Dragon Healer
by Starsinger
There is no tradition in the Pern books of a Healer tradition for Dragons as there are for Humans, except when Moreta mentioned where she learned her own techniques. In the Falling Waters RPG my character was one of two apprentices in that Weyr. I'm not going to immediately point out which one is the character, let's see if you can pick them out. No, don't own them, McCaffrey family does.
The humming alerted Daris to the imminent hatching. She smiled as she jumped. She barely heard the Weyrleader, and her weyrmate, J'nat, tell her, "It's not even Stirath's clutch." The statement ended with a chuckle. She didn't care, she loved a hatching.
Daris ran into Tyga and her mate, B'reez. She grinned at the weyrwoman whose queen had clutched the eggs as they hurried toward the Hatching Grounds. Guests filed onto the Grounds as Weyrfolk followed them, or went on their own errands of their own. Falling Waters Weyr had only two Queens, and the presence of a queen egg on the hatching grounds meant that the female candidates had more than greens, or the occasional stray blue to impress.
Daris frowned as she watched J'lart and Segurd usher the dragon and human healer apprentices onto the grounds. Daris frowned, she'd hoped two of them, Jarra and Reis, had agreed to stand for the queen egg. Jarra, in particular, had been obstinate on the issue. She flatly refused, saying her blue flit, Klumsy, was more than enough. For some reason, Reis couldn't stop laughing every time somebody suggested she stand on the grounds. Klumsy sat on a ledge near her own queen as the Dragon's welcoming hum filled the hatching grounds.
Tyga joined her queen behind the queen egg. Massith's eyes whirled with excitement and anticipation. The egg in front of her twitched occasionally. The queen appeared to be making up her royal mind on whether or not to emerge. It was as if the queen's battle of one turn ago made her reluctant to join the Weyr. Daris closed her eyes, not wanting to remember leaving on Stirath when Cleoth turned bright gold, only to return to find Cleoth dead, Ardith severely, and mortally injured. Massith had been just young enough not to have been affected by the emotions of the queen's flight.
Finally, Daris watched as the young blue rider, M'sith, whose arrival at Falling Waters Hold had heralded one of the healer apprentice's arrival at the Weyr. She looked down at the embroidery on the gown she wore. Jarra had a fine hand indeed.
One of the larger eggs in front started to rock in earnest. The guests hurried to their places in the tiers as the Candidates hurried into their places. The girls stood in the general area of the queen egg so she could find her rider quickly, but not have the other colors have to climb up onto the rise to make their choice known. Daris heard Tyga sigh as the first egg finally split open and a bronze head pushed its way through and made a bee-line for a small boy at the back of the first group. It was a good sign that the hatchling knew who he wanted and that it was a bronze.
As if it was a signal, the rest of clutch began to break their shells and stagger out onto the sands. Three of the six girls were selected by greens fairly quickly before the queen broke her shell. This apparently made the little gold anxious as the egg started to rock back and forth quickly before splitting down the middle, another good sign. She stepped forward, looking around, queen of all she surveyed. Then she turned her attention to those who stood awaiting her judgment. She stepped out and proceeded to scrutinize the girl's nearest her, and then moved on. She made the spectators a little anxious as she appeared to look closely at some of the boys as well.
The creeling of a little green attracted her attention as the dainty creature made a dash for where the healer's sat in the spectator stands. To everyone's astonishment, the little queen soon followed…
This is obviously not all to this story. Lots of questions that will be answered as the story goes. It will be a flashback which will culminate back in this scene, along with the answer to the questions of whom will impress the queen and green. Please, as this goes along, don't be afraid to tell me if this starts sounding like a Mary Sue. If it does, please give me ideas on how to correct it. This is my first Pern fanfic, so please review, and let me know what you think.