Mnementh landed. F’lar jumped down from the curving neck to stand beside Lessa. The three watched as Ramoth, a buck grasped in each of her forefeet, rose to a feeding ledge.
“Will her appetite never taper off?” Lessa asked with affectionate dismay.
As a dragonet, Ramoth had been eating to grow. Her full stature attained, she was, of course, now eating for her young, and she applied herself conscientiously.
F’lar chuckled and squatted, hunter fashion. He picked up shale-flakes, skating them across the flat dry ground, counting the dust puffs boyishly.
“The time will come when she won’t eat everything in sight,” he assured Lessa. “But she’s young …”
“… and needs her strength,” Lessa interrupted, her voice a fair imitation of R’gul’s pedantic tones.
P’lar looked up at her, squinting against the wintry sun that slanted down at them.
“She’s a finely grown beast, especially compared to Nemorth.” He gave a contemptuous snort. “In fact, there is no comparison. However, look here,” he ordered peremptorily. He tapped the smoothed sand in front of him, and she saw that his apparently idle gestures had been to a purpose. With a sliver of stone, he drew a design in quick strokes.
“In order to fly a dragon between, he has to know where to go. And so do you.” He grinned at the astonished and infuriated look of comprehension on her face. “Ah, but there are certain consequences to an ill-considered jump. Badly visualized reference points often result in staying between.” His voice dropped ominously. Her face cleared of its resentment. “So there are certain reference or recognition points arbitrarily taught all weyriings. “That,” he pointed first to his facsimile and then to the actual Star Stone with its Finger and Eye Rock companions, on Benden Peak “is the first recognition point a weyriing learns. When I take you aloft, you will reach an altitude just above the Star Stone, near enough for you to be able to see the hole in the Eye Rock clearly. Fix that picture sharply in your mind’s eye, relay it to Ramoth. That will always get you home.”
“Understood. But how do I learn recognition points of places I’ve never seen?”
He grinned up at her. “You’re drilled in them. First by your instructor,” and he pointed the sliver at his chest, “and then by going there, having directed your dragon to get the visualization from her instructor,” and he indicated Mnementh. The bronze dragon lowered his wedge-shaped head until one eye was focused on his rider and his mate’s rider. He made a pleased noise deep in his chest. Lessa laughed up at the gleaming eye and, with unexpected affection, patted the soft nose.
F’lar cleared his throat in surprise. He had been aware that Mnementh showed an unusual affection for the Weyrwoman, bue he had had no idea Lessa was fond of the bronze. Perversely, he was irritated.
“However,” he said, and his voice sounded unnatural to himself, “we take the young riders constantly to and from the main reference points all across Pern, to all the Holds so that they have eyewitness impressions on which to rely. As a rider becomes adept in picking out landmarks, he gets additional references from other riders. Therefore, to go between, there is actually only one requirement: a clear picture of where you want to go. And a dragon!” He grinned at her.
“Also, you should always plan to arrive above your reference point in clear air.”
Lessa frowned.
“It is better to arrive in open air”F’lar waved a hand above his head”rather than underground,” and he slapped his open hand onto the dirt. A puff of dust rose wamingly.
“But the wings took off within the Bowl itself the day the Lords of the Hold arrived,” Lessa reminded him.
F’lar chuckled at her uptake. “True, but only the most seasoned riders. Once we came across a dragon and a rider entombed together in solid rock. They … were … very young,” His eyes were bleak.
“I take the point,” she assured him gravely. “That’s her fifth,” she added, pointing toward Ramoth, who was carrying her latest kill up to the bloody ledge.
“She’ll work them off today, I assure you,” F’lar remarked.