Rue's Pages - Originally written around 2001Rue Gonzalez

Lasair Weyr awaited. With the excitement building in Rue's heart, she felt like she might burst with it. The sands had twenty five beautiful eggs on them, and not just one but TWO golds!

Her throat tightened. What girl or young woman didn't really, in her heart, want to Impress that gold on the sands? What could possibly be the only thing in the world besides that? Life would be perfect!

"No," Rue reminded herself. "It wouldn't be. Perfection would be to be able to move with Shard where he goes. And to have a little green that would keep him happy too."

Her heart was a bit torn.

Shard appeared, like he often did, practically from Between like a dragon. "Sweet?" he asked, softly. "What's wrong? You should be happy to be standing on the sands finally."

She looked at her feet. Shard was close to eight turns her senior, and had impressed long before. She would have some catching up to do.

"What if I impress a gold, Shard?" Her voice wavered. Shard had never heard such a thing from her.

"If you do you'll be the finest queen rider in all the Protectorate, Rue." He moved a finger over her long nose, and she couldn't help but grin.

"I mean, my dearest weyrleader, that if you are off doing Protectorate things, with Jeremoth flying who-knows-what green... Who will be flying a gold of mine if I impress one? I know that you don't want me to be jealous of you, but..."

"But what about me?" He smiled brilliantly. "Rue, my love, if I was jealous of some brave bronze rider spending a handful of sevendays with you while the dragons clutch and hatch, I'd be too stupid to be the Protectorate's leader." He straightened his posture, and gave an impish smile, "besides, what man wouldn't want to be with you?"

"You mean what man wouldn't want to be with me AND you," she laughed, loud. "I know you, BLUE rider! I've heard things from H'lis who happens to be a very fine BRONZE rider!"

"I never considered that my preference to choose handsome people could have anything to do with my dragon's choice of mate." Shard said, defensively.

Rue giggled. "Nor I. Besides, the most mono-sexual woman in the world might still wind up being the best mother. Who can say?"

"That woulnd't be you, I would say." Shard jibed.

"You are right, my sweet! But I do love you, and you love ... heh, others." Rue glanced at her weyrmate, the tall and highly superior leader of the Protectorate. A blue rider with a streak of silliness that ran as deeply as his loyalty.

How could she ever have thought that he would be anything less than approving?

Of course, she thought, what if I impress a blue...

***

Rue jotted down everything as it happened. Even when the call went up for the candidates to get to the hatching sands! Lasair was coming to life, it was early in the morning and Rue wasn't normally a 'morning' person. But Shard had stayed with her and kept her quite warm. It was he who woke her and started her day.

"The dragons will hatch today," he said, as Rue pinned on her rank badge. "Jeremoth is very rarely wrong."

"Well, he'd better not be wrong about me standing," Rue said, with a little flutter of worry in her voice. Shard stood, towering over her, with a soft smile.

"Darling, if he is wrong, then I'll have to swap him for a new one."

Rue heard the indignant snort of the blue beyond in their temporary weyr. Since Shard was the Protectorate's leader, he was welcome at most any weyr, but since Rue was a candidate, it meant that she got better lodging with him than without. Jeremoth poked his nose into the smaller part of the weyr and snorted.

It will be soon -- NOW!

The other dragons of the weyr were humming, and Shard dropped Rue off to the hatching sands the moment she was finished writing and throwing on her white robe. The woman wrote everything... It was a wonder she hadn't taken a stylus and pad down to the -- she had, hadn't she?! He saw it kind of poking out of the slitted pocket of the gown.

Shard put himself up near the dragon ledges, and hoped that Jeremoth really hadn't lost his touch. Finding candidates was something the blue had always done, but this one was special.

As the hatching started, Rue wasn't nervous, at least outwardly. But inside... She feverishly wished that she was anywhere but there. Normally she wanted to be in the center of attentions, but half of her demanded to be watching. She did check often up in the stands, for her tall lover's face. Shard grinned with an encouraging nod, as the hatching began. T'uro impressed first, Rue's sister would be very pleased that his blue was healthy and happy. Then two greens came out, and impressed.

Rue was frantic to write, but she knew that it would be silly. She shouldn't let something as perfect as a hatching be marred by doing something dumb like thinking 'no one would record it'. There were recordskeepers for such things! In fact, the whole front row of one part of the stands was FILLED with journeymen harpers and weyr records keepers!

So when the green which came from one largish egg after a beautiful bronze hatched, Rue was watching. The green went up to Rue with a pretty croon to her voice.

Something deep in Rue's mind spoke. It wasn't her own mind's voice, and it wasn't that annoying E'tan that Shard liked to brag was changing the world by speaking telepathically to people instead of dragons. No, it was a soft, musical voice inside her head like Rue had never heard.

I am Beirissath!

Rue was stunned. She could do nothing at first except blink. Everyone outside the sands knew that she was impressed, but... They didn't know her name!

She searched out Shard again, and saw Jeremoth looking smug on the ledge beyond. "She says her name is Beirissath!" Rue cried out, loud and clear. The tears coming down her face weren't a hindrance at all when they left the sands for the feasting later.

***

"If Jeremoth catches us, he'll be so angry!" Rue whispered to her delicate green lifemate.

If Jeremoth catches me... The dragon thought back, I will be very happy...

Shh! Rue thought.

Shh yourself! I am looking! Now, go!

Rue snuck around to the rear of Shard's weyr, the place he kept certain favored clothes and such. She rooted through the press, and found what she was looking for, then snuck back to her dragon's side.

Mission complete... Rue thought, now, let's get out of here before he suspects anything...

***

Little did they know... Shard watched them from the next ledge over. The pair of weyrs they shared would not be enough for them later, and he was making preparations for their more permanent one, on the Protectorate's private island. She knew nothing of course... Unless Jeremoth blabbered...

***

Beirissath lounged around for days. Not eating, nor flying more than she had to.

Jeremoth wants that white dragon, more than me... She moaned mentally, adding a sad croon to her voice.

"That's not true!" Rue said, looking at her faded dragon's hide. "That is just not true! He sired that clutch so long ago! Almost before I was old enough to walk, Bei. You can't blame him for wanting to see it hatch."

The dragon lowered her head down and blinked. Her eyes whirled slowly, as she seemed to be thinking about her supposed weyrmate.

Jeremoth will come to see me.

"Good! He'd best be bringing that slacker Shard with him. Ever since that little exploration event they made us go through, he's been insufferable."

Shard is proud of you for having found the Mesa, Rue. I am too.

"But you knew where it was all along! You brought us there, anyway!"

I did. It was bad for me to go between so early... But I liked it. I knew just where to land and everything. I could have landed on the Mesa top, but they told me not to.

"I know," Rue sighed. "It was a learning experience."

Rue put down her writing tools and sat leaning against Beirissath's leg. Here at Buenos Weyr, things were a little more cramped than she wanted to admit. But as the official chronicler of the Protectorate, Rue had her job to do and she was determined to do it well.

Perfectly, of course.

The sticky of this situation was that Jere's clutch had been brought through time and space from a dead weyr. With that white dragon, Trymmeth, as the mother... That meant that Jeremoth's weyrmating with Beirissath was sort of in limbo.

When the smallish blue dragon came landing on the ledge, Bei perked up greatly. But then she snarled, and almost even snapped at Jeremoth.

Shard dropped to the stone floor of the long weyr, and made his way around the snippy green.

"What's gotten into her?" He said, thumbing at the green. "It's like she's proddy, but that's not typical behavior in a..." His eyes finally met Rue's, and his voice dwindled. "in a proddy green."

"I know I said I was okay with it," Rue said, "and I am. For the duration. But Beirissath is convinced that Jeremoth is never going to like her again. Not with Trymmeth around."

"But Trymmie won't be around," Shard said, defensively. "She's tending this clutch, but she's got a Weyr to be at." He smiled, and glanced between the woman he loved, and her snarling dragon. "It would figure that you of all people would have a green dragon with the memory of a human..."

Rue beamed, a very wide, false grin at her weyrmate. She clutched on to his arm, and stood watching as Jeremoth attempted to make amends with the green.

Finally, Beirissath turned to Rue and Shard. He is going to stay with me for tonight. When the morning comes, he will go back and hunt for the white. Then, we will see about those eggs. How could any white's eggs be better than mine?

Such arrogance came from the green that both Shard and Rue were taken aback. Bei would be rising soon, and because Rue was not part of a fighting wing, that meant this green would be clutching for SOMEONE's sands!

***