The White Dragon

CHAPTER XI

JAXOM AND RUTH SPENT the night in an empty weyr, but Ruth felt sufficiently uneasy in a full sized dragon bed that Jaxom bundled his furs and curled up against his mount. Jaxom was conscious of having to pull himself out of a soft, black enfolding pit from which he was loath to move.

«I know you must be flattened with fatigue, Jaxom, but you've got to wake up!» Menolly's voice penetrated the comfortable darkness. «Besides, you'll get a pain in your neck sleeping like that.»

Menolly was upside down, Jaxom thought as he opened his eyes. Beauty was precariously perched, hind legs on the girl's shoulder, her forepaws well down Menolly's breast, peering anxiously at him. He felt Ruth stir.

«Jaxom, wake up! I've brought you all the klah you can drink.» Mirrim moved into his line of vision. «But F'lar's eager to go and he wants Mnementh to talk to Ruth first.»

Menolly winked solemnly at Jaxom, turning her shoulder to mask her action from Mirrim. Jaxom groaned because he was never going to keep straight in his mind who knew what was to be kept secret or who could be told. He groaned again because his neck was indeed stiff.

Ruth opened his inner lid just a crack, regarding his rider with displeasure. I am tired. I need to sleep.

«You can't sleep any longer now. Mnementh needs to speak to you.»

Why didn't he speak to me last night?

«Because he probably wouldn't have remembered today.»

Ruth's head came up and he turned one eye fully on Jaxom. Mnementh would. He is the biggest dragon on all Pern.

«Just because he let you gorge yourself on his killing ground, you like him. But he wants to speak to you so you'd better. Are you awake?»

If I am able to speak to you, I am not dreaming. I am awake.

«You are a bold fellow today,» Jaxom said. In one massive heave, he pulled himself out of his impromptu bed. Dragging the furs about him, he half fell toward the table where Menolly and Mirrim had politely withdrawn. The smell of klah was very welcome and he thanked the girls.

«What time is it?»

«Midmorning, Benden time,» Menolly said, her face expressionless but her eyes dancing as she lightly stressed the last two words.

Jaxom grunted. They could all hear the creaks, groans and rumblings of Ruth as the dragon stretched himself in preparation for the day.

«When did you get Threadscored, Jaxom?» Mirrim asked with her usual forthrightness. She leaned over and traced the scar with a light touch, flattening her lips together in patent disapproval of the disfigurement.

«Teaching Ruth to chew firestone. At Fort Weyr,» he added, after a malicious pause as he saw her gathering herself to scold him.

«Does Lessa know?» Mirrim asked, emphasizing the last word.

«Yes,» Jaxom replied. Let Mirrim digest that truth. But Mirrim wouldn't let some matters alone.

«I don't think much of N'ton's weyrlingmaster then,» she said, sniffing disapproval, «letting you get scored that way.»

«Not his fault,» Jaxom mumbled through half chewed bread.

«Wasn't Lytol furious? You shouldn't be risking yourself.»

Jaxom shook his head vigorously. He did wish Menolly hadn't brought Mirrim with her.

«And I just don't see what good it's going to do you. You can't expect to fight Ruth.»

Jaxom choked. «I am too going to fight Ruth, Mirrim.»

«He already has,» Menolly remarked, indicating the Threadscore. «Now shut your mouth and let the man eat.»

«Man?» Minim's voice took a derisive swoop and she gave Jaxom a scathing glance.

Menolly made an exasperated sound. «If Path doesn't fly soon, Mirrim, you're not going to be on terms with anyone!»

Surprised, Jaxom looked at Mirrim, who was flushing deeply red.

«Oh ho. Path's ready to be flown! That'll sort out some of your high headed notions.» He couldn't resist crowing at her dismay. «Has Path shown a preference? Ha! Look at her blush! Never thought I'd see the day you'd lose the use of your tongue! And you'll be losing something more soon. I hope it's the wildest flight they've had at Benden since Mnementh first flew Ramoth!»

Mirrim exploded, her eyes narrowed with her anger, hands clenched into fists at her sides. «At least my Path will be flown! That's more than you'll ever do, with that white runt of yours!»

«Mirrim!» Menolly's sharp voice made the girl wince, but not soon enough to erase the angry retort that sank coldly into Jaxom's mind. He stared at Mirrim, trying to reject her taunt. «You take too much on yourself, Mirrim,» Menolly was saying. «I think you'd better leave.»

«You just bet I'll leave. And I don't care if you have to climb down from this weyr, Menolly. Indeed I don't.» Mirrim ran from the room.

«Shells and Shards, but it'll be a relief when that green of hers rises to mate. And it might even be today the way Mirrim's reacting.» Menolly spoke in a casual tone, almost chuckling at her friend's behavior.

Jaxom swallowed against the dryness in his mouth. Rigidly he controlled his intense emotional reaction for Ruth's sake. A surreptitious glance at the white dragon showed that his friend was still stretching and extending wings and legs. Jaxom only hoped that the dragon had been too sleepy to attend to what they had been saying. He leaned toward Menolly.

«Do you know anything about…» he jerked his head at Ruth, «that I don't know?»

«About Path?» Menolly deliberately misconstrued his direction. «Well, if you've never seen a rider reaction to a proddy dragon, Mirrim's given you a classic example.»

Path is a well grown dragon, Ruth said thoughtfully. Jaxom groaned, covering his face with one hand; he should have known that Ruth missed little.

Menolly tapped his hand imperiously, her eyes demanding an explanation.

«Would you like to fly Path?» Jaxom asked Ruth, his eyes meeting Menolly's.

Why should I fly her? I have already outflown her in every race we flew at Telgar. She isn't as fast as I am in the air.

Jaxom repeated to Menolly exactly what Ruth had said, trying to keep his voice as close to Ruth's puzzled tone as possible.

Menolly burst out laughing. «Oh, I wish Ruth had said that in Mirrim's hearing. That would bring her down a peg or two.»

Mnementh wishes to speak to me, Ruth said in a very respectful manner, raising his head and turning toward Mnementh's ledge.

«Do you know something I don't? About Ruth?» Jaxom asked in a fierce whisper as he caught hold of Menolly's hand to bring her closer to him.

«You heard him, Jaxom.» Menolly's eyes were bright with amusement. «He's simply not interested in dragons, not that way yet.»

Jaxom gave her hand a hard squeeze.

«Just think logically, Jaxom,» she said, leaning over to him. «Ruth's small, he's maturing more slowly than other dragons.»

«You mean, he may never mature enough to mate, don't you?»

Menolly regarded him steadily and he searched her eyes for pity or evasion, and found neither. «Jaxom, aren't you enjoying Corana?»

«Yes, I am.»

«You're upset. I don't think you need be. I have never heard a word to suggest you should worry. Only that Ruth is unusual.»

I have told Mnementh what he wishes to know. They go now, Ruth said. Do you think I could take a bath in the lake?

«Didn't you get enough bathing yesterday in the cove?» Jaxom was relieved to find himself answering his dragon calmly.

That was yesterday, Ruth replied equably. I have eaten since then and slept on a dusty surface. You need a bath, too, I think.

«All right, all right,» Jaxom replied. «Go along with you then. But don't let Lessa see you with any fire lizards.»

How will I get my back properly cleaned? Ruth asked in mild reproach. He stepped down from the bedstone.

«What's his problem?» Menolly wondered aloud, grinning at Jaxom's expression.

«Wants his back scrubbed.»

«I'll send my friends to you, Ruth, once you're at the lake. Lessa won't notice.»

Ruth paused in his progress to the weyr entrance, cocking his head, patently considering. Then he arched his neck and moved forward confidently. Yes, Mnementh has gone and Ramoth with him. They will not know that I will have a real bath with fire lizards to scrub my ridges property.

Jaxom couldn't help but laugh at the smug satisfaction in Ruth's tone as he left the weyr.

«Sorry about inflicting Mirrim on you, Jaxom, but I couldn't get up to this level without Path. And her.»

Jaxom took a long sip of klah. «I suppose, if Path's proddy, she has to be excused.»

«Mirrim usually is, one way or another.» Menolly's tone was acid.

«Huh?»

«Mirrim generally gets away with outrageous behavior.»

A sudden thought caused Jaxom to interrupt the harper girl abruptly. «You don't think Mirrim did sneak onto the Ground before that Hatching? I know she swears she didn't but I do know she wasn't supposed to Impress.…»

«Not any more than you were! Oh, for goodness sake, Jaxom, can't I tease you? No, I don't think she tried to influence Path in the shell. She had her firelizards and was always content with them. Who wouldn't be with three? Also, you surely know how furious Lessa was after she Impressed Path? Well, no one came forward then to say they'd ever seen Mirrim sneaking onto the Ground and they would have! Mirrim can be managing, tactless, difficult and exasperating, but she's not devious. Weren't you at the Hatching? Oh, well, I was. Path came staggering over to the spot where Mirrim was sitting, crying her heart out and refusing every single candidate on the Ground until F'lar was forced to decide that Path wanted someone sitting among the spectators.»

Menolly shrugged. «Someone who turned out to be Mirrim. Oddly enough, her fire lizards never uttered a chirp of objection. No, I think the partnering was as much… well, destined to be as you and Ruth. Not at all like my acquisition of Poll. As if I needed another fire lizard.» She grimaced ruefully. «But his shell cracked just as I was passing him to that addle handed child of Lord Groghe's. He's never faulted me, and the child got a green. A bronze would have been wasted on that brat!»

Jaxom pointed a forefinger at Menolly. «You are blathering! What is it you're hiding? What is it that you know about Ruth that I don't?»

Menolly looked Jaxom straight in the eye. «I don't know anything, Jaxom. But, by your own account to me a few minutes gone by, Ruth greeted the news of Path's imminent mating with all the enthusiasm of a weyrling asked to change glow baskets.»

«That doesn't mean «

«Doesn't mean anything. So don't get defensive. Ruth is maturing late. That's all you need to think about it… especially with Corana on hand.»

«Menolly!»

«Don't explode! You'll undo all the good rest you had last night. You were faded!» She put her hand on his arm, giving it a squeeze. «I'm not prying about Corana. I'm commenting, although you might not appreciate the distinction.»

«It does occur to me that Ruatha Hold is not Harper business,» he said, gritting his teeth against the words he'd like to use.

«You, Jaxom, rider of white Ruth, are the Harper's business not young Jaxom, Lord of Ruatha.»

«You're making distinctions again.»

«Yes, I am, Jaxom,» and although her voice was serious, her eyes twinkled. «When Jaxom influences what happens to Pern, then he becomes Harper business.»

Jaxom stared at her, still baffled by her silence on the matter of the egg's return. Then he caught the odd warning expression in her eyes; for some reason beyond his comprehension, she did not want him to confirm that adventure.

«You're several people at once, Jaxom,» she went on, earnestly. «The Lord of a Hold which cannot be in contention, the rider of an unusual dragon and a young man who's not quite sure who or what he should be. You can, you know, be all and more, without being disloyal to anyone, or yourself.»

Jaxom snorted. «Who's speaking? The Harper, or Menolly the Meddler?»

Menolly shrugged, gave a rueful twist of her mouth, neither smile nor denial. «Partly Harper, because I can't look at most things without thinking Harper, but Menolly mostly, right now, I think, because I don't want you to be upset. Particularly not after that feat you pulled off yesterday!» There was no doubt of the warmth of her smile.

Her fair of fire lizards came swooping into the weyr. Jaxom suppressed his annoyance at the interruption because he'd have preferred to keep Menolly talking in this unusually expansive mood. But the fire lizards were clearly excited and, before Menolly could calm them enough to find out, Ruth came into the weyr, his eyes whirling with myriad colors.

D'ram and Tiroth are here, and. everyone is very excited, Ruth said, pushing his nose at Jaxom to be caressed. Jaxom obliged, and went on to rub eye ridges damp from Ruth's swimming. Mnementh is very pleased with himself. There was a note of grievance in that addition.

«Well, Mnementh couldn't have brought D'ram and Tiroth back without your help, Ruth,» Jaxom replied staunchly. «Right, Menolly?»

I could not have found D'ram and Tiroth without the fire lizards' help, Ruth remarked graciously. And you thought of going back twenty five Turns.

Menolly sighed, unable to hear Ruth's last comment.

«Actually, we owe more to those Southern fire lizards.»

«That's just what Ruth said…»

«Dragons are honest people!» Menolly exhaled heavily and rose. «Come on, my friend. You and I had better return to our own halls. We've done what we were sent to do. Done it well. That's all the satisfaction we're likely to have.» She shot him an amused look. «Isn't that so?» She gathered up her pack.

«Which is the way some matters have to remain. Right?»

She slipped her arm through his, hauling him to his feet, grinning in a semi conspiratorial fashion that oddly enough did dispel the resentment he was beginning to feel.

As they came out on the ledge, they could see the activity about the queen's weyr, as riders and women from the Lower Caverns came streaming across to greet D'ram and his bronze.

«I must admit, it's rather nice to leave Benden with everyone in a good frame of mind for a change,» Menolly said as Ruth bore her and Jaxom upward.

Jaxom expected to deposit Menolly safely in the Harperhall and return home. No sooner had Ruth announced himself to the watchdragon on the fire heights than Zair and a harper banded little queen attached themselves with precarious talon holds to Ruth's neck.

«That's Sebell's Kimi. He's back!» There was an exultant ring to Menolly's voice that Jaxom had never heard before.

The watchdragon says that the Harper wants to see us. So does Zair, Ruth told Jaxom. He means me, too, Ruth added with a note of pleasant surprise.

«Why shouldn't the Harper want to see you, Ruth? He's sure to give you the credit you're due,» Jaxom said, still nursing a bit of resentment as he slapped the arched neck affectionately. Ruth had turned his head to choose a landing space in the courtyard.

Master Robinton and a man with a master's knot on his shoulder came striding down the Hail's steps. Master Robinton's arms were outstretched so he could encircle both Menolly and Jaxom with an enthusiasm that almost embarrassed Jaxom. Then, to his complete surprise, the other Harper grabbed Menolly from Robinton's grasp and began to swing her around and around, all the time kissing her soundly. Instead of protesting this treatment of their friend, the fire lizards went into spectacular aerial maneuvers of twined necks and overlapped wings. Jaxom knew that fire lizard queens rarely indulged in tactile contact with queens, but Beauty and the strange gold were as joyously indulging as Menolly and the man. Glancing to see what the Harper's reaction was to such excess, Jaxom was astonished to see Master Robinton grinning with smug pleasure, an expression quickly altered when he noticed Jaxom's regard.

«Come, Jaxom, Menolly and Sebell have several months' news to exchange and I want to hear your version of D'ram's discovery.»

As Robinton guided Jaxom toward the Hall, Menolly cried out and pushed herself free of Sebell's arms, although Jaxom noticed that her fingers remained entwined in Sebell's as she took a hesitant step toward Robinton. «Master?»

«What?» Robinton affected dismay. «Cannot Sebell command a measure of your time after so long an absence?»

Jaxom was gratified to see Menolly caught by uncertainty and confusion. Sebell was grinning.

«Hear what he has to tell you first, girl,» Robinton said, more kindly. «I'll make do admirably with Jaxom.»

Glancing back at the pair as Robinton escorted him into the Hall, Jaxom saw their arms linked about each other's waists, heads inclined together. Their fire lizards spiraled above, following them as they walked slowly toward the meadow beyond the Harper Hall.

«You brought D'ram and Tiroth back?» the Harper asked Jaxom.

«I found them. The Benden Weyrleaders returned them this morning, Benden time.»

Robinton hesitated, his foot nearly missing the top step as he led Jaxom to his own quarters. «They were there, though, in that cove, all along? Just as I surmised.»

«Twenty five Turns back,» and, with no further urging, Jaxom recounted the adventure from the beginning. His listener was more sympathetic and attentive than either Lessa or F'lar had been, so Jaxom began to enjoy his unaccustomed role.

«Men?» The Harper, who had been lounging in his chair, one booted foot propped on the table, abruptly came off the end of his spine. His heel rang on the stone floor. «They'd seen men?»

Jaxom was momentarily startled. Whereas the Weryleaders had been alarmed and skeptical, the Master Harper acted almost as if he'd expected this news.

«I've always maintained that we came from the Southern Continent,» the Harper said, more to himself than anyone else. Then he signaled Jaxom to continue.

Jaxom obeyed but was soon aware that only half the Harper's attention was on his narrative, though the man nodded and asked occasional questions. Jaxom told of his and Menolly's safe return to Benden Weyr, remembered to mention his gratitude to Mnementh for permitting Ruth to eat. He fell silent then, wondering how to ask a question of his own of the Harper, but Robinton was frowning at some private reflections.

«Tell me again what the fire lizards said about these men,» the Harper asked, leaning forward, elbows on the table, eyes fixed on Jaxom. On his shoulder, Zair echoed a querying note.

«They didn't say much, Master Robinton. That's the trouble! They got so excited, they made little sense at all. Menolly could probably tell you more because she had Beauty and the three bronzes with her. But «

«What did Ruth say?»

Jaxom shrugged, unhappily aware that his half answers were inadequate.

«He said the images were too confused, even if they were all about men, their men. And we, Menolly and I, weren't their sort of men.»

Jaxom reached for the pitcher of klah, to slake the dryness of his mouth. He courteously filled a cup for the Harper who absently drained half of it while deep in thought.

«Men,» Master Robinton said again, extending the last consonant and ending the sound with a click of his tongue. He got to his feet in such a fluid motion that Zair squawked, clawing for balance. «Men, and so long ago that the images the fire lizards retain are vague. That is very interesting, very interesting indeed.»

The Harper began to pace, stroking Zair, who chittered reprovingly.

Jaxom glanced out the window at Ruth, sunning himself in the courtyard, the local fire lizards clustered about him. Jaxom listened idly to the chorus, wondering why they were stopped so often in the Ballad, for he couldn't detect discord in their harmonies. The breeze coming in the window was pleasant, soft with summer scents, and he was jerked back to his surroundings when Robinton's hand gripped his shoulder.

«You've done very well, lad, but you'd better get back to Ruatha now. You're half asleep. That time jump took more out of you than I think you realize.»

As Master Robinton accompanied Jaxom to the courtyard, he had him rehearse the conversation with the fire lizards just once more. This time the Harper nodded his head sharply at each point as if to insure accurate recall.

«That you found D'ram and Tiroth safe, Jaxom, is the least of this affair, I think. I knew I was right to involve you and Ruth. Don't be surprised if you hear more from me on this business, with Lytol's permission, of course.»

With a final affectionate grip of his arm, Robinton stepped back to let Jaxom mount Ruth, the fire lizards shrilling their disappointment at the end of their friend's visit. As Ruth obediently climbed higher, Jaxom waved a cheery farewell to the diminishing figure of the Master Harper. Then Jaxom looked down toward the river for Menolly and Sebell. He was annoyed with himself, at the same time, for wanting to know where they were and further irritated, because, when he did spot them, the intimacy of their attitude proved that they enjoyed a relationship of which he had been totally unaware.

He did not go straight back to Ruatha Hold. Lytol would not be expecting him at any particular hour. As he also saw no fire lizards abroad to betray his delinquency, he asked Ruth to take him to the Plateau Hold. At Ruth's cheerful compliance, he wondered if the white dragon knew his mind better than he did himself.

Now, it was close to midday in western Pern, and Jaxom wondered how he was going to attract Corana's attention without every dependent in the hold knowing of his visit. His need of her was great enough to make him irritable.

She comes, Ruth said, dipping his wing so that Jaxom could see the girl emerging from the hold, walking in the direction of the river, a basket balanced on one shoulder.

What could have been more fortuitous! He told Ruth to take them to the river edge where the women of her hold generally did their washing.

The stream is not very deep, Ruth said casually, but there is a large rock in the sun where I can be comfortable and warm. And before Jaxom could answer, he began to glide down to the river, past the rapid boiling waters flowing across treacherously strewn boulders, to the calm pool and the flat stone outcropping. Angling himself neatly so as not to foul his wings in the branches of the heavy shade trees that bordered the river, Ruth landed lightly on the biggest rock. She comes, he repeated, ducking his shoulder so that Jaxom could dismount.

Suddenly Jaxom was assailed by a conflict of desires and doubts. Mirrim's angry remarks resounded in his head. Ruth was indeed well beyond the usual age of mating and yet…

She comes and she is good for you. If she is good for you, it is good for me, Ruth said. She makes you feel happy and relaxed and that is good. The sun here makes me warm and happy, too. Go.

Startled by the strength of his weyrmate's tone, Jaxom stared up at Ruth's face. The eyes were whirling gently, with the blues and greens of a contentment at odds with the force of his voice.

Then Corana reached the last loop in the path to the river's edge and saw him. She dropped her basket, spilling the linen, and ran, embracing him so fiercely, kissing his face and neck with such uninhibited delight, that he was soon too involved to think.

Together they moved toward the soft moss that carpeted the ground beyond the stones, out of sight of the river bank, out of Ruth's actual vision. Corana was as willing and eager as he was to satisfy desires thwarted on his previous visit to the hold. As his hands touched her soft flesh and he felt her body press against his, he wondered briefly if she'd have been as willing a lover had he not been Ruatha's Lord. But he didn't care! He was her lover now! He gave himself to that pursuit with no further reservation. At the precise moment of his release, exquisite to the point of pain, he was aware of a gentle touch and knew, with a sense of relief that enhanced his own, that Ruth was joined to him then, as always.