Wow... so yeah... Twenty-six chapters later and this is the end of Mutants! I honestly can't thank you all enough for following and reviewing. You deserve medals for getting through so much of my blabber!

The next Tennar story that I'm writing is 'The Tainting of Tennar Weyr', which is all about the creation and the first mutants. Actually, I'll probably upload the first chapter today, since I'm already getting into it, haha!

Thanks so much again, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Much love to you all!

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Epilogue

Leosk's! No turn! Leosk need see!

Apologising and quickly turning his head back to the way he was running, Leon strained his eyes to see who was in the distance. The Bowl was completely deserted; the late afternoon soon keeping most handlers indoors, and the events on the Sands having dragged everyone else to the stands.

Well, almost everyone.

"You've missed the whole hatching!" Z'ee complained as Leon came to a sudden stop in front of the black rider.

"Leosk decided to just watch the hatching from your eyes for a while before waking me," Leon sighed, as he let himself catch his breath. Z'ee laughed and motioned the white handler to follow him, peering inside the Sands at the bubbling excitement and unsteady hatchlings.

It was no wonder that people weren't leaving the stands yet, despite all the eggs having hatched. A poor Silver sat squeaking angrily at his Gold and Black siblings who circled him, playfully threatening him as their newly bonded riders desperately tried to break them up. Leon couldn't help but smile and had to push Leosk's big head out the way as the White tried to move onto the Sands.

"So, now we know what happens when a Black catches a Gold," Leon chuckled as he looked over at the very exasperated looking Quesuth and Wika. "A Yellow, Black, Silver and two Prisms!"

"Yirith's bragging about it. He says he is the father of all mutants," Z'ee smirked, looking up at the Black as he sat staring down at the scene from his ledge. "He also won't let Touth forget that he beat him in the Flight."

"I don't think he'll let any of us forget."

Nodding, Z'ee stepped away from the Sands entrance and stretched his arms out. "To be fair, it was just bad timing that Touth was pulled out of the Flight early. He was winning up until that point."

"I swear Arami planned the whole thing," Leon laughed as he shoved Leosk away again. Turning back to look up at the ledge in the distance where he could just about see the shapes of the Black and Silver squashed together, he wondered if the riders were in the stands or not.

"So does she," Z'ee frowned as he followed Leon's eyes to the ledge. "It means Siene's going to make me babysit the new Black rider."

"Aw, more friends for your insane club." Leon may have been joking, but his eyes flickered over to the faint scars on Z'ee's face. It wasn't always a laughing matter.

Apparently noticing the handler's sudden drop in mood, Z'ee gave him a reassuring grin. Throwing his arm around Leon's shoulder, he quickly changed the topic so as not to upset his favourite distraction. "Can we now talk about the fact you've just graduated wherlinghood? Time to celebrate!"

"No, Z'ee," Leon groaned as he tried – and failed – to twist out of the rider's grip. "The handlers are throwing a party tonight, that's all the celebrating I need!"

"And you haven't invited me?"

"You're not a handler!"

"I lived in wher quarters for a whole turn!"

"With the rest of the Relight Wing, that doesn't make you a handler!"

"It makes me an honorary handler!"

The argument continued for quite some time. They ignored the floods of people who eventually started leaving the Sands, as well as the nine new weyrlings who passed by – including the boy who Impressed the Black, who gave the pair a curious glance. In fact, Z'ee and Leon (and Leosk, who growled here and there) were still quarrelling when they finally ordered Leosk back to his weyr and made it into the mess hall.

Only then removing his arm from Leon's shoulders so they could both sit down and grab the cups that were being handed out, Z'ee pouted and turned his attention to the people who'd already been sitting at the table.

"Oh, it's you guys," he said having not noticed them earlier.

"What's that supposed to sharding mean?" Arami bellowed at him, ignoring Siene who tried to quieten her.

"Where's Riina?" Leon quickly asked – though his question wasn't exactly a safe one either.

Siene blinked and narrowed her eyes. "Actually, that's a good question. I probably should have asked earlier." It worried Leon that none of the Tennar Troubles seemed to be very conscientious of the world around them. They were supposed to be the mature adults here.

Arami opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted as someone stormed into the room. I'cas, to be precise.

"ARAMI!"

"It was Z'ee!"

"Wha- Hey!" Z'ee complained.

I'cas marched over, holding little Riina on his hip as he stopped right behind Leon and glowered over the handler's head at his Weyrmate.

"I swear by the Egg, if you leave our daughter in the care of dragons again, I will bury you with the grubs!"

"Zaith and Touth are very responsible dragons! Besides, why can you wander off when I can't?"

"I left for five minutes to apologise to the crèche worker that you yelled at!" Leon frowned uncomfortably as he felt the little girl's hands reaching out and pulling at his hair. "Only to come back and find Zaith trying to prove to Touth that Riina is 'born to be a rider'!"

"And? Is she?"

"He was picking her up in his mouth!"

"I bet she didn't cry though."

"Agh!"

Finally noticing that Riina was trying to make Leon go bald, Z'ee carefully plucked the girl's hands away and dragged Leon up and away from the bench – mouthing a goodbye at Siene who was left to listen to the bickering couple. As they wandered through the Weyr, Z'ee gave a friendly smile at each person they passed.

"I was doing a bit of reading in the archives yesterday," Z'ee suddenly said. "And I found the records of the first ever black rider."

"Hm?"

"He was from Igen."

Leon stopped and blinked. "Really? That's both a funny and depressing coincidence."

"Well he was from the Hold, but yeah, I thought so too. Not only that, but the gold rider who created Tennar? She was from Benden."

That coincidence wasn't as funny. Leon dropped his eyes. "Well, we won't ever have a Weyrwoman who came from Benden again, that's for sure."

Even in the few turns since Lille had been transferred, there was a part of Tennar that couldn't get over the betrayal of one of its queen riders. The only person who still mentioned her was Arami during – what had come to be known as – her 'Black Rider Episodes'. Any weyrfolk who'd arrived in the past turn or so were oblivious to everything that had happened thanks to Lille. Still, she was still there, lingering in the minds of those who knew and trusted her.

And for Leon, she was all too prominent in his mind. It started a few months after she left, during one of Arami's episodes; her certainty that Lille was watching her unnerved Leon, so he asked Leosk to check up on the gold rider. She wasn't exactly doing anything that might be dangerous for Tennar, but she hadn't forgotten the 'forsaken Weyr' that wronged her. Even now, the hated she held was still simmering just under her surface and it was only a matter of time before it boiled over.

"Come on, Z'ee. Let's go celebrate then."