Author's Note

I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern. All rights belong to their rightful owners.

They found her wandering around the Southern continent with no memory of how she got there, or much else, really, though she had managed to impress two Queen firelizards and a bronze before being found. Her name was Desiree Aimah Flameheart, and she was the most divine creature anyone at Sunspyre Weyr had ever laid eyes on.

She had a heart shaped face, with plump, soft pink lips, high cheekbones, and large, sparkling sky blue eyes, standing at a graceful 5'8 with an hourglass figure and curves to die for. Her hair was a shimmering cherry blonde, falling to her knees in graceful waves that were undisturbed despite her time spent dragonback. She wore a fine, pale pink dress with an intricate lace bodice and ruffles around the waist and hems. Y'ven, the bronzerider who found her, was captivated and immediately brought her back to the Weyr.

Since the other female candidates were all already asleep in the unused weyr or preparing for bed and the girls' barracks couldn't be used for fear of another break-in, she was given a small cavern of her own in the lower caverns. There, she quickly endeared herself to Jurdree by charming the lower caverns children to sleep and expertly treating the cut arm of one of them. Once everything was in order, she settled happily into the soft blankets and drifted into an easy sleep.

She woke early in the morning, as had always been her routine, and stretched her fine body and lithe limbs before dressing in a fine powder blue dress with flowers twined around the skirt. Her strawberry blonde hair fell gloriously to her waist in soft curls. There were only a few drudges and lower caverns women about at this hour, and she didn't want to bother them, so, not knowing what to do, she drifted through the Weyr for a walk. Her three beloved firelizards, Starlight Twinkle, Moonbright Light and Sunrise, clung to her shoulders and wide hips as she walked. For as long as she could remember (which wasn't very long) they had been her only companions, her best friends. Of course, now that was all changing. She was here at the Weyr, where she could finally be part of a family and community, and maybe, just maybe, make some sense of the dreams she had been having for as long as she could remember. She was pretty sure they were of the home planet they left so long ago, which she had read about in her Mysterious Book that she found in a tree.

O to go there and discover what lay beyond the stars!

Such a glorious destiny she had that lay ahead of her!

Now she was here she could seek it!

Somehow, she found her way out to the stands of the Hatching grounds. On the sands below lay the precious clutch, watched over by their golden mother. Desiree felt a gentle tug somewhere in her self, like she was being drawn to the eggs.

"Oh great mother of dragons, may I see your eggs?" she requested in a voice like the music of harps. The Queen lifted her head and gazed at her.

"You may see them when the other candidates do."

"Mightn't I see them now? They're so beautiful."

The dragon rumbled softly. "You shall see them when the other candidates do."

Desiree gazed down at the eggs. One of them must be hers, she knew that by the call she could feel in her heart. Which one, she wondered? Was it to be one of the magnificent queens in their golden shells, or perhaps a delicate little green to match her own delicate disposition? Would it be one of the Hatchlings from the odd looking eggs she could see down there, or could it even be a fierce bronze?

"Wait for me. I'll be there," Desiree promised the young dragon.

A tall, muscular, brown haired woman appeared on the stands. "You girl! Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Oh, good morning ma'am," Desiree said sweetly. "I'm Desiree Aimah Flameheart, I'm one of the candidates."

Starlight Twinkle trilled from her shoulder. Desiree scratched her head and shushed her. The woman stared at her, and then turned around and shrieked shrilly. "K'res!"

It was such an awful sound Desiree feared the woman was being suddenly struck with some sickness or injury. "Are you alright?"

"K'res!" she screamed again. "Get your useless ass out here!"

"I- I'm sorry if I shouldn't be out here, maybe if you point me to where I'm meant to be," Desiree ventured. It had been so long since she was with other people that she had almost forgotten what normal behaviour was like. The woman continued to scream until at the Weyrleader, who Desiree had met last night when she arrived, appeared from wherever she had come from and hurried to her side.

"What's going on?"

"You let another one in!" she shouted, jabbing her hand at Desiree, who blinked.

"What?"

"You let them bring another one of- of that kind in!"

"Ah. Well, not exactly."

She narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean not exactly?"

"See, she actually arrived before you said all that."

The woman let out a huff that sounded like a snarl. "Fine. But no more, you hear me?"

Desiree edged forward a step. "Is she alright?"

The Weyrleader smiled and patted the woman's shoulder. "She's fine."

The woman scowled and wrenched away from him. "Deal with her."

"Of course love."

"And don't let her near the other girls. Put her in with the boys or the lower caverns or something. I don't want a repeat of yesterday."

"Of course."

"What happened yesterday?" Desiree asked as the Weyrleader escorted her down to the dining hall. Since he was immediately sure he could trust this beautiful and mysterious strange girl, he explained that two of the female candidates had been killed recently, and there was an intruder on the island no one could catch.

All eyes were on her when she entered the dining hall. Desiree blushed a shy and delicate pink and followed the Weyrleader across the cavern, where he joined a grey haired bronzerider.

"Jalenna wants her kept away from the girls for now. I was hoping she could join your class."

"Don't know that putting a beautiful girl in a class of boys is a good idea K'res."

"She's got to go somewhere." K'res dropped his voice to a whisper, though Desiree heard his next words anyway since her hearing was as sharp as a canine's. "And I can't just put her with the other girls anyway; Jalenna'll throw a fit if I put her near Sirena."

Desiree made a note of the name. This girl was evidently important to the Weyrleaders, so she'd be one to either get close to or watch out for.

"Aye, alright then."

"Thank you." The Weyrleader turned back to her. "Desiree, this is R'ton. He's the candidate master for the boys. You will be in his class for the time being. R'ton, this is Desiree Aimah Flameheart. She's all yours."

Desiree sat with R'ton for breakfast and learnt a little more about the troubles and the mysterious man stalking the girls as well as the the deaths of two female candidates. Murder, she wondered, looking out over the hall. Could one of those sat here now truly be a murderer?

After breakfast it was time for lessons, where they were studying dragon anatomy. Desiree she sat with Zoveanan, whose father and grandfather were both bronzeriders, and Ermut, a Holdbred runner boy. The other boys in the class were quickly jealous.

"Why don't you come sit over here baby?" called Pucungrec, the son of some Lord Holder who thought himself very important. "I can show you some better company if you know what I mean." He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. Desiree, who was an innocent and pure girl, leant close to Zoveanan.

"I… don't know what he means."

Zoveanan blushed furiously. "Explain later," he muttered as R'ton was looking their way.

By the time two thirds of the class time had passed Desiree had impressed everyone with her great knowledge on dragons and edible plants, which she had gained from her Mysterious Book.

"Are there any questions?" R'ton asked. She raised her slender arm.

"Yes, Desiree."

"Is there any information in the Weyr about Eeayarthach?"

"What?"

"Is there any information in the Weyr about Eeayarthach?"

"I have no idea what that is."

"I think it's where we came from. I want to go back there."

"Try the library."

"Thank you sir!"

"You're welcome. Are there any other questions?"

There were not, and so the class was dismissed and filtered out for lunch. Desiree sat with her new friends Zaveanon and Ermut.

"Where's the library?" she asked, her mind still on Eeayarthach.

"I'll show you after lunch," Zaveanon replied. Desiree smiled brightly.

"Thank you! You're so kind!"

The rest of that day was quiet and filled with research at the library, where they came up frustratingly empty handed. Still, Desiree went to bed that night feeling warm and comfortable.

The following day at lunch, two teenagers she didn't recognise entered the hall. The first was the most beautiful boy Desiree had ever seen, tall and muscular with a mop of messy black hair and the most dazzling emerald green eyes. At his shoulder was a girl who could be pretty if it wasn't for her muscular physique. Both of them had yellowing bruises marring their faces, while the boy had a fading black eye. Desiree remembered a dream she had once flying over a land she didn't know with a man whose face she couldn't see, and recognised now that it was this boy, older and more weathered, but still him. She gazed at them as a red haired boy and another, slightly chubbier boy with dirty blonde hair hurried over to them.

"Who's that?" she asked Zaveanon.

"Yariel and Dorasa. They've been in the infirmary; they were hurt yesterday."

"Doing what?"

Zaveanon shrugged. "No one's said."

Desiree slid to her feet. "I'm going to talk to them."

Zaveanon grabbed her arm. "Those two can be pretty… harsh."

"I can handle it," Desiree replied. This boy was, after all, part of her Great Destiny. She glided across the hall to the boy (and the random people with him) and he stared at her with those piercing emerald eyes. She blushed pink.

"Um. Hi."

"Hi," he grunted.

O, he even sounded beautiful! Desiree smiled shyly. The red haired girl looked her over somewhat critically. "New candidate?"

"Desiree Aimah Flameheart. I'm a candidate for the Queen eggs; I arrived last night."

"Well, yes, so are most of the girls," muttered the girl.

Yariel gave her a soft smile. "Nice to meet you. Do you want to sit with us?"

"Sure!"

They took seats at the end of one of the tables, with Desiree settling on Yariel's left and the other girl on his right.

"So why aren't you with the other girls?" asked the redhead. Do- something Zoveanan had called her.

"Oh, the Weyrleader thought it would be better to keep me apart and let me attend normal lessons. Why aren't you?"

Do (aina? Riso?) frowned. "I'm Yariel's shieldmaiden. Where he goes I go."

"Weird," muttered the red haired boy as Yariel blushed a deep scarlet.

"She was with me in the infirmary. I guess we missed whatever lockdown the Weyrleaders have put in place."

"Such a shame," muttered the girl, breaking a bread roll apart with her fingers.

"So where are you from?" Desiree asked.

"Porret Hold," replied Yariel. The other two boys, Olareslay and Venile, she learnt, were both weyrbred. Olareslay even had three siblings standing at the same Hatching: his two older brothers and younger sister.

"How about you? Where are you from?"

"Well… It's a bit of a long story."

"We've got time to hear it."

And so Desiree told them her tale of woe and mystery, from when she mysteriously woke on the Southern continent with no knowledge of how she ended up there and her fight for survival to her impression of her three beloved firelizards and finally her discovery by a great bronzerider, who brought her here to the Weyr.

"So you have no knowledge at all of where you come from?"

"None," she replied sadly. "I can't remember my parents or family, or where I came from. All I remember is whispers in the wind of my mother's voice."

Do-sumeting frowned. "But you said-"

"I am sure of one thing though, and that's that my destiny – and perhaps my history - lies far from Pern, on Eeayarthach. I'm sure that one day I will find it and remember."

"Right. Good luck with that," drawled Do-somethin.

"I know what it's like to have a destiny," Yariel said in his gentle yet strong voice. "I would be honoured to help you follow yours."

"Yariel."

Destinee beamed. "O, would you?"

"T'would be my honour."

"Yariel!"

She flung her arms around his neck and drew in the familiar and comforting smell of pine. "O, thank you."

He held her close in a familiar and comforting way. She drew away from his arms. "I need to seek out the library for more information."

He stood and took her delicate, slender hand in his, helping her to her feet. "Let us go there then."

Yariel shooed the red haired girl away when she tried to follow. She watched after them with eyes Desiree was sure were only jealous.

Zaveanon and Ermut joined them and they spent all afternoon in the library, conveniently avoiding having to do any inconvenient chores and reading scroll after irrelevant scroll.

"O, how will we ever find any answers here?" Desiree bemoaned, collapsing delicately upon a conveniently placed beanbag.

"Never fear! We have time enough to search! Never back down!" announced Yariel.

He was so dashingly optimistic and useful. Moonbright light trilled from her shoulder, projecting pink-tinged thoughts and lovey emotions.

"Not now Moony," Desiree scolded, scratching her on the head. "Can't you see we're busy?"

Soon enough the afternoon ended and they returned to the hall for supper. Desiree took her new friends to sit with the candidate master while the other candidates filled out around them and cooed over her firelizards. Four new ones had arrived she noticed, a girl and three boys. Three of them were siblings, two of the boys and the girl, while the other boy was the son of their father's new wife. Desiree had a chance to speak to the girl, Brizala, that night, hoping a little for a girl friend (since clearly Do-whateva wasn't forthcoming), but she was weirdly brash and uncomfortably… boyish. She even slipped out that night to be with her brothers.

Eh.

Desiree kinda liked being the centre of attention anyway.