The White Dragon - Chapter Ten
Oct. 3rd, 2020 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, on White Dragon, F'lar proved to me again why I love him (...and who'd have thought, after Dragonflight, that THAT would be possible) and Robinton proved to be a total fucking douchebag. Again. Still.
Oh and because somehow this didn't get in my last recap, at one point Robinton calls Menolly a "saucy girl". Excuse me while I vomit.
So we rejoin Jaxom, Ruth and Menolly. Four of her fire lizards are coming along too: Beauty, Diver, Rocky, and Poll. I don't remember the last one, which makes me wonder if her lizards reproduced. This also reminds me of why I didn't necessarily think Menolly needed nine firelizards, when five would be pretty impressive, more than anyone else has, but more manageable in general.
But really next to super special Jaxom, it feels pretty silly to complain about Menolly's treatment in the writing. Especially now that she actually has plot.
Anyway, Menolly is bringing these four, because they'd accompanied her and Robinton on their initial trip. Jaxom is curious about why they'd been sailing in the Southern Continent, but he doesn't want to ask. He also wonders if she told her suspicions about the return of the egg to Robinton.
...you could ask, you know?
Anyway, Jaxom had apparently wanted to time it to the night before, and spent time working on the star positions in the Southern Hemisphere, but Menolly and Robinton vetoed that. That's plan B if Ruth can't get a vivid enough picture of the cove from Menolly and the firelizards.
So basically all of you just sat there and lied to F'lar about what they could do, and you're not sure about this either. Wow.
As it turns out, Somewhat to Jaxom's disgruntlement", Ruth gets a very clear picture from Menolly. Menolly makes very sharp pictures, we're told. Of fucking course she does.
When they get there, Jaxom notes the quality of air, which is cleaner and less humid. They find the cove easily. It's admittedly very beautiful:
The water had a clarity that made the sandy bottom of the cove quite visible, though Jaxom was sure that the water was by no means shallow. He noticed the brilliant reflection of yellowtails and the darting movements of whitefingers in the clear waters. Ahead of them was the perfect crescent of a white-sanded cove, trees of all sizes, some bearing yellow and red fruits, forming a shady border.
Ruth intends to go for a swim, while Menolly warns that the sands are as hot as the Hatching Grounds. She heads very quickly for shade. Jaxom, of course, says they're not that hot. But Menolly points out that she has sensitive feet.
Jaxom ends up fetching some fruit while they wait for firelizards. Jaxom seems a bit impatient, but Menolly thinks they'll notice Ruth soon enough.
They have a weird almost argument:
“Do we actually know there are fire-lizards in this part of the South?”
“Oh, yes, didn’t I mention?” Menolly pretended to be contrite. “We saw a queen mating, and I nearly lost Rocky and Diver to her. Beauty was furious.”
“Anything else that hasn’t been mentioned that I should know?”
Menolly grinned at him. “I need to have the old memory jogged by association. You’ll know what is needed when the time comes.”
I...don't quite understand why Jaxom is annoyed or Menolly is contrite here. I presumed that they knew fire lizards would be here, since that's the basis of the plan. Otherwise this would be a waste of Jaxom's time. I don't see why Jaxom would need to hear the amusing anecdote specifically to realize that.
So it gets hotter. Eventually both Jaxom and Menolly strip down and splash around in the water. She notes that they better not take too much sun. Apparently she'd gotten a pretty nasty sunburn last time. I feel that. My one visit to Hawaii, I got so burned that I could barely move for two days. Fun trip, but OW.
Ruth joins them for some playing. And then Jaxom decides to be kind of gross here:
Menolly’s body was trimmer than Corana’s, Jaxom noticed as they waded out, happily exhausted by their swim with Ruth. She was longer in the leg and not nearly as rounded in the hip. A bit too flat in the breast, but she moved with a grace that fascinated Jaxom more than courtesy allowed. When he looked back, she had put on pants and overtunic, so that her slim bare arms were exposed to the sun as she dried her hair. He preferred long hair in a girl though, with all the dragonriding Menolly did, he could see why she’d keep it short enough to wear under a helmet.
I'm not sure why this annoys me. I think it's the comparison and the focus on Jaxom's preference. Menolly doesn't give a shit if you understand why she wears her hair a certain way, you cretin.
There's some cute banter when Ruth shakes water on them like a giant dog. Then they settle in. Jaxom intends to watch for visiting lizards, but he dozes off instead. Soon Ruth wakes him: they have visitors.
Three bronzes, four greens, two golds and a blue: none with paint or bands. They like Ruth, and have never seen anything like Ruth before. Ruth asks them about seeing a lone bronze dragon. They do, "a long time ago", he didn't stay long.
Jaxon's a little leery about that. Did they come and get D'ram? Did he suicide? He asks about other men, which excites the lizards. They remember men. Lots of men. No dragons. Apparently Jaxom and Menolly are not "their men".
Ruth is as confused as Jaxom is. He can't get them to talk about D'ram again either. All they want to remember is their men. Jaxom and Menolly rise to see if the lizards recognize them. They're startled and disappear. But it's stated clearly, Jaxom and Menolly are not their men. The lizards have gone away to remember them.
Menolly got some of the images from her own lizards. They weren't talking about the Southerners, she thinks. She saw the mountain in the background. And they weren't talking about Robinton and Menolly being shipwrecked. She asks if they remembered a boat, but Ruth hadn't been told to ask about that.
Jaxom asks if the lizards would react if Tiroth had gone between. Ruth says that if he went, by himself, "to the end", then yes. But they didn't remember sadness. Ruth remembers a dragon named Mireth going, very well.
So it sounds like D'ram and Tiroth are/were alive. A dragon wouldn't allow a rider to harm himself, and Tiroth wouldn't leave if D'ram was alive.
Jaxom does some logic. Thread's only been falling for fifteen years. He's probably gone back twenty or twenty-five years. He'll try that first. Which I think had been the plan anyway from last chapter?
I'm a little amused that the fire lizards turned out to be mostly useless after all.
“Jaxom, wait! Don’t be so quick ... ”
Menolly’s words were lost in the noise of Ruth’s wings. Jaxom grinned to himself as he saw her jumping up and down in the sands in her frustration. He concentrated on the moment in time to when he wished to jump: predawn, with the Red Star far east, a pale, malevolent pink, not yet ready to swoop down on an unsuspecting Pern. But Menolly had a final say. He felt a tail wrapping about his neck just as he told Ruth to transfer between time.
Why are you such a jerk, Jaxom?
So they make it back. And of COURSE, Tiroth and D'ram are here. It'd have served them right if Jaxom had been wrong and needed to eat crow. They're asleep at the moment. Okay, guys. You found them, now you can report back to F'lar and leave him alone.
And credit to Jaxom, he does just that. Though for some asshole reason, he decides to picture the sun well over the forests.
He comes back to a VERY annoyed Menolly.
Menolly was very pretty, Jaxom thought, with her eyes flashing like that, but she was daunting, too.
So as it turns out, he's been gone for hours from this time. Wow, dick move, Jaxom. It took you two seconds to discern D'ram's whereabouts. Maybe Menolly has things she'd have liked to do for a few hours instead of worry about you and the lizard she'd sent with you.
Jaxom tries to excuse himself:
“You knew I was all right. You sent Rocky with me.”
“That didn’t help! You went so far Beauty couldn’t touch him. We had no idea where you were!” She flung her arms wide with her exasperation. “You could’ve met up with those men the other fire-lizards saw. You could’ve miscalculated and never come back!”
“I’m sorry, Menolly, really I am.” Jaxom was genuinely contrite, if only to spare himself the sharp edge of her tongue. “But I couldn’t remember what time it was when we left, so I made sure we didn’t double up on ourselves coming back.”
Bull fucking Shit, you little fuck. And I love that he's only sorry because she's got a sharp tongue.
Menolly calms a little and says she was about to send Beauty to get F'lar. It's kind of a shame that she didn't. THAT might have been a use of lizards that he'd understand and respect. Anyway, she's been accomplishing things during this time: she found the remains of a lean-to near the stream.
They return to Benden Weyr, and the fire lizards are uncertain. Menolly wishes she dared take them into the queen's weyr, but that wouldn't be smart, so they get sent of to Brekke's.
The implicit disrespect of Lessa's wishes bothers me. Also, it seems like a pretty easy thing to send the lizards to Brekke, so why is this even a problem? You can go ten minutes without your little vanity pets.
Things get a little more complicated when the swarm of Southern fire lizards appear too. The watchdragon roars and they flee. Ruth protests that they only wanted to see where they came from. Jaxom says Ruatha Hold is fine, but not here. Ruth says they won't come back, they're frightened.
...good?
I mean, look, they're cute and innocent. But they're uncontrollable and chaotic. And people have used fire lizards to spy, and these ones have no markings. But anyway, this gets everyone's attention, and Lessa and F'lar appear on the ledge beside Mnementh.
“We’re in for it now,” Jaxom said.
“Not as bearers of good tidings, we’re not. Concentrate on that.”
“I’m too bloody tired to concentrate on anything,” Jaxom replied with more feeling than he’d intended.
His skin itched, probably the sand. Or too much sun, but he was uncomfortable.
I am very hungry, Ruth said, looking wistfully toward the fenced killing ground of the Weyr.
Jaxom groaned. “I can’t let you hunt here, Ruth.” He gave his friend an encouraging pat and, noticing F’lar and Lessa waiting for them, he hitched up his trousers, settled his tunic and gestured to Menolly that they’d better go.
a) Whose fault is it that you're tired, Jaxom? You didn't have to show off.
b) Stop being a dick.
c) Why would anyone resent Ruth hunting here? Just ask.
And indeed:
They’d taken no more than three steps, during which time Mnementh had turned his wedge-shaped head to F'lar, when the Weyrleader had spoken to Lessa and the two Benden leaders started down the steps, F’lar gesturing to Jaxom to move Ruth on to the killing ground.
Ruth says that Mnementh is a kind friend. Which is interesting. It does seem like the dragon parental bond disappears after eggs hatch. Mnementh is Ruth's father.
F'lar tells Jaxom to let Ruth go, he looks gray. And indeed, Jaxom realizes he does look gray. God, Jaxom is kind of the Worst. Isn't he?
Jaxom realizes he himself feels gray and blacks out. He wakes up on the steps to the queen's Weyr, with everyone looking anxious. Lessa puts a cup of soup in his hands, and the scolds him quite well:
“Menolly’s given us the salient points,” the Weyrwoman said, pulling a disapproving grimace. “But you disappeared long enough to scare Menolly out of her harpered wits. How under the sun did you conclude he’d gone twenty-five Turns back? Don’t answer that yet. Drink. You’re transparent and I’d never hear the last of it from Lytol if you came to any harm over this numbwitted escapade.” She glared at her weyrmate. “Yes, I’ve been worried over D’ram but not to the point where I would risk a fingertip of Ruth’s hide to find him if he’s trying that hard to be lost. Nor am I very pleased to find fire-lizards involved.” She was tapping one foot now and her glare was divided equally between Menolly and Jaxom. “I still think they’re pests. Barging in where they’re not wanted. I suppose that unmarked fair that popped in followed you up from the South? I won’t sanction that.”
...that seems fair to me.
Anyway, Jaxom protests that he can't keep them from following Ruth, and Lessa says, in a milder tone, that she's sure he's tried.
He really hasn't tried, Lessa. We were there. We saw.
Anyway, Lessa compliments Ruth as a neat hunter. She urges Jaxom to spend the night at Benden, and send one of those "dratted firelizards" to tell Lytol.
Jaxom tries to say he's all right, but F'lar says not when he's leaning at that angle. Menolly hesitates, but Lessa reassures her that she doesn't intend to eat Jaxom, or even scold him when he's reeling.
And...as it turns out, that whole thread scar thing...
“Where did you acquire that, young Lord Jaxom?” she asked harshly, her eyes forcing him to look at her.
F’lar, alerted by the tone in her voice, returned to the table with the wine and cups he’d taken from the wall chest.
“Acquire what? Oh ho, the young man has trained his dragon to chew firestone but not to duck!”
“I thought it was decided that Jaxom was to remain in Holding at Ruatha.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t scold him,” F’lar replied as he winked at Jaxom.
“About timing it. But this ... ” she gestured angrily at Jaxom, “this is entirely different.”
“Is it, Lessa?” F’lar asked in a tone that embarrassed Jaxom. They were momentarily unaware of him. “I seem to remember a girl wanting desperately to fly her queen.”
“Flying was no danger. But Jaxom could be-“
“Jaxom has evidently learned a lesson. Haven’t you? About ducking, that is.”
I love this so much. I want to include the entire exchange. It's so great. THIS is how people who care about each other disagree, by the way. The fond banter makes it work.
Because here's the thing, Lessa isn't just being a fussy mother here. Jaxom is the HEIR to her kingdom. SHE gave up her kingdom specifically for HIM. Of course she wants him safe. And of course she wants him to take it.
F'lar, of course, is taking the point of view of the Weyr. Jaxom's training is Lytol's responsibility. Arguably, Ruth is N'ton's. Given everyone's frantic fear earlier, F'lar's reaction is kind of an anti-climax. He has no problem with the idea of Jaxom training under N'ton.
Of course we get a point where Jaxom agonizes over explaining himself because he doesn't want to reveal that he'd rescued the egg. I am SO tired of hearing about that damn egg.
F’lar rescued him. “Because Ruth is a dragon, and dragons ought to fight Thread with firestone? Right?” He shrugged at Lessa. “What did you expect? He’s Ruathan-blooded, like. yourself. Just keep your hide and Ruth’s intact.”
“We haven’t flown in a Threadfall yet,” Jaxom admitted realizing as he spoke how much resentment showed in his voice.
F’lar gave him a friendly clout on the shoulder.
“He’s a sound lad, Lessa, stop glowering. If he’s singed himself once, he’s less likely to risk doing so again. Was Ruth hurt?”
“Yes!” The anguish of that experience was plain in Jaxom’s admission.
F’lar gave a laugh and waggled a finger at Lessa, who was still glaring at Jaxom. “There! That’s the best deterrent in the world. Ruth wasn’t badly hurt, was he? I can’t say I’ve seen you that often recently ... ” F’lar turned toward the killing ground as if conjuring up the white dragon.
Lessa still doesn't like it. And again, I don't see anything unreasonable about any of this.
“We would have asked you, Weyrwoman,” Jaxom began, not entirely truthful, “but there was so much trouble just then ... ”
“Well ... ” she began.
“Well,” echoed F’lar, “it really isn’t up to you, Lessa, but you do understand, Jaxom, how awkward it would be for you to be seriously hurt right now. We can’t afford to have a major Hold in contention.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
“Nor, I’m afraid, is it wise to press your confirmation as Lord Holder-“
“I don’t want Lytol to have to step down, sir. Not ever.”
“Your loyalty does you credit but I really can understand and appreciate your ambiguous position. It’s never easy to be patient, my friend, but patience can be rewarding.”
Again Jaxom was embarrassed by the look that Lessa and F’lar exchanged.
Shut up, Jaxom. You don't get to try to guilt Lessa.
The F'lar and Lessa reminiscence make me so happy. I really do love how they interact. How can McCaffrey do so well with them as partners and do so badly with her other romantic pairings?!
F'lar compliments Jaxom's resourcefulness, but states that if he'd known Jaxom would be so thorough, he'd have given more explicit instructions. Jaxom states that Lessa's flight had given him the idea. The jump had been taken in twenty-five year intervals. He figured D'ram would go back that interval.
F'lar approves and Lessa is at least somewhat mollified. Also, Jaxom's food is coming, and she says no more talk until he's eaten. F'lar reassures Jaxom's worry about how much Ruth is eating.
Gosh, it's almost like the constant portrayal by certain individuals of F'lar and Lessa being unreasonable are...wrong?
Menolly's brought the food, a lot of it. Apparently Manora figured it's close enough to dinner time that they'd all eat in the Weyr. Jaxom notes that if anyone had told him that morning that he'd enjoy a comfortable dinner with the Benden Weyrleaders, he wouldn't have believed it. He does insist on checking on Ruth first, and Lessa permits him to walk to the ledge.
As they relax, F'lar wants to hear more about the men that the fire lizards mention.
Menolly explains (before glancing first at Jaxom to see if he wishes to answer...fuck Jaxom), that it's hard to get fire lizards to explain. The images made no sense and were too varied.
Lessa asks why the images would be varied, "interested in spite of her present antagonism to fire lizards"
For fuck's sake. She doesn't want them being ANNOYING or SPYING. She's not like some anti-fire lizard extremist here!
“Generally a group will come up with one specific image ... ”
Jaxom inhaled wearily: she couldn’t be foolish enough to mention the egg pictures.
“They echoed Canth’s fall from the Red Star. My friends will often come back with rather good images, I think each reinforcing the other, of places they’ve been.”
Fuck off, Jaxom.
F'lar wonders if there are men elsewhere in the South, it IS a vast continent. Lessa immediately vetos exploring there. She figures if there are men there, they would have ventured far enough north at some point to be seen by F'nor or Toric, and there'd be some other sign.
I'm not sure that's true, but I appreciate Lessa blocking F'lar from doing something reckless and stupid.
“You’re quite likely correct, Lessa,” F’lar said, looking so disappointed that Jaxom realized for the first time that being Benden’s Weyrleader and First Dragonrider of Pern might not be as enviable a position as he’d previously assumed."
So says the fucking Lord to a Kingdom who also has a dragon.
So often lately he’d come to realize that things were not as they seemed. There were hidden facets to every thing. You’d think you had what you wanted in your grasp and, when you looked closely, it wasn’t what it had seemed to be from a distance. Like teaching your dragon to chew firestone-and getting caught at it, in one sense, as he had. Now he had to train earnestly with N’ton’s weyrlings, which was fine as far as it went but it didn’t go far enough to please Jaxom- flying high in a Fort Weyr wing so his holders wouldn’t even know he was there!
...why do you annoy me even when you're almost having an epiphany?
Maybe it's just that Jaxom gets everything handed to him and doesn't seem to appreciate this.
“The problem is, Jaxom, that we,” F’lar indicated Lessa, himself and the entire Weyr, “have other plans for the South-before the Lord Holders start parceling it out to their younger sons.” He brushed his hair back from his face. “We learned a lesson from the Oldtimers, a valuable one. And I know what happens to a Weyr in a long Interval.” F'lar grinned broadly at Jaxom. “We’ve been mighty busy protecting land by seeding the grubs. By the next Pass of the Red Star, all the Northern Continent,” and the Weyrleader’s gesture was wide, “will be seeded. And safe at least from Thread burrowing. If the Holds thought dragonriders were superfluous before, they certainly will have more cause then.”
I mean, to be fair, the Lord Holders thought you were superfluous because you spent four hundred years as a parasite, F'lar.
But anyway, F'lar would prefer it if the Weyrs no longer needed the bounty of the Holds. If they have lands of their own...
“You want the South!”
“Not all of it.”
“Just the best part of it,” said Lessa firmly.
That actually doesn't sound like a terrible idea. I feel like you could just TELL the Lord Holders that that's what you have in mind. The second son problem is something that would have been around for thousands of years. But I bet they'll be pretty enthusiastic about possibly being able to end their tithing. There might be a lot of possibilities once the Weyrs are no longer parasitic.
So with Lessa's wonderful Lessa-ish line, the chapter ends.
Oh and because somehow this didn't get in my last recap, at one point Robinton calls Menolly a "saucy girl". Excuse me while I vomit.
So we rejoin Jaxom, Ruth and Menolly. Four of her fire lizards are coming along too: Beauty, Diver, Rocky, and Poll. I don't remember the last one, which makes me wonder if her lizards reproduced. This also reminds me of why I didn't necessarily think Menolly needed nine firelizards, when five would be pretty impressive, more than anyone else has, but more manageable in general.
But really next to super special Jaxom, it feels pretty silly to complain about Menolly's treatment in the writing. Especially now that she actually has plot.
Anyway, Menolly is bringing these four, because they'd accompanied her and Robinton on their initial trip. Jaxom is curious about why they'd been sailing in the Southern Continent, but he doesn't want to ask. He also wonders if she told her suspicions about the return of the egg to Robinton.
...you could ask, you know?
Anyway, Jaxom had apparently wanted to time it to the night before, and spent time working on the star positions in the Southern Hemisphere, but Menolly and Robinton vetoed that. That's plan B if Ruth can't get a vivid enough picture of the cove from Menolly and the firelizards.
So basically all of you just sat there and lied to F'lar about what they could do, and you're not sure about this either. Wow.
As it turns out, Somewhat to Jaxom's disgruntlement", Ruth gets a very clear picture from Menolly. Menolly makes very sharp pictures, we're told. Of fucking course she does.
When they get there, Jaxom notes the quality of air, which is cleaner and less humid. They find the cove easily. It's admittedly very beautiful:
The water had a clarity that made the sandy bottom of the cove quite visible, though Jaxom was sure that the water was by no means shallow. He noticed the brilliant reflection of yellowtails and the darting movements of whitefingers in the clear waters. Ahead of them was the perfect crescent of a white-sanded cove, trees of all sizes, some bearing yellow and red fruits, forming a shady border.
Ruth intends to go for a swim, while Menolly warns that the sands are as hot as the Hatching Grounds. She heads very quickly for shade. Jaxom, of course, says they're not that hot. But Menolly points out that she has sensitive feet.
Jaxom ends up fetching some fruit while they wait for firelizards. Jaxom seems a bit impatient, but Menolly thinks they'll notice Ruth soon enough.
They have a weird almost argument:
“Do we actually know there are fire-lizards in this part of the South?”
“Oh, yes, didn’t I mention?” Menolly pretended to be contrite. “We saw a queen mating, and I nearly lost Rocky and Diver to her. Beauty was furious.”
“Anything else that hasn’t been mentioned that I should know?”
Menolly grinned at him. “I need to have the old memory jogged by association. You’ll know what is needed when the time comes.”
I...don't quite understand why Jaxom is annoyed or Menolly is contrite here. I presumed that they knew fire lizards would be here, since that's the basis of the plan. Otherwise this would be a waste of Jaxom's time. I don't see why Jaxom would need to hear the amusing anecdote specifically to realize that.
So it gets hotter. Eventually both Jaxom and Menolly strip down and splash around in the water. She notes that they better not take too much sun. Apparently she'd gotten a pretty nasty sunburn last time. I feel that. My one visit to Hawaii, I got so burned that I could barely move for two days. Fun trip, but OW.
Ruth joins them for some playing. And then Jaxom decides to be kind of gross here:
Menolly’s body was trimmer than Corana’s, Jaxom noticed as they waded out, happily exhausted by their swim with Ruth. She was longer in the leg and not nearly as rounded in the hip. A bit too flat in the breast, but she moved with a grace that fascinated Jaxom more than courtesy allowed. When he looked back, she had put on pants and overtunic, so that her slim bare arms were exposed to the sun as she dried her hair. He preferred long hair in a girl though, with all the dragonriding Menolly did, he could see why she’d keep it short enough to wear under a helmet.
I'm not sure why this annoys me. I think it's the comparison and the focus on Jaxom's preference. Menolly doesn't give a shit if you understand why she wears her hair a certain way, you cretin.
There's some cute banter when Ruth shakes water on them like a giant dog. Then they settle in. Jaxom intends to watch for visiting lizards, but he dozes off instead. Soon Ruth wakes him: they have visitors.
Three bronzes, four greens, two golds and a blue: none with paint or bands. They like Ruth, and have never seen anything like Ruth before. Ruth asks them about seeing a lone bronze dragon. They do, "a long time ago", he didn't stay long.
Jaxon's a little leery about that. Did they come and get D'ram? Did he suicide? He asks about other men, which excites the lizards. They remember men. Lots of men. No dragons. Apparently Jaxom and Menolly are not "their men".
Ruth is as confused as Jaxom is. He can't get them to talk about D'ram again either. All they want to remember is their men. Jaxom and Menolly rise to see if the lizards recognize them. They're startled and disappear. But it's stated clearly, Jaxom and Menolly are not their men. The lizards have gone away to remember them.
Menolly got some of the images from her own lizards. They weren't talking about the Southerners, she thinks. She saw the mountain in the background. And they weren't talking about Robinton and Menolly being shipwrecked. She asks if they remembered a boat, but Ruth hadn't been told to ask about that.
Jaxom asks if the lizards would react if Tiroth had gone between. Ruth says that if he went, by himself, "to the end", then yes. But they didn't remember sadness. Ruth remembers a dragon named Mireth going, very well.
So it sounds like D'ram and Tiroth are/were alive. A dragon wouldn't allow a rider to harm himself, and Tiroth wouldn't leave if D'ram was alive.
Jaxom does some logic. Thread's only been falling for fifteen years. He's probably gone back twenty or twenty-five years. He'll try that first. Which I think had been the plan anyway from last chapter?
I'm a little amused that the fire lizards turned out to be mostly useless after all.
“Jaxom, wait! Don’t be so quick ... ”
Menolly’s words were lost in the noise of Ruth’s wings. Jaxom grinned to himself as he saw her jumping up and down in the sands in her frustration. He concentrated on the moment in time to when he wished to jump: predawn, with the Red Star far east, a pale, malevolent pink, not yet ready to swoop down on an unsuspecting Pern. But Menolly had a final say. He felt a tail wrapping about his neck just as he told Ruth to transfer between time.
Why are you such a jerk, Jaxom?
So they make it back. And of COURSE, Tiroth and D'ram are here. It'd have served them right if Jaxom had been wrong and needed to eat crow. They're asleep at the moment. Okay, guys. You found them, now you can report back to F'lar and leave him alone.
And credit to Jaxom, he does just that. Though for some asshole reason, he decides to picture the sun well over the forests.
He comes back to a VERY annoyed Menolly.
Menolly was very pretty, Jaxom thought, with her eyes flashing like that, but she was daunting, too.
So as it turns out, he's been gone for hours from this time. Wow, dick move, Jaxom. It took you two seconds to discern D'ram's whereabouts. Maybe Menolly has things she'd have liked to do for a few hours instead of worry about you and the lizard she'd sent with you.
Jaxom tries to excuse himself:
“You knew I was all right. You sent Rocky with me.”
“That didn’t help! You went so far Beauty couldn’t touch him. We had no idea where you were!” She flung her arms wide with her exasperation. “You could’ve met up with those men the other fire-lizards saw. You could’ve miscalculated and never come back!”
“I’m sorry, Menolly, really I am.” Jaxom was genuinely contrite, if only to spare himself the sharp edge of her tongue. “But I couldn’t remember what time it was when we left, so I made sure we didn’t double up on ourselves coming back.”
Bull fucking Shit, you little fuck. And I love that he's only sorry because she's got a sharp tongue.
Menolly calms a little and says she was about to send Beauty to get F'lar. It's kind of a shame that she didn't. THAT might have been a use of lizards that he'd understand and respect. Anyway, she's been accomplishing things during this time: she found the remains of a lean-to near the stream.
They return to Benden Weyr, and the fire lizards are uncertain. Menolly wishes she dared take them into the queen's weyr, but that wouldn't be smart, so they get sent of to Brekke's.
The implicit disrespect of Lessa's wishes bothers me. Also, it seems like a pretty easy thing to send the lizards to Brekke, so why is this even a problem? You can go ten minutes without your little vanity pets.
Things get a little more complicated when the swarm of Southern fire lizards appear too. The watchdragon roars and they flee. Ruth protests that they only wanted to see where they came from. Jaxom says Ruatha Hold is fine, but not here. Ruth says they won't come back, they're frightened.
...good?
I mean, look, they're cute and innocent. But they're uncontrollable and chaotic. And people have used fire lizards to spy, and these ones have no markings. But anyway, this gets everyone's attention, and Lessa and F'lar appear on the ledge beside Mnementh.
“We’re in for it now,” Jaxom said.
“Not as bearers of good tidings, we’re not. Concentrate on that.”
“I’m too bloody tired to concentrate on anything,” Jaxom replied with more feeling than he’d intended.
His skin itched, probably the sand. Or too much sun, but he was uncomfortable.
I am very hungry, Ruth said, looking wistfully toward the fenced killing ground of the Weyr.
Jaxom groaned. “I can’t let you hunt here, Ruth.” He gave his friend an encouraging pat and, noticing F’lar and Lessa waiting for them, he hitched up his trousers, settled his tunic and gestured to Menolly that they’d better go.
a) Whose fault is it that you're tired, Jaxom? You didn't have to show off.
b) Stop being a dick.
c) Why would anyone resent Ruth hunting here? Just ask.
And indeed:
They’d taken no more than three steps, during which time Mnementh had turned his wedge-shaped head to F'lar, when the Weyrleader had spoken to Lessa and the two Benden leaders started down the steps, F’lar gesturing to Jaxom to move Ruth on to the killing ground.
Ruth says that Mnementh is a kind friend. Which is interesting. It does seem like the dragon parental bond disappears after eggs hatch. Mnementh is Ruth's father.
F'lar tells Jaxom to let Ruth go, he looks gray. And indeed, Jaxom realizes he does look gray. God, Jaxom is kind of the Worst. Isn't he?
Jaxom realizes he himself feels gray and blacks out. He wakes up on the steps to the queen's Weyr, with everyone looking anxious. Lessa puts a cup of soup in his hands, and the scolds him quite well:
“Menolly’s given us the salient points,” the Weyrwoman said, pulling a disapproving grimace. “But you disappeared long enough to scare Menolly out of her harpered wits. How under the sun did you conclude he’d gone twenty-five Turns back? Don’t answer that yet. Drink. You’re transparent and I’d never hear the last of it from Lytol if you came to any harm over this numbwitted escapade.” She glared at her weyrmate. “Yes, I’ve been worried over D’ram but not to the point where I would risk a fingertip of Ruth’s hide to find him if he’s trying that hard to be lost. Nor am I very pleased to find fire-lizards involved.” She was tapping one foot now and her glare was divided equally between Menolly and Jaxom. “I still think they’re pests. Barging in where they’re not wanted. I suppose that unmarked fair that popped in followed you up from the South? I won’t sanction that.”
...that seems fair to me.
Anyway, Jaxom protests that he can't keep them from following Ruth, and Lessa says, in a milder tone, that she's sure he's tried.
He really hasn't tried, Lessa. We were there. We saw.
Anyway, Lessa compliments Ruth as a neat hunter. She urges Jaxom to spend the night at Benden, and send one of those "dratted firelizards" to tell Lytol.
Jaxom tries to say he's all right, but F'lar says not when he's leaning at that angle. Menolly hesitates, but Lessa reassures her that she doesn't intend to eat Jaxom, or even scold him when he's reeling.
And...as it turns out, that whole thread scar thing...
“Where did you acquire that, young Lord Jaxom?” she asked harshly, her eyes forcing him to look at her.
F’lar, alerted by the tone in her voice, returned to the table with the wine and cups he’d taken from the wall chest.
“Acquire what? Oh ho, the young man has trained his dragon to chew firestone but not to duck!”
“I thought it was decided that Jaxom was to remain in Holding at Ruatha.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t scold him,” F’lar replied as he winked at Jaxom.
“About timing it. But this ... ” she gestured angrily at Jaxom, “this is entirely different.”
“Is it, Lessa?” F’lar asked in a tone that embarrassed Jaxom. They were momentarily unaware of him. “I seem to remember a girl wanting desperately to fly her queen.”
“Flying was no danger. But Jaxom could be-“
“Jaxom has evidently learned a lesson. Haven’t you? About ducking, that is.”
I love this so much. I want to include the entire exchange. It's so great. THIS is how people who care about each other disagree, by the way. The fond banter makes it work.
Because here's the thing, Lessa isn't just being a fussy mother here. Jaxom is the HEIR to her kingdom. SHE gave up her kingdom specifically for HIM. Of course she wants him safe. And of course she wants him to take it.
F'lar, of course, is taking the point of view of the Weyr. Jaxom's training is Lytol's responsibility. Arguably, Ruth is N'ton's. Given everyone's frantic fear earlier, F'lar's reaction is kind of an anti-climax. He has no problem with the idea of Jaxom training under N'ton.
Of course we get a point where Jaxom agonizes over explaining himself because he doesn't want to reveal that he'd rescued the egg. I am SO tired of hearing about that damn egg.
F’lar rescued him. “Because Ruth is a dragon, and dragons ought to fight Thread with firestone? Right?” He shrugged at Lessa. “What did you expect? He’s Ruathan-blooded, like. yourself. Just keep your hide and Ruth’s intact.”
“We haven’t flown in a Threadfall yet,” Jaxom admitted realizing as he spoke how much resentment showed in his voice.
F’lar gave him a friendly clout on the shoulder.
“He’s a sound lad, Lessa, stop glowering. If he’s singed himself once, he’s less likely to risk doing so again. Was Ruth hurt?”
“Yes!” The anguish of that experience was plain in Jaxom’s admission.
F’lar gave a laugh and waggled a finger at Lessa, who was still glaring at Jaxom. “There! That’s the best deterrent in the world. Ruth wasn’t badly hurt, was he? I can’t say I’ve seen you that often recently ... ” F’lar turned toward the killing ground as if conjuring up the white dragon.
Lessa still doesn't like it. And again, I don't see anything unreasonable about any of this.
“We would have asked you, Weyrwoman,” Jaxom began, not entirely truthful, “but there was so much trouble just then ... ”
“Well ... ” she began.
“Well,” echoed F’lar, “it really isn’t up to you, Lessa, but you do understand, Jaxom, how awkward it would be for you to be seriously hurt right now. We can’t afford to have a major Hold in contention.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
“Nor, I’m afraid, is it wise to press your confirmation as Lord Holder-“
“I don’t want Lytol to have to step down, sir. Not ever.”
“Your loyalty does you credit but I really can understand and appreciate your ambiguous position. It’s never easy to be patient, my friend, but patience can be rewarding.”
Again Jaxom was embarrassed by the look that Lessa and F’lar exchanged.
Shut up, Jaxom. You don't get to try to guilt Lessa.
The F'lar and Lessa reminiscence make me so happy. I really do love how they interact. How can McCaffrey do so well with them as partners and do so badly with her other romantic pairings?!
F'lar compliments Jaxom's resourcefulness, but states that if he'd known Jaxom would be so thorough, he'd have given more explicit instructions. Jaxom states that Lessa's flight had given him the idea. The jump had been taken in twenty-five year intervals. He figured D'ram would go back that interval.
F'lar approves and Lessa is at least somewhat mollified. Also, Jaxom's food is coming, and she says no more talk until he's eaten. F'lar reassures Jaxom's worry about how much Ruth is eating.
Gosh, it's almost like the constant portrayal by certain individuals of F'lar and Lessa being unreasonable are...wrong?
Menolly's brought the food, a lot of it. Apparently Manora figured it's close enough to dinner time that they'd all eat in the Weyr. Jaxom notes that if anyone had told him that morning that he'd enjoy a comfortable dinner with the Benden Weyrleaders, he wouldn't have believed it. He does insist on checking on Ruth first, and Lessa permits him to walk to the ledge.
As they relax, F'lar wants to hear more about the men that the fire lizards mention.
Menolly explains (before glancing first at Jaxom to see if he wishes to answer...fuck Jaxom), that it's hard to get fire lizards to explain. The images made no sense and were too varied.
Lessa asks why the images would be varied, "interested in spite of her present antagonism to fire lizards"
For fuck's sake. She doesn't want them being ANNOYING or SPYING. She's not like some anti-fire lizard extremist here!
“Generally a group will come up with one specific image ... ”
Jaxom inhaled wearily: she couldn’t be foolish enough to mention the egg pictures.
“They echoed Canth’s fall from the Red Star. My friends will often come back with rather good images, I think each reinforcing the other, of places they’ve been.”
Fuck off, Jaxom.
F'lar wonders if there are men elsewhere in the South, it IS a vast continent. Lessa immediately vetos exploring there. She figures if there are men there, they would have ventured far enough north at some point to be seen by F'nor or Toric, and there'd be some other sign.
I'm not sure that's true, but I appreciate Lessa blocking F'lar from doing something reckless and stupid.
“You’re quite likely correct, Lessa,” F’lar said, looking so disappointed that Jaxom realized for the first time that being Benden’s Weyrleader and First Dragonrider of Pern might not be as enviable a position as he’d previously assumed."
So says the fucking Lord to a Kingdom who also has a dragon.
So often lately he’d come to realize that things were not as they seemed. There were hidden facets to every thing. You’d think you had what you wanted in your grasp and, when you looked closely, it wasn’t what it had seemed to be from a distance. Like teaching your dragon to chew firestone-and getting caught at it, in one sense, as he had. Now he had to train earnestly with N’ton’s weyrlings, which was fine as far as it went but it didn’t go far enough to please Jaxom- flying high in a Fort Weyr wing so his holders wouldn’t even know he was there!
...why do you annoy me even when you're almost having an epiphany?
Maybe it's just that Jaxom gets everything handed to him and doesn't seem to appreciate this.
“The problem is, Jaxom, that we,” F’lar indicated Lessa, himself and the entire Weyr, “have other plans for the South-before the Lord Holders start parceling it out to their younger sons.” He brushed his hair back from his face. “We learned a lesson from the Oldtimers, a valuable one. And I know what happens to a Weyr in a long Interval.” F'lar grinned broadly at Jaxom. “We’ve been mighty busy protecting land by seeding the grubs. By the next Pass of the Red Star, all the Northern Continent,” and the Weyrleader’s gesture was wide, “will be seeded. And safe at least from Thread burrowing. If the Holds thought dragonriders were superfluous before, they certainly will have more cause then.”
I mean, to be fair, the Lord Holders thought you were superfluous because you spent four hundred years as a parasite, F'lar.
But anyway, F'lar would prefer it if the Weyrs no longer needed the bounty of the Holds. If they have lands of their own...
“You want the South!”
“Not all of it.”
“Just the best part of it,” said Lessa firmly.
That actually doesn't sound like a terrible idea. I feel like you could just TELL the Lord Holders that that's what you have in mind. The second son problem is something that would have been around for thousands of years. But I bet they'll be pretty enthusiastic about possibly being able to end their tithing. There might be a lot of possibilities once the Weyrs are no longer parasitic.
So with Lessa's wonderful Lessa-ish line, the chapter ends.