Dragons' Destiny

'Don't worry, Weyrleader,' Astaroth reassured him. 'We're going to help with the light problem.'

Several minutes later, brown dragons started to reappear, dropping large chunks of wood into a series of some fifteen stacks. The blues followed, bringing in smaller pieces of wood which they piled on top of and to the side of the larger pieces.

Finally, a small army of firelizards appeared, adding tiny pieces of wood and other flammable debris to the piles. As the dragons and lizards all pulled back to a safe distance, Astaroth flew down the line of stacks, streaming flame into them and igniting a series of bonfires. Seiten and Tr'san looked at each other and broke into laughter. The light problem was solved.

As the evening wore on, the Masterminer again admitted to a concern. "We have to dig in very small amounts. Best if we can get the dirt off the top rather than pulling the rocks out from under it."

"Hmmm," the Weyrleader began, "maybe there's a way to do that and stay safe. Astaroth, do you think the firelizards could try moving the dirt from the top of the slide area?"

In just a moment, he had an answer. 'Yes, they can. They'll start immediately. We should also use only greens to work at the rock. They'll pull smaller amounts away. It should make the slide area a bit more stable.'

'Okay. Can you supervise this?'

'Certainly. We'll take care of it.'

As the odd conversation ended, a grinning avion stepped up beside the Weyrleader and Lord Holder. "I see you've managed to get Astaroth working for you," he chuckled.

Tr'san snickered. "More like he's supervising and we're just asking what's going on. He took over when he got here. Fine by me."

"That dragon is something else," Seiten agreed, shaking his head with a smile.

Alarmed by the sudden increase in dragon activity, the worried parents came rushing up to the Lord Holder. "Lord Seiten," the frightened father asked, "what's happening? Why are all these dragons and firelizards taking over?"

The Lord Holder smiled, assuaging the consternation of the parents. He explained the need to be very gentle in the excavation, pointing out that the tiny dragonets and the greens, smallest of the dragons, could do the best job of digging through the slide without causing a cave-in. He assured them that they had a lot of help on hand and that, should it become necessary, they could likely get more. He glanced at the Weyrleader, who nodded confirmation.

Suddenly, the greens and the firelizards shifted their positions, converging on a single point on the slide wall. The dragonets threw dirt in all directions while the larger beasts waited.

'I have her,' came the unexpected declaration. 'She's in a small cave, well back from the slide. She's a bit frightened but alright.'

"Who is that?" Seiten asked, eyes wide and fully alert. Before even waiting for an answer, he told the parents that their child had been located.

"That's Akira," D'rian replied. "He's the only one of us who could get through the slide wall to the ground behind. Took him a bit to find her."

"Who is Akira?" the father requested.

"One of my team," the Cygnan answered. "The snake."

The mother shuddered at that revelation but the father only nodded. The entire group moved closer to the focus of activity, watching as dirt and rock began to come away from the hill behind them.

Within minutes, dragons started to roar their elation and riders started to cheer. A little girl, dirty but no worse for wear, stumbled out toward the light, a long snake draped across her shoulders. As she moved into the open, Akira slid to the ground and moved to Astaroth.

'Well done, Akira,' D'rian praised his friend.

'Sorry it took so long. There was a lot of ground to cover back there'

'You got it done. That's all that mattered.'

The Cygnan noticed that a number of riders were congratulating the black dragon. A few even knelt down to thank the swiftly moving snake. Their dragons had explained the course of the rescue to them. Akira seemed largely disinterested, but Astaroth thanked the riders for their recognition and gratitude.

When the rescue was explained to the parents, they followed the riders and Lord Holder to stand next to the black dragon. The little girl asked her mother to put her down. She toddled to the beast's nose, patting it with her hand, then bent down to pick up Akira's head. To everyone's astonishment, she kissed the viper on the nose. Akira responded by flicking his tongue out several times, licking the child's nose. Then he withdrew and crawled up to the dragon's back.

D'rian shook his head, grinning at the relieved parents. He rewarded their curious smiles by saying, "I have never seen him do that. Your daughter seems to have made a very unusual friend."

By this time the queenriders had joined the small group. Elysina smiled at the ecstatic mother then asked, "Would it be alright if your daughter took a ride dragonback?"

The woman gasped. "Are you serious?" she asked.

"Sure. You come too. You can hold her while we're up there."

As the trio approached, Valkryth dropped to her belly, allowing the women to mount. D'rian then handed the girl up to her mother. He backed away and the queen leapt into the sky.

With their mission successfully accomplished, most of the riders headed back to the Weyr. A few, however, including Weyrleader, wingleaders, queenriders and a number of greenriders, remained. Seiten invited them into the Hold, where an impromptu feast was quickly prepared.

The happy mother and her giggling daughter returned to the hold in about fifteen minutes. They and Elysina then joined the celebrants.

"Well," Seiten revealed, "I think we've just discovered what you and your dragons can do when the pass ends."

He received curious smiles from every rider within earshot. "Oh?" Tr'san queried. "What's that?"

"You folks are the greatest search and rescue team I've ever seen."

- - - - - - - - - -

Time passed and the newly formed queens wing became an accepted part of Ista's fighting formation. With Ruth flying a steady position as the slot rider, Lord Jaxon was finally given the recognition he deserved as a thread fighting dragonrider.

Both Mareka and Darielyn received scores as a result of their efforts but neither was seriously injured. With the drug therapy, the female had no further problems with muscle cramps.

The Weyrleader and Weyrwoman were delighted with the performance of the queens wing. With Tr'san's endorsement, Remara was presented with a wingleader's knot, a recognition that she wore proudly.

Several months later, Breda gave birth to a son. Her mate showered her with love and appreciation for bearing the child. Their relationship became even closer.

Selana gave birth to a son as well, complete with fully functional wings. She teased Elysina mercilessly, pointing out that she had done her job. The second queenrider laughingly handed her a 'prenatal order form', printed as a gag by the printer hall. Both shared a hearty laugh over the joke.

Nearly a month later, Elysina gave birth to her child. It was a winged female.

When word of the birth got out, almost immediately, G'dened came to the junior queens' weyr to visit. He found Elysina holding the infant. D'rian sat next to her, a wide smile on his face but a stream of tears sliding across his cheeks. He looked at Selana questioningly. She waved him out of the sleeping chamber.

They walked to the ledge, finding two queens and a bronze waiting. When they got there, the former Weyrleader asked, "The baby's healthy, isn't she?"

"Yes," Selana assured him. "She's fine. So is El."

"Then, why is he crying?"

The queenrider looked at her companion, her own eyes filling. As tears started to escape, she revealed, "She named the girl Cosira."