I Read What?!

So last time, Jaxom did risky things and then bitched about the consequences when people got mad at them. Presumably this time more characters will do risky things, but I won't mind because I like them more.

I own my hypocrisy.



So hilariously, we start out with Jancis exclaiming that she's never seen so many fire lizards in one place. Given Lessa's irritation with them, I'm very amused But fortunately, she's occupied, being assisted by the Cove Hold research staff.

Jaxom wonders if the fire lizards have figured out the plans for tomorrow's journey. Ruth says no, they're excited because Ruth, Ramoth and Mnementh are excited, but they don't know why.

Oh, brother, we get a mention of the egg:

Jaxom put some extra effort into scrubbing Ruth’s left wing. There were hundreds of questions rattling about in his brain, but to settle on any one of them and find an answer was beyond him. This was not at all like the day that he and Ruth had gone hunting for Ramoth’s queen egg. He had been a boy then, struggling to achieve manhood, to be both Lord Holder and dragonrider and to avert a major confrontation between the Southern Oldtimers and Benden Weyr. This also wasn’t as spontaneous an acceptance of challenge as that morning’s EVA had been. This was a planned expedition to be made in the company of two of the most important people on Pern.

Correction: Jaxom wasn't struggling for jack shit. Jaxom did not give a SHIT about his responsibilities as Lord Holder and he liked being dragonrider until F'nor yelled at him once for shirking thread duties. But fine, I'll give McCaffrey credit that the egg has gone relatively unmentioned in this book and here it might even be relevant.

Suddenly, Meer, Sharra's fire-lizard appears. And Sharra herself appears not too long after and Jaxom's reaction is kind of infuriating:

So it did not exactly surprise him when Sharra strode into the Hold while they were finishing their dinner. Still, he had no idea what Meer might have conveyed to her, so he decided he would be best off playing innocent.

“Darling, what an unexpected surprise,” he said, rising to greet her with an embrace. “There’s nothing the matter at Ruatha, is there?” he added with a fair pretense of alarm. He ignored Piemur, who was rolling his eyes.

Thank you, Piemur. Don't keep secrets from your wife, you tool. Especially since not telling her about prior risks almost got her KILLED.

And I mean, look at how his narrative viewpoint talks about her:

“No, nothing’s wrong at Ruatha,” Sharra said in the tone that always made him wary. But she smiled with genuine warmth at the others. “It’s just that the biology team is starting the dissection tomorrow. Mirrim said she’d convey me up. G’lanar point-blank refused. I hope I’m not interrupting . . .”

The tone that always made him wary. Hm. Maybe if you didn't keep secrets from her, and didn't ditch her with the kids all the time, she wouldn't GET that tone. Fuckhead. #TeamDivorceHisAss

Anyway, everyone welcomes Sharra immediately. Lessa offers klah, Robinton offers wine, Jancis offers sweet breads, and Piemur pulls out a chair. Why are they all better spouses than Jaxom?

Anyway, she was brought by a green rider named G'lanar. And this exchange serves to make me dislike Jaxom more:

“I didn’t catch him,” Jaxom said. “He ought to have at least joined us for a cup.”

D’ram brushed away Jaxom’s discontent. “G’lanar was always a surly one. How does he happen to be at Ruatha these days?”

Jaxom grinned. “The weyrling we had was judged old enough to fight and was sent to join K’van’s wings. He asked us to accommodate G’lanar and Lamoth in their stead. The old bronze sleeps almost as much as G’lanar does.”

How the fuck dare you judge this guy OR his dragon for sleeping. He actually fought thread on the regular, not just when feeling restless with princely duties. Fuck off.

I also like this show of guilty conscience:

“It does them both good to feel needed,” Sharra said, her eyes glittering at Jaxom although her tone was social.

Jaxom wondered what on earth Meer had conveyed to her that had brought her to Cove Hold. His own message had been innocuous enough: the Egg knew staying over at Cove Hold was nothing out of the ordinary. But he was glad to see her.

It was also very like Sharra to say nothing to the point in company. But he began to worry about how to dissemble when they were alone in their sleeping quarters. As the dragonriders whiled away the after-dinner hours, no hint of their morning’s plans was raised—partly because the young men and women of the Archive were present, but especially because Sharra was there.

I'm assuming Jaxom is projecting there because the others have no reason to help him lie to his wife. But also, look at this bullshit behavior. Just tell her and face her wrath like a man, you creep.

Anyway, Robinton and Piemur perform a new song by Menolly (with lyrics by Harper Elimona). Considering how Piemur was a vocal performer who'd lost his ability when his voice changed and that was kind of a big deal, I wish we actually made a little more of this. It makes perfect sense that, now that his voice has settled, that Piemur remains a good singer. He can't hit the notes of a boy soprano, but he knows all of the technique for pitch and strength.

But it had been such a big deal for him that I'm sure it's a relief.

As to the lyrics, they're fine. It's poetry. We can't hear the haunting melody (though it might be on youtube somewhere). And while the lyrics seem to resonate with parts of the story (or Jaxom seems to take it that way at least), I'm not going to bother to excerpt them.

They're nice. They rhyme. Nothing stands out as too over the top or absurd. There is a point where Jaxom wonders if the words might have been prompted by Robinton or Sebell, who suggest themes for their harpers. Then dismisses that, noting that Menolly had "such an uncanny knack of catching exactly the mood of the moment" that it could just be serendiptious.

Poor Harper Elimona, who actually wrote the lyrics, gets no recognition here.

There's more performances after. Jaxom holds Sharra's hand but also asks Ruth if Meer tattled and why the fuck are you keeping this secret from your WIFE.

Look at this shit.

He has curled up on the beach and pretends to be asleep. What could he tell her that would make sense?

Sharra’s perceptive, Ruth. She could guess.

She knows you are always safe with me.

But she also doesn’t want me risking my neck . . . more than I already do.

She will not refuse you, Ruth added encouragingly, though his tone held a nuance of doubt.

How can you have such disrespect for your wife? You KNOW she won't like this. So TALK TO HER. If your actions are justifiable, then justify them. Show her some goddamn respect, you cretinous fucker.

And indeed, when Sharra and Jaxom are alone in their "usual corner room", Sharra asks why Meer is so agitated.

Hey, question. Why does the Ruathan Royal family, who have a PERSONAL TELEPORTING DRAGON, have their own room in Cove Hold??? Couldn't that be used for someone who can't just commute from anywhere in the world in a literal second or two?

Anyway, Jaxom outright lies to her:

“He was? Not much happened today.” He began to pull his shirt off, which served to muffle his voice and hide his face lest his expression give him away. Sharra had become adept at reading him, a skill that usually smoothed matters between them, but this time he really didn’t want to risk upsetting her unnecessarily. He had written notes for Brand and for her and given them to Piemur—not that he expected that Piemur would have to deliver them, but he had to plan for contingencies. “Anyone at Ruatha got a randy green or gold?” he continued as nonchalantly as possible.

...LOOK AT THIS BULLSHIT.

You don't want to risk "unnecessarily" upsetting her? You've gone to the level of writing "if I die" notes, but telling her you're taking this risk is "unnecessary"???

This is blatant disrespect and I'd divorce you for the lie alone.

More lies. She asks about the schedule, and he says they're getting accustomed to free fall. He does bring up the idea of the Weyrs hoisting the engine to the Red Star. She's astonished, and he grins, and I hate him so fucking much.

He explains the idea that the explosion will nudge the Red Star into a new orbit. And then they have sex, while he's still lying to her. Happily we don't see it.

Jaxom wakes up to Meer scratching his face, and Ruth telling him that someone's in the hall outside their door. Fucking convenient. It's a dude with a knife, who hesitates because he only sees Sharra. (Jaxom had gotten out of bed and over to his own knife.)

There are fisticuffs, and bellowing dragons, and of course Jaxom gets a sympathy enducing slash to the soldier. Interestingly, he disarms the guy with a move F'lessan taught him, breaking the man's wrist. Go F'lessan. One day you'll have your own book!

Oh, this is genuinely a shock though, because the attacker is G'lanar. I mean, I suppose it makes sense in retrospect given the dislike that Jaxom inexplicably had for him. McCaffrey has a pattern. But it's interesting that dragonriders might also be anti-Aivas.

I suppose it's probably for the best that T'ron and T'kul got killed off earlier, I'm sure the Old Timers would have been great for this role. Despite the fact that it doesn't really make sense for them to be any more resistant to Aivas's advancements than anyone else.

...oh you've got to be kidding. This isn't about Aivas at all.

“He’s to blame . . .” G’lanar cried, spitting in his fury, cradling his broken wrist to his chest.

Jaxom stared down at the old rider. “Blame?”

“You! I know who it was now! It was you—and that white runt that ought to have died the moment it was born!” Outside, Ruth roared exception to the insult, then thrust his head through the window. “If it hadn’t been for you, we’d’ve had our own fertile queen! We’d’ve had a chance!”

Jaxom shook his head slightly, trying to understand the accusation. So few knew that he and Ruth had recovered the abducted queen egg from Benden Weyr. How had G’lanar learned?

God damnit. SHUT UP ABOUT THE FUCKING EGG!

Yes, it was somewhat heroic at the time, McCaffrey. But it was in chapter SIX of White Dragon and you kept mentioning it every chapter after that. I DON'T FUCKING CARE. And it's been YEARS. Jaxom has done legitimately notable, brave things since.

But yeah, G'lanar cut the straps. And because McCaffrey can't write nuance, he sneers that he wouldn't have cared if Sharra died. And OF COURSE, he starts ranting about Aivas being an abomination. Because we can't have a villain who is wrong about one thing and neutral or even positive about other things.

There's a genuinely dramatic moment when, with F'lar advancing and Jaxom having conveniently stepped back, G'lanar plunges his knife into his own chest. A dead rider means a dead dragon, and Lamoth dies in shame, per Ruth.

Apparently it was G'lanar and Lamoth who actually stole the egg. I still don't care, McCaffrey, and I'm aghast that with every single interesting dropped thread in Renegades (like all of Jayge and Aramina's fucking LIFE), THIS is the loose end you thought needed to be dealt with in an already kind of overstuffed book.

Actually, to be fair, there might be some actual nuance here. At least when it comes to the surviving Oldtimers. When everyone expresses shock over G'lanar's beliefs, D'ram confirms that every Oldtimer he'd spoken to was in accord with the younger riders and Benden. They support Aivas's promise to end Thread. Which makes sense, because they've had to do it for TWO lifetimes basically.

Lessa notes that Ramoth is speaking to the other Queens, and they should know by morning about any other disaffected riders.

And this is a beat that I do like:

“I’ll take care of this,” F’lar said, gesturing to Piemur and Jaxom to help him with G’lanar’s body.

“No, I will,” D’ram said, stepping over the corpse to heave it over his shoulders. His face was devoid of expression, but his cheeks were tearstained. “He was a good rider before he went South with Mardra and T’ton.”

Interesting that T'ron has become T'ton again. He was a good rider when he came forward with them too. I really do wish we'd have gotten an Oldtimer centered book about the modern day. Because they did go through a LOT to come here, right when they thought their own fight was over. It would have been far more interesting to read D'ram of the Eighth Pass instead of Masterharper of Pern.

So despite waking up to everyone in her bedroom, Sharra immediately takes charge, steering Jaxom and company to the kitchen for wine. We're told she added something, and Jaxom slept very well. Because she's basically his mother as well as wife. Poor woman.

He gets up to find Lessa cradling a cup of Klah, and F'lar eating cereal. I don't know why that's funny to me, but it is.

Jaxom asks if everyone else is still asleep - nope, he's just lazy. Anyway, Lessa reports the results of her investigation. Not sure why Jaxom gets to know, but fine. Basically, no other traitors. The current Southern queen/Weyrwoman were too inexperienced to understand G'lanar's issues, and he kind of gradually went rogue. I'm not sure that this is reassuring then, but okay. Lessa notes that G'lanar begging for Ruathan duty should have made her suspicious.

F'lar wonders why, as Ruatha is the duty everyone wants. Why? Because it's the author's favorite of course.

Anyway, they're going to keep G'lanar's real cause of death quiet and suggest he has a brainstorm. Jaxom has the same thought I do (which annoys me, but fair) and points out that the dragons will know. But actually, they won't. Lamoth had been asleep and genuinely unaware of G'lanar's plan.

And fuck, MORE about the egg. Jaxom wonders how he knew. Lessa points out that Jaxom's been timing it too often, and Lamoth would have known. And G'lanar is misguided but not stupid. That's rare for a McCaffrey adversary. He figured it out.

Oh, this bit is bullshit though.

“We have a more important task to perform today than to fret over this incident,” F’lar said, rising to clear the table of his bowl and cup. “That is, if you feel up to it, Jaxom . . .”

Jaxom regarded F’lar scornfully. “I’ve been waiting on you. Let’s do it.”

You literally just woke up, you lazy spoiled brat.

Anyway. They're going to the Yokohama first for space suits. Lessa wonders if one will fit her, because she is tiny. But Jaxom says that there are two small ones and one ought to fit even if they have to "truss you up some".

Oh, and Jaxom gets Lessa to help keep things from Sharra, by telling Ramoth to make sure Meer doesn't follow. WHY? I hate him so much.

Anyway, up on the station, they are able to get Lessa suited up, even though tucks had to be taken in the arms/legs/waist of the smallest suits...Um, why? It's a space suit. They're not supposed to be form-fitting. If anything, wouldn't the extra space mean extra oxygen?

I don't actually know how space suits work.

They chat about the trip. F'lar wonders at the lack of clouds that F'nor had mentioned. Aivas said there probably had been at the time. He technobabbles a reason, mostly to do with the Red Star having passed close to Rukbat. It's much cooler now.

Anyway, they all go. Twenty-seven seconds in between, and they emerge. No contact with Aivas, which makes Jaxom nervous. F'lar yells at him, saying they can handle it without supervision. He muses that maybe they've gotten a bit too dependent on Aivas, which is a viewpoint that I'd like to see more.

Right now, all we've seen are pro-Aivas and anti-Aivas/progress/development in general voices. But there should be a greater variety. Where are the "progress is good, but we're getting too dependent" voices? Or the "Aivas means well, but we should be figuring this out for ourselves" voices? Or the "going back to the old ways means we're neglecting new innovations entirely" voices?

Anyway, we get some description.

Ramoth was looking straight ahead, trying to see to the other side of the gorge. Jaxom could not see the far side in the dim light available. When he looked over his shoulder toward Rukbat, he had no trouble looking directly at the dim sun, but it did give sufficient light for him to pick out details of the terrain beyond the canyon. Not that there was much to see. The surface of the Red Star was pocked and slagged, minor fissures and fractures spreading out from the immense fault across what looked more like bare rock than sand. The black chasm stretched in both directions into the tenebrous distance. Jaxom looked behind him. There were some jagged projections, from small terraces to great sheets that would have taken up most of Benden’s Bowl. An appallingly sterile landscape. Jaxom could almost feel sorry for the battered planet.

There are visible thread ovoids, too. Ruth thinks the place is strangely familiar. Lessa and Ramoth aren't fans at all.

They study the chasm, figuring out where to best place the engines. Jaxom volunteers to see if they can see how far they can go before reaching the bottom, but it's vetoed.

They scout a bit more, finding two more likely places to plant the engines. They head back to the Yokohama. They'd been on the planet for twelve minutes.

Everyone's okay. If thirsty, cold, and tired. Sadly the water cask is empty. Lessa gets a little contemplative about the Red Star, almost feeling sorry for it. Aivas notes that the Red Star had been a dead planet for longer than Pern had been viable, but that doesn't help.

Everyone returns to Cove. Meer is agitated. Jaxom calls for Robinton and Sharra, but there's no sign of them. I'd love it if this meant she just left his ass for all the lying, but I know that won't be the case. Jaxom is already trying to think of how to "restore himself" in her eyes.

Well, fuckhead, if you told the TRUTH...

But don't worry, Sharra's "above".

Jaxom slapped his forehead in dismay: she had told him, too, and he had forgotten about it, once again so immersed in his own business that her doings hadn’t quite registered in his brain. He laughed in self-deprecation. At times he knew he didn’t deserve a woman like Sharra, and this was one of them. How conceited he was! He missed her. Even if he couldn’t have told her about the marvelous journey he had just taken, he missed her.

I'm not arguing with any of that. But how come they didn't spot each other on the Yokohama?

But anyway, the chapter ends here.