Zydel's Story

Name: Zydel

Age: 21

Birthplace: Somewhere between Black Star Hold and Liten Weyr

Parents: Jenay and Aken, pern gypsies, both deceased (at least they're supposed to be but Zydel doubts that they've completely crossed over)

Siblings: none

Partner/Children: none

Occupation: exotic dancer (specializes in Middle Eastern style belly dancing)

Rank: none

Status: candidate at Alabaster Weyrhold (last clutch)

Pet: silver/gold talking fire lizard named Sapphire, female, from Falas Genetic Program Center

Everyone always says that Zydel is a little odd. Would you like to find out why? Read on...

Somewhere outside of time...

What shall her name be?

Zydel. The Enchantress.

And her home?

Pern.

Pern? I thought we'd given up on them long ago. You know what will happen when they find out what she really is.

I know. She'll be strong enough, I think. Besides, she won't remain there.

Really? And where will she go then?

To the beginning of her destiny.

If that's the beginning of her destiny, then what is the end?

There is no end.

Immortal? We are the last of our kind. How are we to make her that if even we are not?

We are the last of our kind. But she is the first.

And how shall we watch over her?

How would you like to be mortal again?

Ah, kismet. You know me too well.

As I always have. As I will till the planets are dust...

And the stars are no more.

LET THERE BE DARK.

21 years previous...

On a night as black as Between, a child took her first breath. She did not cry, merely gazed up at her mother with eyes as black as the sky which sheltered her. Jenay smiled down in satisfaction at the infant and then looked beside her at her mate.

"She's perfect. I had worried that our designs would not be enough to create this, but I was wrong. Her eyes are proof."

"Yes." Aken gazed down at his daughter. "You are Zydel, the enchantress."

Jenay finished his thought as she too watched the baby. "And you shall be the saviour of our people."

The infant's black eyes reflected their own with a solemnity that would have startled an observer. But these two just smiled. For a time, this would be enough.

15 years previous...

In an open sandy plain, a hoard of ragged children played. All but one. She sat on the edge of the cliff that looked over the sand dunes. The cliff was high and sheer, but she was not afraid. Somehow, she knew that if she fell she would not be hurt.

There had always been something different about Zydel. Her parents were normal enough, although they had the same queer black eyes as their daughter. And sometimes, there seemed to be an uncanny perception in them, but perhaps this was a perception in itself. After all, they were pernian. How could they possibly be different?

But Zydel wasn't like the other children. She had spoken fluently by the time she was half a tun old and had walked soon after. When one of her playmates had fallen into a river when she was two years old, she had rescued him. But she had not swam, she had simply walked along the sandy bottom until she carried the sputtering child onto dry land. When she was three, one of the runner beasts that belonged to their troupe had fallen into a hole and broken its neck. Zydel had placed her hands on it, her black eyes rolling back into her head, and when she removed her hands the runnerbeast opened its eyes and got up. There were so many other things too, little things too numerous to count. And so the troupe wondered about Zydel. Who was she really?

And Zydel wondered about it herself. There was a vague longing in her heart, an ache that seemed to have no cause. She had tried to talk to her mother about it, but her mother had simply given her one of those enigmatic smiles of hers and told her to be patient. All would be explained soon enough.

But it wasn't soon enough for her. She wanted to know now! In a spurt of frustration that bordered on anger, she lept to her feet... and fell from the cliff. Zydel heard the screams of the others as they saw her fall. She felt strangely nonplussed. The wind seemed unusually buoyantto her. In fact, this falling was rather pleasurable. To the amazement of her playmates, she simply floated down to the sand, landing with a slight thump. The children backed away from her, fear in their eyes. Hovering above an even higher cliff, two dark forms watched. Their black eyes met knowingly.

It won't be long now, kismet. We shall have to leave her.

But she's my little girl. She needs us.

No. No longer. It is the truth she needs. And she must find that herself.

11 years previous...

The pyre blazed, the only light on this night as black as the eyes of those the flames devoured. The troupe stood beating drums and tambourines in the ages old ceremony of the crossing over.

Alone, apart, wearing garb as brilliant as the fire that claimed her parents' bodies, Zydel danced. Her feet ringed by bells, her hands by bangles, ber tumbling black locks falling like a river of ebony down her back, she whirled in the dance of death as custom and her own heart demanded.

She sang a mournful tribute to those whom she had loved and lost, to those now hovering between the worlds. Zydel's words would not have been understood by those outside her troupe, but among these people she could almost feel at home. It was in their language that she sang, the old Romany tongue that they had brought with them so many turns ago from Terra and maintained through the generations.

But this was for custom's sake that she mourned. Because she knew that her parents were still here. Forever and always, sighed the wind. Forever and always.

Zydel smiled.

Six years previous...

"Witch! Witch! Witch!" the crowd's chanting got louder as they slowly but surely advanced toward Zydel.

She gazed on them helplessly. "I can't heal them all. I wish I could have saved the child but I couldn't!"

The stricken mother screamed out, "You put a curse on him so he would die! I know you did. I saw it!"

The crowd was becoming a mob. They closed in on Zydel, leaving her bewildered as to what to do. If only she could just be somewhere else...

And just as suddenly as that the world winked out and she was standing in an open field, beside a large modern looking building. The sign on the door said Baeris Kshau's Healing Den. Just then a tall strong-looking woman emerged from the building.

"Oh good, another candidate for the eggs. We've got some fire lizard eggs just moments from hatching. Would you like to try for one?"

"Me? Of course, I'd love to!" Zydel exclaimed. She never actually thought she'd have the chance for a flit.

The woman guided her into a room where many sizes and colors of eggs sat in warming devices. She saw one immediately that peaked her interest, glistening with gold and silver stripes and rocking violently. The woman hardly had time to hand it to her before it hatched.

The hatchling that emerged was the most exquisite creature she had ever seen. It had a silver body with glistening gold wings. And then to her shock, it spoke.

"I like the color you're wearing. It's sapphire isn't it? That is my name then, Sapphire. I'm hungry Zydel, feed me!"

She snatched up the hatchling and started shoving food into her mouth. When the little flit was finally satisfied, she addressed her new companion. "I didn't know that flits could talk."

The lovely creature seemed to smile up at her. "Well, now you do. Come Zydel. Let's go home. I want to see you dance."

Zydel laughed as they left for her troupe to show off her new pet, deftly avoiding the mob by reappearing somewhere they weren't.

The present day...

Other women had danced that night but none could possibly match Zydel. She moved like the wind, her ankle bells tinkling, her castanets accenting her steps like embroidery on silk. It wasn't just her beauty although that was part of it. But there were others more beautiful than her without her queerly colored eyes. There was something else in her dancing that kept every eye in the camp, male and female alike, riveted on her.

Zydel relished it all, but she was too caught up in the emotion of the dance to really notice the attention. For her, this was her way to worship her creators, to pay homage to a heritage of which she was only vaguely aware, and a divine plan which she couldn't even attempt to understand yet. But that was all right. For this moment, the music and the dance was enough.

Sapphire sang for her, following the old tunes as easily as if it had been her native tongue instead of Pernese. Zydel had been surprised at how quickly her flit picked up Romany, but she was also immeasurably pleased.

And to top it off, there was someone very special in the crowd tonight. His name was Shard, and he was a rider of the handsome blue dragon Jeremoth who had settled comfortably between the tents despite his great size. It was also rumored that Shard and Jeremoth were searchriders.

Zydel ended her dance with a flourish, acknowledging the resounding cheers and whistles as she bent to pick up the jewelry, marks and other baubles that had been thrown at her feet. Suddenly, the dragonrider caught her arm and pulled her around to face him. She slipped free, instantly on her guard. Dragonrider or not, no man but one of her own choosing would touch her!

"Take it easy, girl. I just wanted to ask you a question. I'm Shard, and this is my dragon Jeremoth. We're Searchriding at present for Alabaster Weyrhold's queen clutch. We both think you'd make a good Candidate. Will you come back with us and stand for the clutch?"

Zydel considered. "I probably wouldn't do any better than a green if I impress at all. Are you sure you want me?"

"Of course we're sure! Come with us Zydel. You'll never know unless you try, will you?"

Zydel shivered as the wind sighed against her bare skin. Then she heard it.

Destiny, little one...

"All right, I'll go."

"Good." He smiled at her. "Here, let me rig an extra set of straps for you. The trip could be a little bumpy, because Alabaster and all of the Protectorate has moved off Pern. We're hovering somewhere and somewhen right now, and that's probably where we'll stay for a while. In the long run, it will be better for everyone."

The wind seemed to laugh, a higher feminine laugh mingling with a lower masculine one. And as she got ready to mount Jeremoth she thought she heard it say ... And this is only the beginning.