“They could be Turns away,” Xhinna reminded them. “They could be Turns in the past, even in the future—”
“What about Thread?” X’lerin asked.
Xhinna shrugged. “In the past, then.”
“But you don’t think so,” Jirana said, piping up from beside X’lerin’s wingsecond. Xhinna glared at her, willing her to be silent, but the youngster continued, “You love her—why don’t you find her?”
Xhinna sighed as she saw how W’vin and X’lerin reacted to the question. It was the too-reasonable question she’d hoped she wouldn’t have to answer, the one that hurt the most, that caused her to cry silently when she was sure everyone was sleeping.
“I can hear you,” Jirana said quietly, looking Xhinna in the eyes.
Xhinna gave the brown-eyed girl a sad smile and ran a hand through her short dark hair.
“We don’t know—yet—how to protect the eggs from the Mrreows and the tunnel snakes.” She paused. “Taria was certain that the Mrreows would kill the tunnel snakes, but I’m convinced that the Mrreows are as much a threat to the dragonets as the tunnel snakes.”
“So you’re gambling,” X’lerin said, looking at her in surprise and sympathy. “You’re gambling with the life of the one you love.”
“And her child,” Xhinna admitted with a catch in her voice. “But if she’s right and I don’t let her try, then what will I do to Pern?”
“You know,” Jirana said as she came over and hugged Xhinna, “you might try talking to people more.”
Xhinna glanced cautiously at X’lerin. He grimaced, saying, “I’d guessed.”
“You did?” Xhinna asked in surprise.
The bronze rider nodded. “I guessed and I decided to do nothing because I think you’re right,” he told her. “Until we have a full clutch of dragonets hatch out, healthy and whole, we have to try whatever we can.”
“And so we’re going to try with two clutches,” Xhinna said, looking at Jirana. “With Coranth’s and with Kisorth’s.”
“That will double our chances of success,” X’lerin agreed. “But when her clutch hatches, how will we know?”
“She’s got to get Candidates,” Xhinna said.
“So have we,” X’lerin said, frowning. Suddenly, his expression changed. “Oh! Oh!”
“I think it’s hard, but I don’t think it’s hard-hearted,” R’ney told her a fortnight later. Xhinna had taken him to a far shore to discuss her decision privately.
“Bekka says the baby won’t be in any more danger, now that they’ve stopped with that drink of theirs,” Xhinna said.
“And you practically gave them the best of our supplies,” R’ney said, twitching a grin when he caught her surprised reaction. He pointed to himself. “I have spies everywhere.”
“Even with Taria?”
R’ney shook his head ruefully. “Sadly, no.” He looked down at her. “And they’ll clutch soon?”
“Two weeks, maybe three,” Xhinna said.
“And after that, we’ll have five weeks to get all the Candidates.”
“True,” Xhinna agreed. “I’ve some thoughts on that and now that I can fly again, I’ll bring them up with X’lerin and K’dan.”
“And Bekka, Jepara, Jirana, and your whole gaggle of girls, no doubt,” R’ney said, grinning at her reaction. “And in the end they’ll say, ‘Whatever you think, Xhinna.’ And you know why?”
“Because I’m a girl,” Xhinna said. She smiled at his look of surprise. “Because I’m the first blue rider who’s a woman, and they know that everyone will be looking to me to see whether a woman can do the job.”
R’ney said bitterly, “Even if you manage to handle all that’s in front of you, there are some who will still say that girls can’t ride fighting dragons.”
“Particularly blues,” Xhinna said.
“Especially blues,” R’ney agreed with a firm nod. “The naysayers would be completely addled and wherry-brained, of course, but that won’t stop them a bit, or they’d have died out Turns before.”
“So you’re not angry?”
“I’m worried, scared, horrified, and … slightly terrified at your resolve,” R’ney said. “But I suppose if Lorana can lose her child to save Pern, you would consider no less.”
“It’s not my child,” Xhinna said. “It’s yours and Taria’s.”
R’ney snorted. “And who has the name for the child? Who will spend at least half the time diapering the baby?”
“You will,” Xhinna said with a grin. “I’m planning on sleeping elsewhere until it’s toilet trained.”
R’ney snorted again with even greater derision.
“Well, perhaps a third of the time,” Xhinna allowed. “I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your joy.”
R’ney smiled and waved off her taunt, glancing around abstractedly at the island around them. It wasn’t very large, certainly not enough for a settlement, but it had tree cover and plenty of lush undergrowth. “Do you suppose we could put herdbeasts here?”
Xhinna started to laugh, but stopped when she examined the island. “Yes, I think we could.”
“There doubtless would be tunnel snakes,” R’ney said with a sour look. “This whole island mass seems rife with them. I can understand why our esteemed ancestors never considered this low-lying damp piece of misery for a home, but there are certainly no Mrreows or we would have heard them.”
“The herdbeasts are smart enough to move when the tunnel snakes mass,” Xhinna said. A stray thought niggled her. Something to do with tunnel snakes. Eggs couldn’t move. Oh!
“R’ney,” she began slowly, “V’lex said something odd about the eggs from Coranth’s Hatching.”
“V’lex has gotten some sense, I’ll grant but—honestly, Xhinna, he’s not much better than a child at most things.”
“That’s not fair,” Xhinna said. “He’s not the smartest, but his heart’s in the right place.”
“Well, he’s certainly amenable,” R’ney agreed with a carefully neutral look. Xhinna growled and shoved a fist into his arm, not hard, but enough to get his attention.
“He said that J’keran swore that the egg I hit was solid,” Xhinna said. “But I thought you said you saw eggs rolling down to the sea.”
R’ney stroked his chin absently, his eyes set on the horizon, unseeing. After a moment he glanced back to her. “Five hatched, six rolled down to the sea,” he recalled. “The weyrlings disposed of the others.”
“Do you—”
R’ney cut off her words with an upraised hand, stroking his chin once more with the other, as he continued, “Jepara said hers was heavy, so C’nian helped. Meeya couldn’t budge hers until G’rial and D’valor came back from rolling theirs into the sea.” He gave her a bleak look. “Yours was cold, but there was a formed hatchling inside.”
“Did I kill it?” Xhinna asked, horrified.
“No, Wingleader, it was already dead,” R’ney told her. “We didn’t see any marks, but perhaps a tunnel snake …”
“I see,” Xhinna said. Something still bothered her, something he’d said, but she couldn’t bring it to focus.
“So, if Taria’s using Razz to drive away the tunnel snakes, what are we going to do for Kisorth’s eggs?” R’ney asked.
“I don’t know.”
She hadn’t meant to, but somehow Xhinna found herself sleeping alone. The winds that swept over the broom trees made it so she was always cold. Alimma and the other weyrling riders were all camping with V’lex and T’rennor, eyeing Kisorth’s bulging belly in fascination, prepared to help the moment the green started clutching, even though no one had found a better location than the sands. Blue rider P’nallo had joined them and Xhinna guessed that it would be less than a fortnight before all the blue and green riders—except her—were camping in the same location. In that much, her plan of putting V’lex in charge of their training had worked magnificently.