Author's note: Hi everyone! Sorry to have been gone for so long. Work has been crazy busy, and I've been working massive amounts of overtime as a result. I've also been busy working on rewriting the story again - not a major rewrite, but just some tweaking here and there - so I definitely recommend rereading everything. Plus, I have a Beta now (thank you PrettyLilah) who has read through everything and given her approval.

~AS

(I own nothing in this story except my own characters. Pern and everything else belongs to Anne McCaffrey)

"The holdless are becoming a problem again." R'nahl told N'kar when they had landed back at Benden Weyr. The two riders stood off to the side of the feeding grounds while their dragons hunted.

"Today's the first that I've heard of any complaints." Even though there had barely been any injuries during fall, the weyrbowl was still bustling with activity. N'kar watched it detachedly, physically drained from dealing with thread and running into Kai. Who knew that talking to one girl could be so exhausting?

"Bitra is the first complaint I've heard personally but F'lar said at the last meeting that some of the other holders have been noticing supplies missing as well. Things like older grain or sick beasts from their herds."

N'kar frowned. "How big of a problem is this?"

"Continent wide."

"And they're upset about items missing that they wouldn't have used anyways?"

"The majority of the reports are coming from smaller holds though and it's this type of pilfering really hurts them. Those are beasts and grain that could have been killed for food or for trade. It's almost like Thella is back from the dead." R'nahl waved at his weyrmate, Malena, who was on the other side of the feeding grounds from them. The Queenrider ignored him and he sighed to himself. N'kar gave him a look before going back to watching Elanth hunt. The brown dragon pulled a large bull off to one side, and promptly started devoring the carcass. "One of the holders who was stolen from claims he saw a dragon leaving his hold just before he and his family discovered what had happened. They were not able to tell what weyr he was from though. Xanth was eyeing that bull by the way."

"Well, that'll teach him to be slow around a brown." Elanth had already made short work of the meat, and was eyeing another heardbeast. N'kar made a mental note to call him in after the next kill. Two good sized herdbeasts were more than enough for any dragon. "So the holders are accusing us of stealing?"

"Yep."

"But dragonmen have no reason to steal, and the oldtimers who used to are all gone. What does F'lar have to say about all of this?"

"He suspects it may be a rogue dragonrider who might be acting on his own. The Weyrleaders want all of us to keep our eyes open for any unusual activity... I told him about the holdless and about the runner."

"And?"

"He agrees with us, but doesn't feel that a missing girl and a group of holdless are our priority right now. I still don't like it though."

"Neither do I." N'kar didn't add that it was for different reasons though. The bruises on Kai's arms and the malnourished appearance of the holdless were still vivid in his memory. "At least we were able to prove that the holdless aren't the ones behind the thefts."

"Yes, but we still have a runner out there, somewhere, who might be." R'nahl glared at the brownrider. "I should reprimand you for your behavior earlier."

"You should, but you won't."

"Given how head over heals you are about this girl, I thought you would have leapt at the opportunity to rescue her from whatever brutes might have hurt her and win her over that way, or at least hole her up somewhere until she gives in to your advances. "

N'kar threw a rock at the other man, who easily ducked out of the way. He didn't want to admit that the thought had crossed his mind - that he had nearly dragged Kai back to his weyr after he had seen her bruises. It would have been for her own safety, of course, to protect her from whatever holder had abused her so and to give her time to rest and heal. But he couldn't deny he had also entertained the thought that maybe, just maybe, that she might have been more than willing and would have let him have her. Sure she frustrated him to no end, first with the being shy and then with her evasive behavior earlier, however there was something there that captivated him as well. His hands burned to hold her, to soothe the bruises away, to caress her, to make her cry out his name. It was an ache he hadn't felt in a long time.

Hadn't he learned his lesson with Llydwen though? He had rescued her from a bad situation and look how that had turned out. Rather than being thankful to the brownrider, she had grown to hate him when falls and Weyr business forced him to leave her alone and had sought solace in other rider's beds, lying about it to him afterwards.

Kai wasn't Llydwen, but she certainly had her own share of secrets, and he wasn't sure he wanted to go through it again.

He tossed another pebble across the ledge he and R'nahl were standing on. The other man frowned at him. "Stop moping."

"I'm not moping." R'nahl chuckled and N'kar sighed. "I can't be with someone I can't trust."

"Ignoring the fact that I agree with you - that I believe that she is hiding something - why do you think you can't trust her?"

"There's the fact that she won't tell us what hold she's from. The holdless also knew her and recognized her..."

"She also could be that missing runner…"

"Why did you ask her about that anyways?" N'kar had thought that if R'nahl had gone straight for the line of questioning he was expecting, the bronzerider might had been able to get more information out of Kai since she had seemed genuinely afraid of him. The questions about if she was the runner Kayta had shocked Kai out of that.

"When Malena was upset one time and wouldn't tell me or anyone else what she was so worked up over. I had Xanth talk to Kaelith to see if Kaelith could give us some insight on the situation – she told Xanth it was about some girl and then showed him a picture of what I assume was her runner friend. I'll have Xanth show Elanth when they're done eating - I swear that runner of yours looks like Malena's friend."

"All the reports say that she died though. The searchers found her belt knife and buckle – nothing else. That's pretty strong evidence that thread got her."

"Malena reminded me the other day that there was no burrow, and that one of the first riders out there reported seeing boot marks and dragonprints." The bronzerider pointed out. "However none of the Weyrs reported rescuing anyone that day, except for Malena and Ginaera."

"And now holders are saying they saw dragonriders stealing from them..." Maybe there was a rogue group of dragonriders in one of the weyrs, who were taking things from the holds and occasionally kidnapping people. Maybe Kai and Malena's friend were one in the same, and she had been one of their victims.

Maybe even Llydwen had been one of their victims.

However, why only go for the older grain and animals? Why not go for the good stuff? And why take an injured runner? Or a fellow dragonrider's weyrmate? And, most importantly of all, if all this had been going on in one of the Weyrs, why hadn't someone noticed sooner?

It explained a lot, but it still didn't make sense.

You said the girl is not your concern anymore and the other one has been gone for a long long time. She is not your problem either.

Shush you, N'kar saw Elanth going for a wherry out of the corner of his eye and pulled the dragon up short, There is no reason to gorge if you're not hungry anymore. Leave some for the rest.

It looks so tasty though!

You'll be too fat to fly if you keep eating everything that looks tasty. N'kar chuckled at his dragon, and then nodded at Malena. "Are you going to tell her about Kai?"

"I would like to." R'nahl frowned again as he concentrated on pulling Xanth in from the hunt.

"Don't. At least not just yet."

"Why?"

"What if you're wrong and Kai isn't Malena's friend? Do you want to get Malena's hopes up only to crush them like that?" Elanth landed near them and lowered his head so that N'kar could rub his eye ridges. "It wouldn't exactly help your cause with our dear queenrider."

"What if I'm right?"

"I don't think Kai would appreciate having her old friend suddenly turn up on a massive dragon while she's running on a trace." In the Weyrbowl someone started to call out that it was dinner time. N'kar patted his brown's neck one last time and sent him up to the weyrledge to soak in what was left of the sun. R'nahl did the same with his bronze, and the two riders began to walk towards the dinning cavern.

"Allright, but if Malena finds out about us not telling her sooner, and she gets upset, I will be letting her know that it's all your idea." The bronzerider shook a finger at his wingsecond.

Thankfully dinner was relatively quiet; D'rean was far too focused on flirting with Ginaera to give N'kar a hard time about the runner, and R'nahl managed to distract Malena whenever she started to ask about what his wing had been up to today. N'kar ate quickly, and then went to check in with Nelladwyn's foster mother to see how the boy was doing. The boy stayed at the back of the room and, like normal, did not greet his father, while the rest of the foster children surged around the brownrider and asked for stories about the fall. The woman quickly chased them off and Nelladwyn escaped with them, but before the boy left N'kar was happy to note that he looked healthy and appeared to have grown some.

N'kar shared a glass of wine with the boy's foster mother, but quickly left when he realized that the woman was hoping for an invitation up to his weyr. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy her company or find her attractive, but he had heard stories that she was popular with over half of the riders in the Weyr and did not enjoy the thought of spending the night with someone whose company his friends might have enjoyed before him.

This woman does not pretend and would make you happy. Elanth intruded into his thoughts as he crossed the weyrbowl.

She's not Kai...

But I thought you don't want to be with the other one.

It's not something that you can just turn off, old friend. N'kar asked Elanth to ferry him up to their weyrledge, and, once inside the weyr, he stripped the dragon of his harness and watched as the big brown curled up on his couch.

Then find her and catch her like a green.

I don't think she would enjoyed being wooed that way.

You humans make things so much harder than they need to be. The brown dragon snorted, sending dust flurries dancing through the air.

Yes, I do think your lot has it easier when it comes to mating. N'kar smiled and scratched the dragon's eye ridges until the eyelids closed one by one and he was sure Elanth was asleep. The dragon reeked of firestone and charred thread, and he realized that he himself didn't smell much better. He headed towards the bathing caverns at the back of his sleeping alcove, stripping himself of his tunic, wherhide jacket, pants and boots along the way.

His bathing room was not nearly as nice as some of the other dragonriders since he was higher up on the Weyr wall. The pool was only as long as he was tall, and the water only came up to about his mid thigh, but that was really all he needed. He quickly scrubbed down with some soapsand and sat, letting the warm water rinse away the suds and relax his sore muscles.

N'kar was just beginning to doze off when he heard something crash in the chamber beyond, startling him out of a pleasant dream. He cursed to himself and climbed out of the water, then wrapped a towel around his middle just in case. He didn't think Nelladwyn's foster mother would have gotten into her head to follow him, but then he had heard stranger stories about some of the lower cavern's inhabitants before. He pushed aside the curtain separating the two rooms only to find that his sleeping quarters were empty except for a blue firelizard that was trying to find room to land on one of N'kar's shelves. It had no painted on crest or markings showing what hold it might be from, but even so he knew that it was the runner's.

The brownrider didn't know what to do for a minute. Even though Kai had promised him to send word that she had arrived at wherever safe and sound, he hadn't really expected her to do so. Yet here was her firelizard, zipping around his head and chattering at him in annoyance. He held out his arm for the creature to land on and deftly untied the bit of parchment from its hind leg. The firelizard went to jump up and leave, but N'kar distracted the creature by offering the blue some pieces of fruit left over from breakfast the day before. He coached the blue onto his bed with some more of the fruit, which the firelizard greedily inhaled.

N'kar shook his head at it and unrolled the bit of parchment. The note inside was cramped and a little sloppy, so much so that he imagined that it had probably been written seconds before Kai had fallen asleep:

"I have made it home safely. Thank you for the numbweed."

The last line had been scratched out and rewritten at least once or twice:

"...I did not mean to be... I apologize for being so much... I am sorry..."

Sorry for what? For trying to run away from him? For being so stubborn? N'kar sat down on his bed and stretched out his legs in front of him. Maybe somehow he had managed to reach through to the real Kai today. Maybe if he ran into her again she might actually trust him and tell him the truth. He looked down at the firelizard next to him, "You're her firelizard: you wouldn't happen to know what she's thinking, would you?"

The blue chirped at him again in annoyance and the brownrider sighed. "I didn't think you would."

Elanth... He hated to wake up his dragon, but he had to see his idea from earlier through.

Yes?

Can you talk to this fellow and see if he can tell you where he is from? We might be able to find out about Kai's hold from him.

N'kar watched as the firelizard stopped eating the fruit. It chirped in surprise and twisted it's body around to peer through the doorway into the weyr beyond where Elanth's eye's whirled slowly in the darkness. Kai is not from a hold. She is from a Weyr!

A Weyr? Which one? He was surprised – maybe there was a rogue dragonrider after all. Acting as if nothing was wrong, he grabbed a writing stick from his bedside table and wrote out a quick note for the blue to take back to Kai. Folding it over he tied it back to the firelizard's leg. It was so entranced by Elanth that it hardly noticed what he was doing.

It is not one that I recognize. Elanth shared with N'kar what the firelizard had shown him. The brownrider had a quick impression of a hot and humid beach surrounded on two sides by a high cliff, except for the third where a jungle. Unfortunately it was not strong nor vivid enough for Elanth to use to go between to.

A Weyr. There was another Weyr. One no one knew about. And Kai was a part of it.