Disclaimer: The Dragonriders of Pern belongs to Anne McCaffery, I make no claim to own it. This is a work of fanfiction which I make absolutely no money from. Though the world is borrowed, the plot and characters are all mine.

(A/N: Here's the second chapter. Fun! Thank you to my beta-reader, AnimeEyeshime.

FYI: This story takes place a few years after the end of the Second Pass, BTW)

Who the Dragon Heeds

Chapter Two-Shattered Shells and Dreams

The next day dawned dark and overcast, yet strangely, an air of excitement pervaded the Weyr. The cause wasn't immediately evident, but even the candidates-perhaps especially the candidates-knew that something was going to happen today.

Kelthere didn't know what was going on, though he sensed something different upon waking up, but he continued with his typical morning routine as usual. Get out of bed with the rest of the candidates, take a quick bath, dress and go to the Great Hall to really wake up with a cup of klah. He noticed that several of the older riders were tense-echoing, he supposed, their dragons' restlessness today. He remarked on it to Danak, "Why d'you suppose the dragons seem so wound up today?"

Danak simply shrugged, having no idea what was going on either.

A low and distant thrumming made itself felt more than heard. All over the Great Hall, heads raised, and suddenly, everyone was moving, half-eaten breakfasts forgotten. Kelthere looked on perplexedly. "What's-"

Danak, though, was tugging at his sleeve and hissed urgently, "That's the dragons! They're humming. That means the clutch is hatching!"

Kelthere gaped, and then both boys raced out of the Great Hall, back to the candidate barracks for their robes. No doubt the rest of the candidates were already getting ready and making their way to the Hatching Ground. They'd have to hurry.

The news spread through the Weyr...

In the girls' barracks, the female candidates were huddled in groups when the humming started, and several gasped in surprise. Nystai stood in shock and wrung her hands. "Oh dear, what do we do? How long do we have?"

Several other girls spoke up with similar concerns. "What do we do to attract the queen?" "What if I don't Impress?" "How many people will be watching us?" "What will I wear?"

Syderi, as well as several other candidates, turned to stare at the girl who said the last one. "We have candidacy robes," she pointed out, exasperated.

"Yes, but I mean under it!"

Syderi rolled her eyes and went to join Nystai, still wringing her hands nervously, and Coyota, who was pacing back and forth the length of the barracks. Syderi threw a tight-lipped smile at them, while Coyota nodded curtly in reply. "We need to hurry up and get ready. No time to sit around worrying our heads off," the weyrbred girl said.

They all exchanged nervous smiles, then there was an awkward silence as they all stared at each other. Nystai spoke up, "Well...good luck."

The others echoed her sentiments.

The thrum rose in pitch until it became a true humming. In the boys' barracks, the candidates all made a dash for the white candidacy robes hanging from pegs along one wall.

Manoric was nearly crushed by the press of bodies around him until he couldn't move. Falkyr, pushing through the crowd with his two cronies, knocking him to the ground as they went, certainly didn't help matters. He gingerly picked himself up off the ground as the other candidates filtered out of the barracks. This wasn't turning out to be a good day.

His robe was one of the last ones left on the wall, and he'd have to run to keep from being left behind, but if that was what it took to Impress a dragon, so be it.

She was sure her hair was a mess, and her clothes were wrinkled. Fylippa was amazed that in a time like this, her appearance was most on her mind. She felt curiously detached as she walked to the Hatching Ground, as though viewing herself from afar. She wrung a hand through her hair nervously, feeling sick to her stomach.

Daradox's hand found hers, walking beside her, and he smiled encouragingly when she met his eyes. "Don't worry, it'll be over before you know it, and you'll be a dragonrider before the day's over." He touched her chin. "I know it."

"Almost half of the clutch will be greens, but there's only the one gold. If you're too focused on the queen egg, you'll shut out the greens, and you might well miss a chance at Impression," Coyota was saying to the crowd of nervous girls following her through the hallways of the Lower Caverns, passing on tips gleaned from generations of dragonriding relatives.

"But then you might end up Impressing before the queen even hatches, and you'll never even get a shot at her," one of the girls, Ribala, pointed out.

Several of the girls exchanged nervous looks.

"Well, that's for you to decide. Which is more important to you?" Syderi reasoned, and wondered at the answer herself.

The humming grew ever higher and louder. "Keep your mind open with thoughts of love and acceptance. Don't think of what color you want to Impress, and keep anger, jealousy, and sadness out of your mind. It'll just drive them away. Just love and acceptance," Danak recited as they strode to the Hatching Ground.

"I know, Danak, I have been in candidacy classes for the past six months," Kelthere replied testily.

And suddenly, they were there. The Hatching Ground stretched in front of them, covered in sands heated almost to scorching level and surrounded by rows of stone seats filling up with riders and non-weyrfolk finding seats to watch the Hatching. Kelthere automatically drew in a breath. The senior queen Moraughoth crouched in the center of the sandy area, amongst a clutch of twenty-six rocking, mottled eggs. She looked upset, hissing irately at anyone who came too close to her eggs while trying to keep up the humming at the same time. Her rider went to try to calm her while the candidates stood a respectful distance away.

The stands were filled with people, talking to each other, yelling encouragements to their favored candidate, or weeping, and Kelthere tried to ignore them as best he could. Instead, he turned his attention to the furiously rocking eggs, as the Weyrwoman, Cheaden, managed to persuade her dragon to let the candidates approach.

Kelthere realized he'd actually grown used to the dragons' constant welcoming hum in the background, but now it stopped suddenly as a total hush fell over the Weyr. With a deceptively light 'pop', the first dragon hatched.

It was a sturdy brown hatchling, falling to the ground amongst the shards of his shell. The young male shook his head, then climbed clumsily to his feet. Kelthere's heart was thudding in his ears as he watched the dragonet wandering aimlessly over the sands, so tense he could barely stand it. It finally stopped in front of one of the candidates, a younger one Kelthere didn't know by name, who dropped tearfully to his knees as Impression was made.

Disappointed but trying to relax, Kelthere tried to clear his mind of all thoughts except love and acceptance, as he'd been told. It was nearly impossible. The entire time, he wondered, Is this one mine? Is it heading my way? Which one's for me? Now more eggs were hatching.

The girls were all huddled intently around the queen egg, still rocking gently with no signs of cracking just yet, but all over the sands, green dragonets were hatching. A few were Impressed by willing boys, but many of them seemed unsatisfied with the male candidates, and clumsily made their way to where the girls were standing. One girl almost fell over when a green hatchling bumped the back of her knees from behind. Previously so intent on the queen egg, she now turned around and lifted her eyes to the green's. Her knees buckled under her, and she fell almost on top of the distressed dragonet. She could be heard reassuring her dragon that she was okay, they were together now, and she was the most beautiful green dragon there'd ever been.

Coyota and Nystai watched the green's Impression while trying to keep one eye on the gold egg. Nystai eyed the girl and her green wistfully, and looked hopefully at another green still unImpressed. Coyota glanced uncertainly from the golden egg to the green crying loudly now, clearly unsure whether to stay or go. But while she didn't move, Nystai stepped forward hesitantly, trying to get the green's attention. Seeing the movement, the green immediately stopped her crying and stared at Nystai with rapidly swirling eyes; then it was the girl crying and half-sitting, half-falling down to embrace the hatchling. "Oh, Polaenth! I'm here!" She laughed and continued to repeat that phrase, "I'm here" as she helped the dragon stumble her way off the sands.

There were too many eggs hatching at once now to keep track of them all. Kelthere snapped his head back and forth as first one, then another of the candidates surrounding him paired off with newly-hatched dragons. Any second now, he reassured himself, Any time now, I'll find my dragon. He had to Impress.

He wasn't the only one thinking so. Manoric stood frozen to his spot, almost too scared to breathe while dragon eggs hatched all around him. He berated himself angrily at his own helplessness. You'll never Impress a dragon if you don't move, so move! And just then a bronze hatched.

Time seemed to stop for a moment, as all eyes moved instantly to the bronze hatchling, who was staring at all the candidates. The male candidates stared at it hopefully. Kelthere pleaded under his breath, Please! and even Falkyr was silent in amazement. Manoric watched the hatchling in trepidation, wondering what it would do.

He thought the bronze looked in his direction, and his breath hitched in his throat as he stepped forward hopefully-but then there was a strangled cry and someone knocked him aside from behind, pushing through the sea of candidates to get to the bronze, who creeled happily as Impression was made. Manoric tripped, ending up face-down in the sand, and the gritty grains were making his eyes water, that was it...He lifted his head; through blurry eyes he saw Falkyr clearly enough, kneeling beside the bronze hatchling and pronouncing his name over and over in wonderment, "Ievath...Ievath."

Manoric's hands clenched around handfuls of scalding sand, and he spat bitter grit from his mouth in disgust before climbing to his feet. He gazed around him with determination. There were plenty of other dragons hatching.

Quickly, Kelthere stifled his disappointment and astonishment that Falkyr, of all people, had Impressed the bronze. Instead, he focused on the other dragonets still looking for riders. More dragons were wandering the sands, including several blues and a brown or two, who had yet to Impress.

"Remember, love and acceptance," Danak piped up, appearing beside him. Kelthere was about to reply with a rueful grin, but his expression turned to one of surprise when he spotted the blue hatchling. It was struggling in the direction of the two candidates, tripping over its own sprawling limbs. Danak, seeing his face, turned around, and his shock was even stronger than Kelthere's.

The blue dragonet creeled when it saw they noticed it, and then crooned plaintively. Kelthere stepped forward hesitantly, and Danak walked straight to the hatchling, still stunned. The hatchling crooned happily when it reached Danak. Kelthere's grin faded a little when the blue had obviously chosen Danak, but when his friend glanced back at him-Faranth, I've never seen him that happy-he mustered a smile and a 'thumbs up' gesture. Danak returned his own 'good luck' signal, and exclaimed, "He says his name is Taimosuth!"

Kelthere was disappointed but trying not to show it. He turned his attention back to the eggs, but with an excited cry, the crowd's attention was captured by the queen egg, as it began to crack open at last. The remaining girls tried to cluster closer to the egg, but the golden mother rebuffed them with a protective snarl. Syderi and Coyota were both still unpaired, as was Fylippa and several other girls. They all stood around with various degrees of determination or nervousness on their faces, eyeing each other warily and aware that they were now in direct competition with each other.

With a final mighty shudder, the golden shell fell apart, revealing the glistening form of the newly hatched gold. All around them dragons hummed their approval, and Moraughoth hovered over her daughter protectively. With a sharp word from the Weyrwoman, however, she reluctantly backed away and allowed the female candidates to approach.

Blinking her hunger-red eyes blearily, the gold stumbled forward on unsteady legs, staring at all of the frantically beckoning candidates with bemusement. She seemed confused and unsure of where to go at first, but then her searching eyes settled on one of the candidates, and she crooned contentedly as she butted her head, gently but persistently, against her new rider's side.

The force was still enough to almost knock her over, and Syderi placed her hands on the gold hatchling in front of her to keep her balance. Then the urgent voice entered her mind, complaining about how hungry she was, and it finally started to sink in. She had Impressed. She was a goldrider.

'Of course you are,' came the gold's thought in her mind again, 'I am yours and you are mine, that is how it should be. But now I am hungry.'

Only then did she become aware of her surroundings again, and the other candidates around her, most of them looking crushed. Coyota, at least, looked happy for her. "What's her name, Syderi?" the girl asked with a smile.

'My name is Feyth.' The thought came before she could ask it.

"Feyth...she says her name is Feyth," Syderi proclaimed proudly, and then, at Feyth's insistence, she wiped tears from her eyes and helped the hatchling dragon to get something to eat.

Kelthere caught Syderi's eye as she was leaving, and he congratulated her with a smile; this time, at least, it was sincere.

The rejected queen candidates, meanwhile, were crushed, for the most part. The dark-haired Ribala collapsed in a weeping heap, tears pouring down her face so that she probably wouldn't have seen a green dragonet even if one had come her way. Coyota glanced scornfully at the girl, but then she turned her hopes to a group of four greens, newly hatched, who were approaching the female candidates. Many of the other girls turned their attention to the greens as well, walking to the distressed hatchlings determinedly.

A dark, dappled green broke away from her fellows, creeling and stumbling to one of the female candidates. The girl laughed and cried all at once, reassuring her green that no dragon, gold or no, could be better than her.

Two of the greens were heading for Coyota, in fact, but a quick-thinking girl attracted the attention of one, and the other green met Coyota's gaze. Relieved and elated, Coyota Impressed the dragon, shouting her joy to the spectators, "Her name is Oritith!" The other green Impressed quickly and quietly to a shy girl, but Coyota paid no attention.

Disappointed though she was at being passed over by the gold, Fylippa steered her determination and efforts to attracting the attention of the greens. The four appeared to all be paired off, though, and she sighed in disappointment.

"Fylippa!" The shout of her name made her raise her head, and she saw Daradox waving to her from across the Hatching Ground. It appeared that he had not Impressed yet either. She met him halfway across the sands, while he was trying to reassure her, "It's not over yet."

And she grinned, pointing to the egg shells, "No, it's not." A pair of dragonets had climbed out of their shells, and were now making their way toward Fylippa and Daradox together, running awkwardly, as if their riders were going to be snatched up if they didn't get there. The pair of candidates gasped, so intent on each other that they hadn't noticed the dragons. The chocolate-colored brown sat by Daradox, gazing up at him with a peculiar mixture of love and accusation, while the green hatchling rushed to Fylippa, keening until she buried her head in the girl's arms.

"I-I'm sorry, I'll never ignore you like that again," Daradox stammered, reassuring his brown bond, who was unwilling to let his new rider out of his sight. Fylippa was overcome by a mishmash of emotions-- love, shock, fear, and hunger from both herself and her new dragon, and she couldn't say anything at all.

Daradox glanced up at her, grinning wildly, and she easily returned it. They both spoke at the same time.

"This is Coendeth."

"Her name is Asatarth."

Empty shards from mottled shells littered the sands, now. It seemed ages since the hatching had started, and yet it could only have been minutes. Already, many of the candidates had paired off, and it seemed no eggs were left unhatched. Kelthere still stood, desperately casting his eyes about for any unpaired dragons, and trying to keep panic out of his mind. He refused to give up. There has to be a bronze, or a brown, that hasn't Impressed yet. The Hatching's not over yet. There's still- And there it was, a brown hatchling that had been mostly forgotten in the confusion of Hatching. He ran to it in relief, but other unImpressed candidates were doing the same; he recognized faces in a blur-Manoric, a candidate named Rydah, Falkyr's two sidekicks. Creeling in distress, the dragonet swung its head-I'm over here. Here!-and then seemed to relax and started crooning as it found its rider. It stumbled forward-and then past Kelthere, past the other candidates he recognized, to another candidate he hadn't even noticed, who collapsed in front of the hatchling, staring at it in wonder.

Overcome with shock, Kelthere felt a curious detachment from his body. This couldn't be the end. There had to be another...But all the eggs were shattered heaps now, all the dragons standing on wobbling legs beside their chosen boy or girl, twenty-six of them. This can't be happening, he thought as he collapsed. But it was. He hadn't Impressed.

(A/N: Falkyr's dragon's name is 'ievath', with a capital 'i'. Sorry, it's easily confusing.

Feedback would be very much appreciated, whether the detailed crit kind or a simple one-liner. Heck, just rate the story from 1-10, if nothing else. Let me know how I'm doing.)