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five together so she could play a counter-tune. The fire lizards adored the
sounds and would sit listening, their dainty heads rocking in time with the
music she played. When she sang, they'd croon, at first off-key; but
gradually, she thought, their "ear" improved, and she had a soft chorus.
Menolly sang, in amused duty, all the Teaching Ballads, particularly the ones
about dragons. The fire lizards might understand less than a child three Turns
old, but they responded with small cries and flappings wings to any of the
dragon songs, as if they appreciated the fact that she was singing about their
kin.
TTiere was no doubt in Menolr/s mind that these lovely creatures were related
to the huge dragons. How, she didn't know and didn't really care. But if you
treated them the way weyrmen treated their dragons, the fire lizards
responded. She, in turn, began to understand their moods and needs, and
insofar as she was able, supplied them.
They grew quickly, those first days. So quickly that she was hard pressed to
keep their mouths full. Menolly didn't see too much of the other hatchlings,
the ones she hadn't fed or had fed only casually. She saw them now and again,
smaller creatures, as the entire weyr fed on the rockmites at low tide. The
little queen and her bronze mate would often hover, watching Menolly and her
small group. The queen sometimes scolded Menolly or perhaps berated the fire
lizard Menolly was holding. Menolly wasn't sure which. And oo-86
casionally the queen would even fly at one of the fledglings, beating it
soundly with her wings. For what reason, Menolly could never figure out, but
the little ones meekly submitted to her discipline.
Occasionally Menolly offered food to one of the others, but they'd never take
it if she remained near. Nor would any of the older fire lizards, including
the queen. Menolly concluded that that was as well, otherwise she'd have to
spend every single waking moment feeding lazy fire lizards. The nine she'd
Impressed were quite enough to keep sated.
When she saw the first skin lesion on the little queen, Menolly wondered where
she would find oil. They'd all need it. Cracks in the skin would be deadly for
the young fire lizards if they had to go between. And with natural enemies
around, like wherries and eager boys from nearby Holds, between was a needed
refuge.
The closest source of oil swam in the sea. But she'd no boat to catch the
deep-sea ofly fishes, so she searched the coast for dead fish and found a
packtail washed up during the night She sh't the carcass, carefully, always
working the knife blade away from her, and squeezed the oil from the skin into
a cup. Not the most pleasant of jobs; and by the time she'd finished, she had
a bare cupful of unpleasantly fishy yellow oil. Yet it did work. The queen
might not smell very pleasant, but the oil did coat the crack. For good
measure, she smeared all her friends.
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The stench in the cavern that night was almost more ihan she could endure, and
she fell asleep trying to think of alternatives. By morning the possibilities
had narrowed down to one: sweetening the fish ofl with certain marsh grasses.
She couldn't get the pure sweet ofl they used in the Hold because that was
traded from Nerat; it was pressed from the flesh of a hot-climate fruit that
grew abundantly in the rain forests there. Hie oily seed pod that grew from a
sea bush would not
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be available until fall; and while she could get some oil from black
marshberries, it would take immense quantities, which she'd prefer to eat.
With her fire lizards as winged escort, she made her way south and inland,
towards country little penetrated by the Sea Holders as being too far, these
days, from shelter.
Menolly set out as soon as the sun was up and varied her pace between a
striding walk and an easy jog. She decided to go on as far as she could until
the sun was mid-heaven; she couldn't risk being too far from her cave when
night fell.
The fire lizards were excited, darting about until she scolded them for [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]