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

Chapter Two: First Meeting of Two Worlds

A tan-gold runnerbeast plodded steadily over the sandy ground while his rider kept her eyes down on the sands, searching for fire lizard nests. Several day's ride behind her she knew that she had escaped the smelly but necessary job of boiling numbweed. Their three ships had landed at this piece of Southern two days before. It was a good spot to find the smelly plant, and it flourished so far from any settlement.

The young woman tried to keep her mind on the clutches, but something kept distracting her- the new clutch of eggs at the Weyr.

A grin brightened Virika's face as she recalled what her mother had said: "My own mother was a gold rider, and my father was her queen's bronze's rider. Your grandmother, my father's mother, was a queen rider also, and my sister is now a green rider and my brother is a brown rider at Benden itself! Rider blood is in out family, so when your old enough and any Weyr Searches, you are very likely to be chosen. So keep your hopes up."

Yes, there was Weyr blood in her family, so she had a good chance of being Searched and of Impressing either a queen or, now that girl were allowed to ride the smallest of the dragons as well as the biggest, a green. She had once Impressed a fire lizard, though he had been caught by a wherry some weeks back That must count as something!

She sighed. Fire lizards were fine. But to Impress a dragon, to fight Thread, to ride one of the mighty defenders of the world- to, perhaps, even become a Weyrwoman…

But she was a sensible young woman, and knew quite well that there were older and more experienced queenriders out in Pern who had a better chance of becoming Weyrwomen.

Still… she could always imagine and hope.

It was nearly sunse. She cut off her daydreaming and laid out her things for night. She ate travel rations from her saddlebags and lay back under the stars.

000

Then next morning she packed up, saddled her gold-brown gelding Dragonracer and moved out. Near midday she stopped in a sandy cove to eat a cold meal, lost in thought.

If she didn't find a clutch soon she might have to go back the way she had come empty handed, and her people were counting on her to bring them the little creatures to replace the messengers they had lost. Dragonracer tossed his head and snorted. Virika patted his neck to calm him and swung onto the runnerbeast's back. With a scream, at the same time as a shadow passed over them, he reared and threw her off his back, close to several large, weathered slabs of rock.

Dazed, she heard him gallop off down the beach in terror. Then the sound of a large creature dropping lightly out of the sky from leathery wings to the sand and of Dragonracer falling over. Virika sat up and turned, confused.

Crouched beside her, with her runnerbeast galloping down the beach, glaring at her with large, orange eyes was a human-sized, pale-gold queen dragon.

000

Kilatch heard the runnerbeast, and licked her lips– she was very hungry. It was nice when food came to her.

The gold dragon-woman didn't even look at the beast fully; she only dived out of the sky and it bolted, rearing and throwing something large off its back before it did so. She twisted and fell to the sand in a croush, for only then did she see that it was a human girl, now lying next to her clutch of eggs.

With a screech she launched herself at the child, then stopped, her wings half unfurled as she poised to take to the skies. The fear in the little human's face stopped her in her tracks. From behind the rock slabs Kilatch liked to lay on Satch leapt, and landed so close to the eggs that Kilatch cried out, too fearful to realize that no dragon person would ever harm the future of their race.

"My clutch!"

The little human started, and looked at the eggs suddenly, only then realizing what they were. But she had heard, and more importantly, understood what the dragon-woman had cried in anguish.

"My eggs– don't hurt my eggs!" pleaded Kilatch, gesturing to Satch to back off. The bronze dragon-man did, with a growl, and crouched, his wings unfolding slightly in his tension. The queen stretched her hands out to the human girl in a gesture of pleading and worry. "Please…" whispered Kilatch, feeling tears in her eyes as the human girl looked at the eggs

000

Virika could see that the bronze dragon-human meant to kill her as soon as she left the near-dozen eggs. (she hadn't time to count.) She could also see that the queen was immobilized from her fear that she would harm the eggs. It was so strange to hear words in her own language spoken from such a strange creature. And her accent was so alien…

Like any mother, she wanted to protect her children– any way she could. That meant she might just kill Virika. It also meant, that since she had warned the bronze against her clutch, the eggs were likely the only reason she was still alive. These eggs were her protection against the wrath of their parents.

The girl took a deep breath. At least she could understand the dragon-people, and they probably could understand her. She decided to bargain with them.

"How do I know, once I'm out of here, that you won't rip me to shreds?"

The queen looked at her with such anguish, tears spilling down her face, that she moved her hand to her heart.

"Get out of my nest!" growled the bronze dragon-person, raising a clawed hand threateningly.

"Stop it, Satch!" cried the queen. "I don't want her running out of there and killing our children!"

"She can't be left close to them!" the bronze Satch shot at his mate. "She could smash them- you know they break when they're this close to hatching! I won't let her kill any of our children, if it means dying for them myself!"

Virika put one hand experimentally onto the shell of one, more gold-tan to the other's brown-cream. Beneath her fingers, the egg lurched, and she pulled her hand away with a gasp.

A second bronze dragon-person flapped laboriously over her, and landed in the sand beside Satch and Kilatch; in his arms he carried a fat creature with gray fur, a long tail and six legs. Depositing it next to the eggs he opened his mouth and breathed a stream of fire over the carcass, roasting it neatly. Then he stood up and bowed to the parents, who watched, utterly confused as he flap-hopped over the eggs and on to the rock slabs and began humming, deep in his throat.

Suddenly Kilatch gasped, nearly as frantically as Virika had a moment before, and lunged out to her eggs protectively. "My eggs– they're hatching! Get out human, now!" she cried.

The new bronze suddenly seemed to realize she was there, and cried out in anger and shock, reaching down to the girl as if to yank her out of the nest. She dodged, and in the same moment scooped up the gold-tan egg, about as large as her head, and held it in front of her like a shield.

"Wait, Calamitch!" screeched Kilatch, spreading one wing to briefly block the bronzes view of Virika, who was staring at the egg she held as it shuddered and formed cracks on its sides. More bronze, gold, brown, green and blue dragon-people were arriving, each of their skins a lighter version of a dragon's, fire lizard's or watch-wher's hide. As each saw the girl they tensed, and prepared to spring, then settled back as Kilatch spoke.

"She holds a queen's life in her hands. With a second, she could kill my daughter. Let her hatch, and this little human will be ours. But wait until she is not holding my child before we attack!"

"You speak sense, Kilatch," the one called Calamitch said, and relaxed, though his eyes still narrowed hostilely at the girl.

Virika looked at the egg she held. In a second the shell shattered and the little queen fell into the girl's arms, where she stood, shook her weak wings and crooned at Virika, sending out thoughts of hunger. Without thinking the girl reached out and took the gray animal Calamitch had dropped. The queen tore into the food savagely, as other eggs hatched, were ushered away by bronzes and given their first meals. Never once did Virika look away from the young dragon-person, and it was only to look at her other children that Kilatch's glance strayed from the human.

As soon as the little queen, more draconic than the adults as this stage, was fed, she turned her eyes to Vririka again, and stood up to her full three-foot height. The girl caught her breath looking into those green-blue eyes. You should close your mouth before an insect crawls in, Hayatch informed Virika.