“Oh, dear,” she said. She turned toward her queen. “Tell you what, help me oil Pinorth and I’ll see what I can do to massage you myself if J’riz isn’t awake when we’re done.”
“Thanks,” Xhinna said. Bekka motioned toward her queen and Xhinna led the way.
At barely three months old, Pinorth was still a good bit smaller than Tazith. Oiling her was an easy task, mind-numbing, thoughtless work that allowed Xhinna to distract herself completely with the familiar motions and quiet joy of a job well done.
“When she rises …” Xhinna began, looking at the well-formed queen and seeing her full grown, rampant, a force in the sky.
“That’s Turns to come,” Bekka said, shaking her head with a fond look at her queen. Absently she patted Pinorth’s neck, then reached over to scratch at her nearest eye ridge. She met Xhinna’s eyes frankly. “Is this your first big fight?”
“Maybe our last,” Xhinna said, working to keep the fear out of her voice and not at all surprised that Bekka could imagine the cause of her headache.
“Only if you’re an idiot,” Bekka said. “And I never saw that in you.”
“She and R’ney—”
“And what do you expect?” Bekka cut in. “You practically threw them at each other! All it lacked was you publicly blessing the union.”
Xhinna took a step back, stricken. Had she? Had she done this to Taria and not realized it?
“She wants children,” Bekka said, changing tack. “You want children.” She gave Xhinna a shake. “Didn’t you learn anything from Fiona?”
“I—”
“To be honest,” Bekka cut in, “I think you should be grateful it was R’ney and not J’keran.”
“Xhinna!” K’dan called from one tree over, moving swiftly toward them. When he was close enough he said, “X’lerin’s Kivith told my Lurenth and … well, I thought that if you wanted to talk …”
“Bring him to the beach, talk on the way,” Bekka told Xhinna. She glared at the bronze rider. “And, if you don’t mind, K’dan, you might consider sleeping people—” she nodded toward J’riz “—as well as sleeping dragons.”
A smile played across K’dan’s lips and he gave her a half-bow. “My apologies, gold rider, I shall bear that in mind.”
“Especially as now, no doubt, you’ll be asking me to watch your brood while you’re gone.”
“Would you?” K’dan said, his smile growing bigger.
“She’s a good person,” Xhinna said as Tazith bore her and the harper skyward.
“Bekka?” K’dan asked.
“Yes.”
“She bears a lot on her shoulders.”
“Oh, we all do!”
“Yes, indeed,” K’dan agreed. His tone grew more thoughtful. “You more than others.”
“Certainly not more than X’lerin.”
“X’lerin only has to learn how to be a Weyrleader,” K’dan said, “which is something he’s had more than three Turns to consider.”
“And I?”
“You have to learn how to be the first woman blue rider since the Ancients came to Pern,” K’dan told her.
“I’ve got Fiona and Lorana and, I hope, you to guide me,” Xhinna said.
“They would be happy to do so were they here,” K’dan agreed. “As for myself, I can only guess the way.”
“What should I do?” Xhinna asked in a burst of despair.
“Ah,” K’dan said, “I was hoping to ask you that!”
“What?” She’d been talking about Taria and R’ney but K’dan seemed to have changed the subject.
“Do you think that you’re the only one here who doesn’t know what to do, blue rider?” K’dan said. “Do you think that X’lerin knows more? You should know better, because you and he trained together.”
“But—” Xhinna cut herself short. Did no one know what to do? Everything was different here. The rules of the Weyr weren’t quite what was needed—they need something similar but not quite. Xhinna gave K’dan a startled look.
“Ah, you’ve figured it out!” K’dan said with a chuckle. “We’re on uncharted waters, as our friend Colfet has said. We don’t know our way forward.” He sighed. “It was easier when we were at the Weyr, when all we had to do was fight Thread.”
“And we can’t even do that—we don’t have enough dragons,” Xhinna said with a sigh.
“Yes, we have to solve that problem, too,” K’dan agreed. “But for now, Xhinna, the question is—what are you going to say to them?” He jerked his finger to the riders on the beach below.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, we can’t stay up here all day,” K’dan told her. He leaned forward so that his lips were closer to her ears. “If I were Fiona, I’d probably say go with what your heart tells you.”
“I don’t know what my heart is telling me!”
“At which point, she’d probably say: ‘Good.’ ”
Despite herself, Xhinna laughed.
“Best get it done soonest,” K’dan said as he helped her climb down off Tazith’s neck. He turned her toward the oncoming throng. “If you want my advice, I’d say: Start with the one most hurt.”
Xhinna took a deep, steadying breath and nodded jerkily. She waved K’dan ahead, veering toward R’ney. The brown rider viewed her approach apprehensively, saying as soon as she was in earshot, “Xhinna, I’m sorry. The excitement of the clutching, and Taria—well, there are no excuses.”
“Only apologies,” Xhinna said. The brown rider lowered his head in shame. Xhinna moved forward and touched his shoulder lightly. “Mine should be the first.”
R’ney gave her a startled look.
“You’re a good man, hardworking, conscientious,” she told him. “I’ve always known that Taria wanted children and that someone would have to help in that.” She shrugged. “I was surprised and hurt that Coranth clutched without me, that Taria didn’t tell me, and then to find out that you two had … made your decision without my knowing … well, it was too much for me all at once.”
“It wasn’t so much a decision, as a heated moment,” R’ney said. “And if it hadn’t been, perhaps we would have kept our senses enough to tell you.”
Xhinna shook her head. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t.” R’ney gave her a look of surprise. “It had to happen sometime, and this really couldn’t be a better time.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Xhinna said. “Consider that in ten months’ time, all the dragonets, including yours, will be ready to start their first flights.”
R’ney nodded cautiously, trying to follow her logic.
“After that, things will get hectic, particularly as somewhere around that time we can expect our mature dragons to rise again, so now is the best time to start a new life in our Weyr.
“But let’s keep that to ourselves, okay?” she asked, giving him a wink.
“Certainly,” R’ney replied, surprised at her recovery. “And I can assure you that it won’t … I won’t … we won’t—”
“Have another moment of passion?” Xhinna filled in, easing him out of his embarassment. Guiltily, R’ney nodded. “I certainly hope you don’t mean that! Taria wants more than one child, you know. And you’ve got a duty to Pern.”
“I wasn’t thinking of duty,” R’ney admitted miserably.
“R’ney, I can’t think of anyone I’d like more to see as father to Taria’s children,” Xhinna told him emphatically. She turned, looking around. “Now, I’ve got to talk with her, too.”
“Can I come?”
“Brown rider, you made yourself part of my family when you fought to save the hatchlings,” Xhinna told him. “Of course you may come.”
Taria was too shocked by the approach of both R’ney and Xhinna, moving together companionably, to think of running away.