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"What is their purpose, then?"
She raised an eyebrow in surprise, then sighed. "Your training is sparse,
Purman. You should have been taught that there should always be more than one
purpose in introducing a new species into an ecosystem.
"In fact, the watch-whers were intended to solve several problems," she
continued. "Dragons, by their nature, would associate only with a select few
people. But they must become part of the human ecology, if you will. They
must
not be feared."
"So you bred the watch-whers as something that most people could see?" Purman
sounded skeptical.
"And they're uglier than dragons, too," M'hall added. "If you were to try to
tell someone who'd never seen a dragon what they were like, you'd say like a
watch-wher but bigger and prettier."
"So their first purpose is psychological?"
"It is not their first purpose," Wind Blossom said rather tartly. "Unlike
your
wines."
Purman grunted in response and gestured for her to continue.
"I designed their eyes to be excellent in low-light situations," Wind Blossom
said, choosing her words carefully, "and particularly tuned to infrared
wavelengths."
"Don't forget that you designed them to be more empathic than telepathic,"
M'hall interjected. Wind Blossom gave him a reproving look. "Sorry," he said,
chastened.
"I altered the design of their dermis and epidermis to incorporate more of
their
boron crystalline skeletal materials-"
"She tried to make them armored," M'hall translated. Wind Blossom nodded.
"It didn't work," M'hall added. Wind Blossom sighed. M'hall waved a hand
toward
her in conciliation, saying, "But it was a good idea."
"Yes, it was," Purman agreed, "but why? Why not incorporate those changes
directly into the dragons?"
"Two different species are safer," Wind Blossom said. "Greater diversity
yields
redundancy."
Purman nodded but held up a hand as he grappled with his thoughts. Finally he
looked up at the two of them. "The watch-whers fight Thread at night?"
"By themselves," M'hall agreed, eyes gleaming in memory. "I've seen them
once-they were magnificent. I learned a lot about fighting Thread that
night."
"They breathe fire?"
"No," M'hall said. "They eat Thread, like the fire-lizards. They don't need
riders, either-the queens organize them all."
"The queens?"
M'hall nodded. "Of course. They're like dragons, or fire-lizards for that
matter."
"What about their wings?" Purman asked. "They're so short and stubby, how do
they fly?"
Wind Blossom's eyes lit with mischief. "They fly the same way as dragons. I
made
the wings smaller to avoid Thread damage."
"Why keep this a secret?" Purman asked with outrage in his voice. "Everyone
should know this."
"Why?" Wind Blossom asked. "So they'll never sleep for fear that Thread will
fall at night? How many people are content to let only your grubs protect the
grapevines?"
"It doesn't happen often," M'hall put in. "The oxygen level in the atmosphere
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shrinks at night, especially in the three thousand- to fifteen hundred-meter
range, and the air's too cold to support the spores. A lot of them freeze and
are blown all over the place as dust."
"But what about those that do get through?" Purman persisted.
"It's no different than dealing with the small amount of Thread that the
dragons
miss," M'hall said. "Hopefully, the ground crews find and take care of them."
"And they are fewer at night anyway, due to the cold." Purman pursed his lips
thoughtfully. "But on a warm night?"
M'hall recrossed his legs and shook his head ruefully. "That's how I found
out,
Purman. I asked myself that same question, wondering how I could get my
riders
to fight day and night-especially as neither humans nor dragons can see that
well at night."
A look of wonder crossed his face as he recalled the experience. "They
swarmed
in from everywhere, arranged themselves by their queens, and flew up to the
Thread. I was above them, at first, and they came up at me like stars coming
out
at night. And then they were above, swooping and diving for the still-viable
clumps of Thread."
"They see more in the infrared range," Wind Blossom said. "They can
differentiate between the live Thread and the Thread that has been frozen by
the
night atmosphere."
"So they have night vision . . ." Purman breathed.
Wind Blossom nodded. "That is why their eyes are so bad in daylight: too much
light for them."
"And Benden's watch-wher-why did it react to tickling?" Purman asked.
Wind Blossom shook her head sadly. "I wanted them to react if they were
asleep
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