Dolphins of Pern Read online

  Curran urged all back into the warmth of his hold which was then crowded with wet, oily and damp fleece smells, but the hot mulled wine that was passed around was very welcome indeed. The first mate, Texur, and three of the other skippers then took folks back to their cotholds where they could dry their clothing. Robina clucked about, handing out fur rugs, and fussing over Master Oldive.

  "You'll be treating yourself if you don't have more of a care for your own health, Master,” she said, scowling fiercely. "And then where will the rest of us be?"

  "Ringing the Dolphin Bell,” Oldive murmured in a whisper that only Menolly and Sebell heard. "There is so much, so much more than we could have ever anticipated,” he went on in a slightly louder but reflective tone of voice, "and we must learn all we can. All we can." His voice fell again and his hand nearly let go the cup of mulled wine. Menolly rescued it with a smile which he returned. "Goodness, I don't think I've had this much outdoor activity in decades."

  "We should have had you conveyed a‑dragonback,” Menolly said anxiously.

  "No, no, my dear,” Oldive said, sitting up straighter. "I'm always after my patients to exercise and get fresh air and I never listen to my own advice. This has been a truly remarkable day."

  "As soon as you're dried out enough, I'll send Beauty to Fort Weyr and we'll get you home safe, sound and unwet,” Menolly said firmly and gave him a stern look.

  "Oh, no, not today. I must wait over and speak with Bit again.”

  But let us send back Worlain and Fabry. I have a particular patient in the Hall at the moment. Bit might just be able to see what ails her for without some help, I fear she will die. There is so much we don't know,” he added, shaking his head.

  "Now, Master,” Fabry said for he evidently had an ear cocked in his Master's direction, "Mizlue's the last person to expose to a dolphin. In the first places she'll be terrified “

  "She's also terrified of dying,” Oldive said crisply.

  "But how will you transport her here? The jolting of a gather wagon would be too painful”

  "A dragon will oblige."

  Fabry snorted. "She'd be even more afraid of riding a dragon ‑ if we could get her astride one, than even the doll fin."

  "Dolphin,” Sebell said in absent correction.

  "Whatever,” Fabry said, glancing at the Master Harper with all the arrogance some of the healers often displayed for other Crafts.

  "If that Holder woman intends to live to see the grandchild she hopes her daughter‑in‑law carries, then she'll obey my orders,” Oldive said with a tinge of impatience in his usually serene voice. He laid a sensitive, thin‑fingered hand on Fabry's arm and the stocky Journeyman assumed an attentive stance. "You will make the arrangements on your return to the Hall, Fabry. I know I can count on you but you are not to forewarn her "She'll want details. She always wants details,” Fabry said with a much put upon sigh.

  "The sea, Fabry. It is possible that a sea cure will help her,” Oldive said, one of his irresistible smiles lighting his gentle face and kind eyes.

  "A sea cure?" Fabry barked a laugh.

  "A sea cure,” Oldive repeated, smiling back.

  So Menolly despatched Beauty to Fort Weyr with a request for N'ton to provide dragons for those returning that evening.

  Though Menolly received a warm invitation from Robina to remain overnight, too, she declined, anxious to return to her children. Sebell elected to remain with Oldive for a further meeting the next day with the dolphins. That left the question of the runner beasts they had ridden down to the Hold but Curran said he'd have one of his holders lead them back, laden with fish, in a few days.

  Sebell gave Menolly a quick embrace when the dragons arrived.

  "Now, don't spend all night composing, will you?"

  "Much as I'd like to,” she said, hugging him fiercely, "the fresh air's got me yawning, too. I'm so glad that it all worked."

  "Were you worried?" Sebell asked, looking down into her face with searching eyes.

  "Well, not exactly worried, but I certainly didn't expect the turn out! I'll have to tell Alemi. He'll be thrilled. lt is too bad, though,” Menolly added, uxoriously smoothing the wrinkles of a jacket only just dried from the afternoon's soaking.

  "What?"

  "That so much else is happening to detract from the dolphins.”

  "Hmmm. Yes, but we'll have the dolphins with us for the rest of our lives on Pern Right now it is imperative that we follow Aivas' timetable and rid us of Thread."

  "You're right of course, Sebell. The dolphins will be with us as they have been with us all along. I do hope Lessa doesn't mind."

  "Why should she mind?" Sebell asked, holding his mate from him to peer into her face. She could come out with the most astonishing observations.

  "Well, you know how she was about fire‑lizards!'

  "Not yours, my love. Just the undisciplined mob. I'll brief Master Robinton and he'll break it to her."

  Chapter Eight

  “Doll fins?" Lessa demanded, her eyebrows raising in black arcs of astonishment. She stared at Alemi, glared fiercely until Master Harper Robinton laughed at her.

  "Dolphins, Lessa." Adroitly he corrected her pronunciation.

  "They have been mentioned. They came with the original settlers and have been happily plying the seas, saving lives when they could, and waiting until humans remembered them. Aivas is very interested in reestablishing the association."

  She blinked at the Harper. "Well, I suppose I do remember some mention of the sea creatures, but there's been so much else going on "And her tone chided him for bringing up a subject which she plainly considered irrelevant and immaterial.

  "They've been around longer than dragons,” he said teasingly.

  "And they're proving far more useful than, say, the fire‑lizards." He shot her a wicked glance for her well‑known disgruntlement with fire‑lizards pestering her gold dragon, Ramoth.

  Lessa awarded him a very sour look until she caught sight of Ramoth, splashing in the waters of Cove Hold, her bathing assisted by wild and tame fire‑lizards.

  "The dragons that have met them seem to like them, Lessa,” Alemi said, taking his cue from the Harper nd not letting himself be intimidated by the diminutive but forceful Weyrwoman of Benden.

  "Which ones?"

  "First, Gadareth, the bronze of young T'lion from Eastern Weyr. He was conveying me the day I inadvertently summoned the Monaco Bay pod." She accepted that with a flick of her fingers so Alemi went on. "Master Oldive had a very puzzling patient which the dolphins at Fort Sea Hold diagnosed as having an internal growth in the belly.

  "And that caused enough problems with his Hall,” she said dryly. "I really don't like the idea of cutting into human bodies." She gave a little shudder.

  "No more than when a child is hard to birth,” Alemi said, knowing that Lessa had had to have that surgery. Probably why she disliked intrusive operations. "The woman's recovering and most grateful. However,” and he went on briskly, having noticed her resistance, "the dolphins are certainly proving invaluable assets to my Craft."

  "I did hear Master Idarolan on the subject but now is not the time to go off half‑cocked,' she said. "We must not let anything interfere with Aivas' program.”

  "No more will the dolphins,” Robinton said soothingly. "I've met one or two and they are charming. It's so nice to see creatures smiling all the time."

  Lessa's glare intensified and then, abruptly, she burst out laughing. "I have been a grouch, haven't I?"

  "Indeed you have,” Robinton said as cheerfully as any dolphin.

  "You should meet a few. They all have names.”

  "Sea creatures with names?" Lessa exclaimed and her frown returned. That the dragons knew their own names at birth was an indisputable mark of their self‑awareness and intelligence.

  To hear that the dolphins also had names smacked of heresy to the Weyrwoman.

  "Each calf is named as it's born, I'm told,” Alemi hastily explained. Aivas sai
d those names are variations on the names of the original dolphins. They have traditions, too, you see.

  "I suppose the next thing will be the formation of yet another Craft Hall to take care of dolphins."

  "They seem to take very good care of themselves, my dear,” Robinton said, "if they've survived on their own in our seas all this while."

  "Hmmm, yes, well. I don't want anything to detract from the priorities Aivas has set us."

  "This won't,” Alemi said with such conviction that he won a smile from her.

  She rose then. "If that's all today?" she asked Master Robinton.

  He rose, too, moving stiffly and that gave Lessa a pang of concern for her valued friend. He'd never been quite as vigorous ‑ though he protested constantly that he was well since the heart attack he'd suffered at Ista Weyr. All this fuss with Aivas and the discoveries at Landing were not at all the sort of stimulation he needed. And yet . "There're several very engaging fellows out in the Cove,” Robinton said, gesturing toward the beautifully colored waters of his bay.

  She made a disgruntled noise, dismissing the notion. "I've more than enough to do as it is. And far more ‘visitors’ to meet and sort out than I can comfortably deal with." She saw the disappointment on the Master Harper's face and laid a kind hand on his arm. "Once we've finished Aivas' grand scheme, I promise you I'll make time to meet these doll dolphins of yours.”

  "Grand! You'll love the games they play.."

  "Games?" Once more Lessa's frown returned.

  "Games can be as necessary as work, Lessa,” Robinton said gently. "You don't take enough time for yourself."

  "I don't have enough time for what I have to do, much less myself,” she said, but she gave him an encouraging smile and left the cool, shady comfort of Cove Hold for the midday heat.

  Ramoth waded out of the water to meet her. The sea creatures know where to scratch my belly just where it itches, she told her rider.

  "They do?" Lessa looked out at the Cove waters where these dolphins were leaping and diving about her dragon as easily as tumblers did at a gather. They did have smiles on their faces.

  "They were born that way,” she told herself. "C'mon, Ramoth, we've to see if another holding is feasible below the others on the Jordan River,” she said as she stepped up to Ramoth's neck. The dragon had not completely immersed herself, since she knew they'd have to go between and Lessa would not like sitting on damp hide.

  She'd been trying to find time to make this inspection for some weeks but something more urgent always came up. Not that allocating lands to properly trained northerners from overcrowded holds wasn't also urgent. It was a matter of priorities. Since the Jordan River was so close to Landing, they had been able to explore it sufficiently ‑ the ruins of the Ancients' Stakeholds were fascinating ‑ to release holdings: none as large as the original but respectable properties. Sometimes one had to wait until there were sufficient representatives of each of the Craft Halls to provide self‑sufficiency within each new holding.

  And at least one journeyman or woman healer who could tend the needs of several holds. People had also to be trained to recognize the dangers in this wilderness.

  Back in Cove Hold, Alemi was berating himself for not mentioning the newest job which Jayge had suggested for the dolphins.

  The Paradise River Holder had been furious over the recent invasion of his Holding. He was not the least bit mollified to know that he wasn't the only one of the dozen confirmed holds along the coast to suffer such depredations. He didn't want any more! So he asked Alemi to find out if the dolphins could patrol the waters off his Holding and warn of any more unauthorized landings.

  "For a pail of fish, they'd be delighted to, Alemi had reported to the Holder after he had explained this new work to the pod.”

  "Good ships and bad ships,” Afo had told him.

  "The bad ships never have fish for dolphins?" Alemi asked grinning.

  "You right! Bad ships smell, leak "n' leave badness in our water. Not nice." She squirted from her blow hole to emphasize her distaste.

  Alemi decided that was a fair enough measure of identification since invariably those masters willing to transport unauthorized passengers were men who would do anything for a few marks.

  Well, a good heavy sack of marks, Alemi amended. The men who had tried to land on Paradise Holding had paid a substantial amount to the captain to sail them south. The ship had not been in very seaworthy condition, its holds wet and dank, sails and hull patched, its bilges spewing wastes into the sea.

  "As bad as the Igen caves,” one man had said in disgust.

  "With all this land down here, why can't we have some?" he had demanded bitterly.

  "You can if you do it in the proper fashion,” Jayge had told him.

  "Ha! Dragonriders're keeping the best parts for themselves,” but there was a wistful envy in his eyes as he looked over the fine situation of Paradise River.

  "I'm no dragonrider and I hold this proper, with neighbors further down the river who've proved up their lands.

  "And paid a great sack of marks to get it, like as not."

  "No, they did not,” Jayge snapped back. "They applied and with the required number of Craft Halls among ‘em. That's what's required and, if you lived here, you'd know that this Southern Continent's not easy just because it's warm."

  Jayge had walked off then, scowling deeply, Alemi following him. Although Alemi knew that Jayge and Aramina had been shipwrecked, they had proved the Hold long before they had been found by Piemur. He also knew that he'd been very lucky to be asked to start a Fishman's Hold at Paradise River and he certainly knew the dreadful conditions of the Holdless, crammed into the caves at Igen and other even less salubrious places in the north. He was also now aware that settlements were being established where ruins indicated that the Ancients had had holdings.

  Lord Toric had accepted quite a large number of those wishing to immigrate south ‑ even before the Council of Lords Holder and the Benden Weyrleaders had formalized the ways such settlements could be allowed. Toric had been choosy, preferring men and women who were proven hard workers and preferably at least of journeyman status in their Craft. The iron‑handed Lord of Southern did not suffer fools and had one incident with renegades trying to settle the big island that happened to be part of his Holding. He had tried to get dragonriders to help him flush the squatters out but had had no luck there. That was when the policy of non‑interference from the Weyrs had been reinforced a few Turns back by the Benden Weyrleaders.

  Alemi had approved. The dragonriders must be above partisan leanings, no matter what hold or hall they had been born in.

  But, even as he helped Jayge flush the intruders out, he had thought how much easier it would have been with dragons a‑loft to ‘encourage' the men to surrender without bloodshed.

  Among the few people to know it, Alemi was aware that the dragonriders intended that they would have first choice of the lands in the Southern Continent. A stray remark by Master Idarolan had set his thinking in that direction and nothing had happened to disabuse him of the notion. It stood to reason that, once Thread no longer fell on Pern the dragonriders ought to have some reward for their long service to Hall and Hold and what better one than their own holds where they wanted to live.

  As a Craft Master, Alemi undoubtedly entertained a slightly different opinion to that held by the Lords Holder who could well feel that they should have the disposition of land, no matter where it was. Master Idarolan had remarked that there was far too much open land to bring folks to blows over who had what and how much. As he'd circumnavigated the Southern Continent, the Master Fishman certainly had a good idea of what vast expanses of land were available.

  On the other hand, fishmen needed only enough land to tie up their ships in a safe harbor and sell their catches. More would be greedy. Alemi did not approve of being greedy.

  "Well,” murmured the Master Harper, bringing Alemi back to the present, "that went off better than I expected. I ad
ore Lessa of Benden Weyr but she tends to be say, a bit too obsessed with draconic prestige.

  "Shouldn't she be?" Alemi asked, startled.

  "Yes, of course, she should,” Master Robinton said quickly.

  "And she behaves as she should as Weyrwoman. But occasionally, she does not consider other matters in quite the light you and I would. Now, tell me about this dolphin sea watch you wanted to set up to guard against more intruders?"

  "I should have told the Weyrwoman about that”

  "Oh, no, I don't think that was necessary or even a sound idea,” Robinton said, smiling slyly. "Let her get accustomed to the idea of dolphin intelligence first. Then spring this further evidence of their ingenuity on her. Don't you think?"

  "If you say so,” Alemi replied, not totally convinced.

  "The Paradise River pod is organized now to repel intruders?"

  "Yes, and I believe that T'gellan at Eastern Weyr has had young T'lion initiate a similar watch along that coastline.”

  Although, and now Alemi grinned, "I think the Weyr Healer is doing as much work with the dolphins as T'lion."

  "Yes, tell me about that,” Robinton said, pouring wine for both of them and gesturing Alemi to sit beside him in the cool shade of the wide porch that surrounded Cove Hold. "They actually come to be treated by a human?"

  Inside other residents were preparing a light midday meal.

  Cove Hold had a changing population among the archivists and harpers who were organizing the vast amount of information which Aivas was constantly producing. It was unusual for there to be so few people demanding Master Robinton's attention.

  D'ram and Lytol who were his companions in the lovely Hold were busy at Landing.

  "Yes, they do,” Alemi said. "A bell can summon humans as well as dolphins." He had put a good long sturdy chain on the bell at Paradise Head so that it hung well down into the water by the float for the dolphins to pull to summon him.

  Though it was usually one of the children who ran to answer the dolphins' peal. He was as often approached while he was at sea by his' pod members.

  "And they ring the bell in this report sequence you mentioned?" Robinton was clearly fascinated.