“Yes, my dear Weyrwoman, I mean it. I will teach you to fly between today. If only,” and be bowed to her with a flourish, “to keep you from trying it yourself.”
Her low chuckle informed him his taunt was well-aimed.
“Right now, however,” he said, indicating for her to lead the way back to the weyr, “I could do with some food. We were up before the kitchen.”
They had entered the well-lighted weyr, so he did not miss the trenchant look she shot him over her shoulder. She would not so easily forgive being left out of the group at the Star Stone this morning, certainly not with the bribe of flying between.
How different this inner room was now that Lessa was Weyrwoman, F’lar mused as Lessa called down the service shaft for food. During Jora’s incompetent tenure as Weyrwoman, the sleeping quarters had been crowded with junk, unwashed apparel, uncleared dishes. The state of the Weyr and the reduced number of dragons were as much Jora’s fault as R’gul’s, for she had indirectly encouraged sloth, negligence, and gluttony. If he, F’lar, had been just a few years older when F’lon, his father, had died … Jora had been disgusting, but when dragons rose in mating flight, the condition of your partner counted for nothing.
Lessa took a tray of bread and cheese, and mugs of the stimulating klah from the platform. She served him deftly.
“You’d not eaten, either?” he asked.
She shook her head vigorously, the braid into which she had plaited her thick, fine dark hair bobbing across her shoulders. The hairdressing was too severe for her narrow face, but it did not, if that was her intention, disguise her femininity or the curious beauty of her delicate features.
Again F’lar wondered that such a slight body contained so much shrewd intelligence and resourceful … cunning yes, that was the word, cunning. F’lar did not make the mistake, as others had, of underestimating her abilities.
“Manora called me to witness the birth of Kylara’s child.”
F’lar maintained an expression of polite interest. He knew perfectly well that Lessa suspected the child was his, and it could have been, he admitted privately, but he doubted it. Kylara had been one of the ten candidates from the same Search three years ago which had discovered Lessa. Like others who survived Impression, Kylara had found certain aspects of Weyr life exactly suited to her temperament. She had gone from one rider’s weyr to another’s. She had even seduced F’lar not at all against his will, to be sure. Now that he was Weyrleader, he found it wiser to ignore her efforts to continue the relationship. T’bor had taken her in hand and had had his hands full until he retired her to the Lower Caverns, well advanced in pregnancy.
Aside from having the amorous tendencies of a green dragon, Kylara was quick and ambitious. She would make a strong Weyrwoman, so F’lar had charged Manora and Lessa with the job of planting the notion in Kylara’s mind. In the capacity of Weyrwoman … of another Weyr … her intense drives would be used to Pern’s advantage. She had not learned the severe lessons of restraint and patience that Lessa had, and she didn’t have Lessa’s devious mind. Fortunately she was in considerable awe of Lessa, and F’lar suspected that Lessa was subtly influencing this attitude. In Kylara’s case, F’lar preferred not to object to Lessa’s meddling.
“A fine son,” Lessa was saying.
F’lar sipped his klah. She was not going to get him to admit any responsibility.
After a long pause Lessa added, “She has named him T’kil.”
F’lar suppressed a grin at Lessa’s failure to get a rise from him.
“Discreet of her.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” F’lar replied blandly. “T’lar might be confusing if she took the second half of her name as is customary. ‘Tkil, however, still indicates sire as well as dam.”
“While I was waiting for Council to end,” Lessa said after clearing her throat, “Manora and I checked the supply caverns. The tithing trains, which the Holds have been so gracious as to send us” her voice was sharp “are due within the week. There will shortly be bread fit to eat,” she added, wrinkling her nose at the crumbling gray pastry she was attempting to spread with cheese.