All the Weyrs of Pern Read Online Free PDF Page B

shouldn’t leave it all to Jaxom . . .” Piemur said, definitely tempted by the thought of lying horizontal for a while. That last cup of klah had made no dent in his fatigue.
    Menolly took him by the hand. “I’ll even tuck you in, the way I would Robse.” She grinned at his disgusted snort. “You’re no better than Master Robinton in taking care of yourself. Come, get some sleep, now. You, too, Sebell. Tomorrow—no, it’s already today here, isn’t it—well, I suspect everyone is going to rush about like headless wherries. So it’ll behoove us to stay cool and calm.”
    When the doors had closed quietly behind them, Jaxom turned to Aivas.
    “There’s just me here now, Aivas.”
    “That is obvious.”
    “You were obeying your orders, then, weren’t you?”
    “That is my function.”
    “All right, then it is my function to show you the Records of our history, as Master Robinton wanted.”
    “Please place the Record facedown on the lighted plate.”
    Carefully, with full regard that Master Arnor, the head archivist at Harper Hall, would have his guts for garters if he damaged a single one of the precious pages, Jaxom opened the first Record, Present Pass One, and laid it on the green glowing panel.
    “Next!”
    “What? I barely had time to place it,” Jaxom exclaimed.
    “Scanning is instantaneous, Lord Jaxom.”
    “This is going to be a long night,” Jaxom remarked, and obediently opened the Record to a new page.
    “Journeyman Piemur said your white dragon is an exceptional beast,” Aivas said, “with many unusual qualities.”
    “Compensation for him being small, white, and uninterested in mating.” Jaxom wondered what Piemur had said about Ruth, even though he knew the journeyman was devoted to both him and the white dragon.
    “Was the journeyman correct in saying that Ruth always knows
when
he is, and that he has traveled in time?”
    “All the dragons can travel in time, at least backward,” Jaxom said a trifle absently, his attention focused on turning the pages carefully, as well as quickly.
    “Timing is also prohibited?”
    “Timing is dangerous.”
    “Why?”
    Jaxom shrugged as he changed pages. “A dragon has to know exactly the time
when
he is going to, or he can come out of
between
at the same spot he’s inhabiting at that earlier time. Too close, and it is thought that both dragon and rider will die. Equally, it’s unwise to go any place you haven’t already been, so you shouldn’t go forward, because you wouldn’t know if you were there or not.” Jaxom paused to smooth some pages flat where the binding was particularly tight. “Lessa made a particularly spectacular flight.”
    “So Journeyman Piemur told me. A brave feat, but apparently not without debilitating consequences. The method of teleporting was never fully explained, but judging by the journeyman’s account, an abnormally long period spent in such travel causes sensory deprivations. You and your white dragon have also timed it?”
    “That is the term,” Jaxom said in a flat tone that he hoped would discourage further questions. But Aivas was not human, he realized, and might not perceive his reluctance from tone or words. “The episode is not common knowledge.”
    “Understood,” Aivas replied, to Jaxom’s surprise. “Would you object, Lord Jaxom, to a discussion of the duties of the various social groups that have been mentioned in the Records so far? For instance, what are the responsibilities and privileges of a Lord Holder? Or a Weyrleader? A Craftmaster? Some terms are so well understood by the scribes that they are not defined. It is necessary to have a firm grasp of such terms to understand the current political and social structures.”
    Jaxom gave a little chuckle. “You’d do better to ask one of the more experienced Lord Holders: Groghe, for instance, or even Larad or Asgenar.”
    “You are here, Lord Jaxom.”
    “Yes, am I not!” The quickness of the Aivas amused Jaxom. So, as