The White Dragon - Chapter Nine

[kalinara]

So last time, we saw the Hatching and there was also interesting politics! Unfortunately, Jaxom is really kind of awful. So, it's a bit of a trade off.



So we start the chapter off with Robinton. Ugh. His fire lizard, Zair, has woken out of a sound sleep, flown to Robinton, and wrapped his tail around his neck. Robinton, "not having the heart to rebuke his friend" just tries to loosen the tail so he doesn't feel like he's choking to death.

Gosh, I can't imagine why fire lizards are so uncontrollable. Maybe some discipline?

Menolly bursts in, excited, because it's F'lar and Mnementh.

“So I had just perceived, my dear. Why the panic?”

“Panic? I’m not in a panic. I’m excited. This is the first time since the egg was taken that Benden has come to you.”

Yeah, the first time after Robinton called Lessa an idiot to her face, and escalated the situation to the point where F'lar had to step in. I'm gritting my teeth, because Robinton is one of those characters who is never allowed to be wrong, so I'm sure this is going to lead to F'lar agreeing with him instead of defending his wife or being allowed to express his own grief/trauma.

Robinton asks Menolly to "be a polite child" and see if Silvina can provide any sweetbreads, and wistfully sighs that it's too early for wine.

Haha, that Robinton, such an alcoholic.

Also, if Jaxom is eighteen, then Menolly should be at least twenty or twenty-one. So she's not a fucking child, dude.

Robinton still manages to annoy me:

Robinton sighed again, sadly, as he looked at the empty doorway. She had grieved over the estrangement of the Harper Hall and Benden Weyr. So, in his own way, had he. He brought his thoughts sharply away from that. There’d been no hint of distress in Mnementh’s acknowledgement of the watchdragon’s challenge. What had brought F’lar to Benden? And, more important, did the Weyrleader come with Lessa’s knowledge? And consent?

Wow. You really can't stop taking pot shots at Lessa, can you?

We're told that F'lar is walking the courtyard with long strides, but that's his wont, so there's no sign of haste. He speaks to a journeyman, and glances up at the fire lizards. Robinton considers sending Zair away, so as not to "fill[] resentment of any consequence right now"

Ugh. I love how Lessa's moratorium is being portrayed as unreasonable. They're not telling people they can't have fire lizards. They're not trying to impose this rule on anyone else. There's no possible reason to assume that F'lar would take offense at Robinton having a lizard in his own home. Except that Robinton hasn't actually been listening to the articulated concerns, and therefore has decided that they're unreasonable.

Robinton is starting to be a little creepy here as he follows F'lar's journey:

F’lar had entered the Hall. Through the open window, Robinton could hear the Weyrleader’s voice and the pause for an answer. Silvina? More likely his journeyman, he thought, smiling to himself, lying in wait for the Weyrleader. Yes, he was right. He could hear Menolly’s voice and F’lar’s as they came up the stairs. The sounds of the voices were unmarked by emotion. Good girl! Easy does it.

Dude, why do you sound like a deer hunter lying in wait for a target?

F'lar enters, friendly enough. He's smiling, noting that Menolly's firelizards apparently refer to Mnementh as "the biggest one."

Robinton notes that the fire lizards apparently like awarding accolades. Menolly leaves, but she'll know what's going on since Beauty is attuned to Zair. And I'm a little annoyed that we're learning these traits of fire lizards out of the blue like this, but okay.

So F'lar is casual and even friendly. He is still F'lar though, which means he's there for a reason. Namely: they can't find D'ram. They're sure he's alive, but he's gone to a different time, and Ramoth can't reach Tiroth (D'ram's dragon.)

F'lar doesn't think Tiroth has the strength to take D'ram all the way back to his own time. But the man is gone. He and Robinton both acknowledge that this isn't unexpected.

Southern Weyr is out: Ramoth would have been able to find Tiroth. G'dened, with the unfortunate name, went back a fair distance at Ista, thinking D'ram "would stay where his memories are"

We're told that at one point, Lord Warbret had offered D'ram any of the caves on the south side of Ista Island. D'ram had been agreeable...too agreeable.

So F'lar gets restless, asking if Robinton has any ideas. He was with D'ram a great deal.

“He wasn’t talking very much toward the end, just sat there holding Fanna’s hand.” Robinton found that he needed to swallow. As accustomed as he was to mortality, D’ram’s devotion to his Weyrwoman and his silent grief at her death had the power to bring tears to the Harper’s eyes. “I tendered offers of hospitality to him from Groghe and Sangel. In fact, I gather he could have gone anywhere on Pern and been welcome. Obviously he prefers the company of his memories. Might I ask if there is any reason to know where he is?

Well, it's good to know that Robinton can show empathy for someone.

Anyway, the real reason that F'lar wants to find D'ram is this (amusingly his forelock falls into his eyes when agitated): Lessa is sure that he's gone back in time enough to suicide without distressing them. F'lar agrees that it's in D'ram's nature to do that.

Robinton points out, gently, that it's D'ram's option.

F'lar acknowledges this, stating no one would fault him. Lessa is worried. And D'ram's knowledge and opinion are very valuable. F'lar thinks that they need him. Robinton suggests that he needs time to recover from his grief, but F'lar is concerned that, having worn himself out tending the Weyrwoman, D'ram might be sick and without help.

Aw, I do love F'lar's strictly pragmatic concern. He likes D'ram, but he totally doesn't comprehend this whole 'needing time to recover' thing.

Robinton "hesitates to suggest this", but brings up Brekke trying with the fire lizards. Actually, Brekke's already tried. She insisted. But the fire lizards need a direction to go in time, like dragons. This is yet more evidence that Benden is not as unreasonable about all of this as Robinton assumes. He really does owe F'lar and Lessa an apology, and I know he won't give one.

Robinton has a different suggestion though: they should ask the lizards to remember a "lone bronze dragon". F'lar is very skeptical of asking "those creatures" to remember, and I'm delighted to think that he finds them as annoying as Lessa does.

I hadn't thought about that, because he's rarely as demonstrative as she is when he's not the viewpoint character, but NEITHER of them have fire lizards. And F'lar really wouldn't be suited to a pet that has no practical use.

Robinton's serious though. Fire lizards have good memories, that can be triggered by circumstance. He brings up the Red Star (which makes Zair freak out), they all knew how it was dangerous even before F'nor's idiot flight. According to Robinton, if you can get a fire-lizard to make any sense when you mention it, they remember being afraid of the Red Star. Robinton thinks they're actually remembering their ancestors being afraid.

Apparently Master Andemon thinks that they can remember unusual events that any of their number witnessed or felt.

F'lar doesn't see how this helps. But Robinton recommends asking them to remember seeing a lone dragon. That would be unusual enough to be noted.

Would it? We've heard plenty of instances of F'lar and Mnementh, Lessa and Ramoth, or Jaxom and Ruth going off on their own.

Robinton thinks it'll work if they ask Ruth to ask them. The fire lizards aren't afraid of him.

Oooo!

“If I could relieve Lessa’s fears, I’d even forget my antipathy to those nuisances.”

“I trust you’ll remember that statement.” Robinton grinned to soften the remark.

1) Aw. F'lar and Lessa are such a great couple.

2) Hee, F'lar DOES find them as irritating as Lessa does. I love the thought that they have pillow talk to that effect. "Oh my god, they're so annoying." "I want to feed them to a volcano!" "I love you so much."

3) Fuck off, Robinton.

So F'lar asks Robinton to come with him to Ruatha. Robinton suddenly remembers Jaxom's Threadscoring, which should be healed, and his training. He's not sure if N'ton had discussed that with Benden Weyr.

I kind of love that F'lar, Lessa and Benden are interchangeable.

So Robinton covers for Jaxom:

“Shouldn’t we find out if Jaxom’s at the Hold?”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” F’lar asked, frowning.

“Because he’s often about the Hold, learning the land, or at Fandarel’s with the other young people.”

“A point.” F’lar looked away from the Harper, out the window, his eyes unfocused. “No, Mnementh says Ruth’s at the Hold. See, I have my own message sender,” F’lar added with a grin.

There's something a little endearing about F'lar showing off there.

For his part, Robinton hopes that Ruth warns Jaxom that Mnementh bespoke him. He also wishes he'd had time to send Zair with a message, but he doesn't have an excuse and certainly no wish to jeopardize this gesture of F'lar's.

Robinton updates F'lar that Fanderal now has got his lines as far as Crom's mine. F'lar knew that, and that's another reason to locate D'ram.

Ugh:

F’lar laughed at the Harper’s bland question, a laugh that held no constraint so that Robinton sincerely hoped that this visit mended their relationship.

You could fucking apologize, Robinton.

Anyway, the Crafts have been pushy about going South, and F'lar is concerned that once they allow it, the Lord Holders would want to follow. Robinton reassures him that the Southern Continent is large enough to take all of Northern Pern, and then has an inspiration about where D'ram is going.

He doesn't explain, because they still have to figure out when. God, you're annoying, Robinton.

There's still a bit of tension:

“I’m going to Ruatha to the white dragon, to Ruth. Join us there, then, you silly creature, if you won’t ride on my shoulder.”

“Mnementh doesn’t mind Zair,” F’lar said.

“It’s still the other way round, I’m afraid,” Robinton said.

A hint of anger danced in the bronze rider’s eyes. “No dragon flamed a fire-lizard.”

“Not here, Weyrleader, not here. But all of them remember seeing it happen. And fire-lizards can only tell what they or one of them have actually seen.”

“Then let’s get to Ruatha and see if one of them has seen D’ram.”

So the fire-lizards were still tender subjects, thought Robinton sadly as he climbed up Mnementh’s shoulder to sit behind F’lar. He wished that Zair had not been so wary of Mnementh.

Robinton's misread of things annoys me. No, fire lizards are not a tender subject. F'lar was fine with you bringing up the idea of Brekke sending fire lizards. He was fine, if skeptical, at the idea of speaking to Ruth and asking the fire lizards to remember.

F'lar is personally offended because Zair doesn't trust Mnementh. That's all this is. It doesn't appear to be remotely connected to anything else.

I feel like Robinton (and maybe McCaffrey) keeps trying to pretend that F'lar and Lessa are being unreasonable here because then he (they) don't have to think about the fact that they have justifiable reasons to be personally angry at him.

So they meet up with Jaxom and Lytol. Robinton scans the boy for Threadscore, but doesn't see anything. He hopes Ruth healed that well. But of course, F'lar is so involved with this D'ram business that he wouldn't be looking for Threadscoring on either.

...I'm not sure I'd count on that.

So they tell Jaxom what they're planning, which causes Jaxom's eyes to flick toward F'lar and him to convulsively swallow. Robinton is confused, as am I. But then I figured it out: Jaxom is afraid that if they ask fire lizards about a dragon timing it, they'll betray what happened with the Queen egg.

Ugh. This is irrational and unfair, but I am so tired of hearing about that fucking egg.

Lytol admits that he doesn't understand, as he leads them to a lovely spread of wine, cheese, bread and fruit. Robinton is happy to explain, while eyeing the wine. Hahaha, that Robinton, such an alcoholic.

“The lad’s growing up, Lytol,” F’lar said, taking the cup and raising it approvingly toward Lytol.

“The lad has grown up,” Lytol said in a half-growl. “Now, about those fire-lizards ... ”

I love Lytol.

So Zair appears out of nowhere to reassure himself that Robinton had taken no harm "riding the biggest one". Then we get Robinton's explanation:

“Pardon me,” Robinton said, and soothed Zair to silence. Then he explained to Lytol his theory that fire-lizards shared a vast pool of common knowledge which would explain their fear of-he cleared his throat and pointed east to spare them all his bronze’s antics. Fire-lizards were able to communicate strong emotions as evidenced by Brekke’s call to Canth that fateful night. They had had this fright about the queen’s egg and all had been in a high state of turmoil until the egg had Hatched properly. They seemed to remember seeing it near a black nothingness, and they seemed to remember being flamed. Jaxom had told him on several occasions that the fire-lizards regaled Ruth with incredible things they said they’d remembered seeing. If this curious talent of theirs was not the sun-dreams of silly creatures-he had to placate an outraged Zair-then here was a case in which it could be proved, with Ruth’s cooperation. D’ram had apparently gone off on his own, to a time when Ramoth could not reach the mind of his dragon. It was upsetting Ramoth and Lessa, who were worried that D’ram might be in physical distress. Despite his resignation as Weyrleader, Pern still had a need of and a place for D’ram and certainly did not wish to lose contact with him.

We knew all this ahead of time, but sometimes a summary is helpful I suppose.

Robinton discloses that he's been venturing south, and reveals what happened that time that he and Menolly blew off course. He'd found a beautiful cave, and he apparently told D'ram of it. He thinks he's described it well enough for Tiroth to find his way there.

Lytol notes that D'ram wouldn't have wanted to cause complications. He'd have gone to a time before the Oldtimers were there And a jump back of ten or twelve Turns wouldn't overtax Tiroth.

F'lar points out an issue:

“A point, Robinton, that might complicate matters,” F’lar said. “If these creatures can remember significant events that happened to their predecessors” -and F’lar was patently skeptical-“then none of the fire-lizards here could possibly have any recollections for our purpose. No ancestors from the area.” He indicated Zair. “He’s from that clutch Menolly brought up from below Half-Circle Sea Hold, isn’t be?”

I love F'lar's skepticism. It's a bit arbitrary, but it amuses me.

Robinton proposes that they go to the cave. Ruth's ability to attract fire lizards will probably work there too. Jaxom's reaction is...annoying:

“You want me to go to the Southern Continent?”

Robinton noted the incredulity and sudden start of intense interest in Jaxom’s eyes. So, the boy had discovered that flying a fire-breathing dragon was not enough to keep him content with his life.

...yeah. This boy who is lord of a fucking Hold. Who has a dragon. Is not content with his life. And you wonder why I hate Jaxom.

Fuck you, kid.

Anyway, F'lar doesn't want anyone to go South. It's a breach of their agreement. But he doesn't see any other way to locate D'ram.

“The cove is a long way from the Southern Weyr,” Robinton said gently, “and we know the Oldtimers don’t venture far from it.”

“They ventured far enough from it a little while   ago, didn’t they?” F’lar asked with considerable heat   in his voice and an angry shine in his amber eyes.

Wearily Robinton saw that the breach between Harper Hall and Benden Weyr was only thinly healed.

...oh fuck you, Robinton. This isn't about you!

This is about the fact that F'lar's home was invaded, the egg, a CHILD, was kidnapped, and F'lar is mentally bonded to that child's father! And he's too busy trying to run the fucking world to actually have some time to recover from this trauma.

I love the fact that F'lar is not okay with this anymore than Lessa is. He's just quieter about it. I do not love the fact that his friend is too self-absorbed to offer any kind of comfort or support.

Also, if there IS a breach between Harper Hall and Benden Weyr, then what has Robinton done to fix it? Right now, the only overtures I see are from F'lar. F'lar is the one reaching out. F'lar is the one asking for help. F'lar is the one listening to Robinton's concerns and suggestions.

When has Robinton fucking apologized yet?

Lytol's still awesome though:

“Lord Lytol,” the Benden Weyrleader continued, “I am remiss. May we have your permission to recruit Jaxom to this search?”

Lytol shook his head and gestured toward Jaxom. “It is entirely up to Lord Jaxom.”

Whine to me again about your lot in life, Jaxom, just try it.

So anyway, F'lar asks after maps. And oo, we actually have a mention of F'nor's trip back in time in Dragonflight:

The charts were, however, incomplete. F’lar recognized them as copies of F’nor’s original explorations of the Southern Continent when the Benden wingsecond had taken Ramoth’s first clutch back ten Turns to mature before Thread would fall again-an undertaking marked by partial success.

I honestly thought this got retconned out!

Also, it wasn't Ramoth's first clutch. It was her second. Kylara and Prideth went back with them, after all. And Prideth was the Queen from Ramoth's first clutch. But we're not allowed to acknowledge Kylara being heroic.

Robinton casually notes that he's got more comprehensive maps of the coastline. He attaches a note to Menolly on Zair's collar, with "an entreaty not to forget his errand".

“And he’ll bring the charts back directly?” F’lar asked, skeptical and somewhat contemptuous. “Brekke and F’nor keep trying to convince me of their usefulness, too.”

...I will forever be amused by F'lar and Lessa's complete immunity to the appeal of fire lizards. Though if they really want to convince F'lar of their usefulness, they should have the masterminer talk to him.

Robinton thinks Menolly will bring them back with the watchdragon, but he wishes he'd thought to have her return the maps by fire lizard, as no opportunity should be wasted.

All of a sudden, F'lar asks Jaxom how much timing he's done. Jaxom flushes, which causes his scar to stand out, but fortunately, that side of his face is conveniently away from F'lar.

F'lar continues:

“Come, lad, I don’t know any young dragonrider who hasn’t used the trick to be on time. What I want to establish is how accurate Ruth’s time sense is. Some dragons don’t have any at all.”

“Ruth always knows when he is,” Jaxom replied with quick pride. “I’d say he has the best time memory on Pern.”

F'lar asks if he's tried long jumps. He has. F'lar asks about wavering of the leap or unduly long times between. No. And accuracy is easy if they jump at night.

F'lar doesn't follow that reasoning, but Jaxom explains:

“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.”

Both Robinton and F'lar realize they never thought to do it that way. Robinton points out that there's precedent though, in Benden.

“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?”

See, yet again! This aggravates me so much! People are walking on eggshells with F'lar and Lessa, assuming they're going to fly off the handle about anything. But they're NOT.

F'lar and Lessa's concerns are completely REASONABLE.

1) They don't hate fire lizards. They find them annoying and a nuisance. Because for the most part, they fucking ARE. And in the five to seven years since they've been discovered, the most use anyone's ever gotten from them are their use as favored gifts, the occasional message, oh, and SPYING.

2) They're not going to fly off the handle at every mention of Oldtimers. They're angry and traumatized because the Oldtimers stole their fucking child. (Or well, their Dragons' child. Still.)

Menolly apparently had the same thought that Robinton did.

“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, cluttering 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 firelizards.

I feel like Lytol is having the same reaction that I am. This MAY not have been the best way to show F'lar that the fire lizards are useful. Yes, they got the charts here, but this isn't exactly the best show.

Jaxom finally asks Ruth to tell Beauty to behave, and she squawks but landed on the table. She apparently scolds Jaxom furiously as he undoes the chart. The bronzes submit as well.

“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.

...yeah, but if Menolly has to be here to take the message, doesn't that rather negate their use as messengers?

I don't think you're winning F'lar over with this one. Introduce him to the masterminer instead.

So Robinton finds the map he needs. Lytol points out that he has apparently been blown off course in every direction, but Robinton points out that Toric and his sea holders have every right to discover their land. They also track down the mines that Toric's been trading from, and Robinton's cove, which is as far away from the Southern Weyr as Ruatha is from Benden.

F'lar is skeptical about the find the place again, but Robinton is nothing if not opportunistic:

“Dead center in the cove is the cone of an old mountain, perfectly symmetrical.” Robinton gestured appropriately. “Zair was with me and could give Ruth the proper image.” Robinton turned his head slightly and gave Jaxom a private wink.

F'lar is skeptical, which is fair. I'm going to bitch about F'nor though. F'nor is the one person with access to F'lar who has both a fire lizard and a dragon. If F'nor is so adamant about convincing his brother that fire lizards can be useful, then why not show him this trick?

Oh right. F'nor's a fucking idiot.

Jaxom says that Ruth's taking fire-lizard direction before, and F'lar finally reacts to all this nonsense:

“What is this?” F’lar demanded suddenly. “A conspiracy to restore fire-lizards to good odor?”

“I thought we were forming a cooperative venture to locate D’ram,” Robinton replied in mild rebuke.

F’lar snorted and bent to study the maps.

You know, if F'lar was as irrational as you guys have been assuming, he wouldn't be so easily mollified here. You HAVE been trying to sell the fire lizards very hard.

So the plan is basically to work via Ruth. If the Southern lizards are attracted to him. If not, Jaxom and Ruth will try judicious time jumps backward.

They discuss fire lizard recall: F'lar is still not on board with the idea. Eventually, he realizes that he's stayed longer than he planned. He cautions Jaxom to be careful timing it. See if he can find D'ram, and just mark the time and place and come back to Benden. F'lar actually doesn't want to intrude on D'ram's grief unnecessarily, and so Jaxom should try to avoid being seen if possible.

Aw. Lookit that empathy! Character development.

So F'lar takes Robinton back to Harper Hall. We're told that Robinton "forebore to go beyond offering ordinary courtesies. The needs of Pern had brought the Benden Weyrleader back to the Hall. One step at a time!"

Or you could apologize?

Beauty comes up to scold Zair, which means Menolly must be agitating for an update. Oh, and Robinton is a LIAR:

A good child, Menolly, and worth her weight in marks. He hoped she’d approve of a trip with young Jaxom. He hadn’t mentioned her participating in front of Lytol since F’lar had long ago enjoined him to the strictest secrecy about his Southern trips. Zair would not have been enough for Jaxom to find the right cove, but with Menolly, who had been with him on that stormy trip, and her fire-lizards to act as reinforcement, they’d have no trouble at all. But the fewer people who knew about it the better.

Now SUPPOSEDLY Menolly wasn't mentioned, because of Lytol. But notice? Robinton is admitting that Zair, alone, wouldn't be able to give Jaxom the information. Meaning he's been lying to F'lar about it all along!

So the next day, Jaxom is apparently relieved and surprised that Menolly's coming along. I'm only surprised that McCaffrey seems to have forgotten how bad an attitude he had last chapter. Meanwhile, Robinton considers the interaction between Jaxom and Menolly: "goodnatured chaffing, a dollop of contention for leadership, but nothing beyond the exchanges of old friends. Not, he hastily told himself, that Menolly would not make an excellent Lady Holder for Jaxom if the two were sincerely attached. It was just that ..."

Oh, don't fucking go there. What IS it with McCaffrey, Pern, and men who refer to their love interests as children? Possibly the whole reason F'lar's grown on me is that he's the only one here who actually treats his partner as his fucking equal.

Egh.

Comments

[copperfyre]

I hate Robinton, so much.

Also Jaxom annoys me, so much.