Kailen stopped and watched as the blue dragon crested the rim of the crater and dived into the bowl. It raced across the busy courtyard a mere dragon's height above the ground and came to a hard, but controlled landing just outside the entrance to the great common room. His rider leapt to the ground, paused for a moment and then began running up the long stone staircase that led to the Queen's weyr.

I didn't land up there because it is not proper. It doesn't matter where Trinith is right now.

Kailen was becoming quite adept at filling in the other half of the dragon conversions he overheard. The blue's rider must have asked why they hadn't landed at the entrance to the weyr so that he wouldn't have to run up all those steps. The dragon had made the right decision by not doing it. The Weyrleader H'mon and his bronze dragon Roloth would surely have given them both a tongue lashing for such a breach of etiquette. Kailen couldn't imagine what news was so urgent that the rider had even considered it.

As it so happened Trinith, the Queen dragon, was in the hatching cavern tending to her maturing eggs. "Guarding the gold egg is more like it," Kailen said to himself. Queens were not usually so overprotective, but when a golden egg lay upon the hatching sands people were more likely to spend time in there and accidents could happen. He personally didn't want anything bad happening to any of those twenty-three eggs because for the first time he was to be given the chance to impress one of the dragon hatchlings.

"Kailen! Stop daydreaming and get that black rock over to the hearths. We may be feeding a lot of people tonight." The booming voice of the Wingsecond shook Kailen out of his daze and he nearly tripped over the wagon he was pushing as he tried to break into a run. "You'll never ride a dragon if you spend all your time mooning over them." The Wingsecond shook his head and smiled after the boy. "You'll know soon enough lad," he mused to himself, "soon enough."

Kailen had a reputation for daydreaming. One that he never tried very hard to deny because it was much better than having one for eavesdropping on dragons! It was said that dragons could speak to anyone they chose, but they very rarely spoke to anyone other than their own rider. That made Kailen's ability to hear practically every dragon whether it was speaking to him or not a very unusual talent. Especially when it was also well known that only girls could do it! He had heard many tales of weyrwomen that could listen to dragons other than their own, but never had he heard tell of a boy who could hear dragons.

The blue dragon sat between him and the common room entrance so he veered to the left to give it a respectably wide berth. The wagon began to pitch to one side, so Kailen put his head down and strained with all the strength he could muster to keep it from tipping over. As a result he did not see the dragon tilt his head to one side and the curious look he gave Kailen as they passed. He did hear the muffled murmur in his head as the dragon spoke privately to another dragon, but he was too busy trying to keep the wagon upright to listen.

o o o

The blue rider stood uncomfortably at attention in the doorway of the Weyrwoman's chambers. He hated delivering bad news, especially the kind that was certain to make the recipient this angry. After he had repeated the message, Weyrleader H'mon had gone into a long tirade that ended in an even longer silence. He had not been given leave to stand at ease and the dreadful silence had lasted for so long now that his foot was beginning to fall asleep.

H'mon paced back and forth across the room, a fierce look on his face. At every turn, he would glance at his Weyrwoman Sheala sitting behind the table pretending to mend a harness strap. Finally he stopped and turned to the anxious rider.

"Thank you, you may go. And please extend our heartfelt gratitude to your gracious Weyrlady for her swift response." H'mon glared at the rider in a way that underscored the sarcasm intended by the message.

Having finally been dismissed, the blue rider tried to turn crisply on his heel only to stumble over his numb foot and went limping off on pins and needles. This at least brought the trace of a smile to the Weyrleader's face, but it didn't last long.

"The nerve of the woman, refusing to send even one candidate for the impression and then waiting until the last minute to tell us about it!" fumed the H'mon.

Setting down the harness she had finished mending long before, Sheala replied, "She is well within her rights and probably looking ahead to the same problem herself soon. Her queen is due to clutch any day now and believes she is carrying a gold egg."

"What have we now, just five girls?" H'mon asked. "I didn't like the look of the two brought in on search yesterday. The dark haired one I don't want hanging around the Weyr if she fails to impress a dragon and the other will be lucky if she isn't chosen to be a hatchling's first meal."

"Don't be mean. They had both just come from their first trip between, you can't blame them for not being at their best. Besides, we have our three weyrbred girls..."

"Who are more likely to impress the greens than any of our boys... and why is it we suddenly have twice as many boys as hatchlings and no girls to be found anywhere?"

Sheala sighed. She had explained this to him several times before, "It's the middle of a pass dear. The birthrate is down and girls are so precious to their holds right now that none are likely to be presented for search. Our own girls have all gone into the green wings recently and it just happens that we have a lot of boys coming of age this turn."

"Mark my words, those three girls are going to take green dragons away from our boys," he groused.

"Pity it doesn't work the other way around isn't it dear?" jibed Sheala with a devilish grin.

"What? Oh..." H'mon chuckled and then frowned again. "What does Trinith think of all this? Is she worried by the scarcity of candidates?"

The Weyrwoman's eyes glazed over as she put the question mentally to her gold dragon down on the hatching ground. "No," she said at last, "she says the most likely candidate has been here all along."

"Which one is it then?"

"I'm afraid she's in a bit of a mood, she won't tell me except to say that the girl reminds her of me."

H'mon looked surprised and then with a wicked grin of his own said, "I don't recall any of our girls being the kind to walk around all day with her head in the clouds."

o o o

Kailen was weyrborn. His mother was a green rider and a good one or so he had always been told. She was made wingsecond the same year the tragedy occurred. He had heard the story many times, "You don't easily forget something like that," was usually how it started. "There was a big fuss over her green flying a bronze just before a fall. Some said it was a good sign, but I'll tell you lad, I knew it was the sign of trouble.

"The very next day her wing got caught in a big mess of thread. Right off, the wingleader was struck bad and your mama took charge. They say she saved her wing that day and I reckon I believe them. She flew them out without another injury or a single thread touching ground, but thread always collects its due in the end and at the last minute one come out of nowhere and caught her dragon square in the flank. Your mama brought her home, but there was nothing to be done. Her dragon went between and your mama went mad.

"Now, don't you go thinking ill of her for that, many a rider loses his dragon and he off and kills himself. She hung on to life, but she was in a bad way for a long time. Then she found out about you and that calmed her down good, she saw you as her dragon's farewell gift. When you were born she was as proud and happy as could be, but riders never do get over losing a dragon. One day she up and left the Weyr and we never heard of her again. Did you know that you're the spitting image of her?"

It always ended that way, with how much he looked like his mother. When he was very young he was often mistaken for a girl. Perhaps it was his mother's looks or maybe it was that he seemed to prefer playing with girls. All he knew was those were the happiest turns of his life.

When he was five turns he went to be quartered with the other weyrling boys and that is when his troubles began. From the beginning he realized that he was different and so did the other boys. They seemed to speak some foreign body language he didn't quite comprehend. When he couldn't follow along with their games, they teased him until he cried. Then they would tease him still more. So he learned to mimic them and do whatever they did, whether he understood it or not, and eventually they came to accept him somewhat.

He also found that the girls who had once been his friends, where no longer accessible to him. He could watch them playing or doing their chores, but if he tried to join in they would shoo him away. So he packed away that part of himself that longed to be one of the girls and became just another one of the boys, but he was never really as happy again.

That is until the day he began to hear the dragons. He was six or seven turns old when he first realized that the deep gentle voices from his dreams were also there when he was awake. He found that if he closed his eyes, held his hands tightly over his ears and tried really, really hard he could just make out the words. Soon he was hearing the voices all the time. In fact they wouldn't shut up, but with the same tenacity that brought the voices into his head he finally learned to control them. He couldn't remember when he first realized that the voices belonged to the big beautiful dragons, but it made them all the more wondrous.

In the great common room at night he heard stories and songs of famous weyrwomen who could also hear dragons other than their own and the rumors about Lady Sheala. She was said to be able to command the entire Wing with a single thought, but when he once asked if the Weyrleader could also talk to all the dragons they just laughed at him, "Don't be silly, everybody knows that only some girls can hear all the dragons." After that he never dared to tell anyone that he could hear them too and that became his other big secret.

The voices of the dragons were his comfort through the dark nights and his companions during the lonely days. He never tried to talk to them, for fear that he might give himself away, but he came to know them all as his only friends. Because whenever the dragons talked, Kailen was happy.

o o o

Kailen was putting away the last of the black rock when the blue rider he had seen earlier came walking into the common room. He stopped just inside the entrance and scanned the hall from one end to the other, but the room was empty except for Kailen.

The rider turned and looked out into the courtyard. "Where? I don't see her," he shouted.

She's in there, whether you can see her or not.

The rider walked to the middle of the room and turned completely around twice, looking high and low. He even bent down to look under the tables. He looked once at Kailen, standing nervously next to the hearth, but shook his head and turned away. Finally he threw up his hands in aggravation and stomped back outside muttering to himself. When the dragonrider was gone Kailen looked around, anxiously wondering just who he might have been looking for.

Darkness fell and still the call had not come for the candidates to assemble at the hatching chamber. Kailen finished his chores early and spent the rest of the day hiding in an out-of-the-way spot high up on the crater's rim where he had a good view of the surrounding mountains. He felt uneasy about the blue rider that had searched the common room and wanted to avoid contact with other blue dragons.

Kailen recalled now that blue dragons were always used on Search because they were somehow more sensitive to potential dragonriders. Could that rider's blue have sensed Kailen listening to him? If so, why hadn't the Weyr's own blues done so before now? Maybe they were just used to him or maybe... they had known about him all along!

Even more disturbing, the blue dragon had definitely said "She..." and that touched on a secret more perilous to him than the one about hearing all the dragons. A chill ran up Kailen's spine, "I'm a boy," he told himself, "I have to be a boy." After all, he lived with the boys, he looked like them, they even went to the privy the same way, and yet... they did so many things that totally baffled him. Why were boys such a mystery to him if he was a boy himself?

He shook his head in frustration, these were questions he had asked himself a hundred times before and he still had no answers. Maybe after he impressed a dragon his place in the world would become clearer. Kailen hoped that he could impress a green dragon. As a green rider he would have a little more freedom to be himself. Male green riders weren't held to the same standards as other riders and his tendency towards feminine traits would go mostly unnoticed. His worst fear was to impress a bronze dragon, he didn't think that he could endure being held to that high ideal of manliness. He just hoped that the dragon hatchlings would somehow know that.

He watched the sunset from his place atop the rim and then crept back to the bunkroom where most of the younger boys were already asleep. He had considered stopping by the common room for something to eat, but didn't want to risk bumping into a blue rider. He was too nervous to be hungry anyway. Slipping into his bed unnoticed, he pulled the covers up over his head and listened to dragon voices until he finally fell asleep, ever fearful of hearing his name mentioned.

o o o

Guests for the impression began arriving the next afternoon. Leaders of the other Weyrs, prominent Holders and high ranking Guild members filled the common room as preparations were made in the hatching chamber. Only a few of the Weyrs had sent aspirants, all girls of course because there were more than enough boys as it was.

All the candidates were called to assemble in their white robes just before sunset. The boys were lining up outside the cavern entrance as the girls were ushered in ahead of them. In addition to the three weyrbred girls that Kailen already knew, there was also a dark haired girl that nobody seemed to be keen on and a pudgy little blonde whom Kailen had talked to and rather liked. There were also three more girls that had been brought in from other Weyrs, none of whom looked overjoyed to be there.

Standing with Kailen were forty-seven other boys. With only twenty-two eggs to vie for the odds were against most of them, but each one hoped that tonight would be his turn to impress a dragon. Soon they were led into the hatching chamber and onto the hot sands. This was not Kailen's first visit to the cavern, but even so the temperature of the sand took him by surprise. It was only the fear of ridicule that kept him from dancing across the floor. Instead he bit his lip and endured the heat like many of the other boys seemed to be doing.

The hatching sands were flanked on both sides by mounting rows of stone benches carved into the wall, which were now filled with weyrfolk and guests. Above these were large stone ledges on which the bronze dragons of the Weyr were perched. At the rear of the chamber was a blank wall of stone and before this stood Trinith and her clutch of eggs. At the center, surrounded by a semi-circle of girls in white robes sat the egg that would soon hatch into a new queen.

Kailen's head was filled with dragon voices. Foremost among them were the Weyr's two other queens and those of guest Weyrwomen who had gathered outside to await the hatchlings and their newly chosen riders. Kailen didn't focus on any specific conversation, but instead let the deep melodic voices wash over him to ease his anxiety.

Suddenly all the voices fell silent as the bronze dragons within the chamber began to hum. With a sudden rush of excitement and dread, Kailen realized that the time of the hatching had come. There was no turning back now, ether his life was going to change in the next hour or he was going to return to his lonely existence for another turn.

There was a hush from the onlookers and one of the boys up front shouted, "That one's beginning to hatch!" The weyrling master was still trying to get the boys to fan out into a single line, but there just didn't seem to be enough room. Kailen's view was blocked when the crowd began to cheer and then settled into polite applause. "It's a blue," someone up front said dejectedly. "A bronze would have been a better sign," added another.

The boys fell silent as the hatchling freed itself from the remains of its egg and searched the line of candidates. Kailen still couldn't see what was happening and silently hoped the little blue dragon was not searching for him. When a cheer went up and he knew that another boy had impressed the hatchling he breathed a sigh of relief and waited nervously for the next one to hatch.

One after another, the eggs hatched and the dragons within emerged to find their partners. The group of boys slowly thinned out and soon Kailen was standing up front with a better view. Each time a green head popped out of a shell, his heart would race, but always the hatchling would totter off to find someone else.

Two of the green hatchlings impressed one of the weyrbred girls waiting around the gold egg. When each one called out her dragon's name, a perceptible groan could be heard from the crowd of onlookers. Although he was very happy for his friends, Kailen thought the groans pretty well matched the ones coming from his own heart.

Then there was only one egg left in addition to the golden queen egg. When it cracked and a bronze dragon hopped out, a number of boys pushed their way in front of Kailen. The newly hatched dragon screamed in protest and went charging at the new line of boys. They all dived quickly out of its way, much to the delight of the crowd.

For a moment Kailen feared the little bronze dragon was heading his way, but it charged right past him to find a boy standing at the back. They impressed and he proudly announced his dragon's name to the cheers of the crowd and the disappointment of the remaining boys. With a heavy heart Kailen realized that his chance to impress a dragon would have to wait. He turned towards the exit to follow the other boys off the sand.

Do not turn away from my daughter child.

The familiar sound of Trinith's voice filled Kailen's head. He did not know to whom she was speaking, but he was really not in the mood to listen. He closed off his mind to all the dragons, this was one night when the touch of dragon voices would not be able not sooth away his tears.

LISTEN TO ME!

The words crashed upon his mind with such force that he clamped his hands to his head and stumbled to his knees. Trinith had penetrated his mental block so completely that there could be no question she was speaking directly to him.

Slowly he turned and saw the gold dragon towering above the last remaining egg, wings widespread, neck fully extended and looking directly down at him. The sight was so startling that he shut his eyes and trembled, wondering what he could have possibly done to anger her. He had never had any dragon, let alone a gold dragon, shout at him before.

Come child and stand with the others. My daughter shall pick from all the suitable candidates.

"M-Me? But I can't..." Kailen thought, not really knowing if the dragon could hear him or not, "it's not allowed..."

I say what is allowed here and I say that you will stand up and prepare yourself.

Kailen was confused, he didn't know what to think or say, but he wasn't about to disobey Trinith. He found his legs and slowly approached the circle of girls. A murmur arose from the onlookers, one that grew louder as it became apparent just where Kailen was heading. An order was barked and several riders emerged from the shadows trotting his way. Before they got more than a few strides out on the sand the golden queen let forth a deafening roar. The bronze dragons in the chamber ceased their humming and joined in. The riders stopped in their tracks and the room became deathly quiet.

So quiet, that the sound of the first crack in the golden shell was clearly heard by all. Then the bronze dragons began to hum again and at Trinith's feet the egg began to quiver and rock in place. More cracks appeared and then in a burst of shell fragments that sent the line of girls diving for the floor, the little golden queen emerged.

She looked around regally as if surveying her new domain, glanced up for one quick look at her mother and promptly proceeded to trip over the remains of her shell, landing face first in the warm sand. Sprawled flat on her belly she made a most undignified sound and wobbled back to her feet.

By now the girls had also regained their footing and were once again standing in a semi-circle around the golden hatchling. Kailen was now standing right behind the pudgy girl and couldn't see what was happening until, with a shriek, the girl turned and ran screaming past him towards the exit.

Looking beyond her he saw the little queen running head long, mouth agape and front claws outstretched, directly after her.

Feed me! Please?

The sound of the hatchling's plea came clearly to Kailen's mind, as had all the others throughout the night, surely she could hear it too. He turned to watch the retreating figure making good headway through the thick hot sand. "Why is she running away?" he thought.

Because she was in my way, please feed me!

Kailen turned to find the little gold dragon standing directly in front of him. Even with the moment upon him, Kailen could not accept what was happening. This couldn't be true, not with a gold dragon! Not for a boy, it... it just wasn't...

Then their eyes met and all the fears, all the doubts, all the denial and pain of his short life melted away in the blazing inferno of those bejeweled eyes. Vestiges of Kailen's true personality that he had kept hidden for turns suddenly blossomed forth to greet his new dragon partner. In return she gave him the total acceptance and love he had always longed for. The little dragon accepted Kailen for the girl she truly was!

I am Leanoth and you are mine. Feed me now?

As if it had been summoned out of thin air, a bowl of meat appeared in Kailen's hands. She took it from Lady Sheala who had started down from the gallery the moment her queen had spoken to Kailen. She smiled up at the Weyrwoman and said quietly, "Her name is Leanoth. I'm hers." Then proceeded to pick out the best pieces of meat from the bowl and offer them tenderly to the ravenous little dragon.

Sheala could only guess at what the boy had just said. The uproar within the chamber had reached a fever pitch. Outraged yelling united with confused argument and earthy bickering to create a racket that blocked out anything less than a shout. Looking up at her dragon she asked mentally, "Is it true this child can hear dragons?"

Yes, she shares your gift. My daughter has chosen very well indeed.

"Then please tell him... her that we must go outside now. I'm afraid of what may happen if we remain in here too long."

Who would dare harm my daughter or her rider? How could they? This is a foolish thing you fear, but I will tell her anyway. See how splendidly she cares for Leanoth.

Kailen looked up and nodded when Trinith spoke to her. Then they all walked slowly toward the exit, flanked now by rows of grim faced bronze riders with hands at the ready on their knife hilts.

As Kailen playfully tossed bits of meat in the air ahead of Leanoth to coax her on, Lady Sheala watched the way the boy walked, the way he held his head and the way he caressed the little dragon's cheek as she chewed her food. "By the egg, the child's whole demeanor has changed," she thought, "I'm beginning to believe he really is a girl."

o o o

"This situation is outrageous and something must be done about it!"

The High Reaches Weyrleader pounded his fist on the table for dramatic effect and Sheala sighed. He was the third Weyrleader in a row to make such a heated and thoroughly pointless remark. She had just about had her fill of it too.

"And what do you propose we do about it?" she asked, "Put Leanoth back in her shell and try again?" Her retort was received with a mixture of quiet laughter and angry grumbles.

The Weyrwoman of Ista Weyr stood up and cleared her throat. "Why don't we just get to the heart of the matter? All that you manly bronze riders are really worried about is what will happen when Leanoth rises to mate."

Five or six men all tried to speak at once, but it was the High Reaches Weyrleader who won the skirmish. "Of course we are concerned about her mating flight. How is this boy supposed to know what to do when the time comes?"

"I suppose he'll figure it out the same way we did," Sheala said, "by trial and error. Gold dragons don't come with their own teaching songs you know." This met with giggles and nods from all the weyrwomen at the table.

"Do you assume," added the Ista Weyrwoman, "that all women are born with an instinctive knowledge of dragon mating practices? Well, we're not. You keep her from eating for as long as you can and then you are just along for the ride. Why not admit that what really bothers you men is the thought of having to bed down with the boy. Sure a little tryst with a green rider now and then means nothing, but shards if you'll do it while your bronze is flying gold!"

Angry shouts of protest erupted around the room and the Ista Weyrwoman sat back down with a self-satisfied smirk. Sheala looked at H'mon and saw the fire in his eyes. If this debate didn't settle down quickly, he was definitely going to lose his temper.

"Please... please everyone, let's just calm down and try to address this issue like adults," she pleaded. "We must face the fact that the die has already been cast, Leanoth has made her choice and not a single dragon has yet questioned her decision."

"That's another thing," piped in the Weyrleader of Fort, "Why are all the dragons referring to this boy as if he were a girl? Could he actually be a girl in disguise?"

Sheala shook her head, "I was there when Kailen was born and I have seen him swimming in the river with the other boys many times since. I can assure you that he is most definitely a boy." She stood up then to give emphasis to her next point.

"We all must remember that our dragons do not see us as we see each other. I have asked Trinith to describe us from her perspective and to her we all pretty much look alike; hairless, tailless little creatures with only four appendages. So instead they look within us to see what is truly unique about our character. That is how they tell us apart and when they look within Kailen they see someone who is, to them, more feminine than masculine. Just why is a mystery."

"There's nothing mysterious about it." All heads turned to see the Master Healer standing in the doorway. She stepped up to the table and addressed H'mon. "My apologies Weyrleader for being tardy, I thought it wise to stop in and have a little chat with our new gold rider before bringing you the guild's findings. I hope I didn't miss anything of importance."

"Not a thing Master Healer, I assure you," H'mon said tersely. "Please sit down and tell us what you have found in the records."

The venerable Master Healer settled herself onto an offered bench and removed a bundle of scrolls from her satchel. "I had the whole guild burning the midnight glows on this one. Basic diagnostic information was readily available, but the particulars came from some of our most ancient records." The room had settled down considerably as everyone strained to hear the soft-spoken woman.

She flattened out some fresh scrolls containing her notes and began, "The ancients called this Ettner's Syndrome or complex-gender. It is a rare condition that begins with an imbalance of the womb. There seem to be a variety of causative factors including drastic changes in diet, the over consumption of certain herbs, and extreme stress during pregnancy..." At this, Sheala and H'mon looked at one another with raised eyebrows. Both vividly remembered the events leading up to Kailen's birth.

"If these conditions continue full term, the child may be born with confusing gender traits or even evidence of both sexes. I do not believe this applies in our case. However, when these conditions only last for the first third or so of the full term they can result in the mind, which always develops first, being of one gender and the rest of the body of the other gender."

The healer set down her scrolls and looked around the table. "After speaking with Kailen I am convinced she has this form of complex-gender. Her body is that of a boy about to come of age, but her mind is very much that of a woman. You need look no further than her gift of hearing dragons to substantiate that."

o o o

When Kailen had first seen the weyr that was their new home, she had been overwhelmed. To think that her little Leanoth would one day fill this huge cavern was remarkable. Her quarters were remarkable as well. The large comfortable bed and private bath were luxuries she had never dreamed of before, but she couldn't bear to be separated from her dragon and had taken a fur from the bed to go sleep beside her in the weyr. She was still there late the next morning when Roloth, the Weyrleader's bronze, had warned her of an approaching visitor.

Now it was just past noon and a little group sat in the center of the large raised platform that severed as the new queen's bed. Kailen sat on the floor beside Leanoth in the shallow depression worn into the rock by the weyr's many prior occupants. Sheala and the Master Healer sat on a little bench that had been brought up onto the platform for them. Cups of lukewarm klah sat untouched on a tray.

Kailen scratched idly at Leanoth's eye ridges as she listened quietly to the Master Healer's complicated description of why she had been different all her life. Even as the elder healer described what could be done to help him adjust to her new life, she decided that she liked this caring woman and trusted that she meant her no harm.

I like her too.

"Why you little faker!" she thought and rubbed the dragon's eye ridges a little harder. "Have you been listening to all this?"

Yes, but it doesn't make sense. Why does she want to change you? I like you as you are.

"They don't want to change who I am, only how I will look when I grow up."

Is that what you want?

Kailen wasn't sure she knew the answer to that, she only hoped it was her choice to make. The crowd of people milling about the weyr entrance didn't strike her as being all that sympathetic. She glanced in that direction and caught many of them staring back at her.

"So that's about it," concluded the Master Healer, "the rest is up to you Kailen."

Sheala spoke for the first time since the healer started her long monologue, "The real question is what you want? Not what you think we or anyone out there wants," she gestured in a way meant to encompass all of Pern and not just the crowd outside.

"You don't have to make a decision this instant," said the Master Healer, "these are lasting changes and you should give them plenty of consideration." Sensing Kailen's fears she added, "I give you my pledge that no member of the Healer's Guild will ever offer you a medicine or treatment that you have not personally approved."

Kailen thought quietly for a few moments and then said, "All I really want is to raise Leanoth to be the finest dragon queen she can become. I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen, but for myself none of this really seems necessary." She looked into the eyes of both women and seeing no sign of disappointment or anger went on, "However, it might not be so bad growing up pretty." She smiled so sweetly at Sheala that the Weyrwoman blushed in spite of herself.

EPILOGUE

The common room was filled with the sound of lively conversation. Small groups of riders in sweaty flying leathers shared cups of klah and told animated stories of the thread fall they had just flown. Word spread around the room that the gold wing had returned, signaling the official end of the fall.

Sheala entered and worked her way across the room. Stopping at tables to talk with some riders or to offer others congratulations on a successful maneuver she had seen them perform. She reached her place at the head table and greeted H'mon with a hug.

She had just filled her cup when the babble of conversation died away into hushed silence. She smiled knowingly and looked up to see the rest of the gold riders entering the room. They entered as they usually did with her wingsecond and third side-by-side in the lead and the youngest rider, Kailen, falling in behind.

It was Kailen that had brought the room to silence. "It's always been this way," reflected Sheala. Only when she had first impressed Leanoth four turns ago the silence had been one of distrust and disapproval. These days it was one of admiration and respect. "And a healthy dose of desire as well," she mused merrily to herself.

Kailen had grown into a striking figure with the help of the healers' herbal concoctions. She paused now at the entrance, as she often did, just to let everyone get a good look and to let conversations begin again. Sheala looked her over appraisingly as she stood with casual poise, one hand on her hip and the other cradling her helmet. The skintight flying leathers revealed a body just a bit too slim and curvaceous to be masculine and bit too muscled to be feminine. Her long sandy blond hair, plaited into an immaculate rider's braid, framed an extraordinary face. The large bright eyes, small nose and flawless complexion complimented the broad cheekbones and firm jaw. It was the kind of face that appealed to men and women alike.

As Kailen moved gracefully into the room Sheala watched her stop frequently to greet her fellow riders. A hug for a female green rider here, a casual chuck on the shoulder for a male brown rider there. It was the ease with which she moved between the sensitive approach of the women and the confidant bravado of the men that had eventually endeared her to the whole Weyr. And when Leanoth's first clutch had been large and strong with bronze dragons, even her critics outside the Weyr had admitted that maybe... just maybe, the boy had turned out to be a pretty good weyrwoman after all.

END

All characters in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This work is copyright (c) 2002,2005 by Juliet Carnell, it is not public domain and all rights are reserved. This work is not for publication. This work may not be reproduced, distributed or sold in any format or media. This work may not be included in any collection without the express written permission of the author.

Dragonriders of Pern® is the registered trademark of Anne McCaffrey.

Story elements that have appeared in Dragonriders of Pern® are copyright (c) 1967-2000 by Anne McCaffrey and are used here without license.