The pale light of Pern's two moons, Belior and Timor, cast a ghostly, sliver glow over the fertile landscape of a prosperous hold beholden to Ruatha Hold, like two ghostly ships on a cloudy sea. The dying light of a feeble glow shone out an open window on the second floor of large hold. A young man, 17 turns, was hunched over a desk working diligently by the failing light of the nearly spent glow. He was putting the finishing touches on a sketch of another young man. His subject was his friend, and the sketch showed him as he had found him late that afternoon, shirtless, lying in a field, pants unbuttoned and pulled low, tanning in the warm light of Rukbat, the sun's glow.
Irritably he brushed his bangs out of his face with an errant gesture of his hand, to admire the sketch. He added a little more detail to the darkened region of the young man's open pants, and finally, pleased with the shading and the detail stood and moved quietly across the room to a trunk at the foot of his bed. The heavy wood creaked in protest as he opened it and he paused, wincing as he listened to the quiet of the hold around him. He dug down through the fabric inside until he reached a heavy, wool blanket on the bottom and carefully pulled out a worn leather satchel. Placing it on his bed, he carefully untied the cover and flipped it back sliding the new sketch into his collection. He thumbed through them for a few minutes, admiring his own work and how his talent had progressed over the years. The sketches were filled with life in the hold; landscapes, flora and fauna, and the people of the hold involved in various domestic chores and duties. Most of them featured young men in various stages of undress. With the utmost care, he hid the portfolio back under the blanket at the bottom of the trunk, safe from prying eyes. Closing the trunk, he turned and faced the window. The Red Star winked malevolently at him in the night sky, promising more Thread.
From his vantage point he imagined he could see the whole of Storm Hold; from the mountain pass, across the forests and fertile plains, all the way to the river glittering in the distance that flowed towards Fort Hold and the sea.
Hayden looked down into the forecourt and smiled as he saw two of the hold's watchwhers patrolling. Their photosensitive eyes were perfectly suited for the night. Their ability to see infra-red heat signatures must have been known when the animals were developed when Pern was first colonized, but the knowledge had been lost. Avias had restored that knowledge to the world and since then the cousins of the dragons had enjoyed an elevated status within the holds of Pern. The watchwhers also made excellent deterrents for Pern's natural predators that preyed on the livestock the holders made their livelihood with. He shuddered for a moment, glad the Northern Continent wasn't plagued with the large felines the Southern Continent was. Nor the aggressive predatory cats that were on the Western Continent.
Storm Hold was a wealthy, large hold. The main hold where Hayden and his family lived was built entirely from stone as a way to protect the living area from Thread, the parasite that fell onto Pern. Pulled from farther out in space from the Oort Cloud by the widely erratic orbit of Pern's spatial neighbor the Red Star, it fell on Pern like a voracious rain whenever the Red Star wandered too close to Pern, feeding on all organic matter. Only fire, water, stone, and metal were impervious to the ravages of the mindless organism.
Several other families stayed in the stone hold with them. His family's passion lay in breeding poultry; chickens, ducks, geese, and the indigenous wherries. Since Avias' discovery his father had often lamented at the loss of turkeys, another domesticated bird brought from Earth that didn't hatch when the original colony landed. The numbers in Storm Hold's flocks were only rivaled by those of the main Beasthold in Keroon.
Other families were spread across the hold in cotholds and cottages of their own where runner, herd, and milchbeasts were raised. Avias had told them the proper names for the livestock were horses, sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle. But the going was slow, getting the new nomenclature to catch on. The breeders had embraced the change quickly, but the majority of the public, especially the older generation continued to call them by the age old names Pernese had given them. One of the smaller families even specialized in breeding canines, felines, and other exotics destined for the wealthy families of the Lord Holders. They'd even begun selling the eggs of the small and delightful fire-lizards and were working on offering watchwher eggs as well.
Of course Storm Hold was also home to several wherhandlers who offered the protective services of their whers to protect the flocks and herds of the hold from nighttime predators. In exchange for their duties, the hold gave them a place to live as well as provisions and payment.
His eyes followed the road, glowing in the light of the two moons like a pale purple ribbon, looping across the silver grasslands, running away from the hold, fading into the distance. Looking back to the courtyard he was surprised and pleased to see the two watchwhers' heads turned towards him. He waved and sent them loving thoughts before turning away from the window and towards his bed. He stopped to peer at himself in the darkened looking glass. His green eyes, flecked with gold studied his toned, youthful body as he undressed. He was nearly six feet tall, built well, with a lightly muscled body from his work outdoors in the breeding pens. His medium brown hair was a little on the shaggy side, filled with natural highlights from being in the sun so much. Not entirely displeased with his reflection he sighed and covered the glow, climbing into bed as the room was plunged into darkness. H pulled the bedfurs up around him and closed his eyes, falling asleep within minutes.
Sullansk and Gransk, the two watchwhers in the courtyard watched the window for a few moments and when the boys thoughts faded into sleep they continued on their rounds, patrolling the hold and the fields around it until dawn's first glimmer would send them back to their dark lairs to sleep and wait for the dark of night to return.