Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Home Fires

Pannu soothed the hatchlings for the third time that day, as best he could. They were young; they didn't understand why mama left.
   "How many days has it been?" he asked Tandy.
   "Three, sir. We still have eleven days left."
   "That was very prompt. Have you been worrying too?" he asked.
   Her ears twitched, but she didn't answer.
   Dragonfriend readily admitted that he was worried. "I know she was always telling me not to worry, just have faith, but it's awfully hard when she's not here to remind me."
   "I don't know what to be more concerned about," Firmen grumbled, "something happening to her, or a City emissary coming by for a visit. If they find out that not only has she left the holdshire and hatchlings, but the entire planet? I'm not sure they'll leave her alone after this."
   "She told one of 'em already, don't you remember? Said they couldn't depend on her to bail 'em out of scrapes forever. Had him pale as a sheet." Clay laughed, but he was one of a very few.
   "They're going to want to know why she can travel across the Verse, but not to the City, and you know it." Dragonfriend sounded dire.
   "Or, at the very least, the rules of when she can and can't leave," Firmen added.
   "Whenever God says she can. Are they going to argue with God?" Pannu snorted.
   "They act so pious, they just might," Clay growled.
   "Let them! He'll tell them no, because He told her to tell them no," Dragonfriend said. His faith, when he wasn't worrying about his friend, was strong. "Unless they've cleaned up their act since the last time she was up, that is. I don't know, maybe they have. It's not my job to decide." He took a bite out of Clay's latest hand pie.
   "Some of 'em think it's their job," Liam frowned. "She said that dragons were all priests and such, an' the whole lot took it the wrong way. If anything, they got worse, you ask me!"
   "Yeah, He's gonna have to give 'em a smackdown sometime soon," Berda said. "They're gettin' too big for their britches, from what I hear." Since she handled the minram in Capitol Hold, she would know! Travelers loved to pass on news from their home, considering it their duty. It wasn't gossip if it was something they needed to know!
   "I don't want to think about holy smackdowns." Firmen shuddered.
   Several of the kin in the conversation whole-heartedly agreed. They remembered enough of the Bible to know that having a biblical scolding nearby wasn't a good thing!
   "Okay, what is there to think about?" Pannu asked. "Any Hold business that needs attention? Yes, Sunny, I know you need attention, but Papa can talk and play at the same time."
   His daughter pouted and flopped over one of his toes. He chuckled. One of the smaller kin patted her back, between her vestigial wings. He couldn't see who it was, as they were between his eyes, and he didn't feel like crossing them.
   "Since you asked," Tandy began. She got a few dirty looks that she studiously ignored. Besides, the Hold matters were relatively minor things that the Judges had passed up the chain of command. The only thing that wasn't, was Clack's repeated request for tunnels.
   "You know how she feels about that," Dragonfriend warned.
   "Yes, she worries that vulrhin and worgles will get in. However, I don't see a problem with a tunnel from Hold to Hold, if they a) do a test run that doesn't connect here, and b) they can ensure that the tunnels won't collapse. If they collapse, and things can get in from above, that just proves her point."
   "How is he supposed to keep it from collapsing?" Tandy asked.
   Pannu shrugged. "That's not my problem, is it? We don't have enough timber to shore them up as they did on Erdewaz, and we haven't discovered anything like concrete, so he'll have to think long and hard on it. I will decree, though I'm still not comfortable with the word, that any practice runs must begin at a fallow Hold. We use them for hunting and foraging, so if anything gets in, well, that's just something else to hunt. No harm done."
   "You know he's going to try glass," Clay said.
   "If he can pry it away from other projects, he's welcome to try," Pannu said with a suspicious twinkle in his eye. He knew how jealously the craftskin guarded glass. They had a limited amount of the materials nearby, and no one would give it away for a project underground.  What would the point be in using transparent materials for that?
   Several kin had to hide sudden smiles. He would have to invent his own material, or method, and it probably wouldn't involve glass or clay. They were even running out of crystal-cover.
   "He might ask Mountain Clan for advice, you know," Firmen pointed out.
   "That's his prerogative," Pannu said, "but they're tunneling through rock. We don't know whether that's rock or soil under the plains."
    It didn't need stating openly that few kin were keen on the tunnel project. While they understood the limited number of winged kin, versus landed kin, no one wanted to go underground to travel safely. They would much rather figure out a way to travel overland without getting attacked.
   "Well, at least I can finally give him an answer," Tandy said. "Conditional though it may be. The Judges will thank you for getting him off their backs, that's for sure!"
   "I bet," Pannu chuckled. "What else have you got for me?"