"Good morning Headwoman Carlotta," said Relena cheerfully. It was only just past dawn and the sunlight was still golden in color, not having brightened to the brighter whiteness of a morning in full swing. The only ones down in the kitchens were the Headwoman and the kitchen staff who were already busily ensconced in making breakfast.

"Good morning child," said the plump woman, looking up from the pat of dough she was beating to smile at the young woman before her.

They were both "morning people" that needed no cup of klah to get them up and going and bursting with energy every morning. That was not to say that they both didn't enjoy a cup in the mornings, just that they didn't really need one.

"So, what's there for me to do today?"

"Well, Bendan Weyr will be hosting a hatching soon, within two weeks I'm told, so we usually like to help them out by gathering foodstuffs so that they aren't so very overtaxed. They have a lot of guests to accommodate you know. We could use someone to go and gather some fresh greens from the seaside and also some of the spider claws, once the tide rolls out there should be plenty enough on the beach."

"I'd be happy to do that today. It looks like it's going to be a perfect day Carlotta."

"That it does child. You just be careful out there on your own," the headwoman admonished.

"Don't worry, I will," promised Relena as she gave the maternal woman an affectionate peck on the cheek and wandered off to fill her day-pouch with foodstuffs. A small round loaf of bread still warm from the ovens she wrapped in cloth and packed away. Next came a palm-sized round of cheese sealed in wax, followed by some cold meats left over from the previous evenings dinner, a few pears, a jar of butter-and-sweetening and finally a skin of water. She was good to go until dinner time.

"After finding a sack for the greens and a sack for the spiderclaws, Relena gave a final wave and set out from the Hold."

Since the sun had just recently risen over the horizon the morning air was still chill and the mist still hung in the narrow valleys between hills. Dew caught the sunlight that streamed in from the cloudless sky and in some rare instanced refracted it into a rainbow flashing the occasional tiny spot of red or blue or orange like little jewels on the ground.

"I wish that I'd remembered to bring a jacket with me," she thought, rubbing up and down the sides of her arms to.warm them. It would be at least an hours walk to the seaside where she could collect the grasses but Relena didn't mind at all. In fact she welcomed the chance to get out of the hold and spend some time on her own, she liked it even better when she got to see places she hadn't been yet. She'd gone in about every other direction but this way, she'd heard that there were supposed to be grasses, still fresh and young down this direction along the coast. She'd sort of been "saving it" (if anyone could count saving a direction for a walk as saving something) for a perfect day like this one.

Relena kept her eyes on the uneven ground to avoid falling or twisting her ankle. She was out by herself after all and if she got injured it would be hours before a rescue party could find her. An entire childhood of climbing around on the hills and treacherous rocks near her mountain hold had made her agile and spry as well as cautious. She had not suffered one single broken bone for all that she went leaping over rocks like a dahl sheep.

After about forty minutes the rocky and uneven ground smoothed out to the grassy sand dunes of the oceanside. Relena glanced at the waterthe tide was out at the moment. Now would be the best time to go collecting spiderclaws, which preferred the shallows of the rocky reefs for habitation and "nesting" (as much as any sea creature could be said to nest). The crab-like sea creature was possessed of a central carapace that was waxy in texture and a multitude of tiny segmented legs which they would scuttle along on. The females would burrow into one of the small caves hollowed out by the tide when it came time to mate and watch the manly testosterone display as the males battled for access towell. On the underside of the carapace of the females was a small brood pouch in which she would carry her eggs for approximately half of their development. Then, when the time came, the females would venture onto the shore and lay their eggs in the sand. After that, the little creatures were on their own.

Frankly, spiderclaws had always given Relena the creeps. Her method of gathering the little buggers was to stun one by throwing a small stone at it then run up and bash its head in with a rock.

Primitive, but effective when Relena finally made it to the moistened shoreline that had once held salt water, she was amazed to see not only a bunch of spiderclaws, but something that was eating the spiderclaws. It was a winged creature

"It can't be!" she gasped.

Heero stood at the edge of the cliff and looked out over at the mountains spread out in the distance. The sun had risen a short while ago and the breeze that blew in from the coast and smelled of salt sea air riffled his unkempt hair and wrinkled shirt. The night had been another long and sleepless one, plagued with the dreams that he could not escape. Dreams of fire, dreams of supreme power, dreams of unsearched-for glory, dreams of a lonely destiny

Out of the pocket of his trousers he drew a single brooch, moulded from the purest of gold, studded with the rarest of stones. It was a treasure beyond counting by the standards of present day Pern, there in the fourth pass. It was also something that would not be owned by any wyerling-born dragon rider. Only someone of Lordly bloodlines could rightfully claim such a trinket.

Heero absently fingered the edge of the brooch, staring hard at the stone as if by staring hard enough he could force it to reveal to him the solution to his present dillema.

<I can't just stand by and do nothing! Not while the attacks increase, not while my...not while my mother and my father scheme inside their Holds to bring about their "New Era." They're not interested in helping the people, they only want what the very first of our line wanted. They want power, they want gold, and they'll stop at nothing to get them,> Heero thought darkly. He was no fool either, he knew that if he ever even so much as hinted that he might betray his dual bloodlines and what they plotted, they'd find a way to end his life, quietly, efficiently and without any traces.

As he stared into the jewels of the brooch he stared into the recesses of his own memories and a scene flashed up before him, as vivid in its clarity as if he had just lived it a day ago.

FLASHBACK

"Heero my son, one day everything will be yours. Your father and I will gather the whole world to bow before you. As soon as you finish your training you will lead our forces into a conquest that will sweep the length and breadth of Pern and when you are done, the whole world will lie at your feet."

"But mother, I..."

The beautiful lady of Bitra hold, who maintained the poise and grace that ran in her line with a jealous fervor that bordered on a fixation, fixed her wayward son under her stern gaze. She was the definition of the iron fist in the velvet glove, she seemed both beautiful and pleasantbut she tolerated no objections to her designs. Within her demnese no one questioned and no one argued. Any objections were usually met with swift and painful force. The rule applied just as strictly to those of her own blood as they did to anyone else in the Hold.

"Yes....son?" her voice, while perfectly calm, pleasant sounding even, held a note of chill and displeasure that made a small tremor of fear run up the ten-year-old Heero's spine. He gulped, and continued on regardless. If he didn't tell her now, he'd have to stand by and watch as his parents continued with their plans. He wouldn't get another chance.

"Mother, I....I don't want to rule. I don't want to rule Pern. I- I- I think it's fine the way it is, protected by dragons, and" he trailed off at the look of displeasure on her face. She was frowning. Heero stepped back a pace, and then straightened his spine to stand his ground. He wouldn't back down, not this time.

"I think you're wrong," he said firmly. "Pern doesn't need your New Era, you don't need to usher in a Golden Age. You don't have to do this and I- I don't want any part in it. I don't want to be responsible for all of those deaths."

The young Heero swallowed, tembling with fear in spite of himself. This lady who held power of life or death over him, he had never openly defied her before. He braced himself for the blows which he was certain were to come. It didn't matter, anything was worth not facing the destiny that she had laid out before him. He steeled himself as she advanced on his position. Here it comes

Then, unaccountably, she smiled.

"Oh, my precious darling boy," she said with maternal sweetness. She reached down to wrap him in a warm embrace, Heero allowed himself to relax into that embrace. "I'm so very proud of you. You have grown strong....I knew that my training was the right thing for you. And now just look at you, so young and so brave. You will be a credit to your bloodlines." Then, as suddenly as her embrace had been gentle, it turned to steel around his tiny body. "Strong and brave you may be, but never ever make the mistake of defying me again."

The embrace became warm and tender again.

"Just think of it my little one. Someday all will belong to you. When the bands of raiders we have hired finish softening up the other holds, our forces will subdue them one by one and all will lie open before you. You will have the riches that should have belonged to our family all along. You will have everything you've ever wanted And just think of all the good you could do. You could hold gather upon gather for the common folk, every day could be a gather day if you decreed it so."

"But what about the dragons?"

"Never you worry about the dragons, they'll keep as they are. They can't interfere in Hold matters after alland we'll make sure that this remains a hold matter."

END FLASHBACK

Heero had never protested openly again. The illegitimate son of the Lord of Nabol and the Lady of Bitra disappeared into the night one night and was never seen nor heard from again.

<Fraggit! I thought that when I ran away that the mess would end. I thought that without me there as a living bridge between the two bloodlines all of their plans would fade into nothing. I was young and naive, and now it looks like they're proceeding with their original operation. I have to stop them. But if I come forward with what I know, everyone will know that I was part of it too. Relena....her family was killed by one of the Raiders in my blood-father's employ....she'd never forgive me.>

Dammit, the one thing that he had ever wanted for himself

Their hides shone in the bright sunlight of near-midday (Relena had been hours collecting spiderclaws until the tide rolled in) brightly colored as any gather-day finery. Brilliant deep blue, <the color of that dragonrider's eyes,> she thought. Green as bright as the first blades of grass to come out of the ground in spring. Brown, the color of rich earth. Bronze that was far brighter than any of the fixtures in her hold could ever hope to be. They flitted and darted about, swooping into the shallows of the hightide and coming up with fish in their three-toed talons, hovering there against the wind as if suspended by a string and then just suddenlynot there.

<I can't believe it!> the thought as she stared in open wonder. They were only stories, tales told to tantalize the imaginations of children But Relena knew that there had to have been some truth to the old legends or else hey would not have persisted. She had actually read some mention of them in the ancient records of her hold (the ones that were kept way down in a deep sub-cellar at Ruatha.) Relena had liked to sneak down there with a glow and puzzle through the ancient tomes. A lot of the text was indecipherable, faded and lost to time, or just plain too confusing with terms that no longer made any sense. Like, what in the world was a "Pythagorean Theorem" or a "central processing unit" or a "Voice activated matrix code" The stuff simply didn't make sense!

But she knew that great wonders had once existed in the pastand fire lizards had been one of them!

"Well I guess this proves it," she thought out loud to the avian creatures diving and darting in the air before her. "You truly do exist. Don't worry guys, your secret is safe with me. I wouldn't let any one harm you, you're too beautifulI won't tell anyone I saw you."

For just the barest of moments, Relena allowed herself the wonderful fantasy of perhaps having one as a friend. Feeding it her unwanted vegetables at dinner time, teaching it to perform tricks to amaze everyone who saw it, always having it nearby to talk to so she'd never be lonely anymore, she'd always have someone who would understand

"No, I'm afraid it could never be. I live among people and you guys are free you wouldn't like it in my world."

Even with that reason firmly entrenched in her mind, Relena found that she didn't want to leave. She wanted to watch them all day, she wanted to engrave the memory of the moment forever in her mind. So she watched them swooping and diving in the shallows of the low tide until the sun was well into the sky. That was when her rumbling stomach forced her to tear her eyes away from the wonderful scene before her and fetch out something to eat from the food pouch at her side.

As she snacked on one of the redfruits she'd brought with her Relena continued to watch the aerial display unfold before her. She didn't think she'd ever get tired of it. Suddenly the entire flock of fire lizards hovered in the air simultaneously then disappeared at once. Relena was trying to contain her disappointment at being left so suddenly when she was distracted by a commotion down the beach a ways. Curious, she picked up her sack of spiderclaws, and the still empty sack for greens and made he way over to the site of the disturbance.

When she arrived the entire flock that had been fishing for food earlier was busily ensconced in trying to fight off a wherry, swooping and diving, harrying it for all they were worth. Hovering over a mound of sand directly beneath the ruckus was a golden queen shrieking and squawking for all she was worth.

<Oh no! Those poor eggs!> thought Relena. She could no sooner allow harm to come to the eggs as she could have allowed harm to come to the rest of the fair. Thinking quickly, Relena picked up a nearby stone and, praying that she didn't accidentally hit one of the Fire Lizard instead, let fly. She missed.

<Damn.>

So she grabbed another nearby stone and waited for an open shot. When the opportunity presented itself, she let fly again. That one hit the wherry directly under its wing. The wherry shrieked at her, but didn't back off. So Relena picked up another stone and waited for an opportunity.

The Fair, as if sensing her intentions, winked out for a moment and Relena had a shot that was completely in the clear. Relena, flung her stone with extra vigor and force, her aim already accurate from the mornings spiderclaw hunt.

She contained a brief smirk of satisfaction at the sight of the stone hitting the wherry full in the head. The blow caused the creature to dip in the air breifly as it was momentarily stunned. At this lapse, the rest of the fair of fire lizards came in to drive it off for good.

Relena shielded her eyes from the sun so that she could watch its escape. She had a good laugh at the sight of the beast being herded off with vicious pecks and jabs from the rest.

<There!> she thought in relief. <Now the nest is safe.>

Relena debated going over there to take a look at the eggs that she had helped to protect, but decided against it on the grounds that she wasn't sure the queen would welcome her advances and the claws on her talons were about half as long as her pointer finger. That was why she was surprised to see a bright beautiful gold shape hover before her.

At first the queen merely hovered there, then she cocked her head on her long spined neck to one side and blinked her innermost set on eyelids at Relena. For the second time in three days Relena was caught breathless. Seeing them all from far away had been wonderful enough, but seeing one from close up was far more than she'd hoped for!

"You're beautiful!" she exclaimed.

The queen gave a small "cheep" and blinked again as if to say "well of course I am." Relena raised an eyebrow.

"My, aren't we the confident one?"

Relena murmured to the queen. She didn't really expect the queen to understand her, but Relena was used to talking to herself when she was alone, so she didn't really see anything wrong with talking to the fire lizard queen.

"I don't suppose you'd let me take one of you home with me?" Relena suggested hopefully. The queen settled herself comfortably nearby and looked at Relena again as if she were not even going to dignify the comment with a response.

"I thought not," she muttered. "Oh well, it was worth a try." The queen crooned a low note and flipped her wings more comfortably on her back. Relena smiled to herself at the pretentious dignity of the little queen.

"By the waywhat are you and your fair doing this far north? From what I have read your kind prefer warmer climes in which to nest, as well as to live in. What could have driven you to lay here?"

Suddenly, like a flash of a day dream, Relena received an image in her minds eye. It was of a long beachline, somehow, she knew in that way that one always knows in dreams, that there was an enemy to her somewhere nearby. She looked up, and there swooping down on her was another fire lizard. It was intent on driving her and her friends away from the place. Then the image faded and Relena found herself looking into the whirling jewel-like eyes of the queen she had just rescued.

"I see," said Relena, comprehending. She'd read that the creatures were supposed to be very intelligent for a "non-sentient lifeform." She'd also managed to figure out that the words non-sentient meant something like not capable of people-like thought. "You and your fair invaded the territory of another and it's family fairs. You were driven away from all of the other nesting sites that were taken and forced to nest here where no one else wanted to. How sad for you."

The fire lizards only answer was a small subdued peep, and a scratch behind her head with her hind claw.

"Well, I'm glad I was able to help. I hope you won't mind if I come back here tomorrow. Right now, I need to gather some greens and start back to the hold."

With a final mock-curtsy at the queen and her fair, Relena picked up her sacks and went to finish her tasks so she could return before sundown. It was a long journey back after all.

-Zeroth, Wyerleader J'Tor is still weak from his stroke,- Heero thought to his Dragon. -What should I do? The meeting that took place after I spread the news about J'Tor's illness was a nightmare. Nothing got done. The wyerwoman isn't much good right now.-

-Perhaps then, matters should be settled the old fashioned way,- suggested Zeroth, cryptically as usual.

-You mean just wait until the next queen flys a mating flight and then the bronze rider that catches her becomes the weyrleader?-

-Yes, it is the usual manner in which these things are decided.-

-There are a few problems with that solution. One, given our current situation, it's not really a viable solution. Our current wyerwoman is not expected to make it far beyond her weyrmates death, and there are no queens due to rise in flight for months yet. The two from Helaneth's Wing have been injured in threadfall, three of the queens in Dirna's Wing have already flown just recently, and the other queens are either too old or too infirm to make a flight. I do believe the ancient's phrase for their condition was "menopause" and that's about all the queens we have in our Wyer.-

-Correction, that's all the queens we have in our wyerright now-

-What do you....Oh, I understand. There's a queen egg on the hatching ground. Still, it takes a little over a year for a dragon to reach maturity, and that means it will be at least that long before a queen is ready to fly a mating flight. Who will watch the wyer until that time?-

-The wyerleader of course,- Zeroth replied with unflappable calmness. ­J'Tor is strong enough to hold on that long. He need not fly thread anymore, just stay here and ensure that the wyer is run properly and that the trainees are trained properly.-

-Yeah. If they get out of line he can whack them with his cane,- Heero thought with rare dry humor. He did not make jokes often, and usually only to Zeroth. It was a good way to lighten tension.

-You worry so much over things which you have no control. I know that you have been brooding about your blood-parents again.- Zeroth said, a hint of reproach tinting his mental voice. He was the only other living being in the enirety of Pern who knew of Heero's secrets. He was the only one Heero trusted enough to tell. Zeroth was always trying to get Heero to stop obsessing over the things he could not change. ­You have no control over who you were born to, it is the actions that you make yourself that you are responsible for.-

-You're wrong Zeroth. They are my family, my blood. That makes me responsible for them.-

-There is nothing you could have done-

-There has to have been something. There has to.-

And then Heero went away into that shadowed corner of his mind where Zeroth could never reach him. Lost in contemplation of his sins, real or imagined, Zeroth could only look on and give a long rumbling sigh as his rider walled himself off to brood once more.

"Heero!" a cheerful voice called from behind him. "I figured I'd find you here! How ya doin' buddy boy?"

Heero merely looked over in silence at the intruder who disturbed his solitude. Undaunted, his wingsecond and nominal best friend, Duo strolled into the small bower that Heero shared with his dragon.

"Wha'cha sittin' all alone in the dark for buddy?"

"I like to," was his flat answer, delivered in that go away and leave me alone tone of his.

"Aw c'mon Heero, lighten up a little," Duo cajoled. "I know you're worried about the wyerleaders health, we all are but he's strong, he'll make it a little while longer."

"That's not the only thing I'm worried about Duo," said Heero for once actually choosing to speak instead of simply glaring at his wingsecond. "In case you haven't been paying attention, the holds are practically at war with one another. The Raiders are attacking shipping lines and smaller outlaying holds indiscriminately, and that is only increasing tensions between the holds. Then on top of that, Bendan Weyr has lost its weyrleader from active duty. The Hatching is due in about three weeks and we have yet to receive our tithe from Bitra Hold, we'd be able to manage fine except that the Raiders attacking the shipping lines somehow manage to elude all of out patrolls and I can't figure out how they're doing it!"

"Geeze, I was hoping things weren't that bad," said Duo, a tad surprised at Heero's uncharacteristic outburst.

"Well they are," he said. "What the weyr needs is someone who is familiar with holders and how they think, someone who has the level of influence to deal with them on an equal basis."

"To find someone like that, you'd have to go straight to a lord holder," said Duo. "Lord Treize would be perfect, but he already has enough on his plate as it is."

"Maybe not a Lord Holder," said Heero slowly. He was getting the vague glimmering of an idea. "Maybe not a Lord Holder...Maybe one of their family members?"

"Like who?" said Duo, trying to think of anyone that they were familiar with that might fit all of the criteria Heero had mentioned.

In a flash of inspiration Heero saw the young woman he'd met on the beach a few days ago, the one whom he'd thought would make a perfect candidate for the queen egg.

"I think I might have someone," he said slowly. "I'll let you know as soon as I know anything."

With that Heero rose to his feet quickly and sprinted out of the bower to his dragon.

"Hey! Hey, where're ya goin'?!?" Duo called after him. "Heero!" It was no use, the mysterious Dragonrider was already beyond hearing range, off on another strange assignment of his own making.

Relena looked down at the nest from where she crouched sack of edibles in hand. She had been coming to the Fire lizard nest every day for the past three days, hoping against hope that she would get to see the babies being born. She could tell from the few quick glances she'd gotten of the eggs that the eggs were hardened and about ready to hatch any time soon.

She had already completed her chores earlier so that she would have the time she needed to stare at the nest and the fair of fire lizards that guarded it. The queen, for the most part, ignored her. Relena didn't mind that, in fact she didn't really expect anything different, but she felt honored that they were letting her remain near enough to witness the occasion.

Relena, lost in her daydreams and ponderings, did not notice at first the strange almost inaudible hum coming from the direction of the nest. When she looked over in surprise she saw that the entire fair had gathered around the nest. Usually the fair was never there in it's entirety, there were always a few out hunting for the rest, or "flying patrol". The fire lizards were settled back on their haunches, their heads raises and a high pitched croon from their throats seemed to make the air vibrate.

<It's happening!> thought Relena in excitement, pausing mid-bite in her lunch. <It's happening and I'm going to get to see it!>

Surreptitiously she crept forward, trying to get a better view of the hatching but still wary of how the fair might react if she got too close. She was a scant half-dragonlength away from the nest. As the pitch of the adult fair rose in intensity some of the eggs started to rock back and forth. One in particular was wrigling about frantically in the sands. Relena would be willing the bet that that one was the first to open.

CRACK! A splitting noise seemed to resound in the air as the egg opened and the tiny glistening wet green dragonet emerged from the shards. It took a moment to right itself before it stretched its new still-damp leathery wing and ascended awkwardly into the air. The next egg to crack contained a brown, followed by another brown.

Relena felt tears well up in her eyes as the magic of the moment affected her emotions. Her throat tightened up and she wept unashamedly.

<It's all just so beautiful!> ((A.N. if you're not a woman, you probably wouldn't understand.))

~Cree! Skreek!~ Relena heard the distant hunting cry of a wherry off in the nearby distance. Then she heard it followed by the weak squeelings of the newborn fire lizards.

<Oh no! Not the babies!> she thought in dismay. They had just been born, they didn't even have much of a chance as it was. The wherry would surely kill the little ones for food! <I can't let that happen! Not to the babies!>

Relen a knew that this was how things were in the wild, but They were still so small, so vulnerable. The were still babeis to her and babies needed to be protected and cherished. Nature would not be taking its cousre, not with her around and not on her babies!

The wherry was too far away to chase off with a stone and the dragonets were to young to know to fly between and avoid them, besides with their skin so damp they might get sick if they went between.

"Food!" she exclaimed aloud. "They'll eat anything, as long as it's food!"

That was why the babies were leaving the nest in the first place. The effort of being born was an exhausting one and they needed to eat to regain their strength.

Four more eggs cracked in rapid succession, almost like popcorn popping and two browns a bronze and another blue rolled out and flapped off.

<Now, before it's too late!> she thought as she hurried over, lunch sack in hand.

Among the shards of the already cracked eggs were five that were still rocking furiously back and forth. Relena pushed the queen and two of the brozes out of the way and was pecked at furiously for her temerity. She simply ignored the queen and the rest in favor of gathering the eggs closer to her so that the inhabitants wouldn't be able to fly away and get killed by the wherry out there waiting in the wings.

CRACK!

Another egg fell to shards as its precious cargo burst onto the scene. Relena grabbed the cold meat she had ready on hand and nearlt shoved it down the creatures throat in her haste to not let it escape to meet death. The back of her mind breifly registered a gold hide before she was distracted by the sound of another opening. She shoved some of her lunch into that one's face too just as soon as it lifted its nose.

<My lunch isn't going to be quite enough,> she thought as she looked at the three eggs still rocking on the sand and the swiftly diminishing remains of her lunch. She looked at the sack of musselos ((A clam-like creature native to pern, that tastes rather a lot like the crawfish of Earth.)) slung on her shoulder and reached a hand in there to feed them. She could always gather more before the tide came in again.

Two of the remaining eggs cracked open and she fed the wobbly-weak fire lizards that tumbled from the shells, still wet with egg fluid. The final one gave a last dynamick rock and shattered open.

"Here," she siad softly. "You all must be hungry. Eat this and don't go anywhere for a while, at least until the wherry leaves."

She continued to shove food at them until they all dropped off from exhaustion. The five she'd fed curled up into a pile and slept like a drunken holder at a gather.

<Whew!> she thought, wiping her brow. <I'm so glad they're safe. Now at least they have a chance, which is more than that wherry would have given them.>

Now was the time for Relena to leave and let nature attend to the rest of their existence. They would get on perfectly fine on their own, it was her duty to leave them there

<But they look so cute,> she thought her heart melting as she watched their sleeping forms, breathing deeply in the sands. <Awwwwww, just look at them! They're so adorable and all alone. I wish I could keep them.>

But she had to consider what was best for the babies. They couldn't possibly be happy in a hold. And what about when she had to go back to Ruatha? Fire Lizards hated the cold, they'd be stuck inside the hold all winter. That surely would not make them happy! Even though she could easily keep them fed and sheltered, they were still wild creatures and they belonged out in nature. They could not possibly be happy among people, Relena herself was a little uncomfortable most of the time.

<I can't have them with me in the hold and that's final. They belong out here. I have to leave them where they can be free. So, it's time for me to leave them now. They'll be fine, Relena, they can take care of themselves now.>

She didn't want to leave them and her little pep-talk did nothing to convince her heart, but she knew what she had to do. Slowly, reluctantly, and with many backwards glances, Relena got up and walked away from the nest she had been watching for the past three days. It was better this way. They'd be fine. That was the mantra she repeated to herself over and over as she forced herself to walk farther and farther away from them.

With drooping shoulders she dug in the moistened shoreline for some more musselos to replace the ones she'd fed to the babies. She had about another hour before she had to head back to the hold.

<I miss them already and I haven't even had the chance to know them.>

Authors Note: I know, it took me a while. I had the thing about half finished when I posted Part three, however I kept running into trouble whenever I saved the stupid thing. When I opened it back up I kept getting some kind of code-garbage on my nice clean work. Stuff like &quot; where there was supposed to be a " mark and at the beginning of each paragraph, so every time I tried to write on it It'd change just as soon as I closed the worldso I'd have to go back and erase all of the garbage. Irritated me to no end! So here it is Part four. Read and enjoy! I'll just post this real quick and start on part five for you lovely people. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'm no longer going to poke fun at lawyers because now I know someone who wants to be one. So from here on in, no more lawyer jokes for me in the disclaimer. I'll just say that I do not, in any way shape or form, own Gundam Wing or it's chracters. I also do not own the world and terms of Pern, those are the sole creative property of the dragonlady herselfAnne McCaffrey. Any who have not read McCaffrey's works, I highly recommend them (shameless plug.) Have a nice day. J