Dragonriders of Pern series 1. Introduction

**_Disclaimer from Marvealle (author):_**

**_As is proper, here is a disclaimer before the story starts._**

**_I do not own anything related to Anne McCaffrey's DragonRiders of Pern series. The world, dragons and general setting of this story is copyrighted to Anne McCaffrey._**

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_Author Note:_

_All right now, before we get things started I would like to state a few things so we can all be on the same page here._

_First off, these first few chapters have been rewritten because the original versions weren't that good and really needed improvement. Also because I had dropped this fanfiction attempt for over a year and I thought the best way to get back into it was to start it over. This is mainly for people who read this previously._

_Now, onto some more important parts._

___I have not exactly decided when this takes place. Perhaps somewhere in an alternate 10th Pass of Pern, since I _think_ that's when female greenriders were coming about again on Pern. Also, before continuing, I prefer the dragons in the feet system, and in this story that is how they will be written. While I do have some things I like about the meter system, the feet system is my personal favorite._

___For those who love canon and dislike uncanon you are receiving a friendly warning now. This story isn't going to be completely canon. There are some things that I will try to keep canon, but the main plot won't be. I too like to keep things canon, but sometimes throwing a bit of uncanon things can be interesting in my opinion. I respect your preference to keep things canon, so please refrain from negative comments about how this is an uncanon story. However, I don't mind if you point out something uncanon in the story that you think I may not realize, since some things I might not have done on purpose. I am definitely no expert on Pern._

___Constructive criticism is more than welcomed, since it is thanks to constructive criticism that I can improve my writing, since I know I am nowhere near being a great writer. Just please keep it polite and considerate, since no one likes rude criticism of any sort._

___With that all said, thank you for taking the time to read this. I do hope you will enjoy this little fanfiction of mine._

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_Chapter 0_

_Introduction_

Dawn light trickled over the outer rim of the Weyr, throwing in the beginnings of gentle light. The cold air was thick with smells of the Pernese autumn as a breeze swept through the home of sleeping dragons and riders. Already there were a few early risers beginning to awaken for the day, while others slept on just a little bit longer.

Nyx sat out on the ledge of her parents' private weyr, her bare feet dangling over the edge as she watched a few early rising dragons poke their heads out of their weyrs. She watched in silence as another breeze swept up through her, full of a pre-winter chill as she frowned and shivered against the cold while it swept past her cheeks. She had never been an admirer of this particular season.

Everything felt like death as autumn drove on to some day give way to winter. Plants were dying or becoming dormant for the coming winter, and Pernese fauna were preparing for the inevitable slumber that would take them through the cold of the coming winter. Of course, the season held its own beauty, but it was the feeling of the severe change that she didn't like. It made her feel tired a lot of the time.

However, there had been a recent event that seemed to oppose the death and dormancy of autumn. The latest clutch produced by the Weyr's Queen dragon. The clutch had been laid on the blazing Hatching Grounds quite a few sevendays before, and as the potential Hatching Day grew closer, excitement increased in everyone. Especially for the candidates, this included her.

Nyx was a young woman of seventeen turns of age, and she had been one of the few young women to be chosen to stand on the Hatching Grounds for the chance to Impress the young Gold dragon that was soon to hatch from the latest clutch. Of course, Nyx was Weyrbred, and thus the only girl from Benden Weyr to be allowed to stand for the Queen. After all, Gold dragons preferred Holdbred girls, but it was her lineage that made her eligible for this rare chance.

On the other hand, this Hatching was quite a stressful thought. There was only one Queen in a hatching, and that was the only chance the girls had at Impressing it seemed, for it was rare to see even the female Green dragons Impress to a female candidate. There were other girls that would be standing for the chance to become a Queenrider, of course, none of them held the current burden she had been weighted with. While some of them had parents who urged their daughters on, she had more than just the expectations of her parents.

Nyx's parents were Benden Weyr's current Weyrleaders, and both had held their rank for quite a few turns now. Because of her parents, many expected Nyx to Impress the dragon that grew within the Gold egg. Some seemed so sure it would be her, and even her mother, the Weyrwoman, believed it would be true. Already her mother had been primping her to become the future Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr. If Nyx stood on the sands and the young Queen chose another girl, it would be an embarrassment to her parents, her mother especially.

"Nyx, come inside and eat," the somewhat familiar, masculine voice of bronzerider N'dor drifted through the cold air. Nyx turned herself around to face the tan and muscled man to give him an almost guilty smile. He tended to be strict with her, but he was her father, and while she didn't know him all that well, she still obeyed his orders. So, silently the young woman got up off the ledge and jogged back into the weyr she had shared with her parents in the recent years.


	2. Candidates

_Chapter 1_

_Candidates_

The day had started early for the candidates, but then again, their days always started early. Each morning the candidates were called by the Candidatemaster and were assigned their daily chores, and while the Weyrwoman didn't want her daughter doing simple candidate's chores, Nyx still did partake in them.

The young woman, while she lived in the Weyrwoman's private weyr, wanted to also complete chores like the others did. She didn't want to be given special treatment because of her lineage, especially since already the other girls seemed to hate her. After all, she was a rival and many found it unfair that she was allowed to stand just because of who her parents were. Despite their disdain for her, Nyx had tried to made friends over the passing months. Even now she continued to try to make a new friend or two out of the other candidates, even if the other girls seemed to hate her and the boys didn't seem to think it right to make friends out of a female candidate.

Regardless of it all, Nyx just wanted to be like the other candidates. So, the eager young woman had been assigned to work in the runner stables with the other female candidates for the day. Each of the girls had been assigned to care for the runners, brushing them and other such simple tasks. They were females and potential future Goldriders, so the Candidatemaster didn't think it right to assign hard labor to the girls. Nyx, on the other hand, was the only one doing some of the tougher work. She was built more for tougher work, and always insisted on working harder than she needed to, which perhaps wasn't really fit for the potential future Weyrwoman.

Now, the brown eyed candidate shoveled out the bottom of an empty stall, carefully tossing the manure into a wheel barrow to be carted out later. This was the second stall she had begun to clean out, and one of the other candidate girls was now brushing the runner that had been placed in the stall she had recently finished cleaning.

"Maybe you should take a break Nyx." Nyx recognized that voice within a moment, and turned her head up to smile at the girl in the stall across from her.

"Naah, it is all right. I am about halfway done now anyways. Might as well finish this first." Her answer was quite simple, but lighthearted as she always seemed to be, especially when talking to Asta.

Asta, of course, was another one of the few female candidates, and the only one of the candidates who she was actually friends with. While there had been rumors that Asta had been Weyrbred like Nyx, this wasn't true. The slightly younger candidate had come from Ruatha Hold. Asta had black hair that matched Nyx's own, and that was the only trait the pair shared. Asta's hair was much longer and well groomed. Her eyes were green rather than brown, which was most likely a Ruathan trait, while her skin was a bit paler than most others'.

Nyx was almost opposite Asta in most of her appearance. While her hair was also black, it was wiry, messy and cut short an inch or so above her shoulders in the remnants of a short boyish cut she had once sported. Her eyes were a common brown color that was perhaps a bit on the darker side, while her skin held a natural tan complexion that seemed to be common amongst the Pernese people.

When standing right next to each other, some of their other physical trait differences became more apparent. For one, Asta and Nyx were both of different heights, Asta being the taller one by a few inches. Nyx only contained a small curving around her waist and seemed to lack much of a bosom. Asta, on the other hand, while not being the curviest girl in the group, definitely had more feminine curves and a bit wider set hips than Nyx. Asta, overall, seemed to be built elegant and feminine. Nyx, while still containing her own feminine qualities, was built a bit sturdier.

Asta ran the brush over the runner's coat again, careful as she did her job. While Asta didn't do hard labor of any sort, Nyx couldn't help but find herself admiring the other candidate. She was a kind soul and sometimes caring towards the others. She also always tried to best in even the simplest tasks, never doing just the bare minimum of her work. Not many seemed to hate her since she didn't seem to be as worked up about who would Impress the Queen. It made it hard to think of her as another rival, not that Nyx thought of any of the girls as rivals.

"You seem to be quite a hard worker," Asta commented with a warm smile, causing Nyx to chuckle before she replied.

"You have said that before Asta. You and the other girls work just as hard as I do." Asta's smile faded to a disbelieving look at Nyx's words.

"I do not do the work you do. You always seem to do the work that the boys do whenever the Candidatemaster assigns such chores to you. I am not assigned such physical labor, and I could not do much of it even if I was told to."

"Yes, our work tends to be different, but I can do most of the physical labor, even if it isn't very becoming of a young lady." She batted her eyes jokingly, making a pretty-girl expression that caused Asta to laugh slightly before she continued. "Even if you do less physically demanding work, you still work hard at what you are told to do. So even if our work is different you don't do any less than I do."

"For once, I agree with you Nyx," a third voice interjected, the voice just as familiar as Asta's voice had been to Nyx. However, instead of greeting the person with a smile, Nyx's expression grew a little more serious. She turned her gaze to see Frea leaning on the outside of the stall of the runner she had been caring for, which just happened to be next to the one Nyx had been working in.

"You do not do as much as we do," she continued with opposition in her voice.

Frea was one of the five female candidates given the chance to Impress the Queen. However, she was quite different from Asta or Nyx, First off, Frea's hair was the rare coloring of blond. Of course, her hair was actually dirty blonde, containing golden blond and sandy blond color mixing in natural, soft striping, but it was blond nonetheless. Her eyes were a lovely shade of steel blue, as if to say her fair hair wasn't enough, since everyone knew how rare blond hair and blue eyes were, especially together. Her skin, of course, matched the rest of her coloring, lacking the natural tanned complexion and thus making her paler than nearly every Pernese person.

If one were to go into more detail about Frea many would consider the girl quite pretty as well. The blond candidate, for starters, was a bit heavier set than some of the other girls, but she pulled it off very well and perhaps would look like a stick if she were to be made as light as some of the others. Because of her slightly larger build she was the proud owner of a bit more of a developed bosom and nicely formed legs as well.

"Sure, you do hard labor, but you only do one thing while the rest of us are assigned to do multiple things at once," Frea persisted, standing straight so she wasn't leaning against the outside of the stall anymore, standing eye to eye with Nyx now, since the two girls were the same height. Nyx just looked to Frea, obviously annoyed.

"How about you stop trying to pick a fight. We all know you wouldn't say that to me if I was one of the boys," Nyx retaliated gently, annoyance obvious in her expression as she leaned the metal end of her shovel on the floor and leaned an arm on top of the opposite. At that moment, Frea frowned and obviously had been about to say something when the Candidatemaster entered the runner stalls, immediately grabbing all of the girls' attention. The older bluerider stepped through the area; quickly glancing at each girl and the runner she was tending to before stopping and clearing his throat.

"You have all done a good job here. Report to the Weyr Lake." Simple and to the point, as the Candidatemaster had always been. He didn't seem to like to beat around the bush and got down to business, making some wonder why he had not become a brownrider. Most of the girls by this point began to finish up what they had been doing, including even Frea as the Candidatemaster turned attention to the freshly cleaned stall and the one Nyx had been working on.

"I told you to only clean out one," he commented, gesturing towards the newly cleaned one with a stern look. Doing more than one was asked seemed to be praised when the boys did it, but it seemed for the girls it didn't always go that way. Perhaps because everyone believed that hard work wasn't fit for young female candidates. Nyx knew part of the reason why, and it was because the bronzeriders wanted pretty, dainty and elegant women for their Queenriders, and physical labor didn't keep women looking dainty.

"I know, but I thought I might as well clean another while I had the time, and the other runners have already been cared for by the others," came Nyx's simple reply as she stopped leaning on her shovel and simply held the handle as she stood properly before her superior. The Candidatemaster seemed to have no more to say about this as he glanced into the half cleaned stall.

"Report to the lake with the others."

"All right Candidatemaster. I will finish leaning this stall first and will be there as quickly as I can." It seemed the bluerider wasn't all too pleased with that idea as his expression became a bit sterner.

"No, you have done more than enough here. Too much work will make you too muscled. I will have two of the male candidates finish for you." Nyx knew there was no sense in trying to convince the Candidatemaster otherwise and simply bowed her head in silent understanding before he left the runner stalls.

Already three of the other girls, one of them being Frea, left the stalls shortly after the Candidatemaster did. Nyx took a bit longer. The brown eyed candidate put the shovel away and kicked off the large boots she had pulled over her normal shoes while she slipped out of the leather working suit that she had put on to keep from soiling her clothes while cleaning the stalls.

"Do you need help putting anything away?" Asta poked her head around the corner where Nyx had kicked her large work boots off and began hanging up the suit. She smiled at her friend, appreciative of the offer to help.

"No, it is all right Asta. I already have everything put away, see?" She gestured towards the hung up suit still smiling, receiving a smile and nod in return from Asta.

"All right, then let us head on to the lake," Asta encouraged politely before Nyx walked on over and linked her arm suddenly with the other young woman's arm and began to lead her out of the stalls. Just as they neared the entrance, two male candidates, both slightly younger than the girls, entered, neither looking too pleased. These two were probably the ones sent to complete Nyx's unfinished work, and they knew it.

The boys were silent as they passed, and the one closest to Nyx very obviously gave her an irritated look. Luckily, Nyx didn't recognize either of the boys and doubted she would interact with them much in the near future. However, that didn't mean that she hadn't been at least somewhat bothered by the misplaced irritation towards her.

The female pair walked out of the runner stalls silently and made their way towards the lake with their arms still linked. Once out in the light, the weather seemed nicer than it usually was at this time of year at Benden, at least to those that lived in the Weyr. People from other areas of Pern might think the temperature cold right now. Nyx didn't totally notice the abnormally warm autumn day.

"Do not worry about it Nyx," Asta encouraged, giving the woman's arm a gentle shake. Nyx's gaze turned up to Asta, looking at her with a neutral expression before she smiled again as if nothing was wrong.

"All right. Let us go then."

Even if Nyx didn't like to be hated, she wouldn't let that one little thing ruin her day. In fact, it was a rather silly to let one little thing bother her so much. So the female pair simply headed off towards the lake to meet up with the Candidatemaster and the other candidates that were likely there by now.

However, when they arrived it was obvious some candidates were still arriving. It came as no surprise to anyone how long it took sometimes for candidates to meet up, especially when different groups were assigned different chores throughout the Weyr. After all, Benden Weyr, as all Weyrs, was quite large, and it could take a while to get from one end to another on foot.

Nobody really did much as they waited for the last few candidates to show up. Frea, especially, seemed to be on her best behavior. That was to be expected since no candidate was bold enough to act up in front of the Candidatemaster or most of the dragonriders for that matter. None of the candidates wanted to risk their privilege to stand at this hatching to be taken away.

Within several minutes the rest of the missing male candidates joined the group and now they would all learn why they had been brought here to the Weyr's lake, especially in autumn. The Candidatemaster shifted a bit, and then cleared his throat once again; lifting his hand to be sure he managed to gain each of the candidates' attention.

"Considering we have been graced with such a fine day so late into the turn, you all will be allowed the opportunity to bathe a dragon. I know most of you have already bathed a dragon before, but it was one of the smaller greens then. Today you will bathe S'dar's brown Ashath. Not only will this allow all of you to become more familiar with dragons, but also it can get you familiar with their anatomy and potential sizes." He paused for a moment, gesturing to the buckets and scrubbing brushes and jars of sweetsand before gesturing to the blue dragon wading in the lake, eyes whirling the blue and green of happiness.

"Here is what you will need to bathe him with. I have also provided large sheets of cloth for those of you who would prefer not to get their clothes wet. Be sure to show Ashath respect as well as each other. Now go ahead and get started."

Some of the candidates weren't too eager to run into the water, while others didn't even wait a minute before wading towards the blue dragon, ready to start scrubbing clean his hide. Nyx, while the Candidatemaster had spoken, couldn't help but smile inwardly. She was already very used to dragons, being one of the few candidates to have been born at the Weyr, but she loved opportunities to interact with different dragons. Bathing a dragon was fun, especially since it was one of the few things both the male and female candidates did together.

Asta readied herself by removing her shoes and the jacket she had been wearing, leaving on the simple dress while Nyx did the same but rolled up the legs of her pants as well as her longer sleeves. The shorter haired woman looked to the other for a moment.

"What about your dress," she asked, looking from the bottom to the top of the dress, up to Asta's face. The candidate simply smiled gently and shrugged her shoulders a bit.

"It will be fine. I can just hang I up to let dry after this." She did have a point indeed. Clothes were rarely ruined by water, and Asta, while she liked to keep herself looking nice, never seemed to fret over her clothes a lot. Nyx liked that about her too.

"That is true. Well, if you are ready we should start. Maybe we can clean off Ashath's neck, since it seems the other girls and some of the boys have claimed his head to clean." Asta nodded quietly and the pair waded into the water, buckets, jars and brushes in hand as they neared one side of the brown's neck, realizing his true size when they were right next to him. He was much larger than the green and blue dragons they had bathed in the past.

The girls didn't take long to pour water on the side of the brown neck, and then both began to carefully scrub sweetsand into the brown's hide. Every so often the dragon would move a bit and the muscles in his great neck would carefully tense and relax with the dragon's movements. A brown dragon was good to for candidates to bathe, since they could be quite calm, like this one seemed to be.

"The color of his hide is quite pretty," Asta commented absentmindedly, running her scrubbing brush over the strong hide and looking at it with her green eyes admiringly.

"I agree. It reminds me of klah. I think that is a nice color of brown myself." Nyx gave the dragon's neck a gentle pat, hoping he wouldn't mind. Of course, he didn't give much reaction except a quick tense and release of his neck muscles. She couldn't help but smile more than she had already been.

"He is very well taken care of. His hide is soft and full of color. He seems very strong too." After Asta's compliments the dragon rumbled, the noise obviously not one of negativity. Nyx leaned back a bit to see if she could get a better look at the dragon's face.

"Maybe he heard you Asta. He must like hearing compliments," she teased, gently nudging Asta with her elbow and a chuckle. Asta simply shrugged but smiled as she continued cleaning their chosen side of his neck, being sure to clean every spot she could.

"I am sure I am not the only one to compliment him. Isn't his rider, S'dar, a Wingsecond of one of the Fighting Wings," Asta asked, looking up a bit as if to help her think about it. Nyx nodded before she answered.

"I believe you are right. S'dar is a Wingsecond, so Ashath here must get a lot of compliments about all sorts of things." Again, Nyx patted the dragon's hide in the way a person would pat a horse to show gentle affection. Most dragons didn't seem to mind it while others liked it. She couldn't really know what any of them thought about the gesture since dragons very rarely spoke into anyone else's mind other that their rider's. Nyx had lived in a Weyr her whole life and she couldn't recall a time in which a dragon had spoken to her directly.

"I think we are done here Nyx," Asta spoke up, filling her bucket with water and pouring it over the dragon's freshly cleaned hide to rinse it off. Nyx immediately did the same thing, both being sure to rinse off every part of that side of the neck. Just as they finished, something tipped off the dragon and bonked Nyx right on the head.

It was a bucket that someone had tried to balance on top of the dragon, which was apparently a silly move. Nyx took a step or two back, rubbing the top of her head with an obvious expression of minor pain. The bucket had splashed into the water and was now floating around her feet as Asta stepped towards Nyx.

"Oh my! Are you all right Nyx? Did it hurt?" Asta, while still sounding calm, seemed to dislike people getting hurt and she quickly looked at the top of Nyx's head even if such a simple knock on the head wouldn't cause much damage.

"Yes, I am fine Asta. It did hurt a bit but I've been hit on the head by harder things than a wooden bucket. It didn't even fall that far," Nyx reassured her friend with a slight wave of dismissal before someone poked their head around the brown dragon's neck to see what happened.

"I am sorry," someone apologized, and Nyx immediately recognized the voice. She turned her gaze to see Frea peering from the other side of the dragon. The tone of her voice sounded genuine in her apology, but her expression said otherwise. She was only apologizing so as not to upset the Candidatemaster, but her expression seemed to speak the words she wasn't saying. 'I'm not really sorry. You deserved that,' was pretty much was Nyx assumed the blonde woman was saying silently.

"It is all right. It was an accident," Nyx said reluctantly, rubbing the top of her head for a moment. She didn't doubt that the bucket falling had been an accident, but it was the fact Frea wasn't genuine at all in her apology that annoyed her.

Without another word, Nyx grabbed her own bucket and other items and went off to move to another section of the dragon to clean. Asta followed, not wanting to be alone with the other girls as her friend started washing the dragon's tail, where most of the candidates had stayed away from until this point.

"Nyx," the Candidatemaster's voice called out suddenly and loudly so she would hear. Immediately the candidate turned to see the Candidatemaster on the shore of the lake. In fact, several nosy candidates did the same as the dragonrider gestured for her to come to him.

Nyx couldn't help but sigh a little bit, having a feeling she knew what this was about already. She picked up her bucket, being sure it was empty of water before putting the jar and brush in it.

"I guess I will see you later Asta. Maybe at dinner tonight," Nyx took a moment to state, only allowing her friend time enough to nod her reply before she waded back towards the Candidatemaster. Once to the land, Nyx set down the bucket and looked to the bluerider.

"Yes sir?" She already was sure she knew what this was about, but pretended to be oblivious anyways. It was rude to just say she already knew what was up, and she knew better than to be rude to her superiors.

"The Weyrwoman wants to see you." Yeup, she was right. Nyx stifled a slightly disappointed expression that threatened to appear. She wanted to spend the day with the candidates. Not getting private lessons from her mother.

The fact that her mother had been giving her private lessons then reminded her of the expectations the Weyrwoman had of her. She had been training her to succeed her to becoming Weyrwoman, even though if she would Impress the Queen wasn't set in stone and never had been. She knew the disappointment and embarrassment the Weyrwoman would suffer if the Queen didn't choose her.

"Yes sir." And with that, Nyx put on her boots and jacket, rolling down her pants and sleeves before walking away from the lake, already seeing Weyrwoman Enyox and her Gold dragon Keirath a little ways ahead. Already, Nyx wanted the day to be over.


End file.

Dragonriders of Pern series, Romance