After the first Pass, the people of Pern began to spread across the Northern continent, moving to any location with suitable Threadproof facilities that could support them, carving Hold and Weyr from the caves and mountains. The settlements of the first wave of Northern expansion were bursting at the seams, and while Pass end meant the peace of Interval, it also meant less reason to justify the overcrowded facilities. One group, made up mostly of miners and smiths, used their claim stakes to take a rather inhospitable region, high in the Northern Barrier range near the snowy wastes. The Lord Holders felt it was a needed expansion of human settlement, but the problem was it was a most inconvenient location for the Weyrs to cover, a problem brushed aside by the Conclave. The Hold was named Iron Hills, in honor of the rich ore deposits that were its reason to exist. It's mining output was valuable enough to support it with judicious herding and what farming was available, and they prospered. In the beginning they tithed to both Telgar and High Reaches, who shared responsibility for it as the nearest Weyrs, stretching patrols to do so. In due time, a Conclave granted it Hold major status, and Pendril, grandson of the largest stake holder, was made the first Lord Holder, an honor his bloodline holds to this day.

Then trouble started. Once it was a major Hold, the Weyrleaders of Telgar and High Reaches began arguing for one or the other to have its tithes to themselves. Both Weyrs had three large Holds looking to them, and their Weyrleaders wanted the bragging rights of a fourth. They ignored the doubts that it could be adequately protected by either alone with the land already under their wings. Prestige and pride meant no amicable solution could be found, and sides began to be taken. Holders grew angry, as they became a bartering point to the dragonriders, and other Weyrs resented the souring of relations with the Holds, poor enough during Interval. To settle the matter and keep the peace, Fort and Ista Weyrs suggested a solution. A new Weyr to protect the Hold and the various camps and holds that would undoubtedly be built over the Turns. There was enough in Tithes to support a small one, and the idea was hailed by the Holds as the only way to solve it. According to rumor, the Conclave approved it so fast that Lord Pendril missed the actual vote due to a call of nature. His descendants have always denied it.

A careful study of the region showed an ancient cavern system high in the mountains, with a mountain lake that could be suitable with some work. It took five Turns of hard work thanks to the harsh winter conditions slowing things, but the new Weyr was habitable, and Hallisa and gold Leldrath of Telgar became the first to be Weyrwoman and senior Queen to the new Weyr, named Northern Barrier. To the relief of the rest of the Weyrs, and some maneuvering of the list of entrants to her open flight, a High Reaches rider, G'sae with bronze Ormith, became Weyrleader. The feud faded as the turns passed, thanks to some careful stroking of egos, Northern Barrier was far away after all, and many riders were relieved that someone else had to fly those patrols. During the remaining centuries of Interval, Hold and Weyr prospered, and Iron Hills and her smaller holds looked towards the second Pass secure in the knowledge that the Weyr would rise to meet it.

Now, the Second Pass of the Red Star has come, and the riders of Northern Barrier fight Fall, fulfilling their obligations to Pern. When Pass began, Weyrwoman Belkora and her queen Finreth were looked to as the natural core of the Weyr, and they basked in it. But the Turns of Fall took their toll on the aging pair, who refused to consider retirement, or, as rumor had it, the idea of giving up power. Seven Turns ago, a strenuous Fall claimed them when they jumped, never returning from Between. A shocked Weyr was left without a senior gold and with the problem of her successor. Belkora left no indication behind of who she felt should succeed her, and Interval had been largely a matter of the new Queen replacing the old. Two strong candidates for the position were in the Weyr, both capable, both with Queens close to rising. Electing to follow old tradition, the first to rise would become Weyrwoman, and the flight would be open to any. Hosting large numbers of riders in for the event had left most of the Weyr wanting anyone but them to catch. Quilth rose first, making her rider Malina, Belkora's longtime Second, Weyrwoman. Out of a field of dozens of ambitious bronze and brownriders, a Northern rider, W'kel and bronze Jeklenth, became Weyrleader.

Now thirteen Turns into the Second Pass, The Weyrleadership is stable and united, the Weyr at full strength, but what problems their riders and Weyrfolk will face is anyone's guess. Pern isn't the same shattered colony that gallantly united and fought for survival centuries ago, society is changing. Fewer children are encouraged to leave the Holds and Halls to Stand, dragonriding is a noble and above all dangerous profession, for someone else's child. Politics and occasional clashes ripple through the Weyr and Hold as two very different societies have emerged. Women are still a power in the Crafts, but few are offered for rider candidates these days unless a golden egg is present. A growing belief that women don't belong on a fighting dragon is spreading, the few female greenriders remaining are banished to the Queen's Wings to mop up stray Thread and provide cover for Queens catching the injured. The lucky few Queenriders are honored and universally respected, but their sister riders are now considered oddities and are barred from the upper fighting Wings. No one realizes that if a man can Impress a female dragon, the reverse may one day be so with smaller numbers of boys available, as Weyrleaders work to maintain numbers and morale during the hazardous Turns of Pass...