Disclaimer: I don't own the world of Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

On the Hatching sands of the Weyr,

Among hides of brown and green,

Hidden behind blues and bronzes,

Rises glorious one golden queen.

Chapter Six: Brown Surprise

Three of the young women instantly tried to attract the attention of the queen, racing to get to her head, but she knocked them aside, spilling them left and right. Then a tentative blond tried to Impress her, and was hissed at.

Yria saw the ugly, overlarge head swing toward her, and met the rainbow eyes with her own.

Then, in a swift movement, an imperious and self-important girl reached out lightly and touched the dragonet's neck, diverting the queen's chosen Impression. Their eyes met, and Impression was made. "Oh, I know, Cairith. Let's get you some food, shall we?" she asked.

Yria watched them go, trying to decide whether to feel angry over the interference, relieved because her plan would still work or sorrowful at the loss of a dragon. She had almost Impressed! Then that girl had to force the Impression away, in her favor!

Do not be sad! a voice told her, at the same time as a brown dragonet butted at the back of her knees, causing her to sit down sharply. The dragonet walked unsteadily around until their faces were on the same level. I am Diaath, he said. And I am hungry! he added.

And so she became the first person in the history of Pern to Impress a dragon whose gender was opposite hers.

But, really, what did it matter that the gleaming wet hide was brown, not a shimmering gold?

What did it matter that Diaath was a male, when his rider was female?

"Alright, Diaath. Let's get you fed," Yria sighed, kneeling to scratch her dragons' ears

000

"A brown dragon with a girl for a rider?"

"-never been a female brown rider, not even when females could Impress dragons; they always were paired with greens, like young Mirrim! And greens are female also!"

"Her Diaath is so large, he could be a bronze!"

These were only some of the grievances heard of in Hold, Weyr and Crafthall over the next few months, as the first male-female dragon and rider pairing was heard of throughout Pern. Through it all, Yria stayed firm to the Impression, and learned many useful things about dragons, riders and other Weyrfolk.

She had a very small house to herself, a small, unused Weyrling barracks, because she was female, which did not seem to register to Diaath. They had Impressed, just like any other dragon and rider pair, so why were they treated differently? Other things she had to explain were the necessity of privacy, which the dragons did not seem to have a use for.

000

Yria had grown up; she was now about nineteen Turns old; indeed, her brown was a mere few sevendays away from being told to fly against Thread and they had moved to a proper weyr in Nais.

Sh'voal's Avaelath had not risen to mate until now, four Turns after her hatching, and two after the inadvertent Impression of Yria –whose true identity was no longer a secret- and Diaath. Often Sh'voal had dreams –nightmares, really- of the outcome of his green's mating flight. Though he knew he would likely come to love the rider of the dragon who flew his dragon, but loving another male was a strange idea to him.

Avaelath was, as all greens, unable to lay eggs from her long defense of Pern by flaming with fire stone. As all the dragons of her color, though, she still flew to mate every few Turns. She was quite due for her first mating flight, that Sh'voal had been dreading. But, at last, she did rise.

Sh'voal and his green Avaelath were lounging on the Star Stones. The four-Turn-old dragon seemed agitated, but she could give no apparent reason for it when her rider asked. Almost falling asleep, Sh'voal became aware that the emerald creature was shuddering slightly. Then, without warning, she stood, unfurling her wings and dislodging the human leaning against her forepaw.

She gave a great cry, and the green rider got to his feet. "Avaelath, no! Where are…" his voice trailed off as realization struck. She was gliding down swiftly to the feeding grounds, where she killed a fat buck, and sucked the animal dry of blood. Then she dispatched a wherry, sucking its lifeblood too. Avaelath kept all other dragons at bay as she drank, mystifying her rider by her greed.

Then, like the sudden cold of between, it hit Sh'voal. His green sucking blood, glowing almost, and-

with a roar that echoed around the Weyr, the dragon took off, flying as she had never before, and her helpless rider's mind was drawn with her. He had just enough of his mind left to feel some other dragon and rider bringing him down into the Weyr to find the outcome of his and his dragons' first mating flight.

And suddenly Sh'voal, though it was more Avaelath who realized it, why kind fate had given Yria a brown dragon while he Impressed a green.

A green who might be caught by the young woman's brown. The brown of the woman, who, if he was honest with himself, he loved. How kind was fate to bring him this gift!

000

Yria sensed –no- she felt- her large brown dragon rise into the air. She stopped, and let the dish she was washing slide into the sink. Avaelath and Diaath? A mating flight? She dashed out and onto the Weyr Bowl, racing to be with Sh'voal, because he would need her support the support of a friend.

But no, she realized as she slowed to avoid crashing into the green rider. Not a friend, now. Now, as their dragons fell together, now the rider of his dragons' mate. Now his weyrmate, she realized as they were escorted to the man's weyr before passion fully overcame them.

000

Slowly, cautiously, Yria opened her eyes. She met Sh'voal's, who carefully, slowly, almost timidly reached over in his bed to brush away a few strands of hair from her face. A look on his face, as if afraid he might frighten her yet still loving and tender, made the sole female brown rider catch her breath. Carefully, she put her own hand on his as it rested on her cheek, also a bit unsure.

"Yria- I- I'm sorry. I never meant-" he stopped, then went on. "But I think, even… even if my Avaelath hadn't-" he cut short the whisper, then took a deep breath, which seemed odd in a man lying down. "Yria, I-" she put her hand against his mouth.

"I know. I- I think it's all right," the brown rider said. "Right?" she asked anxiously.

His relieved smile behind her fingers and his eyes told her everything she needed to know about how very different their friendship would be from now on.