Author's Note

I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

The Weyr was incredible! There were dragons everywhere here, green, blue, brown, bronze, and the four great Queens. In addition, there were firelizards everywhere, the little creatures flitting about all over the island.

And everyone here was so friendly!

No one shouted at her unless she was doing something wrong!

There were full, proper meals everyday!

She had new, good clothes to wear!

Sometimes Annaliessa thought sadly about the forty one point seven six girls she had left behind at the orphanage, but she soon put them out of her mind, thinking only of the great future ahead of her.

There were two great golden eggs on the sand, three if you counted the strange one. Many more of the clutch would be greens, more chances to impress!

Annaliessa was fairly sure she had never been so happy.

Sure, some of the other candidates were a bit… odd, like Yornam with her flock of firelizards who insisted she was born running, Sakura and her sisters who many of the candidates were sure they had seen floating sometimes, Dorasa and her brother who had glowing eyes and matching tempers, and, talking of eyes, Diazaikko-Lovea whose eyes changed colour like dragons depending on how she was feeling.

So yeah.

There were some strange people here.

It was the Weyr though, home of the dragons and the dragonfolk. It was never going to be like at home, where she had to constantly go hungry and care for thirty nine point six younger orphans. She was one of the younger ones here instead of the oldest, and as such had less responsibility than some of the older ones. Sirena also told her that if she didn't impress at this Hatching, she could stay and stand at later Hatchings until she either Impressed or aged out.

She never had to go back to her dull, boring life ever again!

The next girl to arrive was Arwen Raven Nightshade, who was one of the older girls at twenty years old. Like so many of the girls – and Annaliessa herself - she was stunningly beautiful. She wore black and green wherskin that hugged her slender form, showing off her perfect curves. Her hair was as black as deep night with deep green streaks, framing a sharp, beautiful face with a slim nose, thin lips, and almond shaped scarlet red eyes. The air around her always seemed to be colder than the surrounding area.

Dorasa immediately declared her to be a demon from the depths of between, but Annaliessa was a good and sweet girl who liked to think the best of people. She was sure there must have been a good reason for her throwing Indigo and Solaris's belongings out of their chambers and moving her own things in. She probably just misunderstood! Sirena and Kuyaran responded to it by dumping all her things in the Weyrbowl and moving Indigo's back in.

Arwen Raven Nightshade swore a bloody and violent vengeance upon them.

Sirena made her Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight's roommate. Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight accepted that with her usual delicate grace.

Two days letter she was asking to swap out with someone or move in with someone else.

"It's always cold around her. And I keep finding bugs in my bunk and shoes," she confessed to Annaliessa. Annaliessa spoke to Ritilia, who agreed to let her move into their room with them. Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight might be a little odd, but she had a good heart.

Sakura and her sisters and Indigo and her siblings, who had the chambers either side of Arwen Raven Nightshade,, also said the walls they shared with her were always cold, and the firelizards now refused to enter the girls barracks. As, oddly, did Cat and Ket, who switched into the boys' barracks.

"She makes us uncomfortable," one of them said when asked. Annaliessa wasn't sure which one it was. She did feel it was a little unfair though. Arwen Raven Nightshade made all of them uncomfortable, and they didn't all get to move out to the boys' quarters.

The candidates were arriving slower now, though they were still being brought in. As of right now there were twenty five girls and forty three boys.

"For any other clutch there would be more than enough candidates now. But with seventy eggs, we don't even have enough for all the eggs out there, even counting us girls in the number," Sirena said.

"Doesn't help that the candidates keep dying," Kuyaran replied. "The other Weyrs are wary to send us their help."

"We can manage by ourselves; we don't need their help," snapped Revina. Sirena sighed.

"It would make things easier though. Dragons must impress, and we don't have enough candidates."

"Can't we help?" Annaliessa asked. She was a kind and helpful girl, and she didn't want to see dragons die because there wasn't anyone there to Impress.

"No. The dragons must choose suitable candidates, and they come from outside the Weyr, on the mainland."

Annaliessa sighed heavily. "So there's nothing we can do?"

"No. Mother will make sure we have enough candidates, one way or another."

The next candidates to arrive were sixteen year old Kimberlee Livane Passion, her younger brothers Imijin and Milenin, and her best friend Donerlay. Kimberlee was nice enough, even if everything she did was better than Annaliessa in every way. She could run faster, climb higher, answer every question asked, and backflip like six feet (which was pretty awesome). Since the twins were now rooming with the boys, she took their room.

She shared Annaliessa's heart and love for adventure and action, merrily agreeing to join her in exploring and climbing the cliffs of the island. Donerlay came with them as well, although he seemed to be afraid of everything and constantly tripping over. He was funny though, and said the silliest things. His runt brown firelizard, Fuss, spent most of his time crawling under his jacket.

Kimberlee's younger brothers, meanwhile, were terrors on two legs. If Annaliessa took all forty three point eight of the small children she cared for at the orphanage, put all their ability to make trouble into two beings and then tripled their intelligence, they…

Yeah, they still wouldn't be anywhere near Imijin and Milenin. Those boys were a force of destruction. On the day of their arrival they tried to create a device that would cut the vegetables for them, which got them banned from the kitchen. Today they had managed to steal an agonthee sprayer and tried to make it cover a greater distance. They made it… explode. Somehow.

Annaliessa was not a fan of Imijin and Milenin.

Neither was Kimberlee.

Nor was she a fan of Arwen Raven Nightshade, who she developed an almost instant animosity/competition/weirdly sexually suggestive relationship with. Annaliessa decided it wasn't really her place to ask about it.

The next set of candidates arrived in the middle of the night, the noise from outside the room waking Annaliessa.

"Be quiet, the other girls are sleeping," she heard Sirena's voice say.

"Other girls? I'm expected to share space like a commoner?"

"Here at Sunspyre everyone shares."

"Ugh. Which room is mine?"

"You can share here with Kimberlee."

Annaliessa rolled over and went back to sleep.

She met the new girls in the morning. There were two of them: Azizelia and Baliose. Azizelia was a former drudge, and much of her life and plight sounded so like Annaliessa's own that she immediately befriended the girl. Baliose, on the other hand, was a Ranking girl, the daughter of a Lord, and her beauty was only skin deep. At twenty one years old, she was the oldest of the female candidates, and seemed to believe that should give her special privaliges, demanding the younger ones bring her breakfast in bed instead of going to the hall. She also demanded help with dressing – at twenty one! – which Kimberlee, good soul she was, gave her.

"But there'll be no one to help you as a dragonrider," she warned her.

"Oh nonsense!" was Baliose's reply.

Annaliessa was a good and sweet girl who tried hard to see the best in everyone, but she couldn't find it in Baliose. She was vain, shallow and petty.

Still, it didn't matter. Sirena said they got girls like her all the time, and she was surprised there wasn't more because of the Queen egg. "They never impress. Dragons need you to open your heart and love them, but all she has is love for herself."

"Oh, I like that evaluation," said Indigo wryly.

Azizelia was like the anti-Baliose. She was a sweet, kind girl who offered help whenever and wherever she thought she could and should. Annaliessa felt a little sorry for her having to share Arwen Raven Nightshade's room. Azizelia cheerfully said she didn't mind. Since her presence seemed to brighten up any room she entered, maybe it would counteract Arwen Raven Nightshade's dark, cold one.

They could hope.

The Weyr was different, and it was exciting. Sure, there were bad things about it, like the candidates dying, and that scary man, and Baliose and that new boy who just arrived and kept pushing everyone around, but there were much more good things, like her new friends, and the dragons, and the prospect of her own dragon.

Annaliessa had never been so happy in her whole entire life