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

Chapter Eight: Different Impressions

And so they left the next morning. After begging horses from Eleneir's family they set out with the small amount of food they would need; there was always fish or fruit close by along the coast. The party traveled silently, but not unfriendly silence. It was the silence of companionability, and fully comfortable.

Virika and Vyrania rode up front, to lead, and Darrinel followed scarcely behind. These three had asked some girls to join them in a hunt for eggs, not mentioning what kind of eggs and leaving the girls to assume fire lizard eggs. If they were rebuked later they could say truthfully that they had never said a word about fire lizards.

Only one of the three asked (they only wanted to have very few so that there would be less people who knew of the dragon-folk but hadn't Impressed one of them) had said yes; Virika and Vyrania's cousin Sofreteh. Sofreteh now rode a little behind the main group, looking around with interest: she had rarely left the landing where they gathered numbweed.

Virika was troubled, but not greatly. The farewells her parents had given her had told her that they did not like her to leave again, especially so soon. "I'll be with friends this time. They'll keep my feet from wandering far," she had told them cheerfully. There was truth in what the harper said she thought, smiling wryly; that you didn't know what you had until you lost it. And also that when you found it again that it was all the dearer for the time lost.

When the four began nearing the dragon-folk's home they saw Kilatch, lazing on the rock. The queen started when the horses neighed, and leapt off the rock. She saw Virika and smiled as the girl waved enthusiastically; it was strange, but she felt more glad to see the mother of her dragon-person friend than she had been to see her blood-mother. It was as if she was coming home and had only now realized it.

When Kilatch gave her a hug she was startled, but hugged her back. She had not quite known that the queen liked her, though, now she thought back, she had never shown any dislike or even cool neutrality towards her.

Suddenly Kilatch stiffened, hissed softly but menacingly and raised her wings angrily. Virika turned, and saw that Sofreteh had halted her mare in her tracks and was staring back at Kilatch as the queen glared at her.

"She's a friend, Kilatch! Don't worry. Would I ever bring any one here who would harm you?" Virika hastened to make peace between the two. Indeed, she and her two friends had been extraordinarily careful- they had only picked girls who had shown they could keep secrets when it was wise and tell them when they were harmful. Sofreteh was also able to remain calm even when she was shocked, injured, faced with extraordinary decisions or harm and was one of Darrinel's friends; it was he who had suggested her as a candidate for Impressing the new queen.

"We thought that, if I could help Hayatch in her flight, maybe other girls –Sofreteh, namely, – could help other queens. There would be more queens with human friends they had Impressed, and more large clutches with more queens to Impress, and so on. We thought that it would be best if I wasn't the only girl to Impress, and we think that Sofreteh would have a very good chance; she's even got two fire lizards!"

As if to prove their owner's worthiness two fire lizards, one brown, Nurmin, and a blue, Dimonof, crawled out of one of the girl's saddlebags and settled on her shoulders. When Softreteh looked at them, they shuffled their wings and sat up straighter.

"So that's what you meant," the girl murmured, though only Darrinel heard. "Very large fire lizards. And Impressionable, too? Quite interesting. Quite useful. Quite… valuable."

"Very valuable indeed," he replied smoothly.

000

Cameratch had been flown by Mreeatch some sevendays ago. A little over two months before Virika had left she had laid her clutch; unlike Igatch she had a queen egg to boast of. It was a fine year for the dragon-folk; they already had two young queens who had not yet flown on their first mating flight and now a third was laid; hopefully to be Impressed by Sofreteh.

Cameratch, always one of the sweeter dragon-folk, had seen no reason to refuse Darrinel the chance to Impress one of her children, and so they settled in to wait until the clutch would hatch- within the next two sevendays. Vyrania, Sofreteh and Darrinel strayed away from the dragon-people's little settlement most of the time, but Virika stayed close, as she had before her sister and Eleneir had discovered her friends. Hayatch and she stuck close to home and to each other; it had been harder than either had thought it could be to separate. Their very souls seemed shredded.

In the late afternoon on the tenth day after Virika and Hayatch's return the hatching began. Many dragon-folk (all of Hayatch's clutch and several others including all the golds and bronzes) gathered, humming, to great the little ones. In the middle of the clutch of six eggs crouched Sofreteh and Darrinel. Virika and Vyrania held crudely woven containers of meat for the hatchlings that their brother and brother's friend were to try and Impress.

When the first shell cracked the humming stopped. All at once two others split to reveal one bronze hatchling and one green, and then first to crack shuddered and fell wide open to show a brown. Of course Darrinel went straight for the bronze. In one hand he scooped him up swiftly but gently and with the other he took the meat from Vyrania. Sitting down on the rock that partially sheltered the clutch he proceeded to stuff the little creature as full as possible. Glitter winged above them, hissing as the sun shone on her slender green form.

Sofreteh's fire lizards were sitting on the rock's highest point, chirping to each other. Their mistress was looking around frantically, and when she spotted the queen finally hatch she made for the little golden creature so hastily that she tripped and fell, narrowly missing the one egg that had yet to hatch. A little green came up to her and crooned encouragingly.

The girl stared at the green, so much more like a dragon or a fire lizard than the adults of her kind. "I'm all right. Didn't even bruise myself."

"Oh, dear! Oh, no…" she moaned, sitting on her knees in the sand. When the little green squeaked at her she lifted her hands from her face. "It wasn't supposed to- the queen! I wanted to Impress the queen, not a green!"

"I think that the queen in quite taken care of," Darrinel said, an odd note in his voice. Vyrania stooped by the queen, a shocked but tentatively loving smile on her face as she fed young Urtiatch the meat she had been holding for Sofreteh.

Vyrania raced back to the food storage cave and pulled down fresh meat for the green. She met Darrinel half way back, a gloomy expression on his face. He had no bronze, blue or any color dragon-person with him. "Why couldn't I Impress? Vyrania got a queen like you and Sofreteh got her green, so why not me? Do they just not like boys?" His voice was bitter; his sister could see that he really had wanted to Impress and was deeply disappointed with his loss.

"There'll be other hatchings," she consoled Darrinel, patting his shoulder comfortingly. Virika didn't try to read the expression on her brother's face, instead trying to balance the meat for the new hatchling. If she had she might have been startled at the hard anger and revenging glint in his cold eyes.