Chapter 1
Seventh Pass
Disguised in the form of a police telephone box from 1963, the TARDIS materialized upon Pernese soil. Stepping out of the TARDIS, the Doctor furrowed his brows and looked around. Though this wasn't the first colony he had visited, he certainly wasn't prepared for what he just saw.
"…What!" Squinting, he looked about. In the middle of a very large meadow, he was partially surrounded by a thousand-foot tall cliff that opened into a river. Looking to his right, he saw a very, very large dwelling jutting out of the rock face. Castle-like in size and constructed from stone, it resembled a hotel which was propped up on a hundred-foot tall cliff; the rest of the dwelling seemingly inside the surrounding cliff. At the base of the castle were smaller dwellings, similar in size and appearance to houses on Earth.
To his left he saw a smaller version of the massive structure, with the exception that it was built upon the meadow and not on a small cliff. There also seemed to be a road system, originating from each of the major buildings and leading off into the distance, probably a trade route of sorts. Compared to the other colonies he had visited, this particular one seemed remarkably primitive.
While he was contemplating his surroundings, a small female had been watching him curiously. The Doctor hadn't even noticed her standing there; he was too busy looking up. The young girl called out to him, "Mister?" Spinning around, his long brown coat whipped around his form, the Doctor faced the owner of the voice.
"Why hello there~ I'm the Doctor." Smiling, the Doctor looked down at the small brown-haired girl.
She looked up at him, her expression obviously perplexed, "I'm Ellira. How'd you do that?"
Feigning confusion, the Doctor replied, "Do what?"
Ellira's face twisted with disapproval, her hand placing themselves on her hips, "You just appeared here. I'm not stupid."
"Of course you're not. Now, would you mind telling me the year?"
"…year…?" Ellira looked at him, confused.
The Doctor contemplated for a moment, before speaking, "How old are you, Ellira?"
"I'm ten turns old… why do you ask?" The poor girl was even more confused than she was previously.
"What turn is this?"
"…It's turn 1758. You're not making any sense, Doctor…"
The Doctor was astonished. Brows furrowed, he just stared at Ellira for a few moments, mouth agape. Regaining his composure, his visage twisted in confusion, "How are you lot still alive!"
Ellira looked at him, confusion across her visage, "…What?"
"Things. Aren't there things that fall from the sky? You!" He pointed an accusing finger at the girl, "You should be dead! You all should. Be. Dead!"
"You're talking about Thread?"
"Thread… do they fall out of the sky, devouring anything living in their path?"
"Yes…?" Ellira was incredibly confused by this point, and wasn't quite sure what to make of the Doctor.
"How have you lot survived?"
Ellira started to laugh—she finally figured out exactly what the Doctor was, "Y-You're an alien!"
The Doctor wasn't amused by the little girl's bout of laughter; he wanted to know how the human race persisted despite threadfall. His face twisted into playful annoyance, "Yes, yes I'm an alien. Could you please answer my question?"
Trying to control her laughter, Ellira gripped her sides, "Alright, alright." Smiling she continued, "The Weyrs send out a bunch of dragons during threadfall. Usually they burn the thread before they reach the ground, but sometimes a few slip through. Our ground crews take care of that, though."
The Doctor's expression was one of confusion, "W-Wait… did you just say dragons?"
His words were enough to send the small girl over the edge, and she fell to the ground rolling in uncontrollable laughter. The Doctor stood there, absolutely baffled. Remembering the list of fauna, there was nothing that indicated the presence of dragons. Reviewing the list in his mind, he did remember something of particular interest—tiny flying reptiles.
Raising an eyebrow at the currently hysterical child he spoke, "Wait… when you said dragons, did you actually mean those small native lizards that are capable of flight?"
Ellira tried to regain composure, but was out of breath from her fit of laughter, "What! There's nothing like that on Pern, sorry, just dragons… and they're huuuuuuge!" Spreading her arms wide, she fell over laughing again.
The Doctor had a rather hard time believing that small flying reptiles somehow evolved into large 'dragons' over the course of ~1700 years. Either he was missing something, or this child was having a jolly old time yanking his chain.
"Alright Ellira, I think it's about time you show me those dragons."
Smiling she shook her head, "I can't. Not now, anyway. I heard they're conducting Search tomorrow though."
The Doctor raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "Search?"
"It's when they send two dragons into Holds to seek out candidates for the Hatching."
"…Hold? Hatching?"
"Umm… I live in Fort Hold." Ellira pointed in the direction of the large castle-like structure, "And um… Hatching is when a bunch of dragon eggs hatch. The dragons form a pair with a human."
"I see…" Twisting his face in confusion, he tried to piece together everything Ellira said, but it still made little sense. It seemed he would have to wait until tomorrow for answers.
Opening the door to the TARDIS, he was about to step inside when Ellira interrupted him, "Where are you going?"
Looking back upon her with furrowed brows, he smiled, "Tomorrow."
"Ummm…"
The Doctor smiled, "It's a time machine. I can use it to go anywhere, and anywhen. I was just going to pop back at about this time tomorrow."
Ellira looked at him with pleading eyes, "You don't want to stay the night?"
"What would your parents think!"
Placing her hands behind her back, she looked at the Doctor sheepishly, "Oh… umm… you know how parents have favorite children?"
"Yes?"
"Well, that's not me. I-I don't think they would care." Ellira hung her head dejectedly, heaving a little sigh.
The Doctor frowned slightly, "Well then, if your parents don't care, could you get away with disappearing for a night?"
The girl nodded vigorously, "I do it all the time."
"Excellent!" He frowned, "Well, not excellent." His internal strife became apparent on his visage. Taking a few moments to regain composure, he continued, "Alright then." Gesturing towards Ellira, she slowly walked up to his strange blue box, peering at it curiously.
"It's… bigger on the inside!"
"I love it when people say that!" Grinning, he stepped inside the TARDIS, motioning for the girl to come along. She happily stepped inside, and began running around the circular console room.
Making his way to the console, he pulled a few levers, causing the TARDIS to make a whirring and grinding noise. Ellira stopped fooling around, and watched the Doctor curiously as he piloted the strange spacecraft. Running around the circular console, the Doctor pulled some more levers and flipped a few switches before they safely landed in the future.
Stepping outside, the Doctor looked about. They had arrived earlier than intended, but that would just give him time to explore some before meeting these so-called dragons. Turning back to look inside the TARDIS, he noticed that Ellira was gone. Stepping back inside he called, out, "Ellira!"
"Hold on, Doctor!"
A slight frown across his face, he leaned against the TARDIS door, waiting for Ellira to finish whatever it was that she was doing. He saw the small girl come out of the wardrobe, a large colorful scarf wrapped around her neck. It used to be his favorite, but he was a different person then. Shooting her an eyebrow, he walked back outside, locking the TARDIS door behind them.
"So, Ellira… When did you say the dragons would be here?"
"Umm… usually they come in the morning."
"Alright then, I suppose we have some time to ki—" The Doctor was cut off by the sound of trumpeting.
"Dragons!" Ellira rushed off in excitement, trying to spot the incoming creatures.
"Ellira wait!"
If there really were dragons, the Doctor had no idea how friendly they would be. If Ellira ran up to one, she could be putting herself in serious danger. Catching up to the small girl, the Doctor placed his hands gently on her shoulders, firmly stopping her.
A large shadow could be seen in the distance, and it looked about 35 feet in length. Immediately, the Doctor's eyes darted upwards, mouth agape. A beautiful blue dragon circled around, seemingly trying to find a good place to land. Off in the distance, a smaller green dragon materialized, gliding over towards where the blue one was.
"Wait… did that just—"
"Uh-huh, dragons have the ability to teleport—just like your blue box!"
Nothing was making sense anymore, which was highly unusual for the Doctor. Typically, he could find the logic in nearly anything. He wanted to ask Ellira how the dragons were able to teleport, but he had a feeling the small girl wouldn't know how to appropriately answer the question.
The two dragons touched down, and their riders dismounted. The man riding the blue dragon began walking towards them. Fort Hold was in the completely opposite direction, leaving the Doctor to ponder why a dragonrider would be more concerned with them.
As the dragonrider closed the distance between them, the Doctor was able to make out his features. Clad in what was most likely traditional riding gear—he much resembled an early pilot from Earth. His torso was covered with a heavy leather coat lined with fur. On his head sat a cap with aviator goggles, his blond hair barely visible. His pants were long, loosely tucked into his leather riding boots. The outfit was certainly optimized for harsh flying conditions.
The dragonrider approached the pair, "Hello, I'm T'kel."
"I'm the Doctor, and this is Ellira."
Smiling the dragonrider extended a hand, and shook the Doctor's, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor." He crouched down slightly to greet the young girl, "You too, Ellira."
"So… T'kel was it? You… aren't you supposed to be in the Hold?"
T'kel laughed, "There's something far more interesting over here, Doctor. My partner L'ran is taking care of candidate selection as we speak."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "So, what's so interesting about us?"
Chuckling slightly, T'kel explained, "My dragon, Naith, informed me of a strange presence—particularly one not of this world."
"So you suspect we have something to do with that..?"
"I don't just suspect, Doctor, I know. You display mental capabilities far exceeding anyone who has ever existed."
The Doctor frowned slightly, "…and you're telling me that your dragon was able to sense that?"
T'kel nodded, "Yes. In fact it's quite distracting. Our dragons are trying to scan the vicinity for capable candidates—children who are mentally sensitive. They're having an extremely hard time doing so, and it's because of you."
The Doctor groaned, "Well then…"
Ellira looked at T'kel, worry across her visage, "What can we do about it?"
T'kel smiled, shooting Ellira a wink, "They're already finding a way around it. I was just curious at who—or what—could cause such a disturbance."
"Well, if it's alright with you I should probably get going…" Furrowing his brows, the Doctor turned on his heel to walk away.
"What's the rush? You're obviously not from here—I could take you back to the Weyr as my guest. Oh, and I'll be bringing you along as well, Ellira."
Ellira spoke up shocked, "M-Me?"
Crouching a little, T'kel smiled, "Yes, you! Now, Doctor, what do you say?"
"Well…" A smile played across his face, "I suppose I am curious about your dragons."
T'kel beamed, "Excellent! We'll take off as soon as we gather up the candidates."
Pointing a thumb back at the TARDIS, he asked with a slight frown, "Is there anywhere I can park this?"
T'kel raised an eyebrow, "… park a blue box?"
"Yeah… Well… it's not a blue box. Well… it is." Brows furrowed, he looked towards T'kel inquisitively, "Is there anywhere I can put it?"
T'kel frowned slightly, "In the Weyr? Yeah, but how do you plan on getting it there?"
The Doctor flashed a smile, "Could you do me a favor, and imagine the exact location I could place this?"
Raising an eyebrow, T'kel complied. The Doctor then placed his hands upon the blonde man's head. The man was surprisingly good with locations in space and time. Once receiving the information he needed, he grinned, "I'll meet you there~"
T'kel raised an eyebrow, "Wait… that box moves?"
"Oh, yes!" A goofy smile plastered on his face, he opened the door to his TARDIS, "Allons-y, Ellira!"
Looking at him, and back at T'kel, Ellira grinned wildly and practically jumped into the TARDIS. The Doctor stuck his head out of the door, waving goodbye before taking them to their destination—Fort Weyr.
Upon stepping outside of his blue box, the Doctor looked around in awe. They were inside T'kel's residence. Though it was rather plain stone cavern, the outside view was spectacular.
"Magnificent!" Moving out of the cave, the Doctor stood on a ledge jutting out from the cliff face. Surrounding them was a grand rock formation—much like Fort Hold. All of the dragonrider's dwellings were cut into the sides, allowing easy access for the dragons. Below him was a great sandy bowl with a large lake off to the side. A portion of the lake was surrounded by a large meadow that contained various herdbeasts, and the other section seemed to be used by the dragons. The Weyr was absolutely massive—large enough to house hundreds of dragons and their riders.
Ellira stood next to the Doctor, mouth agape. Turning towards her, the Doctor smiled, "So I take it you've never been here either?"
The little girl shook her head, "Nope! I've never traveled outside Fort Hold before!"
Chuckling, the Doctor shot her a rather goofy grin, "We'll travel all over Pern! That's a promise!"
Ellira looked up at the Doctor, a smile playing across her visage. A metallic glint caught her attention, and she turned to see a very large and very beautiful bronze-colored dragon.
Similar in composition as the western dragons of legend, there were a few key differences. The shape of its skull had a primarily equine appearance. Its eyes were multifaceted, and protruded from the head to provide a wide range of vision, and they changed colors depending on their mood. Head knobs grew on the back of its skull, instead of the typical spikes seen in ancient paintings. Ridges began on the top of the skull, and ended on the shoulders, picking up again at the base of the dragon's tail. Wing sail edges connected to the body at the shoulder and the base of the tail for flight stability, with the tip of the tail ending in a fork.
The Doctor's gaze shifted towards the bronze dragon. They were absolutely brilliant creatures. About to comment on the creature's beauty, he was then taken off guard—a blue dragon materialized right before their eyes, and seemed to be headed to land in their direction.
"It's T'kel! We need to move—NOW!" Grabbing the small girl, the Doctor thrust her against the stone wall, and took his place beside her, clearing room for the large dragon to land.
The blue dragon, Naith, touched down inside the cavern, quickly folding his wings to allow the company space. T'kel lovingly caressed the dragon's neck as he was lowered, and hopped off. Naith made his way over towards a stone couch that was covered in hay and quilted blankets. Taking his place on the large couch, Naith curled up into a ball, resting his head upon his forepaws.
T'kel smiled at his two guests, "So I take it your strange blue box can go between as well?"
The Doctor raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "What?"
"I said— "
"I know what you said." The Doctor's expression twisted into a slight frown, "When you say between, you're referring to the ability to travel between two points in space, correct?"
"Yes. Time and space."
"What!" The Doctor looked at T'kel as if he had an eye growing out of his forehead. Brows furrowed, the Doctor had a difficult time forming words. Opening his mouth a few times, nothing came out. Finally, his mouth closed and his eyes narrowed a bit in skepticism. "So you're saying… your Naith has the ability to travel to the past and the present…?"
T'kel nodded, and the Doctor just stared at him, baffled.
"Alright, then! I've seen stranger things in my time!" The Doctor tried to shrug it off, but something wasn't right. Licking his lips slightly, he tried to work out the puzzle in his head. "So… T'kel… you ride dragons… could you give me a proper explanation on how these creatures came to be, and how in the world they developed such abilities!"
T'kel shook his head, "I'm sorry, Doctor. I really haven't a clue. Any explanations have long since been lost."
Heaving a dejected sigh, the Doctor replied, "Ahh..."
T'kel smiled, "I know what would make you feel better—something to eat!"
The Doctor laughed, "No, it's okay I'm—" He was then cut off by Ellira's puppy eyes. He frowned at her for a moment, and then smiled, "Alright then, allons-y!"
"Al-onz-zee?" Ellira looked at the Doctor, baffled.
"It means let's go." He chuckled slightly, and Ellira shot him a rather confused smile.
T'kel made his way towards the entrance of the cave, and motioned the pair over. The Doctor looked over towards the sandy bowl, and wondered exactly how they'd be getting food that way… the exit was clearly on the other side, towards the interior of the weyr.
The blue rider could see the confusion on the Doctor's face, and grinning, he waved over a dragonrider who seemed to be riding the air currents. The bronze dragon—the one they had been gawking at earlier—flew over towards them.
"N'lor!"
The young boy smiled at the blue rider, "T'kel! Who're your friends?"
T'kel chuckled, "That's the Doctor, and one of the candidates, Ellira."
N'lor grinned roguishly, "Is the Doctor your weyrmate?"
Face flushed a bright red, T'kel vehemently denied the claim, "N-No! Of course not! The Doctor is just a friend…"
The Doctor raised a slight eyebrow—he was suddenly reminded of Captain Jack Harkness…
Ellira looked up at the Doctor, and tugged him down so that she could whisper in his ear, "What's a weyrmate?"
The Doctor smiled cheekily, "I'll tell you when you're older."
Ellira wasn't pleased with that answer, and gave him a huff and a frown, placing her hands upon her hips.
N'lor gestured towards the group to mount his dragon, Llieraneth. T'kel was the first to hop on the dragon's back, taking his place behind N'lor. The Doctor picked up Ellira, and placed her gently behind T'kel, and took his place after her, making sure she was securely mounted upon Llieraneth's neck.
N'lor seemed to give the dragon some sort of command, and Llieraneth descended towards the sandy bowl, riding the air currents down.
The Doctor noted that N'lor's dragon was remarkably larger than T'kel's. The bronze dragon was about 55 feet in length (from nose to tail), as opposed to the blue's 35 feet. He assumed that the colors of the dragons had some sort of meaning—like a social hierarchy.
Llieraneth touched down, lowering his neck to allow the others to dismount with ease. Being a much taller dragon, he had to squat close to the ground so the passengers received no injuries while trying to get off.
Being the first to dismount, T'kel reached out to assist Ellira and the Doctor. Once they were firmly planted on the ground, T'kel waved to N'lor, "Thanks for the lift!"
N'lor chuckled, "It was a nice change of pace!" Looking down towards Ellira, he shot a smile towards the young girl, "I wager you'll impress that queen egg!"
Ellira's eyes lit up, "Do you really think so!"
With a knowing smile, N'lor and Llieraneth took to the skies, riding the thermals across the Weyr.
The Doctor looked inquisitively towards T'kel, "Queen?"
"A queen—a gold-colored dragon—is the most important dragon in a Weyr. Queen riders usually go on to become Weyrwoman. Weyrwoman are the domestic heads of a Weyr—the female counterpart to the male head, the Weyrleader."
The Doctor nodded, with a slight contemplative frown, "Ahh… I see."
T'kel laughed, "Enough politics—let's eat!" The blue rider headed off in the direction of the lower caverns, which held the kitchen, dining area and other common rooms. These caverns were placed under the rider's weyrs, and built into the side of the cliff-face, with some of the caverns running underground.
Entering the lower caverns, they made their way towards the dining hall. Before them was a rather imposing flight of stairs. The Doctor made a rather cross face, "The kitchen… is up that!"
T'kel laughed, "It's good exercise."
Ellira looked over at the Doctor with sad eyes.
"Alright, alright…" With a smile, the Doctor picked Ellira up, and placed her over his shoulders. Looking up the flight of stairs, he gulped slightly. T'kel shot the Doctor a rather amused expression, and began his ascent up the staircase.
Halfway up the stairs, the Doctor had to stop and catch his breath. "So…T'kel… exactly how many steps are there!"
The dragonrider chuckled, "You don't want to know."
The Doctor let out a slight groan, causing Ellira to giggle, "I'm so glad you're carrying me Doctor~"
"I'm sure you are…"
After what seemed like an eternity, the trio finally made it to the dining hall. It was an impressively sized cavern; above them was an elaborate vaulted ceiling. Hearths ran along the outside kitchen wall, and they stood in the middle of the dining hall—with enough room to feed 1600 or so individuals. Over towards the kitchen, copper utensils ranging from immense soup cauldrons to tiny saucepans hung from the ceiling in rows, all of them pristine.
"This is a rather impressive kitchen." The Doctor looked towards T'kel, smiling.
T'kel beamed, "It's the largest of all of the Weyrs! It's also the fanciest." Giving the Doctor a wink, he made his way over towards the kitchens to get the group something to eat.
The dragonrider waved down one of the drudges who had been attending to cleaning the kitchen. The young, raggedy female turned to look at the handsome blonde dragonrider, smiling, "T'kel! It's been a while."
"Indeed it has, Raena!"
The female's face flushed a bright red, "And you brought friends?"
"This is the Doctor, he's a very strange man. Beside him is Ellira, one of the candidates I brought back."
"I see, I see. So, what are you having?"
"Two cups of Klah please, and your best juice for the little one. As for food? Hmmm, what's on the pot?"
Raena smiled, "Roasted wherry~"
T'kel grinned, "I'll have three portions of that then!"
"Of course!" The female ran to the back caverns, moments later returning with three plates of sliced wherry meat, along with their beverages.
"Thanks so much, Raena!" The female bowed towards the rider, and returned to her duties.
Taking a seat at one of the long tables, the group sans the Doctor began feasting on their meal. Picking up his drink, the Doctor sniffed it. Its scent was similar to chocolate and cinnamon. In his opinion, it was a very odd choice of a beverage meant to accompany a meal. Upon his plate was this 'wherry' meat, along with some sort of vegetables. Deciding to be brave, he took a bite of the mystery meat.
T'kel watched him intently as he tried the food, "So, what do you think?"
"It tastes like turkey."
"Is that a good thing?" The dragonrider shot him an eyebrow.
"It's very delicious, thank you." The Doctor grinned, meat stuffed in his mouth as he spoke.
Ellira was too busy shoving the delicious, tender meat down her esophagus to add to the conversation. The hold she lived in never provided her with such delicious food.
After trying the beverage, the Doctor determined it was some strange combination of spice, coffee and hot chocolate. It was without a doubt delicious.
Once the Doctor finished his meal, he looked over towards T'kel, "So you brought Ellira here for a dragon hatching, correct?" T'kel nodded, and the Doctor continued, "When is that taking place?"
"Tomorrow. And that reminds me—we need to get Ellira down to the Hatching Ground to touch the eggs."
Ellira smiled, "I would like that!"
T'kel smiled, and took his soiled plate to the kitchen. The Doctor and Ellira took theirs as well, handing the dishes to Raena who received them with a smile.
Bending down to Ellira's level, T'kel beamed, "Are you ready to see some eggs?"
Ellira smiled, "Yup!"
Chuckling, T'kel gently ruffled Ellira's brown locks, then making his way towards the terrifying staircase.
After a short journey across the Weyr Bowl, they arrived at the Hatching Ground. The sunlight shone through the high openings to the Weyr Bowl outside, causing the mottled eggshells to glisten. The cavern was massive, filled with hot sand which warmed the eggs. Shape, color and size of the eggs were uniform, aside from the large golden queen egg. This special egg was separate from the rest of the clutch, propped up on a mound and protected by its broody golden mother.
The trio treaded carefully across the sands—mindful to not disturb the sleeping queen dragon. The Doctor spoke softly in awe, "These eggs are so beautiful…" Walking up to one of them, he gently placed his hand on the smooth shell, caressing it lightly.
"Doctor! You really shouldn't touch those…"
"O-Oh, I'm sorry."
T'kel gently took Ellira's hand, and placed it upon the shell the Doctor touched, "The candidates are supposed to touch them. It's said to increase one's chance at impressing."
Nodding, the Doctor kept a safe distance from the eggs, but continued watching them curiously.
Circling the Hatching Grounds, Ellira gently placed her hand upon each of the eggs. The young girl was trembling nervously, and T'kel looked upon her smiling, "Don't worry. Impression is very nerve-wracking—but it's well worth the stress."
Ellira smiled weakly, her gaze then focusing upon the great golden egg. T'kel looked in the same direction with furrowed brows. It was the first time he had been responsible for candidates, and wasn't quite sure how to properly approach a queen dragon and her egg. Waving Ellira on, T'kel slowly and quietly approached the large egg. It appeared she was fast asleep, and T'kel gestured for Ellira to quickly touch the egg.
Nervously, Ellira approached the beautiful egg, eyes widened in awe. Her hand gently and lovingly caressed the shell, a smile playing across her visage. The Doctor stood far back watching as his young friend handled the egg, keeping an eye out for any sign of movement from the queen dragon. Reptilian mothers were often very protective—often violently so—of their clutch.
Once finished, Ellira quickly backed away from the egg to not upset the mother if she were to wake up. T'kel nodded towards Ellira and the Doctor, "Let's go."
Upon reaching the Weyr Bowl, Ellira cried out, "That was amazing!" The two men looked upon the small girl, smiling. It was refreshing to see a pleased child. After she finished jumping up and down excitedly, Ellira turned towards the two men, her demeanor changed, "I'm really tired…"
T'kel laughed, "It's not even close to nighttime!"
The Doctor spoke, "It was late afternoon when I picked up Ellira, I'm sure she's exhausted."
T'kel nodded in understanding, "Well, I can take you to the Candidate Barracks if you'd like. Just a warning though—the children might be loud."
Ellira smiled weakly, "It's okay… I think I could sleep through anything right now."
The trio made their way across the hot sands, eventually reaching their destination. Handing Ellira over to the rider in charge of taking care of the candidates, the Doctor and T'kel then searched for N'lor to receive a lift back up to the blue rider's weyr.
T'kel spoke telepathically to his dragon, Naith, are you awake?
Yes.
T'kel smiled, Could you get Llieraneth's attention? We're coming back to the weyr.
I'll let him know.
Moments later, the sunlight refracted gloriously off of Llieraneth's beautiful bronze skin, and using thermals, he made his descent. Touching down, Llieraneth lowered his head and squatted, allowing the two men to easily mount.
N'lor smiled, "Ahh, where's your tiny friend?"
The Doctor smiled, "She's with the other candidates."
"Gotcha. Did she get a chance to touch the queen egg?"
T'kel grinned, "Of course she did!"
Llieraneth trumpeted in joy, and his rider shared the sentiment, "Excellent!"
Once they climbed on the bronze dragon's neck, Llieraneth lifted them into the sky, gliding gracefully over towards T'kel's weyr.
N'lor smiled, gently patting the bronze dragon's neck, "So, Doctor. Where are you from?"
He chuckled, "Somewhere far, far away."
T'kel chimed in, "He's not from Pern."
"You're kidding!"
Llieraneth spoke to N'lor, T'kel is right. He is not human.
N'lor's eyes widened, "Llieraneth informs me that you're not human, Doctor…"
Heaving a sigh, the Doctor explained, "I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey… it's quite a ways from the Rukbat system."
N'lor laughed, "I have no idea what that means, but I'll take your word for it."
Llieraneth landed upon the ledge of T'kel's weyr, and the pair dismounted. Naith crooned a friendly greeting, and Llieraneth returned the sentiment.
N'lor smiled, "I'll see you two at the hatching! I'm crossing my fingers for Ellira—she's by far my favorite queen candidate." With a wink, the bronze rider and his dragon took off.
The Doctor turned towards T'kel, "At what time about would you say the hatching is?"
T'kel shook his head, "Hatchings usually happen in the afternoon, but it's hard to say. Really it's whenever the eggs decide they're ready."
A contemplative frown played across the Doctor's face.
"You plan on timing it?"
"Ahh… well… I suppose, yes." The Doctor smiled.
"It doesn't make you sick?"
Eyebrow raised, the Doctor looked upon T'kel curiously and spoke, "Traveling in time makes you sick?"
T'kel nodded.
"Well… that's odd."
T'kel shrugged, "Dragonriders avoid traveling in time for that reason. The dragons don't seem to be bothered by it, but it makes us feel ill. Also, the time in between increases the further in time we travel." He chuckled, "It's very easy to die that way."
The Doctor's brows furrowed. He wasn't quite sure how traveling between was deadly.
Noticing that the Doctor was confused T'kel clarified, "Between is cold nothingness. No air. Nothing."
Frowning, the Doctor muttered to himself, "Hmmm… I wonder if a space suit would solve that…"
"…what?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it." With a grin, the Doctor made his way to the TARDIS.
"Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"Are you sure you don't need to rest?"
The Doctor laughed at the dragonrider's concern, "Don't worry about me~ I'll see you bright and early tomorrow!" Grinning he opened the door to the TARDIS and stepped inside.
T'kel caught a glance at it, and his eyes widened in disbelief, "I-It's bigger on the inside…!"
With a cheesy grin plastered on his face, the Doctor waved goodbye to T'kel, and closed the door. Making his way to the console, the Doctor proceeded to flip a few switches, pull a few levers, causing the time machine to make the familiar grinding and whirring noise.
Outside, the dragonrider watched as the mysterious blue box dematerialized.