Disclaimer: Pern belongs to Anne McCaffrey. I am not Anne McCaffrey. Therefore... I think you can do the math. Also, some lines in this chapter are taken directly from Dragonflight (page 185 in my copy).
A/N: This prologue is extremely short, more of a teaser than a real chapter, and I apologize profusely. It didn't really fit in with other scenes, though, so... The rest of the chapters will be normal length (1000plus words), I promise. And hopefully the next chapter will be up really soon. I'm also hoping to get the first section of Dragonquest in Half an Hour done soon. (Now that my plot bunnies have returned to me after a dry spell, they're absolutely overwhelming me. I have ideas for a continuation of Shards! - no, I haven't forgotten about it - and a few more stories as well.)
This story is meant to be as canon as possible, my intention was to have it work as if it could be inserted into Dragonflight as extra scenes. So please, if you notice anything off, review and tell me.
This is probably my favorite of my DRoP fic that I've started so far. There's a terrible shortage of good fics centered on the canon characters, and I hope to remedy some of that. It's also been giving me the most trouble of possibly any fanfic I've worked on. I've never done so much rewriting before - I'm finding the characters frustratingly had to write. But I think it's worth it. Please, read, review, tell me what you think.
Virtual cookies to anyone who can find the quote in Dragonflight that the title of this fic comes from.
Dedication: To the plot bunnies. Because as much as I complain about how they're always stealing my attention and forcing me to do their bidding, I'm in a right sorry state when they abandon me (as happened for about the first half of this month), and I'm so glad they're back.

"Just as I predicted, a queen egg, by the mother of us all," F'lar's voice said in Lessa's ear. "And I wager there'll be ten bronzes at least."

Lessa looked proudly at Ramoth, with her clutch of ten eggs already – the best omen they'd had so far – then back at the Weyrleader. For once she was completely in accord with him.

"F'lar, I do believe you," she declared. For all that she'd been frustrated this morning, she truly did believe, and now more than ever. Impulsively she laid a hand on his arm – perhaps the first time she'd touched him voluntarily.

"Only now?" F'lar teased her.

She had an impulse to respond acidly to that comment, but she knew it was meant in good humor, so she kept her peace. In fact, below the surface she was thinking hard.

'Believe with me until spring,' he'd asked. And she'd agreed readily enough. She'd never actually had cause to doubt his word. In fact, based on his infuriating tendency to be right all the time, she'd always backed him in council, for all that they argued constantly outside.

And now she wondered, if she trusted his beliefs, why couldn't she trust the man? Certainly he was often rather arrogant and condescending, but, to be brutally honest, she hadn't exactly been the easiest person to get along with either. Maybe she ought to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Until spring, perhaps. She would believe in him until spring.

So resolved, she smiled back at him.