I blink at the returning visitor.  "You want to try to see Karrishan again?  All right.  This way, please."  I limp along toward the Great Courtyard--our pathetic little clearing.

Oh, my heart!  There are dragons all over Karrishan's lawn.  One of them, an absolutely enormous blue, has his tail twined 'round Karrishan's long legs, as if to prevent him from escaping.  Karrishan looks somewhere between laughing and scared stiff.  Luckily, he hasn't noticed us yet, or he'd get all shy again.  "Very well, Mitanth," he says in a strangled voice.  "I'll Stand for the clutch of...What were their names?" The large blue's rider, a wiry asian woman,  appears from behind one massive foreleg.  "Gold Veralineth and brown Rajinath," she says quietly. Karrishan reddens a little.  "Ah.  Thank you, Nora." She shrugs at him.  "It's all right.  Hop on up, now--you should go and experience some Weyr life as soon as possible."  Gracefully, she clambers up Mitanth's offered knee, and settles between his 'ridges, strapping herself in with a practiced swiftness.  "Here, I'll help you." Awkwardly, Karrishan scales the heigihts of Mt. Mitanth, wincing every time he puts a foot wrong.  He finally wedges his bony frame between 'ridges, and his grimy fingers fumble with the straps.  "Like this," Nora instructs, patiently, and twists around to buckle Karrishan's straps for him.  He blinks at them in dawning comprehension. "Brace yourself," advises Nora, as Mitanth gathers his legs beneath him.  With a bound that snaps Karrishan's head back, and a snap of wingsails, the enormous blue is aloft.  He waits only until he's gained a respectable altitude before he and his cargo vanish *Between*.

"Well," I say brightly, trying not to look at the visitor's face.  "I think you'll have to visit Talor Cliff Weyr to visit with Karrishan now." Irritated, the visitor stomps off, leaving me eyeing the trail in the clouds and the gouges in the lawn with an incredulous eye.

Ka'shan Impressed!  Presenting blue Beridonth!  See his hatching story at www.geocities.com/records/clutch_20.html See the next installment--click on Baridonth!

Beridonth