Thirty-four dejected candidates remained on the Hatching Grounds after the new Weyrlings and onlookers left for the Hatching Feast. The number would have been thirty-five, except that Brouson was the candidate who ended up in the Infirmary after losing part of an arm to a hungry dragon.

Once the stands were empty of stragglers, the candidates moved up off of the hot sands to cooler footing. They still wore their candidate robes - no longer a mark of pride amongst them, but a mark of failure. They sat in silence for the better part of an hour. Finally Haneset took a breath and opened her mouth.

"If anyone gives me any of that drivel about," the speaker's voice went falsetto, "'Your dragon just hasn't Hatched yet', I'll beat them within an inch of their lives," a slightly older red-headed girl said nastily. Haneset shut her mouth and turned away.

"Why? Why did she have to Impress Mareena? Anyone else but Mareena!" Kylie wailed, then caught the eye of the redhead and let her voice drop. "That one did not deserve a queen!"

"What makes you the expert?" the redhead sneered, and Kylie dropped her eyes, mumbling an apology. "No, really." Now the redhead was wistful. "Why does a dragon pick one person over another?"

Kylie was silent, but felt eyes upon her. She looked at the redhead. "You're asking me?" she squeaked. The redhead nodded.

"I don't know!"

"Well, you seemed to think that Mareena didn't deserve to Impress Orovith."

Kylie winced at hearing the dragon's name. Somehow, just saying Mareena Impressed didn't seem as final as saying that Mareena Impressed gold Orovith. Her shoulders slumped. "I guess it's because I didn't care much for her."

"In other words, she was a wherry-bi . . . " Haneset started to cheerfully put in, but stopped when she saw Candidate master R'mez on his way through the stands to see them. "Here comes our pep-talk," she said sotto-voce. Kylie grimaced. How was Haneset so perky after the day's events? She shared an empathetic glance with the redhead. Well, at least she wasn't the only one who didn't understand her friend. When she looked back, she saw that R'mez was standing in front of the group, on the first step of the stands.

"So, how's the pity-party going," were his first words, and several of the candidates gasped. "That's right. Pity-party. Poor poor you, you didn't Impress a dragon today." R'mez' voice had taken on a sneering quality, which abruptly changed. "There were twenty-seven eggs, and sixty-two of you. Thank Faranth that we only had one casualty, and that due to stupidity and not my training. Did you think that you all were going to Impress?" R'mez had his arms folded across his chest and looked every bit the imposing Candidate master.

"Well?"

"Uh, well sir, it would have been nice," Andijer said, startling Kylie. She'd been so immersed in hers and Haneset's misery that she hadn't even noticed Andijer was still with them. Her eyes darted around the remaining candidates. Clemoly and Shawla were still there, but Irillan and Soneja were not. For the first time since the Hatching ended, Kylie allowed herself to smile.

"It would have been nice? Of course it would have been nice. But it didn't happen." R'mez sighed and dropped his arms. "How do you think your mates feel, you sitting here sulking instead of sharing their joy. How would you have felt if it had been you Impressing instead of them and they didn't come to see you?"

Kylie was sure someone would say 'pretty good', but no one was that stupid. Briefly she considered it, then rejected the idea. He was right - Soneja and Irillan were probably hurt that their friends hadn't come to offer congratulations.

There's hope for you yet.

Who was that?

Andijer stood up. "You're right, sir. We should go to the Feast and congratulate our mates."

"That you should. And don't forget - Loth just rose not too long ago. We'll have another clutch on the Sands before you know it. Not everyone Impresses their first time, and you can Stand for Impression until you're twenty-third Turn." He looked each candidate in the eye, then made a shooing motion. "Now, go. Enjoy."

The left-over candidates got up and began filing down off of the stands. Kylie rose but felt a hand on her shoulder holding her back. "Kailisu, I'd like to have a word with you," R'mez said as he motioned her to sit down. Haneset stopped and sat down too.

"No, Haneset, I need to talk to her alone."

"Uh . . . sure," Haneset said uncertainly as she looked at Kylie. Kylie just shrugged. She had no idea what R'mez wanted, but doubted she was in trouble. It just didn't feel that way.

Everyone had been gone for several minutes before R'mez spoke again. "What happened out there?" he finally asked.

"Sir?" Kylie looked at him in surprise.

"Why didn't you Impress?"

This was getting weird. "You said yoursel . . . ," she began when he chopped off her words with his hand.

"I'm well aware of what I said. What I want to know is, why did you suddenly decide you shouldn't Impress?"

"WHAT?"

"Breylith had high hopes for you. Adexith had high hopes for you. Hell, practically all the dragons in the Weyr had high hopes for you."

"All the dragons?" Kylie was speechless. Then it hit her. Hell?

"This isn't Saturday Night Live, Kylie. It's not Wayne's World. 'I'm not worthy' isn't a joke here, it is a mental signal telling the hatchlings that you don't want them."

Kylie's jaw had dropped. She tried to close it, but it kept dropping, making her look like a fish.

Isn't there something you say about an open mouth catching flies?

Kylie closed her mouth. Then she opened it again. "You . . . you . . . you're from . . . you're from Earth!"

R'mez gave Kylie a conspiratorial smile. "Yup. I'm from Earth. Did you think you were the only one?"

"Well . . . yeah."

This time R'mez snorted. "Something that can happen once is bound to happen more than once," he said. "There aren't that many of us since conditions have to be just right and no one knows what they are. Probably about four or so on the whole planet. But that's at this point in time."

"Hunh?" Kylie was nothing if succinct.

"One of the other Exports was looking in the records - she's at Ista Weyr, by the way, and has found what she thinks is incontrovertible evidence that there have been Exports in the past. There probably are in the future, too."

"Oh."

"What year are you from?"

Kylie finally had to answer something that resembled a real word. "2006."

R'mez whistled. "Yeah, definite difference. I've been here for twenty-nine Turns but I'm from 2001." He chuckled. "Kylie, I was nineteen when I was exported here. I Impressed Adexith when I was twenty-two."

At that revelation, Kylie brightened a bit. "Three years standing?"

He shook his head. "Actually, first time. When I Impressed, queens were only clutching every five or so Turns.

"Oh."

"I was very lucky. Not everyone who exports from Earth gets to Impress," he said softly.

"Oh. OH!" The significance of that finally hit Kylie. She could Stand every six months until she was twenty-three. Others had come here, and if lucky got to Stand once.

"But . . . Wayne's World?"

"I watched Comedy Central too, you know," R'mez stated smiling, then sobered up. "But, speaking of Wayne's World - this 'I'm not worthy' attitude has got to go. Adexith was not happy when you started thinking that."

"Adexith? But . . . ."

"The dragons find something amusing and entertaining in our minds," R'mez said while Kylie wondered if she'd ever get to complete a full sentence again. "We're not what Fandom called 'Hears All Dragons', but most dragons love to listen to us think, and will talk to us. Whether we want them to or not. I think it's a novelty or something."

"Oh. So those voices in my head actually were voices in my head?"

"Pretty much. Anyway, both Breylith and Adexith were not happy when you started thinking you wouldn't Impress. You were actually telling the hatchlings that they didn't want you."

"No I wasn't!" Kylie was incensed. She was not telling the hatchlings . . . .

"Yes you were. If I have to get Adexith and Breylith to go over it with you, I will. But just think of what you were thinking."

Kylie thought. She felt a slight nudge to her mind, remembering her exact thoughts and the exact times she thought them. And realized that R'mez was right. She turned to him, horrified.

"Fine. Now that you know where you went wrong, go to the Feast and have fun."

"But . . . "

"Oh, and keep this Earth-thing under wraps. Jinna told me one of the records she unearthed. It seems that a young male Exported here and tried to start changing things right away. At least, that's what she was able to gather from the record. The Pernese thought he was mentally disturbed and kept him sedated most of the time - with fellis."

Kylie was staring at R'mez, open mouthed once again.

"He became a fellis addict, of course. But even under the influence, he insisted he wasn't from here. He finally died of a fellis overdose."

"And that was in the records?"

R'mez nodded. "The Healers here keep very good records. Plus, Jinna suspects the Healer in question was either another Export, or the child of one but there's no way to tell for certain. This happened around five hundred Turns ago, and I refused to take Jinna between times to check out the story."

"Jinna's not a rider?"

"Shells no, girl. She's an Archivist for Ista Weyr. Though there's still time for her - she Exported here when she was thirteen . . . during the World Trade Center disaster. She's eighteen now, and has the right to Stand until she's twenty-three.

"Oh." Kylie looked down at her feet, trying to assimilate this knowledge. It was so . . . overwhelming. She wasn't sure if she were more disconcerted by the revelation that R'mez was from Earth 2001, or that the dragons were upset she didn't Impress.

We're not upset that you didn't Impress. You may not have Impressed today anyway. We're upset that you didn't even try.

I'm sorry, Kylie thought. Now that she knew the dragons were talking to her she understood why sometimes the voice in her head was female and sometimes male.

"So, have the dragons sufficiently berated you," R'mez asked wryly.

Kylie nodded.

"Good. Now, go enjoy the feast, and congratulate your friends. And if you need to talk, well, Adexith will know. He seems to always be listening to you."