“Warned, huh?” F’lar brushed the forelock out of his eyes and grimly poured a cup of wine for himself. Recalling courtesy, he poured wine for N’ton and Sebell.
“Sir, the matter’s not yet out of hand.”
“Hordes of holdless men wanting to swarm south, and it’s not out of hand?”
“They have to ask Benden’s permission first!”
F’lar was in the act of swallowing wine and nearly choked in surprise.
“Ask Benden’s permission? How does that come about?”
“Master Robinton’s doing,” N’ton said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Excuse me, I don’t seem to be following you,” F’lar said, sitting down. He dabbed the splattered wine from his lips. “What has Master Robinton, who is, I trust, safely at sea, to do with Groghe, Corman and who knows who else wanting Southern lands for their many sons?”
“Sir, you know that I’ve been sent about Pern-north and south-by the Masterharper? Lately I’ve had two important tasks to accomplish above and beyond my normal duties. First I was to take the temper of every small Hold as regarded duty to Hold and Weyr. Secondly I was to reinforce the belief that it is to Benden Weyr everyone on Pern must look!”
F’lar blinked, shook his head as if to clear his mind and then leaned forward to Sebell.
“Go on. This is very interesting.”
“Benden Weyr only could appreciate the changes that had occurred to Hold and Craft during the Long Interval, because only Benden had changed with the Turns. You, as Benden Weyrleader, saved Pern from Thread when no one else felt Thread would ever fall again. You also protected your Time from the excesses of those Oldtimers, who could not accept the gradual changes of Hold and Craft. You upheld the rights of Hold and Craft against your own kind and exiled those who would not look to you for leadership.
“Hmm. I hadn’t ever heard it put quite like that,” F’lar said.
To N’ton’s amusement, Benden’s Weyrleader squirmed, partly embarrassed but mostly gratified by the summation.
“And so the South became closed off!”
“Not precisely closed off,” F’lar said. “Toric’s people always came and went.” He grimaced at the present repercussions of that liberty.
“They came north, true, but traders or anyone else only went south with the permission of Benden Weyr.”
“I don’t remember saying that at Telgar Hold the day I fought T’ron!” F’lar struggled to recall clearly what had happened that day other than a wedding, a fight and a Threadfall.
“You didn’t actually say so in so many words,” Sebell replied, “but you asked for and received the support of three other Weyrleaders, and every Lord Holder and Craftmaster .. .”
“And Master Robinton construed that to mean Benden gives all orders regarding Southern?”
“More or less.” Sebell made that admission cautiously.
“But not in so many words, eh, Sebell?” F’lar asked, appreciating afresh the devious mind of the Harper.
“Yes, sir. It seemed the course to take, sir, considering your own wish to secure some part of the Southern Continent for the dragonfolk during the next Interval.”
“I’d no idea that Master Robinton had taken a chance remark of mine so much to heart.”
“Master Robinton has always had the best interests of the Weyrs clearly in mind.”
Grimly F’lar thought of the painful estrangement when the Harper had intervened on the day the egg had been stolen. But again, though it hadn’t seemed so at the moment, the Harper had acted in the best interests of Pern. If Lessa had carried out her intention of setting the Northern dragons against the poor old beasts at Southern .. .
“We owe the Masterharper much.”
“Without the Weyrs …” Sebell spread his hands wide to indicate that there was no other option.
“Not all the Holds would agree to that,” F’lar said. “There is still that notion that the Weyrs do not destroy the Red Star because the end of Thread would mean the end of their dominance in Pern. Or has Master Robinton cleverly changed that notion, too?”
“Master Robinton didn’t have to,” Sebell said with a grin. “Not after F’nor and Canth tried to go to the Red Star. The notion is Dragonmen must fly/When Threads are in the sky.”