Disclaimer: Pern belongs to Anne McCaffery, the great dragon lady. Alec belongs to me and generally he hangs out at the PPC but I felt like writing a story about his younger days and this is the result.

J.W. Cart

This never happened.

The world had two moons. It was, Alec decided, the most fascinating thing that he had ever seen. Standing on a sandy white beach he stared up at the darkening sky he watched the stars come out. Behind him was a lush jungle filled with huge strange trees and stranger noises. Walking to the water's edge he let the ocean wash over his boots as he watched the moons reflect and waver on the water. The stars were so different than the ones he was used to back home. It was one of the things, and the moons, that proved to him that he was standing here on a different world. That he had brought himself here on his own power made it even more amazing. The fact that he had this power was also amazing. He didn't know where it came from or how he got it, just that he felt like he could do anything.

He had found this world by accident, but he was glad that he did. So far there didn't seem to be any humans living on it, at least he hadn't seen anyone. He just heard creatures in the jungle. Wary of the creatures in there he hadn't ventured far into the dark shadowed areas and had stuck to the coast. It didn't bother him too much because he had always found the ocean absolutely fascinating. He hadn't even seen one until about a year ago. The huge body of water seemed to draw him in. Curious to see how the water felt, Alec walked a little ways back up the beach and took off his boots.

The sand gave way under his feet, causing him to stumble a few times, until he reached the firmer sand that was soaked with water. The water rushed over his feet, warm and caressing, catching at his ankles teasingly trying to pull him in deeper. He let it pull at his feet, sand washing in to cover up his feet. Pulling one foot up, the sand sucked at it like a wanton child. Backing up he turned and went to his boots.

It was late and he was hungry. He didn't have any food on him however. He wasn't expecting to be transported accidentally to another world. He didn't have any supplies on him at all. At least he wouldn't freeze. He could create a fire easily enough, even if it wasn't warm. Water wasn't a problem for him either. He just had to hope that he left this world before he starved, or found something that was safe to eat. Not seeing either food or a way off the world, Alec decided that perhaps something would come up in the morning. Shrugging off his jacket, he folded it carefully and made a pillow with it. He then curled up in the sand and fell into an uneasy sleep.

The sun rose up in the sky, waking Alec up with its brightness. Blinking to get the sand out of his eyes he looked around, trying to figure out where he was. It came crashing back to him, finding himself on some strange world with two moons. And then his stomach growled in protest. Sitting up, he looked around hopefully for something that might resemble food, but nothing deemed to show itself. Sighing, he pulled his boots on realizing that he was actually going to have to find some food.

Randomly, he chose a direction to walk in; figuring that one way was as good as another. He kept near the ocean, still not trusting the jungle. Trudging down a sand dune a half an hour later, it looked like Alec was in for some luck. There in the valley of the dune was a nest of eggs. Carefully he made his way to the nest, keeping an eye out for any parent that might be watching it.

Not being attacked, he looked at the bounty of eggs that he had found. There had to be about twenty of them, from what he could see. Some were still buried deep in the sand. The biggest was the size of his fist, the smallest, perhaps three-fourths the size of his fist. Gingerly touching one, he found that they were warm and hard.

"Wonder if they'll make a good omelet?" he mused out loud to himself. No one appeared to answer the question. No one appeared to dissuade him that eating one of the eggs would be a bad idea either. So he carefully picked up one of the eggs. He didn't want to take too many, not knowing if they were eatable or how soon they were to hatching.

The walk back up the dune was steep and he need both hands free to keep from tumbling back down, so he slipped the egg very carefully into his shirt and prayed that it didn't break. Sinking and slipping he managed to get to the top of the sand dune. From the top he saw the most wondrous creature. It was a dragon the color of the ocean laying out on the sand. Its eyes were closed and it seemed to be sleeping. Near it was a human, male without his shirt on also laying stretched out in the sand. Awe struck he stood there starring. Apparently his staring caught the notice of the dragon, for it opened its eyes and stared up at him, blinking. The eyes were multifaceted and whirling the most amazing swirling of green and blue. The man sat up almost right after the dragon looked at Alec and peered in his direction. He then waved, beckoning Alec towards him.

Uncertain on what to do, but figuring that the human and the dragon hopefully didn't mean him any harm and hoping that they had food, he made his way carefully down the slope of sand.

"Where did you come from boy?" the man asked. "I thought this stretch of beach was empty."

"I ah…" Alec stammered, not knowing exactly how to explain that he just showed up on the beach, "I ah don't know," he admitted. The blue dragon bent its head down and sniffed at him. Involuntarily Alec took a step back.

The man laughed, "Don't worry boy, Brenith isn't going to hurt you. He's just inspecting you."

Alec let the dragon sniff him and cautiously reached up to touch the muzzle. The dragon hummed. "He's beautiful."

"He says thank you, though he prefers handsome," the man said. Alec smiled. "I'm T'zair." He held out his hand to Alec. Alec took it.

"Alec," he answered, surprised at the rough feeling hands.

"That's an unusual name. Is it short for anything?" T'zair said. Alec could have said the same for the bluerider's name, but obviously he was in the minority.

"Alexander."

"A very unusual name."

Alec shrugged, "It's the only one I have," he said as his stomach rumbled. The bluerider smiled at this.

"I take it you haven't eaten in a while?"

"No, but I found this," and he pulled out the egg. T'zair's eyes widened and it looked like he was about to snatch the egg from Alec's hand.

"That's no snake egg boy. That's a fire lizard egg. I wouldn't eat that… especially since it looks like it's hatching."

This time Alec's eyes widened, "Hatching?" he repeated and stared at the egg. Cracks had started to form on the shell. "I… what…" T'zair shoved Alec down on the sand.

"Stay calm boy, I have some food you can feed it when it hatches. Just stay calm and think welcoming thoughts." T'zair said going to the other side of the dragon. The blue started to hum, his eyes whirling in excitement. Holding the egg in his cupped hands, he watched as the cracks go from tiny little lines to large fractures joining each other and the creature inside tried to get out.

Suddenly the top of the egg gave way as the fire lizard stuck its head out, creeling. Alec could feel its hunger pouring through him and then T'zair stuffed something into his hand.

"Here, give him this," the rider said in an urgent whisper. Automatically Alec offered whatever it was to the tiny creature. It was snatched out from his fingers before he could even see what it was. The brown, he felt, liked it and wanted more. More was stuffed into his hand, which was promptly offered and eaten. Alec didn't know how long this went on for, but as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The brown gave a hiccup and with a stretch of his wings fell asleep on Alec's arm. Exhausted Alec leaned back, into the blue rider. "Not bad boy." T'zair said patting him on the back.

"Thank you… I think."

"I've got supplies to take care of your new friend back at the Weyr. And we could see about figuring out where you're from and things like that."

"Um, sure." Slowly he stood up, wondering what the Weyr was. T'zair walked him over to Brenith and helped him up onto the dragon's neck. When they were both strapped in, T'zair in back of him the blue leaped up into the air with a push of his powerful back legs.

Up in the air, Alec could see the ocean and the jungle that seemed to spread out in either direction. The air was colder up here and he shivered, holding the brown close to him. The bluerider put his arms around him, which helped, some, "Hold your breath for three counts and don't be afraid. I'm right here."

Alec started to ask what was he talking about when all of a sudden his world turned to ice and darkness. A scream of panic started to well up inside of him. He couldn't feel anything. Not the dragon, the man behind him or the elements, not even a wind or ice that could be causing the cold. It was as if he didn't exist. That nothing exist. And then it was over. He could feel the world again. He could feel the man around him, the dragon underneath him, the heat of the sun, the burn of the air. He felt alive again.

Looking around he realized that they weren't where they were. "Not bad for your first trip between was it?"

Alec could only nod shakily, not knowing how to respond to that. He had died… he could have sworn he had died. How else to explain not existing, not being able to feel the world around him? And T'zair was acting like it happened all the time. He let out a shudder and checked on the tiny brown on his arm. It was still asleep, not appearing to have moved at all.

Below them were more dragons, bronze, blue, green, brown and gold. The greens were the most numerous; there were only two golds. The area was in a volcano bowl with caves of inside of the bowl wall created for the dragons to go in. The blue winged his way to the bowl floor landing near a large cavern that seemed to go underground. Food smells were coming out of it, making Alec's stomach rumble even more. T'zair unbuckled them both and helped him down.

Leading Alec into the lower cavern, he called out for someone. A kind faced woman came up to them, rubbing her hands in a towel. "T'zair, I don't need you screaming for me at the top of your lungs."

"I'm sorry headwoman," he said, though he didn't look at all sorry, "I want you to meet Alec. I found him lost on the beaches. He doesn't remember where he came from but Branith likes him." There seemed to be something to the way T'zair said that his dragon liked Alec that meant more than just in a friendly way. The woman looked him over with critical eyes.

"How old are you?"

Wondering what that had to do with any thing, Alec answered, "Just turned nineteen."

"Just young enough," The woman said, but for what she didn't say. She bit her lip and looked around with a sigh. "Unfortunately we're overloaded with candidates, the hatching so soon. I don't know where to put you."

T'zair smiled and draped an arm around Alec's shoulder, "He could stay with me." The headwoman shook her finger at him.

"You are not taking him up to your weyr where he'll be under your tender mercies T'zair. He's staying here with the rest of the candidates."

The blue rider pouted teasingly.

"You can, since you seem to be so invested in the lad, take him down to the healer, see about his memory."

T'zair bowed, "Yes headwoman," he said and taking Alec by the elbow, steered him away from the food.

The healer finished his examination of Alec relatively quickly. He was a healthy individual with only a little bit of a sunburn from being out in the sun all day yesterday. Though Alec was surprised that the healer didn't mention anything about his ears. They were quite noticeable, being large and pointed. He supposed that they had others here with pointed ears, but he hadn't seen any. And then there was the fact that he understood what they were speaking. He was fairly certain they weren't speaking common and yet he understood what they were saying, barring a few words here and there, like Weyr.

As he was let out of the healer's office by T'ziar, after being told to come back if he had any headaches or anything like that, he caught a glance of himself in a mirror. His ears weren't pointed. He paused with a gasp, reaching up to finger one of the ears. It was rounded. It wasn't an illusion. His ears, for the first time in his life, were human looking. He would have gapped longer but T'zair pulled him along saying that the Headwoman would have his hide if he didn't return with Alec soon.

A few men that they past on the way gave winks to T'zair who cheerfully told them to go between, after all he wasn't going to play with a candidate. His words, "play with a candidate" sent a shiver down Alec's spine and suddenly T'zair didn't seem so nice any more. Thoughts of the man he had left behind, the man who said that he loved him and yet seemed to enjoy abusing him in bed welled up. His discomfort wasn't noticed and he was led back into the main cavern and sat down as the rider went to look for the headwoman.

Near by he could smell the food, and hunger won out as he got up and softly made his way to a hearth with a pot of something on it. A girl about his age was standing there ladling stew into a bowl. She had curly brown hair on a round face with freckles. On her shoulder was a blue fire lizard that chirruped at his approach.

"Oh hello, would you like some?" she asked holding out the bowl to Alec. A bit startled Alec took the bowl, mumbling a thank you. She smiled at him, "I haven't seen you here before, are you new?"

Taking a bite of the stew to give him time to think, he nodded. "T'zair brought me here," he said.

"So he Searched you, eh? His blue is very good at finding candidates that Impress."

Alec nodded as if he knew what she was talking about, spooning more of the stew into his mouth.

"This will be my first time standing too. I'm very excited about it. They say the dragons will hatch within the seven-day," the girl said and began to prattle on about things that Alec had no idea about. Fortunately the girl seemed to be more interested in talking than having a conversation, so Alec let her talk as he ate filling away what she said to analyze later. Suddenly she stopped, "Here I am prattling on and I don't even know your name. I'm Shahra and this is Yurk."

"I'm Alec and …" he looked down at the tiny brown that was still sleeping in the crook of his arm, not realizing that he needed a name, "And… I don't have a name for him yet."

"When did he hatch?"

"Earlier today."

Shahra gave a soft aw at this revelation as T'zair came up to them, clapping a hand on Alec's shoulder.

"There you are boy, come on you've got things to do, places to see and people to meet," the blue rider said, "So say good bye to your
lovely lady here and we'll be off."

Three days had past since Alec had been brought to the Weyr. He learned a lot of things about the people and their dragons here. He had some doubts about what Thread was. It was a common subject spoken with hatred and fear in the same voice. The dragons apparently fought it by chewing "firestone" (which he spent a good half a day putting into sacks) and breathing fire. He had been fitted out with a white candidate's tunic and shown the eggs, the golden queen he could feel staring at all of them. From the eggs he could sense, with his own limited empathy, the dragons inside prodding and poking the minds of the candidates as they passed by stroking and petting the eggs. It had startled him greatly. He had also decided upon a name for the brown fire-lizard, Trey. He had run into Shahara a few more times as well as T'zair.

On the fourth day the dragon eggs hatched. It was just after lunch when it happened. Alec could feel it in his mind, the anticipation from the dragons hatched and yet to be hatched. The humming started as he was washing dishes in the kitchens. Everything was stopped as everyone listened to it. Then the headwoman came running in, shooing all the candidates to their sleeping rooms to change. Alec almost didn't, but curiosity overwhelmed him and he shrugged out of his clothes and pulled on the white candidate's robe. With the other he was led out into the hot sands, bare feet almost burning. Discreetly he used his magic to cool the sand that he was standing on, making it tolerable to stand as he watched the eggs rocking.

The humming of dragons soon reached a fevered pitch and an egg cracked open. A blue dragon fell out and shaking his self looked around as it got to his feet. Alec could sense it in his mind, examining him before turning away. He stopped a few boys down from Alec and the boy gave out a cry of delight, kneeling down to pet and stroke the hatchling calling out his name. That seemed to be the signal as the other eggs started to hatch. Each time it seemed as if they looked into him, and each time it seemed as if he was found wanting. It started to bother Alec, making him wonder what was wrong with him. What was it that they were looking for and why didn't he have it?

Then he saw a delicate green, the color of new leaves, marching down the line of boys and girls. Her eyes riveted on him and just like the others he could feel her inspecting her. Then he heard her say, I am Ferlenddraigiath. You are mine and I am hungry.

Alec's face went slack as he heard her voice in his mind, as he felt her join into him, twine herself into his soul demanding and offering complete and total surrender, total comfort. "Yes," he said in a whisper, kneeling down to touch her, feel her soft skin. For the first time in a long while, everything felt right.

Aww... wasn't that sweet? So, what's next? First thread fall and weyrling training.