"If one of you is a carpenter…"

"Five of us are, Master Tagetarl, the reason we bother you right now."

"I am extremely grateful. Come when you can in the morning."

He and the others had no sooner walked away than two fire-lizards whisked out of the night, landing on the shoulders of Rosheen and Pinch.

Jaxom walked straight toward his dragon and vaulted to his back. Tagetarl lifted his arm in farewell but he didn't think the Lord Holder saw him. In silence Pinch and Tagetarl closed the gates. Then Pinch made his way to the loft where undoubtedly his assistants had taken themselves. Tagetarl and Rosheen turned to the right and the steps up to their hold.

In the morning, while the five carpenters put up new doorposts-made of sky-broom wood, they proudly informed Tagetarl-the Masterprinter took the report that he and Rosheen had spent a sleepless night composing to the Runner Station.

Pursing his lips, Stationmaster Arminet read the text. "Well said, Master Tagetarl. Fairly said. It will go in every pouch to come through here. I may even need more."

Tagetarl made a protest, wondering how much more the night's work would cost him.

"Keep your marks in your pocket," Arminet added, pushing away the ones Tagetarl proffered.

"It's a Harper Hall announcement…"

"It's a community announcement," Arminet replied, straightening himself to his full dignity though he was not as tall as the well-built Tagetarl. He glared up. "I'm the one who decides what should or should not be spread from my Station. The people of Wide Bay were very much aware of the atrocity committed by persons who would not claim hall or hold, Master Tagetarl, and others must know about the matter so as not to be left in doubt as to the exact details of the matter." He tapped the bottom paragraph. "As I was one of those witnesses, this is exactly as I recall the incident. Thank you, Master Tagetarl. Let it not be said that the Runners did less than their best, too."

"You recognized one of them, didn't you, Jaxom?" Sharra asked softly, having watched his silence all day. She knew he had been called away that night. When he had returned, he had tried to disguise both fatigue and a preoccupied air. He had pushed food around his plate at both lunch and dinner. He had not been able to display any enthusiasm for the hour he usually spent so companionably with his sons.

She had waited, without appearing to hover close by, in case he might wish to talk about what was depressing him. She'd seen him terribly distracted like this only once before: when he had presided over the exile of those who had been responsible for abducting Master Robinton.

She waited until they had gone up to their own quarters and he was leaning against the deep window, looking out on nothing. Just as she was sure she'd have to pry, he gave a deep sigh.

"Ruth and I went to Wide Bay, to assist Tagetarl. There was an attempt to damage the Print Hall."

"More Abominators?" Who else could it have been, since the Print Hall had been so enthusiastically received by every Craft.

He nodded but did not elaborate.

In the silence that followed, Sharra watched her spouse, absentmindedly running his hand up and down the heavy brocade curtain that prevented the worst of the winter winds from penetrating into their sleeping room. She waited quietly. She knew when he was fretting over something.

"Dorse was one of them."

Sharra felt something within her lurch at that soft, chilling admission. Jaxom did not have many fond memories of his milk-brother but had kept giving him the benefit of the doubt, long after his foster mother had died. Dorse had left before one more outrageous act would have compelled Jaxom to send him away.

"I thought he had gone south. Worked for Toric." She gasped as soon as she finished speaking.

Jaxom nodded his head slowly. "He did not speak."

"But surely, love," and Sharra went to lay her hand on his shoulder, feeling the tension in his body, "he had only to-"

"They were asked to name hall or hold." Jaxom's grip tightened on the curtain so that the fabric was stretched from its rail, the upper hem tearing.

"Are you distressed because he didn'tspeak?"

"I'm not sure." Sharra could hear the anguish in Jaxom's voice. "I'm not sure! I-think," and now Jaxom buried his face in the folds of the curtain, "he was the leader. I think he was challenging me. Defying me and what I stand for. What did he expect me to do? See that they were only sent to the mines?"

Before he tore the curtain from the wall, she closed her hand around his fingers and gently detached them.

"I suggest that either way he is getting his own back on you, Jaxom," she said in a quiet nonjudgmental tone. "By any chance, did anyone else recognize him? Ruth said you did not go alone." He gave her a fierce look. "No, no, my love. I neverasked him. He knows I worry that sometimes the pair of you might get into trouble and not tell me." She tried to speak lightly, to ease his distress. She didn't even get a rise out of him for what he usually termed unnecessary anxiety.

"Pinch has been on his trail, he said. It's possible N'ton recognized him, though he wouldn't have seen him in Turns." He was silent a moment then added, "I should somehow have had a word with him. To see if he would tell me more."

"More about what? Isn't it enough that he was caught destroying what he can very well recognize as a tremendously important asset for all Pern?"

Jaxom gave her a long closed look. That made her flinch inwardly because they were usually so open with each other about everything in their lives.

"I thought he had been well placed in the south with Toric," he said finally.

"Oh!" Sharra had to sit down quickly as she absorbed the implications of that. Jaxom had been trying to shield her.

"It's preferable to think that he was on his own, perhaps just taking an opportunity to be paid for making the kind of trouble he enjoys. It wouldn't be unlike him," and Jaxom spun from the window and began pacing the floor, looking everywhere but at his spouse.

"My brother, Toric," Sharra said in a voice as taut as Jaxom's had been, "was greedy as a child and would allow no common sense to dissuade him from what he felt was his, or-" she paused a beat "-perceived was his by right. He has since, as you should know, forfeited the loyalty of all his brothers and sisters. Even his sons. I thought when he was brought up short several Turns ago by the Lord Holders and Weyrleaders that he might realize that there are limitations to what one man may hold."

Jaxom could not endure her anguish and took her in his arms, his cheek against her cheek.

"We do not know that this is another scheme of his, Sharra."

She clung to him, her fingers tight in his hair, pressing herself into the strength that always emanated from him. "Even if I, too, can see that Toric may be setting himself against the rest of Pern, just to prove he can?"

Comforted now turned comforter. "We shall know soon enough who has been giving orders for all this wasteful vandalism and unrest."

"We will? Did Pinch say anything?" Sharra leaned back, to look deep into his eyes. "We seem to recover from one disaster and another threatens."

"Sssh, sssh, love.' He rocked her in his arms, slowly, lovingly.

Sssh, sssh, Sharra. We are here!

For just a fraction of a second, though she was accustomed enough to having Ruth speak to her, she thought his reassurance was oddly amplified.

From her seat in the window at Cove Hold, Lessa could watch those coming up the newly graveled path from the beach. It still amazed her that Robinton's Hold had survived the havoc that had spared few other places. After the Winter Storm, some of his possessions had had to be replaced with lovingly contrived duplicates and these had been removed in case the Kahrain Cape did not protect the Hold. So once again, the Hall looked much as it had before his death. She could still believe that he was only out on the porch, or fussing with his tunic in his room before coming to greet his guests. The essence of Robinton, the MasterHarper of Pern, subtly pervaded the place as if he still lived here with his friends, Lytol, old Master Wansor, and D'ram. What a quartet they had made!