Disclaimer: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Twelve: Always

"I'm from… just... nowhere," she told the woman cagily. "Over... over South." 'Talk about asking for directions...' "What about you?" she asked to change the subject.

"I'm from... Nowhere, too." Liir's vague words started an uncomfortable silence between them. At the Kitchen Cavern Star attempted to break the void between them.

"I would still be grateful for the help feeding these things," she told the older woman, who nodded, grinning.

"We'll have a full fair of fire lizards, then, it seems," Liir said, gesturing up at her brown and bronze, who had followed close to her and started cheeping. "If you'll allow us to eat with you?" she asked Star, who nodded.

They got some food for the small fair, both trying to ignore the stares the teenager was getting from most of the people in the Caverns, and sat down in a corner, the fire lizards chirping and chattering to get their food. Liir and Star had their hands full trying to keep Star's three as well as Liir's two fed equally. When at last the five were full they both sighed in relief.

"Go now," the teenager said gently, nodding to the five to leave the table where they sat. "Go catch some sun." They all chirped and took to the air before disappearing. "Thanks for the help," she added to Liir. "I probably won't see you around, so just... bye." The woman nodded, and Star turned to leave. "'I...'m gonna soak up the sun...'" she sang under her breath as she turned to leave, smiling.

"Wait a minute, what's that song?" Star turned back guiltily.

"Nothing..."

"No; come on, I want to hear it," Liir begged. "It sounded interesting."

'A bar or two can't hurt,' she thought, and sang softly Soak Up the Sun by Cheryl Crow.

"'I...'m gonna soak up the sun

Gonna tell ev'ry one

to lighten up...'"

She was startled to hear an echo of her voice. Looking up she saw five or six fire lizards plus her own and Liir's, humming gently along with her. Their low, gentle voices became pure, crystalline descants, rising in a sweet counterpoint to the song as she smiled in delight at this latest revelation of their skills and continued.

"'I'm gonna tell 'em that I...'ve...

got no one to blame...

for ev'ry time I'm feel lame

I'm lookin' up...'"

Most of the fire lizards reared back on their haunches, balancing with their wings, and others dove off, caroling to the song at the top of their lungs. Star sang louder, putting emotion into her voice, and began again from he beginning, though she semi-paraphrased and twisted it because she couldn't remember some of it. (A/N: Mainly because the author can't remember it.)

"'My friend the communist

holds meetings in his RV;

I can't afford his gas

so I'm stuck here watching TV.

"'I don't have digital:

I've got less than squat,

but it's not having what you want;

it's wanting what you got.'"

She paused and sighed, looking at her empty hands. "It's better when I've got a guitar. It's about the only thing I know how to play on that thing." A lizard chirped sorrowfully/inquiringly, and Star looked up. Vanya leapt off her perch and came to rest on her shoulder. "Nah, not right now, kid," she told the green, turning away from the corner. Applause broke out all of the sudden and she blinked, raising a hand to steady both herself and the fire lizard.

A man came forward holding a guitar. "Oh, no. Nononononono..." She stepped back, holding up her hands in surrender. "Uh-uh." Star sawed her hands back and forth in a negative gesture, but the man, dressed with plenty of blue on, marking him a Harper, put one of her hands on the neck. "Oh, no. Not-" The Harper smiled and stepped back, leaving her holding the guitar.

Star looked up and around at the people, who watched her, eyes flicking over her audience. With horror, she saw that Lessa, F'lar and Raia were watching from the back. She also saw Pralosa, Joozith's rider, and Tristan and Jessica, a bronzerider and the rider of Vailath, the only silver dragon on Pern.

"Screwed, screwed; I'm so totally dead," she muttered to herself, then took a breath. Star settled the guitar and flicked her blue streak out of her eyes, then struck the chords and finished the song accompanied by the fire lizards and some of those who picked up on the words of the chorus quickly.

"'I'm gonna soak up the sun,'" she began the conclusion, slowing the chords down.

"'Got my 45 on so I...

can rock on...'"

Star let the last notes fade and brought the instrument down. Cheers sent the fire lizards in a frenzy of chirps and surprising convolutions in the air of the Kitchen Cavern. She passed the guitar back to its owner and hurried out of the door, trailing her three fire lizards.

She dashed as fast as she could back to the entrance of the Hatching Grounds and hid inside the tunnel's shadows. After a time, when her heart slowed down and her breathing leveled out again, she slid down to the floor and put her head in her hands. "I just want to go home," she said to the fire lizards that perched on her knees and shoulder. "I've already attracted far too much attention here. 'There's no place like home. There's no place like home.'" Vanya chirped encouragingly and sent Star a quick image of Joozith and Pralosa.

"So, since it was Joozith who got her here, because I called her, she and her rider should get me back, right?" Vanya cheeped again and star stroked the little dragon's neck. "All right," she told them, standing up. Her mind was decided.

Joozith? she called. Ramoth, Mnementh... She decided to try the Weyrwoman, as she had the night before. This time she tried to whisper, rather than shout. Lessa? It's Star...

Faranth's Shell, child, the woman said, startled. I don't think I shall ever get used to contacting you this way...

You won't have to. Before Lessa could ask her, Star continued. I'm leaving; going home. Some people can leave behind Earth, but I can't. I have my family, and my fire lizards to remember Pern by. But I'm leaving. I'm calling Joozith and Pralosa and I'm leaving.

Lessa's disappointment reached her as Star felt her tell the others what was happening. So be it, child, she said sadly. Farewell. But wherever and whenever you are, we will aid if you only call, she reminded the girl. Whatever your need, the dragons and Riders of Pern are here for you if you only call out to us. Always, Star.

Always, affirmed Joozith, alighting beside her outside of the Hatching Grounds.

"Always," Pralosa said as she leapt down from her dragon.

"Always," Star whispered to herself.

Always, echoed the voices of all the dragons of Benden Weyr. We will always be there for you, Star.

000

From the air Star viewed Benden Weyr a last time as she and Pralosa on Joozith circled higher and higher into the air. The heartbeat pulse of the green dragon's wings throbbed in her ears. She surveyed the dragons gathered on ground and spire of rock and in the air with them, sending personal thanks and farewells to all of them she knew by name, and to those she hadn't had a chance to meet specifically. Milath had told her that she and Raia had been pardoned and were going back to their own time as soon as she had. Ramoth and Mnementh told her they were disappointed she hadn't wanted to become a dragonrider, but they understood.

Now at the last she looked at the dragons of Benden Weyr, arrayed to bid her goodbye. She smiled a last time as Joozith let out a resounding roar, echoed by the dragons and their riders, shot through with the smaller voices of the fire lizards. Elzin, Vanya and Nivi cheeped and fluttered closer to her as Joozith prepared to take them between to when she had first picked up the teenager.

Star took a deep breath and heard Pralosa do the same. Blackness enveloped them and the absolute chill of teleportation made her teeth chatter, though she could not feel them. 'Come on, come on...!' she thought, drawing on her connection to her world, straining to get home, pulling herself through time and space to where she knew she would always belong.