Disclaimer: I do not own Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern (DRoP) series. Most of the characters in this story are mine, although some have been borrowed from Southernrealms: Kahiko Weyr with the permission of the members AND the BoD there.
The main character and her two siblings were created by me.
Chapter 1: Outcaste
Jayen waited nervously outside the Master Harpers office, biting her lip and occasionally pushing strand of hair back behind her ear. She knew why she had been summoned. Someone had gotten into the records room and ripped up some of the oldest records, and as Jayen had been the last one in there, people had naturally blamed her.
She was scared. She would be kicked out of the Harper Hall, for a crime she hadn't committed.
At 17, only a turn away from reaching Journeywoman status, Jayen was what most would call beautiful; the rest would have called her stunning. She had long, straight black hair that reached down to her waist and striking, moss-green, almond shaped eyes, a pert nose and rose-bud lips. Her skin was pale, and she made it appear paler by wearing dark, mostly black, clothes.
Her beauty wouldn't help her now though, not she ever used it to her advantage anyway.
The door to the Master Harpers office opened and the Keeper of Records came out, frowning and wringing her hands. The woman was short and stick thin, and always appeared to be squinting at something in the distance.
She turned her squinting look towards Jayen and drew herself up a little. Her head didn't even reach Jayen's shoulders.
"He wants to see you. Now!" The woman's voice was thin and reedy.
"Thank you Harper Lyrah" Jayen replied meekly, staring down at her wherry-hide boots.
She walked over to the door of Master Harper Silak's office and knocked twice, only opening it and entering after she heard a gruff "Come!"
Jayen made her way over to the desk and waited, watching the Master Harpers face and breaking out into a cold sweat.
The Master Harper glanced sharply up at her from his pile of notes. "Sit, girl." She sat and looked down at her hands which she had clasped together tightly in her lap.
"Dear, dear, deary me. What shall I do with you my girl?"
Jayen looked up, right into the Master Harpers grey eyes.
"You were one of the best students I've ever taught, Jayen. And that's what makes this worse for the both of us." He steepled his hands in front of him. "Why did you do it child?"
Jayen stared wide eyed at him. "Sir, I… I didn't do it sir. I left the Records Room just before dinner and forgot to lock it." She gulped. "I ran back there after dinner and locked it up before reporting to the kitchens to do the washing up sir. I didn't look inside… maybe if I had remembered to lock it before dinner the records wouldn't have been destroyed…" She looked down at her hands again and tried to blink away the tears, knowing that the Master Harper wouldn't believe her.
"I wish I could believe you Jayen. But under the circumstances, and with no other culprit in sight, I'm afraid you are the only one I can blame." He sighed and blew air through his teeth unhappily. "A Dragon Rider will be here at sunset to take you back to the Weyr. That will give you enough time to say goodbye to your brother and sister, and your friends too."
Jayen nodded mutely and stood up. "Thank you, sir." She left the room, only just hearing his last words "What a pity! So much talent wasted! Just wasted!"
The bright spring sunlight shone right into Jayen's eyes as she exited the Hall, making her blink her eyes repeatedly to adjust them. She set off morosely for the long line of buildings that housed the apprentices, Journeymen and Journeywomen. The buildings that she had called home for the past five turns.
Her twin brother was waiting for her at the steps of the rock building she had slept in. "Hey sis. What did he say…?" her brother trailed off when he saw the silent tears falling down her pale cheeks.
"Oh Jayce!" she wailed and threw her arms around him, uncontrollable sobs bursting out of her. "He's sending me back to the Weyr! They all think it was me who destroyed those sharding records!"
Jaycen patted her back and hugged her. "I'm so sorry Jay. I wish there was something that I could do…"
Jayen had stopped sobbing now, and was wiping her tears away between sniffles. "There is something you can do." She smiled a little. "You can find the fardling idiot who did do it so that I can come back!"
"I'll try sis, I'll try." Jaycen replied. He hugged her tightly once more, then took his arms away and stepped back. "Come on, Daellin and Jadrien are waiting inside."
The two of them entered the building. Jaycen held his head up proudly, not giving in to the pain that filled his heart. He and his sister had always done everything together, gone everywhere together. And now she wasn't going to be there, at the Hall with him, going to the same classes as him. It felt like a part of him was being torn away, like he was being ripped in half.
Jayen wrapped her arms around herself, so caught up in her own misery that she didn't feel her twins' pain like she normally would have.
They got to the room that Jayen shared with their younger sister, Jadrien. The door was open and they could hear the younger girl telling Daellin that "it would be alright" that "Jayen wasn't the one who did it."
The twins walked into the room, and Daellin quickly walked over to Jayen and hugged her. "What did the Master Harper say?" he asked her softly.
Jayen looked up at him, seeing that he had been crying and wiped away one of his tears with a shaking hand. "I'm being sent back to the Weyr. They think it was me. They don't want me to stay here…" fresh tears sprang up in her eyes and she pulled away from him and went to her younger sister, and hugged her. "Be good Jaddie, and take care of Daellin and Jaycen for me will you?"
"Of course I will Jay." The girl assured her. "It's not fair! You shouldn't be sent away, you didn't do anything wrong!" Jadrien was crying now and hugged her sister fiercely. "I don't want you to go!"
"I don't want to go either Jaddie, I don't want to leave. But they're making me go. A Dragon Rider is coming at sunset to pick me up. Promise you'll be there to say goodbye?" She looked the girl in the eyes, and then looked at the two boys, young men now. "Promise me you'll all be there to say goodbye to me?" she whispered, more tears falling down her cheeks.
They all promised, and Jayen's twin and younger sister took turns to hug her again before excusing themselves to go to their respective classes.
Jayen and Daellin were left alone, which was just what Jayen had wanted. She closed the door and walked over to him.
"I'm going to miss you." She whispered, looking up at him. He'll be walking the tables in a seven-day, she thought. He'll be a Journeyman soon.
Daellin pulled her into his arms, hugging her and kissing the top of her head. "What am I going to do without you Jay?" he said hoarsely, his beautiful tenor voice choked up with the sobs that he wouldn't let out.
"We would have parted soon anyway, when you Walked The Tables." It was her only solace in the situation.
"I know, but it's not the same." He tilted her head up with one hand, stroking her cheek softly with his thumb and kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you too." She pulled him towards her bed, untying his belt in the process.
"What… what are you doing?" he whispered in surprise.
"This may be the only chance we'll get Daellin," was all she said.
He smiled ruefully, shook his head, kissed her again, and helped her get both his, and then her, clothes off.
