Disclaimer: Pern and its dragonriders belong to Anne McCaffrey. These characters, unless I refer to past canon characters, are my own.

XXX

Winter set in with all its dreariness. Somehow, the story with Shaya had worked to cheer Nolena up. V'ton fumed and raged for sevendays when he unearthed all the facts and Danera made sure to pass on some of the worst duties to Fredal and F'dar. Nolena made sure, however, when no one paid close attention, that she could find ways to give the pair of soon-to-be graduated weyrlings some respite.

She was gratified, to some extent, that Danera warmed up a little to her, although Nolena had no doubt that the other queenrider reported everything they discussed with V'ton, which made her hold back somewhat. Sulath spent most of her time dozing, showing little inclination to leave the comfort of her couch, as the rain turned icy and Nolena sought the comfort of her hearth, where she could fill out requisitions and check the Records in relative comfort. Danera may be giving herself airs and graces but she still left the more onerous tasks to Nolena.

It was a day in late winter, when the skies were almost as sodden as the ground and as mired down as Nolena's hopes, when Fredal's Kushoth requested permission to land on Sulath's ledge.

Let her settle, Nolena asked her dragon, whose wordless assent followed.

Breathless and soaked through to her skin, Fredal pushed back the heavy leather curtain that separated Nolena's rooms from Sulath's chamber.

"Nolena! Nolena! I bring news!" the young greenrider exclaimed, breathless.

She wiped a dripping tendril of hair from her face and smacked a leather message case down on Nolena's desk.

"Careful, lass, you're going to cause the ink on these documents to run!"

"Sorry!" Fredal yelped.

"Now go and dry yourself by my hearth. There should be a clean bathing sheet in that chest over there."

"Thank you!" Fredal replied as she complied with Nolena's suggestion. "You've been so scarce lately we've all been concerned."

"This winter has been the wettest that I remember in Turns. Not much snow up on the peaks but reports from the weather station at Landing suggest that we're in for more where that came from."

With care, Nolena opened the message case, withdrawing the waxed-paper roll from within. She recognised an Istan seal. Now, which dragonrider had that much clout or interest in her to be sending her this missive?

"Help yourself to klah," she said to Fredal, as she unpicked the wax. "In fact, you can make a fresh pot for the both of us."

Fredal hummed as she went about her task, the young woman's presence comforting Nolena, making her realise how much she'd been missing the company of friendly faces. Although cordial in their daily meetings, headwoman Andina never had Nolena at her ease quite the same way that most other dragonriders did.

The message, written in a flowing hand, read:

My dearest Nolena

I apologise for not stopping by to see you over the past few months but I have been busy training a new search and rescue wing. I miss your delightful company and would like to invite you to a day spent lazing in the Istan sun for, no doubt, you must be heartily tired of winter's gloom at Benden Weyr. Please confirm your intention to visit and I'll follow up with co-ordinates, a date and a time.

With the best of wishes to your health and your dragon's.

M'rek

And here she'd thought that she'd offended him that night during the autumn Gather! Unbidden, a smile leapt to her lips.

"Good news?" Fredal asked.

"Interesting news," Nolena answered. "Do you mind carrying a message for me when the rain lets up?"

"Of course. Ista?"

"Reading over my shoulder?"

"No, it was another greenrider from Ista that dropped this off, specifically asking for you. Our watchrider today doesn't have much time of today for Danera or V'ton, so he got me to bring this to you."

"All right," Nolena murmured.

"There are quite a few of us who don't care much for those two, Nolena, so you mustn't lose hope," Fredal added.

"Thank you. Do you fancy a visit to Ista soon?"

"Are wherries ugly?" Fredal laughed.

The queenrider chuckled and cleared her desk so that she could scribe her reply.

Dear bronzerider M'rek

Thank you for your kind invitation. I would be thrilled to spend a day enjoying your Istan sun, provided that I can bring a friend along. Please do advise me of a suitable date and I will arrange that I am available to visit that day.

Warm regards

Nolena

"Don't you want to go on your own?" Fredal asked.

"No, not particularly. I'm in no mood for more tongues wagging."

She sealed the letter into a waxed-paper sheath, then placed it in the case.

"I'm looking forward to spending time at Ista's beaches. I remember that I've only visited there a handful of times. It was a favourite spot for young dragonriders of our bunch to get together when we thought we could escape T'lenek's watchful eye," Nolena said.

"I'd like to go, even if I'm supposed to be your chaperone," Fredal said. "This weather is getting me down."

The young greenrider brought a cup of steaming klah over to Nolena, who warmed her hands on the mug before taking a sip.

"Tell M'rek that we'll need a day's warning, at the very least. I haven't been to visit my family for quite a few sevenday. No one's going to think it odd if we go for a day."

"That will be wonderful. Kushoth hasn't done much flying, save to hunt and all that."

XXX

M'rek's reply returned with Fredal later that day.

"I didn't want to come back," she admitted to Nolena. "They've got so much sun, you'd hardly think it was winter at all. I've almost forgotten what sunlight looks like!"

"What did he say?" Nolena asked.

"He says tomorrow, if we can."

"Well, it is a rest day here, after all, not that there's much happening. No one will miss us. I'll have Sulath let you know an hour before we are ready to leave."

Fredal seemed so excited that she barely stood still and almost slipped off Kushoth's other side in her haste to mount. Nolena smiled, finding the younger rider's excitement infectious. It was kind of M'rek to remember his offer of a day by the sea but she couldn't help but think that the man had ulterior motives.

He is the better option, Sulath noted.

"I don't know. I'm trying to think about what it could be like, you know, afterwards. He's such an odd little man. But why am I talking as if it's fore-ordained that it's Anfath that will catch you?"

Don't let it bother you. When the time comes, you will know what to do and what to say.

"Sulath, my dear, I suspect that you're right. And, it doesn't bear much thinking should Gabbeth rise first."

Sulath had no answer to that, save for a loud snort, leaving Nolena in no doubt as to what her dragon thought about that idea.

With a feeling of lightness adding a bounce to her step, Nolena braved the dining hall. As always, V'ton and his cronies had taken the table nearest the hearth. She noted, with distaste, that he had his son sitting by him. She had never liked Jeram, he had too much of his father's attitude about him. She had little doubt that he'd be standing for the next clutch, Sulath's clutch, for it was his right.

The dragon always knows, Sulath reassured her.

Then Sorkath had mashed tubers for brains when he hatched and chose that man, Nolena replied, tartly.

Sulath's amusement was unmistakable.

Feeling daring, Nolena chose a seat by Tass, who squeezed her hand beneath the table.

"Hello stranger, have you decided to incur the wrath of the elders by sitting with us?" the greenrider said, winking.

"Tass, D'varren," Nolena nodded to her friend and her weyrmate.

The bluerider's eyes crinkled with pleasure and he raised a cup of klah in her honour.

"I've decided to stop skulking in my weyr. I'm tired of V'ton's little power games. I'm not going to look for trouble but I won't allow myself to be made into a prisoner."

"That's the spirit," Tass said. "I honestly don't know what the man is thinking. Even if he somehow manages to cling to leadership, there's still the bronzes in Kiranth's last clutch to contend with. They might only be half-grown but…"

Tass left the last part of her sentence to trail off, sparing V'ton a dark look.

"Tass, I honestly don't want to discuss this. I don't want to say too much, but I don't think that we have to worry. I don't know how we're going to get around this and the speculation is taking away my appetite."

Tass speared another cube of meat from the stew in her bowl. "You have a point," she conceded.

Nolena sank down on the bench next to her friend. "I'm going to see M'rek from Ista tomorrow. I think it is a little odd that he contacts me just out of the blue for friendship's sake."

Tass narrowed her eyes: "Men, bronzeriders… But I think I know what you're planning and I like it!"

"Tradition is still tradition. The riders whose bronze flies the queen becomes the next Weyrleader. In cases such as ours, the first queen to rise after the erstwhile Weyrwoman can no longer lead becomes the next in charge."

"And it all hinges on whether Gabbeth or Sulath rises next," Tass finished.

"Exactly," Nolena answered. "Now, pour me some klah and let's drink to Sulath's first mating flight."

Tass started laughing so hard that half the riders present turned to stare.

"Of course," Nolena added in a conspiratorial tone. "If anyone asks, I went to visit my parents tomorrow."

"Oh, of course, hey, D'varren," Tass whispered, nudging her weyrmate in the ribs.

"Sorry, am I missing anything?" D'varren said in mock innocence.

This remark elicited another peal of laughter, that had a score of the Weyr's firelizard population flit into the rafters.