Nerine and Azorynith

This is the story of how Nerine Impressed Azorynith. (©SunBlind)
*************************************************

Nerine was a sweet brown haired girl who loved the animals that she cared for dearly. And the animals cared for her. No one minded that she never spent much time with other people, actually, no one really noticed that she was never there. One might wonder why such a pleasant person to be around was almost always ignored. It may be that she just liked it better that way. You see, Nerine had grown disenchanted with the Lords and Ladies of the hold. Of course, when she was little she longed to be just like them, to be able to wear fancy dresses and attend all the gathers she could ever want to. That was before she understood what they were really like. True, some cared for those who lived in their holds, but more than enough cared little but to expand their own wealth. Only for the dragonriders did she hold much respect for now. Daily they risk their lives to protect Pern from the dreaded Thread. For the lives of the lowliest drudge to the most regal Lord, they flew the skies.

Nerine started to brush an old runnerbeast, long retired from having to carry a rider on his back. Thinking that it meant one less young person causing trouble, the Holder gave her the animal to keep as her own. The day being bright and sunny, she decided to let the old beast have some time outside in the pasture. He stood there a moment, snuffling quietly against her sleeve, then after a playful nip, went to graze on the green grass.

After a quick look to see that the herdbeasts were well, she returned to the field and joined the old runner, feeding the tenderest flowers to him. Just then Nerine heard a shout and realized that in her rush to return to her friend she hadn't closed the gate behind her and several of the other runnerbeasts had escaped.

It took a while for her to gather them up again, even with the help of some of the other hold members. Most would let her come right up to them but a few of the more fiery ones refused to respond even to her gentle words.

Covered in mud and dust, Nerine was relieved to see that it was time to eat. She gave her old runner a slap on the rump as she left the field to return to the hold.

She had barely finished when she heard shouts again. Not believing that she could have forgotten the gate again, she hurried outside. She stoped the moment she saw them, a blue and a green dragon sat near the edge of the runnerbeast pasture. Their eyes slowly whirled a deep blue as they watched the holders milling about. They were the most beautiful creatures she had ever seen. Nerine couldn't imagine anything more wonderful.

But these thoughts soon left as her glance crossed the field. One of the runners was lying on the ground, not moving. Nerine slipped quietly past the dragons, not wanting to disturb them, unaware that the blue had taken great interest in her. As she got closer to the runner she could see that is was her old friend. Worried that he might be injured, she rushed over to him. He no longer lived. She willed the tears not to flow, but she loved the runner and would miss him greatly.

She jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look into a sympathetic face of the blue rider. "My blue says that he is sorry to make you so sad. When we came out from Between above this field, we frightned the whole herd. I guess this one was just too old. Come, I'll take you back to the hold." He took Nerine's hand and pushed his way through the crowd who had come to gawk at the dragons. The blue rumbled as Nerine passed, but she barely noticed.

The rider brought her to her room and told her to get some sleep. He promised he would return to wake her before he left.

And he kept his word. For he knew that a hatching would soon take place, and his blue knew that she would be a perfect candidate for impression. The rider tried to explain to his dragon that nothing would replace her friend, but the blue was adamant that a dragon would make everything else seem like it belonged to another life. How could the rider argue when those word rang so true!

When Nerine woke, the rider explained that she chould return with him to be a candidate. She accepted. Before climbing onto the blue with his rider, she went to the field and picked one of her runner's flowers, flattening it gently and placed it within her pocket.

After a long wait, (but one that was well worth it!) Nerine finally went down to the Hatching Grounds to Impress the beautiful golden Azorynith, the first Gold dragon to be Impressed for Mooncrest Weyr!

Stats:
Name: Azorynith
Rider: Nerine
Color: Gold (female)
Parents: Jesphith x Alondaloth
Weyr: Mystic Weyr
May 1999