by the ex-dragonrider Lytol. Jaxom caused controversy among the leaders of Pern by Impressing the white dragon, Ruth, when he was eleven years old. Later, he became a hero—although he did not tell anyone at the time—by rescuing a queen egg of Ramoth's (the Benden queen dragon) from the rebellious Oldtimers, who had stolen it in an attempt to repopulate their Weyr. He was also one of the central forces of the movement to banish Thread from Pern forever. Jaxom is born approximately three Turns (years) before the start of the Ninth Pass of the Red Star, whilst F'lar and F'nor were leading a search for candidates for the last Queen egg of dragon queen Nemorth's final clutch. His mother, Lady Gemma, wife of Fax, dies giving birth to him. Fax initially agrees to acknowledge Jaxom as the new Lord of Ruatha Hold on the basis on the Hold being unable to adequately provide for its Lord, but threatens to renege on that promise and attacks F'lar. F'lar kills Fax in the duel, leaving Jaxom an orphan. Deelan, the mother of Dorse, is his wet nurse and foster mother. Until Jaxom is old enough to take his position as Lord Holder, Ruatha is left in the hands of Lytol, a former dragonrider and Craftmaster weaver, who acts as mentor and guardian to Jaxom throughout his younger years. On a visit to Benden Weyr, Jaxom and his friend Felessan (later, F'lessan, and also the son of F'lar and Lessa) take the chance to spy upon a clutch of Ramoth's eggs, and Jaxom expresses concern about the smallest egg and touches it. On their way back, exploring the back tunnels of the Weyr, the two boys discover a previously unknown room, with diagrams from ancient times and a microscope. When Jaxom returns to the Weyr for the Hatching, the white egg fails to hatch, and Jaxom impresses Ruth when he breaks the egg's unusually tough shell and inner membrane (it is later thought that touching the egg is what caused Jaxom to be able to sense the unhatched Ruth and Lessa later includes allowing the new candidates to touch the eggs before hatching, which reduces the amount of confusion and injury of candidates during the hatching process). The Impression is considered a nuisance by many, as Jaxom has responsibilities as Lord Holder to uphold, and some feel it might create a conflict