Fiona turned to Kindan. She knew that he’d been left on the Hatching Grounds for over ten Turns and that he was far too old for tradition, but all the same she felt a sense of rightness in his riding a dragon and she could feel M’tal steeling himself to say the same.

Lorana beat them to it. “No matter whether I do or not, Kindan of Pern, you will be a Candidate.”

Fiona met her eyes and they exchanged a look of firm agreement.

“No queen of my Weyr—” Fiona began only to be interrupted by Lorana who declared, “No queen of Pern will keep you from the Hatching Grounds.”

“And for what you’ve done, they would be glad to see you ride bronze,” M’tal added solemnly.

Kindan sighed heavily, signaling his defeat.

Fiona, however, ignored him; her attention was focused on Lorana. Her voice when making that declaration had sounded so startlingly familiar.

“Did you bring us back in time?” Fiona asked her suddenly.

“Me?” Lorana repeated in surprise. “Lorana?” M’tal said at the same time, giving Fiona an odd look. “She was at Benden the whole time.”

“The whole time,” Fiona repeated. Lorana looked no less confused and Fiona dropped the notion with a frown, explaining by way of apology, “Someone brought Talenth and me back in time to Igen—a gold rider.”

“You mean a weyrwoman,” Kindan corrected absently, his attention directed toward Lorana.

I don’t know, Fiona said to herself with some surprise. Why is it that I always say “queen rider” or “gold rider” but never “weyrwoman”?

“We wouldn’t have gone if she hadn’t urged us,” she said. “If she hadn’t made it sound like we’d already done it.” She glanced toward Lorana. “Her voice sounded something like yours.”

“Arith was too young to go between,” Lorana told her sadly.

“I’m not so sure,” Fiona replied. “Talenth was not much older than Arith and she went.”

Kindan shot her an angry look that Fiona understood all too well: The loss of Lorana’s queen weighed heavily on the both of them.

“Would you,” Fiona said softly to Lorana, “at least consider standing on the Hatching Grounds again?”

“I might,” Lorana said with a small smile. “It would be good to hear the hatchlings; I’ve never tried that.”

“She hears all dragons,” M’tal explained.

“She feels them,” Kindan corrected him, his hand unconsciously rising to pat Lorana’s shoulder in comfort.

“Before you have a Hatching, you’ve got to have a mating flight,” M’tal said, his gaze leveled at Fiona.

Fiona felt herself reddening and she ducked her head in embarrassment before answering, “Talenth is old enough to rise any day now.”

“Who will be the lucky dragon to catch her?” Fiona shook her head.

“The first queen to rise here will be senior, won’t she?” Kindan asked with a quick, apologetic glance toward Lorana.