He looked around and saw only a few scattered clouds above. To the west he could see some cumulus clouds building up into larger thunder clouds. He sniffed the air; it was preternaturally clean, as though all the ions had been swept out of it-like shortly before a big storm.
“We should get word from the West Tower soon,” Tieran said to himself, but also loud enough that Kassa could hear him.
Kassa disagreed. “It might slip north of them.”
Tieran was about to turn around and engage her directly in conversation when a loud boom and a rush of cold air heralded the arrival of a dragon. A large, bronze dragon. A halo of condensed air swirled around it as it glided in low for a quick landing between the tower and the College.
Tieran had grabbed the small drum and was darting down the stairs, telling Kassa, “I’ll go!” in an instant.
“Go, go!” Kassa had replied, a broad grin on her face. “I’ll relay.”
Tieran returned the grin with a wave as he darted down the tower’s stairs. As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs he broke into a steady, loping trot, deftly slinging the small drum over his shoulder without breaking stride.
The bronze dragon was Brianth and the rider was M’hall, Weyrleader of Benden Weyr. There were two other passengers-no, Tieran corrected his assessment as he got closer: one other passenger and a wrapped bundle. The bundle was a body. The passenger was Wind Blossom.
M’hall was helping Wind Blossom down as Tieran arrived. He grabbed the small woman from M’hall’s hands and deftly put her on the ground.
“Get help,” Wind Blossom ordered. “The body must go to the cold room.”
“Body?” Tieran repeated even as he was rapping out a quick staccato on his message drum. It was answered by a rush of people from the College, and the shroud-wrapped figure was quickly carried away, Wind Blossom trotting alongside, snapping instructions.
There was another boom and burst of air, and a second dragon arrived. Tieran had pulled the small drum off his back and banged out his quick message to Kassa before he had identified the new arrival, who landed on his right.
It was M’hall on Brianth! Again. While the new arrival looked somber and time-pressed, the first M’hall was desolate and had tears streaming down his face.
“Don’t do it!” the first M’hall shouted to the other.
Somber M’hall startled at the sound of his own voice coming to him. “You’re from the future?”
The first nodded. “Please, don’t do it. You’ll regret it more than you can possibly imagine.”
“We shouldn’t be talking!” the younger M’hall said. He caught sight of Tieran and told him, “Send for Wind Blossom. Urgent.”
“No!” the other yelled. “Don’t do it!”
“You would make a time paradox?” younger M’hall’s eyes were wide with terror and incomprehension that his future self would even consider such a dangerous suggestion.
The older M’hall’s jaw worked but he was voiceless. Finally, he jumped back onto his Brianth, sobbing, “Go then! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” The older Brianth gave a leap, one powerful downbeat of his wings and vanished between.
“Tieran!” the younger M’hall called to him. Tieran looked up. M’hall was clearly overwhelmed by his future self and dizzy with worry. “Don’t say anything about this until I get back.”
Stunned, Tieran could only nod.
Wind Blossom returned, escorted by a medical trainee. Tieran helped lift her up to M’hall. And for the second time in almost as many minutes, Brianth vanished between.
As though the dragon’s disappearance had been a signal, rain started falling. It went from a trickle to a torrent in no time. Lightning flickered across the sky and thunder boomed repeatedly. Tieran was surprised to realize how dark it had gotten. Dimly, he wondered if time-jumping acted like a lightning rod. He was drenched in seconds.
SEVEN
Genomics: The study of genetic material and the functions it encodes. See DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
- Glossary of terms, Elementary Biological Systems, 18th Edition
The cold of between was still deep in Wind Blossom’s bones as she and M’hall were escorted to the queen’s quarters at Fort Weyr.
“My mother asked for you,” M’hall told her as he helped her into Sorka’s quarters.
“Is it her time?” Wind Blossom’s voice was calm, flat. She had seen all her friends die, save this one.
M’hall’s lips trembled as he nodded, and a deep anguished sigh passed his lips. Wind Blossom reached to take his arm reassuringly, but her grip was so weak that M’hall misinterpreted the gesture as need for support. He grabbed her and helped her to a chair.
“How did you know?” she asked. Then, taking in M’hall’s exhausted pallor, she answered herself, “You timed it.”
M’hall nodded.
“It drained you,” Wind Blossom said.
“More than you can imagine, and please don’t ask,” the Weyrleader said, forestalling further questions. He turned to Sorka, lying half-asleep in her bed.
His mother must have felt his presence, for her eyelids fluttered open. “Did you bring her?”
“I’m here,” Wind Blossom answered, rising from her chair and kneeling beside Sorka’s bed. The old Weyrwoman reached out a hand and clasped Wind Blossom’s as she offered it.
M’hall dragged Wind Blossom’s chair over to her. Thankfully, Wind Blossom sat. “Your son brought me.”
“He’s a good lad,” Sorka agreed with a small smile. “He does as he’s told.”
The two elder women shared a secret pause, then smiled as the expected comment from Benden’s Weyrleader failed to materialize.
“He has learned wisdom,” Wind Blossom said. It was her highest praise, words she had never before uttered to or about anyone. “He is a good man. Like his brothers and sisters. Blood tells. You and Sean have everything to be proud of.”
Behind her, Wind Blossom felt M’hall stiffen at the mention of his late father, who had led the colony’s original dragonriders through their first and so many other Threadfalls with an iron will.
Even at the hale age of sixty-two, Sean O’Connell had retained his position as the first Weyrleader-and Weyrleader of Fort Weyr, despite every argument to the contrary. But he was too old. Badly scored when they failed to dodge an oddly clumped bunch of Thread, Sean and Carenath had gone between-and never returned. That had been over eight years ago.
In all that time, Faranth had never again risen to mate. No one had commented on it, considering it merely due to Faranth’s age. Only Wind Blossom knew differently.
The reason was one of many secrets that she and Sorka had shared over the years, and a part of one of Wind Blossom’s few true friendships.
As the first queen dragonrider and the most experienced geneticist, Sorka and Wind Blossom had maintained a working relationship during the years after the first Fall at Landing. But the creation of the watch-whers had soured most of the dragonriders on Wind Blossom, Sean in particular, and Sorka’s dealings with her had become businesslike.
Wind Blossom maintained detailed records of all the original dragons and their hatchlings, tracking growth and watching for any signs of genetic defects. When the colony reestablished itself in the north, and Admiral Benden redirected the technical staff away from her studies, Wind Blossom found herself without specific duties.
Admiral Benden had suggested publicly that she consider diversifying into the medical profession, perhaps considering nursing or technical lab work. And, the Admiral had added with a smile, Wind Blossom should remember her duty to the colony and her genome: Had she considered how she would fill her child-rearing obligations?