“Hardly,” she replied. “Most of this is what we couldn’t use on the flumes.” She waved a hand at it. “Rough wood, rough work, but it’s sturdy.”
“How far down did you go?”
“I had the dragons bounce on them,” Danirry said. “They’re a good meter, meter and a half in the ground.”
R’ney seized one of the stakes and pulled; it bowed but didn’t move. “Good,” he said, glancing over at her. “Good work, Danirry.”
The blue rider beamed at the compliment.
“There needs to be a door,” Jirana complained, coming up to the pair of builders. “How are we going to get in?”
“We can build that later,” R’ney said.
“We need it now,” Jirana protested. “Otherwise I’m going to have to climb up every time I want to visit Meesha.”
“Meesha?” R’ney asked.
“Meesha,” Jirana said lifting her arm with the male Meeyu nestled in it. “They need names, or how will they know who we’re calling?”
“I don’t do that with herdbeasts,” R’ney said.
“I only call them dinner,” Jepara added with a grin that broadened further at the bronze rider’s agreeing snort.
“But we do it with fire-lizards,” Jirana said. “And the way we treat them is the way they’ll act.”
“She’s right,” Xhinna said, stroking the Meeyu she’d kept, the one who’d scratched her. The other, more docile Meeyu she’d yielded to Jepara, who was now holding it in her lap, surrounded by interested Candidates. “I’m calling this one Scruff.”
“Scruff?” Jirana repeated, her brows raised. “That’s—”
“Her name,” Xhinna finished. “You name your Mrreow what you want, I’ll name mine what I want.”
“Yours?” Jirana said. “You’re keeping her?”
“Yes,” Xhinna said as Scruff burrowed her head against her side, like a child looking to suck. Idly she scratched the soft tawny fur, and the Meeyu started making that pleasant buzzing sound.
Jepara’s was named Tawny. At Xhinna’s silent urging, V’lex and T’rennor appeared and each, dubiously, took one. V’lex named his Mee, and T’rennor, not to be outdone, went with Yu. Xhinna tolerantly said nothing, reminding herself sardonically that the two, after all, were green riders.
Red-haired Aliyal arrived silently to take the last Meeyu, which she named Amber, for his eyes. Of all the new weyrling riders, Aliyal was the quietest. She was not shy, Xhinna knew, nor did she shirk work, but the green rider seldom spoke except among the other traders. Even so, she had somehow formed a close bond with Alimma, who treated her better than she treated Cliova.
Mirressa offered to help Jepara with her Meeyu and the queen rider graciously accepted, so that the bulk of the Skies were intimately involved with the Meeyus.
Xhinna hadn’t quite planned it this way, but she certainly didn’t discourage it. She was confident that, if she needed, these riders beyond all others would do what she ordered. And much as she loved and respected little Jirana, she was willing, if it became necessary, to kill all the Meeyus with her bare hands to protect the eggs and weyrlings of her Weyr. Little Scruff whimpered against her and Xhinna softened. “Have we got someone bringing milk?”
It seemed that everyone in the extended camp had to touch, pet, fondle, or hold one of the Meeyus in the next several days.
To keep the litter from getting too frightened, Xhinna decided that only those who had done more than their share on any particular day would be allowed to handle a Meeyu. The competition worked and industry picked up immensely.
The effort lasted for three days until Xhinna, sensing that she was straining the Weyr too much, decided to end it, allowing each individual Meeyu handler to set his or her own schedule.
Xhinna took to leaving her Scruff with Jepara or Alimma when she needed to be elsewhere, although she was determined to bring the Mrreow with her on Tazith when it got older, if it proved trustworthy. The blue dragon regarded the small Meeyu with a mixture of curiosity and boredom, verging on antipathy.
Jirana had managed to badger J’riz into making her a shoulder halter for her Meeyu; she attached a lead rope to it and walked her Meesha everywhere as if it were a Hold canine. The Meeyu was not quite as obedient as that, but seemed content enough to stay more or less at the trader girl’s side. Pretty soon all the Meeyus had halters and leads, Xhinna’s Scruff included.
Jepara shook Xhinna awake in the middle of the night. “Something’s bothering Sarurth.”
The difficult queen rider had chosen to sleep with Xhinna, ostensibly for warmth and proximity to Scruff, but really, Xhinna had quickly realized, for advice on relationships. Apparently X’lerin was being aloof to her, spending more time in the company of the other weyrwomen, and Jepara was near frantic with worry.
Their conversation had turned intimate and Xhinna was not surprised to learn that Jepara had not realized that one love was much like the other, no matter who gave it or to whom it was given. When they finally decided to sleep—after the topic had been talked over far longer than Xhinna cared—Jepara had rolled over with her back to Xhinna in a clear statement. Xhinna had smiled to herself, and was not at all surprised when, sometime later, Jepara heaved a huge sigh, rolled back over, and draped an arm lightly around her. Cold nights made for the strangest of bedfellows, Xhinna thought as she rested her head on the pillow nestled up against the egg she was warming. She considered rudely forcing Jepara to move around to the far side of the egg, but Tazith was already there and little Scruff would complain at being wakened, having just found the perfect spot at the back of Xhinna’s knees.
Now, Xhinna could feel the little Meeyu tense against her and she reached to Tazith. The blue was awake.
Xhinna felt for the Meeyu’s lead, found it, and gripped it firmly in one hand as she used the other to probe through her clothes. When she found the hilt of her knife, she rose, saying over her shoulder to Jepara, “Stay here.”
The night was cold and the wind blew through her gown, causing her to shiver, but Xhinna continued onward with some sense of dread.
She saw a figure moving toward her. It was Aliyal with her Meeyu.
“Something spooked you, too?” Xhinna asked when she recognized the red-haired green rider.
“Amber woke me,” Aliyal said.
Suddenly Amber veered left, flinging sand; at the same moment, Scruff leapt in the same direction. Wordlessly, the two women let the Meeyus have their lead, Xhinna edging forward, knife in front of her.
They heard the sound of a weyrling moving anxiously and Xhinna started running toward the sound even as Scruff strained at her lead. The Meeyu stopped in front of an egg and turned back to Xhinna anxiously, making her pleading meeyew noise.
Xhinna moved forward, gesturing with her hand for Aliyal to stay back, and cautiously touched the egg in front of her. One of the bronze dragonets came around the far side at that moment, sniffing at Scruff and blowing at Xhinna.
Something is wrong, the bronze—Feyanth—told her. G’rial went for help.
Xhinna paused, listening, her knife moving back toward the egg. There was a faint, scratching sound—coming from inside the egg!
Xhinna slammed into the egg hard, rocking it. Loud growling came from both Meeyus, and Scruff lunged under the egg, grabbing and pulling at something with his teeth. A tunnel snake.
“Take my knife, kill it!” Xhinna yelled, raising her knife hand up behind her as she strained to keep the egg leaned over, away from the Meeyu and the tunnel snake.
As soon as Aliyal took the blade, Xhinna put all her weight into keeping the egg tilted while the green rider grunted, swinging wildly. At last there was a sick, fleshy thunk. Scruff gave a satisfied sound and pulled back, and Tawny leapt forward, buzzing happily to join her littermate in gnawing on the warm morsel.