Dolphins could do quite a few things only they could do, being water creatures. Dragons were of the air. There had to be something that only dragons could do.

Readis' distraction had not gone unnoticed. Master Samvel found him staring at a screen displaying the earliest flight of dragons: dragons as small as large runner beans.

"I've been meaning to have a word with you, Readis,' Samvel said, sitting down on the next chair. "You've not been paying as close attention in cla.s.s as you usually do. Are you troubled about something?"

Readis took a deep breath. "Master Samvel, what's going to happen to the dragons?"

Samvel blinked in surprise and then he smiled and, in a rare gesture, patted Readis on the head. "You are not the only one pondering that question, young Readis."

"Yes, but what can they do when Thread is all gone?"

"This is a huge planet, Readis, and there is much work to be done to settle all the land available to us. Right now the dragonriders are carefully overflying this vast Southern Continent, making as detailed a map as possible. We know only a small part of it and much of it would be impa.s.sable to people on foot or uninhabitable until the Pa.s.s ends. Don't you worry about the dragons. Their riders will take care of them, as they've always done. But your concern does you credit. We must never, on Pern, forget what the dragons have done for us for twenty-five hundred Turns."

"How could we forget?" Readis asked, appalled at the very notion of such ingrat.i.tude.

Samvel's smile was sad. "We've done it often enough in long Intervals. You concentrate on your studies now, lad, and let the Weyrs worry about themselves. You have your future to worry about."

That put Readis in mind of F'lessan's advice to him: to learn more about the dolphins. So once again he accessed that information: most of which he knew by heart already, as well as being fluent in using the underwater hand signals.

"Underwater' was the relevant word. Though Readis had learned how to hold his breath so he could follow the dolphins on some of their shallower dives, the Ancients had had special breathing equipment which had allowed them to stay underwater for long periods of time. Tanks, smaller but similar in design to those used with flame-throwers, had been strapped to swimmers' backs. They'd had face masks to cover nose and mouth and had breathed proper air from a tube to the tank. The device seemed simple enough to Readis, although how he would acquire one was beyond him. He had a small h.o.a.rd of marks since his father had paid him the last two seasons for helping with the harvesting but he doubted that would be sufficient since it would be new work. However, since the tremendous effort from all Craft Halls to implement Aivas' plan was a glorious page of history now, craftsmen might take such a commission.

They might even know how to construct one since they, too, had access to many, more specialized Aivas' files.

So Readis sought Uncle Alemi the next time he was back at Paradise River. He'd brought a diagram of the apparatus with him. In the evening, he turned Delky to the shortcut to the Head and, as he'd suspected, he found Alemi and his son, Kitral, on their way to the pier for their daily talk with the pod.

Readis got through the courtesies as fast as possible and then shoved the drawing at Alemi.

"If we had something like this, which the dolphineers used, we'd be able to function better in the dolphins' own environment.

Alemi gave him a startled look and then laughed outright.

"You have learned a lot in that school, haven't you, Readis.

Kami's nearly as bad with all the terms she throws out to confuse her poor parents. Now, let's see what you have here to perplex an old sailor."

"You're not old, Unclemi, and I don't think you'll be the least bit perplexed about an aqua lung."

"Hmmm. Is that what this contraption is called?"

"That's how I read it."

Alemi wasn't as condescending as many Masters were but he still liked to tease and Readis was not in a receptive mood. He was in deadly earnest about this project.

"I looked back over all the tapes showing dolphins and dolphineers. When the partners had to do underwater work, or long distance swimming, the humans always wore this sort of equipment. And special clothing called wet suits."

"One would need special gear to keep skin from softening too much during long immersions." Alemi examined the drawing closely. "The Ancients had special gear for just about everything, didn't they?"

"More than we'll ever have,' Readis replied. "More than we'd ever need. The Charter Preamble states that they formed the Pern Colony to avoid the intense specialization that had stratified Earth culture. They intended to achieve a good standard of living using the lowest possible form of technology needed to supply essential services and a good, rounded life-style."

Alemi grinned at Readis. "You're much worse than Kami.

Does the Charter really say that?"

Readis nodded, grinning back. At least Alemi wasn't peremptorily dismissing the notion.

"And since this equipment is not beyond our current capabilities - oh, yes, I see the similarities and I know we have this much technology,' Alemi added, tapping the mask and the tank with one finger. "It's only a matter of recreating the elements displayed here. And, since such an order would come better from a Master Fishman, you've come to me to make the request.

Readis nodded enthusiastically now, immensely relieved that Alemi grasped what Readis hesitated to voice. Alemi handed the sheet back and sighed deeply.

"You know your mother's opinion about dolphins and you, Readis. It wouldn't be right for me to deliberately a.s.sist you to further your a.s.sociation with them."

"Oh!" Readis sank into Delky's back and, as she'd been trained to do, she halted.

"But you know she's wrong "She's your mother, Readis, and my Hold Lady. I'm well aware of the loyalty I owe her. I've not been all that easy in my mind about allowing you to swim with the pod here. Oh, I know you've been doing it and, as long as I didn't actually see you in the water with them, I could pretend I didn't know." Alemi gave a wry grin. "The dolphins don't at all understand your mother's att.i.tude since Afo warned you about the thorn."

Readis groaned. "But it was my fault, not Afo's, or any of the dolphins."

"True. Look, lad, 1'm on your side in this even if I can't sail on a dangerous tack. You could,' and here Alemi paused, "see what your father says."

"He won't upset Mother.

Alemi lifted his hands in a gesture of impotence. "Try him, Readis. He's really easy to approach on matters that improve the Hold, you know. And he never accused the dolphins." Alemi shot the boy a glance. "He knew where the fault lay,' he added in a kindly voice. "Afo and Kib are always asking for you. Will you join us?"

Though he didn't really want to in his disappointment, Readis knew that certain courtesies were required of him as the Holder's heir. So he asked Aleki if he'd like to ride in front of him on Delky. The little boy was delighted and Alemi obviously approved of Readis' demeanor.

Seeing the pod improved Readis' spirits, especially after Kib and Afo did an enthusiastic tail walk when he gave them some of the hand signals he'd learned from the old tapes.

"Member! "Member!" Kib cried, squeeing and blowing with pleasure. "You do good. Very good. Better best. You come under soon?"

"Not today, Kib. But I will, someday, Readis a.s.sured the happy dolphin.

"Old times come back, Afo said, her jaw dropping low as she squeed and chirped.

Readis could not resist giving Alemi an accusing look for failing to fall in with his plan to obtain an underwater breathing device.

It was full dark before the three of them made their way back to the hold proper. When his mother asked him where he'd been so long, he could quite honestly reply that he'd gone to visit Alemi and stayed to play with young Aleki.

Sometime during the night another solution presented itself to Readis. He had experienced a keen sense of betrayal when Alemi refused to help him get an aqua lung. The device would only make his swimming with the dolphins that much safer.

He'd've thought that Alemi would see that, too. However, he had another, stauncher ally in T'lion. When he got back to Landing after this break, he'd leave word that he'd like to speak to T'lion. As well as his duties as a member of a fighting wing, the bronze rider was often in Landing. They hadn't seen that much of each other lately but theirs was a friendship that could be resumed at any point with no sense of time lapse.

T'lion sought him out one afternoon a sevenday later.

"Sorry to be so long getting to you, Readis, but what with Fall and all " and the bronze rider let his sentence dangle.

"That's all right,' Readis said, pawing through the sheets that littered the desk in his quarters to find the diagram. "I found this,' and he shoved it at his friend.

"OOOOh. This is great,' T'lion said, his eyes widening as he scanned the sheet. "An aqua lung? Hey, we could get one of these. No trouble at all. Are you?"

"I'm only a student, T'lion." Then in a rush, he added, "I tried to get Alemi to help but he wouldn't on account of my mother not liking me a.s.sociating with dolphins and all."

T'lion made a sound in his throat and smiled wryly. "They just won't let you live that down, will they?"

"Evidently not!" Readis couldn't suppress the bitterness. "It'd cost a lot of marks, wouldn't it?"

"Hmmmm. Could. But we're not the only ones who're swimming with dolphins whenever we get the chance. Can I have this?" When Readis eagerly agreed, he folded it carefully and put it in his inside pocket. "D'you have time to come see my pod?"

"Your pod?" Readis said, raising his eyebrows in surprise at the possessive p.r.o.noun.

"Well, the pod that answers my Bell,' T'lion said with a grin.

"Coming?"

Readis' answer was to grab up the lined jacket and a swimming clout. He paused only long enough to scrawl a note on the message board at the entrance to his dormitory that he had gone with T'lion. He was old enough now that he didn't have to ask special permission for short absences.

Once on the strand near Eastern Weyr, Readis helped T'lion divest Gadareth of his riding harness. T'lion rang the Bell in a "come-in' sequence which was less urgent than the "report' and gave the dolphins the opportunity to ignore the summons if they chose. They rarely did but sometimes only one or two answered. By the time the boys had changed into the swimming clouts, the waters of the cove showed half a dozen dolphins leaping and speeding towards sh.o.r.e. Raising himself up on his hind legs, Gadareth opened his wings and threw back his head for a welcoming bugle. The air was immediately full of wild fire-lizards for they loved nothing better than to play with their large cousins in the water. Flattening his wings right to his back, he walked into the water and began to swim out to meet the dolphins with the fair display above him.

As one of the games dolphins liked best was scrubbing a dragon, they proceeded to "help' the humans wash Gadareth.

The boys nearly drowned half a dozen times trying to emulate dolphin acrobatics. The fire-lizards left halfway through the bath to go about their own business.

"We really do need that . . . breathing device, T'lion gasped out to Readis when they took a rest, hanging on to the wing Gadareth had extended for washing. "But you can sure hold your breath a long time when you want to."

"Can't . do it too often. Head starts to spin,' Readis said. "Other thing we need - - is a decent ball for them . . . to play with!'

"So they can steal it?" T'lion demanded. "That's what they've done with all the ones I get made for "em. "New game? New game?" Boojie asked, head high in the water so all of his smiling face was visible.

"Not today, Booj,' T'lion said. "You've worn us out. C'mon, Gadareth, let's go ash.o.r.e."

Booj swam backwards, clapping his flippers and squeeing with delight. "Worn out! Worn out! We play more better."

T'lion and Readis let Gadareth tow them ash.o.r.e by grasping his tail until they felt the slope of the beach under their feet.

Gadareth found himself a spot on the sand and fire-lizards returned to find resting places on him while they murmured sleepily to their living perch. T'lion carefully extracted the diagram from his inner pocket and looked at it.

"We've got gla.s.s,' he sad, tapping the face mask, "and we've got material for the straps, and the tanks shouldn't be a problem, nor the hose. Valves look the same as the ones Smith Craft put on flame-thrower tanks. It's the rest of the face mask that might be difficult. You got any free marks?"

Readis rolled over on his stomach, elbows propping his body up. He grimaced. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have spent so much at the last Landing Gather. But I've maybe three whole Smith Craft marks and some quarters. Now I'm over fifteen, Dad pays me for harvesting." He said that with a bit of pride: he'd sweated for those marks.

"Hmmm, well, yes. I've some, too, from a bit of trading I've done.

"Trading?" Readis perked up. He'd heard enough from Temma, Nazer and his father about trading over the Turns to be familiar with the Lilcamp family traditions. "What with?"

"Ohh,' and T'lion shrugged his reluctance to continue. Then, making a quick decision, he went on. "Well, it's like this. Most dragonriders are kind of looking about this continent to see where they'd like to live when the Pa.s.s is over. I mean, during Threadfall and all, the Holds and Craft Halls t.i.the to the Weyrs so we don't have to worry about that. Honestly, we'd rather not be beholden to anyone - "But Holds and Halls have always t.i.thed to Weyrs Readis protested, being well versed in tradition.

T'lion grinned. "Not when there isn't going to be more Thread."

"Oh."

"Yes, so we're looking for our own places.

"What F'lessan calls a Weyrhold?"

T'lion nodded.

"And you've found one?" Readis asked, excited to learn that the dragonriders were looking so far ahead.

"Oh, I've found several sites I'd like but we have to put in a bid and then, when it's time, the Weyrleaders will decided who gets what. Right now, we're charting the land to make divisions easier. That's why I've been up at Landing so much, registering what Gaddie and I have overflown."

"Did you find any more ruins? Like F'lessan did?"

T'lion gave a snort. "Ruins, I found. But nothing half so well preserved as Honshu. That is really spectacular. In fact, that's the only place that was properly built. The others are all smack dab in wide open s.p.a.ces.

Readis mirrored his consternation at such stupidity. The Ancients had known so much: why had they been so silly to build out in the open?

"Of course,' T'lion went on in a slightly patronizing tone, "the first few years they didn't have Thread so they didn't build proper. "Oh, yes, that's right,' Readis agreed. "So, where have you seen places?"

"Gaddie wants a lake and there are quite a few and also some wide rivers which are nearly better than lakes. That big inland sea, the one that Ancients called the Caspian has some lovely islands. They'd be perfect,' and he sighed. "But I'd be low on the list for a prime site like that. Another place I like a lot is not far from the old mines that Master Hamian is working now. Place the Ancients called Karachi. Pretty name, isn't it? They had lots of unusual names. And there's a cliff in the Southern Range which has a fairly decent-sized cave. View is fabulous and the ledge is wide enough for Gad to snooze on." T'lion shot a fond look at his sleeping dragon. "Trouble would be having a weyrmate and family. They'd have to wait on Gaddie to get up or down.

"That would be a disadvantage but couldn't you make stairs, the way they did at Honshu?"

"I suppose so . . . T'lion paused, deep in thought. "Rather high up so it'd take a lot of stone carving. Then, too, I'd have to find work somewhere else. At the mines, we could always convey At Readis' gasp of surprise, "Well, conveyancing isn't a bad way to make a living for a dragon and his rider.

Particularly a big strong bronze like Gaddie. It's a lot less dangerous to hide and health than Threadfighting.

"Yes, I suppose it is. But if you went that far inland, you'd be too far from the sea and the dolphins. They can't swim in fresh water, you know. They don't float well and they get sores."

"Hmmm,' and T'lion once again retreated into thought.

"Haven't you found any nice place along the sh.o.r.e?"

"Oh, there's coves left, right and center,' T'lion dismissed them. "But you're right. I'd miss Boojie and Natua and Tana.

It's a case of wanting what y6u get, I suppose. Then, too, other teams are searching east of here. I suppose I could ask but the land I've been overflying is magnificent. You wouldn't believe how much s.p.a.ce there is!'

"Tell me,' Readis urged though T'lion didn't need much.

By the time darkness was falling, Readis was relieved to realize that Paradise River Hold had a great many advantages.

His parents had been very lucky to be granted hold of it. And it was rather nice to have neighbours further down the river.

There might even be some new ones along the coast, if they could find a decent supply of stone to build their cotholds.

"Why do the Weyrleaders decide who gets what land?" he asked as he changed into his clothes for the trip back to Landing.

"Not just the Weyrleaders, Readis,' T'lion said with a grin.

"The Lord Holders and the Craft Masters'll have a say, too.