Lusk strained at the end of his chain, and the young watchwher nearly pulled Luko off his feet. Luko grabbed him by the collar and planted his feet, and it was still a trial to restrain him. Lusk was not the tiny, ill-formed hatchling he had been several months ago, and though the brown wasn't quite full-grown yet, Luko would be surprised if he didn't outweigh some of the bronze whers when he hit adulthood.
Luko grunted as Lusk tried to lunge forward, and he pulled sharply on the watchwher's chain. "Calm down, Lusk!" There must be a tunnelsnake or something nearby; he knew of little else that would cause his watchwher to act like that.
They were standing outside the wher dens, which lay quite close to the entrance of the nearest mineshaft. The sun was very low in the sky, not completely set yet, but the sky was darkening into night, and the light was fading quickly. It was still unpleasant to Lusk, who had just woken up; small wonder he was antsy. Lusk wasn't quite old enough to work in the mines yet, but he certainly seemed eager to start, Luko thought with a smile.
"Wait, Lusk," Luko commanded. Felali and Felask, their trainers, would be back here any minute, and Felali would not be happy with him if Lusk was anything but calm and obediant.
Lusk gave an aggravated huff as he settled back onto his haunches. Luko could tell he was bored, but then patience was one of the things they were both supposed to be learning.
Finally, the senior wher-handler appeared from the mine entrance, followed by her blue watchwher.
Felali was still a fairly young woman, not yet forty, and Felask was a large wher for a blue, in the prime of his life. Felali's long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but stray wisps of it were pulled free by the wind that ruffled Luko's own brown hair, messing it up even more.
As they approached, Lusk climbed to his feet eagerly, and Luko unhooked his collar from the chain just in time for the two watchwhers to go greet each other. Felali turned to Luko. "Has Lusk been behaving himself?" she asked, not bothering with a greeting of her own.
"Yes, for the most part, at least. He was really excited about something earlier," Luko replied.
Felali nodded absently. "Felask and I saw some young wherries earlier. I hope Lusk didn't chase after them; the mother wherries can get vicious."
"No, I took care of it," Luko said hurriedly, not wanting her to think he had no control over his watchwher, after how long it took to convince Felali, his foster parents, and his real parents to let him have one.
Even though he was weyrbred and had stood for several clutches, Luko had not Impressed a dragon, and it came as a jolt to his bronzerider father when Luko decided to Impress and train a watchwher instead. His foster parents in the Hold were easier to convince, glad to see that he had given some thought to what he would do for a living if he never Impressed.
It was Felali who was the real trial. She was the head whertrainer at the Hold, and she was very demanding when it came to who she would accept as an apprentice. Luko had spent many weeks caring for the whers, mucking out their dens, and befriending Felask to prove his dedication and earn Felali's respect, but all his hard work had paid off when Felali agreed to purchase an egg from a wherbreeder and give him a chance to Impress. That egg hatched into Lusk.
"Well, time to get started," Felali said, bringing his mind back to the present. Luko looked at her face and saw a sly smile. "I've hidden three bags down in the mine; they have treats for Lusk in them. It's the same excercise we did last week...except you won't have any glows with you this time."
Luko grimaced, making Felali laugh. "Better hurry up, apprentice. The sooner you find them all, the sooner we humans can get some sleep."
He sighed and patted the wher's neck. "Come on then, Lusk. Let's get this over with."
Luko may have been reluctant to go inside a dark and empty mine, but Lusk was quite enthusiatic, preferring the pitch black mine to the late evening sun.
"You shouldn't have to go outside of hearing range, so yell if you run into any trouble. But if you haven't finished in a few hours, Felask and I will come in to get you," Felali yelled after them as they entered the mine. Luko waved a hand to let her know he had heard her, and then they were in the dark, with only the faint moonlight from the entrance to see by.
Luko didn't mind being in the mine when he had at least a little light to see by. Some people might not have liked the dark, enclosed spaces, but as long as Luko had a candle or a glowbasket, he was as comfortable as Lusk. In the complete dark, though...It made him nervous, not being able to see where he was going and having to rely on Lusk to lead him. At least the watchwher seemed happy, sniffing eagerly along the tunnels, trusting his nose to lead him to the prizes. Luko could only stumble along behind him, holding the collar so he would not get separated.
They found the first bag with little trouble, hidden in a niche in the wall. Lusk gobbled up the pieces of seasoned meat happily while Luko pocketed the empty bag to show to Felali. And then they were off to the next target.

Felali had chosen sadistically difficult places to hide the bags, Luko discovered an hour later. He'd searched tirelessly with no luck, and he began to curse the senior wherhandler. He and Lusk traveled down the same path four times before Luko managed to locate the treat-bag, hanging on a hook from the ceiling, far out of Lusk's reach.
"Oh, clever," Luko muttered to himself. He was getting tired and sleepy and any good cheer he might have started the night out with was long gone. The dark was beginning to get on his nerves, and he kept rubbing the back of his neck against the feeling of hairs raising. Even Lusk was beginning to get spooked.
They came to an intersection Luko recognized, and he told Lusk to go to the left; it was further out of the way and more likely to be a good hiding spot. But the watchwher sat at his feet and whined reluctantly. He tried to go back the way they'd come, towards the exit, but Luko pulled on his collar impatiently. "Come on, Lusk, we're almost done," he pleaded. "Don't you want to get your treat and get out of here?" He had already been awake far longer than he was used to, since the very early morning, and Luko's temper shortened with his energy.
Lusk still hesitated, and Luko pushed him towards the tunnel. They had nearly reached the end of it now; Luko ran his hands along the wall, to find any cracks or holes that might contain the bag they were looking for, but he felt nothing. He growled to himself in frustration, and Lusk growled back.
"What is it now?" Luko sighed.
It wasn't just Lusk; there was a low grumbling coming from the walls above and in front of them, and Luko stopped short. He'd worked in the mines long enough to know not to take chances, and this didn't look very good. He hauled on Lusk's collar, though the watchwher was already backing up, creeling frantically, and ran back to the entrance as fast as he could.
He'd only taken a few steps before he ran into a wall, smashing his nose painfully, and he felt Lusk's muzzle on his hand. He kept one hand on the wher's neck and the other over his nose, and he followed the watchwher to the exit.
They were almost there, and there was just enough moonlight filtering in to let Luko see his path. There was a loud cracking sound from above. Luko stumbled forward, grasped out clumsily to find Lusk again, and he felt the full weight of the watchwher's body collide with him. He went flying foward and ended up crumpled in a heap on the ground. There was a crash from behind him and he looked up.
About four tons of rock had collapsed, sealing a large part of that tunnel off from the rest of the mine, and left a small mountain of man-sized rocks or larger, in the middle of the tunnel. And Lusk...
"Lusk!" Luko shouted. He couldn't see or hear the brown watchwher anywhere. With a sob, he grabbed some of the smaller rocks and threw or pushed them out of the way, and he tried to dig.
"Luko!" Felali shouted behind him as she and Felask raced into the mine; they must not have been very away. Luko ignored them, still shoving rocks. "Luko."
"Lusk's back there," he said tersely, and he kicked one of the larger rocks in rage. It did nothing but make his toes hurt in addition to the myriad scrapes and cuts he was only now becoming aware of.
Felali sighed. "Listen to me. Can you hear Lusk?"
"What?" Luko blinked.
"You know how it felt when you Impressed him. The way you sense him at the back of your mind, the same as a dragon or a fire lizard," Felali continued patiently. "Can you sense him now?"
He paused. "...No."
"Then I don't think it will matter much if we wait until morning to clear this away," Felali said quietly.

Morning snuck up on Luko unannounced. It seemed to take him forever to fall asleep last night, but it was nearly noon the next day when Luko finally opened his eyes again. He tried to sit up and immediately hissed in pain; the cuts and bruises from last night had only intensified. He jerked his head up.
Felali sat in a chair by his bed, legs crossed. "I'd ask how you're feeling, but I think you just answered it," she said dryly.
Luko groaned and lay back down, and when Felali started talking again, turned his green-brown eyes to stare at her.
"They found Lusk this morning," she said softly. "At the very bottom of the rock heap. I don't think I have to tell you what sort of condition he was in." Luko's eyes burned. "Luko, I need you to tell me what happened down there."
After a moment, he began to speak. And he told her everything he remembered. How he tried to lead Lusk down the long corrider, and Lusk didn't want to go--because, Luko realized with a sinking feeling, he knew it wasn't safe. And then Lusk led him away from the rockslide and pushed him out of the way.
For awhile, Felali didn't say anything, just left him alone. He was grateful for the chance to collect his thoughts. They were not pleasant.
Some wherhandler I turned out to be, he thought bitterly. The one thing he'd truly wanted to do with his life and he had to go and screw it up. Of course he'd noticed the looks on his foster parents' faces when he'd wanted to bond a watchwher. They didn't ask, but they wondered why he didn't aspire to be a dragonrider when he had a far better chance of it than most. No doubt his father had wondered the same thing. But how could he tell them how he felt? Hatchings were exciting enough at first, but after a few turns it just became routine. Somewhere along the way, he'd lost his passion for dragons--at least riding one. He didn't necessarily dislike the idea of Impressing, but it was no longer important to him, and he had been far more excited the moment he approached the queen wher for an egg than he had been at a dragon Hatching for a long time.
And now he'd gone and gotten Lusk killed. "It was my fault Lusk died."
Felali just sighed. "Everyone from the mason who dug the mine to the Holder on watch is thinking the rockslide was somehow their fault. Shells, if I hadn't sent you down there in the first place--" She shook her head. "There's no point blaming anyone. But Luko, the smartest watchwher on Pern is no help if you don't listen to what they're telling you."
He grimaced. He already knew that, which made Felali telling him so even harder to bear. "What am I going to do now?" he asked.
"I don't know," Felali said softly, "What are you going to do now?"
It made him wince. If he was in Felali's place, he wouldn't have given himself another chance at an egg. He had to ask anyway. "Is...is there any chance you'd let me try again?"
Felali looked conflicted. "You'd be starting out at the beginning again. It's going to take a lot of work for me to trust you with another watchwher."
Luko nodded sullenly, though it was still a better prospect than he had hoped. "I need time to think about it, and...everything else."
Felali nodded. "Of course."

Though two sevendays had passed, Luko still had not made up his mind about the watchwhers. On one hand, he didn't want to forget Lusk, and though intellectually he knew re-Impressing a wher would not dishonor the brave watchwher's memory, Luko still felt guilty every time he thought of taking another egg. On the other hand, what on Pern would he do if he left the Hold?
Go back to the Weyr, most likely, and stand for dragon clutches fruitlessly. Shards, if he hadn't Impressed a dragon after five turns of attending Hatchings he'd probably never Impress a dragon anyway. But then what?
He was trying to put thoughts of his future out of his mind for the moment by taking a walk. Being primarily a mining Hold, there were no dense forests and little greenery; though the Pass had ended over ten turns ago, many Holders were still wary of having any unnecessary plantlife around the Hold. It was all bare rock and dirt, with what few trees there were being small and twisted by strong winds. He'd never realized how gloomy it could look--or maybe it was just him projecting his mood onto the surrounding landscape. He grinned wryly and shook his head as he approached the river that sustained the Hold.
He stopped, blinking mindlessly at the sight the greeted him. Two green dragons lounged on the warm rocks upriver from the Hold. A third, blue with white wing-membranes, was drinking from the river, foreclaws braced in the shallow end and half-covered with water. The dragons all looked up at his approach, and soon Luko found three people who must have been their riders walking towards him.
A blond-haired man smiled at him. "We thought everyone would be at the Hold by now. We did send word ahead that we would be coming," he said.
Luko shrugged. "I've been outside for most of the day. What business do dragonriders have out here?"
The rider replied, "We're on Search. There's a gold's clutch on the Sands that will hatch any day now--"
Luko interrupted him, eyes narrowed. "There's no clutch at Telgar. My father would have told me if there was."
The rider raised an eyebrow, surprised. "No, we're not from Telgar Weyr. I'm K'lor, from Dark Moon Weyrhold. This is Azya, and Mina," he gestured to the other riders, both women. "We're on Search for Gold Eweth's clutch, and Treth says you'll make a suitable candidate."
"Ah," Luko's reply was shorter than they had probably expected. But then, this wasn't particularly surprising to him. "I may be fostered in a Hold, but I'm actually weyrbred. I obviously haven't Impressed yet, so I don't think there's any point in me going. Sorry."
K'lor tilted his head to one side. "Are you sure? Sometimes all it takes is a change a scenery, especially for weyrbred candidates. Or are you just not interested in Impressing?"
Luko was about to refuse, but then he thought about the watchwhers, and Felali, and the looks of pity his foster parents had been giving him lately, and he decided he really didn't want to go back there now. "You know, on second thought, I think I will go with you," he said before he could change his mind.
K'lor grinned. "Well, alright then. We still have to Search the rest of the Hold, but we'll be done before nightfall. We can take you--and any other candidates--back to the Weyrhold with us then. There's not much time left before the Hatching is due."
Luko just nodded in reply. At least he was actively doing something now, and he hoped this trip wouldn't be something he'd regret. But then--he didn't really think it would be.