Author's Note

I do not own The Dragonriders of Pern or anything else you recognise. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

This Hatching was already a disaster, and the eggs weren't even hatched yet.

D'vran was still in the infirmary recovering from whatever shocked state he'd entered, they had some sort of deranged lunatic who no one seemed to be able to find running around the island traumatising the girls, and two of the female candidates had died.

Died!

Of course, it happened now and again. But in the history of Sunspyre Weyr, there were only twelve recorded candidate deaths. Five of those were due to illness. Now there were two more within days of each other, both with bizarre deaths under strange circumstances.

Jalenna took a long sip of her wine.

Everyone had agreed that Tardreela's death had been an accident, that she had simply slipped backwards from the cliff while arguing with Naeressa and Yariel. It was an accident that never should have happened, but no one could have predicted it.

This second death though, Daisuke Laila Dionte…

From what the girls and K'rut had said, she had lost her temper and then strange, inexplicable things had started happening.

Strange, inexplicable things had been happening ever since the clutch was laid and the candidates started arriving in Jalenna's opinion.

The girls said the fire went crazy and started raging out into the room, which they could confirm by the scorch marks on the walls, ceiling, and floor. They said other things started flying, stones and liquid, and the girl had attacked them with them. According to the girls, the dead girl had then thrown Naeressa – who still had yet to be found – from the weyr ledge and Yariel and Dorasa against the wall. Kuyaran and Revina said it was around then that she started faltering – like she had a headache, Revina said – and Dorasa attacked her with her sword. While she was distracted, K'rut stabbed her in the back.

The whole thing was a mess.

Jalenna drank more of the wine.

According to the bronzerider who Searched her, B'ron, the girl had no family, friends, or possessions. She just appeared from the mountains and requested to be taken as a candidate. Since she had power, he saw no hard in obliging a beautiful girl.

Well, there was harm.

There was fardling harm!

Jalenna drank some more of the wine as K'res entered the weyr.

"The girls are staying where they are for tonight. J'kon and K'rut are going to stay with them."

Jalenna nodded. "How are they?"

"Some of them seem very shaken up about it all. Yariel and Dorasa are still in the infirmary. Korvash says they've broken their ribs and the boy's got a mild concussion."

Jalenna groaned.

"Apparently they're already better than they were this morning though. Korvash says it's strange."

"Everything about this clutch and these candidates is strange."

K'res hummed agreement. "B'ron and T'res are going back to High Reaches in the morning to see if anyone there knows who she really was. The way things are going, I've not much hope."

"No," mumbled Jalenna, taking another long sip of wine. "I want a notice put out for the entire Weyr. No more strange fardling candidates."

"You're drunk love."

Jalenna scowled at her empty glass and the empty bottle next to it. "I'm not drunk enough. I mean it K'res: no more weird candidates! No kids with glowing eyes, or rainbow hair, or mysterious pasts, or- or- or- or who walk mysteriously out of the mountains! None!"

"Alright, alright, I'll put it out. No more strange or mysterious candidates."

K'res decided now was not the best time to tell her what Y'ven had brought back.