“Pressen and that lad out there.”
“I’ll send M’barak off on an errand. Surely we can expect silence from Oklina, so that gives us a working party of six. We must make the time, and take it, B’lerion. Weyr, hold, and hall cannot sustain a second epidemic.”
“I have to concede that, Moreta.” B’lerion looked out over the debris strewn in the roadway and fields. “The change here is staggering.” He grasped her hands tightly, his grin giving her the assent she required. “I’ll have Nabeth speak to Orlith. If she agrees, what difference would a few moments make among friends?”
“Tell Orlith it’s for the runners. They deserve our help.”
“You and your runners!”
When Moreta outlined her plan to Capiam, Desdra, and Alessan, she received startled demurrals from each one that they didn’t have the time to join the expedition.
“Master Capiam, it takes no time from now, today, this hour, to do what I have in mind,” she replied to their protests with vexed severity. “Alessan, you can surely arrange matters in your Hold for an hour’s absence. It will take longer than that for the cart to collect Dag and the men to herd the mares and foals down. What will you do? Watch bottles spin? The risk I fear is a breach of discretion about the entire project. Capiam and Desdra already know about the dragons’ ability, and they earnestly require the needlethom. I know I can count on Ruathan honor to respect dragonrider privacy. B’lerion is fortuitously here, willing and able. Nabeth is well able to carry six of us and, in a day’s hard harvesting, we will accomplish what is necessary to insure the plague does not spread across the continent again. No one else will be the wiser. And that is also essential!”
“Six?” Alessan asked into the thoughtful pause.
“It is your sister’s company B’lerion seeks.”
Desdra chuckled. Capiam grinned after he considered that development. Alessan reacted in surprise and then with dour amusement.
“You mentioned time paradox, Moreta,” Capiam began.
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Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
“That would not apply to us in this venture, so long as none of us return to Ista on the day the ging trees flower.”
“Highly unlikely,” Capiam agreed with a humorous grimace.
“The ravines I have in mind can only be reached from a high cliff. I harvested there many Turns while I was still at Ista.”
Alessan hesitated a moment longer, his eyes straying from Pollen to the men waiting outside with saddled runners and the beast in the
cart shafts. “Another minor but extremely important detail, Alessan,” Desdra
said. “Your beasthold is well kept, but not exactly the proper envi-ronment if one is producing quantities of a serum which must be free of contamination.” She indicated the droppings of the lame beast.
“A wise precaution,” Alessan agreed, then smiled wryly as he added, “The removal should take not much more than an hour. What supplies should we bring with us?”
“Carry-nets,” Moreta replied quickly. “The rainforests will provide everything else we’re likely to need.”
B’lerion came striding back, a grin wide on his face.
“Nabeth found it unusual to talk to two queens at once but you have permission to go and not be long about it. I sent M’barak off to High Reaches Hold for more of Master Clargesh’s apprentice bottles. And there’ll be more at every major hold in the west, I shouldn’t wonder. Clargesh was so proud of them. That will keep him busy.”
“Good, B’lerion, now find a jacket for Oklina to wear.”
“She is rather special in an understated way, isn’t she. Clever of Arith to notice. No wonder I’ve been attracted to her.”
“Wait till the egg has hardened, my dear friend. Each one splits in
its own way.” Capiam and Desdra were directing Pollen and Tuero to reposition
the vaccine manufactory. When Alessan returned from dispatching the men to collect Dag and the runnerherds, he suggested the vaccine apparatus be moved to the main Hall of the Hold since most of its patients could safely be moved to the upper storeys or their own cotholds. Moreta helped Alessan secure all the carry-nets hanging from the walls of the beasthold, lashing them into one large bundle. By the time B’lerion and Oklina returned from the Hold, the other