“Come on, Jaxom. I know you’re awake.”
“You’re wrong. I’m half asleep.” Jaxom indulged in a massive yawn before he opened his eyes. “Go away, Mirrim. Tell Master Robinton I’ll be in directly.”
“He wants you now!”
“He’ll get me a lot sooner if you go tell him I’m coming. Now, get out of here!”
Mirrim gave him one more long hard look, brushed past Sharra and stomped up the stairs to the kitchen.
“You are my true friend, Sharra,” Jaxom said. “Mirrim irritates me so! Menolly told me that once Path had flown, she’d improve. I haven’t noticed any sign.”
Sharra was peering at Ruth, who was still fast asleep, not even an eyelid twitching.
“I know what you’re going to ask …” Jaxom said with a laugh, holding up a hand to forestall her words. “No, nary a dream.”
“Nary a firelizard either.” She smiled at him, shaking her head and retying her hair thong. “You were smart to come here and rest. There’s none up at the Hall. Firelizards popping in and out, from Cove to the plateau, nearly hysterical! No one can make any sense out of what ours say or the Southern ones tell them. And it’s not as if some of the Southern ones hadn’t known we were here.”
“And Master Robinton thinks Ruth can sort it all out?”
“He just might.” She regarded the sleeping white dragon thoughtfully. “Poor darling, he’s exhausted with all he’s done today.” Her rich voice was a tender croon and Jaxom could have wished her words included him. She saw him looking at her and flushed a little. “I’m so glad we got there first!”
“So’m I!”
“Jaxom!”
At Mirrim’s shout, she moved back hastily.
“Scorch her!”
He grabbed Sharra’s hand and ran with her toward the Hold, nor did he relinquish her hand when they entered the main Hall.
“Was I asleep an afternoon or a whole day?” Jaxom asked her in an undertone as he saw maps, charts, sketches and diagrams pinned on the walls and propped up on tables.
The Harper, his back to them, was bending over the long dining table. Piemur was occupied in sketching something; Menolly was looking at whatever absorbed the Harper, and Mirrim stood at one side, bored and irritated. Firelizards peered down from the crossbeams. Every now and then, one would flick out of the room and another would swoop in the window to take its place. An aroma of roasting fish filled the air as a sea breeze began to clear away the day’s heat.
“Brekke’s going to be furious with us,” Jaxom said to Sharra.
“With us? Why? We’re keeping him completely occupied at a sedentary task.”
“Stop mumbling, Sharra. Jaxom, come over here and add your mark to what the others have told me,” Robinton said, skewing his body about to frown at them.
“Sir, Piemur, Menolly and Sharra have done a lot more exploring than I have.”
“Yes, but they don’t have Ruth and his way with firelizards. Can he help us sort out their conflicting and confusing images?”
“I’m certainly willing to help. Master Robinton,” Jaxom said, “but I think you might be asking more of Ruth and those firelizards than they can do.”
Master Robinton straightened up. “If you’d explain?”
“Granted that the firelizards seem to share violent mutual experiences like …” Jaxom pointed in the direction of the Red Star, “and Canth’s fall, and now, of course, the mountain. But these are all momentous events . .. not everyday routine.”
“You did locate D’ram here in the Cove,” Robinton said.
“And lucky at that. If I’d asked about men first, we’d never have got an answer,” Jaxom replied with a grin.
“There was scarcely more detail to go on in your first venture.”
“Sir?” Jaxom stared in stunned amazement because the Harper’s drawl had been so deceptively mild, with just a slight emphasis on “first,” yet the implication had been unmistakable; somehow the Harper knew Jaxom had rescued the egg. Jaxom shot an accusing glance at Menolly, whose expression was slightly perplexed as if the Harper’s subtle reference surprised her, too.
“Come to think of it, I had much the same information from Zair,” Master Robinton continued smoothly, “but not the wit to interpret it as cleverly as you did. My compliments, however belated,” he inclined his head and went on as swiftly as if this were just some passing matter, “on the way you handled the feat. Now, if you and Ruth can turn your fine perceptions to today’s problem, we can save ourselves endless hours of vain effort. As before, Jaxom, time is against us. This Plateau,” Robinton tapped the sketches before him, “cannot remain a secret. It is the heritage of everyone on Pern-”