Giden stood in his chamber room, adjusting his light blue tunic. He grinned at himself, and then frowned. He detested the gap in between his two front teeth. He frowned at his curly dark blonde hair. He pulled a wrap from a drawer, and pulled his hair back at the nape of his neck.
"Much better. What do you think, Bin?" The blue flit barely looked up from his dinner, but trilled in agreement.
"You didn't even look!" complained Giden in mock anger. His eyes happened across the painting on his wall. He looked at its perfect detail. The picture captured Kessa, his love, in all her beauty. He smiled at the painting, and then glanced at the smaller one beside it. This one was older, but he cherished it. It was a painting of his older sister, Kyana. It caught her smiling shyly, auburn curls reflecting sunlight. He was very close to his sister, ever since the forest fire that had claimed the lives of his mother, father, older brother and unborn younger sibling. He and his sister were the only in the family to survive. They had lived with his Aunt since he was six. He vaugely remembered walking through the woods, holding hands with his sister until they reached the dirt road. He remembered seeing a lady on a horse who stopped to pick them up. That nice lady took them into the city, where she contacted their Aunt, a greenrider.
Giden shook his head to clear it of those sad thoughts. He gulped nervously. The formal gala was a candlemark away. There were rumours that a searchrider would be attending. Giden knew that secretly, Kessa wanted to be searched. Giden desperately wanted to be searched. He wanted to feel the thrill of standing on the sands, hoping that the next one to hatch will be yours.
But no time to think of that now. It was time to go get Kessa.
Kessa was beautiful in her light blue dress. It contrasted with her dark skin. He noticed she was wearing the necklace he gave her for her sixteenth birthday. Giden could tell she was nervous. They walked to the gala, chatting nervously. When they got there, Giden heard Kessa let out a sigh. The gala was beautiful. The lights were dim, and there was light music punctuated with the clinking of glasses and soft murmmer of voices. Giden and Kessa looked around.
"I don't see any searchriders or dragons. Do you think it was just a rumor?" asked Kessa nervously. Giden was about to tell her to forget about the dragon and have fun, when there was the sound of large gusts of wind. A blue dragon came spiraling in through the opening in the roof, and landed, peering around at the wide and hopeful eyes. A young man slid from the back of the dragon, but was barely noticed. He cleared his throat several times before the murmers died down.
"Please form a line to be Searched. I am Searchrider D'run, rider of Blue Okserth. We are of Ryslen Weyr." Immediately, the talking began, and a line formed. Giden pulled Kessa into the line, nearly yanking her arm off. They stood nervously, not speaking. A girl ran by in a fit of tears, and Giden could see Kessa's face crumble.
"What if the dragon takes one look at me and rejects me in a second? Or what if she searches me for a really long time, and then rejects me? Or worse, what if I am picked, but I'm left standing on the sands? Ohmygosh, what am I DOING here?!" Suddenly, they were in the front of the line. Kessa turned, as if to run away. But Giden grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"You're staying here. And you're facing this dragon. And I am, too." With that, Giden was face to face with the blue.
Giden froze, gazing back at the big blue dragon with hope on his face. He had always wanted to ride a dragon, ever since he could remember. Despite what his Aunt had told him about dragons starting the fire that killed his family, Giden repected them and admired their great beauty. Giden cleared his mind, and looked up at the blue. He felt a sort of peace, and then his head felt invaded...and sort of crowded. He felt his skull would burst, but before it could the feeling was gone and the dragon was trilling. Giden was Searched, and now it was Kessa's turn. Giden felt arms pushing him into a cluster of male candidates. He managed to turn and offer a nervous wink to Kessa.
"Congradgulations," a voice shouted in his ear over the roar of voices, "you're a Candidate at Ryslen Weyr."