The Tanners are my favourite characters to write. There's no doubt about it. Not that this chapter is in either of their POVs, of course!

Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter too ^.^

Chapter Four: A Hatching's Shadow

In that turn that followed Tennar's founding, the weyrfolk somehow clung to the feeble life that they lived. The rest of Pern refused to acknowledge them, and so, without any tithes, Tennar was forced to try and survive on its own. Still, there wasn't a single man or woman inside Tennar's tunnels who didn't want to be there; and so, everyone played their part to create a Weyr that was held together by nothing but the bonds of those living inside it. It didn't matter if Pern was against them; a Weyr made of such bonds was not one so easily broken.

So, despite what the other Weyrs liked to think, everyone in Tennar was content with their lives and slowly they gained more residents.

Almost exactly a turn after its creation, the weyrfolk finally caught their first glimpse of Tennar's new generation. Jillen's Gosforth had Risen, caught by H'onn's Vissath, and there were at last eggs warming on the Sands. A small clutch, but a clutch nevertheless.

Pern denied Tennar the right to Search in any other Weyrs or Holds, and so all the Weyr could do was hope that Candidates would transfer of their own will. Of course, there were eligible candidates inside the Weyr itself.

Though, when Gosforth herself ordered Lucina to Stand for her eggs, not many could believe it.

The girl sat on the fence to the feeding grounds, a frown creased into her forehead as she chewed at her lip. Candidate life still wasn't something she felt accustomed to, despite having followed the schedule for a few sevendays now. It was clear from the boys and few girls who shared her lesson that they weren't too sure about her Standing. Shards, even the Candidatemaster B'ree seemed weary of her.

Girls like her just weren't meant to be dragon riders.

"Lucina!"

The familiar sing-song voice of her brother snapped Lucina from her silent moping. Turning around to see I'sa skipping towards her with his brown rider friend, she couldn't help but smile. Not because his presence made her forget about her worries, but because the idea of worrying him sickened her.

"Do me a favour and get off there, will you?" I'sa asked, his smile slightly strained as he wrapped his hand around her thin arm.

"I'm fine, I'sa," Lucina sighed, though she clambered down anyway. "I'm not going to shatter into pieces if I fall off a fence."

"Yeah, because you totally didn't do just that when you were four, or anything," I'sa remarked with a roll of his eyes – though he did look notably more relaxed.

Lucina had always been a small child: short and thin, and the epitome of 'fragile'. She certainly didn't look like a girl of seventeen turns with her tiny body. I'sa had spent their whole childhood trying to take care of her, wrapping her up in blankets to keep her safe.

And now she was Standing for Candidacy.

"The Hatching's got to be soon," A'lus stated with a warm smile as if he had read her worried thoughts.

"Tennar's first one, huh?" I'sa grinned, leaning back against the fence beside his sister. "And there're planning to start building a Hold on the other side of the river for us. Looks like Tennar's finally standing upright."

"About time too."

Lucina stood between the riders as they talked excitedly about the idea of finally having a tithed Hold, half-paying attention but mainly staring across into the Weyr Bowl as people went about their daily business. Lunch time was nearing its end, and she had no doubt she would be dragged off for her next chore soon enough.

"Oi! Get your Tanner butts over here!" I'sa suddenly screamed across the Bowl to someone – making Lucina jump in fright. It was a good thing she'd gotten off the fence; she probably would have fallen off in shock.

Following the blue rider's gaze, she spotted two men making their way over. One looked much happier to have been called over than the other. She did recognise them as her brother's crafter friends, but she hadn't really spoken to them much. Whilst the slightly shorter man looked friendly enough, the taller one had always made Lucina feel somewhat uncomfortable. It was strange; yes, he looked almost constantly grumpy, but it was something more than unnerved her – she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"You have no right to be ordering our butts around, blue rider," the shorter man spoke, pretending to punch I'sa in the arm.

"We're higher on the food chain here than you are, Kain," A'lus pointed out with a smirk. Kain just gave him a look.

The other Tanner seemed shifty – glancing over Lucina's head at the dragons in the feeding grounds, as if waiting for them to strike out at him. "What is it? We've got work to do, unlike some people."

"Shards, Tomoa," I'sa pouted. "Can't we just say hello? Besides, it's lunch time; why are you still working?"

"Tomoa likes to follow his own schedule, you should know that by now," Kain smirked, elbowing his fellow Tanner in the side. He received no reaction.

"Oh!" I'sa exclaimed. He reached around to wrap his arm around Lucina's shoulders. "You guys know my sister, right? Lucina."

Kain looked down at the Candidate and grinned. "I believe we've passed here and there."

"Yeah, that's right." Lucina nodded. Her eyes flickered over to Tomoa – who seemed to only just become aware of her presence and stared down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You're really short."

"Tomoa!" Kain hissed.

"Don't worry, you're kinda short too, Kain."

Forcing a laugh, Lucina waved the comment away. "It's ok. It's not exactly a secret."

Tomoa nodded and crossed his arms. "Of course it's not; you're quite clearly a midget."

"Are you going to stop yet?" I'sa frowned.

"Your dragon is staring at me."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"I feel under pressure when beasts stare at me. I may lash out erratically; my Healer told me."

"Kain said nothing of the sort!"

"Ok, Tomoa; you finally have friends who are actually Healers, and yet they still assume I'm your Healer. What does that sharding tell you?"

"That Nigh is really bad at her job?"

Shuffling uncomfortably as the argument between her brother and the Tanners escalated, Lucina leaned towards A'lus and muttered, "Can I leave now, or would that be rude?"

"It wouldn't be rude at all. In fact, it would be wise," A'lus chuckled back at her. The three men didn't even notice the Candidate leave – A'lus followed her though, claiming he was 'too tired' to deal with his friends today.

"Have you had the touching yet?" he asked as they made their way across the Bowl.

"Oh yeah, a few days ago," Lucina nodded. "Gosforth seemed grumpier than usual."

"I can imagine," A'lus gave a sigh. Lucina supposed he'd dealt with plenty of hatchings before; this would be her first. I'sa may have lived in Southern Weyr, but she'd been living at the Weaver crafthall in Southern Boll. Her brother had asked her to come to Tennar as they needed crafters – even Apprentices. Of course, that was before she knew the Queen herself would tell her to Stand.

Her train of thought was heading down this direction once again when A'lus interrupted.

Bringing up the very topic the whole Weyr was dancing around.

"So, is it true?" he murmured quietly – like he didn't want people to overhear. Behind, Tidyth suddenly landed with a thump and trudged along after them. "About the deformed egg?"

Lucina bit her lip, staring at the floor. "Yes."

From the moment the clutch was on the Sands, whispers of a deformed egg had travelled through the Weyr. The Weyrwoman banned all for entering, naturally, but she also didn't talk about the eggs as much as people expected. At the touching, the Candidates had seen exactly what she'd been keeping quiet.

The clutch had thirteen eggs, and sadly no gold from what they could see. However, there was one egg, large enough to be a gold, sitting in the very centre of the clutch.

And the egg was black.

"Oh," A'lus stated. "So it's really..."

"Black," Lucina nodded. "Its shell is dull, and slightly lumpy. Gosforth wouldn't let anyone touch it, so no one knows if it feels different."

"It might not be deformed... just discoloured?"

"It's such a large egg, it could only be a gold. But..."

"Golden eggs aren't black."

"No eggs are."

Behind them came an ear-splintering scream. Snapping their heads around, Lucina and A'lus stared back at the three arguing men. I'sa clung to his arm as if he was in pain.

"You punched me! You sharding punched me!" I'sa bellowed at the Tanner.

"That was me lashing out erratically."

The only part of Candidate life that Lucina could legitimately say she truly enjoyed was the second lesson of the day; and that was just because it was working the other Weavers. There were only three currently; one Master and two Journeymen. Lucina loved her time working here; the other Weavers treated her well and she enjoyed listening to their gossip.

Today was even more amusing than usual: Master Humne was complaining about the 'deadglow Tanners'. There were only two Tanners in Tennar currently, and Lucina had run in with both of them just that lunch time.

"...and then there's that tall one! He's the worst," Humne grumbled. "He's the worse than a grumpy wher!"

"Isn't he your brother's friend, Lucina?" Addla asked with a grin.

Looking up from her needlework practice, Lucina gave a meek nod – quickly looking away again as Humne threw his hands up in the air in exasperation and started complaining again.

The only thing that silenced him was the sudden hum that filled the Weyr.

Dropping her needle in fright, Lucina turned towards the door, feeling her stomach do a full rotation of worry.

"The hatching!" Addla cheered. Jumping up, she tugged on Lucina's arm. "Go on girl, good luck!"

If it wasn't for her fellow Weaver pushing her out of the door, Lucina probably wouldn't have moved at all. Her legs felt like stones, refusing to move as she willed them. Stumbling into the Bowl towards the Candidate Barracks, her mind was completely drowned by the haunting hum.

"Lucina! What are you doing? Come on!"

Was that Natania who'd grabbed her arm? Or Olette? When had she reached her room? How long had she been holding the white robes in front of her?

The answers didn't really matter. The only thing that did matter was that she suddenly found herself standing on those hot Sands. Around her stood the other Candidates. In front rested the shaking eggs. Behind her...

She looked back at the stands that had only been completed a few days before Gosforth's Flight. Her eyes scanned the crowd that sat there until she at last found her brother. He sat right at the front, along with A'lus, the Tanners and the Healers. Every single one of them – with the exception of the moody WeyrHealer and Tomoa, of course – gave her a reassuring smile. She had no doubt her face told everyone just how terrified she was.

Turning back to the eggs, she felt herself shivering. She couldn't do this. She really couldn't. It was all happening too fast and she wasn't ready yet. She was too short, too thin, too weak. Everyone here knew it, everyone was thinking it; there was no way Lucina could be a dragon rider.

So why was she here? She didn't understand.

Gulping in a breath when she realised she was struggling to breathe, she stared at the dark egg that sat amongst the others. The lumpy surface. So dark, light didn't even seem to touch the dull shell.

Crack.

It cracked.

The mutant egg cracked.

Lucina barely noted the hush that fell over the Sands as all the eggs suddenly stopped moving; all but the black one. Slowly, the shell broke away, like it was just dissolving without the dragon inside moving.

And then it stepped out. Disregarding the other eggs that surrounded it and stepping on them instead. The black hide; as if the dragon was the absence of light itself. Nothing but a large shadow sweeping over the Sands towards the Candidates.

Its body was rigid and its head bent low, but there was some twisted sense of pride about the way it walked... like it was too good to even bother judging those around it.

Lucina began to wonder if the dragon was planning to just walk right out of the Sands without even looking at anyone.

But then it stopped.

It stopped in front of her.