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Hours later, when the celebration was well in full swing, dancing, drinking and eating ensue, and laughter fills the halls, the dragons converse. Their riders were having too good a time to bother listening in, and the dragons shut out every other mind, to just speak between themselves.
So what do you think? Naomith begins, quite pleased with herself and Treyath's clutch, yet again.
I think this'll be the last clutch open to the public. Treyath returns. Other minds nod in agreement.
Lazireth chuckles, I agree. We can't very well tell the world what we've found. These scientists, while very bright, weren't completely successful. Did you see all the greens? And you know we watched them change over every egg.
Janioth nods. We can't let the information leak out, either. If others were to get the geneticists machines, a lot of damage could be done, to both human- and dragon-kind.
I agree, Janioth's mate, Galamoth replies. We'll need to get our riders to send the scientists back to their own planets or times, or wherever the came from with at least their machines, even if they return. There are many lock-picks in the Weyr, this one particularly, and I don't trust one of them.
What if we simply destroy the machines? They couldn't do anything to us, and at that rate, they can't come back to destroy us. We're the queens, after all. We'll keep any flighty dragons around Pern from timing it to stop us should someone try. Gilith ventures.
The queens were still on the sands, while their mates rested on the rim above the hatching ground. All draconic eyes turn to the hidden room which had been left unguarded, considering there were dragons here to guard it, and the humans wanted to celebrate the nearly eighty new riders to the Pernese world's wings.
I'll destroy the machines. Naomith speaks up. If the other Weyrs get angry at me for it, you all know I'll tell them where they can shove their comments. The senior queen lets the sentence fade in their minds. The other queens smirk, as well as their mates. Naomith had to be the Weyr's, if not the continent's, most assertive and aggressive dragon.
The large queen lumbers towards the hidden door, nothing more than an outline of a crack along the stone wall. Using deadly claws that had, only hours ago, gently freed her children from their shells, she open-palmed smashes the door in. It was unlikely anyone would hear, mainly due to the wine and loud music being played in the humungous dining cavern. As the door, completely ripped from it's hinges, flies into the room, it takes out a few machine cords and wires with it. Naomith.. Treyath begins, but stops, letting his mate finish. Naomith knew what he wanted, and it had nothing to do with the machines.
Reaching her hand in, the golden dragon uses her talons to rip through the metal as if it were mere paper. In nothing more than a couple seconds, the machines were crumples and ripped messes, nothing but useless hunks of metal. This secret of engineering eggs would not be used in this Pass. Or Passes after. Not for a very long time.
Finished, Naomith straightens up, swiveling her head to look at her rider whom she knew was there. The Weyrwoman was standing, and had been standing for some time, watching with a small smile. "I was wondering why you shut me out." Falora smirks. The Weyrwoman strides across the cool sand, walking over shell pieces, and towards the room. Peeking in, Falora chuckles, and looks up at her queen, "I like your handiwork."
Naomith breathes out, seemingly smiling. It had to be done. Was the simple, calm, and logical reply. The Weyrwoman, still smiling, nods solemnly, "I know, I would have sent them back, you know. I'm just wondering what poor Zach and his team will think." she takes another glance back at the crumpled metal, then up at her queen, grinning facetiously, "Looks like age hasn't gotten the best of your strength, my dear!"
Naomith creels softly in draconic laughter, Of course it hasn't! I'll be flying strongly the day I die.
The Weyrwoman chuckles, "Lets not talk about death, considering there are nearly eighty young people in there just starting their own lives."
Not a problem. Naomith replies. Now go celebrate my, and the rest of our, children properly. We'll be right there to watch you all make fools of yourself dancing while drunk!
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Over many decades, The Weyr shut down to visitors, and even Searches were called off, giving Nora and her team a well-earned break. Over the course of their turns on the job, they'd searched well over two hundred people. All of which ended up Impressing one way or another.
The Weyrleaders flawlessly carried out their term of leadership when the Third Pass ended, and thread ceased to fall. At that time, with all the knowledge they'd learned, and a bit of selfishness, they decided to completely shut down the Weyr. They wanted it kept to only themselves and their ancestors, a part of history that might be discovered again in the future. The wings dispersed to the other Weyrs, friendships tying groups together.
Falora and D'ten had learned about a place called Alskyr during the time of the visitors for that very special clutch. They learned they had cross-dimensional twins of sorts. Happy on Pern, and not really wanting to find out what might happen when you meet your double, or even hop dimensions, the pair stayed on at the abandoned Talor Cliff, using the entire place as a retirement home for the last years of their life.
True to her word, Naomith put on quite an emotional and pride-evoking show for the spectators, carrying her rider over several Weyrs of Pern before blissfully betweening, when the former Weyrwoman passed on to better fields in greater than her hundredth year of life.
Falora's two children grew, one being a green, and one a bronze rider, who in turn had their own children, who had children, and so on. And through the Passes and Intervals, the family's secret story was about their ancestor Weyrwoman, her golden queen, a very special clutch, long, long ago...
... and that the brilliant Zach truly wasn't happy about his poor machines!
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Thank you all for being a part of TCW while it was alive, and I hope you'll continue with us on Alskyr!
~Weyrwoman Falora