AUTHOR'S NOTE

I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern series or A Series of Unfortunate Events.

This started off as a long-ish oneshot, but then it got too long, so it's now five chapters and a shorter epilogue. If anyone's confused, don't worry. So am I. Why did I write this? I don't know. So these kids all come from my ASOUE fic, Unlucky Stars. Basically all you need to know is that they're the Baudelaires if there was a ton of them. Then I decided to write a fic involving them and firelizards, because they need some happiness in their lives. I'm not sure if this counts as a crossover since most of the characters are OCs, but if anyone thinks it does, let me know.

"Now, be careful," Uncle Monty was saying as the children followed him out across the cliff edge. Violet, the eldest of the siblings, gazed across the sea. Would it be possible, she wondered, to invent something like wings of their own, so they could glide on the breeze? Thoughtfully, she shifted Sunny against her hip, drawing her hair back from her face with her free hand.

"You want me to tie it back?" Damien asked.

"Please."

Damien was Violet's twin brother and the only one of her siblings taller than her. He pulled the ribbon from her pocket and tied her hair back.

"The clutch will be near hatching now, so the firelizards will be rather protective of it."

"Hisssss!" Kyra shouted. She was the third youngest of the girls and had an obsession with reptiles. Why, Indigo wondered, oh why, had their Uncle Monty seen fit to name one of his firelizards 'Hiss?'

Indigo was younger than the twins by just under a turn and, much to her continuing irritation, shorter than both of them by half a head. Shards, even Klaus was going to outgrow her in a year or two if she didn't get any taller!

"You must be very careful not to disturb them. They may not allow you to see the clutch this time."

"According to 'Wild Firelizards and Where to Find Them,' firelizards are very defensive of their clutches," Klaus said. He was twelve years old, the middle child (though not by much), and liked to read.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Sofia asked. She was older than Klaus by barely an hour, taller than him by an inch, and constantly trying to keep her brothers out of trouble.

"Perfectly safe, as long as you don't act like a threat."

"I want to explore those caves."

"Elias, how many times?"

"But it looks fun! And there might be green clutches in there!"

"No," replied Indigo.

"But Indigo-!"

"No, Elias," said Violet.

"It's not like you're our mum!" Loki shouted.

Violet winced. Damien squeezed her arm. "He's still hurting."

Loki was seven years old, fascinated by animals, and not coping with the deaths of their parents well. His large, black canine, Dog, was bounding at his side.

"Uncle Monty, do you think we can take one of the eggs?"

"Absolutely not! If you children desire a firelizard, I have more than enough money and connections to obtain you one. Why, one of my good friends has a Queen- Ah, here we are."

They stopped at the slope leading down to the beach.

"Now, do be careful. It's a little steep, and we don't want a repeat of the last time."

The slope was more than 'a little steep,' and the children would have to climb vertically in a few places.

"Sofia, you want me to take Noah?" Damien called.

"No, I've got him!"

Sunny and Noah were the youngest of the siblings, infant twins each no larger than a boot with very, very sharp and strong teeth which they used to bite as many things as they could.

"If you're sure."

"Lavender, where are your shoes?"

"In our basket," Lavender replied, indicating the basket Finn was carrying. Lavender was younger than Indigo by a full turn, and, unlike her older sisters, a dancer rather than a builder.

"Put them back on; you'll hurt your feet!"

"It's fine."

"It's not fine."

"It's fine Indigo."

"Don't cry to me when you hurt yourself."

Lavender slipped down the next section of the slope and held her free hand up to Finn. With her other she was holding Phoebe, who was older than the twins by a year.

"Don't cry to me when you're hurt," Lavender mimicked.

"I heard that!"

At last all the siblings were down on the beach. Finn and Loki stopped to pull their boots off. The sand was warm beneath their feet.

Uncle Monty smiled. "Here we are! Now, if you just want to enjoy the beach, try to stay down this end of the beach."

Indigo wasn't sure if she could ever enjoy a beach again.

Even now being here brought back unhappy memories.

"If you want to see the firelizards, be very careful. The Queen is rather vicious." He paused to look at them. "Vicious means 'very violent.'"

"We know what vicious means," said Klaus.

Violet handed Sunny to Damien and pulled the notebook Uncle Monty had given her from her pocket, gazing out over the sea as she began to consider and sketch what she wanted.

Finn took his flute from inside his jacket and began to play a low, haunting tune. Lavender pulled a grey blanket from the picnic blanket and laid it on the sand for Phoebe before closing her eyes and beginning to work out some form of dance routine for the music.

Elias rolled his eyes. "Does everything you play have to be totally depressing?"

"We haven't had many happy things to think about recently Elias," Sofia muttered.

"I can assure you children that you have nothing to worry about here. I know your parents are gone, but hopefully together we can make some new happy memories."

Klaus sighed. "I hope so."

"Can we go see the firelizards?" Loki asked, jumping from foot to foot.

"Please!" Kyra shouted, followed by "Hiss!"

"I'll go with you," said Indigo.

"Do you have your meat?"

The children lifted the small sacks of meat Uncle Monty had insisted they bring as treats for the firelizards if they tried to attack. Each of them had two, which were tied to their belts.

"Good, good! Come along then."

The triplets tagged along with the three of them, since most of the caves were down that end of the beach.

Violet and Damien, meanwhile, wandered down to the sea edge so Violet could think away from the boisterousness of her siblings and Finn's haunting flute music. Damien held Sunny's arms at the wrists and held her upright so she could paddle in the water. Lavender spun and twirled on the sand, her long dark hair flying around her.

Kyra pulled at Indigo's hand, grumbling and impatient. "See firelizards! Hiss! Can I have?"

"No; you can't have!"

"Spoilsport," muttered Loki.

"Now Kyra, you must be careful. Firelizards are rather territorial." He paused, frowning at them. "Territorial means defensive."

"We know what territorial means," said Klaus.

"Of course, of course. Well, firelizards defend their areas very- aha!" He stopped abruptly, and Klaus nearly walked straight into him.

"There's one!" He pointed at the rocky cliffside. "Do you see her?"

It took the children a moment, but at last they located the small, green shape perched on a rock shelf watching them.

"Now, where's the rest of your fair?"

"Fight Thread?" Kyra suggested.

"I shouldn't think so. We're not due Thread for another four days.

Perhaps they're gathering in the cave with the clutch."

The clutch was in one of the caves above the tide line at the far end of the beach, half hidden by rocks and fronds. The children had peeked at it during their earlier two visits and counted well over forty eggs. 'A good number,' Uncle Monty had said.

"It is really rather odd we haven't seen any of the others yet. You children wait here; I'm going to take a look."

Dog wuffed.

Uncle Monty hurried away from them, climbing over the rocky wall in front of them.

"I wonder what's up there," Elias mused, gazing up at the green firelizard.

"Elias…"

"It's not like it's high up!" He headed over to the cliffside, finding a foothold in the rock.

Behind them, Finn's tune floated on the wind. It was reaching a bizarre kind of danger note, and even Lavender had stopped to frown at him.

"Finn, what are you doing?"

He didn't reply, focused on his music, which hit a high, haunting, lingering note.

"Um, Finn?"

Damien glanced over his shoulder. "You think he's alright?"

Violet shrugged, adding another line to her sketch. "You know what Finn's like. This is just his way of dealing with things."

"That's a weirder one than usual though. You think he'll write that one out?"

"Probably."

Damien leant back to gave at the rest of their siblings far, far up the beach. "Do you think they'll be safe here Vi?"

"Uncle Monty seems like a good sort."

"Yeah, but… I dunno. First impressions can be deceiving."

"We've been here nearly three sevendays."

"That's still early days."

"I think… I think we need to try to worry slightly less."

"Worry less? Vi, you know he's still out there!"

She flinched, glancing up and down the beach as though he might appear from the rocks or emerge from the sea like some form of demon. "Of course I know that! I just think we need to give Uncle Monty a fair chance. He's been nothing but nice to us."

Finn's warbling note echoed across the beach. Violet finally looked up from her sketchbook, glancing round at him. "You're right. That one is weirder than normal."

Further up the beach, Loki had darted ahead of Indigo and Kyra with Dog and was climbing up the rocks at the end of the sandy stretch.

"Loki! Get back here!"

"Nuh uh!"

"You'll hurt yourself!"

"Will not!"

"Loki!"

Loki yelped as he slid down the other side, landing on his chest and elbows and knocking the air from his lungs. Dog wuffed, bounding up the rocks like they were flat ground. There was a shrill chirp from somewhere above him. He lifted his head, meeting a pair of whirling red eyes.

Somewhere out behind him, Finn was still playing. The song was high pitched and haunting, long, trilling notes that and low, humming ones. It felt like something he needed as he played, the taste of copper and smoke in the air, a strange sense of... emptiness around him. It felt like he was putting everything, the loss and the pain and the fear and hope from the last half turn into the tune. Lavender had given up trying to dance to it, and was showing Phoebe some of the nearby rock pools.

"Snappy!" she shouted, pounting out a crab.

"That's right Phoebs! Snappy."

"Swishies?"

"I don't see any."

Violet had finally finished her sketch, satisfied with her design. "Do you think Uncle Monty would let me get the materials for something like this?"

"Fabric and wood? I don't see why not. He got you all that wood to make those pipes for Finn."

"Yes, but that was a musical instrument."

Indigo set Kyra down and climbed up behind Loki and Dog. It was a high rocky lump, sticking up from the sand and then sloping down into the sand again. Beneath her, Loki was laid on that sand, gazing up at the large Queen firelizard. One of her three bronzes was perched a little higher up the cliff, whipping his tail as though agitated.

An array of browns, blues and greens were fluttering and perched around the rocks and bluff, chirping and shrieking. Indigo had never seen them in a frenzy like this during any of their earlier trips.

"I think they're scared."

"Of what?"

"I dunno."

Elias had reached the ledge the green had been perched on. She had vanished with a cross squawk as he neared her, and hadn't come back. Klaus clambered up behind him. "Next foothold by your left knee. Can you see anything yet?"

"Almost. Hang on." Elias pushed himself up another length, bringing him eye level with the ledge. It led back into a shallow sort of nook, inside which he could see seven small speckled eggs nestled.

"It's a nest!" he called back excitedly, scrabbling for another foothold with his right foot. For a moment he swayed and struggled for balance. Sofia watched the two boys from below, taking a step back. It would hardly be the first time Elias had lost his balance and fallen to the sand below. At last though, he found a ledge he could put his foot on and caught himself. Now he was higher, he could haul himself up onto the shallow ledge. He held his hand down for Klaus, who joined him. The two of them peered in at the eggs. They were small, smaller than those of the Queen that they had seen on their last few visits.

"What do you think we should do?"

"Probably best to leave them," said Klaus, looking out over the beach. Back the way they had come from, he could see Lavender rushing over to the twins, Phoebe hefted against her hip, waving one arm. Down beneath them, Sofia followed her brother's gaze and then Lavender's wild indications somewhere diagonally behind them and a little out to sea.

"Violet!" Lavender called as she rushed over the damp sand to her eldest siblings. "Damien! Look!"

Violet whirled round. "Look at what?"

Lavender jabbed a hand behind them at a silvery fog on the horizon. Damien gazed over her head at it. "Shards."