Disclaimer: the Dragonriders of Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey.

Sevendays later, B'riin had gotten quite used to life as a weyrling. Of-course things weren't easy, there was a quickly growing and very active dragonet to feed and otherwise care for, all of which had to be done manually. In addition to that, came the various lessons and the chores throughout the Weyr, that didn't exactly leave him with much free time either.

He had even gotten used to eating meat. It was the matter of that he worked a lot harder and it hadn't taken him long to realize that his body just wasn't getting what it needed on the more basic diet of the pernese without animal flesh, neither did he had to answer awkward questions all the time. Still, he had to admit that he was a bit squeamish about the whole thing, the stronger-tasting meat still left him feeling a bit unwell.

Not that a slight inconvenience such as that wasn't a small price to pay considering what he had gained though.

Either way, his days usually ended with more or less stumbling into the barracks after enjoying a short talk with his friends, to promptly fall to sleep once he had safetly placed himself on his bunk. Sometimes he managed to exchange a few words with Tolaketh, but that was more the exception than the rule, as the young brown was usually sound asleep by the time he made it to his bed.

And today is no different, B'riin thought as he entered the room he shared with several other weyrlings, after having said good night to his friends. With a tired smile, he then looked over at Tolaketh, as the dragonets had grown, he and the other weyrlings had moved the couches to one side of the room-- while their bunks was on the other. That way there was a wide 'corridor' where the young dragons could move about without accidentally knocking over anything, and they were still close enough to their riders to see and smell them if any should wake up during the night.

Undressing to his undergarments and getting into his bunk, B'riin took a last look at his dragon before he extingushed the candle he had brought with him from the common room. Closing his eyes, he did his best to ignore the complaints of tired muscles, and was soon asleep.

00000000

:You have to wake up, B'riin. Something isn't right...:

B'riin muttered, still half asleep and he certainly didn't want to wake up. He was so very tired, couldn't whatever it was wait until tomorrow...

:Wake up! They say that a dragon from Southern Weyr just arived, something very large fell down close to the Hold. I don't understand what, but they are upset, there's something strange about everything!:

Seconds later, B'riin had no choice but to wake up, as Tolaketh did his best to pull his rider off the bunk. Then he opened his eyes to look up at Tolaketh, the brown's eyes whirling with reds and yellows, clearly speaking of how upset he was.

"Sssh, I'm awake, relax" he said, freeing himself from the dragonet's grasp, stroking the head-knobs in an attempt to calm him. Right now, he doubted that he would be able to get any useful information out of the young brown, but something was clearly happening-- he could hear a great number of dragons vocalize all over the Weyrbowl.

B'riin told the dragonet to stay inside the barracks, and with the brown walking just behind him, he walked out of the room. It wasn't really surprising to see several of his friends out there too, some with dragonets trailing after them. And repeating to Tolaketh that he was not to follow him outside, B'riin nodded to Venaket and L'grehn before they moved towards the main exit.

Immediately, his eyes widened in surprise at the sight that met him. All around the dark walls of the bowl, there were red and yellow lights, and it took him a moment to realize that it was the eyes of most of the dragons in the Weyr. Upset by something, they had came out on their ledges, and some had even taken to the air-- hovering above while they made sure that a patch of ground was clear for them to land on.

"What by the first egg is going on!"

Stopping beside him, Venaket gazed around with a anxious look at her face. Then she suddenly gave him a light poke before pointing out the Weyrleader and the Weyrwoman, speaking with a rider that B'riin couldn't recognize. Obviously that one had to be the rider from Southern that Tolaketh had said brought the news that had caused the unexpected uproar in the middle of the night.

"I have no...", B'riin didn't finish as he hurried forwards, intercepting the Weyrlingmaster.

"Excuse me, sir. But our dragons woke us up, something upset them, but they couldn't really understand. What is going on?"

Looking up, and then back at B'riin and the others, the Weyrlingmaster pulled a hand through her greying hair.

"You three should really get back to the barracks, to care for your dragonets. I can tell you as much as that something very large has fallen close to Southern Hold, big enough to cause a bit of an earthquake I heard. That's all I have heard through, through Craichalth, so back to the barracks all of you. If I see any of you back outside till I have spoken to the Weyrleader and Weyrwoman, all it will gain you is additional chores to the end of the turn".

With an affirmative nod, B'riin glanced after the Weyrlingmaster as she continued on her way over to the leaders of the Weyr, then he turned on his heal to head back to the barracks. If there was anything he had learned not to do, it was to go against anything the Weyrlingmaster told him. At times, she had made him want to sink into the ground, but she was fair most of the time-- and certainly a good teacher.

Something that worried him though, was the object that had fallen. He really didn't know enough about what had happened, but the pernese knew a bit about meteors, asteroids and such, certainly the Weyrlingmaster would have mentioned it if it had been any of that.

So what was it?