Aern's Pages - originally written around 2000.

Born to Zheen Kshau and Thirre, younger than the whole rest of his family on his father's side by several turns. Even his next oldest sibling, a sister named Ithyra, he never even met until they were both adults.

Born Aern, and born on the dusty roads near the deserts near Igen, Shard has his own unique slant on life. He was raised with love by his mother and father, until he was eight turns old. At that point, he wandered away from their camp and did not return. Living on his own, able to actually survive at that age by his wits and physical strengths, Aern grew tall and strong quickly. Though still under weight and more often than not sunburnt, when he was found by Archeria on the coast he recovered quickly and they soon became close friends.

When he was closer to 14 turns, Aern had already learned as much as the strange historian-dolphineer Archeria could teach him. He went again on his way, and this time, traveled to the Southern continent. There, he began to meet up with people strangely like him, relatives distantly, and he found Eden's Gate.

He never quite gave up on wandering though. In his nature from the start, Aern found himself near Seascape weyr, and...

This is Impulse! He too was impressed near Seascape weyr.

I was walking along the beach, just before I was called into the weyr itself, and there was an already-hatched bunch of broken fire lizard eggs on the sand. However, not all the hatchlings were wild, one of them had stayed there, licking up the last of one of the dud eggs. When I reached down with a piece of fish I'd caught the day before, he jumped into my hand and chirped at me!

He is not the most loyal of fire lizards, I've found him with other people and flying with the wild flits, but he usually comes to me when I ask him to.

He does what he likes, and he does it right away, so when I named him Impulse, I wasn't kidding!

***

Aern was not always known as Shard. He was also not always a dragon rider... Growing up as a traveler meant that he met a lot of people, though. Archeria, Triia, E'tan, many others, they offered him not only a place to stay, but a reason to continue. Aern's hunting and fighting skills have rarely been challenged, even by road bandits. Living in Eden's Gate helped him learn how to keep his head on in a fight.

Upon his further travels north, Aern once again found himself near Seascape. Something about the place kept him coming back. Right on the coast, it rested... And he did so love cliff diving and basking in the sun...

Impression! (Written by Aern Kshau, about age 17)

Seascape Weyr offered a change of pace for me. I had been wandering for almost three sevendays, when the Seascape area seemed to beckon to me. The sands were already hot and there were eggs alredy present when I arrived. The Weyrwoman and several of her attendants offered me a place to sleep for the night, I'm so glad I stayed on!

When one of the Browns there sniffed me out for the hatching, I was amazed. I couldn't believe my ears! A Candidate? Me? I'd always thought of myself as an independant person but I could certainly always devote my heart and life work to a dragon and fighting Thread!

There were only a couple before me, the hatching was small and imtimate. A brown and two greens chose their bonds before one of the eggs split open and gave me Jeremoth!

He is so calm, so curious! The whole world seems an open book to him, and me now too!

I hope to continue my ever changing life here at the weyr. It'll take some getting used to, for I am usually on the move, looking for every new craft to learn or every friend to make. now, I have a friend for the rest of my life.

My name will change, it's short already but to have that important " ' " in it would be an honor. A'rn? Ae'n? Aer'n? I haven't decided yet.

This is Jeremoth after his first meal and oiling. Since he broke from the egg on the sands, I have done nothing but feed and oil, sleep and muck out! It is exhaustive work but I used to shovel runner stables out so it isn't something I can't do! It makes the young riders strong. I was a little older than some, too, so I am stronger at the start than those boys who were only 14 or 15.

Jere was large enough to walk, but small enough to carry, when he hatched.

Jeremoth's Weyrling Stage (written by Aer'n about 1 turn after Impression)

Now, look at how Jeremoth's growing! He gets bigger by the day, and I'm looking forward to the days when we will fly through the Pern skies together! I feed him as much as he can eat (without gorging of course) and I have to work so hard to keep his hide fresh and clean. He ITCHES so much! I thought that little itch when he was hatched would somehow go away, but I WAS WRONG! It only gets worse the bigger he gets! Some days I think: "Aer'n, you'll fight thread the moment this dragon actually stops asking you to scratch him!"
I wouldn't trade this for anything.
 

Jeremoth at this stage stands about twice as tall as I do -- and I am the tallest in the weyr, I do believe! Though he is not fully grown, he still has another half year before he's as large as the adults in the weyr, I have secretly been riding him!

Don't tell F'leran, because he is so uptight about such things. He is always getting on the weyrling pairs to do this or do that, not to be rude to the girls in the other barracks, or the like. I understand why, because one of the boys met up with a green rider and -- sparks flew let me tell you!

I wonder... Our watching the girls hasn't met with any disaster yet... But again, maybe I'm older than the other kids and can handle it?

Archeria always told me: "you treat a woman the way you would treat a fine wine glass, you handle her carefully and sip at first, because you never know how she'll really taste."

I am not sure why she said that, all she really needed to tell me was that girls are like anyone else -- people who need different things each time you meet them.

Adults! (Written by Aer'n about 2 turns after Impression, age 19)

Jeremoth and I have matured so much over the last year! We have trained, thrown firestone and practiced burning ash by flying about and flaming yarn... Now he and I are flying above the weyr and I have seen something dramatic.

Elsewhere, over the Weyr bowl, a Queen rises. Several Bronzes and a small number of Browns begin to fly after her, but I lose sight of them for they rise so high!

Jeremoth and I land on the nearby ledge, and I wait. We both wait. Some time later, down come the victorious Queen and her mate, I never did learn his name...

I thought to myself, and to Jeremoth, because our minds are joined, "she'll lay a clutch of eggs and the cycle starts over again. With the shattering shards of the eggs on the sands, eh, Jeremoth?"

Jeremoth's eyes turned a deeply saphire color, and his pleasant voice came to my mind. All clutches must burst their shells, my friend.

I leaned against his warm neck, and then slid down from his shoulder. We'd ridden before (dangerously young) and I'd fallen once or twice, but now... I had no fear of such a thing. I asked Jeremoth to lower himself so I could undo the flight harness.

Though it was practically forbidden nearly anywhere you hear about, I took that harness off the dragon's back, undid the ties from his neck, and I dropped them on the ledge (with the intent to come back to them later, they were finely made after all) and I climbed back up onto Jeremoth's shoulder without the harness.

"Lets fly," I called, I don't even know why I yelled.

Jeremoth's wings beat three times, and then we rose into the air, I was holding on for dear life during the takeoff, but then as we settled into a rhythm, I had little trouble hanging on with just my knees.

The harness bothered you? Jeremoth bespoke me, and I laughed, my voice taken by the wind.

"Hardly," I said, but he could hear me in his mind. "I just wanted to feel you there. Fly over the bowl again, let's see the victors of the flight."

We swooped down, and angled into the bowl. The gold was eating -- carefully monitored by her rider -- and the Bronze who flew her rested comfortably by her side. The rider of the Bronze strode up and got congratulations from everyone around, including myself.

He looked at me, and at Jeremoth. "You'd Fly a green with him, wouldn't you," he said, tossing his head at one of the smaller but still-fertile greens of this weyr.

I laughed. But I thought about it, and smiled.

"I'll fly them later. For now, I've an announcement. Jeremoth has a new rider!"

The hush that spread around the huge bowl was to be admired.

I smiled widely, and walked toward the sands where the Queen would soon lay her clutch. My foot found a small bit of one of the last hatchings, perhaps it was older than Jeremoth but more likely not.

Holding it up, I said loudly, "my name is Shard, Aer'n is a memory and perhaps a good one for some -- but my name is Shard now!"

The shocking change in name did not stop anyone from admiring Shard. With his intensity on dragonback, and with his skillful eye in Threadfall, Shard soon caught the eye of the Wingleader of one of Seascape's premier wings, the Diamond Wing.

Wingthird! (Written by Shard, age 21)

"Well I have GREAT news for you," Said a voice from around the weyr.
I looked up and saw a broad smile on a friendly face. My Wingleader! I saluted him and laughed.

"If it's about the name..." I started, but he waved his hand, and shook his head.

"No, no, Shard is fine -- I keep stepping on them on the sands! And you're often underfoot too..."

"That wasn't what I had in mind," I muttered, but he was still quite happy about something.

"I've got your braids for your badge, young Shard," he said with a grin. He presented me with a complex weave in the Weyr colors, which I was used to but ... As I looked at it, even Jeremoth was taken slightly by surprise! "Congratulations, Shard, Aer'n, you're my new WingThird, the Diamond wing has needed your kind of action and attention to detail for a long time."

He stood away, went about his business, while I stood there stunned...

"Wing third," I muttered, then spoke aloud, then shouted! I ran straight away to the weyr, finding an equally exuberant Jeremoth crooning his delight to the other dragons, on the ledge leading outside!

The status of being a Wing Third was exciting, but nothing compared to what came next. It was not even half a turn before the weyrlings of the second clutch after Jeremoth's had hatched....

As time passed, Jeremoth and I became more adept at sweep riding and such, and tried to make ourselves more useful to our wing leader M'ran by making sure that things ran smoothly on the ground as well as in the air. I wanted to work for that Wingthird rank I got, and I hoped that it was working.

Also as time passed, the hatchlings from the other clutch (how I still felt sorry for the one girl left out... there were always more eggs to hatch, though, and she was still around the Weyr) were growing at that rate that always shocked me.

Even after having lived with Jeremoth for over two years, and always impressed by his ability to get into places he didn't look small enough to get into... The one day we got into a place, I was mystefied.

Within a weyr that was somewhat separated from the others, was a dragon asleep upon a stone ledge... A dragon which was white as blinding sands... I couldn't believe my eyes. I'd heard of this dragon, Trymmeth, but I'd never seen her.

Whispers around the place always made me wince, rumors could get out of control so easily around here, so I rarely believed them.

They were true.

Here was this dragon, pure white. And her rider, a girl that I'd seen but only briefly. I was too involved in taking care of my still growing Jeremoth to have realized that this girl who kept showing up to classes actually had Impressed a dragon!

I shook my head, and pressed my hand up to Jeremoth's cheek.

Look at her, Jere,I sent to him, quietly, even trying to make my mind silent before this beautiful creature. Did you know of her?

Of course I did, Shard my friend, Was Jeremoth's response.

I stood there briefly flustered, but like always when Jeremoth surprised me with something, I recovered as soon as I could.

Did you. Well, look at her anyway. She's grown almost as big as you... Maybe bigger.

Bigger, Jeremoth assured me. I ground my teeth together.

Why didn't you tell me about her? I asked, not unkindly.

Because you did not ask, and because she likes her privacy. It is not often that someone has the decency to keep information to themselves, Shard. Humans are like that, you know.

I paused again, and gave a silent chuckle. "I know," I said very quietly, "I know..."

Suddenly that same girl, Kylia, came into the weyr, somewhat distressed, woke the white dragon, who Jeremoth told me was named Trymmeth. They hurriedly flew out of the weyr.

Trymmeth will be going on a mating flight soon, Jeremoth bespoke, and I nearly choked.

"You're joking!" I said, loudly, and though there was now no longer anyone below in the weyr to hear me, I clamped my mouth shut as the words echoed through it. You are joking, right?

No, the other gold will rise as well, and Trymmeth is from the same clutch. They will fly soon.

My heart pounded hard. A white, fertile? Would it be possible? And I thought to myself, idly I suppose, that Kylia was a pretty girl, and had a lot of stress. The least thing she needed was...

One of those other young men going after her during a flight. I snarled at no one in particular, but while Jeremoth and I descended through the maze of narrow halls through the Weyr walls, I steeled myself to action. I would speak to M'ran about it, just to see what he really thought about it all. I wasn't sure he would take me seriously, but there was always a chance he'd seen the younger men taunting the girl and her white dragon. That "runt" was bigger than Jere, and that was all I needed to know.

Perhaps you should get to know her better first, Jere thought to me, and I worried on that too. She might take even my advances badly.

Shard Becomes Weyrling Master! (Written by Shard just short of 22 turns)
 
I walked with M'ran after he motioned me aside, a training run for the younger Weyr riders ending with a slight altercation between Weyrlingmaster F'leran and one of the headstrong boys on a Bronze.

"You know how they get, at this age," M'ran stated, about the Bronze rider. "Head in the clouds, feet on the ground, I always like to say."

I sighed, "I know, M'ran, you do keep saying it too..."

He laughed, but his humor was a bit strained. M'ran and I walked along one of the high paths, near the Drum heights. He looked down at the flight of young dragons, and said quietly, "F'leran wants to give up his Weyrling Master status. He's tired of it."

"I don't blame him," I replied. "It is a lot of work, and didn't he get it kind of... well, dropped in his lap?"

M'ran nodded, chewing his lip. "That's why I am going to ask you to relinquish your Wing Third rank and take up in the Weyrling barracks."

I stopped walking for a moment, stunned at the prospect of first losing my Wing Third....

"Say that again," I urged M'ran.

Then, his humor returned. The pale hair on his head ruffled in the breeze, way up there everything was serious but him. "I said, I want you to take up the Weyrling Master --"

"That -- I --"

"You know, for such a literate fellow, you certainly seem to take news like this in a funny manner."

M'ran wandered off, laughing, leaving me to stand waiting for Jeremoth to fly up and greet me.

Jere, I thought to him, Did you know this was coming too?

I did not, he thought back to me. It is a good thing! I like flying with the young dragons! They are like Trymmeth, full of life!

At the thought of Trymmeth, both of us seemed to sigh, he for the obvious reason, and I... because Kylia was so amazing herself.

Shall we go meet the weyrlings now? Jeremoth urged me, and I took a running start to land on his neck ridge.
 
"You know you'll have to stop doing stunts like that," F'leran said, when we landed by the barracks.

"What, and ruin my reputation as a wild risk taker?"

"Do you have any idea how much stress that jump just caused me?"

I only laughed at the Wing Second.

Kylia becomes Weyrling Assistant (Written by Shard  22 turns)
 
"You need to loosen up your shoulders, boy!" I yelled to the younger rider who kept hunching up while tossing the fire stone sacks. "If you don't loosen up you'll stick that way forever."

I cannot believe you told him that, Shard, Jeremoth chided me. He is young and he will believe you!

He'd better, I told the blue who watched with pleased-green eyes from above on his ledge. This way he'll learn.

"Keeping the weyrlings in their place?" Kylia commented as she walked by the training hall. Some of the boys snickered, and I smirked.

"As long as they stay there they'll be able to head down to the dining hall for snacks later."
The boys almost jumped to it right then, but I 'ahemed' and they went back to their drills. The eggs had not yet hatched, yet this group of boys and girls were slowly getting used to life in the Weyr.

I went to Kylia's side. "Yes, my dear?"

"On anyone else that would sound like a snide insult..." She reminded me.

"But to you, coming from me...?" I smiled.

Suddenly, a trio of boys got into a bit of a fight over who could lift most. I barked a quick command and they took a moment to respond. Reprimanding them took a bit longer, and in that time I feared my love Kylia would be bored.

"It's busy and it'll get worse," she said, when the boys had been sent to the older weyrling barracks to help muck out the young dragons weyrs.

"I know..." I sighed. "But--"

"I thought I ought to come help you," she smiled, catty.

"You help the moment you arrive," I said, and from the back of my mind I could feel a snide Jeremoth thinking something about 'hearts and flits fluttering about my head'. I shushed him mentally and turned back to Kylia.

"You should see how the older students are doing," She waved to indicate the dozen or more candidates, and the older weyrlings who were already off to their classes -- without me I might add...

"I have to... WE have to get to class, Kylia!"

She beamed at me, and I laughed.

"Make sure to show off that white dragon you're flying," I said on the way to the class, "just to make sure the older riders know you're still contributing more than they are..." I glanced at one of those riders, one of the few who had harassed her when she had only Impressed white Trymmeth, one who had Impressed a blue and was merely another thread fighter.

My Kylia, on the other hand... Oh yes she could help me. The girls in the class would relate closer to her, learn more about how to have their greens properly chewing fire stone -- or if they were to remain fertile NOT do it... And what to do in those other "girl" moments...

Yes, this was going to work out great!

It came as a bit of a surprise to me, that when the pair of queens rose, so many browns and bronzes were able to challenge for the Gold Azareth... I watched with no small amount of pride as the amazing White Trymmeth rose and Jeremoth took to the sky as well.

There were fewer potential mates for the white, of course, and I believed privately it was becuase the riders of the browns and other blues had scorned the white in the past.

But I would do no such thing. She was healthy, large enough to carry riders and supplies. She was an integral part of this weyr.

A smile began to cross my face as the other two blues began to tire. Spiraling up into the clouds, we all could see the bright white speck of Trymmeth up there, barely able to see the brown and my Jeremoth against the sky.

He would do it, I thought. He would fly this beautiful white dragon. Of course, I thought this with a heated frenzy of emotions behind my own mind: Jeremoth was up there, all right, flapping his heart out and diving with the white queen, avoiding near-collisions with the other males. They became fierce, this time of the season. Moody, territorial, and somewhat less easy to mentally speak with.

Though the Gold queen Azareth had risen before Trymmeth, she was still going strongly with her host of bronzes and browns. They were going to wear her down, I thought. But that was the whole point. I looked up to see that Trymmeth was still soaring higher, she looked somewhat irregular in her wing beats, but she was still able to swoop and dive cleverly to evade that lone brown and Jeremoth.

Then came a moment of energy.

Trymmeth's rider, Kylia, stood mutely beside me, watching with her heart in her throat -- like mine was in my own. I could not tear my eyes away from the dragons in the sky, but...

"She is beautiful," I said, gulping back a stutter. I breathed hard. This was so new... I had had lovers in the past, been a little more busy for it than I would admit to since Impressing Jeremoth. But ... This... was new. Jere was up there, soaring with renewed energy as the brown dropped from the race with his rider on the ground looking just as exhausted as the dragon. My heart quickened.

"Kylia," I said, "I know that you were distressed about this flight..."

She gasped, and began to look a bit offended, as well she ought. But I managed to look down at her with what I hoped was a kind and friendly expression.

"I am sorry I didn't talk to you earlier. This was all such a surprise to me as well. I hope you do not think me forward, but the heat of the dragons flight above might distress you more than it ought if you were a little older."

"I--" she started to say, "I'm old enough. I can handle it." She looked back at the skies, and gulped.

"No," I said, softly, "you are not in your own mind. And I would not -- absolutely will not -- intrude upon your heart if you would not have me there."

The dragons above began their joining dance, wings folded and hurtling toward the ground.

I awaited Kylia's response with more trepidation than had ever been in me before. It was more than the dragons in the air, causing this reaction in me, I was absolutely certain. She was a lovely -- young -- girl. And now, a queen rider! Yet I could never force any affection on her, I was raised "right"... I hoped that she knew that. Perhaps through Jeremoth and Trymmeth --

I looked at the sky and laughed a bit to myself, 'through Jere? he's insensible with passion right now, and cannot come to the drum heights. please get back to me later...'

Standing beside Kylia I wondered what she could be thinking... Until the dragons in the air dipped and moved out of our vision.

"I would," she said...

I think I let out a held breath, I had been holding it for days it seemed. It was pure joy, and I expressed that by looking at her with the broadest grin I'd ever worn. Probably just as wide as the rider who would fly the Gold who still kept her suitors at bay in the skies above Seascape.

My smile faded from a goofy one into a more soft version, and I held out my hand to her.
"Then perhaps we should talk about who we are... We are dragon riders, you and I." I turned to her, a more serious expression on my face.

"I know that I have heard some other riders, after all this time, goading you about Trymmeth. You know I would never do that. Now they will have to eat those harsh words, won't they?"

She laughed, seemed relieved. "They would go after us when Trymmie was little," she explained. "But even then the Weyrling master and M'ran would scold them."

"I don't see any of them riding in this flight," I pointed out to her, and her own grin turned somewhat goading and prideful too. And she deserved to wear that look.

"They could never catch up," Kylia said. She was breathless, and I... Practically couldn't bear that there was distance -- even just a few hand spans -- between us. But I held on to her hand, tightly, as the Dragons wove their passion.

Sometime later, Azareth came back down and I still do not know who Flew her. But that hardly mattered. Jeremoth and Trymmeth made their way back to rest and eat... Never too much for the Queen and I could now...

I could now sense Kylia's urgent thoughts to her dragon, about what to do and what not to, things that most often the male candidates and Weyrlings didn't get a lot of training in. Secrecy? Hardly, it was simply the way of things, the weyrwoman teaching the next to rise.

I smiled at Kylia again, when Jeremoth came tiredly flapping back up to his roost. I am so tired I do not even itch...

I almost burst out laughing, but restrained myself.
"How is Trymmeth?" I asked, and Kylia bursting with pride watched the White alight on her own weyr ledge.

"She is perfect!"

...

Finally, the wait seems to be growing shorter. I've even escorted a candidate to the sands, one which Jeremoth picked himself. I cannot help but feel giddy, after all, these are Jeremoth's eggs too! The gold and bronze pair who flew share these sands, and I wonder: in the future will the candidates really know whose egg produced which dragon?

I smiled to myself, while thinking about it... then I had to get back to the work of assigning firestone stuffing duties!

*** back to 3rd person now...***

Kylia and Trymmeth seemed a bit nervous. The eggs were getting harder, and the candidates were being flown in by their search riders. Two of those candidates, Jaizin and Baron, were even found by Jeremoth and Shard. He seemed so proud of himself!

And then something happened. While coming in with Baron, one afternoon, Shard and Jeremoth returned to find...

"Nothing..." Nothing! The entire Weyr had seemingly vanished into between. How could this happen? No one could explain it. There were a couple stragglers, candidates who had been outside of the Weyr when "it" happened. Shard picked some of them up, depositing them back at their home Holds or other places where they would be treated for the shock.

But Seascape Weyr was no more. It simply did not exist any more. And what was worse-- Jeremoth and Trymmeth's clutch was WITH it!

Broken and wondering about his own sanity, Shard crept around the world with Jeremoth for a few sevendays, asking about the Weyr. No words could express what had occurred. Nothing had ever happened like this, quite, within anyone's memory.

Even little Impulse was nervous about this. Though the blue wasn't remarkably intelligent, he sure did know when something was amiss.

At last, though, Shard came in to Blackstone Weyr, and explained the situation. Because he had "family" at the weyr, they kept him with no trouble. But they had a weyrling master, and they indeed had all the wing leaders and the like that they needed.

But it sparked something in the tall man. He knew there were people out there who had special dragons, who had incredible deeds to their names. People who could help unite Pern against the Red Star, and who could defeat Thread together.

While there were Weyrs, and Holds, and Crafthalls, Shard knew there were also tiny cotholds and rogues, all of them needing protection. What if... What if...

Finding his father Zheen at Dawnlight had been a shock to the rider. All this time, he had never really known the man, to say the least, and had never wanted to try locating his family. But H'lis and some others had always been there for him, seeming to know something that he did not.

So he found out soon, that Zheen had something in mind when he allowed his youngest son to traipse around the world as he had. Though Zheen was old, almost 90 turns, when Shard returned to him, he was still spry enough to call in certain favors around the world.

How he knew all these people was a mystery to Shard. But he did. Political contacts, social leaders, Craft masters, and the like. All of them brought together for the benefit of his son's idea.

The Protectorate. The Kshau name was well known around crafthalls, and once Shard understood how many relatives he *really* had (and it seemed countless!) he began to simmer an idea around more firmly.

They would need a place. Not necessarily a Weyr, since there were already quite a few of those around. But the group of people he had begun to assemble agreed: they needed a private place to plot their moves. They would need a space where records could be stored safely, where healers could convene and share, where crafters would be welcome to join in the important discussions. And where the Protectorate could call "home".

Sending out their young riders, Alabaster and Blackstone's combined forces soon found a chain of islands in the middle of the sea, practically opposite of where most of their own activities occurred. One particular island, not a large one by comparison, would do nicely.

With a mesa in the middle towering over everything, and hollow on the inside, amazingly, this island became the headquarters of the Kshau Protectorate. While Shard let his friends and crafters work on cleaning up the island, he went out to find friendly sources for people. There were some which automatically came along for the ride: Dawnlight and Eden's Gate, Paveh hold and Caledrus Hold, and some less obvious to the eye, such as Mama Tani's cothold. Small but important to note, was the Healing Den which on occasion could be timed into, since it seemed to rest in the far future of the world.

With the work done of collecting people and places to shunt around, Shard finally realized that he had done the impossible. He had put together a network of people on a world fraught with political and social fissures. He could now claim to be a leader -- if not of a weyr, than of the Protectorate itself.

On a blue, quite an accomplishment. Perhaps because he was on a blue. With support from other weyrs, the Protectorate promised to send candidates to as many weyr clutches as possible and has a number of qualified search riders.

It was within the structure of the Protectorate that the odd new kinds of Wings had formed. While residing at Blackstone or Alabaster's weyr bowls, the dragons and riders of the Protectorate wings did not form wings along the traditional lines. Instead, crafters who had impressed could still continue their work, while using their fighting skills on their dragons as a last resort and locally. Those who had true fighting instinct were placed in the more elite of the ranks, among the Stone Fury, Cherry Bombers and the Sea Blessed wings, those which do nothing but fight Thread where and when it occurs. Healers and dragon-healers as well as beast-herders enjoy a more relaxed service in a Healer's wing, assisting the injured during Threadfall. Curriers and search riders, as well as Starcrafters look out for the world while not necessarily being sent out to fight Thread. Their services are vital to keeping the Protectorate running.

All in all, the disaster of the missing Weyr has had quite an effect upon Pern. The formation of the Protectorate being the most obvious. However, of late, there have been hintings that certain dragons and their riders have heard things "between" which both thrill and terrify people.

That those missing weyrs, and there are several now, have been "lost" in time somewhere. A grand attempt to find Seascape's last clutch has actually been successful.

When at last the old world grew tired of the presence of such brave fighters and lovers, the decision was made to leave the world and find a new one. With the aid of the powerful psionics and those who could contact the spirits of the teleported-dead, they located a world named Alskyr which would suit them fine.

The effort of moving not only the dragons and their riders, but their kin, the Houses and Holds, all the spare folk who lived scattered about the countryside... It was huge. However, it was done. The Protectorate Mesa now resides upon a graceful island much larger than its original one, and also houses Blackstone Caer. Many of the dragons of the Protectorate have changed - along with their riders, some dramatically.

Some dragons cannot spit fire any longer, but they can speak in vocal words. Some can produce flame without the use of fire stone. Many lost the ability to teleport when they arrived - perhaps it was the huge strain on their systems to reach such a far-distant goal and with a web of others doing it at the same time? But those who retain the ability are often used exclusively as curriers and informants.

The riders, including Shard himself, have changed a lot. Their skin and hair, their very bodies may be altered from a fine human shape into a ... fine cat like shape. Or in Shard's case, a blue handsome man. Not many people protest this: the people didn't change, only their appearance. The dragons seemed to know in advance this was going to happen. Shard and Jeremoth were relieved to now be the same color once again.

The Protectorate Mesa houses a strange records room of sorts, where all the old and new world flights and hatchings are kept on computer banks. Many people sneak into this room - unaware that it is actually part of the Nexus itself, not even residing upon the isle properly - it is part of the Healing Den!

From there, however, the coordinates can be found for any weyr, caer or den which needs candidates or flight participants. In this way the Protectorate is able to participate in its vital works. In addition to the Alskyran terrors of Ants and Rampage Plants, they can always go back to the old world and fight there.

Now, the Protectorate grows into its second generation of riders and dragons.

Fortunately, a more happy ending for a strange start.

There was no turning back. After all, the Old World had lost its luster and was begining to turn sour for many in the Protectorate - and in other Weyrs. So it was decided that the entirety of the Protectorate, from Alabaster Weyrhold through Mama Tani's fosterlings and beyond, would be ... moved.

Such a thing had been done before, by Talor Cliff. But on such a scale? It worked, though some were left behind briefly (caught later by concerned relatives) and some have never quite adjusted to life on Paniya. It's all too 'nice' there...

A lot of people, however, during this changeover also seemingly changed physically. No one really made much of a big deal of it - because they were still the same 'person' albeit with fur, or feathers, or with blue skin...

Like Shard's.

But don't let the exterior fool you. He and Jeremoth are just fine being blue together...

Shard was sitting around, minding his own business (in as much as a man with a gigantic blue dragon, an annoying blue flitter, a blue remorai prowling around, a very pregnant wife, a four year old daughter, and an entire Protectorate could possibly have 'his own' business), when he heard a dragon landing outside his den. Rue was out, but expected back sometime - it couldn't be her could it? She was attending a conference of some kind, and getting gifties from her girlfriends what with her hugely pregnant self...

Shard got up, as Jeremoth was waking from his sleep. "Who could that be?" He asked, though Jere was still too groggy to care to inquire. He instead just opened his eyes and saw a pretty pale green dragoness, and her furry, striped rider.

"Helloooooo!" Raanatani said, bouncing onto the ground from her green Zakurath's shoulders. She bounded up, throwing herself at the tall blue man, who instinctively caught her.

Somewhat speechless, Shard stood there watching her un-rumple her fur, and then Tani announced, "I found something you'll be so interested in!"

"I -" he started to say but she instantly grabbed his hand and dragged him onto the landing ledge where Zakurath purred over something.

"Lookit, isn't it cute! I have one too!" She squealed, and the ... object in Zakurath's paws turned its head to look up.

It shot into the air, tiny wings flapping madly. It was blue with some trim, and...

"Oh - er, um," Shard said, "look if that's for me, I have a lot of other things to --"

"It's not just for you," Tani said with a wink, "it is you. Look!" She let the Littlebit settle on her arm, how it stayed up without legs was a mystery. (moonforest weyr)

He chirruped, flexed his little blue spines, and flew over to Shard. Impulse was interested, but not angry, which surprised Shard a bit. Normally the flitter was a bit posessive.

"Well, yeah," Shard said. "Where did it--" He was unable to ask where it'd come from, because Tani had all but vanished - maybe she had other Littlebits to deliver or something. "So... you have a name?"

Jeremoth mentally announced, Aise, which amused Shard a bit. At least it sounded accurate...