Chap. 150 The White Dragon

Chap. 150 The White Dragon

K'ndar wondered if he'd ever seen a more beautiful dragon.

They'd come out from between on the other side of the valley where Ruatha's Gather was being held.

The first thing he saw was the large meadow full of dragons and their riders. In the same manner of horsemen, the crowd of riders were examining other's dragons from all over the planet. 

In the middle of a large crowed was the famous Ruth. Even from height, he was unmistakable.

They landed on the edge of the large group of dragons.

"Thank you for the ride, K'ndar, and I insist on repaying you for the favor," Terilyn said, after dismounting.

K'ndar grinned. "You'll have to work hard, then, because it was my pleasure," he said. 

"Well, I will, because otherwise I would have been stuck for transportation. I probably would have been able to find another dragon, but my rental agreement says I have about an hour to set up before the official opening of the Gather, and I wouldn't have made it without you…and Raventh." She patted Raventh's leg.

"How are you going to manage without a canopy?"

"I rented one. I contracted to rent one several months ago, when I decided I was going to come here for the Gather. Ruatha's gotten so big they decided to go in all the way, so they rent canopies, chairs, that sort of thing.  Someone has supposedly set it up and I HOPE my crates were delivered," she said. "It's fairly expensive to do it this way, but cheaper than sending my canopy  by ship. If it works out as agreed,  all I need do is set my wares out," she said.

He fought hard to keep his attention focused on her. He was itching to talk dragons with the many riders swirling around the meadow.

She could see it.

"Why don't I leave you, then, so I can set up in time?" she offered.

K'ndar was relieved. Then, in a big brother tone of voice, said, "Glyena, why don't you go help her. I'll catch up with you in a little while."

Glyena looked a bit disappointed, but the look in her brother's eye suggested she obey.

"I could use the help, Glyena, and once it's done, then you can have fun in the Gather, besides, nothing will really start, until the opening ceremony," Terylin said.

"Okay," Glyena said, resigned to her fate. K'ndar looked her in the eye.

"This is just another task, a little one, sis.  You will have plenty of time to run without heel ropes. Now go. I'll be there in a little while."

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Glyena helped Terilyn set up her booth.  She'd shipped two large crates, one held personal items along with a stool, a disassembled table and easels from which to hang the tapestries her partner had made. 

"No wheel?" Glyena said, "I remember the game Putzu played with it, the last time I was at a Gather, remember?"

Terilyn grinned. "That was fun, wasn't it?"

"It was! So why didn't you bring it this time?"

"Too heavy! It's one thing to cadge room on a wagon going to a Gather on Southern, but sending it by ship costs more than I can hope to make. That, and I didn't trust seamen to handle it with the care it demands. It's almost two hundred years old, they don't make them like that anymore. Instead," she said, opening the other crate, "I brought my pots, of course-they always sell, and I'm trying to make a go of these." 

Packed gently as eggs, the crate had dozens of courier bells nestled in amongst a rainbow of  pots. There were also harnesses for fire lizards, with badges, a few select ones already painted with the colors of the major Holds, Weyrs and Crafthalls. 

"Why are most of them unpainted?" Glyena asked, gently touching one of the bells.

"So that someone can order his or her particular pattern, or color scheme, a name, or as your weyr has done, numbers for each fire lizard," she said, a little worried about Glyena handling the bell. She'd packed plenty enough, taking into account the possibility of some breaking, but still…

Once someone pays for a bell, I'll paint it up for them."

"Maybe I shouldn't touch them,"Glyena said, withdrawing her hand, "Mum used to say I could be clumsy." 

Her words soothed Terilyn's worries. "Perhaps, and thank you for not touching them, but if you can braid leather like you did on the bridle, I wouldn't call you clumsy-just young."

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Siskin, perched on his shoulder, made whimpering noises.

It's Ruth. He wants to meet Ruth. I don't know how he does it, but Ruth attracts fire lizards.

How about you? Do you want to meet Ruth?

Maybe. Right now he's got a bunch of humans around him. As it is, he's got a dozen dragons already trying to chat with him. I see Motanith, she is here  Raventh said. 

I'm not surprised. In fact, I bet we'll see a lot of dragons we already know.

 Francie is here! he thought, I bet that she has going to have her fire lizard show. It will be a hit with the kids.

He joined the crowd of riders grouped around Ruth. Most were in deep conversation. He saw badges on several riders, indicating their weyrs. Most of them were from North, but a few, like him, were from the Southern Continent. 

The conversations swirled about him as thickly as the fire lizards. He began to eavesdrop, mostly because he didn't know a soul. Dragonriders were like any other specialty, a gathering within a Gathering.  He'd heard a lot of 'There-I-Was" gossip in his short career as a rider, but had never really done any himself. He was too introverted to boast. 

"Then he swooped almost straight down, me hangin' on for dear life, busted buckle flapping around fit to break my goggles."

"We came out between and for a minute I thought, what? But right there, it was right underneath us."

"She said what? That's insane!"

"He makes the best ale, my man, the best on Pern."

"Big. BIG. Biggest wherry I ever saw."

"Yeah, Benden is good wine, but…I still think Tillek's has more substance, you know?"

"She said I'll always have a scar, but scars show that you've lived, man, lived."

"Don't know about that, but white? I know, I know, he's more than proven himself, but I dunno. There's just something odd, about a white dragon."

"This is the tenth or twelfth time I've seen him."

"Too small for me, but…"

K'ndar moved gently through the crowd.  He just wanted to SEE the famous white dragon, Ruth, up close.

Then he was there.

Ruth. The white dragon. Festooned with adoring fire lizards, his eyes whirled a contented blue, which only accentuated his unusual color.

"Okay, Siskin, but don't be a nuisance," he said, and the blue whirred away to join the other fire lizards.

 The first thing that surprised K'ndar was how small Ruth was. 

Not much bigger than a good sized draft horse, he thought. But his color!

Ruth wasn't white, as in a piebald horse, nor was he albino. Ruth, as he'd matured, had changed to a deep ivory, with subtle undertones of all the dragon colors. They gave the ivory color a depth that looked almost iridescent.

"By the egg, he's beautiful," K'ndar said, aloud.

"You think so?" said the man next to him.

"I do. I know, there's some that think he's a freak, a mutation, but I don't care, to me, he's gorgeous," he sighed. 

"You're right about that, he garners a lot of comments, most of them unkind ones."

"To this day? That's strange. I don't understand some people, I'd heard that there were some that doubted he'd ever amount to anything, now the whole planet knows who he is and what he can do. Nasty comments about one's dragon? That's just bad manners, especially if they're coming from riders."

"You don't hear them very often, anymore, not after Aivas. You are…okay with Aivas?"

"Okay? I think it was the best thing that ever happened to Pern. No more Thread! 

Technology coming to us, making life better? I mean, come on! paper instead of hides! Solar panels providing electricity!  I have books, now, books! What's wrong with that? But-I know what you mean. Abominators would still have us walking around on our knuckles," he said, heated.

"Yes. Abominators, some are even dragonriders. Most who feel that way don't come here," the man said. 

"That's fine with me. If nothing else, Ruth, Aivas, Lord Jaxom, the weyrs-kicking the Red Star into a different orbit has meant I no longer have to fight Thread. I can have a LIFE, now. And it's been nothing but good for my dragon. Since he quit eating firestone, his memory, cognition, even his personality, has improved a thousand fold. He makes jokes, now. He wants to know more, more. Every day, he's 'why' 'how' 'what'. It's like his mind has opened and he works every day to stuff more in," he said. 

"I've found the very same thing! All that noise, about a dragon having only a three day long memory? That's nonsense, it was always nonsense. Fire lizards have memories generations long, dragons should have them, too," the man said.

"By the egg, he's well put together," K'ndar said, shaking his head in admiration, "'ll bet he's fun to ride." 

"He is that. Is this the first time you've ever seen him?"

"Yes. Now I wish I'd seen him earlier, but this just adds to my enjoyment of the Gather."

"Where are you from?"

"Kahrain Steppe Weyr, Southern," K'ndar said, appreciating Ruth's fine lines. Small and a mutation he might be, but in all other aspects he was virtually perfectly conformed.

"That's the newest one, on Southern's East coast?"

"Yes. Hurricane Weyr, as we sometimes call it," K'ndar laughed.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh, I heard about your hurricane. I've been down there, by the way. Nice, nice place."

K'ndar tore his eyes from Ruth and extended his hand.

"I'm K'ndar, rider of brown Raventh," he said.

"Pleased to meet you," the other man said, returning the hand shake, "I'm Jaxom, rider of white Ruth. Some call me Lord Jaxom-but I'm still a rider, first and foremost."