Piemur groaned, writhing dramatically on the sand. “That place! May I never see it again!” He lifted one fist skyward to emphasize his determination. “Took me days to find a break in the cliffs on the other shore that we could climb out of. At that I had to ride Stupid off the cliffs into the water and swim him across. The fishes nearly made us their lunch.”
“And the rest of us,” Menolly continued, “with F’nor and the Harper, will explore this side.”
“Inland, I hope?” Piemur asked sharply.
She nodded. “I understand,” and she glanced over her shoulder at the Weyrleaders and Craftmasters, “that Idarolan may sail the coast…”
“More power to him. I’ve walked far enough!”
“Oh, hush, Piemur. No one forced you to …”
“Oh?”
“Enough, Piemur,” Jaxom said, impatiently. “So we’re to go inland?” Menolly nodded.
As one they looked over their shoulders toward the mountain, invisible though it was from their recumbent position.
Jaxom grinned at Menolly. “And Master Oldive’ll be here tomorrow so I’ll be able to go between again!”
“Lot of good that’ll do you,” Piemur said with a snort. “You still have to fly the route straight first.”
“That doesn’t put me out one little bit.”
A firelizard squabble in the trees startled all of them and diverted Piemur from what Jaxom was certain was a renewal of his usual sour theme. Two gold streaks could be seen against the darker green of the foliage.
“Beauty and Farli to settle the matter!” Menolly cried, then looked around, curiously. “There’re just our firelizards here now, Jaxom. Has all the activity frightened the Southern ones away?”
“I doubt it. They come and go. I suspect some of them are in the trees, fussing because they don’t dare come near Ruth.”
“Did you ever find out more about their men?”
Jaxom was chagrined to say that he hadn’t even tried. “There’s been too much else happening.”
“I’d have thought you’d have given it one go.” Menolly sounded irritated.
“What? And deprive you of the pleasure?” Jaxom affected surprised hurt. “I wouldn’t dream of it …” He stopped abruptly, remembering those very peculiar dreams, as if he’d been seeing something out of hundreds of eyes. He also recalled what Brekke had said, the first day Ruth had flown Thread: “It was difficult to see the same scene through three pairs of eyes.” Had he in fact been seeing, in his dreams, a scene from many firelizard eyes?
“What’s wrong, Jaxom?”
“Maybe I did dream of it, after all,” he said, with a hesitant laugh. “Look, Menolly, if you dream tonight, remember it, huh?”
“Dream?” Sharra asked, curious. “What kind of dreams?”
“Have you been having some?” Jaxom turned toward her. Sharra had assumed her usual intricate fold of leg, a posture which evidently fascinated and confounded Menolly.
“Certainly. Only … like you, I don’t remember them, except that I couldn’t seem to see clearly. As if my dream eye gets unfocused.”
“That’s a nice concept,” Menolly said. “A dream eye unfocused.”
Piemur groaned and flailed at the sand with his fists. “Here comes another song!”
“Oh, do be quiet!” Menolly regarded him with impatience. “All that lone traveling has changed you, Piemur, and I for one don’t like the change.”
“No one says you have to,” Piemur snapped at her and, with a fluid motion, was on his feet and striding into the forest, angrily batting the underbrush out of his way.
“How long has he been so touchy?” Menolly asked Jaxom and Sharra.
“Since he arrived here,” Jaxom said, shrugging to indicate that they hadn’t been able to change him.
“Remember, he’s been very worried about Master Robinton,” Sharra said slowly.
“We’ve all been worried about Master Robinton,” Menolly said, “but that’s no reason to change one’s temperament!”
There was an awkward silence. Sharra unfolded her legs and rose abruptly.
“I wonder if anyone remembered to feed Stupid this evening!” She walked off, not quite in the same direction as Piemur.
Menolly looked after her for a long moment. Her eyes were dark with concern as she turned back to Jaxom and then a wicked gleam changed them to their normal sea-blue.
“While they’re out of earshot, Jaxom,” she glanced about to be sure no one had come up behind her, “I’d better mention that it’s been pretty well established now that no one at Southern Weyr returned Ramoth’s egg.”