The Dragonriders of Purrn
By Kaliveri (Kalliroscope/Severi)
Disclaimer: This fanfic is a Pern/Cats crossover, and there's a lot of legal
stuff I have to say. First of all, the Cats part (the names, etcntk.)
are copyright RUG, Andrew Lloyd Webber, TSEliot, whoever. The Dragonriders
of Pern stuff is copyright Anne McCafferey. I have no share in either of
these; I'm just a fan who loves both of these so much that I decided
to connect them. Please don't sue me.
Weyrleader M'cavity growled as he stormed around his weyr. His bronze dragon,
Evilith, eyes whirling deep blood red, kept intruders out by his fearsome
keen. He gave a performance of this as a loud, confident knock sounded on
the door to the WL's quarters. "Enter! Evilith, let 'im enter," M'cavity
said. The door swung open, and a tall, fluffy white queen came in.
"Griddlebone...my dear..." M'cavity said uncomfortably. The Weyrwoman walked
forward to her mate, eyes snapping viciously. Even Evilith looked nervous,
and he was a massive dragon. "M'cavity," Griddlebone said. "M'cavity, I just
got a message from Jellicle Weyr. It says--" "How'd it get here?" M'cavity
asked, desperate to prolong the moment. "What? Oh, firelizard," Griddlebone
said. "But that's not the point. The point is, Weyrleader M'kustrap says
there was a meeting of the Weyrleaders today...half an hour ago... which
you had apparntly PROMISED to go to, and yet didn't!!" M'cavity gave a weak
smile and sat down in a chair. "Sit down, my dear, sit down...er, klah?"
Griddlebone remained standing, and ignored M'cavity's words. "Well! What've
you got to say for yourself?" M'cavity shrugged. "I forgot?" Griddlebone
sighed. "You'll have to start remembering then, M'cavity, or we'll lose all
the good name and reputation we've got! The other Weyrs already think we're
as bad as those Oldtimers..." M'cavity lowered his eyes for a moment, then
they snapped open and he said "Oldtimers! That's it!" Grabbing his jacket,
and snatching the riding straps off the wall, he began making preperations
for *between* flying. Griddlebone watched him with curiousity and puzzlement.
"What's it? Where're you going?" "I'll time it!" M'cavity cried. Griddlebone
shook her head. "M'cavity, you fool, don't time it! It's too dangerous, for
one, and for another, you obviously won't make it since I still got a message
saying you weren't there from Weyrleader M'kustrap!" M'cavity ceased his
frantic getting-readiness. "Oh. Oh yes. Oh shards."
Weyrleader M'kustrap growled inwardly as he sat next to his mate, Weyrwoman
Demeter. "Where was he, that scorching idiot!" he burst out. Demeter stroked
his paw. "Oh, don't be angry, dear, without him there, you and the other
Weyrleader's were able to come to an agreement!" M'kustrap nodded, reluctant
to admit that any good came out of it. "That's so." "And now," Demeter continued
soothingly, "you'd better calm down because Tireth is getting upset, and
when Tireth is upset, Layereth gets upset. And an upset queen during the
Hatching of her clutch is a very bad thing. So calm down, my sweet." M'kustrap
sighed. "I suppose you're right. Anyway, these eggs _are_ going to hatch,
right?" Demeter nodded, grinning. "Layereth claims they will. Though shells,
they're taking their--" Her words were interrupted by the sudden keening
of golden Layereth, from her place on the sands. Demeter held her mate's
paw tight as a few eggs began to rock, and more dragons began to keen. "Ooh,
it's starting!" The candidates, who had been standing there since early
afternoon, straightened up, an excited look in each pair of eyes. M'kustrap's
tail swished beneath his seat. Though he had seen many hatchings, they never
failed to thrill him; the excitement of the crowd, the suspension of wondering
which egg would crack first, what colour it'd be, what the hatchlings name
were, and who would Impress who; the magic of seeing the looks on the
dragonriders' faces after the hatching, the marvel and deep love. The first
egg to hatch was a handsome little bronze; a good omen for the riders and
dragons of this clutch. The little fellow had no trouble making up his mind
who his chosen was; going straight to a black and white tom, who had been
rejected in two other clutches, he tilted his head back and was Impressed.
The tom scratched the hatchling's eye-ridges immedeitly, calling "His name
is Magicath!" After the first Impression (a magical event indeed) two more
eggs split apart immedeitly, and a green, and a brown, made two candidates
(a girl named Jemima and a tom now called T'mblebrutus) happy. As the three
newest dragon-rider pairs exited the sands, a sudden louder keening brought
the crowd's attention to the hatching of the beautiful golden queen egg.
"How soon for the gold egg to hatch!" Demeter cried, caught up in the excitement
of the hatching; perhaps reliving her own Impression, as M'kustrap was. The
golden queen stepped out of the shell rememnats, and looked around at the
female candidates, holding paws out to her hopefully. When her faceted rainbow
eyes fell upon one particular candidate, she went straight for the tall female,
nearly tripping in her anxeity to get to her. The candidate stepped forward,
catching the little dragon, and locking eyes with her. As Impression occured,
she smiled, saying "Oh, I never thought I'd Impress a dragon as beautiful,
and intelligent, and wonderful as you, Cattith!" Cattith chirped at her rider,
and the new rider led Cattith off the sands. "Who was that candidate who
Impressed the queen?" M'kustrap asked. "Hm? Oh, Tantomile...she's a Harper
apprentice. Was, I should say. Now she's dragonrider." Demeter and M'kustrap
shared a smile in the universal pride of riding a dragon, the same pride
that was shared world-over, by the Dragonriders of
Purrn.
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