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Disclaimer: I do not own Pern, or any of Anne's characters that may or may not be mentioned in these stories. I only own the obviously made up ones.

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Dragonsearch

The towering bulk of golden flesh prevented a clear view of the two clutches mottled eggs. The first clutch belonged to Lamedth, the new senior queen. The second belonged to the deceased Merenth, who left her eggs to be guarded by Lamedth after the previous Weyrwoman, Rona, succumbed to fever.

Flinching in unison with the gathering of females dominating one corner of the cavern, Sabra nervously lifted on hand to comb back the auburn hair from her forehead. The entire populace of candidates shifted uneasily as the queen voiced her challenge to anyone who might attempt a heist of her precious kin. Sabra could barely see the two queen eggs.

Sabra tried to avoid glancing at the voracious shades of red bleeding into the already present orange tinge of the gold's faceted eyes, unsuccessful, but there was still a fringe benefit of having one eye fixated on the queen at all times. She'd been around large animals before, but nothing so ominous as a distraught clutch mother. Sabra's tensed muscles relaxed as the Weyrwoman, Therina, coaxed Lamedth into setting down.

After a brief moment of silence from the crowd, Lamedth and then the rest of the dragons joined in a faster hum as the first egg began to rock. From within a slick dragonet would emerge and then the challenge would really begin. Anxiety gnawed at her insides, but still Sabra adopted silence and quiet in favor of shrieks.

The egg gave one final rock and then finally split to release a small blue hatchling. The blue stumbled onto the sands and cried out. One of the boys left the group and approached the dragonet.

Impression had been made, unfortunately not to her, but it was awe-inspiring enough to see the astonished boy lead his wobbling partner off the sands. A faint smile touching her lips, Sabra applauded wholeheartedly the decision made. The two looked highly compatible, if any indication was made with the delighted nuzzling of the dragonet's muzzle into the boy's side. Would it be the same for every chosen human? Or would there be reluctance on some other's behalf?

Sabra then focused her attention on the rest of the clutch. Several more greens and blue had emerged and impressed to boys and girls, leaving the remaining looking even more nervous. She noticed that the smaller queen egg, from Merenth's clutch, began to rock. It wasn't too long before the shell cracked and was shaken off the golden hatchling. It was a perfectly proportioned queen and she started towards the circle of girls around her. The golden dragonet made a beeline for one of the girls that had similarly avoided making a fool of herself. She was Colise, the daughter of the Lord Holder of Kahrain Hold. She would make an excellent weyrwoman considering that Weyrleader R'met himself had found her on the same search that had led to Sabra's hold.

"Her name is Aribreth," Colise called to the crowds as she left to feed her voracious hatchling.

Sabra nodded, accepting the decision and swallowing back the anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her at the same time. Perhaps she wasn't meant to find her calling here, in Kahrain Weyr, She wouldn't let the guilt of being left standing consume her. It wasn't all that shameful, really. Everyone had assured her of that, though she knew her father would be disappointed. He'd assured her that she was capable of impression. 'Well I won't return home if I don't impress here.' She'd hold out for a while longer.

She watched as the other eggs started to rock. Two fine bronzes both had burst from their shells, but still had yet to impress. They wandered the sands, each looking for the appropriate candidate to be its partner. The first soon found him. It was a boy from her own hold named Kojin, or now K'jin. He led his bronze off the sands, but the second bronze was still wandering, voicing his distress to the brooding queen overhead. That would be a shame if no one caught the male's eye. The Weyr needed all fighting dragons if there was a return of Threadfall. The hatchling started towards a group of boys, but barged through them. He approached the stands and called to some unknown crowd member.

Startling, as it was to see one of the young men clamber down the narrow flight of stairs to reach his pleating bronze, it was a moment of relief. Exhaling on a pleasant note, Sabra applauded the following Impression with as much vigor as she could sustain.

The smile upon the Weyrwoman's face was glad, in the fact that her son had surprisingly impressed one of the bronzes at the first Kahrain Weyr hatching. She called to him, "What's his name?"

"Terath," S'kar replied.

Sabra was distracted by the previous hatching, only taking notice of the contorted splintering of the metallic shell when another candidates elbow dug itself roughly into her side, entirely on accident as evident by the hushed apology. Nevertheless, Sabra attuned herself to the twitching queen egg, eyes widening as each suspenseful moment passed.

The egg finally cracked off the dragonet. The crooning of the bronze dragons filled the air. Eyes plastered on the golden silhouette staggering in her direction, Sabra cringed as the queen tripped and fell snout first into the broiling carpet of sand. She couldn't imagine how the hatchlings were able to withstand such abnormally high temperatures, and she was sure the sand was currently stinging the gold's nose. Noting the difficulty in which the hatchling returned to her feet, Sabra concerned herself with the issue of whether or not the queen was hale and hearty, or whether there was some defect devouring her strength. Perhaps it was the strenuous wait of being encased within that shell so long.

She struggled to get back to her feet, but soon enough she was up again, still covered in sand, but barreling forward with hardly a dent to show for her tardy arrival. Sabra tensed in preparation to duck aside as the hatchling charged recklessly onward. The others were already beginning to scatter, with startled squeaks.

The queen bolted to a stop, almost sending her tumbling into the crowd of women, all eager to impress. She looked around as if checking each one.

Sabra watched as the gold criticized, amused with the contemplative look striking the gold all of a sudden. She certainly was admirably unique, unlike sullen queens, to make impression prior to this outstanding event. She turned to face Sabra, her serpentine neck craned back to allow for closer inspection. She waddled closer to her, eyes whirling bright blue.

My name is Vitath. I'm very hungry.

Sabra stepped forward to wipe the sand of Vitath's nose. It was perfectly logical that Vitath was starving; the strain put on all new hatchlings more than deserved a gorging. "I'll…Uhh…" she was interrupted as a pail brimming with gobbets of freshly slaughtered red meat was thrust into her hands, instructions hastily spewed before their presence dwindled into the background, and it was just Sabra left to sate the queen's appetite.

It hadn't settled in yet that she was inexplicably bound to the starving beauty in front of her, or that she was now rider of gold Vitath. The only thing made apparent was that her dragon was hungry, and within her hands was grasped the only means to satisfying her. Between audacious stroke and murmured praise, Sabra hastily shoved handful after handful of meat into the waiting maw of Vitath.

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For those who still want to know, this isn't the end of this story. Right now I'm working on the prequel to this chapter/story about Rona, the first Weyrwoman of Kahrain Weyr (Dragonsearch gave away the ending already), and I plan to write many more stories that take place before and after this one. Review if you have any plot suggestions. One thing I haven't decided is how Thread returns (and if it even does).

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Thanks to astrokath, whose review helped edit this chapter immensely.