"I suppose we'll need time to wind down," he said, coming up behind her. "Sorry," he added as she whirled around, spilling some of her wine. "Don't waste it."

"You startled me."

"So I see. Again, my apologies."

She flicked her hand in dismissal and seemed hesitant.

"So you noticed it, too," he said, gesturing to the northeast where a silvery glow arched in the general direction of Monaco.

She sighed and then looked up, where the light from other stars was undiminished.

"Yes, but Rigel's still there." She pointed at the first magnitude star above them.

"Hard to miss," he said, laughing softly. "And Betelgeuse," he said, subtly testing her knowledge of the southern night sky. She looked in the appropriate direction and he chuckled.

"Also Acrux, and Becrux," she quickly added, taking up his challenge. "The one forty degrees away is Gacrux. Erragon said there was a fourth star in what the Ancients called the Southern Cross but you can't find it with the naked eye."

"I'll match those with Shaula and Antares," and he lightly touched her shoulder to turn her toward Adhara.

"I am glad that you retained Honshu's old name," she said softly, her voice rough with fatigue. "I think it is honorable that we use the names the Ancients had for their places, and their stars."

"Why not? They brought the names with them. The stars haven't moved that much and there are bright ones in our skies that the Ancients saw from old Earth only as dim ones."

"It isn't the stars we have to worry about," Tai said, her voice as weary as the sudden slump in her shoulders.

"No, it isn't," he agreed tiredly, "but it's good to see they don't change. I've a pair of binoculars, you know, if you'd like to use them tomorrow night."

"You do?" Excitement briefly sparkled in tired eyes and then she sighed. "Tomorrow, if you'd trust me with them. They're … hard to come by."

F'lessan managed a wry grin. "I've known Piemur and Jancis a long time, you see, so I snuck to the top of the list. Besides, they're very keen to get the Honshu instrument working. A bit of extortion!"

"Extortion?" That startled her.

"It's all friendly. A dare and challenge situation," he assured her. "Tomorrow night then. We both need the sleep tonight." He put his hand lightly on the small of her back and gave a push.

Quietly they left the Upper terrace and separated in the hall inside. For this one night, fire-lizards would stand watch. F'lessan shared his room with the last to arrive: T'lion, bronze Gadareth's rider, and his brother, K'drin, brown Buleth's rider. Fortunately, neither snored.

F'lessan found himself awake at Benden's usual dawn hour though night lingered at Honshu.

Ramoth says we must come back to Benden,Golanth told him. The brown riders will visit your seaholders. They are Monaco's people, not Benden's.

F'lessan quietly gathered his clothing, hoping to have a chance to bathe and change, and left his room without waking the others. He took a quick shower; there'd be many people wanting one. He was glad he'd fixed the cisterns. As he padded down the stairs, past many sleepers, the pungent and irresistible odor of fresh klah told him someone else was awake. He heard voices, arguing quietly but intensely. Well, that was their problem, whoever it was. He needed klah.

He slid open the panel into the kitchen and nearly ducked out again when he saw that it was Mirrim and Tai who were bickering. Or rather, Mirrim was ranting at Tai, who kept saying "No, I didn't," "No, the children came first," and "I don't know how."

Zaranth says,Golanth told him, that Mirrim thinks Tai deserted the Weyr's children to save her skins.

Skins?

Her pelts from the Cardiff felines.

She saved the children. I sent you with her.

Zaranth says she got the skins.

How could she?F'lessan looked from Mirrim's angry face to Tai's pale one. You were with her. She came and went with you.

"Golanth says Zaranth was with him all the time, transporting children," F'lessan said and strode across the counter to the huge urn of klah. He'd have a cup no matter what the argument was.

Mirrim whirled toward him. "She didn't have the skins when she got to the Weyr. She did have them when she left."

"I didn't get them."

She's telling the truth,Golanth said.

"Golanth says Tai's telling the truth, Mirrim, so leave her alone."

"Then how did she get them?" Mirrim demanded.

"I didn't!" Tai was taut with anger and frustration. "If I'd had time to get to my place, I'd've saved my books and notes. Not sharding pelts."

"Pelts like that would have given you enough credit to buynew books," Mirrim countered.

"Ahha, but not her notes, Mirrim. Golanth says she's telling the truth. Now leave it!" F'lessan rarely spoke in such a tone. Mirrim gulped, and swallowed whatever she had been about to say. F'lessan used her silence to drink as much hot klah as he could. "Thanks, whoever brewed the klah." He looked toward the pale, tense Tai and smiled, indicating he was certain she'd made the klah.

"I couldn't sleep," she murmured.

"And, if that doesn't-" Mirrim began.

"I told you to leave it, Mirrim!" F'lessan took a menacing step toward Mirrim who unexpectedly gave ground. He saw the meatrolls on the counter behind Tai and, stepping around her, grabbed a handful. "Thanks, Tai. Besides which, Mirrim, I didn't see the pelts on Zaranth's saddle until Landing."

As he hurriedly slid the door open to leave, he heard Mirrim sputtering behind him. He bumped into T'gellan who looked thin and haggard despite a night's sleep.

"No matter what Mirrim says, Gell, Golanth says Tai's not lying. Good flying today."

He raced down the stairs and out the wide door to the main terrace before he sat down to put on boots and jacket, allowing Golanth time to arrive from wherever he had weyred that night. Slits of blue and green dragon eyes on the terraces above watched him mount but closed again before Golanth tilted off the ledge and made his first wingstroke. Far to the east was the brightening of the sky on a new day.

And what doesit have in store for us?F'lessan wondered.

Tai was telling the truth.

I know.

Zaranth saved the pelts.

I suppose,F'lessan said facetiously, because she didn't know which books and notes to save.

Quite likely. Ramoth calls me.

With that, the bronze went between.

Considering what filled the day, it was not at all surprising F'lessan did not dwell on that exchange. He and Golanth conveyed people and necessities to various Benden coastal holdings, reporting on how the flooded areas were draining, occasionally using dragon strength to shift wave-driven debris, and everywhere he had to explain that the dragons could not have stopped the Fireball from hitting nor held back the tsunami. He was repeatedly asked why Thread was still falling now that the Red Star was supposed to be gone. Few understood that the Red Star had only shepherded Thread close to Pern and what was falling now was what the Red Star had dragged in behind it.

At first he'd used diagrams on the sand, in the dirt, or on a piece of paper: a big circle for the Sun, a much smaller one for Pern, tiny ones for the two moons. He'd draw the orbit of the Red Star, and show how it swooped down and around Pern, then out, carrying with it the cloud of Thread.

"Why does it take so long?" he was asked.