“But—” Danirry started in protest only to be cut off by Xhinna’s look. “Very well.”
It took close to an hour for everyone to complete the drill satisfactorily and mark the times. At Avarra’s suggestion, they tried twice.
The longest anyone could hold their breath was just a bit more than a slow count of seventy—an honor split between R’ney and Avarra. The young queen riders insisted on being included and had the shortest times, being still in their growth, while the smaller riders, surprisingly, had mixed results. Xhinna was pleased with her count of sixty-seven and worried by Taria’s count of fifty-three.
“Okay, now it’s time to learn Lorana’s trick,” Xhinna said when she and the other two wingleaders were satisfied.
“I don’t know if it’s a trick, really,” Lorana said. “It’s easiest to try if we go up way high.”
“So Lorana, if you can give us the right coordinates, the wingleaders and wingseconds will go up,” Xhinna said. “And when you think we’ve been there too long, have us come back.”
The other green, blue, brown, and queen riders could not hide their disappointment, so Xhinna told them, “While we’re up, break into your groups, and when Lorana comes back we’ll take turns bringing you up, as well.”
The groans subsided. Xhinna glanced to Lorana, who gestured to R’ney, and the two mounted his brown Rowerth. As Xhinna clambered up onto Tazith, she motioned for Danirry to mount her blue Kiarith.
“May I come?” Seban asked. Xhinna thought for a moment and nodded. “Certainly!” To the others she said, “Don’t forget to tighten your straps!”
In moments, the nine dragons were airborne, and then, taking the image from Lorana, they winked out, between.
Xhinna gasped at the sight that filled her eyes when they came out of between. Stars. Brilliant, glowing stars. She swiveled her head and saw in the distance a bright red orb: the Red Star.
Look down, Lorana told her, and she swiveled her head to look through the gap between her left arm and her left leg.
It’s beautiful! Xhinna exclaimed as she saw the brown and green shades of the Great Isles so very far below. She looked to her right and thought she could spy a smudge on the horizon—High Reaches Tip or perhaps even Tillek, she wasn’t sure. Blue, laced with thin, white streaky clouds, marked the ocean, which filled most of her view. She was just beginning to try to make out the patch that would be Sky Weyr’s Meeyu Plateau when—
Come back! Lorana’s voice was full and firm. There was no disobeying it.
And then they were back in the sky above the beaches, warm and pummeled by a chorus of voices—human and dragon.
After that Xhinna went aloft three more times, first with Taria, then with a reluctant Mirressa and Danirry, and finally with Bekka and Jirana, all while the other wings rotated wingseconds, wingleaders, and riders up to the starry height above beautiful Pern.
“I never thought it would be so beautiful,” Jirana remarked when they were once again on the ground. The sun was setting and it was getting very cold on the beach where they’d gathered. In the distance, north of them, fires had been lit to warm the eggs against the cold and light the night against tunnel snakes. She turned to her little queen and absently rubbed the queen’s eye ridges as she continued, “I’ve only seen it when—”
“I know,” Xhinna said. Quickly she corrected herself, “At least, I can imagine.”
Jirana seemed ready to argue, then shook her head, sighing.
“You’ve got friends, you know,” Xhinna said. “We’re sisters because of Fiona—”
“Losing friends is what’s hard,” Jirana said miserably.
“Little one,” Xhinna replied, moving an open hand toward the youngster, “there’s no point in mourning them before they’re gone.”
Jirana raised a hand to meet Xhinna’s, fingers touching fingers, as she whispered, “You’ll see.”
Xhinna shivered.
“She’s not your child—why don’t you bring it up with Javissa?” Taria said later that night as they were settling their babies into bed.
“Because I offered my support, not her mother’s,” Xhinna replied.
Taria turned from the small bed where she’d laid Tarena and gave Xhinna a small smile. “Then, as you said, don’t mourn before it’s time.”
“She must be awfully lonely …”
“How can she be? She’s got the whole Weyr watching over her, five queen riders who positively adore her, and every Weyrleader hanging off her very words!” Taria shook her head. “It’s a wonder she’s not more spoiled than she is.” Xhinna gave her a sharp look, but Taria just smiled. “And you, my dear, are among the worst!”
“Really?” Xhinna said, examining her feelings critically. She hadn’t thought she’d doted on the youngster overmuch, but perhaps …
“And I’m next in line,” Taria said, chuckling. She fluffed the final pillow, eyed the sleeping room carefully, turned the glow, and gestured for Xhinna to precede her. “Now,” she said quietly as she moved along the thick branches that marked the hallway from one room to another, “we’re going to need to sleep—you’ve got an early start, remember.”
Taria’s soft breathing was comfort enough to lull Xhinna quickly off to sleep. She had slept for several hours, she was certain, when she woke and spied a pair of small eyes peering from the entrance. Through long practice, she extended a hand from underneath the covers and beckoned the child to join them. Naturally, it was only a matter of moments before the bed was filled with cold, squiggly children. Taria surfaced long enough to roll an eye at Xhinna’s lack of discipline, and then she was asleep once more, while Xhinna reveled in the squirmy warm bodies that were a small portion of her children.
“You’ve too many babies,” Taria had said when Xhinna had broached the notion of getting pregnant again after Xelinan’s birth. In reply to Xhinna’s surprised look, Taria had explained, “Not only ours, but all the blues and greens.”
There was truth in Taria’s words, for the tight-knit group of blue and green riders that inhabited Sky Weyr, as well as many from the other Weyrs, had all asked Xhinna to stand in their place if, in the Turns to come, anything should happen to leave their babies without parents. Neither Xhinna nor Taria could deny these heartfelt requests, no more than could the others so honored. Xelinan had many fathers, including K’dan, T’mar, R’ney, X’lerin, Colfet, Seban, and all the bronze riders among the weyrlings that Xhinna had brought to the Sky Weyr more than two Turns before. The children played together and were watched together by various honorary parents and real parents, and it was a relief to know that, in the worst of cases, the children would all still have the love and support that they’d need.
It also meant that all the children were well-adjusted and cheerful, not so reliant on any one parent that the loss would be tragic to them.
It really was one of the greatest gifts Taria had given her—to be able to build and grow a family that was freely shared and fully loved.
Which was why, Xhinna thought as she tried to drift back to sleep, Jirana’s sorrow so upset her. Not just for the strange green queen rider, but also for what it meant for her extended family.
It’s going to get worse. Jirana had never been wrong.