton shrugged. Wasnt too clear last night. Lots of clouds. Only thing visible was that one gray tail the place that resembles Nerat but points east instead of west. It was visible only briefly.
Fnor remembered that feature well. A mass of grayness formed like a thick dragon tail, pointing in the opposite direction from the planets rotation.
Sometimes, Nton chuckled, the clouds above the star are clearer than anything we can see below. The other night, for instance, there was a cloud drift that looked like a girl, Nton made passes with his hands to describe a head, and a few to one side of the air-drawn circle, braiding her hair. I could see her head, tilted to the left, the half-finished braid and then the stream of free hair. Fascinating.
Fnor did not dismiss that conversation entirely for hed noticed the variety of recognizable patterns in the clouds around the Red Star and often had been more absorbed in that show than in what he was supposed to be watching for.
Ntons report of the fire lizards behavior was very interesting. The little creatures were not as dependent on their handlers as dragons. They were quite apt to disappear between when bored or asked to do something they didnt feel like doing. They reappeared after an interlude, usually near dinnertime, evidently assuming people forgot quickly.
Grall and Berd had apparently matured beyond such behavior. Certainly they had a nice sense of responsibility toward Brekke. One was always near her. Fnor was willing to wager that Grall and Berd were the most reliable pair of fire lizards on Pern.
Nevertheless, Meron would be watched closely. It was just possible that he could dominate his fire lizard. His mind, as Brekke said, was warped.