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“may we have your progress report?”
    S’nan stood, holding up his ubiquitous clipboard. (Rumor had it that that item had been passed down from the Connell himself.) He peered down at it a moment. The oldest Leader of the premier Weyr on Pern resembled his several-times-great-grandfather, though his silvery hair was more sandy than red. Privately, K’vin didn’t think Sean Connell had been such a martinet, even if he had promulgated the rules by which the Weyrs governed themselves. Most of these were common-sensible, despite S’nan managing to pursue them into the ridiculous.
    “The First Fall,” S’nan began, and there was a touch of pride in his voice, “will start over the sea east of Fort Hold and come ashore at the mouth of the river, passing diagonally across the peninsula and out into the sea in the west. The second two falls, which will occur three days later, will be over the southern tip of Southern Boll.” He used his stylus and, at his most condescending, touched Paulin’s chart. “This one may go south far enough to miss land entirely, and in any case will be over land for only a short while—and over the western tip of High Reaches, again proceeding out to sea, and so over land for only a short time. The third Fall will start on the south coast of the Tillek peninsula, east of the site of the hold, and proceed out to sea, again over land only for a short time.”
    “Thread giving us all a chance to get accustomed to fighting it?” asked B’nurnn of Igen.
    “Your levity is ill-placed,” S’nan said, but there were too many grins around the table for his reprimand to affect the irrepressible young Weyrleader. S’nan cleared his throat and launched once more into his discourse. “The next two falls will be the most dangerous for unseasoned wings,” and he shot a stern glance at B’nurnn as he found the proper Thread path. “The first will start over the sea in the east and proceed over Benden Weyr and Bitra Hold, ending almost at Igen Weyr. This would normally be flown jointly by Benden and Igen Weyrs. The second will start at the northern end of the Nerat peninsula and proceed across it, over the east coast of Keroon and the east tip of Igen, and end just offshore from Igen. This also would normally be a joint Fall, flown by Ben-den over Nerat, Igen over the northern part of Keroon, and Ista over the southern part of Keroon . . .”
    “We really do know what falls we fly, S’nan,” M’shall said.
    “Yes, yes, of course,” and S’nan cleared his throat again. “However,” and his glance went to the Lord Holders seated around the table, “it was decided at the last meeting of the Weyrleaders that, since any of these would be the first Fall in our experience, every Weyr would supply a double-wing at the initial engagement. Thus each Weyr would have firsthand experience.”
    “I still think we could all get
that
by hitting those first southern falls,” B’nurrin began. “If the dragons miss, it’s not going to fall on anyone’s head or ruin any farmland.”
    “B’nurrin!” M’shall said sternly before the startled S’nan could open his mouth.
    K’vin privately thought B’nurrin had a good idea and had backed him, but they were overruled by the older Weyrleaders. K’vin suspected that if he were to take some wings down south for that first Fall there, he’d be likely to find B’nurrin “practicing” there, too.
    “I still think it’s a good idea,” the Istan said, shrugging. Pretending such an interruption hadn’t even occurred, S’nan went on. “As was customary in the First Pass, Lord Holders will supply adequate groundcrews and have them assembled as directed by the Weyrleaders. In this case, Weyrleader M’shall.” He inclined slightly toward the Benden bronze rider. “Master Kalvi,” and he bowed courteously to the head engineer, “has assured me that his foundry has turned out sufficient HNO 3 cylinders to equip the groundcrews but the HNO 3 must