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Description:  "Runner of Pern" is set shortly before the Ninth Pass. It tells of a runner (messenger) named Tenna, who is new to the craft her family has been in for generations. After being accepted as an apprentice runner, Tenna begins her career, running from one end of Pern's Northern Continent to the other. During her first run to Fort Hold, Tenna is almost to her destination, running on the "trace" (paths marked by moss that are reserved for runners only) when a rider on a fast runner beast runs her off the trace. Tenna falls into a sticklebush, which are covered in sharp spines at this time of the year. The spines of the sticklebush can be dangerous as they can cause infections or enter the bloodstream. She manages to get to a runner station, where she recovers from the fall. A Gift of Dragons, by Anne McCaffrey (2002 collection of four stories, one original) ´ "The Smallest Dragonboy", by Anne McCaffrey (1973; short story previously collected in Get Off the Unicorn) ´ "The Girl Who Heard Dragons", by Anne McCaffrey (1986 fine press book; cover story in The Girl Who Heard Dragons (1994)) ´ "Runner of Pern", by Anne McCaffrey (1998 novella original to Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy; set some time before the events of Dragonflight) ´ "Ever the Twain" (original to the collection; historical setting unclear)