After the fever had taken her mother, she and her father had cried in each other’s arms. Neither she nor Sannel had wanted to live. And then she’d caught the plague herself and her nightmares intensified to fill her waking days. The only pleasant thing had been her father’s face peering down at her as he gently wiped her forehead or held her up and spooned down broth. She had wanted to go, to join her mother and siblings, but she couldn’t-the thought of leaving him behind was too much. And the fever had passed, and she’d recovered.
She sensed a motion or a change in posture from Kindan and looked at him carefully. His face had many smile lines on it, but it was carefully schooled; she could see the pain he was hiding and she knew that this man had seen people-many people-die.
“Will I live?” she asked him quietly.
Her memory came back to her in a rush: the storm, Colfet, her plunge overboard, her blind thrust at the fire-lizards…
“Has anyone found Colfet?” she asked suddenly, trying once more to sit up. Kindan held up a restraining hand but she struggled against it. “He was all alone on the launch and his arm was broken.”
Kindan gave her a startled look, followed immediately by careful scrutiny. Beyond him, Lorana felt K’tan tense with worry.
“The dragonriders found nothing,” K’tan told her softly.
“Please ask them to keep searching,” Lorana implored.
“I shall talk with the Weyrleader,” K’tan promised.
Lorana turned her eyes to Kindan. “My fire-lizards? Did they get to safety?”
Kindan shook his head. “There’s been no word of them.”
Lorana slumped back into the bed.
“Here, try some more tea,” Kindan told her softly, raising the cup once more to her lips. When she’d finished the cup he asked her, “Do you want to try some broth, too?”
Behind him, K’tan shifted, his tension easing. “I’ll be going,” the healer told them. He glanced at Lorana. “I’ll check in on you later.”
He gestured toward Kindan. “You’re in good hands.”
Lorana woke, tired but alert. The room was dark. The only light came faintly from a glow in the farther room. Something had startled her into wakefulness. The lump at her back-Valla-was a warm and comforting presence.
Suddenly the fire-lizard tensed up, and in a rapid motion sneezed, loudly and violently.
Do dragons get coughs often? Lorana’s own words echoed in her memory.
The fire-lizard sneezed again.
“Kindan?” Lorana called.
“Kindan,” she shouted, her sense of urgency heightened, “there’s something wrong with Valla!”
She heard his startled movement from the room beyond as he roused himself out of bed. Valla needed the healer, Lorana decided. She felt about with her mind amongst the sleeping dragons in the Weyr, found the right one, and said, Kindan has need of the healer.
“He seems hot, nearly feverish,” K’tan said minutes later as he examined the fire-lizard. Kindan had uncovered every glow he could find and the room was bright with light for the healer’s examination.
K’tan shook his head. “I’ve never seen the like-not in fire-lizards.”
“Did your fire-lizards cough, Lorana?” Kindan asked her, his eyes full of concern and worry as he stroked his fire-lizard. A wave of sadness washed over Lorana: She had tried several times to reach the minds of her fire-lizards, without success.
“No, but J’trel’s Talith did,” she replied.
Kindan and K’tan exchanged worried looks.
After a moment, K’tan said to Kindan, “I don’t know what to do.”
“My father used to make a brew for herdbeasts,” Lorana suggested, then made a face. “I don’t know if it would work for fire-lizards, though.”
“It might be worth a try,” K’tan said with a shrug.
“Do you remember the ingredients?” Kindan asked. Lorana nodded.
Kindan trotted off to the outer room and rummaged about for stylus and paper, which he brought back to Lorana. She wrote quickly, in her fair hand. K’tan leaned over, scanning the list as she wrote.
“We have these ingredients,” he said when she finished. He took the list from her and headed for the door. “I shall have a brew presently.”
Kindan turned to watch the healer leave, gauging how soon he could hope for his return. When he turned back to Valla and Lorana, he was surprised to see her hunched over the paper, stylus drawing furiously.
“This is Colfet,” Lorana said as she finished the drawing. She handed it up to him. “I thought perhaps it might help in his search.”
“I had forgotten that you drew,” Kindan admitted. “When we heard from Ista Weyr, they mentioned the drawings you’d done for Lord Carel at Lemos.”
Lorana blushed slightly and feebly waved the compliment aside. “They weren’t that good.”
She shifted her attention again, rapidly making a new sketch. “What I really wanted to do was this.”
She showed the new drawing to Kindan. Two small six-legged creatures were on the page.
He raised an eyebrow inquiringly at her.
“I was hoping to draw every animal I could find on Pern, to understand their differences and similarities.”
Kindan bent again to the drawings. “I recognize this one,” he said, pointing. “I’ve seen it around in fields here.” He pointed to the other one, shaking his head. “But-where did you find that?”
“Igen seashore,” Lorana replied. She gestured at the differences and gave him a condensed version of the same observation she’d given J’trel nearly a month before.
“I’m impressed,” Kindan said. He looked at the drawing again and then back at her. “Do you draw in colors?”
“Colors?” Lorana repeated in surprise. “I could never afford colors.”
K’tan returned at that moment, bustling into the room quickly.
“Here we are!” he called, placing a tray with a steaming brew in Kindan’s hands. “Have your little one try this.”
It took all of Kindan’s coaxing to get the first drop of the brew into the fire-lizard’s mouth. Then Valla snorted indignantly and, with a red-eyed glare, blinked between.
“I don’t think he liked it,” K’tan observed dryly.
“It doesn’t taste that bad,” Lorana said defensively. “I tried a drop myself!”
“The trick now is to get him back,” Kindan said with a sigh.
“So he can finish the medicine,” K’tan added.
Kindan twitched a frown. “I had better go after him.”
“I could stay with Lorana,” K’tan offered.
“No,” Lorana said. “I’m fine. If I need anything, I’ll tell Drith.”
K’tan’s eyes widened, and Kindan turned to her in surprise.
“You spoke to Drith?” the healer asked. “He told me I was needed-that was you?”
Lorana nodded.
“I’d better go,” Kindan repeated, clearly torn.
“Go, find your fire-lizard,” K’tan said, passing the mug of brew to him. “See if you can convince him to try some more.”
Kindan took the mug and trotted away.
As Kindan’s footsteps faded away, K’tan looked back to Lorana and chose his next words carefully. “Can you speak to any dragon?”
“I think so,” Lorana said. “I could talk with Talith.”
“There’s a Hatching soon,” K’tan began. “And a queen egg-”
“J’trel thought I should be a weyrwoman,” Lorana said, shaking her head. “I don’t know if I’d be any good,” she admitted. “But I’d like to see a Hatching.”