and Râmel as good riders.
How could Thread fall northeast in the morning when it wasnât supposed to drop until evening and in the southwest? he wondered, savage with frustrated worry.
Automatically, Fâlar started to ask Mnementh to have Canth fly close in. But then he remembered that Fânor was wounded and half a planet away in Southern Weyr. Fâlar swore long and imaginatively, wishing Târeb of Fort Weyr immured
between
with Weyrleader Târon fast beside him. Why did Fânor have to be absent at a time like this? It still rankled Fâlar deeply that Fortâs Weyrleader had tried to shift the blame of the fight from his very guilty rider to Terry. Of all the specious, contrived, ridiculous contentions for Târon to stand by!
Lamanth is flying well,
the bronze dragon remarked, cutting into his riderâs thoughts.
Fâlar was so surprised at the unexpected diversion that he glanced down to see the young queen.
âWeâre lucky to have so many to fly today,â Fâlar said, amused despite his other concerns by the bronzeâs fatuous tone. Lamanth was the queen from Mnementhâs second mating with Ramoth.
Ramoth flies well too, for one so soon from the Hatching Ground. Thirty-eight eggs and another queen,
Mnementh added with no modesty.
âWeâre going to have to do something about that third queen.â
Mnementh rumbled about that. Ramoth disliked sharing the bronze dragons of her Weyr with too many queens, in spite of the fact that she would mate only with Mnementh. Many queens were the mark of virility in a bronze and it was natural for Mnementh to want to flaunt his prowess. Benden Weyr had to maintain more than one golden queen to placate the rest of the bronzes and to improve the breed in general, but three?
After the meeting the other night at Fort Weyr, Fâlar hesitated to suggest to any of the other Weyrleaders that heâd be glad of a home for the new queen: Theyâd probably contrive it to be bad management of Ramoth or coddling of Lessa. Still, Benden queens were bigger than Oldtime queens, just as modern bronzes were bigger, too. Maybe Râmart at Telgar Weyr wouldnât take offense. Or Gânarish? Fâlar couldnât think how many queens Gânarish had at Igen. Weyr. He grinned to himself, thinking of the expression of Târonâs face when he heard Benden was giving away a queen dragon.
âBendenâs known for its generosity, but whatâs behind such a maneuver?â Târon would say. âItâs not traditional.â
But it was. There were precedents. Fâlar would far rather cope with Târonâs snide remarks than Ramothâs temper. He glanced down, sighting the gleaming triangle of the queensâ wing, with Ramoth easily sweeping along, the younger beasts working hard to keep up with her.
Threads dropping out of pattern! Fâlar gritted his teeth. Worse, out of a pattern which heâd so painstakingly researched from hundreds of disintegrating Record skins in his efforts seven Turns ago to prepare his ill-protected planet. Patterns, Fâlar thought bitterly, which the Oldtimers had enthusiastically acclaimed and
used
âthough that was scarcely traditional. Just useful.
Now how could Thread, which had no mind, no intelligence at all, deviate from patterns it had followed to the split second for over seven Turns? How could it change time and place overnight? The last Fall in Benden Weyrâs jurisdiction had been on time and over upper Benden Hold as expected.
Could he possibly have misread the timetables? Fâlar thought back, but the carefully drawn maps were clear in his mind and, if he
had
made an error, Lessa would have caught it.
Heâd check, double check, as soon as he returned to the Weyr. In the meantime, heâd better make sure they had cleared the Fall from Edge to Edge. He directed Mnementh to find Asgenar, Lord Holder of
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