widened in horrified dismay at such irreverence. And he never told his
holders it is?” Actually I got that distinct impression while I was
there,’ lantine said, more from what wasn’t said and done than what
was. I mean, even Hall Domaize was stocking food and supplies against
Threadfall. They’d talk enough about odds .iid wagers at Bitra, but not
a word about Thread.
Did they sucker you into any gaming?” Leopol’s avid expression
suggested he yearned for a positive answer.
lantine shook his head and grinned at his eager listener.
In the first place, I’d been warned. Isn’t everyone warned about
Bitrans at Gathers? And then, I didn’t have any spare marks to wager.”
Otherwise you’d have lost your commission fer fair, Leopol murmured,
his eyes still round with his unvoiced speculations of the disaster
lantine had avoided.
I’d say Chalkin’s gambling in the wrong game if he thinks ignoring
Thread will make it not happen,’ lantine said.
Shelters are going to have to be huge,’ he added, gesturing towards the
solid beasts who were being led to the lake to drink.
Either they were accustomed to drago nets from coming to Telgar Weyr, or
they were so phlegmatic they didn’t care.
However, the weyrlings had never seen them before in their short lives,
so they reacted with alarm at the massive cart beasts, squealing with
such fright that dragons, sleeping in the pale wintry sun on their weyr
ledges, woke up to see what the fuss was about. lantine grinned.
He did a rapid sketch of that in a corner of the page. At the rate he
was going, he’d use up even this generous supply of paper.
Well, they’ve had to use a lot of sheet roofing, I know,’ Leopol said.
The Veyr contributes, too, ya know, since the Liliencamps have to
detour to get up to us.
lantine had never given any thought to the support system required to
serve a Weyr and its dragons. He had always assumed that dragons and
riders took care of themselves from tithings, but he was acquiring a
great respect for the organization and management of such a facility.
In a direct contrast with what he had seen at Bitra, everybody in the
Weyr worked cheerfully at any task set them and took great pride in
being part of it. Everyone helped everyone else; everyone seemed happy.
To be sure, lantine had recently realized that his early childhood had
been relatively carefree and happy. His learning years at the College
had also been good as well as productive; his apprenticeship to Hall
Domaize had proceeded with only occasional ups and downs as he struggled
to perfect new techniques and a full understanding of Art.
Bitra Hold had been an eye-opener. So, of course, was the Weyr, but in
a far more positive manner. Grimly, lantine realized that one had to
know the bad to properly appreciate the good. He smiled wryly to
himself while his right hand now rapidly completed the sketch of the
Weyrleaders in earnest collaboration with the Liliencamp trail bosses.
That Bloodline had been the first of the peripatetic traders, bringing
goods and delivering less urgent messages on their way from one isolated
hold to another. A Liliencamp had been one of the more prominent First
Settlers. Ian tine thought he’d been portrayed in the great Mural in
Fort Hold, with the other Charterers: a smallish man with black hair,
depicted with sharp eyes and a pad of some sort depending from his belt,
and – lantine had of course noted them several writing implements
stuffed in his chest pocket, and one behind his ear. It had seemed such
a logical place to store a pencil that lantine had taken to the habit
himself.
He peered more closely at the trail bosses. Yes, one of them had what
looked like a pencil perched behind one ear – and he also had an empty
pouch at his belt: one that probably accommodated the pad on the table
before him.
But, even with such wayside precautions, would such traders be able to
continue throughout the fifty dangerous years of a Pass? It was one
thing to plan and quite another, as lantine had only just discovered, to