Messages

Br'son let out a deep breath and closed his eyes.  This was it, then.  He glanced at the light spilling in from Yllaveth's ledge and realized that his Weyrleader and wingleader would be here soon.  The young Weyrsenior scrubbed his hands over his face and got to his feet.  He walked over to the rough cabinet that one of the weyrfolk had cobbled together for him and opened it up to remove a crumpled message hide.  He took this out and walked back to his desk, smoothing the hide out next to the newer ones.  Three messages in total.  One from Jah'vi, two from Firene.  Of the two from Firene, he'd received one today, and one the day of the Hatching.  

Since the cobaltriders weren't there yet, Br'son busied himself in getting refreshments ready.  It was a small thing, perhaps, but it was what he'd been trained to do.  In times of uncertainty and doubt, there was comfort in falling back on routine things.  And, at the end of the day, everyone needed to eat.  

So he compiled a plate of cold sliced meat, some cheeses, some local fruits.  He had wine and ale that he'd offer.  He wished they had bread, but grains were hard to come by, and most of them went into the still that paid for much of their other food.  They'd have to do something about that rather soon, he thought.  He'd hoped...

Well.  He'd hoped that they'd have more time.  He snorted a dry laugh at that.  Time.  Time was always at the crux of matters, wasn't it?  

A light footfall told him that one of his expected visitors had arrived.  He turned with a smile to welcome her, and mentally prepared himself for this meeting that was about to happen.

Casriel had settled Maraxith and Victory; the cobalt had snarled softly all the way back to their weyr and Victory had fussed continuously until Casriel had massaged oil into her bright gold hide. Then Casriel had washed and dried her hands, donned her jacket and went to Br'son. It did not take her long to reach his weyr; her own was no so far away. Rapping lightly on the door, Casriel pushed it inward just a bit.

"Weyrsenior? Wingleader Casriel, reporting." she said.

Br'son waved her in with a smile. "Come in, come in, please. No need to stand on formality. It will be just the three of us. Sidran should be along shortly."

He gestured to a chair and turned to the cabinet where he kept his drinks. "Ale or wine? Or there's water, of course, if you'd rather. Please, help yourself from the tray," he added.

"A little wine would be welcome." Casriel said and though she had no appetite for food, she knew better than to drink on an empty stomach. She picked up a wedge of cheese. Her cool eyes were on Br'son, watching him and waiting to hear what he had to say. Her eyes flicked to the desk and back to him.

It was the first time Casriel had him alone but she couldn't bring herself to take advantage of the situation. Not now, with so much on the table. She simply sat down in the chair, one slim leg over the other and leaned forward.

After she'd calmed herself, Sidran had talked with Dividia for a bit. Divisk prowled the canyon any evening they were at home, and it seemed unlikely Eastern would send a night raid, but being prepared was better than being sorry.

And, of course, Divisk already looked forward to the opportunity to tear an intruder from the sky, so that would work.

So she was neither soothed nor angry, rather some sort of grim satisfied, when she walked in. Her eyes went from the letters to the two people in the room, and back. "What did they send?" she asked, no interest at all in the refreshments.

"Messages," Br'son said, pouring Sidran some wine anyway. He took his own ale and sat down in his seat, tapping the message hides in front of him.

"One form Firene and one from Jah'vi," he said. "They both speak of an illness. It appears to attack the larger colors of dragons first... or perhaps only they show the symptoms. It acts like a plague, with coughing, fever, and weakness being the primary symptoms. And then, the dragons grow too weak and go between. Jah'vi says that some of the blues and greens have gone, too, though they didn't show any symptoms. Like Hayleth," he said, his voice dipping in sorrow. "He says there's no clear path of infection, it just seems to be everywhere, except..."

Br'son lifted his eyes and looked first at Sidran and then at Casriel. Then he tapped Firene's message. The uncrumpled one. The one that had arrived today. "Firene says that Olenath is healthy enough, and all of the dragons that have descended from her since the first new colors appeared are healthy, as far as any of them can tell. That's why Jah'vi's basically leading the Weyr right now. He's practically the only adult bronze left. She says the other Weyrs are reporting sickness, too. It seems to be planet-wide."

He took a deep breath and then pushed the third message across the table.

"There's more. On the day of the Hatching, Firene came to me. She seemed... distracted. Scattered, almost. She gave me this message. I believe she came back in time to warn me about the Shadows. She told me that they would breed, faster and more often than any other queen, though their clutches would be smaller. She said, as you can see 'they must NOT, under any circumstances, be allowed to chew firestone. For they and Yllaveth are all that is left...' ".

He tapped the lines that he'd just quoted, then sat back and folded his shaking hands beneath the table. "I believe she was telling us about this plague. I think that it is going to get much, much worse before it gets better... and I think that when it's all over, White Lightning may very well be the only Weyr left."

"Between times!" Casriel exclaimed, her tone wondering. It was said that golds and bronzes knew a trick to it, to going forward and going back. Casriel had always wanted to try it but it was too risky. Too much could go wrong. After losing Garrah and Parazath, the desire had died away all together.

Casriel did a quick calculation in her mind of the breeding records. Since her Maraxith had first flown Parazath, she had kept close attention to the breeding records of the mutations. It meant life for her cousin, life for the Weyrling Master's boy, life for even her scum eating brother brother J'ril.

"That's ten dragons from the first clutch Maraxith sired on Parazath and sixteen from the second. That is two bronzes, four cobalt, two browns, seven scarlet, three blues, five greens and seven quartz dragons.Twenty six young riders whos beasts are immune to this illness. I think there was a bronze and brown in the clutch that hatched Yllaveth. Jah'vi Impressed with you, didn't he Br'son? You say Olenath is showing no sign of the taint. Between times..., I am stunned. Such a risk, such a risk." and Casriel shook her head hard as if to clear her thoughts. She sat back in her chair and took a long pull of wine. After a moment of silence she looked up with the shadow of bleak certainty in her eyes.

"One Weyr...our Weyr? To defend all of Pern!? We are not out of the Pass yet!" the cobalt rider looked from her Weyrsenior to her Weyrleader.

Sidran stared at nothing for a moment, and then her eyes snapped back to focus. "Those motherloving idiots," she said, frowning. "If this is getting worse, not better," she glanced briefly at the crumpled letter from Firene - jumping in time apparently, by all that was good - and her frown deepened briefly, "then we need to get that little quartz and confirm healthy dragons are healthy, and get them here. The Pass isn't over," nodding to Casriel in agreement, "and we'd do better to get healthy dragons isolated just in case longer exposure can overcome whatever it is that's keeping them from getting sick."

Then, if needed, they could coordinate Falls with healthy dragons - as it was, they were barely two wings on their own, and if it was only Olenath's later offspring that were resisting...

Bloody shards. She'd grown up at Eastern, like most of her fellows, and while she had no living blood relatives riding back there, she had plenty of friends and adopted kin. Bloody, bloody shards.

"Is Jah'vi asking for anything, or just telling us?"

Br'son shrugged. "It's not clear. I get the feeling that he was writing quickly in order to get the message to G'sen before someone read it. It's as much a warning as anything else, I suppose. I wish we could get a message back to him, to ask." The Weyrsenior looked at Casriel.

"Your little gold, is she... she's probably too young, isn't she?"

"She is young but she is very smart. Observe."

Victory. Come. Casriel said softly, reaching out to the firelizard. There was a moment and the slipping from between the bright gold firelizard swooped into the office. She rounded the chamber and then came to rest on Casriel's outstretched arm.

~???~ came the query from the gold firelizard. Casriel pointed to the tray of fruit.

"Victory. Bring me the apple slice." Casriel asked gently. Victory swung her petite head around deftly, hoping over the desk. She paused a moment to study Br'son and Sidran, chattering softly. She then looked at the fruit and slowly paced along the tray. Then, after sparing the meat a wanton look, she snagged a slice of apple.

In a dramatic leap the gold sprang for Casriel's arm, clutching her prize.

~Pleased. Happy. Love!~

"Good." Casriel said and then taking a bit of meat off the tray, rewarded the queen. Victory's eyes whirled bright blue and she downed the meat with joy.

"We have been practicing since she hatched. It is amazing how quickly they catch on. Nothing like dragons but still, amazing. It might be if I gave her very vivid coordinates, she could make the leap." Casriel reasoned.

"If you're willing... I don't want to risk her. Oh! What if the plague can spread to firelizards as well? Casriel, I don't want to risk anything happening to her." Br'son suddenly felt overwhelmed with the gravity of it all. He cast a look at Sidran, one that patently asked for help.

Sidran returned his look, frown fading, and looked back to Casriel. "It's a risk. We'll have to have her come back to you away from Maraxith and the Weyr, and have the quartz there as well. Which is a risk to the hatchling. But either Victory goes, or one of us does, or we sit here and pretend nothing is happening."

She paused, meeting both their eyes. "There's a part of me that thinks that's what they all deserve - they sent us away, so we're away. And we can decide that, but the rest of me knows we'll regret it if we don't know."

Gaveth stirred in her head again. He wasn't hugely fond of Maraxith, whom he knew for his strongest competitor, and he didn't think some vague sickness could affect either of them, but he'd felt that spike of worry from his rider when the green was pronounced sick, and he hadn't cared for it one bit.

"Or," Sidran continued, her voice slowing as she thought, "We do have a canyon of smugglers. We could drop some close to Eastern and let them make their way in - it's still a risk to our dragons, and will take a great deal more time, but..." A quick head shake. "I'd say Victory is the least at risk and gives us the fastest answers, Casriel, but she's not tied to my head. What do you think?"

There were many things a Weyrleader could declare and order. But here, where there were other options, no matter how inconvenient, didn't seem one of those times.

Casriel listened to both of them and then looked to the gold firelizard on her arm. She lifted her right arm until the queen's eyes were level with her own.

"We all must take risks when it comes to our survival. Victory? Are you willing to do a task. A big task? "

~Eager. Brave! Affirmative! Affirmative!~ Victory sent back and she extended her wings, beating them a little. She was growing fast, Casriel noted. Turning deftly on Casriel's arm, the gold firelizard hopped down to the desk to look at Br'son and Sidran.

~Affirmative!~ she broadcasted to the Weyrsenior and Weyrleader, bobbing her head emphatically as her eyes whirled emerald and lime green. Her feelings of willingness were obvious.

"It might affect firelizards but it might not. Victory is willing and if she thinks she can do it, I choose to believe in her. It is a risk I am willing to take as well." the Wingleader said solidly.

"We must be in the know and Victory has the best chance of getting in and out of Eastern without anyone questioning it. She will also have influence over any bronze, brown, blue or green she comes across." Casriel said, looking down at Victory and smiling. The gold pivoted toward her, responding to her feelings of affection and pride. She sprang back to the offered forearm and then moved to Casriel's shoulder.

Br'son nodded and took a deep breath. It didn't, quite, dislodge the cold knot of fear that came with the thought of putting Casriel's lovely little queen at risk, but it helped. He pulled out a small message hide and wrote a quick note to Jah'vi, asking what he needed, what they could do, if anything. He replied that none of the White Lightning dragons showed symptoms, and they appeared to have a quartz hatchling who could diagnose the problem. There wasn't room for much else, so he wished the bronzerider luck and rolled the message up into a small tube. Then he met Casriel's eyes and handed it over.

"Thank you both," he said, meaning it deeply. "Your bravery is inspiring, little Victory. Safe journey."

Casriel nodded and then turned her eyes to Victory. The gold firelizard looked expectantly at the cobalt rider as Casriel carefully laid out of the coordinates to Eastern Weyr. Casriel knew it well; the position of the Star Stones and the fire heights, were the Hatching Sands were located in relation to the Weyrleader's ledge. Victory hummed low in her throat as she absorbed the information. Casriel then imagined Jah'vi, his comely face and happy, mischievous smile. She pictured Nolinth, his bronze hide shimmering in the sunlight and the long play of his wings.

"Alright, take this message to Jah'vi as I have shown you. Look for his bronze Nolinth, he won't be far away. Be careful, Victory." Casriel said, securing the message to the queen's right leg. Victory chirped loudly and sprang to Casriel's forearm. She righted herself, turning and then sprang into the air between the three riders. Then she blinked between, to Eastern Weyr.

Take care, Victory Casriel sent. She felt an affirmative, distance as if down a long hallway.

"Now we wait." Casriel said, exhaling.

Sidran raised her glass in silent toast, taking a sip. "Will she let you know when she's on her way back? We'll want to bring her somewhere Ceronith can check her, but away from the other dragons..." Realizing she'd said that before, she drank again and forcibly held herself from pacing.

"At least we'll know..." Something. Anything.

It was a long time in Casriel's mind as she waited. She had no reason to think any Pernese would harm a firelizard, especially a gold queen. Gold firelizards were undoubtedly the smartest of all the firelizards, being natural born leaders and mothers to the species. Still, Casriel's heart seemed to flip flop in her chest when Victory suddenly burst back into Br'sons office from between, warbling excitedly as she circled the chamber. Casriel raised her arm and the queen firelizard came to rest there, fluttering her wings. There was a message tied to her leg. Carefully, Casriel lowered her arm and Victory hopped to the table. She trilled animatedly, pleased with her adventures. She bobbed her head and her faceted eyes whirling in bright blue touched emerald green.

~Pleasure! Pride! Much Pride!~ Victory projected, lifting her leg to show the message and raised her head in a clear gesture of pride that she had completed the task. Casriel loosened the message and handed it to Br'son.