Search Story of Zendyn

The sun played amoung the trembling leaves and danced along the water. A girl sat at the base of the trees, humming softly as she twirled a fallen leaf between her fingers. Her wet hair glistened in the light, the gentle blond waves seemingly kissed by fire. Hidden in her secret glen, Zendyn was finishing drying off, as both her mother and her nursemaid would be furious if she went home with damp clothes.

A bird started to trill in a nearby tree and Sendyn sighed, standing and awkwardly dusting off her shift before pulling her dress over her face, her thin face turning to a frown as she tried to do up all of the accursed buttons with her slim fingers. A voice calling her name made her pause and listen, trying to determine if it was warning or just curious. Ignoring the top two buttons, Zendyn scurried to her horse and clambered up, clucking softly and grinning as the horse broke into a gallop, sending Zendyn bouncing back and forth.

As she rounded the hill that hid her glen, Zendyn's face broke into a larger grin. The short stone wall that surrounded their Hold raced along beside her and her father's horses looked up from their grazing as Zendyn and her horse flew by. Zendyn wasn't really watching the horses or the wall, though. She was squinting her eyes to see if anyone was waiting outside the house or the stable to yell at her. As the house and it's wings came into view, however, Zendyn was able to see that no one was there and so relaxed and slowed the horse to a walk.

Activity bustled at the normally calm Hold as workers bustled about. Zendyn didn't really understand why all these worthless little wooden shelters needed to be built for the wedding, but what was she to do? When her father decided that her older brother deserved an all out for his wedding she wasn't one to argue. Slipping off the horse's back and giving it a loving pat, Zendyn hurried through the front doors and into the house.

Her bare feet made a soft pattering on the wooden floors, and the stone walls and ceilings shone white from their washing. Carvings adorned the walls and halls, and Zendyn smiled as she remembered her mother's passion for the extravegant. Coming to the closed doors of her father's study, Zendyn caught her breath before giving a gentle knock and entering. The room was much darker than the rest of the house, the wood being of a naturally darker grain. Her father was sitting behind the large desk that held all of the Hold's imports, exports and balance. Clearing her throat, Zendyn finally got her father's attention.

"Where were you?" He asked, a frown creasing his no longer youthful face.

"I was out riding, pa, you know that. I told you before I went." Zendyn said softly, running her fingers over the soft wood as she sat in a chair and studied the papers before her father. More marriage papers by the look of it.

"Yes, of course." The Lord Karsten said quietly, shifting through some more papers before pulling out a small piece and handing it to her. Someone was here looking for you and left this. Said they'd be back shortly."

"Do you know who?" Zendyn asked, her breath catching in her throat as she leaned forward to stare down her father with her pale blue eyes. Looking up from his work, her father raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"It wasn't Rhett, if that's what you're thinking. He's coming later this week. No, it was a man and a woman. Can't say who, though. Looked an awful lot like dragonriders." He finished quietly. Zendyn sat up straight and looked again at her father. It was common knowledge that Zendyn's mother had lost her dragon and married her father to get away from the weyr, though dragons were not commonly talked about around her. Not that she was gone, though....

"Dragonriders." Zendyn repeated softly. Though no one knew it, Zendyn's mother had talked about her dragon to Zendyn often when Zendyn was younger. Zendyn had always dreamed of living her mother's fantasy, but after her fifteenth birthday, it didn't seem probable that it would happen. Which was why her engagement with Lord Basile's son had been arranged.

"Looking for you." Lord Karsten stressed, looking up and away from his work for the first time since Zendyn had walked in the room. "You wouldn't know why, would you?"

"Of course not." Zendyn whispered fiercely, pushing herself up from the chair and walking over to the window, as though the dragons would be back and waiting already. A pause followed, not uncomfortable, but quite real, and Zendyn sighed. "Why me?"

"Why not? You're my only daughter, and you're the only one who's taken after your mother. By the first egg, Zendyn, your mother could speak with any dragon! You've never been around them, so you wouldn't know, but Zendyn.......a dragonrider! My little girl."

"We don't even know if that's why they came." Zendyn said, trying to control the tremble in her voice.

"Why else would they? There have been rumours, Zendyn. Rumours of a special clutch, unlike any before. Rumours of more than one queen rising at once, of more than one queen clutching at once, of the people they're searching. Zendyn, maybe they've come to search you."

"I'm no different than any other person in this hold, father! I'm not so special that two dragonriders would come just to search me. I don't want to be searched! I want to marry Rhett and live at his hold and stay there happily ever after with our own children." Zendyn said, her voice slowly raising in intensity. "I used to want it." She said after a small pause, her voice making her father look twice at his normally agressive and assured daughter. "I used to want it more than anything. I used to dream of it, father. But after mother died......." Zendyn gave a shuddering sigh and sank back into the chair, rubbing her fingers absently along the soft material. Lord Karsten leaned back in his own chair and studied the young woman before him, wondering what to do. The thin face framed by the blond hair reminded him so much of all of the women dragonriders he had met, the fierce determination and self-assurance in her eyes a fiery reflection of dragonriders eyes. Her frame was thin, of course, but she was extremely strong for her age. Assuredly stronger than one or two of her older brothers. But she also had the radiance of beauty and calm that surrounded so many weyrwomen. That was what convinced him to let her go.

"Zendyn." He said gently. She looked up, her blue eyes searching for an answer. "Zendyn, I want you to try. I don't know why they want you, maybe it's because of your mother, maybe it isn't, but they want you. I want you as well, you're my only daughter!, but I want you to be happy. You would be, as a dragonrider. I know this."

"I don't." Zendyn said very quietly, tears brimming her serious eyes.

"Then think about it! Zendyn, your mother used to talk about her stories she told you, the way your eyes lite up and the way you refused to go to sleep until she finished. Zendyn, Zendyn..." Karsten said softly, rising and moving to the other side of his desk to sit beside his daughter. After folding her into a hug with her cheek against his chest, Karsten sighed. "We used to take you to weyrs when you were little, and you always liked the dragons. You would play with them, coo at them, almost like they talked with you. They all denied it, but there was something....Zendyn, when you're mother died I didn't know what to do with you. I have raised seven sons, and only one daughter. And I don't even know how well I've raised her." He said, raising her chin and wiping the tears from her face.

"You couldn't have done better." Zendyn whispered, kissing her father gently on his cheek.

"But I could have. They wanted to search you two years ago, Zendyn. Right after your mother died. I wouldn't let them. You were ill at the time, and I couldn't bear to let you go when I had just lost your mother. They almost took you anyway, but something stopped them. When they came back, Zendyn, the two of them, they were adament. They're going to take you if you like it or not."

"What about Rhett? What about your agreement, father? What about you?"

"I'm an old man, Zendyn, and nothing would make me happier than to come and watch you impress a dragon. You're mother would want it." He added after a moment, and he knew that he had won. Zendyn sat up and dried her eyes, looking at her father the same way Karsten remembered his wife looking at him when she was testing him.

"I will come visit often, as I know you will." Karsten said softly, a smile touching his eyes as her smoothed her hair and stood. Zendyn watched him walk back around to the other side of his desk and rose as well.

"Thank you, father." She whispered before turning and swiftly walking from the room. Karsten looked up and wiped the tears from his own eyes. "You're welcome."

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Zendyn couldn't help thinking maybe they weren't coming back. It had been over a week, and the clutch was expected to hatch at any time, but still they hadn't come. Lifting her chin from her hand, Zendyn tried to concentrate on her lesson but something was tugging the back of her mind that she couldn't quite place. Just stop it. She scoled herself, trying to read the words on the page in front of her, but not quite being able to focus.

Stop what? The reply came, and Zendyn jumped up and shot to the window, gaping as the dragons swooped down and landed. The rider's were looking around, confused, and Zendyn couldn't believe that she had just heard a dragon.

A large commotion caught her attention as her brothers made way for her father, and after a few brief moments, the dragonriders followed her father into the hold. Zendyn scurried back from the window, her breathing quickening as she looked around frantically. This was it. This was the last time she would take lessons in this room, the last time she would ever look out that window at visitors, the last morning she'd eat breakfast with her father. She wasn't sure if she was ready for that! But inside, something told her she was.

She sat at her desk, waiting for the knock and only looking up stupidly as the dragonriders opened the door and came in, watching her carefully.

"Zendyn?" One asked, and Zendyn studied him for a moment before nodding. A third dragonrider walked calmly in, her black hair framing her face quite nicely, and Zendyn wondered if maybe they were expecting trouble.

"Your father's a hard man to bargain with." She said softly, studying Zendyn the same way Zendyn was studying her. The searchrider narrowed her eyes for a moment, then widened them in surprise, and Zendyn sat back in her chair and tried to concentrate on breathing.

"You're telling me." She said as she exhauled, amused when all three dragonriders started to laugh. Zendyn felt herself smile and relax a bit, but she still wasn't sure she was ready for this.

Of course you are. A different voice said and Zendyn prided herself for not jumping.

"Are what?" The newest dragonrider muttered softly as she frowned. With a smile and a shake of her head, the dragonrider turned back to Zendyn. "Are you ready?"

"Truthfully, no." Zendyn said quickly, standing as the four of them moved out of the room and down to the main floor. Zendyn was looking around for her father, but as she couldn't see him she decided he probably wasn't coming out.

Climbing onto the dragon was much like climbing onto a big horse, Zendyn decided as she copied the riders and scrambled up. Just before lifting off, however, her father came around the side of the house. Wait! Zendyn pleaded as she slipped off the dragon and ran to her father. Confused shouting went back and forth between the dragonriders, though the dragons seemed quite pleased with themselves. Zendyn wasn't sure why.

Throwing her arms around her father's neck, Zendyn buried her face in his shirt, smelling and remembering this moment. Stepping back, Zendyn smiled. "Thank you."

"Of course, princess." He said quietly, and Zendyn smiled when she saw tears reflecting in his eyes as well as her own.

"Love you." Zendyn said as she started walking back to the dragon.

"You too." Karsten said, smiling as he watched his daughter climb back up the dragon. Zendyn kept her eyes on her father until he was but a speck on the ground, then clung tightly to nothing as they went between and to Talor Cliff.

You needn't hold so tight. You won't fall. Someone said quietly, Zendyn guessing the green under her.

Sorry. Zendyn replied, shifting to look around as they landed. A weyrbrat was quickly beside them to show Zendyn to her barracks, so quickly that Zendyn didn't even see the Weyrwoman Falora come up beside the searchriders. As Zendyn's slim back was dissapearing, Nora and Falora shared a brief moment watching the odd girl enter their weyr.

"There's just something about her....." Nora said quietly to Falora, who only watched the girl and nodded. At least she wasn't the only one to feel it.


Zendyn is a candidate at the Secret Clutch at Talor Cliff