Proquess had yet to venture beyond the darkness. She knew there were people out there, humans and dragons and things she had no name for, and they were all so noisy and strong and... and frightening.

She had grown weak during her time alone, she knew that. It was her place to be the lowest in hive hierarchy, to be hissed at, chased away, fed last from the communal catches. She knew that. But now, she found that the thought of being beaten into that place by the strange, unfamiliar creatures in this place, this Cy Dragonstake, made her shudder and withdraw further into the rooms she'd been assigned.

Assigned. The pair of dragons who had found her had given her a room, a set of rooms, that were quite large enough for the largest queen in her old hive. Tiny Proquess rattled around in them like a single, unhatched egg within the whole of the hatching chambers on that cavern-ridden moon she had last called home. Still, it was the only safe place she had, and she kept it dark and lined the walls, floor, and ceiling with the black, translucent resin that had made up her abandoned home. It made it feel a little bit more familiar. In a good way.

Not that there was much "good" about home. It was simply all she knew, and all she knew to miss. This hiding away from what was her due was just fear, something none of her kind should ever have allowed to exist. If the warriors had known she feared, she would have been laughed at, mocked, kicked as they went by or chased around for sport, just for the scent of her fear. Most of the other drones weren't afraid... Proquess was just different, in the worst ways possible.

::Proquess! Proquess? I know you're in there!::

The projected thought made Proquess cringe and shrink farther back into her shelter. Her "saviors", her "rescuers", the ones who had brought her out of the wreck she'd arrived in and placed her here. They came to check on her now and then, not that Proquess wanted them to, or let either of them in. She had a suspicion that these strange dragons here didn't use resin on their rooms, or there would already have been plenty here. She also had a suspicion that they wouldn't approve of her remodeling. Besides, they were rather frightening.

::Proquess? Sweetheart, it's all right, we're not going to hurt you.::

That was the one with the extra wings. She was smaller than her golden companion, and gentler, but both of them were quite a bit larger than Proquess, and they both had powerful thoughts. When she'd stumbled from the wreckage of the human ship, the first thing Proquess had seen-- well, "seen"-- had been that pair of dragons, looming over her. Her first impulse had been to flee again back into the smoking debris, and she probably would have, if the powerful mind-voice of the larger of the two-- Delith, a gold; though Proquess couldn't exactly see the shine, her voice was full of it-- hadn't commanded her to wait.

Proquess had waited. A gold dragon was like a queen, she picked that up immediately, and when a queen told you to do something, you did it. Of course, she'd been trembling with terror, expecting the rake of claws or the sharp butt of a head knocking her over. Here she was, a lone, lowly drone, without her queen or even a warrior, quite as if she'd run away from her hive and deserved for a foreign queen to take out her temper on her.

::Proquess, please, we just want to talk to you. To-- see how you're doing?::

After that first meeting, though, Delith hadn't commanded her again. For some strange, unfathomable reason, Proquess' meek, proper obedience unnerved her. She was always unspeakably polite every time she and her friend Sherra came calling. And since she didn't command, Proquess, uncharacteristically, didn't follow her suggestions. Usually, a suggestion from a queen would send her scampering. Here, though, things were changing, and her fear held her back.

::I'm fine,:: Proquess finally answered, faintly, from the very rear wall of the chamber. The two were standing on the ledge just outside, beyond doors shut and latched fast. ::You don't need to check on me.::

There was a pause before Sherra replied, gently, ::We haven't seen you since we gave you these rooms. We're worried.::

Other than the worried part, that was what Proquess had intended. She only came out at night to scavenge the kills of the other residents, as was only proper. She couldn't very well kill her own dinner; even if she'd known how, she had no right. Thankfully, she didn't need to eat nearly as much as the creatures she shared this place with.

::Don't be worried. I'm fine.::

Though, of course, she was not.

This time the pause was much longer, and Proquess, greatly daring, stretched her mental senses to listen in on the conversation that was doing on outside her doors.

::Sherra, she's so timid! Surely she wouldn't be suitable!::

::But she's a xenodragon. If a xenodragon isn't suitable, what is?::

Suitable for what, Proquess wondered.

::You just want to say that you've Searched someone for this dratted thing.::

::That's not true!::

Searched? Dratted thing? Proquess kneaded the ground with her double-fingered claws, a little anxious but also curious. She didn't even consider looking closer or sensing deeper. This was a queen, and nosing about in her mind was not Proquess' place!

::She needs something,:: Sherra was saying, thinking hard about something Proquess refused to take a closer look at. ::Some kind of focus for her life. No other dragon but a bipedra-- or a full hydra, but we don't have any of those-- would even consider bonding a xenodragon, no matter how timid. This is the best thing we could do for her.::

What in the world was a bipedra? Or a hydra, for that matter?

::If she agrees,:: Delith's mental voice rumbled. ::I don't know that she will.::

::Proquess?::

That time the thought was actually directed at her, and Proquess immediately drew back her senses, feeling guilty for sneaking a peak at the conversation. ::Yes?::

::Proquess, dear, there's something called a hatching happening here, at Cy, soon. You should go.::

::I... should?::

Proquess knew what a hatching was. She'd had one, herself. She'd witnessed others, the layings of queens. Even so, she could think of no reason why she should be present at one, with no queen to support. Previously at hatchings, she'd been there to provide food for the hatchlings, a servant to newly named warriors and drones who, at their very birth, would already stand higher than she.

Perhaps-- perhaps this new queen, this Delith, had such thoughts, as well. It was a task she knew well, and since she hadn't wreaked havoc at the weyr, like many others of her hive would have, perhaps they trusted her with a task like this. At least it was something familiar, that didn't require much thought-- or being hit or scorned. ::I... could do this. I will do my best.::

There was another pause, while Sherra and Delith whisper-thought at each other. ::She doesn't understand....::

::If she understood, she probably wouldn't agree.::

What else was she wanted at a hatching for? To be food? Not even a hatchling of her own kind was capable of ripping through the tough, chitenous armor of a xenodragon adult, even a drone. What other reason could there be but to cater to the next generation?

But she'd already agreed, and that seemed enough for her new guardians. ::We'll let you know when it's going to hatch, so you can come.::

::Yes, ma'am,:: Proquess answered politely.

Then Sherra and Delith took off again, leaving Proquess alone, at least for now. She wasn't honestly sure whether to be relieved or anxious in the silence.

Chapter Two

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