Disclaimer: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.
Chapter Nine: Breakfast Talk
The Bowl of Benden Weyr was huge. Star saw many openings lining the towering walls and wondered which one the kitchens were. Before she turned herself around completely she heard footsteps behind her and someone called her name, and turned to the speaker. Lessa grinned up at her. "You should have waited; we were just a few lengths behind you," F'lar told the teenager.
"You were?" They nodded. "Sorry, I didn't hear you."
"Obviously," the Weyrleader told her. Bronze Nivi creeled in her ear while blue Elzin chirped from overhead and green Vanya whistled at the dragonriders. Lessa and F'lar noticed, and hurried her across the huge bowl. "You'll find no shortage of help here today," F'lar told her. "With the Hatching due most people here won't mind in any way, shape, size or form feeding fire lizards, especially a bronze, like yours."
They reached the entrance to the Kitchen Caverns and the adults ushered Star inside. All three were given food and the brown drink everyone seemed to like. Yesterday she'd been given some and found she rather liked the almost peppermint hint in the hot coco-like brew. Few people were here as yet, and they found a good space. Taking and eager sip of the good, hot stuff, whatever it was, the teenager put her things down but didn't sit.
"Is there someplace I could get some food for the fire lizards?" Indeed all three were clustering near to the food of the three humans.
"Oh, yes, here; I'll show you." Lessa got up and went back the way they had come. "Do you think you could round up enough meat scraps for three recently hatched fire lizards?" she asked one of the women.
"Certainly, I'll bring it over to your table." The woman had scarcely glanced at Star, but she did a double-take. "Oh, my dear, you've some sort of dye in your hair! Are you apprenticed from the Weaver's Hall?"
Star blinked, and then grinned; the woman was referring to the blue streak in her hair. She fingered the blue lock a little selfconsciously. "It was an accident," she improvised with a wry smile. Anyone could make a mistake and she never said just what kind of mistake it was or where, exactly, she made it.
Lessa steered her back to their spot, whispering to her, "You may want to find some way to hide that."
The teenager's first reaction was 'why?', but she saw why. Star smiled sadly to herself, homesick. Back home, individuality and being uniqueness, hair color, make-up style and clothes, was 'cool'. Standing out and being different was part of a teen's life, was important. She didn't put on make-up, and her clothes weren't that outlandish, but the little blue piece in her hair was just fun.
Well, maybe one didn't see an outfit like hers here on Pern, but it wasn't really all that odd back in Seattle. She examined her attire. Her light blue jeans had silver sparkles on the flares, from below her knees; they matched the large-linked silver chain belt she wore. She wore high-top blue Converse, top covered by her jeans, and two shirts. The under was a light blue spaghetti-strap top, the outer an overly-wide-necked blue long-sleeve shirt. Over both she wore an unzipped light-blue sweatshirt. All were slightly rumpled after she had slept in them.
Probably not the typical lady's wear here on Pern. Then again, Lessa and several other women had opted out of skirts and dresses for pants.
"Maybe I could wrap it with ribbon... or braid it with two other colors so it looks decorative but not really out of place." Her dubious face and voice made the Weyrleaders smile. Then she chuckled, fingering the blue streak again. In answer to their unvoiced questions she told them with a slight smile, "It's just that back home, being different from every one else, 'out of place', -even downright odd- is important; it preserves a sense of self, being our own person.
"Some people dress really, really weird; they dye their hair in rainbows, put on the strangest clothes, pierce themselves in all sorts of places." Star looked at the Pernese adults for a minute. "Never mind, main point being: uniqueness is respected and valued. For people my age especially."
"If you say so." F'lar shrugged. "I see your point, but sticking out sounds like it would wear on one eventually; it seem a little... hard to maintain."
Star snorted, then giggled. "I guess you're right. But for some people, odd is normal." Prompted by a sudden burst of inspiration, she lifted the mug of the tasty brown liquid. "Take this stuff for example. For you this is every day, I've noticed. But I've never had it before." She took a sip. "It's real good, though. What's it called, anyway?"
"Klah," Lessa told her, amused.
"Claw..." Star sounded it slowly, lips twitching in amusement. "It does, just like a good strong Mocha," she added wryly. When they glanced at each other she snorted again. "And there we have another example," she told them, draining the mug.
000
After breakfast the Weyrleaders and their guest returned to the room they had spoken in the night before. Star nervously tickled her fire lizards as the adults sat down. "Is there some way I can get home soon?" she burst out anxiously. "Even if they won't miss me, if you say you can time it so I can get back before I was late, I miss them. I'm getting so homesick."
Lessa sighed. "Very well then, If you-" Suddenly she broke off, cocking her head to the side as if she were listening. Then she smiled and stood again. "Actually, if you could wait around for a while, we have a Hatching to attend."
Now Star could head the hum too. They had told her last night that the dragons would do this when the clutch was about to hatch. She grinned and when Lessa beckoned stepped quickly after the Weyrwoman as she and F'lar separated to catch a lift on their dragons. Ramoth's eyes whirled green and blue, tinged with the orange of excitement. Hurry, little one! she urged the teenager.
Coming! Lessa swung up first and Star after her. As soon as they were settled the huge golden dragon took the few strides to the ledge and they plummeted off the edge. Star gave a swiftly-cut off yelp and hung on to the Weyrwoman. Ramoth leveled off and the teenager sat up again as they headed straight for the wall of the Bowl. She sighed and relaxed as she realized they were heading for a hole in the wall, then she winced at the seemingly unavoidable crash in the making as dozens upon dozens of dragons flocked towards the same entrance. Blues, browns, many greens, not as many bronzes, no other queen dragons- then they were through the opening, without so much as grazing a wingtip on anyone or anything.
She gasped as she saw the eggs arrayed on the Sands. "Holly..." Ramoth banked and she tore her gaze away from the clutch to look around at the ranks and ranks of dragons on tiered seats rising far up the Hatching Grounds' walls. She saw few great bronzes, and, other than Ramoth and the queen crouched protectively by an egg set apart from the main bunch, only one gold dragon was seated. The absent bronzes were setting down white-robed young folk on the sands amid the rocking mottled shells.
Suddenly Ramoth was dropping, lowering down to the sands. Star only had time to gasp out a hasty "What the-" before the queen had wriggled in such a way that she was shaken off but Lessa was not discharged onto the hot sands. The crowed murmured at this, interested, shocked, and some completely confused. A queen did not come near the eggs of another gold, but she had. The Senior Gold Dragon of Benden Weyr had dumped someone to the Sands; someone well within Candidacy age who was unwilling to Impress a dragon hatchling, A person with blue-streaked hair!
"Hey!" the teenager cried, standing up and hopping in the hot sands. The blue streak in her hair flapped into her face and she pulled it away. "Crazy dragon!" she said loudly, mind and voice. "I'm not going to Impress one of you, I just want to get the heck outta here and back home!"
She could 'hear' Lessa speaking telepathically to the dragon, a frown on her face, but Ramoth addressed her as she sat on the benches. You will be a good rider, little one.
"I just want to go home," Star whispered to herself, damp-eyed. That would be impossible with a dragon; however wonderful it would be to be a Dragonrider, she wanted to go home more. She backed against the wall, eyes closed, ignoring the looks of the white-robed young people around her who scurried to get close to the clutch of eggs. "Oooh, this is sooo wrong," she groaned to herself.