The Love of the Blind

[Bane]

~*~
This is Pern long after Anne has written. AIVAS was found, but never shut himself down. Now, every major Hold and Weyr has at least three computer terminals. One for Records, and the Archivists love them; one for the Headwomen, who bless AIVAS for the new ways to keep up with inventory; and one for the Weyrleaders, who use it to keep up with wing assignments and such.

There has been no Thread for five hundred turns, and dragon riders are not as prestigious as they had been, though they are still respected. There has only been a queen egg when needed, or if the queen just happened to lay one. Fort has recently had two queen eggs lain, the most at one time in over one hundred and fifty turns. Those eggs are still hardening, and the rider’s have been Searching. The dragon riders have been limited to Searching one person from every place they Search, or at the most, two.
~*~

Please do not post feedback here.

[Bane]

She was so frightened. Everything was dark. She knew she was awake, but she couldn’t see. It couldn’t have been that long since she had fallen ill with the fever. She remembered her mother standing over her, her father right beside her. Jindor had been talking, telling her a joke, though she couldn’t remember the punch line. After that, everything was black. She knew she had woken before now, but all she could remember were sounds.

When she tried to sit up, her head started pounding, and she thought it best if she stay laying down. At her movement, she could hear that there was someone else in the room. “Who’s there?” she asked.

“It’s me,” said Jindor. “I’m here with you.” He took her hand as he said this. She was distressed that she could not see him.

“Are my eyes open, Jindor?” She asked, dreading the answer she knew she would get.

“Yes,” he said, sobbing. His hand convulsed around hers as he cried. “The fever took your sight.”

And she knew she would never draw again. She was too shocked even to cry. She just lay there, stricken.

Blind? Her life had revolved around drawing everything she could see, and now, she could see nothing. What would she do? No hold would want her, a blind child. She would be useless, even as a harper. If she couldn’t see the instrument she was playing, or the reaction of her audience, how could she be a harper? No man would want her now, and her father would be so disappointed. A small holder, who tithes to Fort, would never have use of a blind and useless daughter.

~*~ A Turn later ~*~

Minoa had found her niche in life, fostering. The children loved her, despite her blindness. They did not mind that everything had to be a certain way in the house. Although she had not taken a mate - she felt no one would want her since she was blind, and became closed to offers - she was allowed to foster. She had been allotted a large house at the edge of the main Fort Hold, and had everything positioned so she could remember where it was. She rarely used the long stick that had been designed from pictures AIVAS had, except when she went outside.

She had learned over the last turn to be able to cook and clean on her own. Now, she could cook, clean, and clothe all the children she fostered. She knew the fostering position had been given to her out of pity for her situation, but she didn’t care. All of her fosterlings had grown up to be successful in what they did, as much as they could grow up in a turn.

Hinda had gone from wetting her bed and sucking her thumb and other childish habits, to being a very mature 5 turn old that knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to be a healer, and Minoa had high hopes for her. She was already doing wonders with the animals they had around the house.

Of course, all the children wanted to ride the great dragons that were in more and more short supply. They all dreamt of becoming the one person that would be Searched to stand for the twenty-four eggs on the Sands at Fort Weyr, and all the girls wanted to be one of the two Candidates that would Impress the two queen eggs that were on the Sands.

So, when three dragons arrived at the small cot Ninoa ran for her fostering, all the children were running out to the field they had used as a landing site before they could be calmed. Minoa and the two harpers employed by the cot followed slightly more sedately, she holding on to the elbow of the harper nearest her.

[Bane]

The green rider stepped forward and said, “I am H’nid, rider of green Joarth. The dragons have informed us that there is only one suitable to Search here. The Weyr only takes those twelve turns and older.” There were several groans as those who were eleven turns had to step back, there dreams crushed for this Search. “Now, let the dragons look over you. They will choose who it is they felt.”

The person we are looking for is not a child. She is there, hanging on to the harper.

**Are you sure? Minoa is the one who runs this cot. She is the foster mother of these children. She cannot be a Candidate.**

She has to come. We only have forty Candidates. We need her. I do not see why we can’t take her with us. She would be good.

**I’m sure she would be, love. But she is blind. That is why she holds the harper.**
As if to prove her point, Joarth went up and pointedly nosed Minoa. She giggled with delight at the attention, and then caught on to the atmosphere around her. Hinda started crying, and ran to her foster mother, holding on to her. Minoa reached down and held her, she could feel that Hinda had started suck on her thumb again.

“I cannot go on the Search. I have to stay here and take care of the children.”

“I have told Joarth that, Minoa,” H’nid said. “She will not listen. She insists that you are what the Weyr needs. Joarth does not believe that you are blind beyond hope.”

You will be able to see at the Weyr. If you Impress, your dragon can allow you to see what they see. Just look… and Joarth neatly inserted the scene into Minoa’s mind. Suddenly, Minoa could see what was going on in front of her, but she could also see herself, so she knew she was looking through the eyes of the dragon.

“What color are you, Joarth. I cannot see you,” Minoa said.

I am green. and Minoa could suddenly see Joarth.

That is from me, Ith. I am blue. Joarth can show you. and Joarth did. Minoa saw all the dragons in her mind.

“How can I hear all of you?” she asked. She had never heard dragons before, although she had seen them plenty.

“They often speak to those they deem worthy of speaking to,” H’nid said. “What have they told you to put such a look as that on your face?”

“They showed me what they look like,” Minoa said, smiling. “I saw all three. And I saw all the children for the first time. Hinda, do not fret. I will go with them, and the harpers will take care of you for now. When I Impress, I will come back and give all of you a ride. It should not take long, and I may be able to bring my dragon here. Is that allowed, H’nid?”

“Yes,” he replied, “it is. Many of the dragon riders now have their own small weyrs. I could see this being a small dragon hold. You would only have to worry about flights. Since the greens have stopped chewing firestone, even they can lay eggs. Though they don’t fly as often as the golds, nor near as far. It’s just that the bronzes, and some few browns, will be here with their riders when your dragon flies. That is, if you Impress green or gold. It is not unheard of now for a woman to Impress blue, brown, or even bronze. Though there is only one female bronze rider. It is a possibility.”

“See, children?” she said, “I could come here with my dragon as soon as it was old enough to travel here. I would much prefer to fly back, though. I think I must speak to the Lord Holder before leaving, however.”
H’nid shook his head, “That has already been done. Joarth has informed him of this, but I must say he was surprised to hear from a dragon. He has agreed to send someone here to take care of the children until you can return.”

“Alright, just let me pack some things,” she said.

“There is no need for that, you will have all you need at the Weyr. We may not be what we once were, but we still provide for our own!”

“I need my seeing stick, or I cannot go anywhere not familiar,” and she sent one of the children off to get it. When he returned with the stick, she hugged him and the other children, and went to H’nid, who helped her mount Joarth. She folded the stick to travel, and readied herself for the take off. It almost caused her to get whiplash, but then the force let off and she didn’t have to tense. Joarth, after her request, showed her the view from the height. In her mind, she could see the ground leaving rapidly beneath her, and was elated. She could see!
~*~

[Bane]

~*~

~ One sevenday later. The Weyrleaders find out Minoa is blind. ~

“The girl is blind! What were they thinking, bringing her here?” The Weyrwoman said. She had been nice and polite when she had met Minoa, but the minute she was alone with the Weyrleader and the Searchriders that had Searched the small cothold, she was outraged and showing it. “There may not be any Thread falling anymore, but a blind rider will not be good. What if she Impresses? She’s blind! She won’t be able to give her dragon the pictures to safely go between. What will we do when she can’t go between?”

“With all due respect, Weyrwoman,” H’nid said, “Minoa has been speaking with Joarth since we Searched her. Joarth says that the dragons are able to give her the pictures she would need. She has seen the Bowl, the Hatching Grounds with the eggs; she’s been shown the lake and the Hunting Grounds, and the rooms where she will be sleeping until the Hatching. She has even seen the Weyrling’s Barracks. I think she will be fine here, and if she Impresses, she may be even better.”

“How can she see? She’s bloody blind!” the Weyrwoman said, her hands in fist at her sides. She was so worked up that the Weyrleader was having a job keeping her from striking someone. “She lost her sight last Turn. We all heard of the fever that swept Fort. Hers was so bad, they didn’t think she’d live through it. The Lord Holder of Fort gave her the cothold ad fostering position out of pity. She is only given the children that are the least likely to disrupt things, so that way they don’t move things around the house that she can trip over. Impressing a dragon is the last thing she needs!”

H’nid just stood there, not saying anything. Maybe the Weyrleader would hear the logic in his explanations, but the Weyrwoman surely had it out for Minoa. She just couldn’t see the good a dragon would do the young woman. He looked at the Weyrleader, pleading with him silently to ask her to leave. He was surprised when U’gir actually asked Ysel to go back to her weyr. He was even more surprised when she complied.

“Now,” U’gir said, “How is it going to help Minoa to Impress?”

“Like I told Ysel,” H’nid began, “Joarth is able to show her pictures in her mind of what she is seeing. If she Impresses at the Hatching, her dragon could do the same. I was with her when she was put in her dorm, and I gave Joarth the picture to give her. She has been doing this constantly since she arrived. If she is not near her, she asks another dragon to be her eyes. Jorel’s Binth is often near enough to show her where she is going. She still carries her seeing stick -”

“Her what?,” U’gir interrupted. “She has a stick that can see, too?”

“No. It is a seeing stick. Her brother, Jindor, found the design on one of Fort’s terminals and made her a jointed stick that she uses to walk. It is not a cane. She waves it around in front of her, and if it contacts something, she knows she needs to sidestep to avoid hurting herself,” H’nid explained.

“She waves it around? What if she hits someone else with it?”

“She won’t. She taps it on the ground in front of her,” and H’nid demonstrated the motion and used his foot as the ‘stick’, tapping it lightly in front of him as he walked. “It’s not as though she just flings it around in front of her. She just uses it to ‘see’ where she is going. I feel that if she were to Impress at this Hatching, her dragon would be able to ‘see’ for her. When she matures and is not sleeping most of the day, she could walk near Minoa to allow her to see where she is going. If she Impresses one of the queens in the clutch, then when she is flying, her dragon can look at what she will be walking through and relay that image to Minoa,” just then, H’nid’s eyes fogged a bit as he was talking to Joarth. “Joarth says that she can be looking at something like, say, the ocean, and Minoa can see the waves breaking. She can show her the motion of what she is looking at, not just the image in still.”

“I see,” U’gid said. “So she would have vision?”

“Yes sir,” H’nid replied. “I was also told by one of the harpers at the cot that Minoa used to draw before she caught the fever. I have actually met Jindor since bringing Minoa here, and he showed me all of the sketches she used to make. She even did some in color when she had access to colored pencils. He had them bound in a leather covered book so the children at the cot could see what she had done. Most of the children that she fosters have some kind of artistic bent, and her drawings were used as inspiration by them. I just wonder if, with enough room for the dragon to show her the paper she is using and the subject she is drawing, she could draw.”

“Hmmm…,” and U’gir rubbed his chin in contemplation. “This may just work. If the dragons can show her where she is going -”

“That is only when they, too, can see where she is. Otherwise, a rider must relay it to the dragon, and then the dragon can show her.”

“Yes, I can see how that could work,” U’gir allowed. “Like I was saying, if the dragons can show her where she is going than her blindness may be only a hindrance to her when her dragon is not awake. I do have one question, however,” and he waited for the greenrider’s response.

“Yes sir, ask anything,” H’nid said.

“What happens when she is on her own and there is no way for the dragon to show her where to go?” It was a pertinent question, but one H’nid had not thought of an answer to.

“I don’t know, Weyrleader. If she can get her dragon to speak to someone that is with her wherever she is, then it could work. But if Impresses a queen, she may not do that. You know how queens can be the jealous type.”

“Yes, I do. A little to well,” he said with a smile. “This could work, and it will be good for the Weyr, I believe. Now, why did Joarth Search her and not one of the children?”

“She says that she was the strongest one there. The child beside her was strong, too, but she was much too young. She didn’t think anyone else at the cot was strong enough,” H’nid explained as best he could. He had never figured out just how Joarth had been able to pick the Candidates she had. None of the Search riders had been able to. So he related what Joarth had told him to the Weyrleader.

“Alright. I’m going to rearrange the duty roster so that you can spend the days with Minoa. I’ll rotate it between you and some other green riders. The Weyrling Master may not like the arrangement, but don’t exacerbate the situation anymore than it already has been. Ysel doesn’t need the stress anymore than the rest of us do. G’pol will not like Minoa having someone with her in the classes, but if it gives her the ability to see what the others are seeing, than he will adjust. I will talk to him later today.”

“Yes sir,” and H’nid left the conference room.

[Bane]

~*~

Minoa was cleaning out one of the weyrs that hadn’t been used in a while when she started feeling odd. She paused, but then went back to work. The headwoman didn’t like when they paused unless they had a good reason. Minoa continued her work when the feeling increased, and suddenly she heard the humming. She could feel it in her heels as she sat back to clean lower on the wall. It coursed through her body, as though the sound had a life of it’s own. She stood and felt her way along the wall until she came to the door. She stayed at the wall, and then she could see. A hand took her by the elbow and a voice said, “It’s me, H’nid. We need to get you to the Candidates dorms and cleaned up. The humming has just now started, so we have time. I’m going to carry you down the stairs so it goes faster,” and he did. Minoa knew she was slow at going down stairs, but she didn’t think she was that slow.

They arrived at the dorms just as the humming increased in intensity a little bit. “Go wash your hands while I get your robe ready,” H’nid directed. She did that, and when she came out, he threw the robe over her head and swept her out of the cavern.

The sands were hot on her feet as she walked across to the eggs. She knew how many steps it was to the area where the eggs were waiting.

They rock. Just look at them. and Joarth showed her the eggs from his viewpoint. I am sorry, I can’t show you from your level.

“That’s alright,” she said aloud. “I can see them fine that way. Just let me see when they hatch so I can get out of the way.”

She watched through Joarth’s eyes as four of the eggs hatched, almost at once. Two bronzes, going to the boys beside her, a green found her mate, and a brown wandered until he found a girl in the bunch. Minoa couldn’t move without running into anybody, so she stood still. Joarth focused on the two queen eggs, one of which was rocking as though it would roll itself off the Sands. Just then, a large crack formed around the middle, and the gold pushed the top off with her head. Minoa watched as she found her mate, the girl standing farthest from her.

She was watching a blue hatch and bond when suddenly, the picture in her mind was overlaid by another.

I am Minoth. I am hungry. Will you feed me, please? and Minoa could feel her hunger.

“Minoth, I do not know where you are. Joarth is showing me the Hatching, and I am seeing through you, too. Oh! I can see myself. I am standing to your left. Joarth, please stop showing me what you see. Minoth cannot show me what she sees at the same time you show me,” and her mind cleared of the dual views. A soft head came up under her hand, and in the other a bowl of meat was placed for her to feed Minoth.

“Minoth, I cannot see you. I need you to stop showing me myself so that Joarth can show me you.”

Yes. You must know what I look like. Can you not see me on your own?

“No, dear heart. I am blind. I cannot see on my own,” and in her mind she saw herself, feeding a lovely gold and H’nid walking toward them.

“Let me help you to your weyr, Minoa. She will be tired after she has eaten. U’gir has told me I will be helping you out in the daytime when I am not on duty and there will be others, too. You will need help to keep her oiled and fed and washed since she can’t show you herself in order to let you wash her,” H’nid said as he helped her to the Weyrling’s weyrs. She could see where she was going the whole time, but the view often swung back to her when Minoth wanted another mouthful. She felt the third bucket being placed in her hands, and she held the empty one out to be taken.

She could feel when Minoth was no longer hungry, and then she was overtaken by a strong urge to sleep. Minoth got up on the platform and urled up, and H’nid helped Minoa climb up next to her. She put her head on Minoth’s foreleg, and promptly fell asleep.

~*~

[Bane]

U’gir just sat and listened as Ysel yelled about Minoa Impressing gold, “How could she, a blind girl, Impress a gold. And did you hear her name? Minoth. That’s great! What is she going to do now? She can’t sharding see!”

When Ysel paused for a breath, U’gir cut in, “Love, her dragon will see for her. H’nid explained it to me. When she is with Minoth, Minoth will see for her. She will show her what she is seeing. When she is not with her dragon, another rider will be with her and that rider’s dragon will show her what he or she is seeing.”

“Yes,” Ysel said, “But when Minoth flies, she may not want to see what her dragon sees.”

“No one knows what a dragon sees when they mate, Ysel,” U’gir told her. “Minoth may not allow her to see anything. We may need to warn Minoa about the fact that there are female bronze riders now. She may need someone to stand in in case one of their bronzes fly her Minoth.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” and she stormed out after U’gir said that.

“Get what?” he wondered to himself. Am I so wrong in thinking Impressing may be the best thing for Minoa right now? She can see what’s around her for the first time in a turn. Why can’t Ysel see the good in that?