The Dolphins of Pern

by Anne McCaffrey

Synopsis:

When humans first settled Pern, intelligence-enhanced dolphins came with them--to colonize the planet's ocean. Now, centuries later, as the battle to destroy the deadly Thread nears its end, the colonists renew their bond with the legendary "shipfish.

Acknowledgements

again I wish to acknowledge the help of Dr Jack Cohen in keeping me on the straight and not so narrow path of Newtonian physics and common Terran biology, plus inventing whatever Pernese biology has been required.

I Would also like to thank Rick Hobson of the Whale Conservation Institute in Lincoln, Mass., for his review of the material dealing With dolphins and delphinic behaviour.

It Was through Rick Hobson that my daughter and I met and swam with Aphrodite and her son, AJ, at the Dolphin Research Center at Grassy Key, Florida. It was an experience that I shall treasure, as I will the "visit' we made, to sit on the float and watch Dart, Little Bit, and other dolphins playing in Sunset waters and "talking' to us.

Those who have had the privilege of Swimming at Dolphin Research Center will recognize many of the names I have used.

Well, why not? I met and valued their acknowledgement of me, a human. They meet many of us, and forget. But I do not forget them!

Oceanography Information by P. Burr Loomis Ocean Current Maps by Marilyn Aim

DOLL FIN PEOPLE

Adrea, rider of Queen Beljeth at Southern Weyr Aleki, Alemi's son Alemi, Master Fish man Ademon, Master Farmer Anskono, Readis' baby' brother Aramina, Readis' mother, the girl who Could hear dragons Aranya, Readis' sister Armald, Ii holder at Paradise River Asgenar, Lord Holder of Lemos Bargen, Lord Holder of High Reaches Bendarek, Master Woodsman (paper maker) Begamon, Lord Holder of Nerat Benelek, Master of Computer Hall, a son of Groghe Boskoney, Harper at Paradise River Camo, halfwit kitchen boy at Harper Hall, son of Robin ton and Silvina Corman, Lord Holder of Keroon Curran, Fort Sea Holder Deckter, Lord Holder of Nerat, succeeding Lord Meron deceased Denol, former South Boll Holder, renegade usurper of lerne Island D'ram, former Is tan Weyrleader, retired to Cove Hold, bronze Tiroth Durras, Weyrwoman at Eastern Weyr Xi Edwinrus, sculptor Fandarel, Master Smith at Telgar F'lar, Mnementh's rider, Benden Weyrleader filessan, Golanth's rider Fabry, Journeyman Healer Fair Winds, two master schooner G'dened, Weyrleader at Ista (succeeding his father, D'ram) G'narish, Weyrleader at Igen Groghe, Lord Holder at Fort Hamian, Master Smith at Southern, Toric's brother, plastics maker H'mar, bronze Janeruth's rider, Weyrlingmaster, Eastern Weyr Horon, younger son of Lord Groghe of Fort Hosbon, settler at Southern Weyr Jancis, Master Smith, Fandarel's granddaughter Jarrol, Jaxom/Sharra's eldest son Jaxom, Ruatha Lord Holder, rider of white Ruth Jayge, Holder, Paradise River K'din, brown Buleth's rider (T'lion's nasty older brother) Kami, Alemi's daughter Kern, a younger son at Crom Hold Kitrin, Alemi's wife K'van, rider of Heat Ii, Southern Weyrleader Larad, Lord Holder of Telgar Laudey, Lord Holder of Igen Lemsia, Menolly's daughter Lessa, Ramoth's rider, Benden Weyrwoman Lesselam, apprentice harper soon to walk the tables Lur, landsman at Paradise River, fire-lizard holder Lytol, former4' Lord Holder of Ruatha, retired to Cove Hold M'sur, brown rider, Eastern Weyr Menolly, Master Harper Mirrim, green Path's rider, T'gellan's mate Mislue, patient Nazer, uncle Nessel, Lord Holder of Crom Nicat, Master Miner Nika, Alemi's daughter N'ton, Weyrleader at Fort Weyr Oldive, Master Healer, based at Fort Harper Hall Olos, Menolly's second son Oly, older crewman Oterel, Lord Holder of Tillek Pardure, Parren's son, Readis' classmate Parren, Journeyman weaver at Paradise River Petiron, deceased, harper at Half Circle Sea Hold, Menolly 's mentor, Robin ton's father Persehar, Master Artist with Harper Hall Persellan, Eastern Weyr's healer Piemur, journeyman/Master Harper Pierjan, Jancis/Piemur's son Ramala, Toric's wife Rampesi, Master Fishman Readis, our hero and first Dolphineer R'mart, Weyrleader at Telgar Weyr Robina, Curran "5 wife Robinton, Master Harper of Pern Robse, Menolly's oldest child Samvel, Master Teacher at Landing Sangel, Lord Holder of South Boll Sehell, Master Harper of Pern Men oIly "s mate Sharra, Jaxom "5 wife Shawan, Sharra/Jaxom's second child Swacky, courtesy uncle, old soldier Tagetarl, Master Printer for Harper Hall Talmor, Journeyman Harper assigned to aid Ben den Weyrleaders in land distribution T'hor, Weyrleader at High Reaches Weyr, once Weyrleader at Southern T'gellan, bronze Monarth "5 rider, Weyrleader, Eastern Weyr T'lion, bronze Gadareth's rider Tomol, apprentice harper, soon to walk the tables Temma, aunt Texur, Curran's first mate Thella, self-styled Lady Holdless, enemy of Jayge and Aramina Xii Xiii Tikini, T'lion "5 younger brother, favourite sibling Toric, Lord Holder of Southern, brother to Sharra and Ha in ian Toronas, Lord Holder of Ben den, successor to Lord Raid V'line, dragonrider Wansor, near-sighted Master of Smith Craft Hall, specializing in glass products Warbret, Lord Holder of Ista Worlain, Journeyman healer AT EASTERN WEYR Gar Tom Dik Boojie, who gets sewn up Natua Tana Ala DOLPHINS FIRE-LIZARDS AT MONACO Alta Dar Bitty, Kitrin's Tork, Alemi's Zair, Master Robin ton's AT PARADISE RIVER HOLD BEAST Kib, healed slash on lower jaw Delky, Readis' runner Afo, smallest Mel Jim, most acrobatic Mul, blotchy Temp, fattest Biz Rom Angie, calf daughter of Mell Cori, calf daughter of Fessi Vina, calf of Afo Teres AT FORT HOLD Inka, pod leader Flip Bit, healer, scarred jaw Ayjay Dart Nat AT SEA CAVES - KAHRAIN Cal, pod leader Tursi Loki Sandi, Tini, Rena, Leta, Josi The Tillek (aka Theresa) AT COVE HOLD Ron Alta (another one) Fessi Xiv Xv

PROLOGUE

102 Years After Landing ibbe gave the bell rope one last pull. He and Corey had been taking turns all morning but now the sun was descending over the high ground and still no-one answered them. Usually someone came out of Man's place on the dock: even if only one of the boat people. But the boats rocked at anchor under the high wharf and it was obvious that no-one had gone out in them, even to bring in fish, for some time.

Corey clicked at him in disgust. The others of their pod had long gone fishing on their own, too bored to see if there might just be humans to feed them when there were plenty small fish to be gleaned at this time of year from the rich northern waters.

She "blew' her hunger at him, so annoyed with the lack of human attention that she refused to speak.

"There has been illness. Ben told us that,' Kibbe reminded her.

He was not well,' Corey replied, reluctantly employing Speech to impart the concept. "Humans can die."

"They do. It is true." For Kibbe was one of the oldest in their pod and had had two dolphineers as partners. He still fondly remembered Amy, his first one. She had been as much fish as he, even if she had to wear the long-feet and had no fins.

She had given the best chin scratches and knew exactly where she had to slough off old skin. When he had been injured, she had stayed in the water by his cradle through the days and nights until she knew that he would recover. He would never have survived that long gash if she hadn't sewn it up and given him the human medicines that prevented infection.

Corey had had only one person and she hadn't seen him in a long time. It accounted for why she was so sceptical. She hadn't had the long association with humans that Kibbe had enjoyed. And now missed. They had worked well together, for there were still many long stretches of coastline to be mapped, and the locations of fishing schools determined. The work had seemed more like fun and there had been time for games. Lately all he had been able to do to keep the Dolphin Contract with men was to follow the ships, to be sure no-one fell overboard without a dolphin to assist his rescue. His warnings about imminent storms might have been heeded but humans sometimes disregarded advice, especially if the fish were running well.

Kibbe was one of those who had been chosen to serve time up near the north-western subsidence where lived The Tillek, chosen of all the pods for her wisdom. The name given the Pod Leader was also traditional. He had been taught, as had other dolphin instructors, why dolphins had followed humans to this world, far from the waters of Earth on which they had evolved: the chance to inhabit the clean waters of an unpolluted world and live as dolphins had before tech-nol-ogy (he had learned to pronounce that word very carefully) had spoiled the Old Oceans of Humankind. He knew, and taught this despite the astonishment it caused, that dolphins had once walked on land. That is why they were air breathers and were required by Nature to surface to inhale oxygen. He listened to tales so old not even those who had taught The Tillek knew their origins: that dolphins had been special messengers of the gods, escorting those buried at sea to their special underworld' place. As dolphins considered the seas to be underworld', this caused some confusion. The humankind underworld' was where souls' went: whatever souls' were.

One of Kibbe's favorite tales was the one The Tillek recounted with great pride: how dolphinkind had once honored those who had died when one of the spaceships had been wrecked in the sea-sky. Since then, the dolphins of Pern had honored those burial rites with their escort. It was a ceremony the humans had not asked the dolphins to include in their traditions but they always seemed grateful for it.

Learning the Names of the Dolphins who had slept the Great Sleep and accompanied humankind to these clean new seas of Pern was an important lesson. From these names came the ones chosen for each new calf, to celebrate those first Dolphins and those that were born in the Years Before Thread. The names had been set to dolphin music and could be sung on longer journeys in the Great Currents. It should always be sung before the young dolphins attempted to cross the great Whirlpool at the Northwest Subsidence, or even the Smaller One in the Eastern Sea.

There were some matters taught by The Tillek which simply had to be learned, because they mattered as details to the whole story. The Great Sleep, for instance, puzzled even the cleverest calf, male or female, because dolphins did not require sleep. To have slept for fifteen years was an incredible thing to have done. Although they knew to call the sparkling light points in the skies stars', there seemed to be a very great many of them. The Tillek could not tell them which had been Old Earth. Humans had had a device which allowed them to see longer. Because stars were in the air, dolphins could not sound' them. There were three points of light, at dawn, and again at twilight, which were constant. The Tillek said those points were the spaceships that had brought Humankind and Dolphinkind to Pern They must take this on faith, she said, for she had had to learn these facts from The Tillek who had taught her. This was fact as well as faith and must be believed, though never experienced. It was History.

And History was another of the Great Gifts Humankind had given Dolphinkind: History was memory of things past. To be able to tell History, Dolphinkind had been given the ability to speak as they did so that was the Greatest Gift humans had given dolphins. For with the Greatest Gift they could repeat the words of History: words that were sounded as Humankind sounded speech, not as dolphins did. And they could speak to Humans and to themselves the things that were made of words and not sea sounds.

Kibbe had been very good at learning all the words that Humans had used with dolphins, and all their special underwater signals. He was good at singing the words, too, so that the young ones of his pod were familiar with them should they be chosen to go to the waters of The Tillek and complete their training. Kibbe knew the traditions by which humans and dolphins lived in a special relationship: that dolphins would protect humans on or in the water to the best of their abilities, in whatever weather and unsafe conditions, even to the giving up of dolphin life to save the frailer humans; they would apprise humans of bad weather conditions, show them where the schools of preferred fish were running and warn them of sea hazards. The humans promised, in return for these services, to remove any bloodfish that might attach themselves to dolphin bodies, to float any stranded dolphin, to heal the sick and treat the wounded, to talk to them and to be partners if the dolphin was willing.

In the early days on Pern, humans and dolphins had taken great pleasure in the exploring of these new seas and those had been momentous years: the years of the life of The Human Tillek whom all had revered. A Dolphins' Bell had been sited at Monaco Bay and land and sea beings had promised to answer the Bell whenever it was rung. In those days the young dolphins had each had a human partner, to help with the exploration, to explore the seas and the deep abysses and the Great Currents, the Two Subsidences, Greater and Smaller, and the Four Upwellings. There had been courtesy, each to the other, land and sea-faring humans.

The Tillek always spoke respectfully of humans, and severely disciplined any calf who used the term long-foot' or finless' as some dolphins now were impudently describing them. When the silly fins complained that humans no longer kept their end of the ancient agreement, The Tillek would tell them, at her sternest, that that did not absolve dolphinkind from practising theirs. Humankind had had to stop exploring Pern to guard the lands against the Thread.

This would set the silliest to clicking nonsense noises of amusement. Why didn't humans eat Thread the way dolphins did?

The Tillek's reply was that humans wore different flesh and had to live on land where Thread did not drown but attacked human flesh like bloodfish, sucking life out of it. And not over a long period of time but immediately so all life was gone from the body in the course of several breaths: indeed the flesh of the human body was consumed.

This was another matter that all dolphins must believe as surely as they believed Thread was good to eat.

Then The Tillek would speak History and tell of the Day Thread Fell on Pern, and how it fed on the flesh of humans.

How the humans had battled hard with flame - a source of heat and light that coastal dolphins could recognize but had never felt - to burn Thread in the skies before it could fall on land and eat it or on humans and human animals and eat them. When all the things that humans had brought with them from Old Earth had been used up, the dolphins had helped the humans sail the many ships of the Dunkirk to the north where they could shelter in great caves, forsaking the pleasant warm southern waters. Kibbe had always loved hearing how the dolphins had helped the small ships make the long journey, despite storms and having to cross the Great Currents. There had been a Dolphins' Bell at Fort, too, and there had been many good years of partnership for dolphins and partners. Until the Sickness.

Kibbe knew that all humans had not died: ships still sailed with human crews and, on land, people could be seen working - when it was not the Time of Thread.

Since Kibbe had had a partner, he knew of humans, and their frailties and their skill at relieving the few illnesses to which dolphins were prone. But the young in his pod did not and questioned why dolphins should bother.

"It is tradition. We have always done as we do now. We will always obey the Traditions."

"Why do humans want to come into water? They cannot surrender themselves to the currents as we can."

"Once humans swam as well as dolphins,' Kibbe would reply.

"But then we cannot walk on land,' the calves would say.

"Why would we want to?"

"We are of different flesh, with different needs: dolphins to the water, humankind to the land."

"True, my son. Each to his own ways.

"Why do humans want to come into water? Why do they not stay on land and leave the water for us?"

"They need the fish in the seas, as we do,' Kibbe would tell them. One had to tell the young the same words many times before they understood. "They need to travel to other land places and the only way is by water."

"They have dragons who fly."

"Not everyone has dragons to fly."

"Do dragons like us?"

"I believe they do though lately we have seen few of them.

Once, I was told, they would swim in the sea with us."

"How can they swim with those great wings?" "They fold them to their back."

"Odd creatures.

"Many creatures of the land look odd to us, Kibbe would say, undulating through the water gracefully and effortlessly beside the calves he was teaching.

Kibbe privately thought that humans were clumsy, awkward creatures, in the water or out. They were, however, slightly more graceful in the water, especially if they swam as dolphins did, by keeping their legs together. The way some of them thrashed about with their limbs moving separately wasted much energy.

Nowadays, humans did not follow the forms laid down by the ancestors of both species but that did not mean that the dolphins should be any the less heedful of keeping the traditions.

Very few captains leaned over the side of their ship when dolphins appeared to accompany it and asked how the pod was faring and how the schools were running. Very few would give their escort a token fish for the assistance. Of course, it had been many seasons since dolphins had found and brought any drowned human boxes to their attention. As it had been many seasons since dolphineers had swum long distances with their partners. Sad the way tradition declined, Kibbe thought.

Like not answering the Bell.

He did one last pass in front of the wharf, eyeing the deserted structure. He tolled the bell one last time, thinking it sounded as mournful as he felt for the silence that had once been filled with human noises, the fine work they had done together and the games they played.

With a final flip of his tail, he turned and started his long journey to the Great Subsidence in the Northwest Sea to inform The Tillek that, once again, no-one had answered the Bell. The humans who sailed in the ships would not learn of the latest hazards the dolphins had dutifully come to report. Even the waters of Pern changed the land of Pern but that was the natural way of things. Or so The Tillek said. The dolphins would keep to their patrols of the coastline and, when, if ever, a human would listen to them, at least they could tell him what had changed, and save his ship from being broken on unexpected reefs or rocks: or where the Currents had altered and might provide a hazard to the ships and the humans who sailed on it.

Chapter One

hen Master Fishman Alemi came by Readis' hold that morning, he found his fishing crony ready and waiting.

"I thought you'd never come, Uncle Alemi,' Readis said in a tone that was a thin line away from accusatory.

"He's been on the porch, Aramina told Alemi with a solemnhiding-a-smile-face, "for the last hour. He was up in dawn's dark!" And she rolled her eyes at such eager anticipation.

"Uncle Alemi says the fish bite best at dawn,' Readis informed his mother in a condescending tone as he jumped down the three steps to take a firm hold of the callused hand of his courtesy uncle.

"I don't know which excited him more: fishing with you or being allowed to attend Swacky's gather this evening." Then she waggled a finger at her small son. "Remember, you have to take a nap this afternoon.

"I'm all ready to go fishing now,' Readis said, ignoring the threat. "I got my snack,' and he brandished the net sack laden with his water bottle and wrapped sandwich, "and my vest." The last was added in a contemptuous tone.

"You will note that I'm wearing mine, too,' Alemi said, giving the trusting little paw a shake.

Aramina chuckled. "That's the only reason he's wearing his.'

"I swim good!" Readis announced in a strong loud voice. "I swim as good as any shipfish!'

That you do,' his mother agreed equably.

"Don't I know that as I taught you?" Alemi replied cheerfully.

And 1 can swim that much better and still use a vest in a small boat."

"An' in stormy weather, Readis added to prove that he knew the whole lesson on safety vests. My mother made mine,' he said proudly, puffing out his vested chest and grinning up at her. "With love in every stitch!'

C'mon, lad, time's a-wasting,' Alemi said.

With a farewell wave of his free hand to Aramina, he led his small charge down to the beach and the slab-sided dinghy that would convey them out to where Alemi felt they would likely find the big redfins that were promised for grilling at the evening's festivities.

Swacky had been part of Readis' life since he could remember.

The stocky ex-soldier had joined Jayge and Aramina when Aunt Temma and Uncle Nazer came from the north. He lived in one of the smaller holds and turned his hand to any one of a number of chores necessary in Paradise River Hold. Swacky had guard stories of all the Holds he'd served in to tell a small and fascinated boy. Readis' father, Jayge, never talked of the renegade problem which was when he had come to know Swacky. And Swacky never mentioned exactly what Jayge had done in those days, though he was real fierce and unforgiving of the renegades for "slaughtering innocent folk and animals just to see their blood run' - except it had to do with the particular renegades who had attacked the Lilcamp wagon train which was Jayge's family business.

If Readis had been asked which man he loved best - apart from his father, of course - Swacky or Alemi, Readis would have been hard pressed to make a choice.

Both men figured largely in his young life but for different reasons. Today Readis was going to have the best of both: fishing for Swacky in the morning with Alemi, and feasting to honour Swacky's seventy-five Turns of living tonight!

Pushing together, they eased the skiff down the sandy shore and into the gently lapping water. When they had waded out until the water was mid-thigh on Readis, Alemi gestured for him to jump in and take up the paddle. That was the main difference between Readis' two idols: Swacky talked a lot; Alemi used gestures where the other man would have used sentences.

With one mighty last push, Alemi sent the skiff forward over the first of the little combers and jumped in. At another familiar gesture, Readis moved to the stern and skulled his paddle to keep the forward movement while Alemi unfurled the sail and let the boom run out. The inland dawn breeze filled the canvas and Readis stowed the paddle and reached for the keelboard, sending it home into the stern slot and shoving the cotter-pin through to lock it firmly in place.

"Hard a-port,' Alemi sang out, accompanying his command with appropriate gestures. He ducked agilely as the boom swung over, playing out the lines until he had moved into the seat beside his shipmate. He shortened sail and then put his free arm behind Readis, noting the lad's instinctive handling of the rudder.

Alemi's good wife had given him three fine girl children and was carrying a fourth which both devoutly hoped would be a son. But until that time, Alemi "practised' with Readis. Jayge approved since it would stand a shoreside holder in good stead to appreciate the moods and bounty of the sea and Readis would profit by knowing more than one skill.

Alemi sniffed at the off-shore breeze, redolent now of vegetable and exotic blossoms. He judged the wind would turn once they got out beyond the Paradise River channel. He didn't intend to sail far from land but, on the landside of the Great Southern Current, they were sure to find the redfins which frequented this part of the sea in great schools. Yesterday, Alemi had sent out the two smaller ships of his little fleet to meet those schools. As soon as the repairs to his bigger yawl had been completed, he and his crew would be join them.

Alemi was just as pleased to be on shore for Swacky's gather.

He might miss a day's fishing but until the main's'l had been mended, he was shore-bound.

As they hit the rip at the channel mouth, the little skiff bucked and bounced. Readis' merry laugh burbled out of him, delighted with dipping and dumping. Not much phased the lad and he'd never fed the fishes once. Which was more than could be said for some grown men.

Then Alemi caught the sparkle and shine on the surface and, touching Readis' shoulder, pointed. The boy leaned against him and cast his eye along the extended arm, nodding excitedly as he, too, saw the school. So many fish trying to occupy the same space that they seemed to be flippering on each other's backs.

In a single-minded action, both reached for the rods that had been stowed under the gunnels. These were sturdy rods of the finest bamboo, with reels of the stoutest tight-stranded line, and hooks handfashioned by the Hold's Smithjourneyman, barbed to hold once sunk in the jaw of the wiliest redfin.

Twelve redfins, the length of a grown man's arm, were required for the evening's feasting. There would be roast wherry and succulent herdbeast but redfin was Swacky's favorite. He'd wanted to come along, Swacky had told Readis the night before, but he had to stay about and organize his gather or no-one would do it the way he wanted.

Alemi let Readis bait his own hook with the innards of the shellfish redfins loved best. The boy's tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as he manipulated the slimy mess securely on to the hook. He looked up at Alemi and saw the nod of approval. Then, with a deft cast for a boy his age, he sent the weighted hook, bait still attached, out across the starboard wake of the skiff. To give the boy a chance to make the first catch of the day, Alemi busied himself furling the sail and other chores. Then he, too, hunkered down in the cockpit, bracing his rod on the port side.

They didn't have long to wait for a bite. And Readis was first.

The rod bent, its tip almost touching the choppy waves as the redfin fought its ensnarement. Readis, biting his lip, his eyes bugged out with determination, set both feet on the seat and hung on to his rod. Grunts came out of him as he struggled to reel in this monster. Alemi had one hand, out of the boy's line of sight, ready to grab the rod should the fish prove too strong.

Readis was panting with effort by the time the equally exhausted redfin was flapping feebly in the starboard side.

With one deft swoop, Alemi netted it and hauled it aboard; Readis whooped with glee as he saw the size of it.

"That's the biggest one yet, isn't it, Uncle Alemi? That's the biggest one I've caught. Isn't it? A real good big "un!'

"Indeed it is,' Alemi replied stoutly: the fish was not as long as his forearm. But a good prize for the boy.

Just then his line tugged.

"You gotta bite, too. You gotta bite!'

"That I do. So you'll have to attend to this one yourself."

Alemi was amazed at the pull of his hooked fish. He had to exert considerable force to keep the rod from being pulled out of his hand. For a startled moment, he wondered if he had inadvertently hooked a shipfish which no fishman in his right mind ever did. He was immensely relieved as he saw the red fins of his captive as the fish writhed above the surface in an attempt to loosen the barb in its mouth.

That's ginormous!" cried Readis and looked up at the Master Fishman with an awed expression.

"it's a big "un all right,' Alemi said, jamming his feet under the cockpit seat to get more leverage against the pull.

"And it's dragging the skiff!'

That, too, was obvious to Alemi, dragging them toward the edge of the Great Southern Current. He could even discern the difference in colour between current and sea.

And we're right in the middle of the school!" Readis cried, lurching from port to starboard to look down at the darting bodies that surrounded the little ship.

"Best knock your catch on the head before it flips overboard,' Alemi said, noting the flapping of the landed fish and not wanting its oil to coat the deck. He managed to reel in a good length though the tip of his rod went briefly underwater. He hauled mightily and got enough play in the line to reel in again.

"That is the fightingest fish you've ever hooked,' Readis said.

He'd knocked his redfin smartly on the head and tossed it in the catch-tank, remembering to fasten the lid with a deft turn of the fastener.

One eye on the drift toward the Great Current, Alemi hurried the process of reeling the redfin in. Readis was cheering him along with reports of the immense size of the fish so Alemi hoped that he would win the battle.

"Get ready with the net, boy!" he called as he manoeuvered his catch close to the port side of the skiff.

Readis was ready but the struggling fish was too much for his young arms and Alemi flung the rod aside to help. They got the fish aboard, Alemi clouted it on the head, and then stepped over it to get to the tiller and alter their course away from the Southern Current.

They were close enough for him to see the rapid stream, making its inexorable way through waters crowded with fish attempting to reach its safety.

"Wheee, look at that, Unclemi!" Readis cried, pointing a blood-smeared finger at the school of redfin. "Can't we fish here?"

"Not in the Current, boy, not unless you want to take a much longer voyage and miss tonight's gather."

"1 don't want to do tha Readis' eyes widened and his mouth gaped as he looked astern. 0-oh!'

Alemi craned his head over his shoulder and caught his breath. Boiling up behind them, and far too close for them to reach the safety of river mouth, was one of the black squalls that this part of the coast was famous for: squalls which defied even his well-honed seaman's instinct for storm. A powerful gust of wind smacked into his face and made his eyes water. Even as he moved to secure the boom, gesturing Readis to perform emergency tasks drilled into him for just such a situation, Alemi cursed the freak weather which gave none of the warnings he was used to noting in the Nerat Bay waters in which he had been trained.

His father, Yanus, had often berated the folly of men who insisted on sailing the Great Currents when there were quieter waters that held just as many fish but without the hazards.

Alemi, rather liking hazards, had never agreed with his father on that score - among others.

Now, he gave a brief tug at the ties of Readis' vest, grinned a reassurance and then payed out the sea anchor.

So what do fishmen do in a blow, Readis?" he shouted above the rising wind that whipped words from his mouth.

"Sail into it! Or run with it!" Readis was grinning with all the impudent confidence of his age. He leaned into the arm Alemi put round him as they braced themselves in the cockpit. Which do we do now?"

"Run!" Alemi said, adjusting his course to the gusty pressure against the back of his head and keeping the bow in line with the wave pattern.

This dinghy was a frail craft in the high seas that a sudden squall like this could churn up. Devoutly Alemi hoped this would be a short blow, as they so often were in this area. One large roller athwart the dinghy and they'd be swamped.

The shoreline had disappeared in the blackness of the encompassing storm but that didn't worry Alemi as much as getting caught in the Great Southern Current which could take them dangerously far from land. Or ram them, all unseeing, into the headland above Paradise River Cove. Hauling the tiller over as far as he dared, he hoped the wind would blow them to starboard, away from the Current and toward land.

But winds were as capricious as these seas. He had checked the barometer - one of the new tools which Aivas had supplied as a weather aid. Knowing himself more attuned to Nerat Bay's more pacific waters, Alemi had availed himself of the device despite the scoffing of other fishmen. He had also studied the weather charts and such information about these waters that the Ancients had amassed in Aivas' seemingly inexhaustible "files'.

Anything that would aid the Crafthold and prevent loss of life and ship was not too bizarre to be tested by Alemi.

But the barometer had been steady on "fair' when he left to collect Readis. Too late to worry about that now, he thought, as a whitecap bashed the skiff sideways. It then dropped down a huge trough, sinking his stomach on the way. Beside him, Readis laughed, even if he also tightened his hands on the gunnel beside him. Alemi managed to grin encouragingly down at his brave shipmate.

On the upsurge, the wave seized the small boat and heaved it high on the next crest, then smashed it down again so that water walled them into a dark green pocket, the sea anchor trailing in the air behind them. The skiff lurched, its prow digging into the ascending sea cliff. They took on water and, when Readis would have dutifully reached for the bailing bucket, Alemi tightened his hold on him, shaking his head. The skiff could take on a good deal of water - which would make her somewhat heavier in the seas, all to the good - before she was in danger of sinking. He feared capsizing more. He was glad that he had drilled Readis on how to cope with an overturn. Now it was all he could do to hang on, for a cross rip of surging waves battered the skiff from side to side, as well as up and down. He clung - one hand to the ship and one on Readis and prayed for the end of the squall.

They could stop almost as abruptly as they began. That would be their only hope now: a quick end to the blow.

He saw the mast splinter and break, felt Readis' tightened grip, and then abruptly they were upended as the cross waves slammed into the starboard side and decanted them into the roiled sea. His grip on Readis tightened, pulling the boy close in to his chest. Over the scream of the storm he heard the boy's startled, frightened cry. Then they were being milled in the waters, Readis clinging to him like a grey limpet.

Alemi flailed his free arm, trying to reach the surface again.

He managed to grab a breath just as another wave pushed them down. Readis struggled in his arms and all he could do was tighten his grip. He mustn't lose the boy. Then his scooping hand came hard against something. The upturned skiff? He clutched at a roundness that was not wooden, but firm and fleshed.

Shipfish? Shipfish! Through the driving rain and wash of sea water, he could see shapes all around them. How often they were said to rescue fishermen!

The hard edge of a dorsal fin now filled his hand and his body was swung against its long sleek shape just as another wave crashed over him. No, the shipfish was angling its agile body right through the wave and out the other side. Readis' small body was on the outside, victim to the pull of the harsh waves.

Hanging on, Alemi somehow shoved Readis to his side, against the shipfish. In between the sheets of water that covered them, he saw Readis' hands trying to find some purchase on the sleek, slippery body.

"SHIPEISH, READIS!" he shouted above the tumult of the storm winds. "THEY'LL SAVE US! HANG ON!'

Then he felt another body nudge into him on the other side, wedging him and Readis even tighter, though how the creatures managed that feat in such rough water he didn't know. But the additional support allowed him some respite and he reset his hand on the dorsal fin; he even managed to work one of Readis' small hands on the sturdy edge.

Then it occurred to Alemi as they passed through yet another wall of water, that Readis was small enough to ride on the shipfish's back. It took three more waves before Alemi had hoisted Readis astride the shipfish. To his immense surprise, the shipfish seemed to help as much as it could by maintaining as straight a line through the plunging seas as it could.

"HOLD ON! HOLD ON TIGHT!" Alemi said, firmly wrapping Readis' small arms around the fin. The boy, his face a scared white but his mouth set in a determined line, nodded and half-crouched behind the fin, like the rider of a sea dragon.

A surge of relief caused Alemi to momentarily loosen his grip on the top of the fin and he floundered about. Almost immediately, a blunt nose bumped him authoritatively and the next thing he knew a dorsal fin was nudging against his right hand. A wave crashed down on him and he was tumbled in the water, away from the safety and he had to fight his panic.

But the shipfish was right beside him, pushing him upward with its snout. They both broke the surface together and Alemi thrashed toward the creature, grabbing the dorsal with both hands, only to be thrown sideways against the long body by the next whitecap. This time he managed to retain a grip with one hand and also, by letting his body trail beside the shipfish, he could follow its movements more easily. He fought the panic in him that wanted both hands on this one source of stability offered in the stormy sea and, relaxing into the movement, found the courage to surrender to the shipfish. As they dipped and plunged through the next wave, he saw Readis, crouching over his mount's back. He saw the phalanx of escort on either side and knew that their protection was solid.

Then it seemed as if the squall was lessening or perhaps they had been conveyed to its fringes where the water was calmer.

Either way, their passage improved. Looking in the direction he thought land should be, he saw the smudge of the shoreline and almost cried with relief.

"Wheeeeee!'

Startled by that cry, Alemi turned as he saw a shipfish launch itself above the waves in a graceful arc and re-enter the water.

Others began the same antic, all "wheeing' or "squeeing!'

"Wheee!" cried an unmistakably boy's voice and Alemi looked over his left shoulder to see Readis, now sitting up straighter on his shipfish, grinning with delight at the exhibition. "That's great!" the boy added. "Aren't they great, Alemi?"

"Grrrreat!" But it was shipfish who repeated the word, in just the same way the boy had uttered it, spinning the "r' out.

On all sides, shipfish were crying "Great' as they continued their leisurely vaultings in and out of the sea. Alemi convulsively tightened his grip on the dorsal fin. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The stress of the storm, perhaps a blow to his head, or plain fear, had addled his faculties. His companion raised its head and, water shooting up out of the blow-hole in the top of its cranium, clearly said: "Thass great!'

"They're talking, Unclemi, they're talking.

"How could they, Readis? They're fish!'

"Not fish! Mam'l." His rescuer got out the three words in a loud and contradictory tone. "Doll fins,' it added clearly and Alemi shook his head. "Doll fins speak good." As if to emphasize this, it began to speed forward, hauling the dazed Master Fishman along at a spanking pace.

Readis' doll fin and the guardian companions altered their course, too, and picked up speed, the flankers still performing their acrobatic above-the-water spins, vaults and turns.

"Talk some more, will you?" Readis encouraged in his highpitched young voice. This was going to make some gather tale.

And they'd have to believe what he said because Unclemi was here with him to vouch that what he said was true.

"Talk'? You talk. Long tayme no talk,' a doll fin swimming alongside Readis said very clearly. "Men back Landing? Doll fin ears back?"

"Landing?" Alemi repeated, stunned. The doll fins knew the ancient name? Wonder upon wonder.

"Men are back at Landing,' Readis said quite proudly, as if he had been instrumental in their return.

"Good!" cried one doll fin as it executed a twist mid-air, knifing back into the water without splashing.

"Squeeeeee!" another cried as it vaulted upward.

In the water all around him, Alemi heard excited clickings and clatterings. The area seemed so full of shipfish bodies that he wondered how they could move without injuring each other.

"Look, Unclemi, we're nearly back!" Readis said, jabbing his finger at the fast-approaching land.

They had been conveyed so rapidly and smoothly that Alemi struggled between relief that they were so close to dry land and regret that this incredible journey was ending. The forward motion of the shipfish slowed as they came to the first of the sandbanks. Some leaped over it, others followed Readis' and Alemi's mounts to the channel, while the majority altered their direction seaward again.

Moments later the smooth transport came to a complete halt and, tentatively lowering his feet, Alemi felt the firmness of the sea bed, gradually sloping up to the shore. He released the dorsal fin and slapped the side of his mount who turned and rubbed its nose against him, as if inviting a caress. Bemused, Alemi scratched as he would his dog or the small felines who were beginning to invade the Hold. Readis' mount continued past him.

"Thanks, my friend. You saved our lives and we are grateful.

"Wielcame. Uur duty,' the shipfish said clearly and then with a swirl, it propelled its body sinuously back out to the break in the sandbar, its fin travelling at ever increasing speed as it rejoined its fellows.

"Hey!" Readis cried on a note of alarm. His mount had unceremoniously dumped him in shallows where he was just able to stand erect, the water as high as his chin.

"Thank the doll fin,' Alemi called, wading as fast as he could toward the boy. "Scratch its chin.

"Oh? You like that, huh?" Readis, treading water, managed to use both hands to scratch the face presented him. "Thank you very much indeed for saving my life and giving me that great swim ashore."

"Wielcame, bhoy!" Then the doll fin executed an incredible leap over Readis' head and followed its pod mate out to sea again.

"Come back. Come back soon,' Readis called after him, raising himself up out of the water to project his invitation.

A faint "squcee' answered him. "D'you think he heard me?" Readis plaintively asked Alemi.

"They seem to have very good hearing, Alemi remarked dryly. Then he gave Readis as inconspicuous an assist up out of the water as he could. The boy had been magnificent throughout. He must tell Jayge that. A father sometimes didn't see his son in the same light as an interested observer.

Tired as they were from the experience, the exhilaration of their rescue provided enough energy for them both to reach the dry sand of the beach before they had to sit and rest.

"They won't believe us, will they, Unclemi?" Readis said with a weary sigh as he was stretched full length on the warm beach.

"I'm not sure I believe us,' Alemi said, mustering a smile as he collapsed beside the boy. But the shipfish unquestionably rescued us. No mistake about that!'

"And the shipfish what did he call himself. . . maml? He did talk to us. You heard him. Wielcame! Uur duty." And Readis made his voice squeakier in mimicry of the doll fin. "They even got manners.

"Remember that, Readis,' Alemi said with a weak chuckle.

He knew he should get to his feet and go reassure Aramina that they'd survived the storm. Though, as he turned his head to look down the shoreline, he couldn't see a soul. Was it possible that no-one on shore had noticed the sudden squall?

Hadn't even known they were in danger? Just as well not to unnecessarily mar what would still be the happy occasion of Swacky's nameday gather.

"Unclemi?" There was a disturbed wail in Readis' voice. "We lost our redfins." Then the boy added hastily to show he was aware of the priorities. "And the skiff, too.

"We have our lives, Readis, and we've a story to tell. Now, just get your breath a few more minutes.

A few more minutes became an hour before either stirred, for the warm sand had taken the last of the squall's chill from their bones: the sea sounds and the light winds had combined with the fatigue of their recent labours to send them to sleep.

Except for the fact that Alemi was not given to fanciful tales, the rest of Paradise River Hold might not have believed the astounding tale the two of them told. By the next morning tide, however, pieces of the skiff were deposited on the beach.

By then everyone in Paradise River Hold knew the bare bones of their near-fatal fishing trip. No-one on shore had indeed noticed the squall, busy with their chores and getting ready for the evening gather. Aramina had been in Temma's cothold, baking. She nearly fainted when Alemi informed her, as gently as possible, of the recent ordeal her son had come through so magnificently. Then she fussed so over Readis, who was trying to eat lunch because his had been lost at sea, that she looked hurt when he shrugged her attentions off so he could get on with filling his very empty stomach. She reprimanded him severely when he told her that shipfish talk.

"How can fish talk?" She glared at Alemi as if he had filled the boy's head with nonsense.

Before Alemi could support him, Readis gave his mother a very fierce scowl. "Dragons talk - he insisted.

"Dragons talk to their riders, not small boys.

"And you heard dragons, mother,' he protested boldly even though he knew she didn't like to be reminded. That made het pause so long that he wished the words back in his throat and chewed more slowly.

"Yes, I heard dragons but I certainly have never heari shipfish !"

"Even when they rescued you and Da?"

"In the middle of a storm?"

"Mine didn't start talking until after the storm."

His mother glanced again at Alemi for confirmation.

"It is true, Aramina. They spoke

"Their noises may have just sounded like words, Alemi, she tried to insist.

"Not when they said "wielcame" after I said "thank you", Readis went on hotly, and Alemi nodded vigorously under Aramina's outraged eyes. "And they know that the ancients called the place Landing and they're mamls not fish!'

"Of course they're fish!" Aramina blurted out. "They swim in the sea!'

"So do we and we're not fish!" Readis retorted in disgust with her disbelief and stormed out of the room, refusing to return when she called him.

"Now see what you've done!" Aramina said to Alemi and then she, too, left Temma's kitchen.

Alemi regarded the older woman blankly.

"If you say they spoke, "Lemi, they spoke,' the former trader said with a definitive nod of her head. Then she grinned at his confused expression. "Don't worry about Ara. She'll calm down but you gotta admit you frightened the life out of her. And none of us here even knowing there'd been a bad squall. Here!" And she handed him a cup of the klah she had just made to which she added a dollop of the special brew she kept for emergencies.

"Ha!" Alemi said, smacking his lips after a long swig, "I needed that!" He handed back the cup with a quizzical expression.

"You don't need any more or you won't be able to regale the gather tonight with your adventure,' Temma added with a wink.

The pod swam back into their customary waters full of elation that they had once again saved landfolk. This was worth relaying to The Tillek now, instead of waiting until the year turned and pods gathered at the Great Subsidence to watch the young males attempt the Whirlpool, and exchange the news each pod galliered in its waters. The southern pods did not have as many occasions as the noflhern ones did to do perform traditional duties. So the sounds went out and were broadcast that Afo and Kib had played wit/i mans lost at sea. It had been a great moment. For they had spoken to mans in Words and mans had spoken to them, using the ancient Words of Courtesy.

So Kib rehearsed the tale, murmuring into the waters as he swam the Words of his Reporrit. He sent the sounds out to be repeated from pod to pod until they came to the hearing of The Tillek. Maybe this was time that The Tilleks had promised would come: when mans once more remembered to speak to sea folk and become partners again.

The sounds travelled to The Tillek who had them repeated from one end of the seas to the other, to all the pods in all the waters of Pern There was envy at such good luck and some even wished to join the fortunate pod. Afo, Kib, Mel, Temp and Mull swam fast and proud, with great leaps. And Mel wondered if mans would still know how to get rid of bloodfish for he had one sucking him which he could not seem to scrape off, not matter how he tried.

Chapter Two

Readis fell asleep that night some time after his third repetition of their adventure.

"He's got it down as pat as any harper, his father said with some chagrin.

"Just so long as you've made it plain, and Aramina emphasized that word, "that he isn't to swim out or go sailing "Skiff's gone, remember?" Jayge put in reassuringly.

"To try and find those shipfish again,' she finished, glaring at him.

"You heard him promise, "Mina, that he wouldn't go near to the water without a companion. He's a child of his word, you know."

"Hmmm, Aramina said ominously.

But, though she kept strict track of her son's whereabouts for the next two days, he did not disobey though she saw him often shielding his eyes from the sun, gazing out across the restless waters of the Southern Sea. Perversely now she worried that he had taken a fear of the sea. When she hesitantly mentioned this to her mate, Jayge stoutly denied there was a fearful bone in Readis' body.

"He's obeying - isn't that what you wanted of him?" Jayge demanded. "You can't have it both ways.

Aramina sighed and then was summoned out of her preoccupation over Readis by a loud cry of frustration from Aranya who was having trouble with a toy cart that kept losing its wheel.

The next afternoon, while holders were taking their midday rest, avoiding the heat of the sun, Aramina received a polite message from Ruth that he and Lord Jaxom were visiting Paradise River. She told her husband. She was halfway to the kitchen to prepare the fruit juices that she knew Jaxom liked when she turned back, puzzled.

"They're already here at Paradise, Aramina said. Then she went to the edge of the wide verandah that shaded their house, peering up into skies unpopulated by the recognizable form of a dragon. "But where? Isn't that just like Jaxom? Although why he would tell me he was coming when he's already nearby Oh, maybe I misheard Ruth. I do that now and then." She sighed in exasperation, shrugged and went back inside.

Jayge seated himself where he commanded a good view of the approaches to the house, propping his feet up on the railing. The days when Aramina had heard every single dragon conversation were long past - to her infinite relief. The dragons had to think specifically at her to convey a message. Jayge couldn't imagine what could have delayed Ruth who was generally very prompt to follow any announcement of his coming. Lord Jaxom of Ruatha Hold was welcome for his own self but Jayge smiled at the surprise Readis would have to see the white dragon when he woke from his afternoon nap.

"Not that that would rate as high now as swimming with a dolphin,' Jayge murmured aloud. As well it was Ruth and Jaxom who were the first dragon pair to land at Paradise River after Readis' adventure. The very ones to answer candid questions.

Just then Ruth glided with deft back-winging to land in front of the house. Jayge rose to his feet and went to greet them, a broad grin on his face. "Ara started squeezing juice the moment Ruth told her you were coming. You've confused her. She said you were already here but we couldn't see the white hide anywhere.

And I'm glad you did because something's come up!'

Jaxom grinned and Jayge frowned because he suddenly realized that Jaxom was carrying his riding jacket and had sweated through his light shirt. His face also bore sweat marks. Considering that between was beyond measure cold, Jayge was confused. Then Ruth turned and, in a hop-glide gait, made for the shore while happily chirping fire-lizards converged above him.

"Off for a scrub, is he?" and Jayge gestured his human guest up to the coolness of the porch. "How could you work up such a sweat in between, Jaxom?"

"Stealing sand." The young Lord Holder grinned with mischief. "We've been examining the quality of your local stuff."

"Indeed? Now what would you need Paradise River sand for?

As I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway." He motioned for Jaxom to take the hammock, strategically placed at the corner of the house where it caught any breeze, seaward or landward. He leaned against the banister, arms folded across his chest, awaiting an explanation.

"The settlers had a sandpit back in that scrub land of yours.

They thought highly of Paradise River sands - for glass making."

"There's certainly enough. Did Piemur and Jancis find those whatchamacallums

"Chips?" With a grin, Jaxom supplied the proper term for all the odd bits that had been stored in the Hold's barn by the Ancients. It was only in recent days that any one had understood their purpose . . . parts for computers, of which the Artificial Intelligence Voice Address System - Aivas - recently discovered at a Landing building was the most complex. And the receptacle in which all the Ancients' vast knowledge had been stored. Jayge had had a brief glimpse of the incredible machine, in its special room at Landing, and heard what miracles of information it had.

"Chips, then useful, after all?"

"Well, we managed to salvage the usable transistors and capacitors but they haven't actually been installed yet."

Jayge gave him a long suspicious look for the way the strange words came so easily from his mouth. "As you say, he added with a grin.

Just then, young Readis, clad only in a clout, came out on the porch, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He peered at Jaxom, swinging lazily in the hammock, then swivelled his head around to the front of the house. "Ruth?"

Jaxom pointed to where the white dragon, surrounded by industrious fire-lizards, wallowed in the shallow water.

"He's enough of a guardian, isn't he?" Readis asked, tilting his head back in a stance that mirrored one of his father's postures.

Jayge nodded, glad that Readis was so conscious of his promise not to go in the water unattended. "Ruth's bathing right now and besides, I'd like you to tell Jaxom what happened to you and Alemi the other day?"

"Did you come just to hear?" Readis asked, though he knew that Lord Jaxom had a lot of other things to do since he was aware of how hard his own holder father worked. On the other hand, he was certain that even a busy man like Lord Jaxom would find his adventure interesting: because it was a real adventure.

"Well, that was one reason, Jaxom said, smiling. "So what did happen to you and Alemi the other day?"

Aramina emerged from the house, carrying her squirming daughter under one arm and a tray in her free hand. Jayge quickly sprang to relieve her of the tray but she gave him Aranya instead, and served Jaxom a tall cool drink and some freshly baked sweet biscuits. It took a few more minutes until Readis was settled on his stool, with two biscuits and a small glass. When his mother was seated, Readis looked to his father for his cue to begin.

He took a deep breath and launched into the well-rehearsed tale. He kept his eyes on Lord Jaxom's face to be sure he was listening properly - and he was - almost from the start.

"Shipfish?" Lord Jaxom exclaimed when Readis got to that part of his recital. He glanced at Jayge and Aramina then and Readis saw their solemn confirmation of his claim.

"A whole pod of "em,' Readis said proudly. "Unclemi said there must have been twenty or thirty. They pulled us far enough in for us to reach the beach safely on our own. And,' he added, pausing to give emphasis to his final words, "the next morning the skiff was found beached up by the fishhold, like they knew exactly where it belonged."

"That is some tale, young Readis. You're a harper born. An amazing rescue. Truly amazing."

Readis caught the genuine feeling in the Lord Holder's tone.

"The redfins weren't by any chance returned with the skiff?" he asked.

"Nah,' and Readis dismissed that with a flick of his wrist although he had been disappointed the lock-box hadn't appeared on the shore as well. "They drowned. So we had to eat ol' stringy wherry "stead of good juicy redfin steaks. And you know something else?"

"No, what?" Jaxom responded.

"It wasn't just that they rescued us, they talked to us, too!'

"What did they say?"

The expression on Lord Jaxom's face was suddenly alert and his eyes bored into Readis as if he'd caught him out in a lie.

Readis stiffened his back and threw out his chest.

"They said "wielcame" when we thanked "em. And they called themselves "mamls", not fish. Unclemi will tell you!'

Readis caught Jaxom glancing at his father, as if doubting him.

His father gave a slow nod to Jaxom, then turned to him.

"Readis, why don't you run down and see if the fire-lizards are giving Ruth a proper scrubbing?"

Having said his piece, Readis was delighted to be released to help bathe Ruth, who was his favorite dragon of all the ones he'd met so far.

"Can I? Really?" And he looked up at Lord Jaxom.

"Really, you can,' Jaxom said.

Readis let out a loud yell as he jumped off the porch and pelted down to the shore where Ruth was afloat.

When the boy was out of earshot, Jaxom turned to his parents.

"I know for a fact that dolphins, what we've been calling shipfish all these centuries, came with the original settlers. And they speak? Amazing." He glanced towards Ruth.

"They'll never be competition for dragons,' Jayge said quickly, flashing Jaxom a look.

"No,' Jaxom replied with an easy grin, "nothing could be but you seaside holders might want to encourage a renewal of the old friendship. Especially with the squalls you have."

"Hmmm,' and Jayge was clearly taken with that idea.

"You are not,' and Aramina paused to emphasize the negative, "to give my son any more ideas than he already has.

"Why not?" Jayge said, blinking at her. "Catch "em while they're young and train "em up in the way they're to go.

"Readis will follow you as Holder of Paradise River " she began, hotly.

"And, as he is Holder of Paradise River right on the coast, I think it'd be smart if he is aware of all the possibilities available,' Jayge said, making a sweeping gesture of his arm which included the sparkling waters beyond. "Of course, onl when he's old enough to appreciate the advantages, he added as her expression turned slightly mutinous.

"Can't start "em too young, you know, Jaxom told Aramina.

"You're as bad as he is. Don't tell me that Sharra would allow Jarrol to go careening about the coastline?"

"We don't have much of a one at Ruatha, Jaxom said with immense good humour. "And speaking of my wife, I'd best get back to her. Surprise her with my early return. So I have your permission Lord Holder, to use Paradise River sands . - - He turned to Jayge.

Jayge raised both hands in broad assent. "However much you need."

"Thanks. Jaxom drank the last of the juice, made a satisfied smack of his lips. "That hit the spot. Now, to entice my dragon away from all his admirers.

Jayge, circling Aramina's shoulders with one arm, waved a farewell. Then he looked down at his wife, always somewhat amazed that she had chosen to live her life with him.

"Some people have affinities for the sea, others for horses, or dragons." He gave her an encouraging squeeze when her face clouded, hearing that preamble. "Readis has had a great adventure for a young lad. Let's bend with it for the time being.

I would like to hear what Aivas has to say about the shipfish.

After all, love, we, too, owe our lives to them - and all that they brought us to. We ought, for the sake of our son, to listen to what is known about them."

She leaned into him, borrowing his strength once again. "He is just a little boy."

"Who will grow, I hope, into a fine sturdy man. Who will probably be as stubborn as his mother,' and he grinned down at her.

"Ha! And not just his mother by any means,' she replied tartly.

"Just don't force the issue, Jayge.

"I hadn't intended to, but I must admit to being curious as to what Aivas will say about talking fish."

"Yes,' Aramina said, moving away from his side to take a sand-covered biscuit out of her daughter's hand, "people can imagine such odd things in moments of stress."

"Didn't we though!" And Jayge's grin was for their own rarely mentioned rescue. "We never thought to thank them, either."

Aramina gave him a long and indignant stare. "Considering we barely made it to shore, and never really thought the shipfish were speaking to us, why would we have?"

The dolphins kept patrolling the waters off Pa rdis nv, hoping to ask mans to remove bloodfish. Most of them had the annQving things. Sometimes they could bite it off a podmember, but the parasites could take a hold that only a man's sharp knife could remove. It had been one of the great things about having a partner: he or she would keep their flesh free of the parasites so dolphins would be healthier and able to swim faster. So when they found the broken pieces of the mans' boat, they pushed it to where the tide would bring it ashore, since the waters were not deep enough for them to swim all the way in to the sands.

Maybe, seeing that the dolphins were remembering the tasks Tradition had told them to perform, mans would perform the tasks dolphins could not do for themselves. They kept watch until they saw mans finding the wreckage. Kib called and called, asking when the bloodfish could be taken off and where should they go for that healing. The mans were so happy to find the ship pieces that they walked away without answering.

If there was only a Bell, Kib thought. There should be a Bell.

Then they could ring it as their ancestors had, and mans would answer. The dolphins at Moncobay had a Bell which they could ring but they had not yet had the barnacles scraped off Had mans forgotten their duty to dolphins?

The Tillek had said that, one day, when the dolphin bells were rung again, mans would remember what mans should do to help dolphins.

Chapter Three

f Aramina secretly hoped that Lord Jaxom would forget so trivial a matter as speaking to Aivas about her son's adventure, she was mistaken. However, it was Master Fishman Alemi who was asked to come and recount the event to the Artificial Intelligence Voice Address System.

Jayge was somewhat irritated that Readis would miss an opportunity to meet this astounding artifact of the original colonists but Aramina thought it was much the best thing.

He's only just settled down, Jayge. Seeing this Aivas thing would upset him. And how much would a boy of his age understand? I mean, it's not as if he were meeting a living person he could relate to, is it?"

I could insist that Readis accompany me,' Alemi said, not wishing to cause bad feelings between holder and lady. His initial elation had been much dampened by realizing that his young friend was being excluded from the interview. He had been to the Admin with other Fish Masters, awed by the vast amount of information the facility had on ocean currents and deeps that was still relevant as well as extremely useful. The boy would be so proud of having been granted such a privilege.

"No!" Aramina said with some force. "It's enough he had the adventure. He tends to magnify things out of proportion and I don't want him thinking of swimming with those shipfish again.

You go. Find out what this Aivas knows. We can decide then if Readis is to be told. Right now, I'd rather the whole affair was forgotten.

"Forget that we owe the doll fins our son's life?"

"We owe them ours, too!" she snapped at him, "but I'm not out looking at the sea to see fins all day. Readis has to learn to deal with life on the land, not the sea." She gave Alemi a quick glance and added in a gentler tone, "I mean, for a boy his age, he already knows a good deal about the Fishman's Craft and I'm grateful you wanted to teach him." Then she let out a gush of held breath and said in a fierce tone. "He's only seven Turns old!

He's got a lot more to do with dragons than with doll fins."

The two men exchanged glances and a silent understanding was reached.

"I'll go to Landing then,' Alemi said calmly. "See what Aivas has to say about these creatures. I must admit, I'm somewhat fascinated with them myself. And,' he added with a wry grin, "I saved some fish to feed them with on this latest sail. You know, I hadn't realized just how often they have escorted my ship.

And how often they've saved lives. Each of my older hands had some tale to tell: in their family or from other crews they've sailed with. Oly said that once he was certain doll fins had kept his skiff afloat until he was close enough to land to swim. The boat sank the moment he left it."

"Do me a favor, Alemi?" Aramina asked, her expression severe.

"What?"

"Don't tell Readis any of them."

"Ara-' Jayge began to protest.

She wheeled on him. "I know all too well, Jayge Lilcamp, what can happen to a child who gets its head full of notions!'

Jayge pulled back and gave her a sheepish expression. "All right, Ara, I take the point. Alemi?"

"Oh, aye, I'll keep my mouth shut."

There was an awkward pause and then Aramina relented. "If he asks, tell him the truth. I won't have him lied to or put off."

"You want it both ways?" Jayge asked.

She gave him a scowl, then relaxed a bit with a rueful smile on her lips. "I guess I do. But he's only seven and the least said the best as far as I can see.

They were all of one mind before Alemi left the house that evening. He arranged for his first mate to take the sloop out the next day to trawl for redfins which were still running. What he couldn't sell fresh, they'd smoke as the fish preserved well so he didn't want to lose the day because he was asked to go to Landing.

Kitrin didn't wish him to be away from her at all.

"I'm longer gone on the ship fishing, dear, he gently reminded his wife. She was well gone in her pregnancy and apt to fret.

He took her hand and pulled her into his embrace, stroking her fine dark hair. "And I promise I shan't even look at those forward girls who work at Landing.

They both felt the baby kicking at her belly and smiled at each other.

"You've only to send Bitty after me,' he assured her, nodding at the little bronze fire-lizard curled up in a sunny patch on their verandah. "Returning from Landing is much easier done than from the sea."

"I know, I know,' she said and settled against the curve of him.

If Alemi were truthful - and this was not the time to be with Kitrin so uneasy in herself - he would have admitted that being asked to visit Landing, to speak to Aivas itself, was an excitement he didn't wish to miss, and one he would preferred to have shared with no qualifications. He could, indeed, understand and appreciate Aramina's anxieties about Readis. The boy was adventurous enough and sufficiently selfconfident, perhaps, to undertake more than he was truly able to.

Alemi had planned to tell him all that he had observed on this latest sail of the doll fins: how he had taken up a position on the prow of the ship to hail the shipfish, to see if others would talk to him, to feed them the fish he had saved as a thank you. He had done this every morning and evening. To his own amazement he had begun to notice differences in the colors, even in the scars on their muzzles, so that they were distinguishable, one from another. It occurred to him that doll fins, like dragons, could be identified once one knew what to look for: like differences in shade and scar tissue. Better, he thought, to distinguish humans by their hair and skin rather than the scars.

Alemi was also delighted for another opportunity to ride a dragon. He hadn't had that many chances. His initial ride between had been at his sister, Menolly's request. She'd heard from her Master, Harper Robinton, of the settlement at Paradise River and thought Alemi might well consider sailing south and founding his own Hold. (How well his sister had read his circumstances, chafing at his father's conservatism.) So he'd been conveyed a-dragonback for the initial meeting with the recently confirmed Holder, Jayge Lilcamp, and they had liked each other enough to take hold on it. He'd been conveyed twice since then to various Fish Craft meetings in the Tillek Master Fishmen Hall. Although Menolly had repeatedly told him that, as a Master Craftman, he had the right to call for a dragon to convey him whenever that was needful, he did not abuse the privilege.

He had often sailed to what was now called Monaco Bay, with tithes for the Weyr and supplies for the growing population at Landing. Excavations were still going on, and he had acquired a thing or two of use from the Catherine Caves when those were being shared out.

For this appearance at Landing, he dressed in his new formal tunic, embroidered with his Master's emblem, and in the Paradise River Hold colors, and newly braided Master's shoulder knots. Kitrin had a deft needle and did much of the special handwork for the entire Hold.

He had asked the dragonrider to collect him on the sea side of his holding, where Readis would not be likely to see him go off. Alemi was somewhat surprised by the youth of the bronze rider who appeared exactly on the time set.

"I'm T'lion, Master Fishman, to collect you, the boy said from his high perch on the bronze's neck. "This is Gadareth, my dragon." His voice was vibrant with deep affection and pride.

"Do you need help mounting, Master Alemi?"

"I think not,' Alemi said, keeping his features composed even as he wondered if this was the first time the lad had been sent to convey a passenger. "If Gadareth will oblige me by a knee up,' he added. The bronze had not achieved his full growth yet so mounting was not the problem it would soon become.

"Oh, yes, sorry about that, Master." The boy's features set as he spoke to his dragon.

Gadareth had his head turned toward Alemi, his eyes whirling a trifle faster than the speed Alemi thought of as normal to these huge beasts. Then he raised his left foreleg slightly.

"If you'd lean your hand down?" Alemi suggested.

"Oh, that's right,' said young T'lion, flushing.

He leaned so far over that he had to clutch at the neck ridge to keep from tipping himself out of his perch. So Alemi sprang to the offered knee, touched the hand only enough to give him an upward surge and swung himself in the slot between the two neck ridges aft of the rider.

"Nothing to it, really,' Alemi said, settling himself.

"No, Master, there isn't, is there?"

When they had sat there a few moments longer, Alemi cleared his throat. "I'm all set. Whenever you're ready?" he asked in a gentle prompt.

"Oh, yes, well, fine. We're just going. Gadareth!" Now he spoke with more conviction and no hesitation.

As Gadareth sprang from the ground, Alemi had a moment's doubt about the boy's expertise and devoutly hoped they wouldn't end up somewhere unknown, far from familiar coordinates. He had heard tales Abruptly they were in the cold of between, and Alemi caught his breath . . . one two. . . three . . . fo . . . They were high above water - at least that was right and then Gadareth veered, pivoting on his right wing tip and the magnificent crescent strand of Monaco Bay appeared in front of them. The young bronze swooped down, gliding straight for the ground in a maneuver that made Alemi hold his breath and sit as hard into the neck ridge as he could, jamming his feet down and his knees against the neck of the dragon as hard as he could.

The landing was achieved with great ease, however, and Alemi wasn't even bumped about as the dragon backwinged and settled to the firm surface in front of the Admin building which housed Aivas.

Alemi knew the story of its discovery - it had been a Harper's tale at many a gather. One of the last of the Ancients' buildings to be excavated, Master Smith Jancis, Journeyman Harper Piemur and Lord Jaxom had actually undertaken the task. On a whim, it was said. And Ruth had helped. They had found the curiously reinforced end of the building which had suggested something special had been carefully protected. And discovered the Artificial Intelligence Voice Address System left by the first settlers on Pern: an intelligence which could tell them much of the first years humans had lived on this planet, and much about Thread. Aivas, as the intelligence preferred to be called, had also promised to help destroy the menace of Thread forever.

Of course, the building had been extended, since Aivas was teaching so much of the lost knowledge of every craft. Alemi wasn t sure how this Aivas could teach so much and to so many. He was more than pleased that he would have a special interview with the intelligence.

Dismounting from the young bronze, Alemi remembered to thank them both for the conveyance.

"We're to wait and take you back, Master Alemi,' T'lion said.

Then, glancing over his shoulder to see other dragons spiraling down to land, he hastily added, "We'll be up on the ridge where the others are waiting." He pointed in the right direction. "Give us a wave.

The bronze was already lifting himself out of the way of those wanting to land so that the boy's words were carried away. Alemi waved his hand to show that he'd heard. Then he turned to the entrance of the Admin Building. Just inside the door was a desk at which sat no lesser a personage than Robinton, the Master Harper of Pern Alemi gawked a bit but Robinton smiled a warm welcome, rising from his table to hold out his hand to the young Master Fishman.

"Ah, Master Alemi, how good to see you. And on such an errand. You and young Readis were so fortunate to be rescued in that extraordinary fashion."

"You know about it?" Alemi was amazed. But then, the Master Harper, even if he was now retired from active duty, had a way of "knowing' a great deal that went on all around Pern.

Of course, I do,' Robinton said emphatically. "Lord Jaxom himself told me. But, why isn't young Readis with you?"

"Oh, yes, well, his mother decided that she doesn't want him involved just yet. He's only a few months over seven Turns.

She feels that's just too young . Alemi heard his own disagreement with that decision in his tone and wished he was better able at dissembling.

"I see. Well, Aramina might have reservations about associating with just a mere dolphin,' and the Harper smiled sympathetically about maternal misgivings. In any event, you're here. Aivas has much to tell you, too, about the shipfish. He was delighted to know that they had prospered so and have remembered how to speak. If you'll just come this way, and the Harper gestured to the left-hand corridor. Have you been here before, Alemi? Yes, well, then you'll see how much we've expanded,' he continued as they made their way past occupied rooms, of small groups intent on a screen, to a smaller one at the end. Here." He stepped aside to let Alemi enter.

Aivas is in here, too?" the Master Fishman said, rotating on one heel as he looked about a room that held only chairs of the same Ancients' design of the two Alemi had acquired for his hold. Then his eyes stopped at the blank screen centered in the long outside wall. A little red light blinked in its corner.

Good morning, Master Fishman Alemi. It is good to see you again,' said a deep bass voice.

He remembered me? I never even spoke to him the first time."

Master Robinton chuckled. He remembers everyone and everything, and he left.

The screen now brightened and an active scene of shipfish plunging and diving filled the space.

Were there not to be two attending this meeting? Yourself and your young companion during the incident?"

"Yes, well,' and Alemi explained Aramina's hesitations. They sounded even weaker than ever in the presence of such an august audience.

"Mothers are reputed to know best for their offspring,' Aivas said and Alemi did not suspect a machine' of irony. "The young are able to learn language skills much more quickly, having fewer inhibitions. It would have been useful to have a younger student. To the discussion at hand: it was good to learn that the dolphins have not forgotten their duties during the long years Turns - that have passed. Please be seated, Master Alemi. The input of your experience with the dolphins would help update that apparently overlooked segment of the original colonizing team."

Struggling to absorb the concept that the dolphins, too, had been original colonists on this world, Alemi stumbled into the nearest chair and seated himself, eyes glued to the scene. There was something not quite right about the scene he was viewing. The dolphins were correct but . - and then the concept of seeing moving pictures of living creatures staggered him.

"How do you do that?" he asked. In the previous meeting the screen had only shown maps, or what Aivas had called "sonar' readings, not these glimpses of delphinic activities, doing what he had observed them doing, disporting in the seas, most of his life.

"This is but one of the many tapes available to this facility,' the Aivas said. "Moving pictures were an integral part of the information services of your ancestors' culture.

"Oh!" Alemi was fascinated by dolphin antics. "I've seen them do that! That's that's exactly what the shipfish do " he said excitedly as the scene shifted to the creatures "escorting' a ship, diving along its forward wake.

"This tape was taken more than twenty-five hundred of your Turns in the past,' Aivas said in a gently instructive tone.

"But but they haven't changed

"Evolutionary changes take much longer than twenty-five hundred Turns, Master Alemi, and zoologists are of the opinion that this species has gone through several changes in the developmental path to this present form.

"Including speaking?" Alemi blurted out.

"The dolphins which accompanied the colonists to Pern had been treated with mentasynth to enhance their empathic abilities and to assist them in learning human speech. It was reported that you heard them speak understandable words?"

"Readis and I both heard them speak." Alemi chuckled.

"Readis was far more credulous than I,' he admitted ruefully.

"The boy was considered too young to attend.

"Yes, Alemi agreed with a sigh. "I'll tell him you asked."

There was a brief pause. "As you wish. It is reassuring to know that dolphins have not forgotten either speech or their duties."

"Duties?"

"One of their prime functions was to perform sea rescue operations.

Well, they not only saved Readis and me but, since then, every crewman in my hold has some tale to relate about doll fins rescuing folks."

"Elucidate, please.

"You mean, explain?"

"Yes, if you please.

"For a machine, you're very polite, Alemi said, trying to master his awe for this amazing creation of the Ancients.

"Courtesy is essential in all dealings with humans.

"Especially between humans,' Alemi added drolly. He liked this Aivas entity.

"Would you be kind enough to detail your recent personal experience with the dolphins?"

"Of course, although really you should have had Readis tell you. He's got it all down pat."

"So Lord Jaxom said."

"You've a sense of humor?"

"Not as you know it. Relate your experience.

"I'm not harper trained

"You were there. Your first-hand account will be greatly appreciated."

Though there was no hint of censure or impatience in the Aivas' tone, Alemi obeyed. To his own amusement, he found himself repeating phrases that Readis had used in describing the adventure. The boy did have a gift for the dramatic. He must remind Jayge to apply for a harper at Paradise River Hold. Fleetingly he regretted Aramina's decision for Readis.

"They called themselves "mamls",' Alemi added as he concluded the actual events, "not fish."

"They are,' Aivas said in an uncontradictable tone, "mammals,' and he emphasized the correct pronunciation.

"What, then, are m-mammals?"

"Mammals - m a m m a 1 5 - are life forms that bear live young and suckle them."

"In the seas?" Alemi demanded, incredulous.

The picture on the screen altered now to one of swirling waters and tails and suddenly Ale mi was conscious that he was watching the birth of a shipfish from the body of its mother. He gasped as the tiny creature emerged and then was assisted by two other shipfish to the surface.

"As you see, oxygen is important and essential to the dolphins as to all sea-living mammals,' Aivas remarked.

The next scene showed the little creature suckling from its mother's teat.

"On Earth,' Aivas continued, "there were many mammalian life forms living in the sea, but only the dolphins, of the family Delphinidae, the bottle-nosed variation, the tursiops tursio, were transported from Earth to Pern By the time this facility was put on hold, they had already multiplied and prospered well in the Pernese waters. The volume of sea available on this planet was the reason for including the dolphins in the colonial roster.

It is good to know that they have survived and seem to be in great numbers now. A census is being taken of pod sightings.

Estimates of populations have not been completed since they seem to have developed a migratory culture."

Through this brief synopsis, the screen showed the wondering seaman more dolphins with young calves.

"That's nowhere on Pern,' Alemi said, pointing to the screen, suddenly realizing what was "wrong' with the pictures, "at least that I've ever seen.

"A keen observation, Master Alemi, for this footage was taken on Earth in an area called the Florida Keys. These are the ancestors of your dolphins in their natural habitat. I shall now play scenes of how those dolphins worked with their human partners, called dolphineers."

"Doll fin ears?" exclaimed Alemi, slapping his knee with one hand as he saw men and women working with the dolphins, undersea and being propelled across the surface of the water alongside their unlikely mounts. "Like dragons and their riders?"

"Not as close a bond as I am told that is. There is no ceremony similar to Impression such as dragons and riders undergo. The association between humans and dolphins was of mutual convenience and consent, not lifelong, though congenial and effective.

"Certain groups of dolphins - there were more than twenty varieties of the species known on earth - agreed to the mentasynth treatment in order to form a close working partnership with humans. Those that came on the space ships with the colonists, twenty-four in number, were experienced in such matters and undertook to explore the oceans and provide certain services to the humans. Up until the eruption of Mounts Picchu and Garben, a high standard of communication was possible between humans and dolphins."

"If they like to work with humans, as a sea captain, I'd like to work with them, if I could, Alemi said. "I owe them my life and others have. Readis was highly amused that the d-dol phins,' and now he made an effort to say those syllables as one word, "had such good manners.

"Courtesy has been observed in the interactions of many species and not necessarily in vocal expression. Other abstract concepts, however, require semantics and suitable attitudes and postures adapted to convey cultural differences.

"What would I have to learn to talk to dolphins?" Alemi was pleased to hear how firmly the word, now that he was more accustomed to it, came out.

"There has been a linguistic shift over the centunes,' Aivas began, "but both species can adapt to the changes. Here is an example of humans interacting with dolphins."

A scene unrolled in which a human and a dolphin were checking fishtraps of some kind. The human wore some sort of apparatus on his back and a short-sleeved, short-legged black garment with brilliant yellow stripes. The picture was as fresh as if Alemi were at a window on to the lagoon. He leaned forward, not wishing to miss a single detail.

Alemi watched, fascinated, murmuring to himself phrases exchanged between the pair. The dolphin towed the man who gripped the dorsal fin, among the traps, inspecting the line.

Briefly he wondered what his reactionary father would say to the point that "shipfish' could talk.

"How do you get them to talk to you, Aivas?"

"It is frequently a matter of record, mentioned by numerous dolphineers, that getting the mammals to stop talking was considered more of a problem."

"Really?" Alemi was delighted with that information.

"Dolphins apparently have an unusual ability to delay "work" in favor of "games".

The screen shifted to a new picture and Alemi recognized Monaco Bay, but the bay as he had never seen it: populated with sailing craft of many sizes and types, with vehicles zooming about in the sky like squat, rigid ungraceful dragons. A huge wharf dominated the further tip of the Monaco Bay crescent, and then he was looking at a solid plinth, a large bell atop it.

"I've seen that,' Alemi exclaimed, pointing to the bell. "It was hauled up from the sea floor."

"Yes. It is being scaled of the encrustations. This bell was rung by dolphins to summon humans when they had messages to deliver and by humans to summon the dolphins."

"The dolphins summoned humans?" Alemi was delighted by the notion. "D'you think they would respond to a bell?" Alemi asked.

"It is recommended that you use that means of convening them,' said Aivas "It would be interesting to see if current dolphins would recognize old imperatives. The printed sheets are summaries of files on the subject of dolphins and dolphineers.

They also contain the hand signals which the dolphineers used to communicate underwater - which you might find useful - as well as a vocabulary list in the dolphin lexicon."

Suddenly thin sheets of the new writing material which the Master Woodsman Bendarek had been making began to extrude from a slot at the base of the screen.

"Instructions on how to conduct yourself in re-establishing a meaningful contact with the dolphins, Master Alemi. A report on your progress would be appreciated."

Alemi gathered the sheets with careful hands, awed by the responsibility he somehow found himself eager to accept. He had always half envied riders their dragons though, unlike many of his boyhood friends, he had never aspired to be a dragonrider: the sea was already in his blood. He found his sister, Menolly's, pair of fire-lizards engaging, as well as useful creatures, but the thought that he could have contact with an intelligent sea creature was irresistible: creatures as awesome in the medium of water as dragons were in the air.

As he left the Admin building, absently responding to the Harper's farewell, he wondered where he could find a bell that would call dolphins.

Young T'lion had his eyes open from his vantage point on the hill behind the Admin Building so he and Gadareth were landing before Alemi could signal them.

"How did you know I was here?" Alemi asked, surprised and gratified.

The boy flushed. "Well, sir, saw you leave Admin. You walk different. You sort of roll."

Alemi laughed. "Look, are you required to be back at the Weyr right away?" "No, sir, I'm on duty for you today."

"Good. Could we go down to the bay?" Alemi pointed in the general direction of the distant unseen crescent of Monaco Bay.

He wanted to see how big the dolphin bell was.

"Certainly,' and T'lion reached his hand down as Alemi neatly jumped to Gadareth's raised forearm and settled himself between the neck ridges.

"Do we have to go between?" Alemi asked. "Would it be too long to fly straight?"

"No, not at all,' T'lion replied.

So, when Gadareth reached a cruising height, he began to glide toward the sea, now visible as a sparkle on the horizon.

Alemi had never had a chance to really see the Landing area, where so many marvels from the early days of Pern's settlement had been unearthed over the last Turns. Now he had a panoramic view of the excavated buildings, the old "landing field' and its crumpled tower: even the ship meadow where the three ancient aircraft had been unearthed. They continued over thick forestry which no longer could be destroyed by Thread, protected as it was by the grubs which had spread in the southern continent to neutralize the organism.

T'lion turned his head occasionally to be sure his passenger was riding comfortably and Alemi gave him a thumbs-up signal that he was, and a big grin. This was the longest he had ever flown on a dragon and he was enjoying it immensely, not even feeling slightly guilty about monopolizing the services of a dragon and his rider for personal reasons. But there was a purpose to the trip, Alemi reminded himself, and felt for the sheaf of instructions he had tucked into his jacket pocket.

Then the superb vista of the almost perfect crescent of Monaco Bay came into view and what was left of the pier jutting out on its easterly tip. It must have been built of that almost indestructible material the Ancients had used. At that, Alemi had heard from Master Fishman Idarolan that half of its original length had been sheered off. Pictures from Aivas' archives had shown a substantial building at the sea end, floating docks and machinery of some kind. Alemi sighed.

There were fishermen out on the deeper waters offshore, plying their ancient trade which Master Idarolan had said had been conducted in the first days of Pern much as it was now. Some basic skills did not change. Still, so many others had benefited by processes and ideas that had become lost, or disused, during the darker Turns.

Then, from his lofty perspective, Alemi saw on the beach the long column and what had to be the bell. He touched T'lion's shoulder and pointed down at it. T'lion nodded understanding for speech was almost impossible at this speed. A moment later, Gadareth angled downward, veering to the right and swinging around so that he landed neatly a few lengths from the flotsam.

Despite himself, Alemi tightened his grip on the neck ridge, hoping he wasn't hurting the dragon.

A thick coating of barnacles on the long plinth distorted its actual shape, Alemi noted as he walked its length. The bell, which rested on a stand, was of a generous size - fully four of his hand spans across its mouth. A good deal of the encrustations had been chipped off and someone was polishing the metal. The clapper was missing. He pinged the bell with an irreverent snap of his index finger and thumb and was mildly surprised to hear a muted tolling, slightly distorted.

Here, use this,' T'lion suggested, handing Alemi a fist-sized rock.

Alemi got a much better sound with that, a mellow rich sound that rolled resonantly out across the bay.

T'lion grinned. "Nice sound!'

So, picking up a larger rock, he clouted the bell, getting a more forceful peal. Grunting, Alemi bent over and peered up inside the bell, trying to figure out how large the original clapper must have been.

"Mine was louder,' T'lion said, offering his rock to Alemi.

Alemi hefted both rocks in his hands and then clattered first one, then the other, against the bell, turning his ear to catch the echoes of the lovely sound. Suddenly T'lion exclaimed, looking up at his bronze dragon whose eyes were beginning to whirl with excitement. T'lion swung his torso halfway toward the water and then stood bolt upright, staring at the bay.

"Shards! Gadareth's right! Look!" he cried, urgently pointing.

Alemi, his back to the water, craned his neck and saw a phalanx of dolphins racing toward the shore, leaping and vaulting out of the water. The waters beyond seemed to be full of dorsal fins and leaping shipfish. The Master Fishman rose to his feet, gawping at the noises that drifted to him.

Bellill! Squee! Bellill! Bellill rings! Squeee! Bellill! Bellill!' They were making other noises, words which dicy understood, but clearly they were also shouting Bell!'

Alarmed by their headlong charge straight to the strand, for how could they stop soon enough not to beach themselves, Alemi raced to the edge of the water, waving his hands.

No, be careful! You'll beach yourselves! Careful!'

He doubted his words could be heard over their babbling of bell' and squeeing. So he waded out into the water, hoping to turn them aside. Instead, he was butted and knocked off his feet by the many bodies that roiled the waters about him. Then he was uplifted by one dolphin body, nose-prodded by half a dozen more and seemed to be flipped from one to another of the creatures, exultant to have heard their bell.

"Easy! Take it easy! You'll drown me,' Alemi yelled, half laughing, half sputtering at these exuberant antics.

A huge shadow compressed the air above him and he saw bronze Gadareth hovering, his claws extended as if he intended to pluck Alemi bodily from the attentions of the dolphins.

I'm all right, T'lion, I'm all right. Call Gadareth off!'

"They'll drown you,' T'lion shrieked, jumping up and down on the beach in his concern.

Simultaneously, Alemi tried to reassure the dolphins, fend off Gadareth who still saw the human endangered and reassure the young rider.

"BELAY THIS!" Alemi yelled, getting sufficient breath to roar the order.

Abruptly the commotion about him ceased and bottlenosed faces were turned up at him, in a tight circle, an even larger ring just beyond them and more dorsal fins and leaping bodies homing in on him from further out in the bay.

"I am Alemi, Fishman. Who are you?" And he pointed to a dolphin whose nose brushed his thigh.

"Naym Dar,' and this personage squeed happily.

Two words, then, Alemi realized, hearing the first word as a distorted "name'. He was delighted that his question had been understood. Who leads this pod'?"

A second dolphin did a wiggle and came closer. "Naym Flo.

Long and the creature used a word that Alemi didn't recognize.

"I do not speak good dolphin,' Alemi said. "Say again, please'?"

A ripple of squeeing and clicking greeted that admission.

"We titch. You lis-ten,' Flo said, turning one eye on him, so that he could see the happy curve of its mouth. "Bellill ring'? Trub-bul? Do blufiss?"

"No, no trub-bul,' Alemi said with a laugh. "I didn't mean to ring the bell to call you,' he added. And then shrugged because he didn't understand their last question.

"Good call. Long lis-ten. No call. We-' - a word Alemi didn't catch - "bell. Pul-lease?" She cocked her head Alemi didn't know why, all at once, he decided she was a female, but something about her seemed to give that clue to her gender. He was also peripherally aware of how much he had actually absorbed from the pictures that Aivas had shown and the explanations of these mammals. That was going to shock the conservative fishmen. His father especially. "Fish' had no right to be intelligent, much less answer humans.

"That bell,' and Alemi pointed back to the shore, "is not working. I will get a bell that works. I will put it at Paradise River Hold. I will call you from there. Can you hear me anywhere?"

There were squeeing and clickings and noisy blowings out of their air holes as they seemed to be trying to understand him.

Suddenly Flo reared up out of the water, holding herself aloft by what Alemi could only decide was sheer determination. She tilted her head, her left eye regarding him. "Lemi ring bell.

Flo come. You oo-ait? "Miss you oo-ait? Flo come!" and she emphasized the last word with a flick of her tail before she sank into the water.

"Mis you wait?" Alemi repeated.

"I tell you I come. I come,' Flo said with a burble and a whoosh from her blow hole. Everyone about her clicked and squeed in tones so emphatic that Alemi grinned broadly at their insistence. "Ooo skraaaabb blufiss?" Flo sounded hopeful.

The last thing he had expected was the eager participation of the dolphins in re-establishing contact with humans. He tried repeating her last query just as he'd heard it. "Ooo' meant "you' but what "skraaaabb' or "blufiss' were sounds for, he couldn't even guess. Beside him, Flo turned over and over in the water.

He had to laugh at her antics: childlike almost. Then he became aware of being uncomfortably hot, the sodden heavy jacket weighing him down in water now up to his chest.

"Let me go ashore, will you?" he asked, indicating he needed to pass by the dolphin bodies pressing about him. He put out his arms to swim and found himself crowded by helpful sleek forms. "I can swim. Let me."

"Suwim, mans suwim, mans suwim " and suddenly the ring about him parted, dolphins flipping up and overhead, out of his way.

Dragon and rider were at the water's edge, dubiously surveying the incredible scene.

"Member! "Member! Oooo ring. Oo-ee come!" a dolphin shouted as Alemi waded out of the bay. "Oooo do blufiss."

He nodded his head enthusiastically as he turned, waving at the dolphins, criss-crossing each other as they made for deeper water. There seemed to an incredible number occupying the bay waters. Then, as the chorus was picked up by other voices, he cupped his hands. "I ring. You come. I wait."

T'lion looked at him in blank amazement. "They were talking'?

Speaking to you'?"

Alemi nodded, slipping out of his soaking jacket at the same time as he worked his sodden boots off his feet. "That's what I saw Aivas about - the dolphins. I never thought we'd get that sort of response, just tapping a bell."

T'lion shook his head slowly from side to side. "Me neither!' He let his breath out with a sigh and took Alemi's coat from him, draping it on the bell, as Alemi now stripped off his shirt and began wringing it out. "I better go get you some dry clothes.

Even in the midday sun, it's going to take time to dry "em and you can't go between in wet clothes."

No, I can't, and i would appreciate dry things. Is that a problem?"

T'lion sized him up for a moment and shook his head. No. It'll only take a few minutes,' he said as he vaulted to his dragon's back. I'll borrow some from a rider your size. We always have spares.

Sand briefly showered Alemi as the young bronze leaped from the beach.

Shards!" Alemi said, diving for the Aivas papers in his jacket.

With shaking hands he opened the wet sheath but the writing appeared not to have suffered. Carefully, using pebbles to hold them down, he spread the sheets out on the sand to dry in the hot sun.

the old tales that she had learned from The Tillek in her time at the Great Subsidence, before she had swum cleanly through the Whirlpool and been considered worthy of beaHng dolphin calves. When mans had swum alongside dolphins, above and below the surface and accomplished many wonderfil things to get her. And now there wouM be mans to heal the wounded and keep the stranded from dying on llie sands. There would be good Work to be done. The sea had changed the land in the time since Humankind and DolphinMnd had come to diese waters.

Humankind should know. Dolphins could show mans where the shore had changed and llie Currents and where the biggest schools of fish were. And there might even be games to PIQY.

No' it was the turn of Flo, pod leader at Monoco bay to sound the news far and wide that the Bell had been rung. Not exactly as it should be rung, but it had been rung mid they had swarmed to answer, to prove to mans that they would reply when they heard the Bell. it had been so long since that sound had been heard upon the waters or under them. No member of the pod, even Teres who was the oldest and had to be accompanied when she fed in the schools of fish, had ever heard the Bell. But they had remembered to remember. Those at Pardisriv were not the only ones to talk to mans and use the Words.

The mans had been two and they had sent happy feelings to the pod. There had been scratches and pats that had long been denied the dolphins. The entire pod had been glad to answer the Bell. They had shown their appreciation with great leaps and tail walks and flips and deep divings. Mans had said they would scrape off the blood fish which was the best news of all.

That evening as they rested in the Great Current, Teres repeated

Chapter Four

he n Alemi returned to Paradise Hold, he was bursting with his tidings and tracked Jayge down to make his report.

Perhaps what Jayge was doing - chopping down the verdant undergrowth that relentlessly encroached on the clearings about the holds; a sweaty, difficult job but one best done to inhibit growth during the coming hot season - made him sour. In any event, the Holder's enthusiasm for Alemi's new adventure with dolphins was less than appreciative.

Jayge paused in his labors, wiping the sweat that overflowed the band on his forehead.

"That's all very well and good, Alemi. I suppose,' and Jayge hesitated, "it's good. We've got fire-lizards and dragons, why n~ intelligent life in the seas? The Ancients apparently,' and he stressed the adverb, "knew what would combine to make a perfect world so these doll fins had their role to play - - He hesitated.

"But you're worried about Readis?"

Jayge let out an explosive sigh. "Yes, I am. He's still talking about his maml . "They are,' Alemi said, regaining his perspective on the matter, mam-mals,' he repeated carefully, not glottalizing the word into one syllable. Creatures who give birth to live offspring and suckle them."

Jayge gave him a long incredulous stare. "Underwater?"

Alemi grinned, appreciating his amazement. "Saw moving picture records of a birth as well as the suckling so I can't doubt it."

"Aivas wastes time on such things?"

"I wouldn't call it wasting time,' Alemi said in a wry tone, "if the result is dolphins ready to rescue the shipwrecked."

Jayge had the grace to flush and concentrated on honing the edge of his wide blade.

"Look, I'll keep my findings to myself then. You didn't mention my interview with Aivas to Readis, did you? No. All right.

I certainly won't but I'd like your permission as my Holder, to discreetly pursue a closer association with these creatures.

With squalls like the one Readis and I were caught in, those at sea in these waters need all the help available."

"And these doll fins would always help?"

"According to what I saw and what Aivas said, water rescues are a dolphin's responsibility and duty."

"Humph. What does Master Idarolan say to this?"

"I'm only just back, Jayge. Haven't told him yet but I certainly shall. Most ships carry bells. If masters know what sequence summons dolphins to their assistance, we'd have just that much more of a chance in the water. You can't deny that, can you?"

"No,' Jayge said for he had been vividly recalling the storm that had tossed himself and Aramina overboard, and the shipfish who had rescued them. "I can't. Ah, very well. Just be sure, Alemi, that Readis doesn't get wind of all this. He's much too young.

Alemi nodded, perversely pleased that he could try to establish himself with the dolphins without having to share the experience. After all, they had that jetty now on the sheltered cove just around the headland. He could rig a bell there, and a float like the one he'd seen in the pictures, where he could meet the dolphins on the same level.

"I'll take some of this heavier bamboo away for you, Jayge, Alemi offered, noting the size of the stalks the Holder was cutting.

"Your doll fins eat vegetation?"

"No, but I've uses for this,' Alemi said, gathering up the lengths that were suitable for his purpose. With airbladders to increase their flotation, he'd have a platform similar to the one that used to ride the water at Monaco Bay; smaller but adequate for one man. "Have you had any further word from the Benden Weyrleaders when we can expect the new settlers?"

"I should hear by the end of this sevenday, and Jayge paused to wipe his brow. "So they'll probably be grateful for fish to lay in as supplies."

"No problem there,' Alemi said, grinning, as the delicious white fish were running. They could be salted, pickled or smoked and retain their flavor.

He knew that Jayge was looking forward to having a new hold further down the river. He was, too. Jayge's boundaries were confirmed and he, Swacky, Temma and Nazer had helped the dragonriders survey the new one, a hold which would start on the eastern side of the river below the bend that marked the end of his, down to the origin of the river. The best site for the holding would be in the foothills. They were farmers and craftsmen; they would round up and protect the wild runner and herdbeasts, and grow the grain crops in the higher lands that did not grow along the coast.

He'd met the Keroon leaders, a large family complete with aunties and uncles, who had applied for the holding. Good solid men and women. He looked forward to having them as neighbors. There was talk of another group interested in settling the south-western bank of the Paradise.

Alemi didn't have as much time for his new enthusiasm as he would have liked. He'd have to assign sailors to help ship the settlers' belongings down the Paradise to the Bend so his fishing crews would be short-handed. With the whitefish running, he wanted to net as much as possible. He and the remainder of his crews were out all the hours of the lengthening days, trawling and long-lining. Alemi was mindful of some of the precautions which Aivas had mentioned in their interview which Fishmen had - fortunately - always observed: the size of the nets being critical as well as the old warnings of the "sin' of netting a shipfish. Even his father, who hadn't the imagination to be superstitious, followed that precept - though he probably didn't know why, Alemi added to himself. Now he knew but he doubted his father would ever admit to the reason behind the prohibition. Much less that dolphins could talk and were intelligent. One more of the many gulfs between then and now.

Armed with Aivas' confirmation of the intelligence of shipfish/ dolphins, Alemi did inform Master Idarolan of his investigations and his plan to renew the partnership to mutual benefit. Though he wasn't sure what benefit the dolphins might derive. As he respected the Master Fishman and did not wish to lower himself in his Craftmaster's estimation, he qualified his interest by virtue of his and Readis' escape and the turbulence and unpredictability of these tropical waters. He sent that message off by Tork, his bronze fire-lizard. The creature's speedy return pleased him as he'd used Menolly's sensible suggestions in training the creature and Tork had proven responsible. Alemi felt that if he had handled fire-lizard's instruction, he could certainly deal with the more intelligent dolphins.

Aware that water magnified sound, Alemi nonetheless felt he would need a larger bell than the one on his ship - which he borrowed when she was at anchor. He wondered if the alarm triangle that Jayge had put up outside his hold after Thella's invasion would produce the same effect in calling dolphins but quickly discarded that notion. A triangle just didn't produce the same resonances.

So he needed a bell. He sent Tork on a second journey that day, to the Smith Craft Hall in Telgar Hold, asking them to cast a bell for him, similar to the one at Monaco Bay.

The Master Smith Fandarel sent back a message to Master Fishman Alemi that he would be happy to cast a bell of that splendid size but that the commission would have to wait its turn, what with all the other work that the Halls were currently undertaking to the purpose of eliminating Thread. Alemi had to be content with the promise but, in the meantime, Master Harper Robinton found him a small handbell. Then later sent him a message by his fire-lizard Zair that the harper at Fort Hold thought he'd seen a big bell in the extensive storage area of the Hold's lower levels.

Alemi studied the notes Aivas had given him every evening until he had memorized the hand signals and the basic commands that, he devoutly hoped, had survived in shipfish memories. As he studied, he was occasionally given to fits of incredulous head shaking.

"Why does reading those sheets make you shake your head, Alemi?" Kitrin asked him with a sigh of exasperation.

"Wonder, Alemi answered, leaning back in his chair. "Wonder that we missed every single clue the dolphins gave us that they wanted to be friends. Shards, they tried to tell us and we humans didn't listen!" Kitrin made such a grimace that he laughed. He often knew her thoughts before she spoke them aloud. "Yes, indeed, I can just picture my good father, Yanus, listening to a shipfish!" He snorted.

"Exactly,' Kitrin said with some heat, for a moment abandoning the little wrapper she was hemming for their expected child.

"I mean no disrespect well, maybe I do,' she added with a rueful expression, "but he is sometimes

"Always,' Alemi amended firmly with a smile.

"So set in his ways. You know, neither he nor your mother have ever mentioned Menolly. Though your mother often remarks on ingratitude in my presence." She sighed. "lt's as if Menolly never existed.

"I think she prefers it that way, Alemi said with a wry and slightly bitter grin, knowing all too well the treatment given his talented sister during her adolescence at Half Circle Sea Hold.

"Both of them - mother and daughter."

"Menolly's never been back? Ever?"

"Not to the Sea Hold. Why should she?"

Kitrin shrugged. "It seems so . so awful . that they cannot accept her accomplishments." Then she added shyly, "Sebell always remembers to send us copies of her latest songs.

Alemi, when are we going to have a harper?"

He grinned for he knew that had been the main reason for this trend of their conversation.

"Hmmm. I've asked Jayge and Aramina. Readis is growing old enough to learn his ballads and so are enough other youngsters, including our own, for the Hold to have its own harper. Enough for a journeyman surely, and we can offer many benefits here decent weather and property to develop."

"Ask if they've asked,' Kitrin said with unusual force for her.

"I'm not going to have the girls, or our son' - and she said this defensively, one hand on her gravid belly - "grow up ignorant of what they owe Hold, Hall and Weyr."

Alemi laughed. "Stoutly said." He did bring up the matter of a harper for the Hold the very next afternoon when he delivered to the Holder's the best of the day's catch: three grand big redfins.

"I could almost wish,' Jayge said with some acrimony, "that Aivas hadn't been discovered! Everything depends on what he needs first!'

"But surely harpers

"Every harper who's done his journeyman's walk wants to have some part in transcribing Aivas' information which seems to be inexhaustible on every subject imaginable and all of it seemingly has to be done now!" The Holder rubbed an agitated hand across the stubble of his close-cropped black hair. He scowled. "I've asked and asked.

"Master Robinton?" Alemi suggested hopefully.

Jayge dismissed that hope. "He's worse than anyone else, stuck up there at the Admin." Then the Holder gave a snort of amusement. "Still has his finger in most pies! But 1 no more want Readis ignoring his duty - even if those too are apt to change with all these new gadgets and information - than you want your girls growing up untrained. Push comes to shove, the Farmcrafters have an elderly harper who might be persuaded to travel up to us now and again but

"If you don't mind me doing so, I'll drop a word to my sister,' Alemi offered. A look of intense relief passed over Jayge's tanned features.

"I didn't want to impose

"Why not?" Alemi said, grinning. "I haven't fished for many favors from my well-placed Master of a sister. She's got a child, too, you know. And another one on the way.

Jayge gave him a stare and then winked. "Seems she does more than craft all the songs anyone sings these days.

"It's one way of being able to do just that, according to her, what with everything else harpers seem to be required to do right now." While it was the hot season on the Southern Continent, it was bitter cold in the North. Alemi's plea to Menolly for a harper to teach the children of Paradise River Hold resulted in the message that one was coming as soon as transport could be arranged. What no-one at Paradise River expected was to see Menolly herself, and her young son, Robse, carried by the sturdy, loyal halfwit Camo, stepping out of Master Idarolan's longboat on to the beach.

On learning that a harper was being sent, Jayge had organized a work party to put up a neat three-room hold near the old storage shed. That could be used as the schoolroom and the little hold was far enough away from other dwellings to give a harper privacy. When he discovered that the Master Harper Menolly had arrived, he was all set to oust one of the younger settler couples and give Menolly better accommodation.

"Nonsense. It's not as if I can make Paradise River a permanent home,' Menolly said to an embarrassed Jayge. "I can only stay until the babe is born. And that is solely,' she wrinkled her nose in disgruntlement, "because even Sebell's got tired of my complaining about being too cold to compose, much less play. See?" and she held out her long fingers. "Chilblains!" She brushed past a dithering Jayge and on to the wide verandah, a hammock slung on its "breeze' corner. "Besides, down here you spend more time outside than in. There's enough space for a small cot for Robse in my room and a room for Camo; he's so good with Robse who adores him, since he's not much more than an overgrown baby himself. You've made a very nice kitchen, and I can always use the store shed, can't I? If I need space to work in?"

"No problem. Or I can settle Camo in the space in the store shed. That way, he's near but not underfoot all the time."

"Well, then, we move in here,' she said, turning on the ball of one foot to circle back to the house, hugging herself before she threw her arms out in an expansive gesture. "Oh, it's so grand to be warm.

Jayge gave her a cynical smile. "Wait till the hot weather really starts.

"Whenever,' Menolly responded, tossing her thick mop of hair behind her, "but at least my blood is thawing." She gave a convulsive shudder. "It's never been so cold."

Camo arrived then, pushing the barrow with the household effects she had brought with her, Robse perched on the top, hugging a lap harp case. A good third of the baggage consisted of musical instruments and an enormous supply of writing materials. Later Aramina told Jayge that Menolly'd only brought two changes of clothing for herself and one long, elegantly embroidered "harpering' gown.

That was worn by Menolly the first evening when Aramina and Jayge hosted her at a quickly organized gather. Everyone living in or near Paradise River Hold wanted to meet Master Menolly. The new settlers at South Bend Holding apologized for not attending as they were so busy raising a big stone beasthold but two of their aunties came to help with the cooking.

Jayge could be proud to host such a large crowd that night for the inhabitants had increased over the past Turns, each new arrival bringing needed skills or crafts. Jayge had been able to be selective, though there was only one couple he had actually dismissed. So forty-seven hold residents, adults and children, gathered that night along with the crew of the Dawn Sisters, anchored in the bay.

With a gather to attend, Master Fishman Idarolan was quite willing to stop over a day to see these "doll fins' of Alemi's.

"Catch two fish on the one hook,' he said drolly to his Craftsman, his eyes surveying the neat Fishhold that Alemi and his two journeymen had constructed.

Alemi had had to sternly keep under control his eagerness to prove dolphins' intelligence to Master Idarolan because, of course, Menolly's arrival had to be celebrated. It had never once occurred to Alemi that his sister would appear to harper at Paradise River. It had certainly thrown everyone into intense and exciting surprise. Keenly aware of the prestige of her husband's sister, Kitrin had been for giving up her beloved house but Alemi had laughed.

"Menolly'd refuse to accept the offer, dear heart, he told his wife, "especially with you further along in pregnancy than she is.

"But she's the Master Harper

"She's also Menolly, my sister, and hasn't really let her exalted position go to her head.

So Kitrin launched into a full-scale baking and cooking operation to prepare for the evening's eating. "After all, we can't be lacking in any courtesy to a Master Harper, especially your sister Master Harper."

Alemi laughed and left her organizing the other fishmen's wives to produce the specialities that abounded in Paradise River Hold at this time of the year.

It was a very late evening, but tremendously enjoyed by all the Paradise River holders, hungry for new songs and new faces.

Menolly had sung and sung, request after request, as well as the newest songs. Without, Alemi noticed, mentioning which she had herself composed, though somehow he knew which ones she had written. Her style was inimitable. She'd made him harmonize with her on some of the sea songs they had both learned from Harper Petiron. Alemi was genuinely glad that they'd have a long delayed chance to enjoy each other's company - in ways they had not when living at Half Circle Sea Hold.

As Alemi listened to his sister's lovely, rich deep voice lilting up and down octaves, he was more amazed than ever that no-one at Half Circle Sea Hold - with the exceptions of old Petiron and himself- had recognized her talents and encouraged her. He had been furious with his parents' vindictive attitude when she'd cut her hand on a venomous packtail fish and the injury was likely to prevent her ever playing again. They had been so pleased!

"Why are you grimacing like that, "Lemi?" Kitrin asked in a low voice during a brief pause in the singing while Menolly had a sip of juice and chatted with her audience. After his duets with his sister, Kitrin had made him her backrest where they sat amid the enthralled audience.

"What you said about my parents, he replied cryptically.

"What? When'?" Kitrin asked, surprised.

"Oh, their lack of appreciation of our Menolly.

"Oh, that!" Her tone was scoffing. "What they miss, we can enjoy the more. You two sounded well together. You ought to sing more often at gathers. And that was such a lovely ballad about Landing. Imagine! People just like us made that incredible journey across skies to begin a new life here. Just as we have at Paradise River, in a way. And we didn't have to sleep fifteen Turns to get here."

Alemi patted her shoulder and neglected to remind Kitrin of how difficult she had found settling into their new hold.

Menolly's song was doing its job, he thought, and his grin broadened. He had always respected his sister's abilities as a singer: now he respected the song for its subtleties. Still, that was what harpering was all about, wasn't it? Getting people to "think' and "feel' and, most of all, "learn'. The Fisher Craft fed bodies but the Harper Craft fed souls.

Having had Master Menolly for a spell, would Paradise River be able to cope with whatever journeyman was willing to come to such an isolated place? Well, he'd still be singing the good songs she introduced.

Maybe, and here Alemi allowed his mind to spiral upward with aspiration as Menolly struck a rousing chord on her gitar maybe, the dolphins would make Paradise River that much more attractive. He must give that notion more thought. First, he reminded himself, he had to convince the Master Fishman that the dolphins could become more than acrobatic mammals that liked to outswim ships.

Though Alemi hadn't had much time, he had used his ship's bell one evening - sort of tentatively, almost afraid to ring it loudly for fear no dolphin would answer the summons. He waited and, when nothing happened, he gave the bell one final ring in the "report' sequence mentioned in the instructions Aivas had printed out for him. It probably wasn't loud enough to attract dolphins.

"Bellilll ! Bellilil !"

He had to listen hard to be sure he wasn't imagining the cry, ringing across the evening waters. The setting sun was in his eyes and dancing across the water, obscuring his view. He heard the unmistakable cry again and saw the leaping bodies of half a dozen dolphins, speeding shoreward. He nearly sank to his knees on the float in relief. He genuinely hadn't thought he'd get a response.

"Bellill! Squeeeeee!" "Bellilll! Reeeppppporrreett!'

The gladness in the cry repaid Alemi's efforts.

As the instructions had indicated, the dolphineer should reward respondents and he had provided himself with a pail of small fishes that weren't worth the effort of salting or smoking.

Since dolphins were quite capable of eating as much as they needed, he wondered about the custom. Still, it was a hospitable gesture. Humans offered klah to every visitor, or fruit juice, when everyone had the same commodities in their own homes but it was the principle of the offer.

"Who's here?" he asked. "I'm Alemi.

One dolphin, his grey skin colored pinkish by the setting sun, wriggled up out of the water. "Know you! Sayve you "n' caff!'

Alemi tossed him a fish. "Thank you again."

"Sayve mans me, too!" squeaked a second dolphin, winding itself out of the water on its tail.

"And a fish for you! A fish for all you who answered the Bell!'

"Bellill!" "Bellill." The dolphins seemed to put another vowel in the word and Alemi laughed as he threw fish to them.

"Reporit?" One of them asked and Alemi thought this was the first one to speak to him but he couldn't tell since they all seemed to look the same in the dusky light. Although, by the time he had emptied the pail, he seemed to have noticed distinguishing scars on several head domes - he thought some were similar to ones he'd noticed at sea in the dolphin vanguards - and that they were actually different sizes and somewhat different shapes.

"I just wondered if you'd come if I rang the Bell."

"Bellill bring pod. Aw-ways! Heyard bellill, come."

While Alemi understood the words they were saying to him, he could see what Aivas had meant about language shifts.

Did they really understand what he said to them? Should he correct their pronunciation'? Aivas hadn't said anything on that account. Well, he could only try and it was better for him to speak as he normally would and maybe improve their speech as he went along. "Good! Please come always when you hear the Bell. I'm getting a bigger one made."

"OO-we ring? Oo-we ring Bell. Mans answer?"

Alemi burst out laughing at that cocky query and was bold enough to reach out and rub the nose of the dolphin who had spoken.

"Gooddee. Gooddee. Skraaaabb blufisss now?" There was those odd words again which apparently were very important to the dolphins.

"Blufisss?" he repeated. "What are blufisss?"

"Deese . . and Kib rolled half over so that his lighter colored belly was visible. And stuck to his side was a nasty-looking patch which, when Alemi peered close to it, he recognized as a bloated sucker fish that every seaman knew would cling to an open wound.

"Bloodfish . . . Of course, bluflsss,' and Alemi mimicked the dolphin's higher pitched tone. "How could I have been so dense!" He slapped his hand to his forehead. He grabbed the bloodfish by its head and tried to dislodge it but it seemed glued to the dolphin's side. "Well and truly sucking, isn't it?

I don't have a fire out here Sailors usually touched the head with an ember or a brand.

Kib turned face up, raised his upper body out of the water.

"Nifff."

"Won't knife just make the wound worse?"

"Oooold fisss. Small hole."

"It'll hurt,' Alemi replied, wincing. Seamen usually removed the bloodfish suckers as soon as they could so he didn't know about what happened to any long-term parasitic habits.

"No eeeeert more good gone.

"If you say so

"Ooo-ee ssay so. Good good good. Mans do good good good for dolphins." And Kib heeled over so that Alemi could attack the parasite.

His knife blade was sharp enough and shaved the bloodfish off. Then he had to dig slightly to remove the sucker but that left only a small hole in the longer healed gash.

Two more ecstatic dolphins had him remove bloodfish, one very close to the dolphin's genitalia. When he excised the parasites. each dolphin did happy aerial rotations and dove and jumped about. He also got to notice them as individuals.

Kib had a healed slash along his lower jaw and was the largest male. Mul had blotchy coloring and had had the parasite near her tail. Mel had the longest nose while Afo was the smallest female. Jim seemed the most acrobatic: certainly he displayed by walking a long distance on his tail when Alemi had rid his belly of the pests and Temp was definitely fatter than the others.

Aivas' notes had remarked that dolphins had a thick layer of blubber just under their skin, which kept them warm in cooler waters and generally provided temperature controls.

When the quick tropical dusk deepened into full dark, with the tree whistlers beginning to sound off, he bade them good night.

"Good night, he called as he climbed up the short ladder to the pier head.

"T'anks for bluflsssing cullings. T'anks good good good. "Nigh ù "nigh . . . su-leap tigh He heard, more than saw, the shapes leaping easily in and out of the water and heading back out to the Currents.

Once again Ajo's pod had good news to sound to all quarters, to tell diat the mans had taken off trnublesome bloodfish. Mans had not forgotten their duty to dolphins. They heard other good newses on the sonar echo for now several ships would feed the dolphins who escorted them out to fish. Sometimes though the ships did not follow the dolphins once they were far off-shore so that the places of the best fishing went untouched. The Tillek was asked how to teach mans to do the right. Dolphins remembered. Why did not mans?

Afo could say with pride that her mans remembered. He had had to be reminded and shown but he had taken out his steel and done the service. A few more needed to be freed of the parasites but he was one mans and there were many in the pod which already had had good good good luck. They' had a Bell at Paradisriv and they had had one removal. Alta and Dar sounded that the Bell was not yet up where the Moncobay pod could ring it. Soon. The Tillek sounded back that they must be pafient. When the Bell was up, she would come to see mans now they were back to their First Place. Perhaps there would be a Tillek among the mans who would remind mans of their part of the Bargain.

Although Master Idarolan had imbibed as deeply as everyone else at the gather, he rowed himself ashore from the Dawn Sisters as the sun lifted above the horizon. A gentle following sea made the journey easy. Alemi was there to meet him, a cup of hot steaming klah in his hand. Turns of early mornings had made it almost impossible for Alemi to sleep past daybreak.

"Thanks, lad. Ah, that's a grand cup,' Idarolan said, smacking his lips after his first judicious sip of the hot liquid.

Alemi offered him a basket of fruit and some of the leftover gather breads.

"Didn't think there'd be a morsel after my crew took their haul from the tables,' he said, helping himself to a pastry. Unobtrusively he was peering into the wide windows of the hold. "Nice place you've made here. As neat as the yard! Ship shape. I like to see that, not that a son of your father would be anything else."

"Ah, mention of Master Yanus, ah I trust, Master Idarolan, that . - - ah, you would be - ù "Not mention your doll fins to your sire'?" Idarolan laughed, his eyes crinkling into well-established wrinkles, carved by wind and sun. "Not likely, though I like to see a man accept something new and different - now and then. Someone who latches on to just any newfangled

"The association of humans and dolphins is not newfangled . . . " Alemi said firmly.

"Certainly not if you got your information from Aivas itself And now Idarolan did chuckle, deep in his chest. "Master Holder Yanus is a fine seaman, trains up a good apprentice, has a good feel for Nerat Bay weather and a solid knowledge of his own coastline Idarolan paused, then glanced sideways at Alemi, his eyes twinkling, "but, as a man to accept a new idea oh no. Doesn't trim sail that way." He leaned closer to Alemi, at the same time dipping his hand into the bread basket again. Between you and me, lad, he doesn't believe there could be such a - . . creature, a device, like Aivas. No, there can't be such a thing as this Aivas."

Alemi rubbed the back of his head, grinning. "Doesn't surprise me a bit. "Surprises me that Yanus and Mavi could produce children like you and Master Menolly."

"She's the real surprise.

Idarolan shot his craftsman a quick look. "At least you're proud of her.

"Very."

"You're why she came, you know. Told me one night she'd never had a chance to get to know you but you were the best of the lot."

Alemi stared back at his Master. "She said that? About me?" He felt his throat get tight with pride and love of her.

"Not that ship journeys don't get people saying things they'd never admit to on solid ground,' Idarolan added slyly. "Come, lad, pour me another cup of klah and then show me these doll fins of yours."

"Dolphins." Alemi absently corrected the pronunciation as he refilled both cups. He reached for the second pail - with the half eaten breads and cakes. He hadn't any fish left over from yesterday's catch to give and didn't know if the dolphins would accept human food. Then he led the way, taking the track that crossed directly from his house to the jetty.

Idarolan scrambled down the ladder to the float as neatly as Alemi did. Feeling a trifle self-conscious, Alemi grabbed up the small handbell and vigorously sent the peals of the "Report sequence out across the gently lapping tide.

Both he and Idarolan flinched when two dolphins, crossing each other's paths, leaped out of the water, finger widths from the edge of the float.

"That's jumping to with a vengeance, boy!" Idarolan said.

"Lemi, ring Bellill! Reporrrit! Afo reporit!" The words came distinctly to both men.

"Kib reporrrit!" came from the second dolphin.

"As I live and breathe!" Idarolan gasped out the words in a low awed tone. Kneeling at the very edge of the float, he tried to follow the motion of the now submerged dolphins.

He lurched back as one surfaced right in front of him, its rostrum nearly touching his chin. "My very word!" He stared at Alemi for a long moment.

"000 rang?"

"Kib?" Alemi said, holding out an offering of bread. "You eat mans food?"

"No fish?"

"Not this morning.

"He distinctly said "no fish?" Interrogatory tone!" softly exclaimed Master Idarolan, rocking back on his heels.

Alemi grinned.

"No fish?" the second dolphin queried, bobbing up in front of Alemi who put out his hand to scratch under the chin.

"Will scratching do? Or do you need bloodfish taken off?" He grinned as he explained to Idarolan about the parasites.

"Well I never and they let you scrape "em off with your knifr?"

"They seemed very pleased to get them off. I think I've done five in this pod. I've since discovered that they like to be scratched. Sometimes their skin sloughs off but that's normal.

Skritching or does someone have another bloodfish?"

"Skritch. Blood fish,' and the dolphin enunciated carefully as he raised his head. "Gooddee. Again,' and the dolphin twisted his head so that the exact spot was under Alemi's fingers.

"What do they feel like?" Master Idarolan asked, his hands twitching.

"Find out yourself. Give Afo a caress. Don't touch the blow hole but just about anywhere on the head - the melon - and the nose will please them.

"They're rubbery, but firm. Not at all slimy. Like a fish.

"Not fish. Mammal!" was Afo's instant response.

"Stars!" Idarolan lost his balance in surprise and sat down so heavily on the float that it bounced in the water and they got soaked by the backwave. "It knows what it is!'

Alemi chuckled. Just like we do. Do you doubt their intelligence now?"

"No, I can't,' Idarolan admitted. "I'm just gobsmacked, is what I am. All these Turns I've admired "em and never thought to pass the time of day with "em. Never thought the sounds they were making could be words so I didn't listen! Oh, I've heard others who got rescued tell me what they thought and he put a gnarled finger to his temple and twisted it in the old gesture of mental instability, "but a' course, they'd have been under stress being nearly drowned and all - and the wind and storm so bad anyone could easily mistake the matter. But I've heard "em now and no mistake. He gave his head a decisive jerk. "So, what do we do now, young Alemi?"

"Reporrrit?" asked Kib, one eye on Alemi and its mouth parted in its smile.

Both men laughed aloud at that and the two dolphins tailed it, squeeing and clicking.

"Belllill? Belllill?" the cry sounded across the sea and Alemi and Idarolan saw more dolphins heading toward them. "Bellill rrrring! Bellill ring!'

Idarolan shook his head from side to side. "They're making "bell" into two syllables."

"And oo is you. Blufissh are the parasites. Alemi grinned at the stupidity of not having understood such a common marine hazard. "A couple of other oddities but I think if I just use the correct pronunciations, we'll have them talking the way we do.

What I'd like to do now, Master Idarolan, is consolidate this start. Aivas gave me instructions on how to proceed. You could use your ship's bell at sea use the sequence I rang - and ask them to report. Aivas said they know where fish are schooling, where rocks and reefs form, what the weather's likely to be. We know they rescue the shipwrecked. But there were lots of other tasks that humans and dolphins did together."

"Hmmm - check a ship for barnacles and holings. Check the current for speed - - - Aivas gave me the logs kept by a Captain James Tillek .

"Tillek! Tillek! T'ere is a Tillek?" cried the dolphins with such passion and surprise that Alemi and Master Idarolan were startled.

"No, no Tillek here,' Alemi said. James, and Alemi stressed the first name, "Tillek is dead. Long dead. Gone." The dolphins nosed each other and a sad sort of sound came up from the group. "Any rate, the captain " and Alemi grinned at using that reference to forestall another violent delphinic reaction, was one of the first settlers to chart our Pernese waters. I've been reading about how the dolphins helped people get safely to the north after the volcanoes erupted. Amazing journey. Lots of small boats and the dolphins saving everyone from drowning in one of those squalls you whip up down in these latitudes." He gave Idarolan a dour glance for such squalls. "Hmmm, smart as they are, maybe they could take messages now and then. Maybe not as fast as fire-lizards but some of those distract easily. Not smart enough to keep their mind on one thing at a time."

The other dolphins had reached the float by then and were crowding about to be recognized, to speak their name and find out what Idarolan's was.

"How do they tell us apart?" Idarolan wondered.

"Ezee. Mans color,' Kib said, gargling.

Alemi was positive the dolphin was laughing at them.

"These are clothes, Kib, clothes,' Alemi said, holding out the fabric of the light vest he wore with one hand and the sturdy sailcloth short pants.

"Dolphins not Kib enunciated clearly, "dresssssss. Then he rolled over and over in the water as if convulsed with mirth.

"Iddie' was what they could say of the Master Fishman's name but the man didn't feel at all insulted.

"I'm honored, you know. I've talked to an animal and it has understood my name, Idarolan said, puffing out his broad chest a bit in pride. Then more confidentially, "Never would I tell of this morning to Yanus of Half Circle Sea Hold! Never! But I shall enlist the assistance of those Masters I know would appreciate the connection." He was nearly butted off his feet by an impetuous prod of a rostrum. "Excuse me, where was I?"

"Ski-ritch Temp,' he was told in a very firm request. "Ski-ritch Temp.

Idarolan complied.

"This's one thing I never thought I'd find myself doing, - he remarked in an undertone to Alemi.

"Nor me!'

Chapter Five

lemi was not the only one wanting to have a closer understanding of the dolphins.

After T'lion and Gadareth returned Alemi to his Sea Hold, and collected the clothes which T'lion had hastily borrowed from a sleepy brown rider, the boy and the bronze did not immediately return to the Eastern Weyr.

"They're not as good as you, Gaddie,' T'lion told his dragon as the bronze leaped skyward. "But don't you think talking sea animals are great?"

Would they talk to me, too?

"Ah, Gaddie, don't for a moment think I'd trade you for a dolphin,' and T'lion laughed at the very notion, scratching the bronze neck as hard as he could with gloved fingers. He had yet to grow into all his flying gear and the glove fingers were a joint too long so scratching was difficult. "You and me are different You are my rider and i am your dragon and that is a good difference, said Gadareth stoutly. i chose you of all who were there the day I hatched - "And I wasn't even supposed to be a candidate,' T'lion said, grinning. vividly remembering that most exciting of all days in his life.

His brother, Kanadin, had been the official candidate and, even though he had impressed a brown, Kanadin had never quite forgiven his younger brother for making such a show of himself and impressing when he hadn't even been presented as a possible rider. Impressing a bronze was an even more unforgivable injury.

"You're too young!" K'din had yelled at his brother when the weyrlings were led to their quarters. "You were only brought along because Ma and Pa didn't dare leave you home. How could you do this to me?"

It had never done any good for T'lion to tell K'din that he hadn't meant to impress a dragon, much less a bronze but K'din saw it as a personal offence. Not that he would have swapped Gadareth for his Bulith even ten minutes after the Impression was made. It was the fact that what should have been a momentous day for the eldest son of a journeyman resident at Landing had been trivialized by a much younger brother who had been barely the acceptable age at the time of his Impression.

T'lion had tried to explain that perhaps if this had been a Weyr like the northern ones, an interior cavern with tiers of seats set up high for the witnesses, instead of an open space around the Hatching Ground, Gadareth wouldn't have found it so easy to reach him. But the little bronze had flopped and crawled, keening with anguish, from the Hatching sands and right up to himself where he had stood with his parents and sister. It wasn't as if Tarlion had tried, in any way, to attract the hatchling's attention. He hadn't so much as moved a muscle. Of course, he had been so flabbergasted to find a little dragon butting him, that he had had to be urged by T'gellan, the Weyrleader, and the Weyrling master to accept the lmpression. Not that he could have resisted much longer, not with Gadareth so upset that he wasn't immediately accepted by his choice of partner.

Even three years on, at fifteen, T'lion stayed out of K'din's way as much as possible. Which was easier now that K'din was with a fighting wing and could sneer that T'lion had Turns yet before he, as a bronze rider, would be useful to the Weyr which housed and nurtured him.

T'lion was very grateful to T'gellan, the Weyrleader, and his weyrmate, Mirrim, green Path's rider, because they never once made the youngster feel unacceptable.

"The dragon chooses,' T'gellan had said at the time, and often at other Impressions, shaking his head ruefully at dragon choice.

Then he'd congratulated the stunned family on having two such worthy sons.

Since T'lion could not be included in a fighting Weyr until he was sixteen, T'gellan used the bronze pair as messengers; giving them plenty of practice in finding coordinates all over what was settled of the Southern Continent as well as the major and minor Holds and Halls in the North. T'lion took pride in being a conscientious messenger and was infallibly courteous to his passengers, never once mentioning the behavior of some of them who found going between frightening or unnerving.

Or those who tried to order him about as if he was a drudge.

No dragon ever chose a drudge personality. Of course, being so young made some adults feel as if they had to patronize him him! A dragonrider!

There are some of the fins, Gadareth said, adroitly interrupting his less than amiable thoughts. And, knowing his wish before T'lion could even think it, the bronze glided down toward the pod.

Being up high gave T'lion a superb view of the pod, leaping and plunging, of their sinuous bodies under the water. It was sort of like the formation of fighting wings going against Thread, T'lion thought. Only he'd heard that shipfish - no, dolphins - liked Thread. They'd been seen by dragonriders, swarming with other types of marine life, actually following the leading edge of Thread across the ocean.

"Less for us to flame, boy,' V'line had remarked.

However, being airborne made it a little difficult for T'lion to speak to dolphins even though Gadareth was agreeable to flying just above the surface, being careful not to plunge a wing into the water and off-balance himself.

Then a dolphin heaved itself up out of the water, momentarily on a level with dragon and rider, eyeing them as it reached the top of its jump before sliding gracefully back into the water.

The surprise was enough to make Gadareth veer, catching his wing tip in the water. He struggled to recover his balance, tipping T'lion dangerously against his riding straps.

"Squeeeeeeh! Squeeeh! Carrrrrrrerfullllll !"

There was no doubting the shout from several dolphins as Gadareth righted himself and kept a reasonable distance above the waves. Then two more dolphins launched themselves up, each eyeing dragon and rider.

Recovering from the fright, T'lion responded to their scrutiny with an enthusiastic wave, trying to keep his eye on them as they curved up and down. Then Gadareth caught the rhythm of the dolphins' maneuver and, dipping down as he saw a dolphin nose appear, arched up and over with the acrobat.

This is flin! the dragon said, his eyes whirling with green and blue.

"Funnnhn! Funnnhnn! Gaym! Pullay gaym!" cried dolphin voices as they leaped up and over.

Did they hear me? Gadareth asked his astonished rider.

Getting any dolphin to answer that question was beyond the physical constraints of their present maneuvering, though T'lion shouted as loud as he could at each dolphin arching past him.

"I'll have to ask Master Alemi, Gaddie,' T'lion told his dragon.

"Maybe he'll know. He said Aivas told him a lot about dolphins.

That's what they really are, not shipfish, you know."

i know now. Dolphins, not shipfishes. And they' can talk.

"I think we'd better go back to the Weyr,' T'lion said, checking the slant of the westering sun. "And, Gaddie, let's keep this adventure to ourselves, shall we'?"

it's fun to know something other people don't, the bronze replied as he had had occasion to do several times when he and his rider had spent some private time investigating on their own.

There was so much to explore! Of course, if T'lion had not been conscientious about his duties, Gadareth would not have been so willing to take free time, but T'lion was very good about doing fun things only when he had finished his assigned chores.

Sounds were sent that the dragons which mans had made still liked dolphins. Dolphins had seen dragons in the skies since mans went to the New Place North. Dolphins had sung to dragons but had not been answered. Dragons talked to their riders in a fashion that dolphins did not quite understand. They felt the speech and saw the resuks - the dragon doing what the rider asked. Dragons provided many new games. They liked having their undersides ski-ritched and mans were always inspecting them so they did not have any more blufiss. They did not mind being jumped and providing sport for dolphins. They had very big and colored eyes, not like dolphins. Dolphins had jumped to see. Dragon had been pleased to see them play.

So T'lion and Gadareth reported back in Eastern Weyr to the Weyrling Master, H'mar, bronze Janeruth's rider. T'lion was sent off to help in the kitchen which he never minded because it gave him a chance to see what dinner would be and he always managed to sneak a few bites. His brother might twit him about having to do drudge chores because he wasn't big enough or old enough for anything else. T'lion invariably gave K'din the reaction his brother expected and never admitted that he liked doing the tasks set him. The best part was that he never knew from one day to the next what he'd be doing.

Before appearing at the main Weyr Hall, T'lion saw Gadareth comfortable in his own sandy wallow, a clearing in the thick jungle that T'lion had himself prepared for his dragon when they were considered old enough to leave the weyrling barracks. He lived in a single roomed accommodation that looked out on to the clearing. He even had a covered porch so, on the hottest nights, he slept out on the hammock slung between wall and porch support. Having lived, up until his Impression, in a hold too small for all the brothers and sisters he shared it with, T'lion treasured his privacy. He felt very lucky indeed because he could just remember the cold winters and the harsh winds of his birthhold in Benden Hold. Living south was much better. Living in this Weyr was even better than living in, say, Benden Weyr, because there riders had to live in cold caves high up on the Weyrside which was nowhere near as convenient as living right in the forest, with fruit to be picked from branches whenever you wanted it.

Over the next few weeks, T'lion and Gadareth spent a good deal of time conveying Master Menolly about and usually by direct flight since she was too pregnant to go between: sometimes to Landing but most often to Cove Hold to see Master Robinton, old Lytol and D'ram. Neither were long flights, if the winds were right as they often were at this time of year. A dragonrider in Eastern had to be weather wise, too. While he was waiting to return Master Menolly, he and Gadareth had plenty of time to bathe in the lovely waters of the Cove. Then, when he and Gadareth went exploring one day, they found a second cove to the west, with deep waters, where dolphins swam.

That was quite a boon for T'lion and Gadareth for the dolphins seemed as eager to talk to them as they were to improve their relationship. Neither rider nor dragon realized that dolphins swam in groups, called pods, patrolling certain areas as their home waters, just as dragons had certain areas they patrolled to keep Threadfree. T'lion didn't have a bell, couldn't find one at the Weyr Hall, but Gadareth's melodic bugle seemed to work just as well. Gadareth got brave enough, too, to settle on the water, wings spread wide to aid flotation. This provided the dolphins with yet another entertainment - leaping across the wings or coming up between Gadareth's forelegs. The dolphins also enjoyed "tickling' the bronze dragon by caressing their bodies on his ticklish underside: a "game' which had caused T'lion to be submerged on several occasions before he unfastened his riding straps so that the dolphins could "attack' Gadareth.

It was Menolly's custom to send her fire-lizard, Beauty, or one of the bronzes, Rocky, Diver or Poll, to summon him back to Cove Hold. The fire-lizards were fascinated by the dolpins, perching on one of Gadareth's outstretched wings and learning just where dolphins like to be scratched with the excellent talons that were fire-lizard equipment.

Gadareth would know the gist of what the fire-lizards wished to express, he'd tell his rider who then informed the dolphins. It was a three-cornered conversation but T'lion thought it helped develop more usable words and terms. Sometimes he felt like a harper, teaching dolphins proper pronunciations. They were using words more properly now: like "we' instead of "oo-we' and "report' instead of "reporit' and "bell' instead of "bellill'.

Sometimes he'd come away from these sessions feeling bigger than T'gellan!

What with all these flights and despite being in and out of Paradise River often, it was nearly six sevendays before T'lion saw Master Alemi again.

"T'lion, Gadareth, how are you?" Master Alemi said, arriving with a creel of fresh fish for Menolly.

"I'm fine, Master Alemi. How are your dolphins?"

Surprised, Alemi grinned at the boy's proper pronunciation because he was still having trouble getting others to say the word properly.

"You remembered?"