Disclaimer: the Dragonriders of Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey. The characters, the planet Iris and any races native to it are mine.

Pressing her back against the slightly thorny bark of the kithra tree she was standing in-- at one of the massive branches about midway up its trunk, Shri sighed as she looked over at the next tree, which didn't seem to have any of its branches within reach from her current position. Well, that meant that she would have to go looking for one, an effort she had wished that she could have avoided.

Particulary in this area with all the kithra trees, she was already bleeding from a lot of tiny wounds caused by the thorns, and now her back certainly didn't feel much better. Now, would it be best to go up or down?

Above there was several promising branches stretching out towards trees closer to the wild forest where she hoped to find some of the youngling iridescent, and perhaps, if she was lucky, convince one of them to become her companion. But the specks of orange-red among the dark leafs made it clear that going up was not a good idea, vicious creatures such as the karin birds would be up there to feed off the suggary substance produced by the flowers.

While looking like tiny, two-legged iridescents, the karin birds were only animals, but they had a vicious and poisonous bite that lead to bad infections-- and especially now in the late spring when their poison glands were full so they could protect eggs and hatchlings.

So that meant going down was the safest option, if a rather unpleasant one as well.

Pulling a hand through her very short hair, the young irisian's green eyes narrowed slightly as she walked outwards at the branch, carefully judging the distance from that one to the one below and deciding the exact spot to aim for. Certainly her race had adapted for life in the irisian trees during the millenia that had passed since their human ancestors first settled at the planet, but their bodies still had their limitations, and the lack of wings often made a miscalculated jump fatal.

"Well, if I'm lucky, I may have access to a 'borrowed' set of wings in a few months from now" she mumbled to herself, leaning slightly forwards before diving from the branch-- using her elongated limbs for balance as she dropped towards her target.

Within seconds, she reached the branch several meters below, and with a twist of her body, she grabbed hold on a thinner branch with a foot and a hand-- before swinging up to move to a sturdier part. From here, things would be slightly easier as there was a mass of wines winding around the trunk of the tree, but there was still several tens of meters till she would reach a place where she could get over to the next tree.

Besides, the mere thought of going that close to the ground made her nervous-- predators such as the mist cats and various ground-bound ones often lurked close to the base of trees, hoping to catch young or injured animals venturing too close to the ground.

While she couldn't sense any threats in the immediate area, that didn't mean that there wasn't any, while this wasn't mist cat territory, some wandering young ones could be as clever as older adults when it came to telepathically hiding themselves.

More than once, people from her community had been killed, most recently a young man who had gone in the same class as her at school. And like her, he had gone out in hope of being able to attract a iridescent as his companion-- the challenge that was open to all teens from their sixteenth birthday.

Quickly looking around for any signs of mist, a clue that a mist cat might be in the process of teleporting in to attack, Shri shuddered before she quickly continued down the tree. That was really the worse, knowing that the creatures could just appear out of nowhere without warning to take a person, sometimes from as far as a hundred meters away-- which was just out of range of her senses.

No, she better stop thinking about that, too much fear was never a good thing out here close to the wild parts of the forest.

Then the ground came into view, while not usually directly visible due to the smaller plants and vines covering it, there was the occational patch of brown-- rotting vegetation and dirt, or places where one of the trees of the forest had fallen. However, the smell was what Shri noticed first, and she wrinkled her nose, a mix of rotting things and the rather pungent odour of certain ground flowers was far from pleasant.

/And that's a even better reason not to stay around/ she thought to herself, moving out at a branch that seemed like it would allow her to pass over to the next tree, from where it hopefully wouldn't be such a hassle to get to the next after that.

Her feet registering a slight shudder in the branch she was standing on, Shri froze and her eyes widened as she heard a slight rustle behind her, feathers moving as their owner shook itself. Running was not an option, and standing with her back against whatever it was certainly wasn't either, so she turned around.

Cold, predatory eyes that still contained a unmistakeable intelligence, glittered in greens and yellows as their owner looked down at Shri, titling its head back and forth as it seemed to be studying her. Next she noticed its feathers, whose main color was a rich cobalt blue tipped with gold and a emerald green center, and then the wings which shifted in obvious agitation.

Is safe, the iridescent said, white teeth showing briefly as he lowered his head to sniff at Shri-- perhaps still not sure whether to see her as a fellow sapient being or prey, there's something new in the forest. Resembles us distantly, but larger and different-- fell from the sky..won't like much longer...there is also one resembling you..

Unlike irisians, iridescents spoke in emotions and images(although the older ones often learned words from their irisian partners), and while Shri had taken a while learning their way of speaking before going out to search, it took her a little time to make any sense of what the young one standing in front of her was saying.

From what she understood though, some kind of winged creature had fallen from the sky, it had then tumbled downwards in the forest for several tens of meters before its fall was stopped by the branches of a uelsa tree.

"How far is it, can you show me?" Shri asked, carefully forming the appropriate images and emotions in her mind to make sure that the young iridescent understood, then she took a step backwards, hoping that she had understood correctly that he wanted her to do something about it.

Yesss, they don't belong here. Come.

With that, the male iridescent turned his side to Shri and looked at her, irisians are so slow, too much so when flying is faster. Is almost fully grown and I have often carried younger siblings, you're no heavier. Ride like this.

Then he communicated an image of how Shri was to ride by laying along his back, using her arms to hold on to his neck and her feet to hold his tail-- an awkward position, but one that would make riding possible without interfering with his wings too much.

Still, Shri was hesitant as she climbed onto the iridescent's back, knowing very well that even experienced iridescent companions rarely rode unless there was an emergency, and then they used a light harness that kept them from falling. There was also the fact that iridescents weren't all that large, and carrying a rider could soon tire even the strongest ones when flying.

You need not worry, I'll only jump/glide from tree to tree. Will still be much faster though, the iridescent said proudly, telling Shri several times to adjust her position until it was the least uncomfortable for him.

My youngling pack, over with the accident, says that No Feather is with young. The one resembling you is badly wounded too, but near awake and afraid.

Before Shri got a chance to ask for details, the iridescent jumped for the next tree, that movement and the jerk as he spread his wings almost causing her to loose her grip, she did manage to hold on though-- gripping her 'mount's' neck and tail as hard as she dared.

-888-

By the time they reached the place which the iridescent had told her about, Shri's arms and legs were aching horribly, and while there came no complains from him, she suspected that the iridescent felt the same. Giving himself a shake once Shri had dismounted, the iridescent arched his neck as he indicated the scene in front of them with a movement of his wings, as if she could have avoided seeing.

Cradled by two massive branches, there was a huge dragon-like creature with golden-tawny hide, one of its wings was hanging limply straight down while the other had been mostly torn off. There was also a green liquid staining its tawny hide and coming from its numerous wounds, was that the creature's blood?

Suddenly she noticed movement by the draconics shoulders, and looking up, she couldn't keep back her surprise when seeing a female human laying limply on top of the draconic.

Back at school, she had seen pictures and drawings of the ancestors of the irisians-- sent by the academies in the larger cities where they still had contact with the rest of the intergalactic society, but seeing a living one was a different matter. So ungraceful and heavy of build when compared to her own kind, Shri thought, keeping her senses alert as she moved closer.

The offworld(that seemed most likely to her) draconic seemed to be roughly 50 feet long if her judgement was correct, and a creature that size could do a lot of damage if it suddenly decided to trash around. It didn't seem to be awake now, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't wake if it sensed that she was approaching..

We are holding her, it is safe, said one of the youngling iridescents, a white-bellied bronze female whose feathers were dusted with red, you need to help the rider now. The No Feathers we do not know what to do with, the young within her mostly died in the fall..

Shri sighed, hoping that she could trust the young iridescents assurances of that they held the alien draconic telepathically, they were young and a bit inexperienced-- and the minds of offworld beings could be quite strange at times. It still was her responsibility to try to help though, as while she couldn't judge the injuries from this distance, the rider was obviously still alive-- probably the body of the draconic had shielded her during the fall..

"Let me know if it's going to move" she asked, looking back at the female iridescent who had spoken to her.

We will, no worries, the male who had fetched her said, turning his head to nuzzle the slightly smaller rainbow-colored female standing beside him, one will catch you if you fall.

To the touch, the hide of the alien draconic was warm and almost suade-like, muscles trembling slightly under Shri's hands and feet as she climbed up its side to reach it's rider. But other than that, there was no alarming movements, and the rider didn't appear too lucid either as Shri used a knife to cut loose the leather straps holding the rider secure at the creatures neck.

I don't think the poor draconic have much of a chance, moving it is certainly out of the question. What did you say about the young though?" Shri asked, slowly getting the rider down with the assistance of one of the iridescents. Chittering amongst themselves, the iridescents took a while before one of them turned to answer, we sense two, possibly three live young within her, they were not crushed in the fall like the others. They are not unharmed, but may be old enough to be taken out of mother's belly..

One of the younglings approached the offworld draconic to poke experimentally at its belly with his talons, then he snorted and made a shallow cut, dying inside egg and mother, bad way. Least we can do is to make it quick.

The others communicated their agreement, several going to assist the male, and Shri quickly looked away as she made sure that the offworld rider was laying comfortably, hopefully the woman couldn't sense anything of what was done with her dragon. And a short while later, she sensed the iridescents removing the potentially still viable eggs, then came the crashing sounds as they pushed the body off the branches and let it fall. Perhaps it was not the proper way to treat the body of a being that might have been sapient, but trying to move it would have been far too much of a hassle.

Most likely the body would have attracted far too many predators by the time it could have been moved to a more suitable burrial site anyway.

Come and look, touching Shri's shoulder with his nose, the blue male directed her attention to the three eggs they had dug out of the mother's belly-- all were quite large and mottled, although the exact colors was difficult to see beneath the green stuff covering them. Several of the young iridescents were also covered by the same stuff, and after deciding that they couldn't stand its taste, they gave up on trying to lick it off their feathers and took off-- probably flying to bathe in the nearest stream or small lake.

Feeling a slight thrill as the blue male walked beside her over to the eggs, Shri glanced at him, not sure if she dared hope or not. Iridescents didn't always make it clear right away when they considering choosing a irisian companion, so she could only wait, and hope that the young male would tell her his name-- thus leaving no doubt that he had chosen her.

Upon inspecting the eggs for damage, Shri found that one of them was cracked slightly in some areas, but the shell and inner membrane seemed like it would hold, although the risk of bacterial infection was still there. Irisians and the other lifeforms at Iris were though and had easily survived offworld illnesses before, but how the bacteria and microbes of the planet could affect the draconics in the eggs, that was a serious danger.

You will take them back to your community, babies have no place in a youth pack. Adults and companions from your home are on their way, the blue male informed her, his eyes glittering as he watched the eggs over her shoulder. Actually, now when he stood so close, Shri also noticed tiny flecks of white among the other colors of his plumage-- making a nice addition.

Move aside the adults say, coming to care for the rider and look at the eggs. Doctor is with them.

Sniffing at Shri again, the blue male gave her a light nudge, wanting to know if she had anything good to eat with her-- once the companion of an adult iridescent had given him some marinated meat.

"I don't have anything like that, I'm sorry" Shri said, "when young people like me go out to search, we're supposed to live off what we can find in the forest. You probably won't like the sugar cubes my mother gave me before I left either".

Taking the idea of what sugar cubes was from her mind, the iridescent thought for a few moment, then his upper lip curled in distaste, sweet things? Noooo..

She started towards the base of the branch she was standing on, but suddenly the iridescent's wing got in her way, and turning slightly-- she found herself looking into his eyes, the green/yellow orbs glittering as they watched her.

Mist swirling over water and the moist ground, dark and almost ominous/flash of sun from above/shining through the mist and flickering across the ground/all becoming brighter. Sun-in-mist...Sunmist? Mistsun? Suinsst? Miesun?

Caught in the sudden and powerful mind-to-mind contact with the iridescent as he studied her personality and then spoke his name followed by the much simpler versions, Shri staggered, only faintly registering that the blue moved close to steady her and keep her from falling.

But more importantly, she knew beyond doubt that the young iridescent had chosen her as its rider.