Passion

(AN: sorry for the delay on this chapter, life kinda caught up with me, and thanks to Natura, cklammer, dreamerskies, nintschibintschi, GinnyStar for there comments and favorites! WARNING! this chapter contains material that warrants an M rating, aka: mating flight!)

Tirelle walked into the Great Hall early that morning, searching for C'rel. He had promised to look for the source of T'don's ballad, but it had been a sevenday since he made his promise and so far, nothing. He had barely even been seen around the Weyr. And, with spring coming, the dragon riders would be much busier, having more of Pern to protect from Thread. When Tirelle saw him across the Hall, she wasted no time in walking over to the brown rider.

C'rel heard someone approaching, and looked up to see Tirelle baring down on him. He forced a smile, but was not looking forward to this meeting.

"Tirelle," he said as warmly as he could, "Good morning, my duty to-"

"Oh, scorch it, don't give me any nonsense about duty," she said, eyes flashing. "Have you found the source of that story? I need to know, C'rel. If there is someone out there who knows what happened to my parents, I need to know."

C'rel frowned. "Tirelle, it was a long time ago. I told you, it may just be a glorified love story with little to do with reality, the truth decreasing with each telling."

"You promised me your help, C'rel," Tirelle said, her voice climbing in volume. "You promised you would track down whoever it was that told T'don that story. I trusted you! You promised to find them-"

"Faranth's Egg, there was no one to sharding find!" C'rel hissed, trying to keep his voice low. With spring coming on, all riders had returned to the Weyr, and the Great Hall was rather full. His argument with Tirelle was not going unnoticed, but so far those nearby were at least pretending that they weren't listening. He was trying very hard to keep this conversation from exploding, but Tirelle was out of her head.

"What?" Tirelle whispered, her eyes wary.

Taking a deep breath, he continued. "I went back to Keroon. I found the town where the story originated from. But, it was just that. A story. There were no records of what actually happened. There were dozens of versions of the story, and each person claimed that their version was the Thread-bare truth. There was no one there with any answers for you, Tirelle. No one who could tell you about your parents. It was just a story!"

"You're lying!" she shouted at the brown rider, following her harsh words with a slap across his face.

The whole Hall was now turned and staring at them. C'rel could see the shock in their eyes. A weyrling treating a wingsecond in such a manner was unheard of. R'xen, one of Tirelle's clutchmates walked towards the pair.

"Come on, Tirelle, lets go. You don't know what you're doing. Lets step outside for a minute," he was saying softly, trying to lead the hysterical woman outside where she could calm down.

Tirelle broke out of R'xen's arms, and ran for the door. She needed to get away. Away from C'rel, away from the Weyr, away from-

Suddenly, she felt Sirenith awake, and a wave of pure lust washed over her.

"Sirenith?" she whispered, before a high pitched dragon-scream came from the direction of the weyrling barracks. Tirelle fell to her knees, overpowered by the emotions coming from her life mate.

Arms were lifting her, carrying her out of the Hall. Tirelle blinked at the bright light when she was carried into the sun, but that was her only response. Because she was no longer Tirelle. She was Sirenith. And she was hungry.

The bright green came screaming out of the barracks cavern, tossing her head in her madness. She flew into a group of dragons that had been lounging near the feeding grounds, scattering them. Only when she was sure no other dragon was near did she turn her attention to the heardbeasts. Swooping down, she struck a large bull, bringing it to the ground.

"Control her!" a voice whispered in Tirelle's ear, bringing her back to her body momentarily. Someone was supporting her, holding her upright as her body trembled with need. "Keep her with you! Don't faint, you silly girl; restrain her!"

Tirelle took a deep breathe, and separated herself from her lust-maddened green. She tried to keep her head, to be a sense of reason for her life mate. She watched, trembling in sensory overload, as Sirenith latched onto the beasts throat, draining it of blood.

With that hot taste in her mouth, Tirelle was pulled back into Sirenith. The green forgot about the other dragons she had chased away only moments before. She had the taste of blood, and she wanted more, not caring who was near. She launched into the air, only to plummet back down, taking another heardbeast, and not hesitating to latch onto its throat.

Other dragons followed the petite green's example. Blues, browns, and even a few bronzes were in the herd pens, blooding their own animals, as Tirelle-Sirenith struck for the third time.

As Tirelle-Sirenith was draining the beast, her hide began to glow. The already bright green was now positively brilliant. She raised her head from her kill, and stretched her neck to its full length, giving a mighty roar before launching into the sky.

She beat her strong wings, climbing higher and higher, to where the air was so thin, she could practically see the rainbows cast by each molecule floating in the atmosphere. She was Tirelle-Sirenith! She was beautiful, powerful, and free!Turning, she saw her pursuit. She cried her challenge, and her disdain. Such bulky creatures. How did they expect to catch the fast, agile, and intelligent Tirelle-Sirenith? She folded her wings, diving right through the middle of the chasing dragons, calling her flirtatious invitation back to them.

Catch me, if you can!

Still falling from the heavens, Tirelle-Sirenith directed herself towards an area of cliffs, canyons, and crags with excitement. Let those great, clumsy beasts follow her here!

She dove into a canyon, large enough to accommodate her, but narrow enough to give problems to the larger male beasts. Plus, her reflexes were much faster than the following blues, browns, and bronzes. Well, blues and browns. As she looked behind her, checking her pursuit, she noticed that the bronzes had given up the chase. She screamed her triumph! Let them talk about the bronzes great strength and power; they were no match for her here!

Tirelle-Sirenith continued through the narrow canyon, making intuitive turns where she came upon forks in the rocky cliffs. When she saw that the walls of the canyon were closing, she made a change in direction, and flew straight up. She could hear the confusion from the following dragons, and threw a teasing croon back over her shoulder, flirting with her suitors.

Five beasts followed her out of the canyon, four blues and one very determined brown. She let them gain on her, before beginning an acrobatic mid-air dance between her lovers. She let her wing tip trail across Duranth, a strong blue, in his prime, a little too formal for the spontaneous green. She cried her supremacy as Cyanth failed to catch her wings as she passed; he was young, fast, and very affectionate, but overeager. She launched upward between two unfamiliar blues, noticing their fine colour and strength, and then flicked her tail at Pearth, the lone brown.

Pearth nearly captured her beneath him, but the fast Tirelle-Sirenith dodged his grasp, not ready for this flight to be over. She felt a great amount of passion for the brown, and if anyone should catch her, she wished it be him. But, somewhere else, some other part of her heard his name with rage.

This thought brought Tirelle back to herself and for a moment, she was seperate from Sirenith. Tirelle saw her surroundings. An empty weyr. She was surrounded by riders, some she recognized, some she did not. As Sirenith wove between her potential lovers, so did Tirelle. She was dancing, her hand trailing here, his hand(whoever he was at the time) touching there. She shivered as her hand touched bare flesh, and the wild desire that overwhelmed her took her back to the sky, to Sirenith.

The two unfamiliar blues had given up the chase, and Tirelle-Sirenith's other suitors were now in a much tighter space. Duranth, Cyanth, and Pearth wove together, and the green was having difficulty telling where one dragon ended and another began. Crying out in frustrated anger, she began searching for a way out of the tangle, any way out.

"Stay with her, do not let her go between. Keep with her. Be with her!"

The familiar voice commanded the earth-bound half of Tirelle-Sirenith's mind. The hesitation was all the opportunity that her ardent pursuer needed.

Pearth's strong forearms reached out and caught the little green. She immediately tried to fly, trying to propel herself away from the brown, but her wings fouled with his, his neck twining around hers as they both fell towards the rock-hard ground. Then, just as Pearth's wings stretched out to check their fall, the brown plunged into his mate.

And something exploded inside Tirelle-Sirenith.

Suddenly, instead of being either in the weyr as Tirelle, or aloft as Sirenith, she was both, seeing both, feeling both. She could feel C'rel, his hungry mouth on hers, his hands exploring her every curve, and she could feel Pearth, pumping into her, and she screamed from the combined pleasure. As C'rel's mouth and hands moved down her body, dipping into her hot, wet core, Pearth's mighty wings brought her safely to ground, where he could thrust deeper, setting her whole body on fire. As she gasped and moaned, straddling her human lover on the furs, she also screamed and trilled, writhing beneath her dragon lover on the hard ground.

Both her dragon and human lovers increased their pace, and an incredible pressure built within her, peaked, and then began building again. She screamed, moaned, and then trembled until another scream escaped her. Finally, when she thought her body would burst into flames, her lovers made their release, matching her cries in a wild, passionate harmony.