Between Passes, time slows until the threat of the Red Star is overshadowed by worry over this season’s crops, the mating and offspring of livestock, and storing enough food for the long winters this far north. The needs of the dragons superseded by the needs of the farmers themselves; needs like food, shelter, and clothing.

Dragon riders come, bearing tales of Thread, the curse of the Red Star, seeking children to Impress a hatch of dragons, Pern’s only line of defense. These searches are met with hostility, and the threat of Thread is scorned as the memory of its devastation fades.

In and among circumstances too easily forgotten resides an occurrence so dramatic as to be easily remembered. Days, weeks, years of farm life- hoeing, planting, feeding, birthing- flash by in an instant. Years leak into each other, forming a lump simply referred to as past, distinguishable from present because of one fantastic day, the day the dragons came. Justin can, at any given moment, remember exactly the circumstances of that day.

His father, Cullin, a farm holder to Ruatha Hold, was one that believed the Red Star would never again rain Thread on their planet. To any who would listen, he’d give his arguments, bemoaning the requirement set forth by the Weyrs, claiming that dragons would never again be useful to the people of Pern.

He would practice his arguments on Justin, out in the field, pushing the plow behind the herd beast. Justin pretended not to hear. He knew his father didn’t like the dragons, or the riders that came and demanded their due every year, but Justin was in love with the winged beasts, with the very thought of flying on the back of one. Which is why, when his father began another rant, Justin lowered his chin and concentrated on his work, ignoring the older man behind him. His father would stop frequently to make sure his son was still paying attention.

“Boy!”

“Father?”

“You listening?”

“Of course.”

“What’d I say then?”

“You said the dragons are parasites, and don’t need the food we grow for ourselves.”

“Good, son.” And he would be off again.

The season was drawing to a close, the days getting shorter, the nights longer and colder. Justin and his father loaded what they owed to the lord of Ruatha in a wagon, and began the two- day journey west.

Justin could barely contain his excitement. He’d heard that the queen at Fort Weyr laid a new hatch, and he knew that the dragon riders would be on Search for candidates. He wanted, more than anything, to be chosen, to escape the cloying, depressive life he knew, to be free from his father and his prejudices.

Cullin and Justin spent that night on the road laid out in the back of the wagon. The beasts were tied to the side and allowed long tethers for eased grazing. They started again early the next morning in order to get to the Hold in the early afternoon.

The Hold came into view as the sun was passing the midday point. Justin could see an array of colored tents spread before him, filling the normally open field leading up to the gates in the wall surrounding Ruatha Hold. It was a Gather, and, judging by the look on Cullin’s face, he was just as surprised by the crowd as his son was. But while Justin’s surprise also contained an element of excitement, Cullin’s surprise was unwelcome and unpleasant, bordering on an open hostility to any who would approach him.

They pulled to the edges of the field, where Cullin had to stop his wagon. He couldn’t risk going further into the crowd with his herd beasts. They were unused to the large numbers of people moving about them.

Justin climbed down from the wagon, looking longingly in the direction of the milling crowd.

“Justin!”

His father’s stern voice drew his attention away from the Gather. “Yes, Father?”

“Stay by the wagon, I must go to the gates and ask how I am to deliver this load.”

Justin’s eyes widened pleadingly, but hope died at the stern set of his father’s features. He dropped his eyes to his shuffling feet and murmured, “Okay, Father.”

He was sitting on the ground, leaning on a wheel while tracing dragons in the dirt when a shadow fell over him. He jumped to his feet, afraid that he would look up to see his father, who wouldn’t approve of the subject of his idle drawings. But it wasn’t Cullin.

“Justin!” Strong arms came around his neck and a warm body pressed against his in greeting. Justin brought his arms up to push the body away a little, so he could see who it was. Green eyes greeted him, crinkled at their corners by the wide smile splitting the other boy’s face.

“Lance!” Justin pulled the boy to him again, grateful to see someone he knew. He and Lance lived on neighboring farms, and had seen each other regularly around their respective properties, until Lance left two years before as an Apprentice to the Mastertanner. Justin pushed Lance back again. “How you’ve grown!”

“You’re not far behind, Curly.” Lance grinned as he addressed Justin by his hated nickname, which referred to the golden curls Lance was currently rumpling with his hand.

Justin ducked his head away from Lance, scowling playfully. “You know I hate that name, why do you insist on calling me that?”

Lance shrugged and grinned. “It is so easy to get you riled up! Why are you over here? The fun’s this way!” Lance attempted to drag Justin away from the wagon, in the direction of the tents.

Justin pulled away. “No, I can’t. Father wouldn’t permit it.”

Lance stopped tugging on Justin’s arm and looked back at his friend. “He still hate everyone and everybody?”

Justin nodded wearily. “I think he’s happiest that way.”

Lance frowned sympathetically for his friend. “I’m sorry. Oh! Did you hear about the Nest?”

Justin’s eyes lit up at the mention of his favorite subject. “Yes! Do you know where they’ve Searched?”

Lance stared at his friend incredulously. “Justin, how could you not notice? They’re here today.”

Justin’s heart jumped to his throat and his hands shook with excitement. “He… Here?” he stammered. “Where?” His eyes scanned the horizon, and he saw larger than usual dust clouds on one end of the festivities, but he’d never guessed that those clouds might be hiding dragons.

“There.” Lance indicated the direction of the dust clouds, and Justin took off running. “But, Justin! What about your father?”

Justin stopped dead in his tracks, Lance’s words having poured cold water on his excitement. Duty warred with intense desire for mere moments, and then he was off running again. “I have to see them. I have to.”

Lance took off after his friend, following closely on his heels.

Justin ran through the tented displays of wares, past the pastry tent, to the edge of the crowd, where the dust cloud had formed. There, rising from the kicked up dust, were four dragons; a bronze flanked by two browns and a green. The stirred dust was caused by their wings, which they shifted around, plainly uncomfortable.

Justin stopped at the end of the line of tents, on the edge of the bare expanse of dirt the dragons occupied. He couldn’t tear his eyes from them, from the line of their wings, their great, clawed feet digging into the ground, their faceted eyes reflecting the afternoon sunlight.

It was Lance who noticed the small group of leather clad men, standing to one side of the cleared area. “Justin! The riders!” he said, grabbing Justin’s arm.

Justin pulled his eyes away from the dragons, and turned his head toward the circle of men standing to the side. All wore the typical rider’s dress: leather pants and jacket to protect from the cold Between, thick, sturdy boots extending up the calf of each leg. Their riding helmets dangled from their hands.

Two of the group were blonde, the other two had dark hair. The blonde men facing them had no distinguishing features, and Justin concentrated on the two facing away. The tallest of the four, one of the brunettes, turned towards the tents a moment, and Justin’s breath caught in his throat. The man was beautiful. There was no other word for it. His dark hair flapped in the wind created by the dragon’s wings. His dark eyes scanned the crowd gathered at the end of the line of tents, before finally stopping to rest on Justin’s. Their gaze met over the empty field, and Justin was rooted to his spot, unable to move, look away, and even breathe.

“The dragons are restless.” Chris shuffled around in the dirt, plainly unhappy about his continued presence at the Gather.

They don’t want us here, Narith said to Joseph.

Joseph nodded. “Nary thinks they don’t want us here.” He gestured behind him, towards the gathering crowds.

“How is it that every two hundred years they forget again how badly they need us?” Chris asked.

“Memory is short, my friend.”

“Is our presence here still required? Kettith hasn’t felt anything, what does Narith say?” Nick asked.

Nary, anything? Joseph turned to his dragon, the great bronze flapping his wings in the sun.

The two little yellow haired ones, over by the tents.

Joseph turned away from his companions towards the tents, scanning the crowd for the two that Narith could mean. A rather large crowd gathered there, some glaring, some staring in awe. The mixed emotions evident on the faces indicative of the varied support recently given to the Weyrs in their Search for candidates. Joseph could understand their fear, but not their hatred.

His eyes settled on two blonde boys, amidst the crowd but a little apart. The shorter one stared at the dragons, wonder and awe mixing on his face, his short hair ruffled by the wind. The taller, younger one stared at him, an indiscernible expression marking his clear, youthful features. The boy’s bright blue eyes met his across the expanse separating them, and Joseph wondered at the emotion playing across the boy’s face.

He nudged Chris, directing the other man’s gaze in the direction of the two boys. “Narith says we should talk to them.”

Chris laughed. “Them? Those two farm boys?”

Joseph shrugged. “That’s what he said.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to talk to them. Nick, Bri, you two stay here.”

Joseph and Chris detached themselves from the small group they’d formed, and headed across the expanse of dirt separating them from the crowd gathered. Assembled farm holders and craftsmen backed away at their approach, but the two boys stood firm. Only their eyes, which widened as the men drew closer, betrayed any emotion.

Justin only just resumed breathing when two of the riders broke away from the group and began walking in their direction. His breath caught again, and when he tried to regain it, he choked. He never broke eye contact with the rider, not once since their gazes met. And now the rider was coming towards him. Justin was still trying to regain control of his breathing patterns when the two riders stopped in front of them. The taller man, the beautiful one, smiled down at him. “My name’s Joseph, this is Chris.”

Justin tried to speak, but couldn’t. Lance quickly stepped in to make introductions, and Joseph took Justin’s hand by way of greeting, smiling the entire time.

“The bronze one is mine, his name is Narith. The brown one to the right of him is Rahleth, that’s Chris’s dragon.”

“Can I touch him?” Justin let the question come out without meaning to, but once past his lips, he couldn’t retract it. Joseph looked at him oddly, and then glanced away as his eyes unfocused.

“He’s asking Nary,” Chris said to the boys.

Joseph smiled and turned back to Justin and Lance. “He says it’s fine.” Justin watched as the dragon stopped beating his wings and folded them onto his back before crouching down to the ground. Joseph gestured toward the dragons, indicating that Justin should lead the way. Justin did, and noticed that as he stepped towards the dragons, Joseph’s hand came down to rest in the small of his back. Justin was grateful for the warm solidity of the rider’s touch as he stepped closer to these beasts that he’d only ever seen from the ground as they flew high above him.

When he was right up next to the creature, Narith turned his huge head to look at Justin, one great, faceted eye concentrated on the blond boy. Joseph’s eyes became unfocused again, and he laughed, quietly, to himself. “We’ll have to talk in a bit, me and you,” he said to Justin once his eyes cleared. Justin nodded, his eyes distracted from the dragon as his gaze locked on Joseph’s smile, while his hand pressed tighter against Justin’s back.

Justin was only distracted from Joseph’s face when he felt his hand being taken and pressed against warm dragon hide. He turned his head and saw Joseph’s hand pressing his into Narith’s side. The dragon’s skin was soft and warm, his scent was spicy, not at all what Justin expected. Joseph moved his hand around, stroking Justin’s against the dragon’s side. He stilled for a moment, and then laughed in Justin’s ear. “Narith wants his eye ridges scratched. Says the dust has been irritating them. Want to?” His warm breath caused the curls over Justin’s ear to tickle his skin and Justin jerked his head, laughing as he said yes.

Joseph pulled his hand away from the dragon’s side and moved with Justin around to Narith’s head. The dragon lowered enough that Justin could reach his eye ridge, and Joseph showed him how Nary liked it scratched. When Justin caught on, Joseph dropped his other hand to Justin’s waist.

Justin stopped scratching when Narith got a bit too enthusiastic and pushed up against him, knocking Justin back into Joseph, who caught him before he could stumble. Justin’s back was pressed along the rider’s front, Joseph’s hands around Justin’s waist to steady him. Justin pulled away quickly, embarrassed, and asked, “What did you want to say to me?”

Joseph, obviously distracted, said “What?”

“Is he talking to you again?”

Joseph shook his head. “What did you say?”

Justin’s cheeks burned when he realized that Joseph’s distraction wasn’t due to a private conversation with his dragon. “I said, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Joseph turned and whispered conspiratorially to Narith. “Should we tell him?” Justin wasn’t sure if a dragon’s eyes worked this way, but he was sure that they twinkled more when Joseph joked with him. “Okay, he says we should. Chris!” He turned toward the other rider, who was showing Lance how to scratch Rahleth’s ridges. “Bring him back over here.”

Joseph waited until Lance and Chris joined him, and then he and Chris faced the two boys. “You know we’re on a Search, I presume.”

Lance nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! We heard there’s a queen egg!”

Chris smiled and reached out a gloved hand to ruffle Lance’s blond locks. “Yes, there’s a queen egg. Which really shouldn’t concern you two, as you’re both male.” He winked at Joseph, who grinned.

“Right.” Joseph waited until the light laughter died down, then said, “Narith has chosen you two.”

Justin’s excitement was matched only by his disbelief. How could he possibly… the son of a farmer? “Are… are you sure, sir?”

Joseph blinked, and then laughed incredulously. “Am I sure? Of course I’m sure. Narith is the absolute best at picking candidates.”

The news apparently soaked into Lance’s brain at that moment, for the other boy began jumping up and down, grabbing onto Justin’s arm to balance himself in his enthusiasm. “Justin, Justin! We’ve been Searched! Searched! You and me! Justin!”

Justin finally allowed himself to accept the news, and then a grin spread across his face, nearly splitting it in two.

Lance danced around a bit more, then stopped, abruptly. “I have to go find the Mastertanner. He has to know. Hold on!” Lance ran off in the direction of the tents.

At Lance’s mention of his Master, Justin’s enthusiasm died. He knew he’d have to tell his father, and he knew his father would never permit it. He briefly entertained the thought of just leaving now, with Joseph, and never going back to his farm. But he was his father’s only son, and his father couldn’t work the land alone.

“I can’t,” he said to the riders, and then ran into the crowd, too quick to follow.

Joseph turned to Chris. “He can’t?”

He was scared. Narith’s voice broke into Joseph’s conversation.

Of what?

I don’t know.

“Nary says he was scared, but he doesn’t know why,” Joseph said to Chris.

Chris shrugged as Lance appeared again, at the edge of the tents. “You all set?” he asked as the boy approached them.

Lance nodded, and then frowned. “Where’s Justin?”

“He said he couldn’t, then ran off into the crowd.” Joseph shrugged. “Narith says he was scared. Do you know what he’s scared of, Lance?”

“His father. His father hates the dragons and the riders. Hates everyone, really, but the dragons the most.”

Joseph’s shoulders dropped. Another candidate for Search lost because of stupid prejudices.

“I know he wants it though. More than anything.”

Joseph turned back to Lance. “How do you know?”

“He always talks about them. When I was there, he talked about them all the time. And he risked his father’s anger to come over here to see them. If his father finds out, Justin’ll have hell to pay.”

Chris put a hand to Lance’s shoulder, to get his attention. “So it would be a bad idea if we went after him now.”

Lance nodded vigorously. “A very bad idea.”

“But you know where he lives, right?”

“I do, but it’s a two day journey back. They won’t even be there until the day after tomorrow.”

“Could you find it, say, from dragon back?”

Lance’s eyes widened, and he nodded.

Cullin stood by the wagon as Justin slowly approached.

“Where have you been?”

Justin looked down at his boots. “I had to find a bush, Father.” The back of his father’s hand across his mouth surprised him. He stumbled back against the wagon, used it for leverage to remain on his feet.

“Do NOT lie to me,” his father growled. “I know the dragons are here. I’ve been here long enough to know that’s where you were.”

Justin straightened, slowly, to his full height. “They want me, Father. Narith says-“

Cullin stepped forward menacingly. “Narith’s a dragon? What have I said about dragons?”

“But they’re not parasites! They are great, wonderful creatures-“ Justin was cut off by his father’s fist catching him in the stomach, right at his diaphragm. Justin gasped for breath as he dropped to his knees. His father stood over him. “You will not mention them again.” He shoved Justin with one booted foot, knocking him off his knees. “Now get in the wagon.”

Justin pushed himself off the ground and got into the wagon. He turned to look back towards the Gather, back towards the dragons, but his father elbowed him in the side, told him to face forward. He slouched down in his seat and closed his eyes. Narith flew across the backs of his eyelids, Joseph on his back.

A small smile played across Justin’s lips as his father urged the herd beasts towards home.

Two days later towards evening, Joseph and Chris mounted their dragons at Fort Weyr. Lance sat behind Chris on Rahleth, and gave Rahleth the picture of Justin’s farm hold. Narith got the picture from Rahleth, and the two dragons launched into flight from their respective weyrs. When they reached sufficient height, Joseph gave Rahleth the signal, and both dragons went Between.

They reappeared in the air, slightly to the west of the large field behind Justin’s home. They dropped quickly to avoid notice, understanding that their presence might spark further resentment on Cullin’s part. Once on the ground, Lance went alone to the house to inquire after Justin.

He ran back moments later, alone. “Cullin says he’s gone.”

Joseph whipped around from where he’d been scratching Narith’s hide. “Gone?”

Lance nodded. “His father said he left last night. He didn’t take a runnerbeast. He’s been walking this whole time.”

Chris grabbed Lance’s shoulder, forcing the younger man to look at him. “Do you know where he might have gone?”

Lance shook his head and then raised it to look at Joseph. “The only place I can think of that he’d go is back to the Hold, to look for you.”

Joseph set his shoulders. “We have to go find him. You know the road, Lance?”

Lance nodded.

“Then you and Chris lead the way.”

The sun set, darkness covering the road, concealing figures that might be walking along it. Joseph thanked the presence of the full moon as he ordered Narith and Rahleth lower to the ground.

Two hours later, Narith swung his head back towards Joseph. Rahleth says Lance sees him.

Tell Rahleth to land.

The dragons spiraled slowly downwards with their passengers. Rahleth led the way, as he knew where on the winding road Justin was. As they got closer, Joseph finally saw the reflection of the full moon off of Justin's blond curls.

Narith and Rahleth landed lightly, right in front of Justin, who looked up from his shuffling feet as their wings stirred up dust in landing. Joseph slid off Narith's neck before the dragon fully settled and hurried over to Justin, who'd dropped to his knees at the sight of the dragons.

Joseph dropped next to Justin, put a hand beneath the boy's face to tilt it upward. Bruises darkened his left eye and temple, blood had dried and crusted on his lips and chin. His eyes were clouded, afraid.

“What happened?” he asked the boy, afraid to touch him anymore.

Justin’s voice was hushed and cracked. “I told him I wanted a dragon.”

Joseph dropped his hand from Justin’s face, sat staring at the boy as Justin stared back, his thin arms wrapped around his body to protect from the cold night air.

Lance appeared at Joseph's elbow, and dropped to his knees in front of Justin before pulling the younger boy into his arms. Justin sat silently in his embrace for a few moments before releasing a sob on a shaking breath and wrapping himself around the smaller boy.

Joseph sat back on his heels, watching them until Chris laid a hand on his shoulder. "We need to get him off this road."

Joseph nodded and stood, helping both Lance and Justin to their feet. He removed his riding jacket and placed it around Justin's shoulders, which still shook with the violence of his emotions.

Justin shoved his arms into the sleeves of the jacket as Joseph led him to Narith's side. Narith lowered his head so Joseph could help Justin climb up before he got up himself, in front of Justin.

He reached back, found Justin's hands, and pulled them around his waist, holding them a moment while he asked, "Are you okay?"

Justin huddled against Joseph's back. "I've never ridden on a dragon before."

Joseph sighed and squeezed Justin's cold hands before giving Chris and Rahleth the signal to fly. He felt Justin's arm tighten around his waist, felt his head press into his back. Joseph stretched his arm around Justin's back, holding the boy tightly to him in reassurance as Narith went Between.

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for Kitty

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