Wind Blossom’s meek response was taken for acquiescence-and perhaps a tacit admission that her loss of valuable technical gear during the Crossing had made her a pariah.
She dutifully left her lab and took on a trainee role with one of Fort Hold’s doctors, working hard to achieve her eventual rating as a general practitioner.
Still, Wind Blossom kept track not only of dragon bloodlines but also of the watch-whers and their progress. She was often asked for advice on the handling of “Wind Blossom’s uglies,” as they were called.
Emily Boll, in particular, expressed interest in the watch-whers. “I saw them fly the other night,” she told Wind Blossom once in private. She smiled at the smaller woman.
Wind Blossom nodded. “I, too,” she replied, suffused with pleasure at the memory.
Emily grabbed her hand. “It must be hard for you,” she said with warm sympathy.
“It is my job,” Wind Blossom replied with only the hint of a shrug. “I do what you and the Admiral ask of me; I carry the burden my mother has left me.”
“Well, it seems damned unfair to me!” Emily declared, scowling fiercely.
Wind Blossom made no response.
“Oh, I know it’s all part of the plan,” Emily went on. “And how much we need it. You showed me the numbers yourself, but it still seems wrong that your contributions and efforts should either go unnoticed or vilified.”
Again, Wind Blossom did not answer.
“Wind Blossom,” Emily said, gripping her wrist tightly, “you can talk to me. I know all the plans. When we’re alone, you can tell me anything. It’s not right that you keep everything locked up inside you, and it’s not fair. In fact, as Pern’s leading psychologist, I say that for your own good.” When Wind Blossom said nothing, Emily continued softly, “And I say it as one who knows how much you’ve suffered.”
For the first time ever, Wind Blossom broke down and collapsed into Emily’s arms. For how long she cried, she did not know. Afterward, Emily gave her one last hug and a bright smile, but they said nothing.
When the Fever had struck, Wind Blossom’s skills as a doctor were in high demand. She drove herself harder than any other, often surviving for weeks on end only on naps snatched here and there. And she spent as much time as she could tending Emily Boll.
Wind Blossom and Emily were both too honest to deny that the old governor of Tau Ceti would not survive this infectious siege. Wind Blossom prescribed what palliatives she could and did everything in her power to make the older woman’s passing as painless as possible.
Late in the night, when Wind Blossom and Emily had convinced poor Pierre de Courci, Emily’s husband, to take some rest, Emily tossed fitfully on her bed.
“If I’m going to die, I wish I’d hurry up,” she said bitterly after one more wracking cough had torn through her body.
“Maybe you will recover,” Wind Blossom suggested. When Emily glared at her, she persisted, “It’s possible. We don’t know enough about this illness.”
She regretted her last sentence even as Emily gathered about her the indomitable aura of “The Governor of Tau Ceti” and demanded, “How many have died, Wind Blossom? Pierre wouldn’t tell me. Paul wouldn’t tell me. Tell me.”
“I don’t know,” Wind Blossom replied honestly. “They’ve started mass burials. The last count was over fifteen hundred.”
“Out of nine thousand?” Emily gasped. “That’s over one sixth of the colony!”
Wind Blossom nodded.
Emily’s eyes narrowed. “It’s going to get worse, isn’t it?”
Wind Blossom said nothing.
“The dragonriders? Are they all right?” Emily demanded. When Wind Blossom nodded, Emily sighed and lay back on her bed, eyes closed. After a moment she peeked up at Wind Blossom, her lips curved ruefully, and said, “Your doing, isn’t it? The dragonriders? Some of that Eridani immune boost?”
“Only some,” Wind Blossom admitted. Apologetically, she added, “There was not enough for you.”
“I wasn’t on the list,” Emily said. “Paul and I had talked about this years back. Is Paul all right?”
“He fell ill last night,” Wind Blossom told her.
Emily closed her eyes again-in pain. When she opened them, she told Wind Blossom, “Get Pierre. You will do an autopsy, find the cure.”
Wind Blossom was horror-struck and for once it showed. “I-I-Emily, I don’t want to do that.”
Emily smiled sadly at her. “Yes, dear, I know,” she said softly. “But I must ask it of you. I did not bring these people here to fall at the first-no, second-hurdle.”
Wind Blossom reluctantly agreed. “It is my job,” she said. “But please tell your husband, it would be too much for me.”
Emily nodded. “I understand, and I’ll do that,” she replied. “Now, what to do for your future…”
“I shall go on,” Wind Blossom answered. “It is my job.”
Emily snorted. “Yes, your job, but what about your life? What about a family? Come to think of it, how old was your mother when you were born? How old are you now?” She paused, thoughtfully. “More Eridani genetic tricks?”
“Yes,” Wind Blossom agreed, “more Eridani genetics. It is necessary.”
“And secret, no doubt, or I would have heard more sooner,” Emily commented. “Where I am going, no one will ask me anything. Would you be willing to satisfy my curiosity?”
Wind Blossom shook her head. “No, I do not want to do that.”
Emily’s eyes widened in surprise. “Well, I can’t force you,” she said.
Wind Blossom nodded. “It would be painful for me.”
“A pain-induced block?” Emily barely contained her revolt at the concept.
Wind Blossom shook her head. “No, nothing like that. To talk about it-I am shamed.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed. “Not about your uglies? Not about the last batch of dragons?”
Wind Blossom waved those examples away with a gesture of derision. She looked Emily squarely in the eye. “Do you know how badly we have failed?”
“Failed?” Emily shook her head. “All your work has been brilliant.”
Wind Blossom was silent for a long while. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet, near a whisper. “In the Eridani Way we are taught that harmony is everything. A good change is invisible, like the wind. It belongs-it seems like an obvious part of the ecosystem.
“You remember the ancient tailor’s saying: Measure twice, cut once?” she continued.
Emily nodded.
“The Eridani would say measure a million times, then a million times more and see if you can’t possibly find a way to avoid the cut. ‘A world is not easily mended,’ they say.
“It is drilled into us.” Her hands fluttered upward, as though to talk on their own, only to be forced back into her lap with a sour look when she noticed them. “It was drilled into my mother. Into my sister-”
“You had a sister?” Emily interrupted. “What became of her?”
“She is back on Tau Ceti, Governor Boll,” Wind Blossom replied flatly.
“I was governor of Tau Ceti,” Emily said. “Here, I am just Emily, Holder of Boll.
“So, you left a sister on Tau Ceti,” she mused. She narrowed her eyes cannily. “To watch the Multichords?”
Wind Blossom shook her head. “To watch the world.”
“So every time an Eridani Adept adds a new species to an ecosystem, a child must stay behind to watch?” Emily’s voice betrayed displeasure.
“No,” Wind Blossom corrected. “Every time an ecosystem is altered there must be those that watch it and bring it back into harmony.”