#southerncontinent

[elwynten]

Chapter 24

Pern: PP 15 - 10 - 17

While eating supper I get the attention of all the girls. "Tomorrow I'm going to Cove Hold. It's about time I met Master Robinton, Lord Jaxom, Piemur, and a few other 'locals'. Since I haven't been there before I'll have to fly straight there." I told them.

Master Robinton was the Master Harper of the Harper Hall and Pern. The Harper Hall teaches music, performs music and teaches reading, writing, and math by using music. Robinton had a heart attack, so he retired from being Master Harper and Sebell was appointed in his place. Robinton is still called Master Harper because of how much respect most everyone has for him. He is retiring to Cove Hold. The same cove where Lord Jaxom recovered from Fire Head at. It got its name from being a hold (house) in a cove. Cove Hold is about 100 miles north-east of Tel Aviv Hold, that being our main house. Cove hold is about 45 miles from Tel Aviv Hold's norther boarder.

"Will we be able to go?" Crystal asked.

I rocked my head from side to side. "Weeellll, I guess everyone could go. It'll be a large group, but…" I shrugged my shoulders.

Robbie looked at me. "Is that a good idea? Master Robinton is recovering from a heart attack." She said.

I grinned. "You've been reading the books?" I asked Robbie.

She nodded her head, yes. "You said we should." She told me.

"Yes, I did. That's good. Well, as you know I can heal him. So, it will be like he never had a heart attack." I reminded her.

"Kind of like you did for us?" Heather said.

"Yes, kind of like I did for y'all." I started. "So, the easiest way to do it would be for me to fly to Cove hold. Then I can port back or set up a teleport point between Cove Hold and here. The fun part is, Cove Hold is north of us on the coast. So, it's not very far."

"How long will it take you to fly there?" Verdi asked.

"Probably no more than Thirty minutes. Master Robinton is usually up by seven. So, if I leave here at 6:30 in the morning I'll arrive there at seven AM. It's a good thing I don't need to sleep." I chuckled.

"Is that why you picked this place for your Hold? So, we would be close to Cove Hold?" Yuki asked me.

I brought out a map of the southern continent. "I thought about having my Hold just east of Southern Hold." I said pointing out the area I had thought about having my hold, including the original Steakholds of Thessaly and Roma. "But… this way we will be about an hour from Landing." I pointed to where landing was on the map. "And in a few months, Landing will be the place to be. All the excitement will revolve around Landing. The drawback of living here is, no ruins. Whereas at the other sight both Thessaly and Roma have ruins we could explore and possibly use. But it is several time zones from Landing. So, it was a catch twenty-two situation. Both are good for one reason or another and both are bad for one reason or another." I lifted my hands up, palms up and shrugged my shoulders. "This here seemed the best place. Although, as I said, in a few months Landing will be the center of attention for the whole planet. So, Landing will shortly be very active. Because of that, I thought we could set up a restaurant at Landing to sell pizzas, hamburgers and tacos. And once they discover AIVAS, we can start selling radios. And I thought about getting craft halls to set up shops in one of the squares, like a town square or strip mall." I explained.

"I like it here. We're close to Cove Hold and Paradice River hold. And we'll be fairly close to Landing. Well close but not too close to those places. That way we can possibly make friends outside of the house." Hong spoke up. Several other girls agreed with Hong.

"Making friends outside of the house is a good idea. It's always good to have friends. Okay, back to the original topic. I'll be leaving at 6:30 in the morning. I should arrive at Cove Hold around 7:00 am. So, if anyone wants to go, be up by 6:15 tomorrow morning.

Jett got my attention. "Can I fly with you to Cove Hold? You gave us the ability to fly." She asked.

"You can if you want to." I told her.

Jett grinned. "We'll be there in no time at all." She said.

"Team JWCE (Justice) together on Pern." Willow said.

I looked at Crystal, and she nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, Team JWCE will fly to Cove Hold, and once there, I'll set up a teleport point so anyone else that wants to go, can." I told them.

Pern: PP 15 - 10 - 19 Visit Master Robinton at Cove Hold

The next morning at 6:30 am Team JWCE and Taima, took flight. We hadn't been doing much flying lately, so the girls were having fun flying around each other. Something I took part in. It helped kill time as we flew to Cove Hold.

We landed one cove west so we wouldn't be seen flying in and walked the rest of the way to Cove Hold. Master Robinton is the only 'permanent' resident at the moment. Although Piemur would be stationed there shortly. But that's not really relevant to us right now. As we got closer, I saw Robinton swimming in the ocean. I pointed him out to Jett, Willow and Crystal. Taima knew who he was, because I knew.

"Wait here while I set up the teleport point." I told my Team as I walked to a secluded area to place the teleport point. *I've set up the Teleport Point. You can come through now. We will either be on the beach or in the Hold.* I sent to the girls back at our Hold.

Several of the girls sent back *OK. Thank you. Be there in a minute.*

*And bring a bunch of breakfast burritos.* I added.

Instead of a response all I heard was several of the girls giggling.

Walking back to where I had left my Team. Master Robinton was walking out of the water. He waved at us and pointed towards the Hold. I took this to mean he would meet us up at the Hold. I waved back and headed to the hold.

We met Robinton on the porch of Cove Hold. "I didn't expect company this early in the morning." Robinton said.

"I wanted to meet you and have a talk before it gets too busy around here." I told him. "I'm Lord Holder Eilwyn of Tel Aviv Hold. No need for formality, so just call me Eilwyn. We are neighbors after all. We live just south-west of here." I started.

"Well, you have met me. But who are these ladies with you?" Robinton asked me.

At that time more girls from my hold walked up to the porch. "Ah, breakfast has arrived. I know there would be a lot of people joining me, so I had them bring something to eat for everyone." I said. I motioned for the girls to put the food on the table. "We call these breakfast burritos." I told him.

I waited for Master Robinton to take a burrito. Then I motioned for the girls to take one and then find a place to sit or stand. Then I went about introducing the girls to Robinton.

"With the introductions out of the way. What did you want to talk to me about?" He asked me.

I grinned. "It's more of giving you something then talking about something." I said.

"A gift! I'm honored." He said expectantly. He looked around as if trying to find what I had brought.

Sitting on the windowsill was a copper fire lizard, Companion. I pointed to it. "And there he is."

Companion - Copper (M) Name: Balta Mythical (dragon.) Regeneration Sustenence Intelligence Strength Durability Flight Teleportation Elemental Blast (Fire) Agility Magical (Spells: Dancing Lights, Ghost Sounds, Servant) Agility

Spells: Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound, Servant Dancing Lights, so he can see easily at night or in dark rooms. Ghost Sound, so he can use it for background sound when singing and storytelling. Servant, to help him get/fetch things and keep his study organised and clean. Not that that would be a problem with drudges at Cove Hold to keep the hold clean.

Robinton looked at the Companion, then at me. "You have to be at the hatching of a fire lizard to impress them. How can that be mine?" He asked me, confused.

"He's not a fire lizard. He's a Companion." I started when Robinton interrupted me.

"It's talking to me like a dragon!?" He stated.

I nodded my head in understanding. "Yes, he or rather they can do that. I have one, although she's not copper colored. And F'nor and Brekke each have one and Camo has one as well. Now you really know what it is like to have the bond between a dragon and his rider. And you can call him Balta." I said.

"Y-yes, I believed that when I impressed Zair, but…" He looked at Balta. "That's a fine name." He said.

"You gave one to Camo at the Harper Hall?" He asked."

"Yes, I did. He has his own pretty, now." I said.

"Do you think he will be able to take care of it?" Robinton asked me.

"He's quite capable of taking care of Wes. Or it would be more accurate to say they will be quite capable of taking care of each other." I replied.

Robinton staired at me for a few moments with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Yes, that would be good." He told me.

"Balta can talk out loud were anyone can hear him and understand. 'And' he provides several other benefits. He can tell you what all of them are. But I'll let you know what a few of them are. You do not need to eat, drink, sleep or breath anymore. You can do all of those things if you want to, though. I know you wouldn't want to do without your wine." I grinned at him. "You heal fast enough that you'll live another one hundred fifty to two hundred twenty-five years." I stopped to give Master Robinton time to absorb that idea.

"A hundred and fifty to two hundred years!? I'll live that long?!" He exclaimed. "How can a fire Lizard do that?"

I grinned. "That's what Brekke said, also. And yes, you will live that long unless you are killed. That means you'll be able to influence Pern well into the next interval. Like I said he is 'not' a fire lizard. They are Companions. They just look similar to a fire lizard." I said, grinning.

Robinton started laughing. "Not a fire lizard, but he looks quite a bit like one other than the color." He said looking at Balta.

"Their body shape and wings are a bit different than that of a fire lizard."

Robinton looked up at me. "That's a long time to influence all of Pern."

"Yes, it is. And if F'lar gets rid of Thread like he wants to. You'll really need to influence Pern. Thread, as bad as it is. Has been keeping major holds from trying to take over the world. Fax was an example of what can happen when people have 'free' time on their hands. So Pern will need all the influencing it can get to prevent that from happening again."

"Fax's greed was during a long interval. So, I see what you mean about Lord Holders getting greedy if they know they will never have to worry about Thread anymore. Holds are autonomous, but they will have to learn to help each other out when one Lord Holder decides to get greedy and attacks another Hold." Robinton admitted.

"That is all in the future, back to the present. With Balta you can teleport, or go between, on your own. No more needing a dragon to take you wherever you want to go. You still have to know where you're going and be able to picture the place in your mind. The good part is, if you can't picture it in your mind, you can't teleport, and you don't have to worry about teleporting into solid objects." I told Robinton.

"This is a whole lot to take in. And there is so much going on here right now." Robinton said with a sigh.

"Well, give the regeneration a couple days to do some healing and getting you back into good health. Then you can do all the running around that you want to. Oh, on a side note. The Companions can't talk to each other like the dragons do. So, they can't visualize locations to each other. But you can fly to new locations. Because your Companion can fly, you can fly, as well." I told him. "Or send Balta wherever you want to go. Once he arrives, he can show you what it looks like, and you can teleport, go between, to that location. But you can NOT go between time."

Robinton was staring at me with surprise on his face. "I don't need a dragon to go between anymore? Seriously?" He said and started smiling. "Not having to wait for a dragon to go between anymore. That will be wonderful."

"It gets better. His strength is greatly increased. It is three times greater than normal. So that means 'your' strength is three times greater than it was. So be careful." I told him.

Robinton looked at Balta then back at me. "That is what Balta just told me." He exclaimed.

"He's not a fire lizard, but since everyone thinks of them as fire lizards, Companion would be a better name for them. Although, I guess it doesn't really matter right now." I told him.

"He does look different than a fire lizard. Although with the general body shape a bit different. It is easy to think of him as a fire lizard." Robinton admitted.

"Them, for there are five Companions, now. And as time goes on there will be more, many more. And that is why I chose them to be copper colored. To help distinguish them from fire lizards." I informed him.

"Yours isn't copper. It's several different colors." He said.

"Taima is the original Companion, and she's a Titanium Dragon. I'm not sure if I chose her colors or if it was chance or something else. Could be whoever gave her to me, read my mind and chose her colors because of what I thought. And don't ask who gave her to me, because I have no idea. Never saw who it was. Like I told F'nor, Brekke, F'lar and Lessa, she just appeared out of nowhere." I told Robinton.

Robinton steepled his fingers in front of himself and nodded his head in thought. "There will be many more." He said looking at me. "You plan on giving more… Companions, to people?" It was half question, half statement.

"Yes, I plan on giving most Dragonriders a Companion. Since the abilities of the Companions help those, they are bonded with, I thought it would be helpful for dragonriders to have a Companion. It will be a lot harder to be thread scored and if they are, the regeneration will heal the dragonrider quickly. And I plan on giving Companions to 'commoners' also. But they will be limited. Plus, there will have to be stipulations on getting a Companion. We don't want a Lord Holder running a hold for one hundred years. They will have to agree to give their hold to a qualified son after holding for no more than, say… fifty to seventy-five years." I said.

"What if they refuse to step down?" He asked.

"Yes, that could be a problem, but since I can give Companions to people. I can also take them away." I informed Robinton.

"Hmm, yes. That could be a very good deterrent." Robinton said, nodding his head. At that time Menolly and Piemur walked out onto the porch. Master Robinton smiled. "And here is Master Menolly and my journeyman Piemur." He indicated each as he said their names. "It seems we have neighbors to the south." He said making a sweeping motion to the girls and myself. "This is Lord Holder Eilwyn, and…" He stopped and looked at me.

I grinned and finished where Robinton had started and introduced the girls to the newcomers. "We call these, breakfast burritos." I indicated the tray with the breakfast burritos on it.

"What's that?" Menolly asked, pointing at Balta. "Fire lizards are not that color."

Robinton smiled at Balta. "He's a gift from Lord Holder Eilwyn."

"He's a Companion, or that is what I call them." I told Menolly.

Piemur looked surprised. "Them? There's more than just one?" He asked.

"And speaking of just one, where's Jaxom? I haven't seen him." Menolly asked.

"Don't know, and Ruth's not on the beach either." Piemur said.

At that moment Jaxom on Ruth came out of between. He had been at the 'Ship Meadow'. None of the Harpers knew what he had been up to.

The 'ship meadow' is where the last three shuttles where parked and left. The shuttles are what the settlers used to fly between the three spaceships and Pern. They 'shuttled' people and all the supplies they brought with them from Earth. The shuttles have been parked for over 2,500 turns.

Jaxom had over flown the area and saw three small hills. He on Ruth landed and Ruth using his claws dug down into the dirt until he hit the topside of one of the shuttles. Jaxom decided he needed to return to Cove Hold and inform Robinton and the others.

"It's Ruth and Jaxom" I said.

"Jaxom where have you been?" Robinton asked as Jaxom walked up to the Hold.

Jaxom recounted his excursion to the 'ship meadow', which roused Robinton's excitement and curiosity. "The ships our ancestors arrived in?!" And he sent Zair to wake Mnemeth to bring F'lar and Lessa down to Cove hold.

Robinton sent Zair to wake up and inform F'lar and Lessa at Bendon Weyr.

Jaxom looked at Master Robinton with concern on his face. "Is this too much excitement for you?" He asked Robinton.

Robinton looked at Jaxom for a moment. "I thought it would be another dull and boring day, and you brought something to break the boredom." Robinton told Jaxom.

Although it was F'nor and Canth that arrived at Cove Hold and not F'lar and Lessa. Jaxom told F'nor what he had found.

"We need to go and uncover the ship." F'nor said.

"I'm going with you." Robinton said. "I'm not staying here and waiting for you to send me dribs and drabs. It's hard on my heart. I won't do any digging, I'll merely watch." He said feigning weakness. "Besides… Eilwyn gave me a Companion." He said looking at F'nor.

F'nor looked at Master Robinton for a moment then looked at me, then back to Robinton. "He… gave you one also?" He asked.

Robinton smiled and nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, he did." And Robinton pointed to Balta on the windowsill.

F'nor nodded his head in understanding. "If what Eilwyn says about them are true… you're in good health."

Robinton grinned, then a curious look crossed his face. "Where is yours? Eilwyn said he gave you and Brekke one each."

F'nor pointed towards Canth. "Darby's with Canth." F'nor looked around, then pointed to a beam. "And there's Neena, Brekke's Companion."

Menolly stepped up with confusion on her face. "What did Eilwyn give to both of you?" She asked Master Robinton and F'nor.

Robinton smiled. "Eilwyn gave us, what he calls, Companions." He called to Balta. "Come here Balta. I want to introduce you to Menolly and Piemur."

Menolly looked shocked at hearing her Master explain to, what looked like an off-color fire lizard, why he wanted it to come to him.

Balta looked at Robinton, then jumped from the windowsill onto the table. "Menolly this is Balta. My new Companion. Given to me by Lord Holder Eilwyn. Balta this is Master Menolly and this is my Journeyman Piemur." Robinton made introductions.

Balta looked at Menolly, nodded his head and picked up a front foot and waved at her.

Menolly staired at Balta still confused. When Balta waved at her, Menolly waved back. Then turning red from embarrassment and dropped her hand.

Piemur watched the exchange with confused curiosity.

"I'll explain later. We or rather y'all need to get busy and finish uncovering the ship." I said.

"Yes, we should do that." Robinton said. "Menolly get the wine off the back of the chair in my study. And I'll need my flying gear."

Still confused but used to following orders from her master. Menolly ran into the hold to do as she was told.

So, I wouldn't have to fly on one of the dragons. I took a peek into Jaxom's mind to see what the 'ship meadow' looked like, so I could port there.

Shorty we were at the 'ship meadow', looking at what Jaxom and Ruth had already uncovered. Then Robinton found a place to sit in the shade. My girls and I all sat around Robinton and I invited Menolly and Piemur to joins us. While F'nor had Canth finish digging up where the door to the shuttle was.

I was noticing that things were changing from what happens in the book, because of me being here. Even conversations were slightly different. But that would be expected since my just being here was changing the flow of the story.

While we waited for the door of the shuttle to be uncovered, I explained to Menolly and Piemur about the Companions. And while I was at it, I gave Menolly and Piemur their own Companions. Menolly's is named Fifer, and Piemur's is called Rafe.

Menolly's Companion Copper (F) Name: Fifer Mythical (dragon) Regeneration Sustenence Intelligence Strength Durability Flight Teleportation Speed Agility Magical (Dancing Lights, Mending, Ghost Sounds) Elemental Blast (Fire)

Peimur's Companion: Copper (M) Name: Rafe Mythical (dragon) Regeneration Sustenence Intelligence Strength Durability Flight Teleportation Speed Agility Magical (Dancing Lights, Mending, Servant) Elemental Blast (Fire)

After a short time, the dragons had dug down far enough to uncover the whole door. Robinton walked over and took a look. "Lessa, F'lar and Master Fandarel need to be informed about this right away."

"That's enough people for now." F'nor said before Robinton could include more people. "I'll go and get Master Fandarel myself. Don't want this getting out right now. And Canth will tell Ramoth." He cleaned himself of dirt as best as he could before putting on his flying jacket. "None of you do anything while I'm gone." He said looking at each person and lastly at Master Robinton.

Robinton gave F'nor an innocent look. "What would I do. We'll just sit and have a drink." He said sitting down and having everyone else sit down around him.

"If they flew…" Piemur started.

"If they flew, we know they flew. The fire lizard's pictures show us that." Robinton said.

"As I was going to say, if they flew in those things. Why didn't they use them to fly away in them when the explosion happened?" Piemur asked.

"I wouldn't know. Maybe Master Fandarel can answer that question." Robinton answered.

I know Mercedes would love to go into detail about how the shuttles fly and why they didn't use them to fly away after the volcano erupted. And because they would learn how they fly after they find AIVAS. There was no need to tell them about it right now.

Lessa and F'lar appeared first, followed by F'nor and Fandarel on Canth. They all landed at the same time. Fandarel ran over to the trench to inspect the new discovery. It didn't take long for Master Fandarel to figure out how to open the door of the shuttle. And because no one had thought to bring glow baskets, Jaxom went back to Cove Hold to get some.

While we waited for Jaxom to return. Lessa looked at me to Taima then to my girls, then she noticed the Companions Menolly, Piemur and Master Robinton had. She looked at me, Taima and the Companions several times. It looked like she was about to say something when Jaxom returned with the glows, returning her attention to the shuttle.

The glow baskets were handed out and we entered the shuttle. My girls and I entered last. I have seen the space shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And yes, the shuttle in front of me is a lot different than the ones that were used by NASA. But the people from Pern had never seen and had never imagined space flight, so we lagged back to let the others get a good look. My group would have plenty of time to see the shuttle later on. I heard Robinton calling for everyone to come see something. Then F'nor called from a different area for everyone to come see what he found. But the Master Harper won out.

I looked at the girls and smiled. They found the maps. I sent to them. Some of the girls nodded their heads in understanding and some looked confused. That told me which ones had read some of the books and which had not. I knew they would be leaving soon. So, I motioned to my girls to exit the shuttle. "Let's go outside. Everyone will be leaving shortly." I said and led the way outside.

A few minutes later F'nor, Fandarel, Lessa, F'lar, Robinton, Menolly, Piemur and Jaxom exited the shuttle. Piemur looked at me. "You didn't get to look around in there." He told me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "There was to many people in there. I'll come back later and take a look when it's not so crowded." I told him.

"That makes since." He replied.

Lessa walked over to me. "I want to have a talk with you, later when things calm down a little." She said to me. "And keep quiet about this for now. We don't want rumors getting out about these ships." She added.

I grinned. "Yes, later would be better. You know where I live. I doubt I will know anyone on the Plateau to be talking to, let-a-lone tell about the shuttles." I told her. Lessa frowned as I walked away. I caught F'nor grinning and trying to hide it.

"Come on girls. I believe we need to get back to the Hold." I said to my girls, and we all started walking into the trees. Once we were out of sight, I ported us back home.

#pern #dragonriders #dragonridersofpern #RWBY #dragon #vale #remnant #beacon #beaconacadamy #dragons #dragonriders of pern #southern #southerncontinent #landing