The Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey [357]
F’lar considered that for a long moment. “Have you ever tried any long jumps?”
Jaxom nodded slowly, his eyes flicking to Lytol whose face remained impassive.
“No wavering of the leap? No unduly long stay between?”
“No, sir. It’s easy to be accurate anyhow if you jump at night.”
“I’m not sure I follow that reasoning.”
“Those star equations that Wansor worked out. I think you were at that session in the Smithcrafthall . . .” The young man’s voice trailed off uncertainly until F’lar caught his drift and looked his surprise. “If you work out the position of the dominant stars in the skies, you can position yourself most accurately.”
“If you jump at night,” the Masterharper added, never having thought to put that use to Wansor’s equations.
“Never occurred to me to do that,” F’lar said.
“There is a precedent,” Robinton remarked, grinning, “in your own Weyr, F’lar.”
“Lessa used the stars from the tapestry to go back for the Oldtimers, didn’t she?” Jaxom had clearly forgotten that, and also, to judge by the sudden comic dismay on his face, forgotten that his reference to the Oldtimers was not adroit.
“We can’t ignore them, can we?” the Weyrleader said with more tolerance than Robinton had anticipated. “Well, they exist and can’t be ignored. To the present problem, Robinton. How long is it likely to take your fire-lizard?”
Just outside the Hold window a multivoiced squabbling arose, so obviously that of fire-lizards that they all hurried to the window.
“Menolly did it,” Robinton said in an undertone to Jaxom. “They’re here, F’lar.”
“Who? Menolly with the watchdragon?”
“No, sir,” Jaxom said, his voice triumphant, “Zair, and Menolly’s queen and her three bronzes. They’ve all got charts strapped to their backs.”
Zair flew in, chittering in a combination of anger, concern and confusion. Menolly’s four followed. The little queen, Beauty, started scolding all of them as she circled about the room. Robinton easily lured Zair to his arm. But Beauty kept her bronzes in circulation, out of reach, while F’lar, grinning sardonically, and Lytol, expressionless, watched the attempts of Robinton and Jaxom to land the other four fire-lizards.
“Ruth, would you tell Beauty to behave and come to my arm?” Jaxom cried as his futile attempts to coax the little queen began to assume ludicrous proportions in front of someone he was trying to impress.
Beauty let out a startled squawk but immediately came to rest on the table. She scolded Jaxom furiously as he undid the chart. She kept up her monologue as the bronzes timidly landed, not quite furling their wings, to have their burdens removed. Once free of their encumbrances, the bronzes retreated out the window. Beauty gave everyone in the room one final raucous harangue and then, with a flick of her tail, disappeared from sight. Zair let out one sort of apologetic cheep and hid his face in Robinton’s hair.
“Well,” Robinton said as welcome silence settled on the room, “they did return promptly, didn’t they?”
F’lar burst out laughing. “Return, yes. Delivery was another problem. I’d hate to have to argue for every message brought me.”
“That was just because Menolly wasn’t here,” Jaxom said. “Beauty wasn’t certain whom she could trust, you know. Meaning no offense, F’lar,” he added hastily.
“Here’s the one I need,” Robinton said, unwinding it fully. He gestured for the others to unroll the segments they held. Shortly the maps were placed in sequence across the table, the curling ends weighted down with pieces of fruit and wine cups.
“It would appear,” Lytol said mildly, “that you have been blown off course in every direction, Master Robinton.”
“Oh, not me, sir,” the Harper replied ingenuously. “SeaHolders have been very helpful here, here and here,” and he pointed to the western portions where an intricate coastline was carefully delineated. “This is the work of Idarolan and the captains reporting to him.” He paused, toying with the notion of mentioning just how much of Idarolan’s explorations had been