Chap. 94 The Trouble with Fire Lizards

Chap. 94  The trouble with fire lizards

"In a way, I wish you'd not smeared numbweed on this wound," Salish, the dragonhealer muttered, as she dressed the wound on Raventh's tail. "It will make it a lot more difficult to tease out the DNA. But-we know that Raventh's a dragon, and numbweed's a plant, so other than bacteria, viruses, microbes, and other germs, we might just be lucky enough to have some of the thing's DNA, too." She put the swabs she'd used to clean the wound into a glass container. 

K'ndar somehow felt as if he'd let her down, but his loyalties were with his dragon. He didn't mention that it was D'mitran who'd applied the numbweed. It didn't matter.

"There," she said, taking a last critical look at her handiwork. "Good thing you didn't mess around and wait to have me look at this. I don't think there'll be an infection, but put this antibiotic on the wound twice a day until it's all healed.  He should heal up fast. He'll always have a scar there, but…as my mum used to say, scars are sexy."

She patted Raventh on his neck. 

"My, you're a nice one, my dear Raventh. You have your mother's wings. He IS out of Elanath, isn't he?"

"Yes, ma'am. By Corvuth," K'ndar said, proud of his dragon.

Raventh arched his neck in pride.

"Aye, I can see it. He's refined, like she was." She sighed.

"Even though…even though I love Siena, I'll always miss Danelle." 

"We all will, ma'am."

They were quiet, reflecting for a moment on the tumultuous times that had passed.

"Any idea what the thing was that bit him?" she asked.

"Not a clue," he said, "although I've not had a chance to research it. D'nis took pictures of them, but all I got was a glimpse of huge jaws flying through the sky."

Raventh said, I had a much better view. And feel.

K'ndar laughed and repeated what he'd said. The healer laughed.

"Are we grounded?" he asked, suddenly realizing that, technically, he could be until Raventh healed.

"Oh, stars, no. He'll be fine. In fact, if you have the time, could you possibly take this sample to Landing? I don't have the facilities to separate the DNA, and I'd love to know, ahead of time, if there's something bacterial or viral that we need to watch for."

Feel like another between to Landing?

Of course. I'm fine. I'm strong. 

"We're up for it. If you would, please, let D'mitran and D'nis know you cleared us to fly. They might still be at Landing, for all I know."

"I don't know how you dragonriders do it. I wouldn't have come that close, no matter how badly I wanted to see what it was." 

"I bet the dolphins will know." 

"They might. You'll have to ask them."

The dragonhealer put away her tools.

"You know, since Thread has ended, l've pretty much been put out of a job. I don't have half the work I used to have."

"That's not a bad thing."

"You're right, it's not. But I'm-well, getting bored. I'm not seeing the injuries, the wounds that used to keep me hopping.  I'm considering going and giving the animal healers a hand, just to keep myself busy." 

"There's something else I want to mention, since my brain seems to be working again," he said, "I've noticed, as have other riders, that since we've stopped feeding firestone to dragons, they seem to be getting smarter. Better memory, better speech, just better thinking."

And better looking. Handsome. Like me.

K'ndar laughed and relayed what Raventh had said.

"See what I mean? He's always had a sense of humor but it's gotten so much…better, now."

"Hmmm," she said, considering the implications. "I never thought feeding rocks to dragons was a good idea. I remember learning my trade, and coming to believe that the things firestone did  to their metabolisms, their teeth, and, now, I see, their minds, were deleterious. But…Thread needed flaming. It was a vital necessity. I'm glad you mentioned it to me, I'll start doing the science. It will give me something to do."

Siskin chirped, half asleep, on Raventh's back.

"Does he usually sit on Raventh like that?"

"It depends. Sometimes he's on me, sometimes, he's on Raventh."

"I must compliment you on how well behaved he is. Since someone's queen laid about a hundred eggs, all the kids have them and they're pests. I mean that kindly, but the kids just let their fire lizards go wild, like puppies, and I can't handle a dragon without them being here. Don't know why they're not here now," she said, frustrated.

"Siskin is fairly possessive of Raventh. He may have told the other fire lizards to clear off while you were doctoring him.  And they're so easily trained, ma'am. I have been so busy that I can honestly say I've not seen that many other lizards around. But I believe you."

The thought hit him like a thunderbolt.

"The reason the kid's lizards are pests is because the kids don't know how to train them. It's easy, just takes patience and kindness. I could …I could conduct a fire lizard training school. Maybe even fold it in with B'rants Weyrling classes."

Do I have TIME for that, he wondered?

"That would be wonderful, K'ndar. The kids aren't bad, or neglectful, no, you're right. A fire lizard training school would be wonderful. Look, I'd help you, if only to keep them out of my hair and my weyr."

His mind began to race with the possibilities. Why hadn't someone thought of it before?

"We could do this. It would be fun, I think. You could teach the kids about proper nutrition and care, I could train the kids to train their lizards so they wouldn't be pests."

She smiled, hopefully. "I'm sure there are plenty of parents here who'd pay you to do something with the fire lizards. I've heard some complaints, let me tell you."

"Why, by the way, is Siskin wearing a harness?"

"Oh, I've some friends with fire lizards, in fact, my brother has a breeding pair of them, Siskin is one of their get," he said. "We communicate with each other, sending messages to each other, by sending Siskin or their fire lizards back and forth."

"And you trained him to do that?"

"As I said earlier, they're easily trained, almost eager. Siskin loves to learn new things. In fact, one of our transfers-Francie, a green rider who lives at Landing now with her husband, she's trained her lizards to do tricks and puts on a funny show at the gathers and markets. The kids just adore it."

A thought was struggling to get out of her brain. He could see her thinking. It blossomed on her face. 

"By the egg, …K'ndar, could Siskin take this sample I took from Raventh's wound to Landing?"

"Ummm," he said, turning the jar in his hand, "It would have to be in something shaped more like a pack, than a jar, but yes, he could. He can't hold something like glass, but if you could find something, like leather, or a pouch or something that can fit into the harness pouch, it would be easy. Not too heavy a load, though. I'd have to find a person or a spot at Landing to have him one, learn the coordinates and two, who to deliver it to."

Salish took the jar from his hand, opened it and removed the swabs. She then took a clean bit of gauze, rolled it up tightly and handed it back to K'ndar.

"Can he handle that?"

K'ndar relished the chance to show Siskin's talents off.

"Siskin? Carry?"

Siskin wheedled, flew down, took it from his hand and circled around his head.

"Good lad!"

"Oh, that is so cute. I wish ALL the kid's fire lizards would be this way."

"Siskin. Deliver. Deliver to Salish," he said. He pushed an image of her face into Siskin's mind. Siskin flew above her head, chirping.

 "Open your hands," he said, and she obeyed. Siskin neatly and gently deposited the packet into her hands.

"Compliment him," he whispered, "it's like a reward to him."

"Oh, clever Siskin! How smart you are!" she said.

Siskin chittered, very proud of himself.  He returned to his perch on Raventh and began to preen.

She looked at K'ndar, her face lit up with the possibilities.  "This would make it SO MUCH EASIER to deliver samples needing analysis to Landing. Right now I either have to beg for a dragon ride or just muddle on through because my lab isn't as well equipped."

"It could work the other way, too," he said, thinking lightning fast. "If you needed something small, like this, brought here from Landing, all you'd need is a fire lizard to transmit the request and the packet."

"Who…."

"Francie. I told you she lives at Landing now. She's got THREE fire lizards, and I would be surprised if she wouldn't want to be the contact at Landing.  Between Siskin…and maybe other fire lizards, here at the weyr, could act as couriers for you. And for the animal and human healers, too."

She ran her hand through her hair, almost impatient with the time it was going to take to implement this wonderful idea.

"You've cleared me to go to Landing. I could take this sample now and deliver it to…to who?"

"Miklos. He's in the medical clinic. He does all the lab work that I can't do here," she said.

"I'll go to Landing, ask for Miklos, have Siskin meet him and then Siskin will know him. And I'll get with Francie, see if she's willing to use her lizards for couriers, too. Siskin knows your face, now, and Raventh does, too, and so we'll transmit the information that way. Or Francie just might come along to meet you and discuss it, with her lizards."

"K'ndar, I could hug you."

He looked at her with an impish look that said he wouldn't mind. 

So she did.