heard previously. She looked at the other traders, who shared glances and nodded to one another in some strange understanding that Fiona couldn’t fathom.
“Three Turns, you say?” Azeez said, looking thoughtful.
“If this works, we’ll tell the other Weyrs back in the future so that they can heal their injured, too,” T’mar said.
“So they will come when you leave?” the old woman guessed.
“So we hope,” Fiona told her. She swallowed hard, adding, “Things are not going well for us.”
“The Weyrwoman who spoke to us earlier warned us that you would not accept the presence of fire-lizards,” Azeez said, his eyes darting from Fiona to T’mar, gauging their reactions.
“I had to give up my fire-lizard,” Fiona admitted bleakly.
“Can we trade on the future?” the old woman asked Azeez. “Isn’t that worth more than treasure?”
“Excuse me,” Fiona said irritably, “but it seems awfully awkward to be talking with people and not know their names.”
The old woman glanced to Azeez, a smile crossing her lips fleetingly.
“Our pardon,” Azeez said, inclining his head respectfully. He pointed to the old woman. “This is Mother Karina — I mean, Trader Karina — ”
“I think you were right the first time,” Fiona said, interrupting him. She glanced at the old woman, who sucked in a gasp of surprise and quickly dropped her eyes.
“ ‘Dragonriders can always see lies,’ ” Karina said, glancing sourly at Azeez.
“Why are you called Mother?” Fiona asked, her tone polite but demanding. “It means more than just the word, and more than trader.”
She sensed surprise and nervousness in the other traders.
“We traders of the desert are different from others,” Karina explained. “We love our hot dry weather, we eat spicy hot food to cool us, we know how to travel from one oasis to another, how to survive when there is no water, what to do in a sandstorm — ”
“Sandstorm?” T’mar repeated the unfamiliar word.
“Winds do not come over the mountains,” Karina said, gesturing to the east, “but pick up from the south and west, sometimes blowing for thousands of kilometers, blowing all before them, including the sand.”
“The wind can strip the hide off a person in minutes,” Azeez said with a shudder.
“Even dragons are not safe,” Karina warned them. “But you can go
“What you describe sounds dangerous even to dragons,” T’mar said. “I shall be certain to warn my riders. Thank you.”
“I have met traders before who ride in brightly colored drays,” Fiona said. “Would I have met any of you desert traders?”
“No, we prefer the plains of Igen and Keroon,” Azeez replied.
“So you trade with other traders?”
Karina chortled. “Traders trade with everyone.”
Azeez glanced at the other traders, who shifted in their seats, their faces expressionless; yet Fiona felt that they had reached some unspoken agreement.
“Our caravan brings you food,” Azeez said to his guests.
T’mar began to reply but Fiona, reacting to a feeling in her gut, interrupted before he had half a word out. “What do you wish in trade?”
T’mar glanced at her in surprise, but her glare silenced him and he sat back slightly on his cushion, silently relinquishing the conversation to her — although not without some hidden reservations, she felt.
Karina gave Fiona an approving look, but it was Azeez who spoke. “You must understand, our tithe we give to the Lord Holders in trade; they pass on our goods to the Weyrs.”
“And Igen Weyr has been empty for Turns,” Fiona mused.
“Lord D’gan feels that the tithes rightly belong to Telgar now,” Azeez said. Fiona got the feeling that he was quoting a conversation with one of the local Lord Holders — and from his tone, the Lord Holder had not been pleased.
“The holders would be hard-pressed to provide us with tithe,” Fiona remarked, glancing toward T’mar. The wingleader nodded, reluctantly agreeing with her appraisal.
“One hundred and twenty-four dragons, even if forty-six of them are still weyrlings, will require a lot of feeding,” Karina commented. “And if you are successful, we are to expect similar amounts in the Turns after you leave.”
“The Weyrwoman told you this?” Fiona asked. Karina nodded. “Then she must have had an idea how we could accomplish this.”
Karina smiled mischievously. “She said that you would know what to do.”
“She assumes a lot,” T’mar replied sourly. Fiona glared at him again.
“There are things a dragon and a rider can do that no others can do. Might that be worthy of trade?” she suggested.
“Some things are worth more than gold,” Karina responded guardedly.
Fiona smiled; she had heard her father say that many Turns earlier — or, rather, some Turns in the future. “Knowledge,” she said.
“That is one,” Karina agreed. Azeez shifted slightly in his seat. Karina caught his eye — again Fiona felt some secret communication pass between them — and nodded.
“Our riders will need to patrol around the Weyr — ” T’mar began.
“Lord D’gan claims that Telgar provides all the protection we need,” Karina said.
“Igen was abandoned,” T’mar persisted, and Fiona could tell that his remark touched a nerve with the traders. “While we are here, we will patrol and provide aid as needed.”
“That is something,” Karina agreed. “But for cattle and livestock, we will need to trade with holders and farmers.”
Fiona smiled at the old woman. “You have something in mind.”
“Your patrols will help in emergencies, but the farmers lose stock to the wild canines that roam the land.” Fiona could sense what Karina didn’t add: “Since the Weyr was abandoned.”
“What could help against that?” Fiona asked. “Don’t most of the wolves attack at night?”
Karina nodded. “If we could trade the farmers something that would watch at night — ”
Fiona burst out laughing. “Watch-whers! You want watch-whers!”
“They are good against tunnel snakes, too,” Azeez admitted. He grinned. “We may not need them in our drays, but we know their value to holders.”
“But — ” Fiona was about to say that Nuella’s presence at the Wherhold near Plains Hold should be enough protection when she realized that, in this time, Nuella had not yet come to Plains Hold. In fact, she realized with a thrill of excitement, there had always been a mystery surrounding Nuella’s move. Perhaps now she knew the reason.
“I see,” she said finally. She thought,
Beside her, T’mar gave a startled motion, which he covered by crossing his knees and glancing toward her.
“What would it mean in trade if we could convince watch-whers to relocate here?” She saw their startled looks and smiled. “Ah, you were just hoping that we could get an egg or two, weren’t you?”
“If the watch-whers could stop the night attacks, there would be far more livestock than you and your dragons would need,” Karina said.
“Since the Plague,” Azeez began and then stopped as he noticed the dragonriders’ startled reaction. “Ah, but that was Turns ago for you, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Fiona answered hastily, realizing that the traders were not aware of the dragon illness of the future.
“Ten Turns or more,” Karina told Azeez. She noticed Fiona and T’mar exchange uneasy looks and smiled,
