Chap. 231 Sunset

Chap. 231 Sunset

It'd been a long day. He and Raventh had made three trips, shuttling people to Landing for the selection of Council members.

Now the 'honored guests' were comfortably settled into various dorms. Many were having an impromptu get together in the dining hall, as the entire next day was scheduled for the selection. The following days would be spent hearing petitions from Pernese.

D'nis, K'ndar's former Weyrleader, was staying in K'ndar's quarters. He'd chosen not to attend the impromptu party.

They were lounging on the pad that led into Raventh's bay, watching dragons from all over Pern having their own meeting. The wan winter sun was setting, painting the sky a pale red.

"This is a very good wine, K'ndar, it's a pity you can't enjoy it," D'nis said, chasing bites of cheese with sips of Lord Dorn's wine, named Kahrain. "Dorn dithered for weeks trying to find a name for it. He said Dorn isn't a good name for a wine, and Singing Waters didn't 'ring'," D'nis said, "He thought of naming it 'Ashmead', but the woman who bred the grapes said the name was already taken."

"That's an odd name," K'ndar said, "it sounds like Terran, not Pern."

"Good ear, K'ndar. It is. Dorn wanted to name her wine after her, Ashmead. But she said no. Her mother, who used to make cider, named her for her favorite apple, called Ashmead. It's an incredibly old apple that the ancients brought with them. She said life had been hard enough being called "Apple', she didn't want people thinking her specially bred wine grapes would taste like one."

"Huh. I didn't know apples HAD names."

"Nor did I."

"Did you bring Lord Dorn?"

"Reluctantly. He has no desire to be nominated or chosen. But he felt he had to, if for no other reason than to keep Southern in the game. It's sad, in a way...there's a lot of Holders and Hall Masters who stayed home. They're not interested in the the work Council membership entails, but they'll be the first to complain when decisions are made that don't benefit them. Even Toric's clan declined to participate."

"No loss there," K'ndar said, "I was worried he'd show up and try to mess things up. He must be in his high 80's. Wonder if he'll ever turn things over to his sons."

"Of which he has many. And as many daughters. The man's fecund, if nothing else."

K'ndar sipped at his mug of klah.

D'nis stretched his legs out, hearing his knees pop. "My knees are feeling the chill these days, but oh, this is very nice, K'ndar."

"What, the sunset? The view of all these dragons? My weyr, or what they call 'quarters'?

D'nis nodded. "All of it. I have to say, I was surprised when you took this position. You seemed such a homebody, K'ndar. But in retrospect, I think it was a wise move."

K'ndar nodded. "I miss my friends at the Weyr, but the chance to do the work I love offsets it. I'm getting used to this culture. It's such a different way of life. People are usually polite, but there's little of the, um, formality? that I was raised with, like introducing oneself as "K'ndar, rider of brown Raventh." The kids, they're...well, they seem so smart in some ways, and yet so, oh, I don't know the word, naive? about the rest of the world. That's what's worrisome. There's kids here who have no idea what a dragon really did, or is capable of. Already they're forgetting Thread and what we did to make Pern livable."

D'nis nodded. "That's something I've thought a lot about, K'ndar. On the one hand, we need to remember the past, or we'll end up repeating it. But we also have to look to the future, and there are still people who don't want it. Technology scares them. Remember when you were tasked to help with the hay harvest? The farmer had that big hay baling machine, it ran on steam? He had all sorts of problems with it. "It's too noisy, too big, takes too much wood, frightens the draft beasts, no place to store it out of the rains, too dangerous" he said. I can see that, what with the sparks it put out, the women and kids running ragged trying to keep them from setting the hay alight. They would complain about the holes burned into their clothes...as well as themselves!

What put paid to the machine was when it blew up. BOOM! the boiler exploded and pieces went flying. It set the hayfield alight in a dozen places, but they got them put out.

No one was hurt, luckily, but it was the 'last straw' for the farmer. It's already been torn apart and the metal recycled. So his people-and ours! are back to stooking hay, rather than baling it."

"I do remember it. I was glad to stay away from it. I only had to work it that one day, though, remember, B'rost broke my nose that night."

"I remember! B'rost. I wonder how he's doing."

K'ndar shook his head. He wondered, too.

D'nis sighed. "The problem I am already seeing is that people are happy that Thread is gone. They're happy to be able to count on a dragonrider to sweep, to take messages and cargo, to take them to places, they're happy to have weyrfolk come to bring in the harvest, but they don't want to continue tithing the weyrs. Kahrain is lucky, we have plenty of room to grow crops, but I'm betting you feel the same way I do. I don't want, I never wanted to be a farmer. I want to be a dragonrider. I really am not sure where we will fit in, in the future," he said.

K'ndar shook his head. "I don't, either. The few days out in the fields gave me a whole new respect for farmers...but being one? Not me."

His mug was empty. He turned it over to empty it of the last drop.

"Will we become superfluous?"

D'nis shrugged.

"As long as dragons can fly, I doubt it. Look at you, you've been all over Southern, transporting wealthy men who wanted the instant transport rather than spend a week or more on horseback. I'm convinced that the only reason there IS a relatively good sized turnout for this selection is because those men were able to get here in minutes. But....arggh, I don't want to be merely a subordinate, tugging his forelock in deference to a rich man as he mounts my dragon."

K'ndar sighed. "In a way, I'm glad that I'm alive now. We're still needed. But I see the same thing, sir. I'm glad I'm just..well, just a subordinate. Like now, now that my transport duties are done for the time being, now I'm just a water boy, making sure the dragon's water trough is kept filled. In the meantime, look at them all! Can you see Ruth?"

"I can. Look at all the fire lizards swirling around him! They're coming in from everywhere. Blinking in and out like glowflies. They're all crazy for Ruth. He's amazing," D'nis said.

"No doubt! Siskin's out there, he's having a ball just being with Ruth and all the other fire lizards."

"Must the dragons spend the night out here in the meadow?"

"Well, it depends. This bay door behind us? It's rigged so that Raventh can enter and leave at will. He's spent one night out there, but usually he comes in at sundown.. And Mt. Garben, the volcanic cone on the north side of Landing? It's riddled with caves. So if any dragon wants one, there's a cave to sleep in. For that matter, there's plenty of room for people who want to stay in them, too."

"Speaking of Mt. Garben, you'd have thought that the ancients, as wise as they were, would have had the common sense to not put this big complex right next to a volcano! What were they thinking?" D'nis said, shaking his head.

"I know, it's fairly stupid, on the face of it. I think the ancients forgot what volcanoes do, like they did with hurricanes. But, Risal...remember her? said that this wasn't a bad spot, either. She's told me the mountain is 'extinct' now. It's dead. Just like all the ones that weyrs are in, they're extinct. Garben used to be what she called a 'hot spot' volcano, the magma vent that fed it has moved northeast and is now off shore. That eruption, 2500 years ago, was its last gasp. But things are still warm down under. Just like at home, Landing has thermal heating, in fact the water for your shower has to have some cold added, because the water's so hot. All the ancients did was run pipes, instead of boreholes, like at home. It's thought they even tapped the vent to provide power, but how I wouldn't know, and there's some that believe they inadvertantly caused the eruption that drove them North. Risal thinks that's nonsense, but she also says it could, theoretically, happen. Plus there's other benefits. Running water! No need to pump and pump and pump at a 20 meter deep well, like at my cothold. That's what amazed me the most when I first got to Kahrain Weyr. I didn't have to tote buckets of water in order to have a bath. I had a shower in my weyr!

I would have given my best saddle for a thing that pours out water at the wave of a hand when I was a kid. That water trough? It's got a ''faucet'' next to it, so all I need do is activate it to refill the trough. That's good because boy, a big dragon like that massive bronze near Ruth? He can just about empty that trough in one go, in fact he did just before you landed."

"That 'massive' bronze? That's Mnementh."

"Whoa. Really!" He felt humbled realizing he was looking at the most famous bronze on Pern. "I didn't see F'lar come in. Like I'd know him if I saw him. I've never met him."

"I have. He's real people, K'ndar. There's no ego to him."

"I know this sounds strange, but I'd just as soon not meet any of these people. They're just too ''big" for me. Except for Lord Jaxom, I've met him. He's real, like you said. No stuffiness to him, not at all."

D'nis laughed. "I feel the same way, K'ndar. I could have stayed in one of the dorms with all the top knots, but there's too much bloviating for my tastes. Thanks for putting me up, K'ndar. Your weyr is much quieter, far more to my 'station in life'. It's big, too. Lots of room."

"There's some that are bigger. I got it because of Raventh. Remember Francie, green rider? She's going to move down here, after Turnover, maybe, so her green has a bay like Raventh's. It's too big for just one man, so it was a no brainer to ask for another bunk, for you."

"Well, again, thank you for the room and board."

"My pleasure, sir. I'd have been upset if you hadn't. Make yourself at home, please."

K'ndar wondered, suddenly, why D'nis was here.

"If you don't mind my asking, sir, why ARE you here? Why not M'rvin?"

D'nis sighed.

"M'rvin. Ah, M'rvin. I don't know what's gotten into him, is it Siena? who is an excellent Weywoman, but she's precisely that...a Weyrwoman. NOT a wife. And that's what M'rvin wants, I'm thinking, and she's the one he wants. Quite honestly, M'rvin isn't the best of Weyrleaders, but...I shouldn't gossip. I know what he's feeling.." he stopped. Tears stung his eyes. "Ah, Danelle, she was..."

"It's okay, I don't mean to pry," K'ndar said, hurriedly.

D'nis composed himself.

"It's okay, K'ndar. It's...sometimes it's hard being a bronze rider. So much is expected of you, and so easily can one let the weyr down."

"No SIR. You were a good weyrleader. The best." K'ndar protested.

D'nis sighed.

"Thank you, K'ndar, I tried. But as for why I'm here? Because. I'm a bronze rider and a former Weyrleader. Kahrain needed to send someone. There are far fewer weyrs on Southern, and we need representation."

K'ndar nodded. "Do you think they'll pick you?"

D'nis shook his head. "No, K'ndar. Kahrain is far too small, far too young, far from places like Honshu. No, I'm merely here to fly the banner," he said.

He stretched and stifled a yawn. "If you don't mind, K'ndar, I'm going to turn in early," D'nis said, getting out of his chair, "the meeting starts early tomorrow."

"Don't let Siskin into the bathroom. He's fascinated by the toilet," K'ndar said. "I had to have the activation switch changed."

"Didn't work?"

"On the contrary, it worked too well. But," he laughed, "I had to call for help with the toilet. I was pulling my ears off, trying to get the shaffing toilet to flush. I felt so stupid, I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. Yet Siskin figured out the light switches right away. The first time I got the toilet to flush, he was all over it, wanting to watch the water disappear. I KNEW that if he learned how to operate it, he'd be flushing it all the time."

"So you had it changed?"

"Yes. Had to. One of Landing's mechanics, Orlon, says he had to change the switches on his toilet because his cat likes to play with it. So he installed a switch that only a human can operate," K'ndar said, laughing.

"Siskin's pretty smart, K'ndar. I'd be wary that he'll figure that one out, even without opposable thumbs."

D'nis stretched again. "Alright, then, I'm turning in."

"I'll be in in a little while. I want to top off that trough," K'ndar said. "Do you want me to come in and show you how to operate the toilet?"

D'nis looked hard at him, his eyebrows skyrocketing.

"K'ndar. I'm an engineer. If I can't figure out how to flush a toilet, I'll turn in my engineer's badge."