Moreta

CHAPTER I
 
Fort Weyr, Present Pass, 3.10.43 1541, and Ruatha Hold
 
Sh gall is out on other Weyr business, Moreta told Nesso for the third time, beginning to loosen her sweat- and oil-stained tunic as a hint.
 
His Weyr business should be accompanying you to Ruatha Gather. Nesso s voice had a whining note to it in the best of her humors. Now the Fort Weyr Headwoman was filled with aggrieved indignation at the fancied slight to her Weyrwoman, and her voice grated like a bone saw in Moreta s ear.
 
He saw Lord Alessan yesterday. A Gather is not a time to discuss serious matters.
 
Moreta rose, seeking to end an interview she hadn t wanted to give, one that could continue as long as Nesso could dredge up complaints, real or imaginary, against Sh gall. Their antagonism was mutual, and Moreta often found herself in the position of placating or explaining the one to the other. She could not change Sh gall and was loathe to displace Nesso for, despite her faults, the woman was an exceedingly efficient and hard-working Headwoman. I must bathe, Nesso, or I ll be unpardonably late at Ruatha. I know you ve arranged a good meal for those who remain. K lon s comfortable now that the fever has broken. Berchar will look in on him. Just leave him alone.
 
Moreta fixed Nesso with an admonitory gaze, reinforcing her injunction. Nesso had an officious habit of taking Moreta s place whenever the Weyrwoman was absent unless specifically ordered not to. Away with you now, Nesso. You ve enough to do, and I m longing to be clean. Moreta accompanied her words with a smile as she gave Nesso a gentle shove toward the exit from her sleeping room.
 
Sh gall should go with you. He should, the irrepressible woman muttered as Moreta held aside the vivid door-curtain. Only when Nesso neared the sleeping queen dragon did she cease her imprecations.
 
Heavy with egg, Orlith dozed on, oblivious to the woman s passing. The

Anne McCaffrey, one of the world s most popular authors, is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern® series. She was the first woman to win the two top prizes for science fiction writing, the Hugo and Nebula awards. She was also given the American Library Association s Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement in Young Adult Fiction, was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and was named a Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1926, McCaffrey relocated to Ireland in the 1970s, where she lived in a house of her own design, named Dragonhold-Underhill. She died in 2011.