A/N: Hey guys. Just a note to let you all know, I am terrible at prologues. This one is rather short, as you can see. Just letting y'all know that the chapters are longer, I promise. So… I'll stop impeding you from your reading. --Neko

Prologue

It was dark. Night surrounded Sutaketa Weyr. The Weyrwoman, Rentus, looked out her window of her Weyr, to see her large queen, Arestath, lying on the Hatching Grounds, protecting her eggs, still a duller shade of gold than she should be. Rentus closed her eyes at the remembrance. D'las. D'las was gone. Toranth was gone too. He had left to follow his rider into death. She felt a single tear run down her face. Now the Weyr was without a Weyrleader. Rentus sighed and walked to her bed, sitting on it. It had been a long time since she got any sleep.

She could feel the warmth of her covers, and how inviting they were, but she could not get rest from them. She and D'las had shared this bed. For the five months they had together, this had been their room. She got up, tears falling, and ran. She ran past weyrs of other dragonriders, past the kitchens, and out into the Weyrbowl. She kept running and running until she found herself clinging to her Arestath's golden hide. The large golden queen slowly turned her head and looked at her rider.

Mine. It will be all right. Hush now. You'll wake the rest of the Weyr.

Arestath! He's gone! He's gone!

I know. Hush. Everything will be all right.

No! He's gone! D'las is gone! I'm alone!

You are never alone! I am here. You will never be alone. Rentus looked up at her queen, then slowly slid to her knees, then fell on her side. She curled up in a small ball next to her queen. Arestath extended a wing, enclosing her rider next to her body. The Queen could feel her rider's breath steadying. She was asleep.

The queen looked up to the starry sky. Yes, Toranth was gone, but for as long as her rider remembered, so would she. Arestath looked at her eggs, and the queen egg between her front legs. These would be Toranth's legacy. These small dragonets would be his spirit throughout the Weyr.

Arestath, at peace now that her rider was finally getting some sleep, lay her head down, curling it by her wing. Sleep well mine, she said before the Queen herself drifted into sleep.

Far off, in the skies of Pern, a single shooting star could be seen, as a single, bright flash filled the sky for a single instant. Yet, the watch dragon and his rider had been asleep, and did not notice. The only creatures who did were the herd-beasts and the fire-lizards.