“What did I hear. Toric?” Lessa asked, her voice light but with a hint of steel in her eyes as she squarely ranged herself beside Jaxom.
“Holder Toric has other plans for Sharra,” Jaxom said, his tone more amused than aggrieved. “She can do better, it seems, than a table-sized Hold like Ruatha.”
“I mean no offense to Ruatha,” Toric said quickly when he caught the flicker of anger in Lessa’s face, though the Weyrwoman continued to smile.
“That would be most unwise, considering my pride in my Bloodline and in the present Holder of that title,” she said in the most casual tone.
“Surely, you might reconsider the matter, Toric,” Robinton said, as affable as ever despite the palpable warning he conveyed that the Southerner was on very dangerous ground. “Such an alliance, so much desired by the two young people, would have considerable advantages for you, I think, aligning yourself with one of the most prestigious Holds on Pern.”
“And be in favor with Benden,” Lessa said, smiling so sweetly that Robinton almost chuckled at the man’s predicament.
Toric stood there, absently rubbing the back of his neck, his smile slightly diminished.
“We should discuss the matter. At some length, I think.” Lessa tucked her arm in Toric’s and turned him about. “Master Robinton, will you join us? I think that little cot of mine would be an admirable spot in which to talk undisturbed.”
“I thought we were here to dig up Pern’s glorious past,” Toric said, with a good-natured laugh. But he did not disengage his arm from Lessa’s.
“There’s surely no time like the present,” Lessa continued at her sweetest, “to discuss the future. Your future.”
F’lar had joined them, falling in step at Lessa’s left, apparently aware through the link between Mnementh and Lessa of what had just occurred. The Harper shot a reassuring look over his shoulder to Jaxom but the young man was looking at his dragon.
“Yes, with so many ambitious holdless men pouring into Southern,” F’lar said smoothly, “we’ve been remiss in making certain you’ll have the lands you want, Toric. I don’t fancy blood feuds in the South. Unnecessary, too, when there’s space enough for this generation and several more.”
Toric’s answer was a full-bodied laugh and although he had adjusted his stride to match Lessa’s, he still gave Robinton the impression of invulnerable self-assurance.
“And since there’s so much space, why should I not be ambitious for my sister?”
“You’ve more than one, and we’re not talking of Jaxom and Sharra just now,” Lessa added with a hint of irritability as she dismissed the irrelevant. “F’lar and I had intended to arrange a more formal occasion to set your Holding,” she went on, gesturing to the ancient, empty structure in which they now stood, “but there’s Master Nicat wanting to formalize Minecrafthall affairs, and Lord Groghe is anxious that his two sons do not hold adjacent lands, and other questions have come up recently which require answers.”
“Answers?” Toric asked politely as he leaned against one wall and crossed his arms on his chest.
Robinton began to wonder just how much of that pose of indolence was assumed. Was Toric’s ambition going to overpower good sense?
“One answer required is how much land any one man should Hold in the South?” F’lar said, idly digging dirt from under his thumbnail with his knife point. He had lightly emphasized the one.
“And? Our original agreement was that I could Hold all the lands I had acquired by the time the Oldtimers had passed on.”
“Which, in truth, they haven’t,” Robinton said.
Toric agreed to that. “I shan’t insist on waiting,” he admitted with a slight inclination of his head, “since the original circumstances have altered. And, since my Hold is thoroughly disorganized by the indigent and hopeful lordlings, and holdless men and boys, I am reliably informed that others have eschewed our help and landed wherever their ships can be beached.”
“All the more reason to be sure you are not deprived of one length of your just Hold,” F’lar said. “I know that you have sent out exploring teams. How far have they actually penetrated?”
“With the help of D’ram’s dragonriders,” Toric said as Robinton noticed how keenly he watched F’lar’s face to see if this unexpected assistance was known to Benden, “we have extended our knowledge of the terrain to the foot of the Western Range.”