"You did say, Erragon," said F'lar, joining Lessa, "that you have more prints we can show to relieve the fears of the Council?"

"And the majority of the holders and crafters," K'van murmured, adding so only F'lessan and Tai heard him, "not to mention the dragonriders."

It wasn't until Lessa and F'lar got back to their weyr that she remembered she hadn't had a chance to speak to Jaxom, who had slipped out with Sharra while others were finishing their wine. She missed a moment with F'lessan, as he, too, left more ostentatiously with the group going to Honshu, so that she didn't have any time to talk to this green rider of his. She had never seen him so protective of anyone. Tai did not look fragile.

"She'll do," F'lar murmured, once again touching her very thoughts as he slipped an arm about her shoulders and made her comfortable against him in bed.

PART 4-New Dimensions

After the cove hold meeting that Tai had dreaded, she was as exhilarated as F'lessan. He had had to be unusually stern-for him-to get her to attend and only because Erragon had been equally insistent had she reluctantly complied. Then, during the meeting, both men had made so many references to her assistance that she had been embarrassed. When old G'dened had proved intransigent and supercilious, so-so stupidabout the dangers, she had had to speak up. Erragon and even Lord Lytol, who often took the opposite side of any argument, had supported her comment. And encouraged her to speak. It had been a high and totally unexpected moment of acceptance for her. Neither Benden Weyrleader had taken exception to or even seemed surprised by F'lessan's remarks. She had been almost overcome with pride in him. When Mirrim would have marched her off to the kitchen, F'lessan had kept her by his side, to explain to the younger Weyrleaders how they established the scan, set the remote imager for timed exposures, and how to determine the significance of the images and why so many exposures of the night sky were required. Palla seemed almost as overwhelmed by the company she was in as Tai, and the two exchanged sympathetic glances. Palla was the only other young dragonrider who understood the immediate task.

Then F'lessan issued the invitation for those interested to adjourn to Honshu. And eleven riders and dragons had flown to the weyrhold. That had been the heady part, especially with Mirrim present-showing off the observatory and bringing up images of the minor planets above the horizon. When F'lessan and Tai realized that Palla had remembered a good deal of her apprentice studies, they encouraged her to explain to J'fery, K'van, and T'gellan. Talina listened in the way she had of being of a group but not part of it. Mirrim pretended interest but Tai was aware of her restlessness, so when she offered to find out what there was to eat in the weyrhold, F'lessan told her by all means to find out and serve it up. He snagged Tai by the hand.

"She knows where everything is-" F'lessan murmured in her ear and paused significantly, "in the kitchen. Let her."

Revived by baskets of bread, cheese, fruit, cold river fish, meat, and klah that Mirrim served, the spontaneous first session of Astronomy for Weyrleaders-as F'lessan jokingly called it-went on till well after Rigel had set.

Having bid farewell to their guests, Tai began to clear the baskets, sweeping the remnants into one while F'lessan put the telescope to bed. She was gathering up the prints when he caught her starting to file them.

"Just make a neat pile. We need to get some rest tonight, my dear green," he said, curling his arms about her, pulling her into him and away from the chore. She leaned out of his arms to snag several more prints. "They'll come to no harm and filing will not only take you ages but you're tired enough to make mistakes." He kissed her neck. "You take the litter down with Zaranth. I'll close the roof and meet you downstairs."

"You walked up, I'll go down," she said firmly.

"No, I will. It's easier going down, and that way you'll have enough time to put the kitchen to rights after Mirrim's been messing in it and thenwe'll both take a quick swim in the river which I suddenly feel the urge to do."

F'lessan knew exactly how to manipulate her, Tai thought as she climbed the ladder to the roof and took the baskets that F'lessan handed up to her, grinning with his success. She heard the machinery that closed the roof begin to whir as she mounted Zaranth. Golanth's eyes blinked greenly at her.

I come with you,he said and dropped off the knob of stone he'd been perched on.

She left the two dragons on the terrace and made for the kitchen. All the lights were on and most of the cupboards left half ajar. There was rather more of a mess to clear up than she'd've thought. Had Mirrim done this on purpose? No, Talina had been with her; Talina might be indolent but she wasn't spiteful. Mirrim still didn't believe her about the pelts. Although Golanth had now managed, with just a little control from Zaranth, to alter the direction of trundlebugs only as much as was actually required, that had been as much experimentation as they had had time for. Images had had to be selected and prepared for the Weyrleaders' meeting and that had taken all their spare time. Well, almost all their spare time. Tai blushed as she cleared and wiped the worktops and decided that there weren't really that many dishes that needed more than a quick rinse. There was enough redfruit to make a pitcher of juice and she suspected that F'lessan would be thirsty. Any more klah and they'd never get to sleep. Maybe she wouldn't rest anyway, with so much of that meeting to review; vivid scenes in her mind. F'lessan would probably want to talk, and he always insisted that she have opinions and share them with him.

He looked tired when he finally got to the kitchen but his eyes lit up at the sight of the pitcher of juice. He had towels and two blankets over his shoulder, and clean clothes-for both of them-neatly folded over his left arm.

"How did you know I'd be dry as a bone, my dear green?" He poured juice into the two glasses.

She pointed to what he was carrying.

"Golanth has informed me that he now needs to wash the brine of Cove Hold off him and so does Zaranth, only she thinks we should all go to sleep. So I thought, if we went down to the river, they could get a good wash and we could watch the stars for what remains of the night. I really," and somehow he managed to stretch both arms out in a very dramatic gesture, "feel too elated to be cooped up! Drink!"

She did, laughing between swallows, because F'lessan in this mood was not easy to gainsay. And she did feel that she'd knocked down a few private walls tonight. So much had happened. So incredibly much. She'd been part of a special Weyrleader meeting, had spoken up and given information, shown examples of star images she herself had taken on the Honshu scope, and received commendatory glances from Erragon, Lytol, F'lar, and even Lessa. She felt for the first time that she was really a dragonrider, not justa green rider!

They finished the juice, mounted their dragons-F'lessan tossed over her clothes and a towel-and glided down from Honshu's heights to the river below the terraces. The pool was wide enough for several dragons to bathe in. It was deep on the Honshu side, where thick underbrush buried roots into cracked rocks, but the other side slanted up to a wide path packed down by centuries of herdbeasts watering there. Three wide terraces stepped up from the watering place before vegetation had found sufficient soil to nourish it. Many Monacan dragons had sunned here after the Flood. From the uppermost level, they could have seen the slate roofs of the cluster of holds. But daybreak was several hours away.