Chap. 58 Aftermath

Chap. 58  Aftermath

"Sir," Billek said, "We thought it more important to bring the weyr through the hurricane before we brought this to your attention."

He, K'ndar and D'nis were sitting in the Weyrleader conference room. It had taken several weeks to repair the damage wrought by the winds and the flooding. But the weyr, being solid rock, had withstood the storm and cleaning it up had been relatively easy, if time consuming.

In many cases, weyrfolk took the opportunity to improve, or re-arrange, or completely rebuild.

"Thank you, Master Billek, K'ndar, it HAS been busy hasn't it! But we lost nothing that can't be rebuilt or replaced. Sometimes I wonder if hurricanes give us an excuse to really clean the weyrs and outbuildings," D'nis said, "sort of like 'hurricane cleaning'. Although next time I'll be sure to get EVERY last sharding cow out of the barn, if we have to rope and dragonlift it. Getting that dead steer out of a ventilation shaft was a real pain in the back end."

The beach weyrs were so low priority for rebuilding that K'ndar had been forced to take a weyr in the cliff. This time it was out of necessity. Jenmay's ordering him out of his beach weyr had been retaliation.   

While the cliff weyr was more spacious, especially for a still growing Raventh, he missed the solitude, the sound of the waves, and the calls of the night creatures. He now had new respect for the ocean and the winds. There was no sign whatsoever that the beach weyrs had ever existed. Where they had been was now wrack covered beach, full of gigantic tree trunks, boulders, sea plants and dead sea creatures being scavenged by sea wherries. 

Inspired, he'd walked through the weyr, sketching the damage and making notes about the effects of the storm surge. The water had reached to just below the third weyr level. It was hard to grasp that the water had come that high.

Everyone knew that Jenmay was gone.

No one missed her, although they missed her dragon. 

K'ndar had invited his sister, Glyena, to ride with him to the far Northwest site where he and Lindea had harvested the yellow flower and the 'happy grass'. It was a beautiful place, full of wild whers, avians, and wherries. Strangely, there were no fire lizards to be seen, unlike when the flowers had been full of them. It had to be because the flowers were no longer in bloom.  But he'd sketched the flowers before the hurricane, and now that he had the scientific name for it, could call it up on the Landing library computer. 

He had also written in the scientific data on both plants. In addition, Elene had printed off a paper copy.

He had pulled several samples of both the grass and the deadhead flower plant to show to D'nis. In addition, Billek wanted to create a tincture of the flowers.

D'nis handled the plants with care, memorizing, as everyone did, the aspects of both.

"So this one, this flower, it increases estrogen?"

"Here, sir, this page is the scientific description of it."

 K'ndar handed him the first page.

Volumen fertilis. No common name. Uncommon throughout its range. Small, 8 petaled yellow or gold flower. Twisted spiral stem arises from a single rhizome (bulb). Found only in the high latitudes of the far northwestern Northern continent. Habitat: cold, arid, relatively sterile soil. Wind pollinated. In native whers and fire lizards, consumption of the bulbs or flowers stimulates and enhances estrogen production, inducing mating behavior and increasing ovulation. It had no similar effect on mammals or avians.

"Interesting."

"Aye, sir. I'll discuss this with the dragon healers, and so will K'ndar. He saw fire lizards eating it, and witnessed Jenmay feeding them to her dragon."

D'nis pondered that. It made sense. It explained how an old dragon like Jianath could come into heat at her age. The timing had to have been perfect.

"This explains why Jenmay was ALWAYS poring over the threadfall charts, despite the fact that she didn't fly against thread. I seriously believe she could have drawn them up solely by memory," he said, nodding. A huge sense of relief flooded his soul. Again. She was gone.

 Forever.

"Was it ALL fire lizards eating it, or just females?"

"OH. GOOD question," Billek said. They looked at K'ndar.

"I…I don't remember. Let me ask Siskin,"

He'd been practicing 'conversing' with the blue fire lizard. He brought up the memory of the blue and Lindea's gold Zeta in the flowers.

Siskin remembered it. He showed a field of flowers, full of fire lizards. The greens and golds were the only ones actually eating the flowers. He'd not noticed it at the time, but Siskin was showing Zeta eating the flowers, too.

Wait. One of the fire lizards…was that a collar???

"OH!"

The others looked at him, expectantly.

He stroked Siskins neck. "Good lad, good lad. Can you show me …closer?"

Siskin turned his head, his eyes whirling an uncertain amber.

He imagined in his own mind a shot of the females in the flowers, then brought it up close.

Siskin chirped. Then he showed K'ndar a close up of several female fire lizards. One was wearing a fabric collar bearing a crest. He recognized it.

"Good lad, gooooood Siskin!"

"What? What did he show you?"

"The field was full of fire lizards, but only the golds and greens were eating the flowers. AND, one of them, a green, was wearing a crest.  Southern Boll."

"A crest?"

"On a collar. I'd heard some of the northerners were putting crests on their fire lizards in order to identify them."

"What would a Southern Boll fire lizard be doing so far from home?"

"She had to have been there purposefully. They're pretty smart."

"If a Southern Boll lizard was there, it leads me to believe that all fire lizards know where that field is. All over Pern."

"I haven't read that chapter yet, but I think the "Natural History of Pern" mentions that."

Being able to refer to a book without fear of Jenmay was a relief.

"Or maybe she went rogue?"

"Makes you wonder, do fire lizards…abandon their owners?"

"I don't know. I …don't think they go between when someone dies. I don't think Robinton's did."

K'ndar wanted to kick himself. He wasn't going to be a good scientist if he missed something like that. From now on, he promised himself, I'll be more observant. I'll look closer. AND…he'd have a crest collar made up for Siskin. And maybe his friend's fire lizards. 

Billek looked at the flower heads with new respect.

"This is something that the dragon healers can use if a gold can't go into heat. It's a shame, though, that it doesn't work in humans. I wonder why. Maybe I'll experiment with it on sows."

"Why sows?"

"Believe it or not, they're far closer to humans in anatomy and physiology than any other creature. We routinely dissect them to see how things work inside. Then we roast 'em," he grinned. 

"What is that book you have there, K'ndar," D'nis asked. He handed it to D'nis.

 D'nis thumbed through it. "I have to admit, I want some of these. One for each wingleader. One, no, two for me… I have to go to the Landing for this, aye?"

"Aye, sir. But I believe Elene told me they make things like the notebook out of scraps, but I can't promise that."

"I want one, too," Billek said. It would be handy when we're examining a patient."

"Did you do all these drawings?" D'nis asked, looking at one of his drawings.  

"Yes, sir." Despite himself, K'ndar felt a bit anxious about the notebook being in someone else's hands. Calm down, K'ndar, he told himself, this is D'nis, your Weyrleader, not the destructive Jenmay.

"You're very good. I can see the details of the flowers field. I could probably find this spot just based on …hello, is this a cairn?"

"Yes, sir. I built one, so that we could return."

"Wise lad. Wise, wise man. You have talent, K'ndar, I'm not sure quite how you might use it in the future, but you definitely have an artistic touch."

Billek's mind turned to the other page.

"Now, sir, I want to address the other plant. It's called 'happy grass," Billek said, solemnly.

D'nis still had the printed descriptions in his hand.

" 'Happy grass'?" 

"Yes, sir." Billek couldn't bring himself to describe it. How could anything that did this be called 'happy'. 

"Read it, sir. The second page." 

He and K'ndar stayed silent as the Weyrleader read the entire description.

"Strigilis fortunatus. "Happy grass". Common throughout its range. Found only in the high latitudes of the far northwestern Northern continent.  One meter tall grass, with multiple channeled blades ending in heavily seeded tassles. Habitat: cold, arid, relatively sterile soil. Wind pollinated.  Alkaloidal. Consumed in minute quantities, the dried seeds induce a sense of well-being and happiness. In the second half of the first century of colonization it was sometimes used as an anti-depressant. However, usage was banned after finding that multiple doses (<20) or long term usage accumulated in the mammalian liver, causing irreversible hallucinations, vertigo, blindness, pain, delirium, and ultimately, death.

Harmless to native creatures but TOXIC IN MAMMALS."

He dropped the page. Unconsciously patting the page with his fingertips, D'nis leaned backwards and looked at the ceiling of the conference room.

Tears filled his eyes.

Oh, Danelle. I am so sorry.

He cleared his throat. It refused to loosen up. 

He shook his head.

"Explains a lot, doesn't it," he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. It wasn't a question.

"Sir, I am willing to bet that, had I done an autopsy, we'd have found her liver completely destroyed. But…I just couldn't bring myself…Sorry, sir."

"It's alright, Master Billek."

Understanding filled him with anger. Jenmay had always been an annoyance to Danelle, but every morning she'd still provide Danelle with a "fresh mug of klah to start your day, my dear."  Every day.  Every morning. Not 20 doses. Hundreds.

"That murderous sow."