Nuella smiled. “Great. You can watch if you like,” she told them. “But there won’t be all that much to see. In fact, the first thing we’ll do is close our eyes. I’d like you and Renilan to close your eyes and turn toward the fire in the hearth. Can you do that?”
She heard Renilan’s stubborn hiss and turned to him with a smile and an inquiring look. The old man sighed reluctantly. “There. Now what?”
“What do you see?” Nuella asked. “No, don’t open your eyes. With your eyes closed, what do you see?”
“I don’t see anything,” Erla said crossly.
“Really? Don’t scrunch your eyes, my Lady, just close them, like you’re asleep.”
“It’s lighter toward the fire,” Darel reported.
“What color is it?” Nuella asked. “Is it gray or some color?”
“Sort of orangey-red,” Erla said. “And I can feel the heat on my face.”
“Very good,” Nuella said encouragingly. “Renilan, how about you?”
“Well,” the old man said slowly, “I’m farther away, but I can see a lighter spot where the fire is and feel the heat, of course.”
“Good. Now keep that image in your mind. My friends tell me that it’s blurrier than looking at a fire with your eyes open. Do you agree?”
“Well, it’s not the same at all, really,” Renilan said thoughtfully. “It’s like it’s hottest in the middle and cooler on the edges.”
“That’s how your watch-wher sees it,” Nuella said. “Try keeping that image in your mind and asking Resk if that’s what he sees. Keep your eyes closed, please.”
“Can we ask Lemosk?” Erla asked.
“She’s not here, silly,” Darel said. “She’s outside by the gates.”
“Is there a fire or a torch near her?” Nuella asked. “If so, you could ask her to think about that.”
Renilan gasped and Resk made a startled noise at the same time. “By the First Shell, you’re right! That’s what Resk sees.”
“Watch-whers see heat, you see,” Nuella explained. “That’s the way their big eyes work.”
“So that’s why they can see tunnel snakes when there’re no glows!” Lord Darel exclaimed excitedly.
“Exactly,” Nuella agreed. She turned to Renilan and said for his ears alone, “You felt him, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Renilan said in a hushed voice. “I could feel him. I’ve always sort of known how to talk to him but now...”
“Now the hard part’s over,” she said. “Now that you can imagine how Resk sees, you’ll be better able to understand the images he sends you. Now you and Resk can build up a vocabulary, come up with agreed sounds and images that mean something. And then we can teach Resk to use your ‘words’ to talk to the dragons.”
“They can see heat,” Renilan repeated, more to himself than anyone. He raised his voice for Nuella’s ears, “Can they see people buried in snow?”
“Or coal, or mud, and even a bit in water,” Nuella told him.
“That’s why my Lord M’tal wants to train us,” Renilan said in an awed voice. “We lost three cotholds with all their families in an avalanche last winter.”
“My friend lost his older brothers and his father in a cave-in at our mines two Turns ago,” Nuella said by way of agreement.
“They should have had a watch-wher,” Renilan said firmly. “I hear they’re good in mines.”
Nuella turned a bittersweet smile into a full smile. “If they’re trained properly.”
“Very well, Lady Nuella, let’s start training,” Renilan said with a voice full of commitment.
“It’s just Nuella,” she replied, shaking her head at the honorific. “Not to my way of thinking,” Renilan said fervently. Nuella laughed. “Let’s see if you still say that when the cock crows in the morning!”
“My Lord M’tal, I cannot thank you enough!” Renilan said the next morning, pumping the dragonrider’s hand greatfully. “This will save so many lives.”
“I’ll be sure to have my sweep riders stop by and get acquainted with Resk,” M’tal told the old wherhandler. When Renilan’s eyes widened, the dragonrider added, “Well, it wouldn’t do any good to have your Resk know how to summon just one dragon.”
“I suppose it wouldn’t at that,” Renilan admitted in awed tones. “And you can be sure we won’t abuse the privilege; we’ll only call in direst emergency—”
“Not even a Gather?” M’tal asked plaintively.
Renilan accepted the teasing with a nod. “And Gathers.”
M’tal clapped him on the shoulder. “We dragonriders are here to protect Pern and its people, Renilan. I’m just glad that you and your watch-wher can help us do our job better.”
“Much better,” Renilan agreed, “now that Lady Nuella has taught us how.”
“Do you think you could teach others yourself, now that you know?” J’lantir asked, stifling a yawn. He had been quite surprised to wake in a soft bed that morning. The last he remembered he had still been in the Great Hall. The mystery had been cleared up when he learned that Nuella had asked to have him moved there after he’d fallen asleep at one of the Great Hall’s tables.
Renilan pursed his lips thoughtfully. He gave Nuella a sideways look, then replied, “I think I could. I might not be quite as good as my Lady here, but I would do my best.”
“Resk can talk to the other watch-whers, you know,” Nuella said. “That’s half the battle already.”
“Half the battle?” Renilan asked.
Nuella nodded vigorously. “Sure. Resk can tell the other watch-whers how to talk with the Benden dragons he’s met. And they can tell him about the ones they’ve met.”
“They can?” M’tal and J’lantir said in chorus.
“Dragons can, can’t they?” Nuella said. “If a dragon can, why can’t a watch-wher?”
“I’d never thought of that,” M’tal admitted in a tone of admiration. He cocked his head thoughtfully. “Renilan, has your Resk ever met Breth, the Weyrwoman’s dragon?”
“Why, no, my Lord,” Renilan said.
“Would you then, kindly,” M’tal continued, “ask your Resk to ask Lemosk how to talk to Breth?”
“If you wish, my Lord,” Renilan agreed. “He’s a bit sleepy, I’m afraid. It’s just dawn. He might not be too good at it.”
“Just try,” M’tal said. “We can try tonight or another night if this doesn’t work.”
Renilan nodded. He closed his eyes in concentration. Resk was sharing Lemosk’s lair for the day and so too far away to hear his handler speak out loud. After a moment Renilan looked up again. “I’ve done it, my Lord. I think Resk knows now.”
“Could you ask Resk to send a message to Breth?” M’tal asked.
Renilan looked dubious. “I can try, but I’m still learning, as you know.” He took a quick look at Nuella and straightened up, determined. “Let me correct myself—we’ll do it, my Lord. Maybe not this time but we’ll try until we do. What is the message?”
“Could you ask her to contact Gaminth?” M’tal said.
“Oh, no, make it Lolanth,” J’lantir suggested gleefully. “That would be a much better test as they’re not in the same Weyr.”
“Very well, could you ask her to contact Lolanth, then?”
“I’ll tr—I’ll do it now,” Renilan answered, closing his eyes again. “There. Although Resk is awfully tired—”
“By the Shell of Faranth!” J’lantir shouted, jumping with excitement. “It worked! It worked! It worked!” He bounced around the others in glee.
Throughout the waking Hold, heads turned and Lolanth and Gaminth bugled from their cliffside perches.
“That’s fine, J’lantir, but you’d better tell my Weyrwoman what we are up to,” M’tal replied drolly. He turned to Nuella and bowed deeply. “My Lady, on behalf of Benden Weyr, I thank you.”
Nuella blushed scarlet from her head to her toes.
Chapter XII