It was late at night, very late...but Certa had taken to late walks around the weyr, especially the Sands since it was to be where she and her gold Yelanath were to be living for awhile, as soon as the young queen rose. Certa sighed and looked back at the weyr, looming silently in the dark. Suddenly, a red-eyed dragon flew from the side, towards her. It only took a few seconds for Certa to realize what was happening... Yelanath was rising. The gold dragon landed in front of Certa and bowed so that she could mount. Certa hurried mounted and they flew off to the Feeding Grounds, where the 5 chasers had already lined up. Yelanath landed amid the screeching wherries and took three down with one swipe of massive forepaw.

Get away from me! she shouted mentally and snapped at a large brown who respectfully backed away, but not too far.

Certa concentrated on forcing her just to blood the wherry.

I can eat it if I choose so! Yelanath took a large bite of the wherry and almost swallowed it, but Certa shouted, "DO NOT EAT IT YELANATH! YOU'LL GO TO THE FIRST ONE TO GRAB YOU!" The dragon glowered but spit the meat out and blooded the carcass.

Happy now? the gold asked and swiped a heardbeast down with her tail.

It took two more heardbeasts before she lifted her blood-stained muzzle to the sky. The stars shone brilliantly as she pushed off, launching herself towards them. The males soon followed....None tried to stay too close, they let would her tire before they tried to catch her. Yelanath chanced a look back and took note of her chasers. A dark brown, keeping good pace with her but he was too heavy and slow to last for long... two bronzes, one she recognized as being from this weyr the other had the look of a Dark Moon dragon. She couldn't tell at the rate of speed they were traveling. Suddenly, she was grabbed from above. He lack of attention had allowed one she hadn't seen glide over her. He was an odd color, a mix of dark blues and rich oranges. He thought he'd won and crowed his victory, but yet another dragon she hadn't noticed swatted him off. It was a dark, dark black dragon, difficult to see in front of the night sky. He and the sunset dragon plummeted back to the ground, regaining their balance too late to even hope of catching up.

Three more to go... The large brown swooped and tried to make a grab for her, but she spun away just in time for him to run into one of the bronzes. Their wings tangled and they dropped down a few feet, but the bronze freed himself in enough time and glided back up to Yelanath. The brown wasn't so lucky, he had caught a wingtip on the side of a rough rock outcropping and was barely able to land. The brown and his rider hurried off to the healing hall.

The recovered bronze ended up just underneath her, but was slammed into from the side by the other, who had been lost in a cloud bank. Yelanath took advantage of their struggle and flew into another cloud and hovered just over the top. The first bronze, whom she knew as Frenath, was the only male she saw. He was gliding around searching for her. But the other bronze flew up through the cloud and spotted her, Yelanath saw him just one second too late.

Masaoth grabbed her tail as she struggled to get away. Yelanath screeched in rebellion as he pulled her to him and tangled her in his wings, wrapping his strong neck around hers. Yelanath's screeches turned to croons as he flew off into the night. On the ground, Certa found herself in the strong arms of T'lir.

It will be a good clutch, rider mine. Certa heard Yelanath announce before drifting off to sleep.