biggest one," and "the biggest dragon on all Pern". Ramoth Ramoth is the gold queen dragon of Lessa, the Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr during the Ninth Pass. She is the mate of Mnementh, and is the largest dragon on Pern. For a period of time at the beginning of the Ninth Pass, Ramoth was the only remaining queen dragon on all of Pern, until the queen Prideth was hatched from her first clutch. Because the two queens would not be able to repopulate the empty remaining Weyrs in time for the approaching Pass, Lessa and Ramoth jumped back in time 400 Turns to bring forward the members of the empty Weyrs. Ruth Ruth is the only white dragon described in the series, and is much smaller than the other dragons in the series' Ninth Pass timeline. In Dragonquest, Ruth hatches near the end of the novel. The dragon's story is expanded upon in the novel The White Dragon. In Dragonquest, the gold dragon Ramoth lays a clutch of eggs, one of which McCaffrey describes as small with an unusually tough shell. The weyrfolk of Benden Weyr assume that the egg will not hatch, and begin to depart from the Hatching Ground when all the other hatchling dragonets have impressed with human dragonriders. Lord Jaxom jumps from the bleachers to the Hatching Ground to assist the unborn dragonet by breaking open the shell and inadvertently Impresses the dragon, immediately causing a major uproar among the Lord Holders and the dragonriders. After Impression, the Council decides that it has no problem with the young Lord's bond with Ruth, as it is believed that Ruth will not live long. He does survive to maturity, although he is much smaller than the other dragons. In order to avoid the animosity of the Lord Holders, Lessa, F'lar and N'ton of Fort Weyr carefully guide the Lord and dragon. Jaxom is able to fly on Ruth and is trained to go between. Jaxom becomes frustrated with various restrictions, such as the inability to take Hold of Ruatha and the refusal of Dragonrider status. He rebels, and attempts to teach Ruth to chew firestone. He discovers Ruth's innate ability to orient himself in time while practicing going between. After Jaxom and Ruth are scored by Thread in the course of their recovery of the queen egg stolen from Benden Weyr by the Oldtimers (though they manage to