Four Queens

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 28th May 2007

Characters: R'haran, Sahna, Iselen, Tellen, Arwey, Tibby
Description: R'haran talks to his children about the storm at Dolphin Cove Weyr.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 20 of Turn 4

"We have four queens now," Arwey informed her uncle, holding up three
fingers, looking at her hand and then adding another finger and nodding.
"Four."

R'haran liked to hear the use of 'we' but felt he needed to explain the
temporary nature of the rise in numbers. "There are four here, but not
for always. Nyith will go home when her own Hatching Grounds are clean
again."

"Will she take her eggs?" Tellen asked, swallowing abruptly when his
sister gave him a frown that R'haran already knew was about speaking
with his mouth full.

"It's not very easy to separate a queen from her eggs," the greenrider
explained. "So the eggs will have to go with her." He thought the
Dolphin Cove riders might have more difficulty convincing the gold of
their good intentions on the return journey, without the urgency that
the flooded Hatching Ground gave the situation.

"If they were staying," Iselen commented with a deliberate idleness that
did not fool his uncle, "we might have Impressed. Sahna and I."

R'haran didn't get a chance to reply before the nine Turn old added:

"We're _almost_ old enough."

"Indeed. And in three Turns you can throw yourselves in front of Search
dragons to see what they think, but until then there's no Standing or
Impression for you, young man." The greenrider looked at Sahna,
wondering if that plan had been her idea. She was harder to read than
her brother and always more cautious about committing herself to things.

"Did the Weyr really get flooded?" Sahna asked suddenly.

"Yes, it really did. All the lover caverns – like our lower caverns,
and their candidate and weyrling buildings which were in their weyrbowl."

"What about the fishermen?" Tellen asked curiously. "Were they all right?"

"I don't know." He should have found out, he thought, knowing that the
children had lost their own fisherman father in a storm. "But I think
the dolphins might have warned them."

"We didn't see dolphins very much," Sahna said, her tone thoughtful.
"Do they really speak like people?"

"Yes. It's a little squeeeeeeeky and looooong, but you would understand
it."

"Squeeeeeee."

The five of them smiled at Tibby's delighted repetition of R'haran's
sound effects.

"No more difficult to understand than Tibby," R'haran said, voicing
their thoughts. "The Dolphin Hall is right next to the Weyr at Dolphin
Cove – and obviously there are plenty of dolphins in the area, otherwise
the Weyr would be called just plain 'Cove Weyr', wouldn't it?"

"So their fleet would have been in by the time the storm came?"

"Would you like me to find out for sure?" R'haran offered. There were
plenty of Dolphin Cove people coming and going and he could certainly ask.

"No. It doesn't matter."

He would, though, in case she asked again. He wasn't sure what would be
better for her to know; that others had been kept safe during a storm
like the one that killed her father, or that the loss of life in such
circumstances was universal.

"Did their beds get wet? The people who lived on the bottom level?"

"Yes," R'haran admitted to Arwey. "It was very sad for them, too, but
since they had lots of warning they all went upstairs before the water
came. Their dining cavern was flooded, and their kitchens –"

Iselen interrupted: "Do they have enough to eat?"

That was another perennial worry for the older children who had vivid
memories of going short on food. "I think they'll manage. Holds and
Halls will send food, and I imagine some will go from here."

Arwey sighed and looked at her plate. "They can have my fingerroots,"
she offered.

The martyred tone made everybody smile.

"I think they'll be all right for cooked fingerroots," R'haran told the
youngster. "And we wouldn't want you to miss out on yours."

"I'd be happy to share them. Really."

"I'm sure you would," the greenrider agreed. "But I think these ones
are yours to keep."

"Yours too eat," Sahna said, her tone far firmer than that of their
guardian.

Last updated on the June 2nd 2007

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Four Queens