|| [e]verything we are & hope to be c a n n o t be lost;; {2nd Interval Riders}

The sound of multiple dragons blinking in from the cold of between was missed by those within the confines of the Caldera, but to D’lor, it seemed to be as loud as a roll of thunder. With the first wing beat his bronze, Revenaulth, took, D’lor almost winced, still wary about these new surroundings. Everything looked just like the picture he had for reference; the openings to the quarters were in the precise spot he remembered, the barn at the upper edge of the Caldera was there, and the lake was as still as glass. D’lor, though, felt as if everything were balancing on an edge, and with one wrong move, the riders and dragons he brought with him would fall over it.

Everyone made the jump safely, mine, and all are in fine mental condition. As for the dragons here... I feel others, D'lor-mine. One, I think, is one from your records... Zharath, maybe? I'll talk to him, introduce ourselves. We don't want a massive panic attack to sweep these below us.

His dragon’s voice soothed his emotions somewhat, and as the cautiousness left a wide, thrilling triumph forced a grin over his features. You do that, ‘Naulth. Let the others know we’re landing over there, in front of the lake on the near shore. Running his hand quickly back through his dark, curly locks, D’lor turned and glanced back behind him at his fellow renegades as they glided easily across the sky.

Will do, mine.

Mentally the leading bronze in the formation of eleven dragons relayed the message, making sure each dragon had sufficiently calmed before giving them the full extent of the command. He was used to command, being a Wingleader’s dragon, and as such his voice carried nothing but authority as he spoke to each of the creatures following behind him in the sky over the Caldera.

Everyone, good job with the jump. You all did well... Now, we're landing over there, on the near lake shore. There's room enough for all of us. For now, don't announce yourself... There will be plenty of time for introductions after the initial meeting. I'm going to try and search out the bronze named Zharath now... Zharath? I am Revenaulth, dragon of Wingleader D'lor. We wish to meet with you and yours, if that can be arranged. The matter is of great importance, and we mean no harm.

As his dragon spoke, D'lor's sharp eyes surveyed the area around them, taking in bits and pieces and trying to match them with all he knew about the area during this time. Buildings were the same, the runners were in the same pasture as the records said... Suddenly an angry chattering broke through his concentration, and looking up he sawhis white-gold firelizard, Rella, screeching about having to make the jump with them. "Shh, shh, darlin'. It's fine, baby." As he spoke, he held out an arm for her to rest on and she eagerly accepted, curling her longer than average tail about his bicep and peeping plaintavely, her earlier mood soothed somewhat by the proximity of Hers. Many women sarcastically joked that the only woman who would ever have a full claim to D'lor's heart was Rella, and in some ways, they were right. As Revenaulth glided downwards, moving closer and closer to the appointed landing spot, D'lor pulled Rella close to his chest, curling her gently into his side as they readied themselves for landing.

One...two...three...four...fi-

Ai'ri was assaulted with the return of senses: light and color and sound and feeling. All his senses seemed to be clamoring for attention, wanting to let him know everything about the new - no, old - place he was in. The chilly clearness of the day; a breeze shifting his hair over his forehead; the vast caldera spread out before him, dotted with vegetation; the giant, still-as-glass lake that took up so much of it; the sounds of animals going about their business...It all hit the brownrider in a few split seconds of confusion.

Then his mind settled, and focused, and the rider stared around him in awe. We made it. We really made it. They'd really jumped back in time several hundred Turns, and come back in one place. And it was beautiful, just like in the pictures. But not soon. Not unless we manage to do what we set out to do. No, it wouldn't seem so peaceful then, he knew. That was why they'd come: to stop it. Though he did worry. He did hope they were doing the right thing - Ai'ri knew messing with the past had to be risky, dangerous. But they were doing this to save people, in this time and in his. Surely that was a good enough reason?

Dangerous, yes; he worried. He worried if they were doing the right thing; he worried what effect it would have, how they would be received, if things would really be better afterward. He worried, but he did it, because as far as he could see it was the best thing they could do. Right now, he should focus on the present - or, uh, the past? They'd made it here, and that was the first step.

Everyone was fine, right? Ai'ri glanced around quickly, counting, and then let out a relieved sigh: All were present, and all looked fine. His gaze settled on one particular green dragon in the group, and the two forms on her back. Sheer relief made him grin when he caught his weyrmate's eye; he'd had only hope and Faranth to rely on the three girls getting by safely. But they were all fine, Lerato and Lea riding atop Nikiath, looking just the same as they had a few seconds ago, when he'd last seen them. A few seconds in the past...or several hundred Turns in the future. Time travel was so confusing.

The blue flitter that flew around his head, chattering wildly, seemed to agree. In front of him, Ailer reached out a small hand and Ice settled on it, leaning down to rub his head along the boy's arm. Ai'ri ruffled the lad's hair, and Ailer turned around to grin at him; excited, but relieved as well. Though young, he'd seemed to understand the serious of the situation, though Ai'ri could tell he was very excited about it as well...though it was Lea who'd been the most enthusiastic, precious girl. He saw her waving from Lerato's arms, and blew a kiss to her.

Revenaulth says we are landing by the lake shore, and tells us not to announce ourselves, Tairith reported, turning with the group towards the lake. Ai'ri nodded, a hint of a smile forming on his features at the way his brown spoke, dutifully but confidently, as if this were nothing out of the usual. All right, thanks Tair. And good job. The brown nodded silently, but Ai'ri could feel his dragon's emotions almost as well as he could his own, and knew that Tairith had been nervous, too, and was satisfied with their fortune - for it was good fortune just as much as planning that they were all here in one piece; anything could have gone wrong during the jump.

"Father, when Tairith lands, can Ice and I go exploring?" Ailer asked him curiously, the brown eyes he'd inherited from his father sweeping the caldera.

"No, not yet," Ai'ri declined, shaking his head even though his son, facing front again, could not see the gesture. "We must wait; don't go anywhere yet, when we land. D'lor is going to speak to someone, and we must wait while he does. Perhaps afterwards you and your sister can explore, but not till later."

"Okay," Ailer replied, squaring his shoulders importantly. Ai'ri heard the vague disappointment in his voice, but the boy seemed to understand how important the situation was, and appeared proud to be part of it.

They touched down, and while Ai'ri and his son remained where they were, Tairith did take one step sideways, enough to touch his tail to his mate's. We made it, Niki, he purred to the green. We made it to the past.

M'urn squinted clear blue eyes against the glare and shock of jumping so far back in time. The bronzerider looked towards his wingleader as the older rider circled down to land Revenaulth near the lake. Mentally nudging his Morganath to follow, the young man wondered how their small contingent would be received by the first dragon riders. Resting one hand consciously on the important burden tied to his straps behind him, M'urn hoped that these ancestors of theirs would believe their tale and accept the vaccine. It would be a terrible loss to have to experience this first wave of the plauge having just finished the one from his own time.

Relax, my beloved rider. All will be well. Revenaulth says to keep a mental silence from the first dragons. I can feel them. They are young. The dull bronze dragon settled down to the shore of the lake, stretching out his nearly twenty foot long form languorously, preparing to relax until they were called to duty. Feeling his lifemate's slight unsettlement at the group's rebellion, Morganath aided M'urn in squashing whatever meager guilt his duty was creating in his psyche. I suggest you do the same, Mine. There is nothing to be done about our own time. Besides, this is for the best and intended to save lives. I know as well as you do that this plan you concocted with D'lor and the others is for the best.

Sighing, M'urn unstrapped himself from his harness, slipping easily to the ground. The pebbles created a nice crunch as his boot heels hit the ground while he took a look around at his other companions. I know you're right, Mor'. Turning, the young man made sure the box with its vials of vaccine wouldn't slip from his dragon's harness and settled himself casually against Morganath's bronze foreleg. "Well, thank Faranth we're all safe and sound here," he commented to one and all and no one in particular; a slight grin graced his features as he watched Ai'ri and his family reunite on the ground after their trip. "Now let's see what happens now that we're actually here, hmm?"

D'karon took in a massive breath as he and Avoneth appeared out of between. He knew he had been a bit silly to hold it, but for him it was tradition with going through that black nothingness. It had certainly been a longer trip than he and Avoneth had ever taken before.

"Well..." he said with a low drawl, flicking his hair back from his face and gazing at the scene below. "Looks like we made it. See anything interesting, mine?" The black haired man reached down, stroking a hand softly over the hide of his dragon. Deep from within he felt her rumbling answer, the dragon's head swinging back and forth examining the ground below.

'There is so much to see here! That lake looks absolutely wonderful. I wonder how long it can be until I can bathe; Revanaulth says we are to land next to that lake. But we can't introduce ourselves?' D'karon felt the gusty exhalation of breath as Avoneth's wings angled, taking them down. 'As if they couldn't already see us. I just know we'll attract plenty of looks, mine. But...' And now the mindvoice sounded pleading. 'You did pack my favorite brush, right?'

The man laughed at this; well versed in his high strung and needy dragon's needs. "Oh yes, all four of your favorite brushes, and your three favorite rags, and that little stuffed animal that child gave you once. Its all in your packs! I'll get it once we are released to get quarters, just relax, Avvy mine."

Avoneth was not so easily placated and continued her stream of chatter with D'karon all the way to the ground. Good naturedly the man slipped off Avoneth's neck after undoing his riding straps, and stood beside the leg of the crimson female. He knew there was going to be more than a few eyes drawn their way.

Oh yes, more than a few.

His Avoneth was not just any dragon, but one of the exceedingly rare Crimson females. Appearing something like a gold from a distance but with a distinct reddish glaze over their tones, crimsons had sprung up sometime during the late First Pass. Terribly high strung, tempermental, and demanding, they took a lot to keep happy and it was just as good that they were by far less and less fertile than their gold sisters, for they rose constantly. D'karon snorted at the though. Constantly is right. As big as a gold and most certainly bigger than any of the queens in this time, the young man knew he was bound to attract the more... interested, those who would chase the exotic.

His private musings were inturrupted from hearing M'urn's comment. He glanced over at the bronze with a grin, and leaned towards him. "Oh, I think we know what will happen. Shouts, yelling, stares of utter disbelief... why maybe even some crying! And then the slow realization that we are who we say we are, and that they're just gonna have to put up with us. Wouldn't you say?"

Still looking around with his dragon at his side, the two waited for word as to what would happen next.

Daughter bundled up tightly against her Lerato braced herself for the jump back. She still could not get used to the jumps between, it didn't matter to her how many times she did it she still never became used to it. She let go of the breath she had forgotten she had been holding and looked around the group. As she was the only female amongst them that was a dragon she was somewhat of an anomaly for their time. For this time though it seemed she would fit right in. Lea held tight in her arms she found Ai'ri and smiled back at him. Lea however was least of all fussed and with her usual enthusiastic nature waved wildly at her father.

'We are safe Leri. We have made it you needn't worry any longer..'



The reasurence from her green settled the last of Leri's nerves as she waited till Nikiath had moved closer to Tairith before finally unbuckling her straps and sliding down to the ground, Lea safely kept in her arms. The moment her feet had touched the ground she moved towards Ai'ri leaning up to give him a quick kiss she smiled at him..

"See we made it love. Safe and Sound."

Niki nuzzled Tairith back; twining her tail with his as she leaned against him.

'Yes we did Tair. We made it back.'

When Tairith touched down, Ai'ri unbuckled his and Ailer's straps, and slid off of the brown in one practiced motion, reaching up to catch Ailer as his son slid down Tairith's carefully-extended leg. "Stay close, Ai," the rider reminded the boy, who nodded seriously - though Ai'ri didn't miss the flash of excitement in his eyes. He smiled and ruffled the lad's hair once more (Yes, he had succumbed to the motion - all fathers do, ask anyone), and when he looked up it was into the eyes of his weyrmate.

He returned the kiss, hugging her lightly, and agreed, "We did. Now comes the fun part - seeing how we're received." The tone was light, but he couldn't help feeling a bit grim about it. These people had been through a lot after less than 2 decades of life on Pern; they could well be less-than-friendly towards the 2nd-Interval riders - no, here they were 2nd Pass. Or at least, that's what they were going to make themselves out to be. Ai'ri frowned; he still wasn't sure he liked the idea. After all, it was like they were making themselves out to be something they weren't - saying that had first-hand experience when they didn't. Yes, he and Tairith had practiced the drills the browns' whole life, but never used it for real. How was the deception going to work out?

Lea reached out to him, and Ai'ri leaned down to plant a kiss on top of her head. "Hey, there, Lea-lea. Keep close to Mother and Father, okay?" The toddler gave a happy nod, spinning around where she stood to gaze at the place they'd landed in. It all looked so exciting, and Ai'ri could tell that as soon as they let her she'd be off to make herself known to the whole Caldera - and maybe before then; he'd keep an eye on her. The brownrider hoped there'd be some children she and Ailer could play with while they were there.

And so did everyone else, thank the Dawn Sisters, the brown added, nuzzling his mate and glancing around at the others, his gaze settling briefly on Avoneth, who was already pining for a bath. Ai'ri's eyes followed his Lifemate's, a slight frown forming on his features. "I wonder how they'll take to Avoneth." They were all so used to the crimson and her ways by now, but no such color would exist so far back as this, and no doubt the Oldtimers would find D'karon's girl...unique.