Author's Note

I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern or any other material you recognise.

If the candidates thought they could spend the last few days before the Hatching in relative peace, they were wrong.

Fate had one last card up her sleeve.

One more girl would arrive before the Hatching.

Her name was Ronelle Wavebreaker, and they found her unconscious on the rocky shore of the beach.

She was a stunningly beautiful young woman with a delicate, slender and willowy figure and skin that had been tanned gold by the sun and left with a shimmering blue sheen by the sea water. Her hair was a majestic shade of golden blonde, with the same blue sheen as her skin and green highlights. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean's depths and her full lips a deep red. There was nothing to suggest where she had come from, no boat or identifying features.

According to her, her memories were blurry, but she could remember she had been a seaman's daughter, aboard his ship when it sank and left adrift in the sea for longer than she could count. The shipfish had taught her how to swim amongst the waves and hold her breath like they did, and shown her how and where to catch fish. At last there was the most terrible storm (despite all being calm the night before she was found) and she was washed ashore on the beach of Sunspyre Island. That was all she could remember.

Needless to say, the girls (and, by this point, many of the other Weyrfolk) were wary of her story.

"Did your mother die tragically at a young age?" asked Ritilia.

Ronelle's gorgeous hazel eyes glittered with bottomless sadness. "How did you know? She died giving life to me, and so alas I never got to know her! That is why my father took me with him on his boat, he was scared to lose me too!"

"Oh brother," muttered Jakeiria.

"Did your father remarry to an awful hag who abused you and slash or made you do all sorts of terrible menial work?" asked Ellador.

Ronelle brushed a strand of her beautiful strawberry blonde hair away from her teary silver eyes. "However do you know all this? My stepmother was a terrible and cruel woman, always making me do the hardest work on the ship even though we had deckhands for that! I can't understand why she hated me so!"

"I could take a guess," muttered Revina.

"Do you want to seek out our long lost home?" demanded Venile. Tears formed in her large, beautiful emerald coloured eyes.

"The only home I wish to seek is my own, if only I could recall where it was."

"Do you secretly have a crazy number of firelizards?" asked Kuyaran.

"However would I find them adrift at sea?"

"Oh, you'd find them," muttered Tummi with a glance at Annaliessa.

"Do you want to sleep with my brother?" asked Dorasa.

"What? No, I-"

"Do you want to sleep with my sister?" asked Yariel.

"What?! No! I'm not-"

"Can you run the Weyr better than the Weyrwoman?"

"I-"

"Can you do a better job at organisation than the Headwoman?"

"I don't-"

"Are you an expert swordsman?"

"No, I-"

"Were you kidnapped by pirates as a child?"

"Yes actually, I-"

"Can you destroy things with the power of the elements?"

"What?"

"Are you here to seduce or enlighten people?"

Ronelle looked at the people surrounding her. Her luscious lower red lip quivered. "I don't know why you're all being so me-e-ean!"

"Crybaby," muttered Yariel and walked out.

Ronelle Wavebreaker proved herself to be a sweet, loving, and kind girl. When Sherazzo fell over (or down, one could never be sure with her and her sisters) and scraped her knee, Ronelle was there to comfort her. When a drudge from the lower caverns dropped a teaset, Ronelle was there to help her clean up. When several herdbeast got loose from the enclosure, Ronelle was there to charm them back in.

"Are we sure we can't stab her in the heart?" Dorasa asked as Ronelle helped a recovering rider who had fallen over to a seat in the hall.

"You were the ones that wanted to be normal," Mia replied.

"Also, literally murder," Kimberlee said.

Yariel muttered several curse words under his breath.

Ronelle made some attempt to take over as the leader and head of the girls, determined to dazzle them all with her amazing skillz at organising and helping them all.

Unfortunately (for her), they were all too used to listening to Sirena, and when Rasia emptied a jug of cold water over her head for waking them all up half an hour earlier than necessary she decided to give up on that campaign.

If they didn't want to admit how much more amazing than Sirena she was, that was their problem, not hers!

Since she couldn't help the girls, she set her eyes on the boys. There were those two sets of twins who really just needed teaching what she thought were manners, and then those bullies who needed teaching a lesson!

It took her sitting on pins twice and having spice mixed into her klah to make her give up on Kerefid and Regowes and having her shoes taken apart for 'trap materials' to make sure she left Imijin and Milenin alone.

"I could have told you that," Kimberlee said as she bemoaned the loss of her boots, which had been the only part of her original clothing that was salvageable.

"My brothers are incorrigible. There's no taming them."

On the case of Dudlen and Dralyoco, Dudlen mostly ignored her, while Dralyoco fawned over her and her otherworldly beauty.

So that was some good that she had done while staying here!

Some of the candidates though, there was just no reasoning with them. Yariel and his friends refused to have anything to do with her and poured scorn on her efforts of helping people when they were in the same room. Ritilia preferred to stay close to Yornam, Rasia, and the latter's younger siblings, of whom Rasia had told her 'I already have my mystery girl, and there's only room enough for one in my life.'

"But surely-" Ronelle had tried to reason.

"Nope."

"But-"

"Still nope."

And her twin younger siblings stuck their tongues out at her after Rasia turned her back!

Such rudeness!

How these people couldn't see she had been sent here to help them Ronelle didn't know.

She ran into the Weyrwoman as she was doing chores.

The woman simply turned around and walked very quickly back the other way.

Why did nobody like her?

"Don't worry my love," Dralyoco comforted her that evening. "They'll all be begging for you when you impress gold."

She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. "I hope so. But it pains me to have to wait all this time until the Hatching."

"It won't be long now," Dralyoco assured her. "In the next few days for certain."

Ronelle smiled and fell asleep that night dreaming of riding a beautiful golden dragon, the most wonderful in all of Pern, while Dralyoco flew his bronze alongside them, as the Weyrleaders of all Pern.