Only five girls stood on the Hatching Ground vying to attract the
attention of the greens. There should have been six, but one girl’s
family had refused to give her up on Search since they claimed a union
had been arranged and they could not go back on that pledge. As K’vin
thought that a good third or even half of this clutch might be greens,
he hoped there’d be enough suitable lads’ to impress the green
hatchlings. His study of Thread fighting tactics also indicated that
greens with male riders tended to be more volatile, apt to ignore their
Weyrleaders’ orders in the excitement of a Fall: in short, they tended
to unnecessarily show off their bravery to the rest of the Weyr. On the
other hand, the green dragons were valuable to a Weyr for their speed
and agility even if they didn’t have the stamina of the larger dragons.
A careful wing leader alternated his green riders, resting each at least
an hour during a Fall.
There had been a monograph on the advantages of female over male green
riders in Threadfall. Although the text allowed the reader to make his
own decision, K’vin had fallen on the side of preferring females when
Search provided them.
Certainly their personalities were more stable and they posed fewer
problems to the Weyrleaders. Young male green riders could go into
emotional declines if they lost their weyrmates and be useless in Fall,
sometimes even suiciding in their distress. On the other hand, since
the greens were sexually very active, there was more danger of female
riders becoming pregnant, unless they were extremely careful.
Even spontaneous abortions due to the extreme cold of between required
sensible convalescence.
Taking a short dragon-ride’ was now a euphemism for ending an unwanted
pregnancy. Another good reason to have a few female green riders in the
Weyr: less embarrassment.
According to Zulaya, though, there had been few such terminations since
she had become Weyrwoman. Probably due to the fact that too many holds
had lost relatives to the last bad winter fever. Or possibly because
everyone wanted to have enough children to extend their legitimate
holdings or establish new ones.
The draconic humming – what Clisser called a pre-birth lullaby was
reaching an almost unendurable level, climaxing when the first egg
cracked open. The spectators were exhibiting the usual excitability,
jumping about, weeping, singing along with the dragons. They’d calm
down, too, once the Hatching had begun.
And it did. Three shells burst outwards simultaneously, fragments
raining down on nearby eggs and causing them to crack as well. K’vin
counted nine dragons, six of them wetly green, and revised his third’
of greens closer to half.
The hatchlings were so dangerous at this stage, ravenous from their
encapsulation, and some of the nearer candidates hastily avoided the
bumbling progress of the new-born. Two greens seemed headed for
Weyrbred girls but the blonde from Ista, already noted in the Weyr for
her quick wits, stepped beside one and Impression was made for both.
Three of the other greens made for lads who had demonstrated homosexual
preferences in their holds. The remaining green, after lunging out of
her shell, stood, weaving her head back and forth, crying piteously.
T’dam called out to the remaining girls to converge on her.
The brunette girl from Ista made for her and instantly the little green
covered the intervening distance, squeaking with relief.
K’vin swallowed against the emotional lump in his throat: that instant
of recognition always brought back the moment when he had experienced
the shock of Impression with Charanth. And the glory of that incredibly
loving mind linking with his: the knowledge that they were indissolubly
one, heart, mind and soul.
We are, are we not? Charanth said, his tone rough with the memory of
that rapture. Despite the fact that Charanth, like the rest of the
Weyr’s dragons, was perched up along the ceiling, K’vin could hear’ the
dragon’s sigh.
Zulaya grinned up at K’vin, aware of what was taking place within him,
tears flowing down her face as the high emotional level of the Hatching
affected her.
Absently K’vin thought that the glowing bulk of Meranath behind Zulaya