Justin spent the night in the bed next to Lance's, trying to pretend he wouldn't rather be leaning against a dragon, watched over by his rider. He slept fitfully, his dreams a mix of hopes and fears that kept him tossing throughout the night. In the morning, he went with Lance and the other candidates for breakfast in the main dining hall and spent most of his time craning his neck around, searching for a dark head.

"He's gone today," he heard from behind him.

He whipped around and found Honora behind him. "I wasn't-"

"You were. Can't fool me."

A pink-tinged flush stole across his cheeks as he asked softly, "Where'd he go?"

"John sent him to Fort Hold to pick up a Harper."

"Oh." Justin felt the tight feeling of anticipation in his stomach leave as disappointment settled in.

She gave him an indulgent smile and reached out to run a hand through his curls before moving on to other tables.

Justin turned back to his bowl of cereal, scooping food into his mouth as Lance caught his eyes from across the table. "What was that?" the other boy asked.

Justin hunched his shoulders and shrugged. "Nothing."

"But who were you looking for?"

Justin shoved his bowl away. "No one."

"Okay." Lance shrugged and scraped his spoon across the bottom of his bowl before pushing it away. "Are you done?"

Justin glanced down at his mostly full bowl of cereal. "Yeah," he said, pushing away from the table to stand.

Lance led the way through the double doors to the dining hall. "We don't have to report for kitchen duty until a bit later." He grabbed Justin's arm and pulled him in the opposite direction the other candidates were following. "Let's go explore a bit."

Justin, shaking of the despondence of disappointment, smiled and followed Lance into a corridor cut into the great cliff.

They explored the tunnels underneath the kitchen caverns, becoming more and more adventurous in their tunnel choices. They lost their way several times, finding the main tunnel by sheer luck. The fourth time they went astray beat their previous time record, and upon returning to the main tunnel, both decided they'd pushed their luck to the breaking point and decided to head back to the chambers.

While making their way across the floor of the Weyr Bowl, Justin heard the watch dragon bellow a greeting, and heard a familiar call in return. He raised his eyes and found himself staring, at some distance, at Narith's underbelly, a paler bronze than the rest of his hide. Joseph spotted him and waved and both Justin and Lance raised a hand in return.

The dragon landed not far from the boys, and Justin and Lance both watched Joseph and another man, his blue tunic identifying him as the Harper, dismount. Joseph waved them both over as soon as he and his passenger were settled on the ground.

"Justin!" he said in greeting as they approached. "And Lance!" After greeting the other boy he turned back to Justin. "How goes your second morning at the Weyr? Better than the first, I hope?"

Justin grinned and ducked his head. "They've both been fine. The bed's nice, but not as nice as Narith." He could see the lazy swirl the dragon's eye speed up a bit in pleasure at the statement.

Joseph laughed as he reached out to ruffle Justin's curls. His hand brushed down the side of Justin's face, over the bruises at his temple to his chin, tilting the boy's head in order to inspect his cut lip. "That's healing nicely." He ran a gentle thumb over the small hurt.

Justin shivered at the contact and hoped that no one noticed. "It's fine. Honora gave me something for it yesterday."

Joseph nodded just as his passenger pointedly cleared his throat. "Oh!" he said. "Forgive me, I am remiss. This is a friend of mine, a Journeyman Harper, Joshua. Josh, these boys are Justin and Lance. Narith found them on Search."

Joshua extended a hand in greeting, taking both hands in his for several moments. After staring at each of them until squirming commenced, he dropped their hands and laughed. "I have good feelings about these two," he said, clapping Joey on the back. "Narith hasn't lost his touch."

"Never will, to hear him speak."

Joshua laughed again and began to move in the direction of the dining hall. "I must find John before too long."

"I imagine Nick will want to see you as well."

Joshua turned to smirk at Joseph as he continued on his path. "I imagine," he said.

Joseph waved him off before turning back to the boys. "So all is well?"

Justin nodded and was about to speak when Honora called to him from across the Bowl. Lance smacked his head and grabbed Justin's arm, tugging him in her direction. "She told me to tell you, you have to get measured for your robe!"

"Oh! Um… but…" Justin raised his gaze to meet Joseph's, his glance pleading even in its brevity. "I have to go."

Joseph nodded and waved him away. "Go! I'll talk to you later."

Justin allowed himself to be dragged toward Honora's post in front of the dining hall.

Honora handed him a robe. "This one should fit perfectly."

Justin accepted the white garment and nodded his thanks.

"Now you and Lance have to go in for kitchen duty. You can just leave that on your bed."

"Yes ma'am," Justin said as he left the storage room.

He found Lance reclining on his bed in the candidate's chambers. After carefully folding the Impression robe, he and Lance went into the kitchen for their duty.

"This isn't hard, but it sort of sucks because of Britney," Lance whispered to Justin as they entered the kitchen cavern.

"Who's Britney?"

"Lance!" Any answer the other boy might have given was cut off by a shrill voice rising from a cloud of smoke. A small, blonde figure burst from behind, waving a long spoon. "You're late again! Who is this?" she demanded, poking the spoon at Justin.

"This is Justin, he's to share my duty."

She glared at Justin, who, though he towered over her diminutive form, found himself ducking away from the hostility the girl projected. "You can show him what to do then. And you can stay late since you can't be bothered to come on time."

Lance dragged Justin off, grumbling as he went. "That's why this duty sucks."

"What is her problem?"

Lance shrugged. "Don't really know. One of the weyr boys told me she was brought here on Search and didn't Impress, but that she didn't want to leave after that. Didn't want to go back to her hold." He turned to Justin and shrugged again. He led Justin into the back, where the pots that previously held their breakfast were stacked, one on top of the other. "Our job is to scrub all these off."

Justin eyed the stack warily. "All of them?"

Lance nodded in answer, and grabbed a handful of the sand kept for this purpose. "We'd better get started if we're going to be done any time soon."

In answer, Justin picked the pot closest to himself, grabbed a handful of sand and began scrubbing.

Five clean pots stood in a black tower next to Justin when the humming started. The synchronized notes echoed down the tunnels of the Weyr, reverberating off the walls of the kitchen cavern.

"What is that?" Justin asked Lance, who dropped his pot and jumped to his feet.

"It's starting, Justin! Come on, we must get our robes!"

Justin's pot dropped from suddenly nerveless fingers as he finally identified the source of the sound. The dragons, recognizing the forthcoming hatching, had begun their hatching cries, encouraging the small hatchlings, rejoicing in their imminent births.

"Now? Already?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes! Justin, come!" Lance grabbed Justin's arm and pulled the other boy to his feet. They ran along the tunnels to the candidate's chambers, already alive with boys and girls searching for their robes, in various states of undress as they struggled out of work clothes and into Impression clothes.

Justin quickly removed the clothes he'd been in all day and dropped the white robe over his head. He bent to pick up his boots when he remembered they weren't allowed shoes on the hatching sands and dropped them again.

"Are you ready?" he heard Lance ask him from over his shoulder.

Justin nodded while straightening, allowing himself to be pulled again by the shorter boy out the door of the chambers. Leading and following were the other candidates, in various stages of preparation.

The excited, mad rush ended at the entrance to the Hatching Grounds. Lance slowed in his headlong dash and pulled Justin to a stop as well. They lined up with the other candidates and walked sedately forward until they hit the sands, which had grown from warm to burning hot just before Hatching. Each managed to control their reaction to only a slight wince as the sand scalded their bare feet.

Justin moved with the other candidates into a loose circle around the eggs, far enough away that they wouldn't crowd the Hatchlings, and thus force a decision on the little dragons. The girls moved further into the chamber to surround the queen egg. Rhyth, recognizing the imminence of the little queen's hatching, let the girls approach without protest.

Justin let his gaze wander to the rows of seats, filled to capacity with Holders, Craftsmen, and dragonriders, each hoping that their candidate would Impress. The ledge far above them quivered with dragon bodies, their eyes swirling in a complex palette of colors as their necks vibrated with the force of their encouraging hum.

A collective gasp from the crowd of watchers drew Justin's attention back to the eggs. One in the middle of the group began to rock, shaking with the dragonet's efforts to break free. The humming of the dragons grew in intensity. Several other eggs joined in the violent rocking, and Justin turned his head to check the queen egg. It hadn't started moving yet.

Cracks appeared in several eggs, wedge shaped heads visible through the shattered shell and inner membrane. A head poked through the middle one, the one that began rocking first, and a tiny bronze dragon spilled out from the broken shell. The watching crowd released a pleasurable sigh. It was considered good fortune when a bronze was the first Hatched.

As the dragonet struggled to its feet, Justin and the other candidates concentrated on mentally drawing the little bronze in their direction. More heads popped out of shells, and a blue and a brown joined the bronze among shards of shell.

The three hatchlings looked toward the assembled candidates, crying plaintively for their mate. The bronze headed in Justin's direction and the boy held his breath for several long moments, hoping that this was the dragon meant for him. It was such a beautiful little creature! He released the breath in a heaving sigh as the bronze veered to the left of him, heading for another boy.

"He says his name is Halth!" Justin heard the boy cry as he knelt next to his dragonet, tears of joy running down his youthful face.

All the eggs rocked violently on the sand now, the dragonets inside desperate for escape. More hatchlings joined those already on the sand and Justin hardly knew where to look anymore, there were so many moving about. Several had already chosen, the boys on their knees in the sand next to their new dragons.

Justin started as a small weight fell across his feet, and he looked down to see a green dragon sprawled in the sand in front of him. He knelt to help her untangle her wings from her lower limbs and she nipped at his hand. She struggled to stand again and once back on her feet threw herself into Lance's legs, crying out for the boy. He looked down, finally, and a look of wonder and amazement crossed his face as his eyes met the little green's.

"She says her name is Samarth!" he cried joyously as he helped her to right herself.

Justin watched with envious eyes as Lance led the little dragon off the sands, out to the tables of food prepared for the new weyrlings. He turned back to the eggs still cracking and then looked over to the queen egg. It rocked about on the sand, Rhyth crooning encouragingly to it with the girls in a semi circle around it. A crack appeared as the golden snout burst through the inner membrane. The crack widened and the golden body of the tiny dragon spilled out on the sand. She wobbled, trying to stand, crying for her mate. The girls moved in closer, attempting to help, but the little dragon batted away their efforts.

Justin turned back to the dragonets before him, certain that the little queen would choose one of the girls. He didn't want to watch, though he could still hear her crying out behind him. Murmurs spread through the crowd as the little golden dragon spurned any of the choices before her.

Joshua, sitting next to Joseph amidst the crowd of onlookers, turned to the bronze rider. "What if she doesn't Impress?"

Joseph, without taking his eyes from the curly head still on the sands, negated Joshua's question. "A dragon has never not Impressed."

Joshua pressed, "I know. But what if she doesn't?"

Joseph spared a glance for his friend. "She'd die, I guess. A dragon needs a partner. But it's never happened."

Joshua put a hand on Joseph's shoulder, offering steady support. "She'll find someone."

Unspoken was the wistful, "I hope."

Justin worried. Most of the dragonets had hatched already, and none had turned adoring eyes on him. He glanced at the candidates still around him, and watched the one last egg still rocking on the sand, ignoring the plaintive cries of the queen dragon. She still hadn't found her mate.

He was holding his breath in anticipation, watching cracks appear in the egg when a strong head butted into his back, sending him to his knees. The crowd gasped collectively in astonishment, and Justin turned, still crouched, to see the source of their surprise. The queen had abandoned the circle of girls to find her own mate, who was indeed on the sands.

Before he even turned, Justin felt her presence. Suddenly he wasn't only in his own body, he was also in hers. An unidentifiable sensation filtered through his mind and body as he accepted the dual nature of their mental link. He not only felt his own contentment and happiness, he felt hers. He not only remembered his own desperate search for a dragon, he felt her desperate search for a human companion.

Justin turned to look at her, found himself staring directly into her gently swirling eyes, the red of desperation fading into the blue of contentment. He felt her consciousness invade his own, felt her breath echo in his own, felt each movement of her body as his own, felt her mind as it pushed into his with one word, a name.

"She says her name is Ayleth!" he cried with overwhelming joy, oblivious to the shocked silence from the stands.

She batted her head adoringly against his chest, nuzzling into the white robe. He reached down to stroke her golden hide, amazed at the soft feel of it. She rumbled with pleasure as he stroked her back between her wings, nuzzling further into him. She spread out her wings, flapping them a little, and Justin saw that they were drying quickly. She amazed him. He wanted to stare at her for hours.

Not now, I'm hungry, he heard her say.

"She's hungry!" he cried. He stood hastily, almost knocking her over before stretching out a hand to stabilize her. I'm sorry, he said.

It's okay.

He put one hand on her little shoulder, beneath her wing, to lead her off the sands. He looked up, finally, from his dragon's eyes, and saw the shocked faces of those surrounding him. He turned back to the group of girls still circling Ayleth's broken shell, hurt and confusion and anger all present on their faces. On his other side, the last egg had broken and the last dragon had Impressed. The boys still standing in a circle around broken eggs stared with something akin to jealousy and closer to hatred.

He looked back down to Ayleth, whose eyes swirled contentedly as she stared adoringly up at her new companion. I'm hungry, she said again. He nodded, fear choking in his throat as he continued off the sands.

"Stop!" a voice cried from the crowd. Justin stopped in his tracks, causing Ayleth to stumble against him in her newborn awkwardness.

"He can't Impress the gold!" someone else yelled, from the other side of the Grounds.

Fear clenched in Justin's stomach. She was his; they couldn't take her away, could they? He looked to where the Weyrleaders sat, side by side, near Rhyth's position. Shock was evident on their faces, but Janet stood quickly at the first signs of trouble from the Holders.

"She chose Justin," the Weyrwoman said in her high, sweet tones.

Lord Fennell stood quickly. His daughter was one of those Searched to Impress the queen egg. "But a queen can't choose a boy! Stop them!"

Several holders, also with children that didn't manage to Impress on the sands, ran from the crowd to grab Justin. As they pulled him away from his dragon, more pushed Ayleth back towards the circle of girls. One, Lord Fennell's daughter, began to cry at the horrible sounds Ayleth made as she struggled to get back to Justin. Justin himself cried, reaching for his dragon from the arms of strangers.

Ayleth used one of her rapidly drying wings to lash out at those surrounding her. They jumped back hastily, wary of being scored by her wing tips. One holder tried to push her from behind and she turned and caught his arm with her claws, cutting deep into the man's skin. He jumped back, screaming in pain while he clamped a hand over the wound to staunch the blood flow. All the girls were crying now in horror at the scene unfolding before them.

Justin, through the new link that he shared with his dragon, felt her intense anger at being separated from him. Coupled with his own agony, the weight of their combined emotions drove him to his knees, a dead weight in the arms of those who held him. What do they do? he heard Ayleth cry in his mind.

From the other side of the sands, he vaguely heard Rhyth bugle her intense anger at the humans causing her Hatchling distress.

Justin was so concentrated on his and his dragon's distress that he didn't see the riders rush the sands. He heard the angry bugling of dragons all around him, but didn't recognize what was happening until he felt Ayleth's wedge- shaped head again pressed to his chest, heard her frantic cries fading into reassuring croons as she nuzzled into him. He wrapped long limbs around her neck and shoulders, holding her to him in the best semblance of an embrace between a dragonet and it's mate.

He felt a hand on his arm and looked up into Joseph's eyes, which were full of anger for the holders. "Is she okay?" he asked.

Are you all right? he asked Ayleth.

I'm still hungry.

"She's hungry," Justin said on shaky breath. He looked around him, at the angry holders being held at bay by the dragon riders, at the furious gazes on the face of the Weyrleaders, directed toward Lord Fennell, at the sympathetic faces of the girls, watching the dragonet bump her little head against Justin.

Joseph laughed grimly, his hand squeezing Justin's arm in reassurance before he helped the boy to his feet. "Of course she is. Come, stop neglecting your dragon," he teased as he escorted Justin and his dragon out of the Hatching Grounds.

Outside, tables had been prepared with food piled high upon it for the dragonets. The other new weyrlings were already feeding their dragons. Justin saw Chris helping Lance with Samarth, and other brown and blue riders circulated among the boys, warning them against overfeeding.

Joseph moved ahead and brought a bowl of meat back from one of the nearer tables. Justin accepted it gratefully and began to hand feed his dragon.

"What's her name?" Joseph asked.

"Ayleth," Justin said quietly, but with a hint of pride. "This is Joseph," he said to the little dragon. "His dragon is Narith. He's a bronze."

Ayleth held her mouth open for more meat, her sharp teeth glistening in the afternoon sun. Joseph laughed and clapped his shoulder. "I think she's more interested in eating than making new friends."

Justin laughed indulgently, if a bit quietly, putting more bits of the juicy meat into her waiting mouth. As he fed her, he thought back to the scene in the Hatching Grounds. "Why are they so angry?"

Joseph sighed and wrapped an arm around Justin's shoulders, pulling the boy closer. "The holders don't understand the bond. They don't understand the way a dragon chooses. They see a boy Impressing the only dragon that clutches, and they think that's wrong. The same thing happened when girls started Impressing the fighting dragons. Some said they didn't belong. Ayleth is the first queen to ever choose a boy, so we're just feeling our way along here."

Justin nodded against Joseph's shoulder, where his head had fallen. Though it was only the late afternoon, the intense emotions of the past hour had worn him out, and he longed to lie down in a bed.

More! Ayleth's demands brought his head up swiftly, and he scooped more meat into the dragon's mouth as she held it open, demanding food. He could feel, in his own stomach, the hunger pangs in hers receding. He'd been warned enough against the dangers of overfeeding that he wasn't going to risk it on his first time.

I itch, she told him suddenly.

"Oh!" he said, dropping the bowl. "She says she itches!" He knelt on one knee next to the little dragon, ran his hands along her hide to find the itchy spot. "Where?" he asked her, moving his hand along her forelimb.

On my back, she said. Her eyes began whirling in distress and her voice in his mind was urgent.

"I need oil!" he cried, looking around, frantic in his desire to help his dragon.

"Here, Justin." Joseph handed him a small vat of oil from a nearby table. "It's okay, she's fine."

Justin calmed as his dragon calmed, sated by the run of his oiled fingers over her itching hide.

Joseph dropped to one knee beside Justin and reached out a hand to scratch the dragon's small eye ridges. She batted up against his hand, eager for the attention both men gave her. Joseph rested his unoccupied hand on Justin's propped up knee, and leaned over to whisper quietly, "Are you two going to be all right?"

Justin nodded. "I think she's already forgotten it."

"Dragon's memories are short. They live only for the moment."

"I'm beginning to realize that," he said with a small smile in Joseph's direction.

You're so clever, Ayleth said to him. You make me happy.

Justin beamed down at his dragon. "You make me happy too," he said to her before turning to Joseph. "She said I was clever."

Joseph grinned and reached out to ruffle Justin's hair. "And you are." He dropped the hand to cup Justin's cheek. "You did get a queen dragon, after all." Joseph ran his thumb over the bruised skin under Justin's eye. "You need sleep."

"Joseph!" Both turned at the beckoning of the Weyrleaders. "We need a word with Justin."

Joseph nodded respectfully and moved away.

Justin watched him go and turned to the Weyrleaders with some trepidation, unsure as to their reaction to his Impression.

"Justin," Janet started, "we want you to know that we accept Ayleth's decision. Dragons are never wrong in who they choose as their mates, and we don't believe that they would start now."

Justin breathed a sigh of relief as that fear was assuaged. He reached down to put a reassuring hand on his dragon's head, and she pressed against him.

"But," John continued, and Justin's fear flared again. "You have to realize this is going to spark some contention between the Weyrs and the Holds."

Justin nodded.

"Being a hold-bred boy yourself, they can't blame everything on the Weyrs, as that would be denying one of their own."

Janet interrupted him with a small hand on his arm. "What they tried to do in the Hatching Grounds was unconscionable. No one will ever try to take your dragon again, we promise you. Rhyth and Levath wouldn't let them try again."

Justin smiled briefly for the benefit of the Weyrleaders, letting them see that they had reassured him. "Where are they now?" he asked softly.

"Rhyth won't let them out of the Hatching Ground until you and Ayleth are in the weyrling quarters."

John picked up where he'd left off. "Now that you're in the Weyr, there isn't much they can do. Although, I suspect over the next several months there will be some debate between us. You'll stay with the other weyrlings until Ayleth is old enough that she won't disturb the Weyr, and then you'll move into queen's quarters. You will not be training with them, as that's not useful information for a queen rider."

Justin listened intently to what John said. All this information had been imparted to the female candidates before Hatching, and since it wasn't normally necessary information for the boys, he hadn't heard it before.

"Go with the other weyrlings tonight," John pointed in the direction of the weyrlings quarters, where boys were leading their now sated and rapidly tiring dragonets. "I'll send one of the junior queen riders for you in the morning."

Justin nodded, and turned to lead Ayleth in the direction the others took, both intent on rest.

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for Regina

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