Author's Note

I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern.

The last week had been blissfully quiet where it came to big events. Sure, there were arguments and fights amongst the candidates, often caused by either his cousin Dudlen and the three boys who had started following him round as lackies. Yariel himself could remember being chased round Porret Hold and courtyard as a child in what Dudlen and his parents called a game until he was caught and beaten to a pulp.

Fun times.

Still, Dudlen knew better than to bother him now, not when he broke his wrists the last time. Yariel stepped in when he saw him picking on any the smaller boys, not that it ever seemed to deter his cousin.

"Let's face it baby brother, our dear cousin just isn't that bright," Dorasa said one bright afternoon after Yariel had driven him away from bullying (or trying to) Kederlon, a young weyrbred boy.

"Let him learn the hard way and have someone else ring his head."

"It's not him that bothers me. I just can't leave him to bully others like that. It's not right."

Mia laughed. "So it's your saving people thing then?"

"Something like that."

"He's always had this saving people thing," Mia explained for Venile, a weyrbred boy she had befriended. Dorasa shook her head.

"I get it. We protect people, that's what we do. Even if it's only from Dudlen."

Yariel smiled. "Thank you."

They made their way down to the beach. No one else was down there today and it was quiet and empty. They set up their blanket and basket on the sand.

"Last one to the water's a wherry," Dorasa called, stripping off her boots, tunic and trews. Mia blushed scarlet and turned away. Yariel pulled off his own gear.

"You coming?"

"Uh…" Venile mumbled as Dorasa splashed into the water.

"Come on!"

Yariel jogged to join his sister. The water was cold, stinging his skin. He splashed to a deeper area and dove into the water. Venile followed a moment later, keeping a careful distance from them. Mia stayed on the beach for a good ten minutes before Dorasa dragged her in.

They spent a good hour swimming and splashing in the water. Glimmer, Marvel, Sal and Ric swooped and dived about above them, darting down to skim over the water and pulling up again with glistening wet wings.

They settled on the sand when Mia and Venile began to get tired. Dorasa opened the basket and passed round canteens of water and sweet rolls. The four firelizards fluttered around them, chirping hopefully and hungrily. Yariel broke sections from his rolls and fed his demanding companions, while Dorasa did the same with hers. Mia offered food to all four of them. They snatched it eagerly from her fingers. She grinned and scratched Glimmer's head. The little Queen trilled happily.

"Do you really think we could Impress one of the Queen dragons?" she asked.

"Everyone has a chance," Venile said.

"I don't know if I want a Queen," Dorasa muttered, but Mia and Venile didn't notice. It would be too perfect though, if Dorasa Impressed one of the young Queens and Mia the other. Yariel was pretty sure they had never been that lucky. Bad luck seemed to follow them around.

"Some people must have a better chance than others though. Like Sirena says Baliose doesn't have a chance at all."

"Dragons don't often choose people who can't love them, if they're selfish or just outright nasty."

"Dudlen," Mia muttered.

"But they choose who they choose. Sometimes it's obvious with some candidates, like if they can speak to all dragons, or have mental gifts, but sometimes not. The dragons chooses, the rider obeys."

Glimmer climbed up onto Mia's head and perched there in her bushy hair. Yariel gazed out across the water. What would happen if the girls Impressed and he didn't, he wondered? Or if it was the other way round? He came here for Dorasa, but what if he Impressed and she didn't and he had to leave her behind?

The thought made his stomach churn. Marvel chirped worriedly. He scratched his head. There were seventy one eggs on those sands. There had to be one for him. And if there wasn't, he could wait.

A wind swept over them as a large gold dragon passed overhead and wheeled lazily round to come down for a landing. She was bigger than most of the other dragons Yariel had seen, though he judged that she was smaller than Nareth, the brooding Queen on the sands. The rider was a tall, weatherbeaten woman with brown hair streaked by grey and deep creases in her face. The four candidates stood to meet her. Yariel, Venile and Dorasa bowed to the great dragon, while Mia curtsied neatly.

"Uh, this is Queenrider Lannai," Venile stammered.

"Good afternoon Queenrider."

"Good afternoon. Mind if we join you?"

"Will we be bothering you?" Mia asked anxiously.

"Of course not. The beach is for everyone. Desuneth just likes the water."

The gold had waded into the waves and was bathing in them. Ric, Sal, Glimmer and Marvel darted here and there about her head, splashing water over her glistening hide.

"Yours?" asked Lannai.

"Mine are the Queen and the brown. The bronzes are Dorasa's," Yariel replied. The dragon flapped at the firelizards with one wing, happily dipping her head under the water.

"She's beautiful," Dorasa murmured.

"Would you like to help bathe her?"

They did, swimming out to the great dragon and washing the dirt and muck from her golden hide. Glimmer, Sal, and Ric helped out, but Marvel had long since decided he liked divebombing people much better. The Queen, Desuneth, attempted to shoo him away, flapping at him with one great wing. Marvel trilled with delight at this new game.

The great golden Queen was huge and took them an hour to wash. Being that she looked smaller than Nareth, Yariel wondered how long it must take for Weyrwoman Jalenna to bathe and oil her dragon.

"She's so big," Mia said. Lannai laughed.

"Desuneth is small for a Queen. They're the biggest dragons on Pern, and it takes hard work to care for them. What colour are you standing for?"

"Gold or Green, I don't mind," Mia replied.

"I'd be happy with any colour," Dorasa murmured, watching a huge bronze fly overhead, accompanied by a much smaller blue.

"That's the spirit we want! You keep that attitude when you're on the sands. The Weyr needs all the dragon colours to function, not just the Queens and bronzes. A lot of candidates forget that you know. And dragons must always Impress."

Yariel nodded quietly. One of the first things R'ton had taught them was what happened to dragonets who failed to Impress on the sands. That was why it was such a concern they still didn't have enough candidates. Yariel had heard rumours that they were going to open it up to younger and older weyrbrats to try and make up some of the numbers.

Speaking of numbers, they were crossing the weyrbowl just in time to see a brown and a green dragon sweep down for a landing. The two riders helped their three passengers dismount and unload their trunks.

"New candidates?" called Dorasa.

"Can we leave them with you?" asked the brown rider.

"Sure. We'll take them back to the barracks."

The two boys and one girl looked to be in their early teens and were similar enough that they were obviously siblings. The two boys were identical, while the girl shared their dark hair and eyes and facial structure. They introduced themselves as Darunican, Ilisandora, and Squiglerusay. Venile frowned at the last one. "Did- Did your parents hate you?"

Mia shook her head. "Let me guess, they threw in a bit of everyone they or you might possibly inherit from?"

One of the boys, Darunican or Squiglerusay, shook their head. "Worse. Our parents were big history and hero buffs. They threw in part of pretty much ever famous rider, harper, healer, or hero they could think of."

"Oh, so it's Daru as in Lidarun, the red pox Healer?"

"Yup."

"You three must have had a rough childhood."

"You have no idea."

"I'm Yariel, this is my sister Dorasa."

The three stared at them.

"Wait for it," murmured Dorasa.

"You-"

"Don't do it," said Yariel.

"You're the Prophesised Ones!"

"And we're off," Dorasa said.

"But you two are actual heroes!"

"Yup."

"What are you doing here?"

"Standing as candidates, same as you. Can we move on from this topic of conversation?"

"Sorry, I just… I thought…"

"Candidate barracks are this way."

Indigo, Katsu, and Solaris met the newcomers with squeals of excitement.

"Indigo?"

"Darunican?"

"Katsu? Solaris!"

"Ilisandora!"

"Squiggle!"

Since they seemed to know each other, they left them to talk and get settled and returned to the weyrbowl. Dorasa nudged him. "Admit it, you were getting as sick of all this as I was."

"I'm still waiting for you to be kidnapped again," he admitted.

"That's what I have the sword for baby brother."

"Your swordsmanship hasn't stopped it the last four times."

"One of those times I was like twelve, and another was by literal darkness. How was I meant to stab literal shadows?"

"It'd be nice to be normal for a bit."

"Yeah."

Except nothing about them had ever been normal. They'd never even had a shot at a normal life. Yariel was nine when he was called away on his first quest, and how was he ever meant to live a normal life after that?

He stopped Dudlen from bullying a pair of small children to try and take his mind off things, but he was still thinking on it when he closed his eyes to sleep that night.