Post by erin on Aug 26, 2008 23:03:15 GMT -5
Northern Lights #3
Sticks and Stones
By Erin A. Tidwell
24.11.01
We should go, Miriyath said, a touch of desperation in her mental tone. It will be stormy soon and you will not like it.
You mean, you can’t hold your eggs much longer, don't you dear? Shannen returned, a little more snappishly than she'd intended. She softened her tone. Don't fret, we'll be our way as soon as Ardel brings my cloak and my bag. The dolphinmasters say the storm should be light. We'll be there in time.
We should have gone yesterday, Miriyath insisted, but fell silent as Ardel passed her. The girl comes.
"Lady, here are your things," Ardel spoke a moment later, bringing a cold draft of air with her as she opened the door. "J'saph saw to your riding straps, and 'tis looking mighty gloomy out over th' water."
"I know it's going to storm, but we must go in any case," Shannen said. "Hand me my goggles and my cloak, and make sure my bag is tied up tight."
She felt the goggles brush against her hand and took them. She examined them with her fingers for a moment to make sure they were right side up, and slipped them securely over her head. She could not seen, but the wind still stung her eyes. Next she took the cloak, swept it over her shoulders, and slipped one arm through each of the slits. She fumbled impatiently with the silver clasps at her throat, breast and stomach, and then pulled the drawstrings in the hood tight so it fit snugly around her face. Forestalling another outburst from Miriyath, she sent the queen a soothing thought. "Are my purple slippers packed? My hand cream?"
"Yes, m'lady, both packed," Ardel assured her.
"My copper hair-net?"
"Yes, m'lady."
"All right, then," Shannen said. She oriented herself mentally and took the nine steps to the door of her room. From the alcove on the left she fetched her riding gloves, and pulled them on as Ardel ushered her out the door. "Make sure my bag's strapped securely," Shannen told the girl as Ardel placed her hand on Miriyath's ankle.
"Yes, m'lady, I'll get it on tight," Ardel said.
Miriyath lowered her neck and Shannen grabbed the handholds sewn into the riding straps to hoist herself up to the queen's neckridges.
"It's all ready, m'lady," Ardel called. "Have a safe flight."
"Don't forget to tell J'saph not to crush my dresses when he brings you," Shannen called back down. "Tell him I need you at High Reaches by the 8th hour." Off we go, Miri; don't bowl Ardel over with your wing.
Finally, Miriyath sighed, and leapt into the air.
# # #
The flight was long and boring, and the wind was worse than she'd anticipated. It gusted in stiff, sudden bursts out of the west. Before the ride was half over Shannen's arms ached from clinging to the straps and the right side of her face felt gritty and raw.
The wind makes flying difficult, Miriyath complained. It is too awkward. I told you we should have left sooner.
I'm sorry, dear, Shannen replied quite honestly. You're probably right. It would've been better to fly yesterday.
Or the day before. It would have been far less awkward the day before.
This Shannen privately doubted, for she'd never noticed a huge loss of grace over such a short time period, no matter how egg-heavy Miriyath became. The pair returned to the Weyr every five or six months for Miriyath's clutching, but never had Shannen waited so long to go. Last time they had returned eight days early. The last visit had been such a miserable event that she'd delayed as long as she could this time.
But still, she thought to herself, how bad could it be this time around?
I see the Weyr! Miriyath reported, suddenly radiating excitement and anticipation. Yes, I see it. Look! The bronzes are lined up, waiting for me already.
That's lovely, dear, Shannen said without enthusiasm. If anything, she was less excited then before. Miriyath, at least, looked forward to the companionship of the other dragons.
# # #
Miriyath did not, despite her whining, clutch immediately upon arrival.
The flight had taken more than a candlemark longer than usual, and she missed the dinner meal. Ardel was already there, having come straight between on J'saph's brown Oranth. The girl came out as Miriyath made a graceless landing on the ledge of the smallest junior queen weyr. "Oh, Lady Shannen! Are you alright?"
Shannen released her grip on the riding straps, feeling Miriyath settle down under her. "Mostly," she said. "Just take my bag in so we can unstrap Miri."
Can you go any further down?
I am so far down the eggs are making indentations on my backbone, Miriyath returned. Watch your step, my rider, it is quite icy here.
Shannen lowered herself down as carefully she could with aching arms and almost no vision. When she was on the ground, she and Ardel unbuckled Miriyath's riding harness and dragged it inside the outer weyr, Miriyath crowding in after them. The weyr was much smaller than the queen's weyr at Shipfish Dragonhold, and Miriyath grumbled a bit about it.
Go to the hatching grounds if you can't be happy in your weyr, Shannen told her.
Miriyath huffed back and then went directly to the heights instead and perched there like a hugely overfed firelizard while she preened for the bronzes.
"Oh, m'lady, let me get that dirt off your face before you go to greet the Weyrwoman," Ardel said as soon as they entered Shannen's living quarters; actually, just one room with an attached office, which Ardel would sleep in while they were there. The girl clicked her tongue and fetched a wet cloth while Shannen got out of her extra layer of riding clothing. She returned with a warm, wet cloth and proceeded to wipe the grit from Shannen's face.
"You know, it's late. I don't think I'll disturb Valkyra tonight," Shannen said as Ardel combed her hair. "Why don't you just fetch us something warm from the kitchens for out dinner and I'll greet her in the morning."
"Yes, m'lady," Ardel said. She finished combing and swiftly braided Shannen's hair, then left.
Shannen touched the braid to verify its tightness, then she lay back against the pillows of her bed and let her aching arm and shoulder muscles relax into the furs. She was asleep before Ardel returned.
# # #
Shannen rested two fingers on the inside of Ardel's elbow for guidance as the pair crossed the Weyrbowl from the lower caverns to Weyrwoman Valkyra's weyr. She didn't look forward to the visit, but she could hardly avoid it. Valkyra would be affronted if Shannen didn't trip right over to announce herself when she arrived.
As if that was possible. The Weyrwoman hadn't been sensible for turns.
"Steps," Ardel murmured, alerting Shannen to the upcoming obstacle.
Shannen grasped her skirts with her free hand to pull them out of the way of her feet before Ardel's gait indicated the first step. Ardel led smoothly. The girl had been Shannen's personal maid for Turns and had long ago fallen into a stable pattern of walking for the goldrider to follow.
On the tenth step Ardel slowed. Shannen tipped her head at the sound of hurried footfalls farther up the stair, but coming down.
The noise slowed as it approached. "Duties to you, goldrider," the man said tightly when he neared.
"Good day, Weyrleader." Shannen nodded in his direction. After two rounds of that wher R'stel and the half-height R'son, she was pleased to have D'jay back in charge. He'd been a capable Weyrleader for turns before the other two arrived at High Reaches.
"Not likely," D'jay snapped in return. "And I'd advise you to--"
The sound of fine china shattering came from the top of the stair. "Are you still here, D'jay?"
The man sucked in his breath and pushed past Shannen and her escort without another full word.
"This doesn't bode well," Shannen said under her breath, but signaled Ardel to continue up.
Weyrwoman Valkyra's voice greeted her as they ascended the top step. "You!" the Weyrwoman snapped. "I thought that was your shiny 'lizard out on the heights. Why did you delay so long in informing me that you'd come back? I've told you before that you must notify me immediately when you arrive."
"It was late. You could hardly have put me to work before this morning anyhow."
"Work?" Valkyra snorted. "I should send you out to shovel snow with the Weyrlings."
"What a fine job for a queenrider," Shannen replied, coldly. She had never liked Valkyra, but since the woman's rise to Weyrwoman it almost seemed as if she was mad with the power of her position. She ran hotter than the ovens and cooler than the northern seas on alternate days, and never made the same decision twice—hence the three different Weyrleaders since Mikkela's death two turns before.
Shannen wondered, not for the first time, if she might not be better off transferring to some other Weyr. But it would be foolish to give up her position at Shipfish Dragonhold to become the lowest-ranking goldrider somewhere else.
"Well, I've no use for you," Valkyra said after a long minute of silence. Her clothing swished as she moved. "Go see what the headwoman has for you to do."
"Nothing?" asked Shannen. "So you'll overburden Tamiera with every task you can't be bothered to do yourself, but when I arrive you can't make use of my time?" She drew herself up, angrily. "Your management of this Weyr is a disgrace."
"How dare you!" Valkyra's voice rose dangerously. "I won't take that, especially from you. You're barely useful even to keep Miriyath happy. There isn't another Weyr on Pern that would even take you in on charity!" Halvath's voice rose in a bugle outside.
"You are nothing but a fool, Valkyra, and not even half the Weyrwoman Mikkela was." Shannen started to stalk off. Behind her, she heard Valkyra suck in her breath angrily.
"Duck!" screamed Ardel.
Shannen didn’t have time to react before she felt Ardel shoving her. The goldrider stumbled forward, sinking to the ground as she tried to regain her balance. Ardel cried out, a wordless exclamation cut off by the sick sound of a solid object meeting flesh and bone. Shannen hit the ground and rolled, accompanied by the sounds of shattering glass.
Shannen recovered, coming to her knees, and turned back. "Ardel!" She only had to crawl an arm's length to find where Ardel was laying motionless on the floor. Her fingers sorted cloth from flesh until she located her maid’s head and felt the sticky dampness there. Shannen felt her hair stand on end as she heard Valkyra stepped closer. “What have you hit her with?” Shannen demanded.
Valkyra's subdued voice was almost directly above Shannen, as if she was just watching as the blind goldrider examined her maid. "The klah mug. I didn't mean to hit her."
"No, I suppose it was meant for me." Shannen's found Ardel's neck and measured her pulse. "She's really bleeding. Call for a healer. Go on!"
For a moment she was afraid Valkyra would balk, but the Weyrwoman complied. A handful of minutes later several pairs of feet pounded up the steps and toward where Shannen knelt near her maid. "Healer?" the goldrider asked, inquisitively.
"Journeyman Baya," the healer said in identification. "We've got her; Girod, help the goldrider up."
A person helped Shannen get back to her feet and out of the way of the Journeywoman and her helpers. Shannen groped her way to the weyr wall and stood listening to the healers talk in low, clinical tones, concerned but not panicked. The voices soothed her fear for Ardel, allowing her turn her thoughts to Valkyra. Dragonriders did not try to injure other dragonriders. Not if they were sane.
She shivered as a sense of alarm crept up her body. She rubbed her hands briskly over her arms to soothe herself and leaned more heavily into the stone wall, as if for protection against unseen fears.
# # #
"Lady Shannen?" Baya's voice was inquisitive, but a little impatient when she answered Shannen's summons in the infirmary. "You asked for me?"
Shannen filed Baya's imprudent tone away for later digestion and tipped her head toward the healer. "I would like to know how Ardel is, and your apprentices have not been able to tell me."
"She has not regained consciousness yet. As far as we can determine, she has a concussion and has lost some blood, though not enough to put her in danger from blood loss. Also, her cheekbone is broken, and the cut required stitches. Apprentice Girod is seeing to that now." Baya paused. "Perhaps you can tell me what exactly happened."
Valkyra's voice rose between them before Shannen could answer. "It was quite an unlucky accident," the Weyrwoman said smoothly. "Shannen turned to leave and the girl tripped right over Shannen's foot!"
Shannen felt her mouth fall open. "That's not exactly how it happened."
"Yes, that's true," Valkyra agreed. "Shannen tried to catch her and ended up knocking the girl across the head with her own klah mug instead. They both went flying. It's a good thing they weren't both damanged."
"I see," Baya said. Shannen could hear the healer’s pen scratch against paper. "You aren't injured, Shannen?"
"No," Shannen whispered. She ought to speak, but she felt tongue-tied by an acute sense of danger. For the second time in as many hours, the hair on the back of her neck pricked up, and she shivered.
Baya stopped writing. "Thank you. If you'd like to get back to your duties I can have someone notify you when Ardel wakes. Now, excuse me please, I must get back to my patient."
"Thank you, Journeywoman," Valkyra said cheerily as the healer left. "Shannen, don't brood so, it makes your face unpleasant to look at and you're upsetting Miriyath." The sound of her cloth settling as she stood told Shannen that she was leaving.
"Valkyra," Shannen said, in smoldering tone, "I will not forget this."
The Weyrwoman laughed but didn't stop walking. "I don't care what you forget, Shannen, as long as you don't forget to find the headwoman so she can assign you your duties. I hear they need another dishwasher in the kitchens."
Shannen sat stiffly furious as Valkyra left. If anyone but Valkyra had assaulted her—Shannen, rider of the golden queen Miriyath--she would’ve seen them chained out for Thread. But Valkyra was Weyrwoman, and there was nothing to do about it. No matter what Valkyra had done to Ardel or said about Shannen, Halvath was the queen of the Weyr, and Shannen could think of nothing to say that would change that. In any case, it would be her word against the Weyrwoman’s, and there were reasons a-plenty in their shared history to believe Shannen might spread false tales about Valkyra.
Wordlessly, Shannen buried her head in her hands and watched the darkness behind her eyelids form pictures of despair.
THE END
Sticks and Stones
By Erin A. Tidwell
24.11.01
We should go, Miriyath said, a touch of desperation in her mental tone. It will be stormy soon and you will not like it.
You mean, you can’t hold your eggs much longer, don't you dear? Shannen returned, a little more snappishly than she'd intended. She softened her tone. Don't fret, we'll be our way as soon as Ardel brings my cloak and my bag. The dolphinmasters say the storm should be light. We'll be there in time.
We should have gone yesterday, Miriyath insisted, but fell silent as Ardel passed her. The girl comes.
"Lady, here are your things," Ardel spoke a moment later, bringing a cold draft of air with her as she opened the door. "J'saph saw to your riding straps, and 'tis looking mighty gloomy out over th' water."
"I know it's going to storm, but we must go in any case," Shannen said. "Hand me my goggles and my cloak, and make sure my bag is tied up tight."
She felt the goggles brush against her hand and took them. She examined them with her fingers for a moment to make sure they were right side up, and slipped them securely over her head. She could not seen, but the wind still stung her eyes. Next she took the cloak, swept it over her shoulders, and slipped one arm through each of the slits. She fumbled impatiently with the silver clasps at her throat, breast and stomach, and then pulled the drawstrings in the hood tight so it fit snugly around her face. Forestalling another outburst from Miriyath, she sent the queen a soothing thought. "Are my purple slippers packed? My hand cream?"
"Yes, m'lady, both packed," Ardel assured her.
"My copper hair-net?"
"Yes, m'lady."
"All right, then," Shannen said. She oriented herself mentally and took the nine steps to the door of her room. From the alcove on the left she fetched her riding gloves, and pulled them on as Ardel ushered her out the door. "Make sure my bag's strapped securely," Shannen told the girl as Ardel placed her hand on Miriyath's ankle.
"Yes, m'lady, I'll get it on tight," Ardel said.
Miriyath lowered her neck and Shannen grabbed the handholds sewn into the riding straps to hoist herself up to the queen's neckridges.
"It's all ready, m'lady," Ardel called. "Have a safe flight."
"Don't forget to tell J'saph not to crush my dresses when he brings you," Shannen called back down. "Tell him I need you at High Reaches by the 8th hour." Off we go, Miri; don't bowl Ardel over with your wing.
Finally, Miriyath sighed, and leapt into the air.
# # #
The flight was long and boring, and the wind was worse than she'd anticipated. It gusted in stiff, sudden bursts out of the west. Before the ride was half over Shannen's arms ached from clinging to the straps and the right side of her face felt gritty and raw.
The wind makes flying difficult, Miriyath complained. It is too awkward. I told you we should have left sooner.
I'm sorry, dear, Shannen replied quite honestly. You're probably right. It would've been better to fly yesterday.
Or the day before. It would have been far less awkward the day before.
This Shannen privately doubted, for she'd never noticed a huge loss of grace over such a short time period, no matter how egg-heavy Miriyath became. The pair returned to the Weyr every five or six months for Miriyath's clutching, but never had Shannen waited so long to go. Last time they had returned eight days early. The last visit had been such a miserable event that she'd delayed as long as she could this time.
But still, she thought to herself, how bad could it be this time around?
I see the Weyr! Miriyath reported, suddenly radiating excitement and anticipation. Yes, I see it. Look! The bronzes are lined up, waiting for me already.
That's lovely, dear, Shannen said without enthusiasm. If anything, she was less excited then before. Miriyath, at least, looked forward to the companionship of the other dragons.
# # #
Miriyath did not, despite her whining, clutch immediately upon arrival.
The flight had taken more than a candlemark longer than usual, and she missed the dinner meal. Ardel was already there, having come straight between on J'saph's brown Oranth. The girl came out as Miriyath made a graceless landing on the ledge of the smallest junior queen weyr. "Oh, Lady Shannen! Are you alright?"
Shannen released her grip on the riding straps, feeling Miriyath settle down under her. "Mostly," she said. "Just take my bag in so we can unstrap Miri."
Can you go any further down?
I am so far down the eggs are making indentations on my backbone, Miriyath returned. Watch your step, my rider, it is quite icy here.
Shannen lowered herself down as carefully she could with aching arms and almost no vision. When she was on the ground, she and Ardel unbuckled Miriyath's riding harness and dragged it inside the outer weyr, Miriyath crowding in after them. The weyr was much smaller than the queen's weyr at Shipfish Dragonhold, and Miriyath grumbled a bit about it.
Go to the hatching grounds if you can't be happy in your weyr, Shannen told her.
Miriyath huffed back and then went directly to the heights instead and perched there like a hugely overfed firelizard while she preened for the bronzes.
"Oh, m'lady, let me get that dirt off your face before you go to greet the Weyrwoman," Ardel said as soon as they entered Shannen's living quarters; actually, just one room with an attached office, which Ardel would sleep in while they were there. The girl clicked her tongue and fetched a wet cloth while Shannen got out of her extra layer of riding clothing. She returned with a warm, wet cloth and proceeded to wipe the grit from Shannen's face.
"You know, it's late. I don't think I'll disturb Valkyra tonight," Shannen said as Ardel combed her hair. "Why don't you just fetch us something warm from the kitchens for out dinner and I'll greet her in the morning."
"Yes, m'lady," Ardel said. She finished combing and swiftly braided Shannen's hair, then left.
Shannen touched the braid to verify its tightness, then she lay back against the pillows of her bed and let her aching arm and shoulder muscles relax into the furs. She was asleep before Ardel returned.
# # #
Shannen rested two fingers on the inside of Ardel's elbow for guidance as the pair crossed the Weyrbowl from the lower caverns to Weyrwoman Valkyra's weyr. She didn't look forward to the visit, but she could hardly avoid it. Valkyra would be affronted if Shannen didn't trip right over to announce herself when she arrived.
As if that was possible. The Weyrwoman hadn't been sensible for turns.
"Steps," Ardel murmured, alerting Shannen to the upcoming obstacle.
Shannen grasped her skirts with her free hand to pull them out of the way of her feet before Ardel's gait indicated the first step. Ardel led smoothly. The girl had been Shannen's personal maid for Turns and had long ago fallen into a stable pattern of walking for the goldrider to follow.
On the tenth step Ardel slowed. Shannen tipped her head at the sound of hurried footfalls farther up the stair, but coming down.
The noise slowed as it approached. "Duties to you, goldrider," the man said tightly when he neared.
"Good day, Weyrleader." Shannen nodded in his direction. After two rounds of that wher R'stel and the half-height R'son, she was pleased to have D'jay back in charge. He'd been a capable Weyrleader for turns before the other two arrived at High Reaches.
"Not likely," D'jay snapped in return. "And I'd advise you to--"
The sound of fine china shattering came from the top of the stair. "Are you still here, D'jay?"
The man sucked in his breath and pushed past Shannen and her escort without another full word.
"This doesn't bode well," Shannen said under her breath, but signaled Ardel to continue up.
Weyrwoman Valkyra's voice greeted her as they ascended the top step. "You!" the Weyrwoman snapped. "I thought that was your shiny 'lizard out on the heights. Why did you delay so long in informing me that you'd come back? I've told you before that you must notify me immediately when you arrive."
"It was late. You could hardly have put me to work before this morning anyhow."
"Work?" Valkyra snorted. "I should send you out to shovel snow with the Weyrlings."
"What a fine job for a queenrider," Shannen replied, coldly. She had never liked Valkyra, but since the woman's rise to Weyrwoman it almost seemed as if she was mad with the power of her position. She ran hotter than the ovens and cooler than the northern seas on alternate days, and never made the same decision twice—hence the three different Weyrleaders since Mikkela's death two turns before.
Shannen wondered, not for the first time, if she might not be better off transferring to some other Weyr. But it would be foolish to give up her position at Shipfish Dragonhold to become the lowest-ranking goldrider somewhere else.
"Well, I've no use for you," Valkyra said after a long minute of silence. Her clothing swished as she moved. "Go see what the headwoman has for you to do."
"Nothing?" asked Shannen. "So you'll overburden Tamiera with every task you can't be bothered to do yourself, but when I arrive you can't make use of my time?" She drew herself up, angrily. "Your management of this Weyr is a disgrace."
"How dare you!" Valkyra's voice rose dangerously. "I won't take that, especially from you. You're barely useful even to keep Miriyath happy. There isn't another Weyr on Pern that would even take you in on charity!" Halvath's voice rose in a bugle outside.
"You are nothing but a fool, Valkyra, and not even half the Weyrwoman Mikkela was." Shannen started to stalk off. Behind her, she heard Valkyra suck in her breath angrily.
"Duck!" screamed Ardel.
Shannen didn’t have time to react before she felt Ardel shoving her. The goldrider stumbled forward, sinking to the ground as she tried to regain her balance. Ardel cried out, a wordless exclamation cut off by the sick sound of a solid object meeting flesh and bone. Shannen hit the ground and rolled, accompanied by the sounds of shattering glass.
Shannen recovered, coming to her knees, and turned back. "Ardel!" She only had to crawl an arm's length to find where Ardel was laying motionless on the floor. Her fingers sorted cloth from flesh until she located her maid’s head and felt the sticky dampness there. Shannen felt her hair stand on end as she heard Valkyra stepped closer. “What have you hit her with?” Shannen demanded.
Valkyra's subdued voice was almost directly above Shannen, as if she was just watching as the blind goldrider examined her maid. "The klah mug. I didn't mean to hit her."
"No, I suppose it was meant for me." Shannen's found Ardel's neck and measured her pulse. "She's really bleeding. Call for a healer. Go on!"
For a moment she was afraid Valkyra would balk, but the Weyrwoman complied. A handful of minutes later several pairs of feet pounded up the steps and toward where Shannen knelt near her maid. "Healer?" the goldrider asked, inquisitively.
"Journeyman Baya," the healer said in identification. "We've got her; Girod, help the goldrider up."
A person helped Shannen get back to her feet and out of the way of the Journeywoman and her helpers. Shannen groped her way to the weyr wall and stood listening to the healers talk in low, clinical tones, concerned but not panicked. The voices soothed her fear for Ardel, allowing her turn her thoughts to Valkyra. Dragonriders did not try to injure other dragonriders. Not if they were sane.
She shivered as a sense of alarm crept up her body. She rubbed her hands briskly over her arms to soothe herself and leaned more heavily into the stone wall, as if for protection against unseen fears.
# # #
"Lady Shannen?" Baya's voice was inquisitive, but a little impatient when she answered Shannen's summons in the infirmary. "You asked for me?"
Shannen filed Baya's imprudent tone away for later digestion and tipped her head toward the healer. "I would like to know how Ardel is, and your apprentices have not been able to tell me."
"She has not regained consciousness yet. As far as we can determine, she has a concussion and has lost some blood, though not enough to put her in danger from blood loss. Also, her cheekbone is broken, and the cut required stitches. Apprentice Girod is seeing to that now." Baya paused. "Perhaps you can tell me what exactly happened."
Valkyra's voice rose between them before Shannen could answer. "It was quite an unlucky accident," the Weyrwoman said smoothly. "Shannen turned to leave and the girl tripped right over Shannen's foot!"
Shannen felt her mouth fall open. "That's not exactly how it happened."
"Yes, that's true," Valkyra agreed. "Shannen tried to catch her and ended up knocking the girl across the head with her own klah mug instead. They both went flying. It's a good thing they weren't both damanged."
"I see," Baya said. Shannen could hear the healer’s pen scratch against paper. "You aren't injured, Shannen?"
"No," Shannen whispered. She ought to speak, but she felt tongue-tied by an acute sense of danger. For the second time in as many hours, the hair on the back of her neck pricked up, and she shivered.
Baya stopped writing. "Thank you. If you'd like to get back to your duties I can have someone notify you when Ardel wakes. Now, excuse me please, I must get back to my patient."
"Thank you, Journeywoman," Valkyra said cheerily as the healer left. "Shannen, don't brood so, it makes your face unpleasant to look at and you're upsetting Miriyath." The sound of her cloth settling as she stood told Shannen that she was leaving.
"Valkyra," Shannen said, in smoldering tone, "I will not forget this."
The Weyrwoman laughed but didn't stop walking. "I don't care what you forget, Shannen, as long as you don't forget to find the headwoman so she can assign you your duties. I hear they need another dishwasher in the kitchens."
Shannen sat stiffly furious as Valkyra left. If anyone but Valkyra had assaulted her—Shannen, rider of the golden queen Miriyath--she would’ve seen them chained out for Thread. But Valkyra was Weyrwoman, and there was nothing to do about it. No matter what Valkyra had done to Ardel or said about Shannen, Halvath was the queen of the Weyr, and Shannen could think of nothing to say that would change that. In any case, it would be her word against the Weyrwoman’s, and there were reasons a-plenty in their shared history to believe Shannen might spread false tales about Valkyra.
Wordlessly, Shannen buried her head in her hands and watched the darkness behind her eyelids form pictures of despair.
THE END
