Hylee
:: The Gather :: Hatching :: Weyrling :: Rider ::
:: Ryslen Weyr :: Beach Shards Weyr ::

The Gather
It's rather depressing, really, Hylee mused, turning in circles and eyeing the various stalls dubiously. The normally raucous gather had been reduced to a mild, friendly affair - disastrous for the children of the Hold and Halls. The customary raiding of various food stalls had been discarded as a very bad idea with the new Lord Holder's tightening of control.

But what exactly was a Gather without fights, and crafters chasing after hall- and hold-brats after they stole a menial thing from their stall? It wasn't a Gather, Hylee finally decided, plopping down on the ground with the cup of warm klah held tightly between her chilled hands.

And it was so cold. The only time cold was good was when it snowed - and it was meant to, according to the old men of the Hold. But it hadn't yet, now had it? It'd better! The old men of the Hold had predicted it, and glared at anyone who'd dared to say 'but it hasn't snowed yet!'. After all, they thought they were wise.

Tapping her on the shoulder, Hylee's friend Cressa sat down quietly beside her, as always twirling a strand of her dirty blomde hair between her fingers. "It's so boring. You'd think that we'd be able to find something to do at a gather - after all, we're 15!"

Hylee rolled her eyes. "Yeah? Gimme a suggestion. I haven't been sitting here for the last candlemark trying to think of something to do! Not with those guards-" She gestured to the burly men stalking around, snapping at this child and that, "-wandering around as if they own the place."

"But surely there has to be something to do, Hylee?" Cressa almost wailed, tugging the cup of klah from her friend's fingers to take a sip. She paused, looking at the other dark-haired girl, who seemed to be staring off into the darkening sky. "Hylee? What're you-"

"Sshh!" The girl whispered harshly, her brown eyes meeting her friends and then darting away back towards the sky. "Look!" She hissed, pointing.

Cressa followed her gaze to the sky, squinting for a moment before inhaling sharply. "Oh!" Cressa laughed. "Why're you whispering? It's not like the dragonrider could hear you from up there!"

Hylee flushed, shrugging. "Yeah. Oh!" She raised her head again, brushing at the cold damp mass that had just landed on her head. It fell at her feet, and in an instant the dragonrider was forgotten. "SNOW!"

Cressa blinked, craning her neck to look at the sky as well. "Snow? Where- OH! SNOW!"

The two girls leapt up, hugging each other and then starting to prance around the Gather square crying 'snow, snow!' while everyone just watched them in amusement, looking at the sky. And indeed, the flakes started falling, light at first and then gradually getting heaveier. Hylee had finally settled down, sitting down at one of the tables and wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm.

She intended to stay there, just revelling in the white starkness the snow was gradually building around her, when a snowball hit her smack in the face.

She shrieked, pawing the exceeding cold snow off her face and glaring around trying to find the culprit. The boy, a bit younger than herself, was standing somewhere near her, looking sheepish and avoiding her gaze when she looked at him. "You!" Hylee shrieked, pointing a finger. Her mouth was open as she tried to come up with a suitable insult, but in the end just pursed her lips and glared at him.

With the snow from her face in her hands, Hylee balled it up again, and pelted it back at the boy. It missed, and Hylee looked embarrassed as she reached down and grabbed more snow, throwing it at him again. This time it hit.

"Hey!" The boy cried, wiping the snow off his shoulder. "It was an accident!"

Hylee grinned, leaning down to start making another snowball. "So was that!" She threw her next ball, and it hit his leg. "And that!"

The boy grinned maliciously at her as he leant down, and Hylee watched him suspiciously, but he didn't appear to do anything.

Which was why she screamed when something wet and cold slid down her back, swinging around and facing the other boy behind her, who sported much the same expression as his friend on the other side of Hylee.

"You sharding little wherry!" She shrieked at him, trying to reach down her back to the snow. His evil grin still showed, until something hit him in the back of his head. Swinging around, he say Cressa standing there with a smug expression on her face, a second snowball in hand.

And so started a full-out snowball fight, boys vers girls, Hylee & Cressa leading the girls side and the two boys leading the other side. People yelled at them often, because alot of the children weren't particularily good aims, and for a moment they were in unison, throwing snowballs at the older people, and then they ran off to relocate the fight to another area where the people around were unsuspecting.

Halfway during their match, there was a lull in activity as both sides waited for the other to attack; and neither did. Until Hylee saw a single figure approached, and lobbed many snowballs at him. The boys side, who didn't know what was happening, thought that the figure was one of the girls, and chucked snowballs as well. And then the two sides met in the middle, trampling the single figure in their attempt to get each other.

So began the second half of their fight, until the Lord Holder, of all people, pranced through the bushes they were hiding, grabbing random boys by their ears as he went. Meekly, the fighting stopped, as the children waited for the Lord Holder to tell them to move elsewhere. After all, no-one, not even this horrible Lord Holder, would deny kids the right to have a snowball fight!

"Stop it at once! Our honoured guest-" The Lord Holder, his face red in rage, gestured to the bedraggled figure standing somewhere behind him, a scowl very evident on his face, "-has been practically abused because of your childish snowball fights! Whoever started this must apologise, now!"

When neither of the two boys came forward, Hylee did, scowling at everyone else for their cowardice. "Apologies, dragonrider." She mumbled, recognising his knots even under the layer of dirt.

The bluerider glared at her, though his eyes became unfocused. "Very well." He said gruffly, though he didn't move.

She would be good as a candidate. The dragonrider's lifemate, Scith, told his rider gently, knowing how angry he was at the girl. Admit it, she has spirit. You know we have to take her, if she agrees. G'won! Ask her!

J'lenn's scowl deepened, though everyone just watched him with apprehension, not sure why he was still standing there. You're not serious, Scith. I don't want anything to do with her! Leave it!

I said we have to take her, J'lenn!

There's no way I'm taking back a sharding rude-

We need her for the Flurry Hatching! No, I don't care what you say, ask her!

Grumbling, but as always complying to his lifemate's wishes, J'lenn glared at Hylee, his chin jutted forward defiently. "Scith says you would make a good candidate," The Searchrider said reluctantly, glowering. "I don't agree, but Scith's not very often wrong. So I guess we have to take you." He seemed to positively hate the idea.

Hylee took a moment to recover from the initial shock, and then her usual cheeky mind came back into play, and an indignation that he seemed to think she'd jump off a cliff for him. "I don't get a choice then?" She demanded. The children around her gaped at her, wondering why she didn't just accept, before the Searchrider changed his mind.

J'lenn glowered at her, and opened his mouth to say something, and then snapped it shut at a rebuke from his lifemate. Some swore they could've heard his teeth grinding. "Yes," He said stiffly.

Hylee beamed. "Now that's a better attitude!" The were various snickers at her comment.

"Now look here, girl-" The dragonrider started to snap.

"Hylee! Dragonrider J'lenn does not need your smart-alec comments!" The Lord Holder gazed at her sternly, but the girl just returned it equably.

"Well, I guess I accept." The girl said into the silence, grinning at her friends.

J'lenn glared. "You'll have to smarten up your attitude when we get to Ryslen!"

He said it to her back though, as she made her way over to the Hold through the snow, to get her things. Hylee gave a nonchalant shrug. "Whatever! I'm to be a caaaannndiddaaattee!" The word faded into the evening, and those with keen eyes could see Hylee do a twirl, grinning.