Chap. 169 Scatterbrained

Chap. 169 Scatterbrained

They appeared over the dragon meadow near Landing's main building.

K'ndar was confused. He'd expected to come out over their own Weyr.

As Raventh leveled his wings to land in the dragon meadow, he said,

We have to report in to Flight Ops, correct? And you did tell Ops you were going to return to report on what we found.

I have lost my mind, K'ndar thought, dismayed. Of COURSE one was supposed to report into Flight Ops, if one had checked out of it.

Yes, you're right, and I don't know what's become of my common sense. Thank you.

You're welcome.

And thank you, too, for knocking that spear away. Once again, you've saved me from being hurt.

He was dangerous. I saw his body language. I knew he had bad intentions.

I think I should report it. Him being there, and the dead man in the cave, and whoever heard of a dolphin killing a human? There's something strange there.

K'ndar made his way to Flight Ops, wondering why this excursion of his had turned out so poorly. I'm whole and unharmed, he thought, but I made mistakes. Too many! It's like I've never been anywhere on my own! I should just go home after this and stay there.

It's alright. You had that girl in the office on your mind.

No, I didn't.

Yes, you did. Do you think I've not been in your mind all my life to not know what you're thinking?

I…I don't remember consciously thinking of her. I was so excited to be exploring a new place.

Maybe not, but she was there. She was standing on the edge of your mind, just…watching. Like Siskin does.

Siskin does that?

His blue fire lizard chipped. He didn't need that affirmative translated.

He gave the fire lizard an affectionate scratching on the head.

Okay, I guess you're right.

Of course I am right Raventh said, smugly.

He walked into Flight Ops, anxious to see the girl again, only to see the bald spot on the top of a older man's head peering at him like a giant eye.

Disappointed, K'ndar just stared for a moment at the man, who was apparently engrossed in the forms in front of him. He glanced up at the flight board. There was his and Raventh's name, with expected return date of two days from now.

After several moments without any sort of acknowledgement from the clerk, K'ndar cleared his throat. The man looked up from his charts with an irritated expression.

"Yes?" he said after a moment, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Um, where is that young lass, she was here earlier today?"

"She's off duty. Why?"

"Well, I..I'm reporting in, earlier than expected," K'ndar said, disappointed.

"Name?" the man snapped.

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

The man got up, found K'ndar's name on the board, erased it and sat back down.

K'ndar waited for some sort of question, wasn't the man supposed to ask him about his flight?

But the man had already dismissed K'ndar from his mind.

That chart must be so interesting, K'ndar thought, so as to make this old man rude.

The man must have heard, as he looked up over his glasses and said, "Is there anything else? Because if not, leave," he snapped. 

Yeah, rude.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe you can tell me, maybe you are too busy, but I found the uninhabited island to be inhabited," he said.

"That's not unusual, so what?"

"So.. what? So…oh, never mind," K'ndar said, suddenly pissed. This was a quiet day, there wasn't another soul in the office and this man was clearly uninterested in doing what K'ndar thought would be an integral part of his job. Pattis would never have left it at just 'so what'. Imagine, me finding something good to say about Pattis! But she was an improvement over this withered sour grape.

He turned and walked out…and almost bumped into the girl.

"Um, hello," he said, flustered.

"Hello! I thought you were going to be gone all weekend?" she said, clearly delighted to see him.

"I was, but…well, I came back early, the man inside treated me like I was interrupting, and I'm not sure what I should do about what I learned today," he said, wondering if he sounded childish.

"Oh, him," the girl said, shaking her head in dismissal, "His name is Howel. He's such a pain in the arse, he doesn't like anyone and would much rather the whole world just leave him alone," she said. She hoped Howel overheard her, but she knew from prior experience that, if he did, he didn't care one way or another.

"Sounds like Pattis, the woman at my weyr's flight ops," he said.

"Pattis..Pattis. I think…I think this man was partners with her, a long time ago. The name is familiar. Rumor is they scrapped so much they were told they either split up or leave, Landing was tired of their fighting," she said, ruefully, "so we got him. Pattis ended up at your weyr?"

"Yes, and until just now, I thought we got a bad deal. Now I think we got the better part of a bad deal," he said.

She laughed. "Sorry. I have to say, he's fairly good at his job, otherwise he would have been banished a long time ago. He doesn't like anyone and will tell you so," she said.

"Were you going in to, um, work?" K'ndar said, hoping not. He wanted to talk to her without her work being the reason.

"No, I left a book in the office. Do you mind? I'm just going to go in and get it. Don't leave, please? I'd like to talk to you," she said.

"I'll be right here," K'ndar said, "Would you like to get a mug of klah?"

"Yes, we have the best here, at Landing, it comes from up north, just a minute, I'll be right out," and she ducked inside Flight Ops.

You bet I'll wait, he thought.

See? You're all scatterbrained again. You were going to tell someone about the man at the island, Raventh said.

Sheesh. I feel like a young colt you have to keep reminding to stay on task. Thanks

She came out with a book in her hand.

"Okay, let's go to the dining hall, we'll get some klah and something to eat? Have you had anything to eat?" she asked.

His stomach reared up on its hind legs and bellowed in aggrieved tones.

"No, and I'll explain it when I've put something in my stomach. It thinks my throat's been cut," he said, grinning.


Her name was Risal.

The book in her hand was "The Natural History of Pern", by DR Plank.

He was amazed that someone else would be interested in the same things he was, that someone being a very intriguing girl.

"I have that book, too. It was the first book I ever purchased," he said, enchanted.

"I've not finished it. I would love to see some of the places DeeArrPlank wrote about," she said, sighing.

"Um…I could take you to some of them, maybe, someday," he said, suddenly aghast that his mouth had just taken over, without him willing it. Where had it come from, just from a mug of klah and a solaced stomach?

She looked at him with an unfathomable expression.

"Fast off the mark, are you?" she asked.

He blushed.

"Um, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so…"

She laughed, and it tickled him to the marrow, despite his feeling embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, that didn't come out the way I intended," she said, "you don't look dangerous. I'd love to see some of the places, the animals, the forests, all that DeeArr writes about. But I'm like so many other people on Pern, those of us who aren't dragonriders just stay home. We don't go far from our nest. Unless you're a seaman, I guess, I know some people are born on ships," she said.

"They are, in fact, a friend of mine was. Born on a ship. But she (he felt a twinge of betrayal to Lindea, but she'd never expressed any interest in him other than as a friend).. well, it doesn't matter. You were born here at Landing, then?" he asked.

"Actually, no, I was born at Lemos. I was five when my parents moved here to work as techs. I still live with them and my siblings. It's an amazing place to live, I meet new people all the time, every day there is something new to learn, and the staff is like one great big family. As a kid, you didn't ever do something mischievous, because everyone knew whose kid you were and if they saw you being bad, first they busted you, and then told your parents, who busted you again. But there are downsides to it, because Mum and Dad are working here, we don't GO anywhere. For instance, you, did you go to a lot of different places?"

He shook his head.

"No, I was steppe bred. My family has a cothold on the other side of the mountains, right at the edge of the steppe. The only place I ever remembered going to was driving cattle as our tithe to Lord Dorn's Hold. That was it. I used to ride my horse out onto the steppe, alone, I'd be gone for a week, sometimes, but otherwise, I never went anywhere until I was impressed and moved to my Weyr. But now…it's nice, I can go anywhere I want, whenever I want, as long as I'm not on duty. Like this three day pass I'm on, this morning (had it been just this morning?) I decided to go see an island. Oh!"

"Oh?" she twisted her head at his sudden change in demeanor.

"Yes, I stopped at Ops a while ago to say I'd returned, and tell what I found at the island, but that man, Howel? He didn't even bother to listen."

"What did you find?"

"You said it was uninhabited, but it's not. There's a crazy man living there, he tried to spear me. Raventh saved me. And there's a cave there, you showed me a reference point on a pinnacle? It has a cave almost at the top. I climbed into it to keep from being rained on, and found the skull of a dead man, and he'd marked off the number of days he'd been there," he said. "He scratched them into the rock wall, there were 35 marks," he said.

She gasped. "The thermal imaging never showed that!" she protested.

"I didn't really get a good look at the island, but I bet it's full of caves. You said the imager? can't see through rock," he said.

"No, it can't see through rock," she said. She shook her head. "This makes me feel stupid, and I was so proud of being able to show off to a dragonrider," she said, mournfully. "Guess you think I'm incompetent now."

"Oh, no, not at all. That would be stupid. There's hundreds of islands, you showed me that, you can't look at every one, can you? That would take a lot of time," he said, filing away the idea that a girl would want to impress HIM? I'll look at that amazing feeling later.

"I know, I just feel…well, like I let you down. A good Flight Ops is supposed to give dragonriders absolutely flawless information. At least, that's how I go about my work."

"You take pride in your work, I can see that. But don't feel bad, You can't know everything…like me, I found out palm leaves don't burn. But coconut fiber does..." and, ruefully, pointed to what remained of his eyebrows. He had no idea if there was anything left.

She giggled. "I WONDERED why you didn't have any eyebrows…but I wasn't going to say anything," she said.

He laughed, amazed at how easy it was to talk to her.

"Anyway, there were marks on the wall, it was obvious the man had made them. And words, possibly the last ones he ever wrote."

"What did they say?" she asked, hooked.

He looked at her with puzzlement. "They said, "Shipfish killed me".

"Shipfish? You mean dolphins?"

"Yes," he said.

"No way. I don't believe it. Dolphins don't kill humans. They HELP us," she protested.

"I know. I know! I've talked to dolphins, they're great people-well, they're not human but they are definitely people. I've even met Tillek."

She gasped, this time in admiration.

"Whoa. I've never seen a dolphin, not once, and you've met Tillek?"

He nodded. "Yes. She's very old, very wise, and they treat her like a queen dragon."

She shook her head. "Still….I don't believe it. In over  2500 years, not once has a dolphin ever been reported to hurt a human. They just…DON'T." She rested her chin on her fist, thinking.

She made a decision.

"Okay, K'ndar, this has to be reported upstairs. I'm sorry Howel was such a jerk, but…well, the Council has a pretty good idea that he's a jerk. I'm not going to gossip, though.. Can you, do you have time to go with me?"

"To..?"

"To the Council of Lord Holders. Lord Lytol. Remember, he was one of the three custodians of Aivas. He's here, now."

"Are you sure you need me?" K'ndar asked, suddenly abashed at going before the august body of the Council.

She stood up. "Of course, dragonrider. YOU were there, not I. They always want to hear it from the source. Come on, then, they shan't eat you."

"But..but…the COUNCIL?"

She grabbed his hand.

"No but's, dragonrider. They need to know this."