A/N: This is my first Pern fic so please be nice. This just appeared in my head. I grabbed some paper and before I knew it I had a short story. Tell me what you think.
Rating: K+ for occasional language
" " is speech.
' ' is thought.
Italicized is dragon speech.
Mummy, Can I Have a Dragon for Christmas?
The little girl sits in her rocking chair reading. She is utterly entrapped in the world in front of her. Dragons and Thread, fighting and love, risk and adventure, the little girl lives in the world of Anne McCaffrey. The planet Pern is her home, in her mind at least. Every year she asks her mother, "Mummy, can I have a dragon for Christmas?"
The mother always replies, "What dragon would you like?"
"A queen, mummy, but any will be good. All dragons are amazing. I want a dragon that will be my best friend. I want to ride her every afternoon. She'll fly me to school every morning and protect me at night."
"All right, sweetie. I'll see what I can do."
The little girl never gets her dragon.
The little girl is no longer so little. She is a teenager. With being a teenager, she includes boys, makeup, and parties to her routine. Visions of dragons disappear. Sometimes she still dreams of flying a beautiful gold or a sprightly green, but mostly now the teenager dreams of boys. Now, every year around Christmas she asks for I-pods, cell phones, and lap tops. The teenager's name is Lynda.
&&&
"Mom! I'm going out with the girls okay?" Lynda yelled across the house. She put her finishing touches on her outfit. The scarlet camie worked well with the gold sequin detail. It was longer than a normal shirt and went smoothly over her round bottom. She wore darkwash denim jeans and black high-heeled boots. She threw on red lipstick and black eyeliner that worked well with her creamy complexion and black hair. Brown eyes looked back at her in the mirror as she put a brush through her curly hair. She raced downstairs and was out the door just as her mother answered, "Fine."
Her friends were waiting for her in the car. Jeremy was driving the blue Honda. The car started roaring the moment she closed the door. "So where are we going?" she asked.
"Just to the mall," Kaylee answered. Lynda grinned. Kaylee was a bit too slutty for Lynda's taste but she knew the best places to shop. She was really good at flirting with the sales clerks and always got them a discount. After a week of final exams, Lynda was more then ready to drown her woes in shopping.
Quaker Bridge Mall stood in front of them in all its glory. Three floors, a movie theatre, four restaurants, and over 200 stores, it was the best mall in a 50 mile radius. It also happened to be ten minutes away from Lynda's house. The six teenagers (Lynda, Kaylee, Jeremy, Tyler, Erica, and Bianca) walked into their second home.
It was then when it happened. At first she thought she had just stood up too quickly, but as the feeling of lightheadedness continued (now accompanied with a feeling of weightlessness) she realized that something was not right. 'What the hell?' she thought.
Then, just as soon as it had started, everything stopped. The first thing Lynda became aware of was how hot her feet were. Then her sight returned. She was standing in an arena of some sort. It was full of whit sand that emitted heat. She took a second look and realized that the sand was covered with huge, mottled eggs. The smallest egg reached her waist; the shells were moving, a rippling movement rustling the surface of each egg. Surrounding most of the eggs were clusters of young men, teenagers really. All looked excited but frightened. To one side, on a raised portion of the floor, was a golden egg, larger by half against the others. Six girls, ranging ages thirteen to twenty, surrounded the egg. They all waited anxiously.
'Oh my God!' she thought. 'I know this place! But… it can't be. The hatching chamber isn't real. Thos are eggs, holy crap!' Her mind went blank as one of the eggs broke suddenly, spaying several of the boys with shell. A bronze baby dragon wobbled unsteadily forth. The oversized head made the fledgling unbalanced and it grabbed at the first thing it could reach. That, unfortunately, happened to be one of the boys; he fell to the ground as the dragon's claws ripped at his leg. The bronze, realizing what it had done, immediately stopped and crowned, pushing at the fallen boy.
"It's okay," she heard the boy say weakly. "It doesn't hurt too much." He gave the dragon a pat and shouted to the audience Lynda had just noticed, "He says his name is Crioth!"
Lynda just stood in awe. A dragon was in front of her. It was living, breathing, and there for all to see. 'He's so beautiful,' she thought. She continued to stare as dragon after dragon hatched and found their life-partner. Meanwhile, several people in the crowd had noticed that there was someone on the hatching grounds that should not be there. The Weyrleaders, Lessa and F'lar, kept their eyes on the hatching but kept the strange girl in their view.
Lynda heard cracking behind her and the girls screamed. She watched as the golden egg crumbled and a wedge shaped head poked out. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her entire life. The young queen extracted herself fully from her confining egg and lurched forward, creeling. The golden animal, crying piteously, spun around trying to find someone. Lynda's heart broke at the poor thing's helplessness. Suddenly the dragonet turned fully around and headed directly towards her.
'No! Go away!' she thought at the dragon. 'Go pick one of them!' But it was no use. The dragon reached her and as soon as she looked into Lynda's eyes she forgot anything else. A feeling of absolute joy exploded within Lynda. She was connected, heart, soul, and thought to this creature in front of her.
Hello, said a voice inside Lynda's head, distinctly unlike her own. My name is Hannarath. I'm very hungry.
"Oh, I'll get you food," she said. 'Wait, I have to be kidding? I can't feed her! I'll get attached; I'll want her to be mine!'
But I am yours, Hannarath replied. She nudged Lynda's hand to show her that she was still waiting for food. You could at least scratch my eye ridge. Lynda unconsciously scratched it and the dragon gave a sigh of relief.
A young drudge came up to Lynda with a bucket full of meat. Behind the drudge were two people whom she recognized immediately. "Oh my God, Lessa and F'lar," she nearly screamed. 'I really must be dreaming.'
I am not a dream! Hannarath said reproachfully. She was busy eating out of the drudge's hand. Lynda was too stunned to act. And why do you have such a strange accent? She added as an afterthought, her mouth full of carcass.
"Congratulations stranger," Lessa said at last. "It takes a strong person to take a queen, especially one that was not searched."
Lynda blushed under the Weyrwoman's glare. "Well, actually M'am, I was here by accident. I really don't know how I got here." 'Does she know what M'am means?'
"Then why were you out on the sands?" F'lar said aggressively. "You now have a dragon to take care of, a responsibility. Were you aware of this?"
"Look I…" she was near tears. "I wasn't here half an hour ago. I was with my friends, and then I was here. I mean, I was in New Jersey! I have no idea how I got here! I…" Both were looking at her as though she were speaking a foreign language, which, in retrospect, she was. "Look, I may not have meant to be here, but Hannarath chose me. She wants me, and now I'm part of her. I can't live without her. I tried to make her go away at first but she wouldn't listen. I can't help it!" She knew she was crying now and probably looked ridiculous, but she couldn't help it.
Don't cry Hannarath stopped her gorging to nuzzle Lynda. I love you, please don't cry. I don't want you to leave me. You can't.
Lessa, hearing this, smiled. "As you can see, hatchlings get very attached. An impression is for life."
"I know. I'm ready to stay her, to learn. I want to be a dragonrider. I've always loved dragons and I can't imagine a world without them, especially this one. Now I have a chance to actually live with a queen, to ride a dragon. I want to fly; I want to fight Thread. Please, teach me. Allow me a home at Benden."
This was the answer the Weyrleaders had been hoping for. "Of course," Lessa said. "We can always use another queen. You have an obvious love for dragons; most people just want the glory of being a dragonrider." She smiled as Lynda knelt down to hug Hannarath.
"You are mine!" she whispered fiercely in to the golden ear of her beloved.
I am yours, she replied just as fiercely.
That's when it happened again. She became lightheaded and felt herself lose the feeling of gravity. 'No!" she thought desperately. 'I can't leave Hannarath!'
"Lynda, Lynda!" a distant voice called from above. She slowly opened her eyes into the glaring sunlight. Kaylee, Bianca, and Jeremy were looking at her. She was aware of being flat on her back on the ground at the entrance to the mall. Passerbies were giving her weird looks but left her alone.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You passed out, girl," Erica said helping her to sit up. "One second you're fine, the next you're on the floor. It was scary."
"How long was I out?"
"Maybe a minute," Tyler answered. "It was probably the heat."
"Oh." 'None of it was real. I didn't go to Pern, Hannarath isn't real. How could I have imagined it all? That's so unfair!'
"Are you okay? You look like you're about to cry?"
"I'm- I'm fine." She got up and brushed herself off. "Lets- let's go spend some money."
&&&
The teenager forever feels the pain of her loss. She loves Pern more than ever. She is often found sitting in her rocking chair, reading a dragonrider story. She longs to be with Hannarath. She longs to go back and fly, fly far away and never return. She longs to be a queen. The teenager throws out her worthless makeup and gives up boys for a while. She wants nothing to do with the cursed planet called Earth. That holiday season she asks,
"Mummy, can I have a dragon for Christmas?"
A/N: So, am I any good? Or should dragons be left to Anne? I really did want a dragon for my birthday, at least a fire lizard. Who am I kidding, I still do! I'll give you a cookie if you review. Look, the button's right over there.
Ratti