Areth hovered, her wings flapping up and down in slow, steady rhythm. D'rell searched the side of the mountain with his newly acquired binoculars. Areth kept her eye on the weather. The wind had picked up and she was finding it more and more difficult to hold her position. There were dark clouds rising over the mountains to the west; dark and heavy with snow. In a short time, whatever they had seen land there would be covered with snow and they would probably not have another chance to find it until the snows cleared the following spring,
There's a storm coming! Areth stated calmly.
They were in no danger, as she could easily take them between when the winds and the snow began to get too bad. D'rell swore. It was just his luck that the most interesting object to fall to Pern from space, since the first network of early warning sensors had been put in place, was about to be covered with the first snow fall of the Southern Peaks winter.
The object had shown up on the screens whilst D'rell took his turn at watch. He had been on his own. The protocol was to alert the rest of the team then investigate. However they had had too many false readings from the newly situated satellites that he wanted to get a look at this one before he woke anyone up. It had been very early in the morning at Landing and no one would have appreciated being woken for a false reading, no matter how charming the person was who disturbed them.
D'rell focused the binoculars a little better. He looked up from the lenses, narrowing his deep blue eyes; then going back to the binoculars. There had been a glint, as if the rising sun had caught and reflected off something metal. The snow began to fall. Large wet flakes, soon the mountainside would be obscured from view as the snow storm took hold. If he could just focus a little more…. Suddenly Areth turned her head towards the mountain side and D'rell's focus was disturbed as the shifting muscles in her neck caused him to lose his balance,
"Shard's sake, Areth, What are you playing at?" he gasped, glad of his riding straps,
There is someone there! She sounded shocked and surprised. D'rell forgot his anger at almost being tipped off her back and stared at her then at the mountain,
"What? Do you mean on the mountainside?" He asked out loud and incredulous, shouting against the noise of the wind now. There was no way anyone could have got there before him, no one knew about the object except them. There was also no way they could have landed in the howling wind and now heavily falling snow. He shivered despite his thick Weyr hide jacket. How did Areth know any way, had she seen something? She had been looking in the opposite direction,
I heard him! Areth said, a note of wonder in her voice, He is afraid,
D'rell, tried to focus his binoculars again but the snow was now too heavy to even see the side of the mountain,
Can you see him Areth? Can he hear you? If there was someone there, they would need to get him out of that storm.
He hears me and he hears you. She said, astonishment, How can that be?
D'rell didn't have time to ponder that revelation,
Can you find him? He asked his dragon. It was a long shot, a big ask for her. She had only just perfected the telekinesis; she had only moved small objects before. To ask her to move a person, was it too much? There was no way they could land on the mountainside now. The snow began to drive into their faces, they would have to leave soon, or they would freeze,
I can find him. She told him with such confidence it filled him with pride,
Can you get him here, on your back, in front of me? Can you see where?
I can see. I have told him, he has heard and understood.
Suddenly D'rell was almost knocked from Areth's neck again as, with a blast of icy cold between; a body appeared in front of him on her neck. D'rell's reaction was quick. Lightening reflexes caught hold of the figure that had abruptly appeared. He held on tight to the arms of the new comer,
I have him Areth, let's go. The howling wind and snow disappeared, replaced by the utter cold and absence of everything that was between.
They emerged, three heart beats later in the warm midday sun above Benden Weyr. D'rell was about to protest that they should have gone back to Landing then realised that he hadn't actually told Areth where they should go. She had taken the initiative and taken them home. Suddenly D'rell's ears were bombarded as their passenger let out a whoop of exhilaration,
"Whooeeee! That was incredible. What a fuckin' trip man. What the hell are we ridin' on? Some sorta creature? I swear to God I love space travel." The passenger twisted about in front of D'rell and the rider was having trouble keeping hold of him. He was easily as big as him, a grown man. What the shell had he been doing on the mountainside? How had he got there in the first place?
Take us to our weyr, Areth. He told her. He didn't want to land in the bowl, or training grounds. He wanted to find out what the shell was going on first,
"Hold on!" He shouted to his passenger, "We're going to land, and if you're not used to riding dragon back it can be a bit rough." The passenger, despite his initial elation, lowered his hands and gripped tight to D'rell's arms that were still wrapped around his waist. D'rell felt an irrational rush of fear and anxiety in the pit of his stomach. Unreasonable, since landing in their weyr was a manoeuvre they made almost every day together. He was at a loss to explain why he suddenly felt anxious now,
It is not your anxiety, it is his, he apologises for causing you any distress. He says he will explain everything when we land.
D'rell certainly hoped so. There was an awful lot of explaining to do.
Areth back winged as she reached the entrance to the weyr. D'rell felt the familiar sadness as they landed, knowing that there would be no one there to greet them. It had been five turns since his partner, D'sar and his dragon Merth had been killed fighting thread. Even after all this time he still felt the loss keenly.
As Areth's claws held onto the edge of the rock and she scrambled into the cave D'rell heard his passenger gasp, then sigh with relief that they were landed and relatively safe. D'rell released his grip on the stranger's waist and hooked his leg over Areth's neck to slide deftly down her shoulder. He turned and looked up at his passenger, getting his first proper look at him. The mystery only deepened as D'rell took in the stranger's appearance. First things first though. He held out his arms to steady the man as he dismounted. The stranger regarded D'rell and his outstretched arms with the greenest eyes D'rell had ever seen. Blond curls stuck out from below a tight fitting hood that was attached to the all in one coverall he was wearing. It looked like the suits that the dragon riders wore when manoeuvring in space, but slightly thinner material, tighter fitting,
"Hook your leg around and slide down, Areth and I won't let you fall." He told the worried looking stranger. Areth turned her head and crooned in encouragement,
Slide down my foreleg, D'rell will catch you. Areth told him and the stranger blinked in astonishment looking from D'rell to Areth and back again. D'rell got the distinct impression that the stranger had thought he had been speaking to D'rell during their initial contact and subsequent conversations. The fact that he had been speaking to a dragon seemed to perturb him a little. D'rell had no idea how he knew this though and found himself returning the stranger's troubled stare with one of his own.
The man did as he had been instructed and slid down Areth's extended foreleg. He landed heavily as D'rell tried to break his fall with hands on his hips. At the contact D'rell immediately felt the same sensation of anxiety and fear. His eyes clouded with confusion, because he did not feel afraid, or anxious. He felt curious and was full of questions. He was at a loss to explain the other feelings, except, Areth had said it was the stranger who was feeling these things, how could D'rell feel them too? D'rell broke the contact with the stranger and the confusing emotions disappeared.
For a few moments the two men regarded each other. D'rell with curiosity: the stranger with trepidation. D'rell pulled off his right riding glove and extended his hand in greeting, smiling his most charming smile,
"I'm D'rell." He said simply, his blue eyes sparkling with questions. For a second the stranger just stared at the hand and then, shrugging slightly he took it in his own,
"Tristan." He whispered, and then coughing to clear his throat he said a little louder, "My name is Tristan." His accent was strange, drawling; almost tuneful. The confusing emotions were no longer present and D'rell surmised that this Tristan must be relaxing a little. D'rell pulled off his other glove and approached Areth, patting her shoulder and looking up into her eyes with undisguised affection for his lovely green dragon,
"This is Areth, but I take it you've already been told that." The stranger nodded, turning as D'rell had moved around him to scratch Areth's hide,
"Y-yes, I have." He stared at Areth with wide green eyes, taking in her sheer size. Areth regarded him with her jewel like, multi faceted eyes, gently whirling,
Nice to meet you Tristan! She said enigmatically,
"She likes to have her eye ridges scratched!" D'rell explained. Areth obediently moved her head so that both men could reach the bony ridges above her eyes. Tristan gingerly stretched out his hand and scratched the ridge. Areth closed her inner lid in pleasure and Tristan smiled in wonder,
I itch there, she said softly. D'rell reached for a jar and Tristan watched as he smoothed some of the oily contents on the dragon's eye ridge. D'rell offered him the jar,
"Smother her other eye ridge would you?" he asked, smiling, "A dry hide cracks in between." Tristan frowned in confusion,
"What?" he asked, "In between what?" D'rell stopped rubbing oil on Areth's eye ridge and regarded Tristan with more than a little shock. How could he not know what was meant by the term between? Tristan looked a little uncomfortable with D'rell's scrutiny so the rider looked away and acted as if he hadn't heard. Tristan had seen his look though.
After he had finished rubbing oil on her ridges Areth looked at D'rell, I am cold; I will go to the heights to lie in the sun. Jenth and Cerith are there.
Okay, darling, enjoy.
With that she took a few steps to the edge of the weyr entrance and launched herself off the edge, spreading her wings to glide. Tristan gave a long low whistle as he stepped across to look over the edge. Then he turned to regard D'rell with those green eyes. D'rell's eyes looked him up and down, his brow furrowing in confusion at his appearance. His clothes were strange, his accent was strange. His presence on the mountainside was strange. What had he said? D'rell remembered with a shock. I swear to God I love space travel. What the shells had he meant by that? Tristan seemed to be waiting for him to speak, still looking a little uncomfortable with D'rell's scrutiny. He was also shivering,
"I'll make some Klah, you must be freezing." He said forcing himself to sound calmer than he felt. He turned on his heel and walking through the archway leading to the living quarters of his weyr.
Whoever this Tristan was, he was an enigma. How had he got onto the side of that mountain? How come he didn't know about between? There were isolated holds and smallholdings that might have escaped Harper notice in the North, but here in the South? On a seemingly inaccessible mountainside? It all seemed very unlikely anyway, that after almost forty turns of Thread fall there could be any one living on Pern who did not know at least a basic knowledge of dragons. What ever the answers, however, Tristan had just been rescued from a possible freezing death so questions could wait.
D'rell walked through to his bedroom and fetched a blanket and then went back to his living room/kitchen. Tristan was now standing in the archway between the living room and Areth's weyr. The same expectant look on his face as if he was waiting for the questions that D'rell wanted to ask. D'rell tossed him the blanket and he caught it deftly, the only reaction except a slight raise of his eyebrows,
"Put that around your shoulders, sit by the stove. I'll light it, but it takes a while to warm the place up." D'rell was trying to sound as calm as he could, to make this stranger feel relaxed. He lit his stove, that had been set ready for him just to fire up, probably by Marna, the very efficient and motherly headwoman, and then placed a kettle on to boil.
Tristan shook out the blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. He was cold, colder than he had ever been; a combination of the freezing blizzard on the mountain and the utter cold of teleportation, first by the creature called Areth lifting him from the mountainside and then by both of them, on her back to get here. It was taking its toll on his body. The initial adrenaline rush of the rescue and the flight was wearing off. He felt suddenly light headed and dizzy,
"Whoa there, friend," D'rell dove swiftly across the room and caught Tristan as he fell, hooking the man's arm around his shoulder and guiding him to the sofa. He sat Tristan down and swung his legs up so that he was lying across the soft cushions. He pulled the blanket from Tristan's shoulders and laid it over him. He was deathly pale and D'rell felt worried for him, whoever he was and wherever he had come from, he needed help and D'rell was very glad he and Areth had found him. He dreaded to think what might have happened if they hadn't.
Tristan's eyes flickered open and D'rell smiled down at him,
"You alright now?" he asked, "You gave me a bit of a scare just there." He asked Areth to speak to B'son, weyr healer. Tristan, he felt, needed more than just a cup of hot Klah. Tristan tried to sit up but fell back against the arm of the sofa, groaning and holding his head,
"Easy, Tristan," D'rell told him gently as he stood and walked back to the stove, "I'll make some Klah. A hot drink is just what you need to warm you up. I've called for a healer to come."
"A healer?" Tristan asked, his voice still cracking,
"B'son is one of our best," D'rell explained, "He's saved my hide on more than one occasion." He laughed wryly,
"And this Klah?" Tristan drawled, his voice a little less croaky, "It's some sorta drink?"
"It's a hot drink!" D'rell tried to hide the surprise at the question. How could he not know that? He turned to regard Tristan while he waited for the kettle to boil, "You don't know what Klah is?" Tristan looked a little shirty as he answered,
"It's a drink." He drawled,
"But you didn't know that until I told you. The most common drink on the entire planet, and you didn't know what it was." D'rell was coming to some astonishing conclusions as he leaned back against his kitchen bench, his blue eyes sparkled with excitement as he continued, "You didn't know what I meant when I spoke about between either. No matter how isolated your life has been there's no way you wouldn't know about those two basic things." His tone was expectant, cautious, "You're not from around here are you, Tristan?" Tristan's green eyes widened, and D'rell could see a little trepidation and even fear reflected there,
"No I'm not." Tristan admitted, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples with his finger and thumb, "Not by a long shot, D'rell." D'rell pushed himself away from the bench and approached Tristan to sit on the easy chair next to him. He leaned forward,
"The object I saw tracked by our warning satellites, that wasn't a meteor, it was you wasn't it?" he asked, hardly able to contain his excitement. Tristan looked up at him and into the deepest blue eyes he had ever seen. He saw the excitement on the young man's face and he saw the honesty in those eyes. He smiled slowly, cautiously,
"I didn't see the read outs but I'd make an educated guess that what you saw was my escape pod crashin' on your planet." Tristan told him, a little relief showing on his face at D'rell's positive reaction,
"Escape pod?" D'rell asked, sitting back in surprise. He'd read about them of course, seen pictures and seen where they had been positioned on the Yoko and Buenos. He'd known the readouts hadn't been wrong. The trajectory of the object had been unnatural, controlled,
"The ship I was travelling on was destroyed," Tristan told him sadly, "A few of us escaped. The pods put you into cryogenic sleep so you can travel until you're picked up by rescue craft. They are programmed to head back to the last port of call of the ship and presumably to rescue."
"How in the name of the first shell did you end up here then?" D'rell asked incredulous. He, of all people, knew of the phenomenal distances involved in travelling through space. Pern was far too distant from any populated part of the charted galaxies to have any casual space traffic passing by. One of the reasons his ancestors had chosen it,
"I have no idea where here actually is but from what I could discover from the read outs on my nav 'puter, before it completely burned out, my pod malfunctioned. Instead of sending me back towards home, it sent me off into deep space. I couldn't work out how long I'd been in cryo because all the 'puter's functions were completely messed up. Then I didn't really have time to try to fix them because that damn storm came and then all I could do was try to shelter from it. That's where you and Areth came in." he frowned as if not really believing what had just happened, "You pulled me off that mountainside. You're a Kinetic? Telekinesis?" he asked,
"That was Areth, not me." D'rell explained, a little shocked that Tristan could think that it was him that had pulled Tristan off the mountain,
"What exactly is she, your Areth?"
"She's a dragon." Tristan's green eyes widened,
"A- a Dragon?" he asked incredulous, "I mean, a real dragon? I swear, if I didn't already know that you didn't dream in cryo I'd think I was dreaming now."
"You're not dreaming, believe me." D'rell chuckled at Tristan's reaction, "And Areth is a dragon in the sense that her kind are named after the mythical creatures that they resemble. They breath fire with a little help from a combustible rock named firestone, but I can assure you they don't eat people, well," he rolled his blue eyes, smiling a half smile, revealing deep dimples in his cheeks, "Not deliberately anyway." That last part was a joke, Tristan realised, and he smiled along, but somehow he didn't feel very reassured.
D'rell stood up and walked back over to the stove. He poured the boiled water into his Klah pot, gave it a stir, then poured it into two cups. He walked back over to Tristan with them, "How are you feeling now?" he asked gently, sitting back down and handing Tristan one of the steaming mugs.
"A little better, thanks." Tristan sat slowly, and took the mug, sniffing the contents gingerly,
"You said your pod was supposed to take you home, Tristan. Where is home?"
"Earth." Tristan said simply. D'rell choked on the mouthful of Klah he had just drank,
"You're from Earth? Really?" his eyes were wide and his mouth fell open,
"Yes." Tristan said, smiling, "Now would you mind telling me where I am now? Because I don't have a clue. You are human, right?" he asked, D'rell nodded, hardly able to believe that he could be speaking to a man from another planet, his ancestor's home planet to boot,
"This is Pern, Tristan. We are in the Rukbat system, Sagittarius sector." D'rell was probably one of only a few on the planet who could actually tell someone this with any confidence and as Tristan stared at him with a mixture of excitement and disbelief he could see that he had understood perfectly, exactly where he was,
"The Sagittarius sector, huh?" Tristan asked in his drawling accent, he wasn't really sure whether he should laugh or cry at the information though,
"You're a very long way from home, Tristan." D'rell told him, voicing the stranger's thoughts exactly, "That must have been some malfunction for your navigation systems to bring you here. Where were you when your ship got into trouble?"
"We were somewhere near the Vega system. I don' know exactly where. I was off duty when the ship ran into trouble." D'rell nodded gently, his blue eyes serious, his manner sympathetic. He searched through his memories of star charts to find the one Tristan was talking of, "I take it you know where that is."
"Yes, I've studied our ancestor's star charts; I have a pretty fair idea of where you've come from. But Tristan," he stared at the man, he couldn't be much older than D'rell, "You know that it would have taken at least fifteen of your years to get here. Have you been in Cryo sleep all that time?" Tristan shook his head,
"I didn't have time to check my chronometer before the storm came. It could have been longer, but I know now it can't have been shorter than that. Fifteen years, huh?" He whistled and ran trembling fingers through his short blond curls, "I cain't hardly believe it." His face had gone pale again and D'rell could see the trembling was not simply because of the cold,
"Tristan, are you alright? B'son is coming, but is there anything we need to do to help you over the effects of cryo sleep?" Where was B'son? He lifted his face and his eyes looked into the distance as he called for Cerith,
Cerith, is B'son gracing us with his presence at any time soon? I did say it was a kind of emergency.
We are coming, and B'son says you should keep your shirt on. Why would he think you would have taken it off?
D'rell chuckled at her literal interpretation of B'son's exclamation of irritation. He was surprised to see Tristan chuckling too, despite his tremors and pallid complexion. D'rell frowned,
"Did you hear that?" he asked surprised, Tristan nodded,
"Both sides." He said. D'rell's eyes widened,
"You heard me too?" he then remembered Areth telling him Tristan had heard him talking to her, "You're telepathic then?"
"I am a trained telepath, empath, telekinetic and micro telekinetic." Tristan told him, his voice becoming quieter as he did so, his face becoming paler if that were possible. He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths,
"Tristan?" D'rell knelt beside him. He took Tristan's mug from him before laying a hand on his arm in concern.
I'm fine, D'rell, I just feel nauseous, and I don't really want to throw up all over your amazin' boots.
D'rell pulled his hand away from Tristan's arm in shock at hearing another person's voice in his head when before he had only ever heard dragons' voices. The voice had gone and Tristan's eyes remained closed, his face pale. Gingerly D'rell placed his hand back on Tristan's arm,
Sorry if I shocked you, D'rell. It's easier to speak to you this way when I feel like I'm gonna throw up every time I open my mouth. You don' have to be touchin' me though. You might get more'n you bargained for.
D'rell immediately withdrew his hand,
"You mean like the extra emotions I felt when we rescued you?" D'rell asked, "Areth said they were from you." Tristan nodded, another groan escaping from his lips at the movement,
You must be very empathic to understand that they weren't your own.
D'rell didn't have time to contemplate this or to ask about it further as they were interrupted by whooshing and scraping noises in the cavernous weyr beyond,
"That'll be B'son." He explained to Tristan who opened his eyes looking suddenly very worried, "Don't be concerned, he's not going to freak out about you being from another planet or anything. Although I can hardly believe it myself." He laughed and ran his fingers through his mess of short dark hair, "Your origins aren't important but your health is." With that he stood and walked to meet B'son and talk with him in the cave before he joined them in the living room.
What he was going to say, he had no clue. He hoped that he had been right to assume that B'son would be fine meeting a visitor from another planet. He knew there were plenty on Pern who would not be.