A/N: Hello everyone. I seemed to be blocked with Reunion so I decided to write a story that's been nagging at me in hopes that it will release the block. This is set in the Twice Hatched AU. If you haven't read Twice Hatched, this will seem rather strange. If you haven't read Twice Hatched, read it first and then come back and read this one. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Please take the time to let me know how you feel about it, even if it's to say you didn't like it. This is a very minor rewrite. I was reading Dragonflight and found out T'sum is a brownrider. This corrects that mistake. I've changed T'sum to K'net

Disclaimer: The Dragonriders of Pern is owned and copyrighted by Anne McCaffrey. This is fan fiction which garners NO MONEY WHATSOEVER for the author.

Brown Flight

Canth heard Brekke's mental cry. Canth! It's Wirenth. She's rising.

Canth wasted no time. He told his rider to brace for between and then transferred.

F'nor was shocked. It was unlike a dragon to take such initiative. What's going on, Canth?

It's Wirenth. She is...

All of a sudden they were in the clear blue sky above Benden Weyr. Rising. Canth finished. He angled down to land by the Junior most queen's weyr. He told his rider not to bother when he felt him unstrapping the harness. There was an urgency to his mental voice.

Are you sure about this, Canth? F'nor asked his dragon.

No other will have her. She is mine.

F'nor had never heard such determination in his dragon's tone. He hadn't heard it in many humans either.

After depositing his rider he took wing and made his way to the feeding grounds to blood.

F'nor entered the weyr and saw eight other riders forming a circle around Brekke. He pushed into the circle and T'bor looked at him sullenly.

"What are you doing here? Canth is a brown," T'bor challenged.

"He may be a brown," F'nor responded, "But he is blooding his kills just like Orth and the others.

"This is wrong," R'gul claimed heatedly. "Browns don't fly queens!"

"Tell that to Canth. He went between without my direction. He intends to fly her. There is no way I can stop him. And wouldn't if I could."

"He won't win," K'net said coldly. "He can't. No brown can out fly a bronze."

"May the best dragon win her," F'nor replied. "Just as our ancestors meant to happen."

Brekke was totally oblivious to this exchange. She was with Wirenth. Wirenth made a kill and tried to eat from the buck's entrails. Using iron mental control Brekke forced her only to blood. It was then Wirenth knew that that was what she needed and killed four more drinking their blood.

All of a sudden she was aloft, catching her suitors off guard.

They think they can catch me. Foolish dragons! Only the best, fastest and smartest will win me, this day. And a brown! A big brown to be sure, but a brown?

She gained altitude quickly and took a quick peek over her shoulder. All were still following with Canth in the lead. She folded her wings and dropped like a stone, momentarily confusing them. She opened her wings and caught air. She strove for altitude again and when she looked there were only three bronzes still chasing her.

Knew a brown couldn't keep up, she though scornfully

She kept up these evasive tactics for quite a while. She ducked into a cloud and when she emerged she saw only one bronze, Hath.

This is the one, she exulted. This is the one worthy to catch me.

Suddenly she felt contact on her back and a neck twining around her own. But Hath is over there. She was confused. Then she looked and saw a brown head next to her own.

You are mine, Canth told her. Just as I am yours.

They flew linked, consumed with the mating passion.

Their riders were locked together just as their dragons were.

Brekke opened her eyes and saw F'nor looking at her. The look in his eyes was tender and loving.

"I can't believe a brown out flew eight bronzes," she said.

"Canth was very determined. He meant to have her at all costs."

"But what will the others say?" Brekke was very worried.

"What can they say?" F'nor asked. "Canth didn't get any special consideration. It was a fair flight. The best dragon won."

"It's not as easy as that, F'nor. You know what D'ram, G'narish and R'mart will say. They will say it is unnatural and the flight was fixed someway."

"Let them," F'nor asserted. "They would have to prove such a charge and they cannot because it is not true."

"Are you that naive?" Brekke asked. "You could lose your position as wing second."

"You really think F'lar is going to cave to such pressure? You obviously don't know my brother. And even if you were, by some insane chance, correct, do you think I really care about my position more than you? Aside from Canth, you are the most important thing in all the worlds to me."

When G'narish heard about the flight from his his two bronzeriders who had participated, he was incensed. He had backed F'lar because it was the right thing to do. But this was going too far. Way too far. Allowing a brown to fly a queen? This was unconscionable.

His dragon informed him that Tiroth and Branth were just landing.

He went out to greet their riders.

Both men's faces were grave. "Have you heard what happened at Benden?" D'ram asked.

G'narish nodded.

"We've got to do something about this," said R'mart. "F'lar is a good man and a good weyrleader, but this is unacceptable. Browns don't fly queens."

"I agree," G'narish replied. "But what can we do? They will say we are being parochial and not keeping up with the times."

"Even in this time, browns don't fly queens," stated D'ram. "Although if I know F'lar this was a fair flight."

"How could it be a fair flight?" R'mart asked. "It must have been rigged somehow."

"Good luck proving that," returned D'ram.

"The fact that a brown flew a queen proves it," said G'narish. "It is impossible for a brown to out fly that many bronzes. All were modern. None were from the Old time. Or so my riders tell me."

"We aren't going to solve anything standing on this ledge," said D'ram. "I suggest we go to Benden and confront F'lar with it directly." The other two nodded and it was decided.

F'lar had just sat down for the noon meal when Mnementh told him Gyarmath, Tiroth, and Branth were entering the bowl. They all said their riders needed to speak with F'lar.

F'lar sighed and had Mnementh direct them to his weyr.

He was waiting for them as they landed and disembarked one at a time as four bronzes couldn't fit on the ledge.

After they were all assembled, F'lar, with a solemn look on his face said, "Welcome to Benden, gentlemen. What emergency brings three weyrleaders to humble Benden.

"I think you know, F'lar," D'ram said. "I told you there were some traditions that could not be tossed away lightly."

"You are speaking of the recent mating flight of gold Wirenth and brown Canth. Is that correct?"

"You know it's correct," muttered G'narish. "Do you think we would be here otherwise?"

"I don't see the problem," F'lar returned brightly. "It is rather unusual for a brown to fly a queen, but he was given no special consideration. He was the best dragon, that's all."

"Don't give me that," R'mart asserted. "That flight had to have been rigged."

F'lar smiled like R'mart had just paid him the highest compliment. "I am gratified by your faith in my abilities, but I really don't know how to make a queen choose one dragon over another. I am pretty sure that my weyrwoman, Lessa doesn't know either."

"So you are saying that a brown out flew eight bronzes? Modern bronzes? Not from the Old time?" D'ram asked. "How is that possible?"

"I really don't know, D'ram. I was rather shocked when I heard about it myself. But I will remind you that Canth is the largest Brown in all of Pern."

G'narish opened his mouth to retort, but D'ram held up his hand. "I really wouldn't mind it except I am concerned about her eggs. The last thing we need is weak dragons."

"Canth is not weak," F'lar asserted. "In fact I would say he is stronger than eight bronzes. Or possibly he's smarter. Either way, we expect Wirenth to have a strong clutch. It was a very long mating flight."

"Quantity is not the issue here," D'ram countered. "Or not much anyway. What concerns me is quality. I don't see how a brown can sire a queen or bronze. If he can sire any at all. What if Wirenth doesn't lay from this flight? Then this brown will have denied Pern part of its next generation of dragons."

"That would be unfortunate, but our animal healer says that a brown or even blue should be as fertile as a bronze, although she does concede that a blue is not likely to sire a bronze or queen. But she says that a brown the size of Canth should be no different than a bronze in the type of eggs he sires."

"And what if she's wrong?," asked G'narish. "I was happy when I heard that the queen Wirenth had come back. Didn't understand it but then no one else does either. But I was happy for the queenrider; no one should lose their dragon. But the fact that she's weyrmate to this brown rider always caused me unease. I know he influenced his dragon, if even unconsciously. I think he should be removed as wing second."

F'lar frowned at that, considering. Then shook his head. "No, I don't see that that's warranted at this time. Maybe if your fears of inferior eggs or no eggs is correct, that might be in order. But that is still punitive. It won't correct the problem or prevent it from happening again. He would rather have Brekke than his position as wing second. If I were to force him to choose, he would resign the position and still be weyrmates with the queenrider."

D'ram was nodding. He understood about loving someone. Fanna was the love of his life, aside from Tiroth, of course. "I would accept him as a transfer and treat him fairly. That would separate them."

F'lar shook his head sadly. "No, that won't work. Then you will have two unhappy pairs. And I'm not sure that he wouldn't refuse transfer."

"You could have Ramoth order Canth to transfer," R'mart suggested.

"That would work," F'lar conceded. "Until Wirenth got wind of it and countermanded the order. Then we have two queens in conflict. And Canth is going to obey Wirenth over Ramoth. They are mates after all."

An uneasy silence descended. After a pregnant pause, G'narish spoke. "So, there is to be no repercussions for this travesty?"

"I suggest we wait and see what happens when Wirenth clutches, if she does," F'lar said. "I see no need to beg problems."

They nodded reluctantly. "But we will be watching, F'lar," admonished D'ram.

Two months later Brekke was busy with her duties as junior weyrwoman when she heard Wirenth call to her. I need you on the hatching grounds, she told her rider.

Brekke dropped what she was doing as her eyes unfocused. Is it time, dear heart?

Yes, was Wirenth's only reply.

Brekke made her way to the hatching ground and found two eggs already on the sands. Wirenth crouched and laid another. Brekke gasped. A queen egg! She was so proud of Wirenth. By the time Wirenth was finished she had laid thirty four eggs.

Others had gathered, F'lar and Lessa among them. F'lar had a smug, victorious smile on his face. 'So a brown can sire a queen,' he thought to himself. 'And thirty four is a good size clutch. Not quite as many as Ramoth, but then she is smaller than Ramoth.'

"Let me through," a voice bellowed. F'lar recognized it as D'ram's.

'So they were true to their word that they would be watching.' F'lar felt a petty stab of righteousness surge through him. He knew it was petty and ruthlessly squashed it.

"G'narish sends his apologies, but he is detained with Weyr business," D'ram began. Then he got a good look at the eggs. His eyes widened as they fixed upon the queen egg. "Seems as though I was mistaken. A brown can sire a queen. And thirty four? A good size clutch. It remains to be seen if the hatchlings are healthy and viable, but I take a queen egg as a good sign."

"Wirenth evinces no worries about her eggs. She says they will all hatch and will prosper," Lessa informed him.

"This is all very well and good and I am glad that no ill effect seemed to come of this," R'mart said. "But the fact remains that browns don't fly queens. It goes against all traditions."

F'lar considered his words carefully and then began to speak. "Do you know why browns haven't flown queens before now? Because they were too small and didn't have the endurance to last for a full queen mating flight. And that was good. As D'ram stated, 'we don't need weak dragons'. Our ancestors whom we believe bred the dragons up from fire lizards didn't need weak dragons either. Only the strongest mate.

"Well, in this case, Canth was the strongest. Therefore the breed can only be strengthened."

"This still sets a bad precedent," countered R'mart.

The man was relentless. "I don't see how," F'lar said. "Allow browns to participate in queen flights. If they are the strongest, they should win the queen. But I doubt it will happen as most browns are too small to be contenders. Canth is the exception, not the rule."

D'ram was nodding. What F'lar said made good sense. R'mart remained looking sullen. D'ram pulled him aside and spoke quietly to him.

"I think this is a case of being behind the times," D'ram told him. "Canth could easily be a bronze considering his size."

"So we just let this pass?" R'mart asked.

"We don't have much choice," D'ram returned. "There isn't a lot we can do to compel F'lar to discipline his man. If the hatchlings aren't viable or are weak or deformed in some way, then we have ground to stand on. If they are healthy, as their dam claims they will be, then we are arguing from a position of outdated tradition and won't be taken seriously. I think we need to make a united show of congratulating Benden Weyr. I will go talk to G'narish myself when we leave."

R'mart nodded, clearly still having reservations, but what his fellow weyrleader said was very correct. It was just hard to change the attitudes and beliefs of a lifetime.

Epilogue

Wirenth's eggs all hatched healthy hatchlings and all impressed. But that is another story.

A/N: I know I said I probably wouldn't be writing anymore in this AU. I changed my mind. I don't know if I will another or not. Just have to see. For all those who think I ended it prematurely, I did not. This story was about the ramifications of a brown flying a queen and how the weyrs interacted with each other. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.