“So we double our guard and make sure everyone has a knife,” Xhinna said, marshalling her thoughts.
“Spears would be better,” R’ney said. “And more bowmen, too.”
“We can spend some time training the Candidates,” Xhinna said. She cocked her head at him. “All this, you or X’lerin could handle on your own. Why did you rush here to wake me?”
“Because little Jirana swears that there’s a litter of Meeyus nearby and she’s convinced Jepara to rescue them.”
Xhinna pushed her sheets aside, jumped up, and slipped out of her nightgown as she looked around for her clothes.
“Pass me my things,” she told the brown rider.
At the beach they found Jepara and Jirana in the center of a knot of riders. X’lerin was in front and gave Xhinna a look of relief as she approached.
“Jirana says that there’s a litter of Meeyus,” Jepara said to Xhinna. “I want to rescue them before they die.”
“Jepara,” Xhinna began, wishing she’d had more klah to clear her head, “these Mrreows are not like fire-lizards; they’re more like the hunting birds of the falconers. They’re vicious and wild—that’s their nature.”
“We need them, Xhinna,” Jirana said. She glanced toward X’lerin and the look she gave the Weyrleader was odd: half-pleading, half-fearful. It seemed almost as though Jirana winced in pain as she spoke the words. “We can train them.”
“We tried that, Jirana, remember?”
“We need to try again,” the trader girl said. She turned to X’lerin. “They’re babies, they’re hungry, they need our help.”
“We don’t have the food or the people,” Xhinna reminded her.
“Please, sister,” Jirana pleaded, “trust me in this, will you?”
“You ask an awful lot.”
Jirana grasped Xhinna’s arm and pulled herself up on her tiptoes, her brown eyes meeting Xhinna’s earnestly. “We must do this.”
“Why?”
“I can’t say,” the girl told her.
Maybe Taria was right, Xhinna thought. And if she was, then they would need all the Mrreows they could find.
“We could build a pen,” Jirana said. “Right here on the beach, where I can watch them.”
“You?” Xhinna asked. “All by yourself?”
“I’ll get others to help,” Jirana said, biting her lip as she tried to build a roster of aides. “Leera, for certain, and …”
“If we’re going to do this, we’ll have one person for each Meeyu,” Xhinna said, shaking her head and glancing to X’lerin to see that he understood. “The extra Meeyus … we can set them back in the wild.”
“They’ll die!” Jirana wailed. “And we need them—you can’t do that!”
“Well … perhaps we can get some of the Candidates to help,” Xhinna said. A flickering thought passed through her mind as she recalled the small balls of fur and the cute sound they made when they were contented. She nodded decisively. “I’ll take one myself and—”
“Me, too,” Jepara said. Jirana started to jump for joy, but the gold rider told her warningly, “If I’m not satisfied that they’re safe, I’ll put them all down myself.”
“But they’re not safe,” Jirana said seriously. “They’re death to tunnel snakes.”
“They’ll attack dragons,” Xhinna said with a warning glare.
“I think they get confused, or they don’t know better,” Jirana said. “If I could get Laspanth or—” She craned her neck up and around to Jepara. “—your Sarurth to talk to them, maybe they’d understand.”
“First,” Xhinna said, “we have to find them.”
“Oh,” Jirana said, brightening. “I know where six of them are.” Her expression fell as she added, “We killed their parents.”
Xhinna turned to X’lerin. “Perhaps P’nallo and …”
“Me,” R’ney said. “I can ride with you and Jirana.”
“I’ll need someone to rig a cage,” Xhinna told him.
“Danirry,” R’ney said firmly. “She can get the Skies to help, if you wish.”
X’lerin spoke up. “Actually, Wingleader, I’d prefer to send P’nallo and a few others to scout for the other Mrreows. We can arrange a different party to go after these Meeyus.”
Xhinna nodded in agreement.
“We need to hurry,” Jirana said. “And we need to get my mother to tell the herders to get us fresh milk.”
Xhinna hustled the child toward Tazith even as the trader girl prattled off orders. As Tazith bore the three of them skyward, Xhinna had a horrible thought: What would Jirana be like as a weyrwoman?
Further increasing Jirana’s reputation, the Meeyus were exactly where she said, exactly as old as she said, and exactly the same numbers she’d said. Xhinna found herself torn once more between belief in all the girl’s predictions and incredulity that one so young, even Tenniz’s daughter, could know the things she claimed to know.
There were six Meeyus, and they appeared to be about two months old. The largest male stood fiercely in front of the others, his growl not as deep as a grown male’s, but persuasive nonetheless.
“It’s okay,” Jirana said, moving fearlessly toward him, her hand out. She had a bit of fresh meat, hastily acquired from the campsite, in her hand. “It’s okay, we’re here to help.”
She dropped the meat and the Meeyu sniffed at it, then licked it and chewed on it, but could not quite get it down.
“They’re still babies—they need milk,” Jirana said. She smiled as she glanced back at the bold one, saying, “But they’ll do.” She reached forward again, with the tips of her fingers near the Meeyu’s nose. The Meeyu backed up, fearful, then moved forward, sniffing her fingers and then licking them. In a few moments, he was curled in Jirana’s lap, making that buzzing noise that was so enchanting to one and all.
“You can get the others now,” Jirana said, looking up quickly from the placid Meeyu. “We should get them and go—they’ll be hungry.”
Xhinna and R’ney got the others. One was sleeping and Xhinna passed it gently back to Jirana, who received it into her lap without comment, bringing up her free hand to stroke the first Meeyu back to sleep.
One of the littlest skittered away from Xhinna as she reached for it and she found herself lunging, with one Meeyu firmly lodged between her side and the crook of her arm. The skittish Meeyu batted at her; biting back a cry as the small, sharp claws raked her wrist, Xhinna reached around them and grabbed the Meeyu by the scruff of its neck. Instantly its temperament changed and it gave Xhinna a look that seemed to say, “What did I do wrong?” It curled its paws up and hung limply.
“Their mothers carry them that way,” Jirana said. Xhinna turned to see the girl grab her two by the scruffs and stand carefully. “See?”
Xhinna chose to fly back rather than take the Meeyus between and risk disturbing them. Her choice worked out welclass="underline" It gave Danirry more time to construct the cage, and gave Xhinna time to reexamine the area as they flew.
She’d spent several weeks trying unsuccessfully to locate Taria’s lair, deciding in the end that the green rider either had chosen someplace completely out of sight or had, indeed, jumped between times.
Javissa was ready with fresh milk when they arrived, and all the Candidates crowded around until the headwoman quietly set them back to work, saying, “You’ll frighten them. You can see them later, when they’re settled.”
“I was thinking we could tie canvas on top, when we need to,” Danirry said as she showed her effort to R’ney.
“Good idea,” he said, examining the stakes that had been set in the ground. “I see that you didn’t waste our best wood.”