A/N: Thank you very much to those who left reviews on my introduction, I hope the story will not disappoint!

Through the wide screen of the ancient spaceship, all of Pern seemed very small indeed. He could trace the curvature of the planet with his finger, and pick out the glimmering lights of settlements where hundreds of thousands carried out their lives. And in front of it all, almost perfectly centred in the viewscreen, was the ship that would soon be carrying hundreds more.

From this distance, it looked like a toy, with tiny little dragons flying in slow motion around a central mass of metal. Three of the five rings were installed, and they were working on the fourth now. They turned lazily around the main shaft, where the engines and central controls were housed. Tomorrow they'd be betweening in the last ring, the huge glass and stone construct that would play home to a Weyr amongst the stars.

His Weyr. Captain-Weyrleader J'vaine on Bronze Kirth. He wasn't sure it had much of a ring to it.

"All of Pern you could be hiding in, m'boy, and you're still always in the first place I look." J'vaine jumped for a second at the unexpected visitor, but he recognized the voice that had spoken immediately. Gruff and sea-weathered, yet with that sense of presence that came with Lord and Harpercraft training both. He didn't need to turn to see the face of the man behind him, dark greying hair would still frame its harsh lines, silver-blue eyes, and rare but fiercely genuine grins.

"Guess I'm not going to win any points for originality." A trace of bitterness there that J'vaine hadn't meant to let slip, not in front of A'ten.

"Aye." The other rider was silent for a moment, "but, then, they didn't pick ya to be unpredictable."

"They didn't pick me at all."

"Now, that's not bein' terribly fair, J'vaine-"

"I… I appreciate the kind words, A'ten, you know I do. But I was a compromise candidate, they haven't exactly made much effort to hide that I was nobody's first choice." He turned himself away from the monitor, only to find A'ten's eyes staring straight at him from behind small silver-rimmed glasses at the door to the Yokohama's bridge. "H'tan was a first choice, or V'cerra. Or one of the Technicians, maybe. I'm here because I'm too young to have offended anyone yet."

"Ah, yes, the only quality the Lords and Masters have chosen to use in selecting leadership over their very, very expensive project: the ability not to piss them off." A'ten was mocking him now, but J'vaine knew he'd been acting the brat first.

"I'm sorry, I should be happy. I am, really, I'm flattered to be picked-"

"-But you're still up here, sulking, with half the planet waiting to congratulate you."

"I'm not sulking." J'vaine was thirty one turns old, and somehow A'ten still knew how to make him sound like an apprentice again. "I just… I needed somewhere alone for awhile."

"And you don't have anything you should be doing groundside?"

"Not really." He turned back to the viewscreen. "Most of them don't want me in charge until I absolutely have to be, they aren't exactly tripping over themselves to get me involved before launch."

"Really now" said A'ten. The silence hung in the air between them for a moment as long and cold as the jump between. "And since when, Captain, has that ever stopped you? They gave you a title, but that's all you're going to get for free. If you want the ship that comes with it you've got some work to do. There are people who don't want you here, fine. Throw 'em between, show the rest why you're here."

Weyrship One hovered just outside, rotating slowly in space as the dragons did their work. Tomorrow was Launch Day, and it would be his to command.

He is quite right, ridermine.That deep familiar voice, the mirror to his own, piped up in J'vaine's mind. And you can stop feeling so sorry for yourself because I am here, and I will help you command. And you can please tell this blue that he should not be lying down because he is taking up all the space down here. J'vaine smiled, it was hard not to be a little enheartened by his dragon's bold confidence.

Alright, Kirth, we're just leaving anyways. Leave Forsith alone, though, I think he's earned a bit of a lie-down.

Good, this space is far too small for us.

"Thank you, old friend. I mean it." A'ten was right, of course, as always. Having his old mentor use his new title sounded strange to the bronzerider's ears, though. "You know, you don't have to call me Captain."

"Oh?" A'ten grinned, "I think you'd better be checking your crew rosters again there, Captain-Weyrleader sir. Would do to keep track of who you've got under your command. I'll be seeing you soon, m'boy, and you'd best be getting yourself ready for it."