Shakaina gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut when they entered the smokey blackness of between. When they came out, she was greeted with a gust of bone-chilling wind. Goosebumps popped out all over her body, and she looked down below, long hair flying. So this was Keandyn Weyr. The ground, which should be green and covered with lush grass, was instead a blinding white. And the huge lake in the center of the Weyrbowl, it was ice! She stared around in wonder, still shivering. She climbed off of the dragon and was immediately crashed into. She stumbled backwards, and Garen looked down at her. He let go of her after that huge hug, and then placed a thick fur coat around her. It was fluffy, and had a furry hood, long sleeves, and came down to her mid thighs. She wrapped it around tightly, but still she was cold.
"Come on, let's get you inside. You've gotta be cold." He picked up her bag and pulled her into a weyr. It was toasty warm from the fire, and very home-like. And clean. Very clean, for being made of stone. Shakaina took off the coat, and Garen hung it up on a hook. She looked around, and a woman walked into the room. She was short and healthily plump. She had graying brown hair pulled into a tight knot, and the same blue eyes as Garen. She looked at Shakaina, and then broke into a big grin.
"So you're this Ina I've heard so much about! Welcome to the Weyr!" She shook Shakaina's hand, and then hugged her. Shakaina was stunned for a moment, and then pleased. She was already part of the family. There was a voice from another room, faint, but could still be heard.
"I wanna see her! I wanna see Garen's girlfriend!" Shakaina shot a sideways glance at Garen, and saw him smiling with a faint blush crawling up his cheeks. A little girl, maybe seven came running into the room. Her blond pigtails trailed behind her. She stopped and stared at Shakaina.
"Hello. I'm Shakaina. What's your name?" The girl just stared silently. Another girl appeared in the doorway behind her. She was older, maybe fifteen or sixteen. She had her mother's brown hair, and green eyes. That must be Desiree.
"That's Renina. She's kinda shy. Are you the one that needs to borrow my clothes?" asked the girl with a smile. Shakaina smiled back at her and nodded.
"Where I'm from, the temperature never goes below eighty degrees." Desiree grimaced.
After the introductions, Shakaina was shown her room. She was in a small room to herself, in between Garen's, and the room that Desiree and Renina shared. Desiree entered at one point with armfulls of clothes. She dumped them all onto the cot.
"Some of them are old, but they're all warm. And they should fit you. We're pretty much the same size," she said. Shakaina thanked her, and then sorted through the pile. There were many interesting things, many of them a pale, pale blue or pure white. She pulled out a pair of darker blue leggings and a thick light blue long sleeved tunic. She looked at them with interest. She had never seen anything like them, really. She pulled them on, and was delighted to see that they fit perfectly. She pulled on a big knitted sweater, and some knitted gloves. She pulled on some big black boots, and then pulled on the furry coat from before. She felt like a snowbunny. She smiled at herself in the looking glass. She heard a giggle from behind her, and turned to see Desiree.
"They look good on you. A good fit. Are you cold? I would never wear that much clothes at once. What do you have, five layers there?" It was true she had on a short sleeve shirt too, and several pairs of socks, but she wasn't used to this weather, and she said so. Desiree just smiled, shook her head and left the room. But she came back a few seconds later, leaned her head in, and said to Shakaina, "Make sure you have all those clothes ready for tomorrow. It's gonna be a big day for you." She said this with a twinkle in her eye, and then left again. Shakaina ran to the door and lened into the hallway.
"What do you mean? What are we doing tomorrow?" Desiree just smiled mysteriously and kept walking. Shakaina groaned and went back to her room.
"Get up, Ina! Get up! It's time for you to go if you want to go to the-" The little girl's speech was cut off by Desiree's hand over her mouth. Shakaina grumbled and rolled over, off of the cot. She stood, wobbling. The girls left the room, laughing. And she stood and put on the clothes from the other day. She stepped from the room, still yawning. She nearly ran into Garen, who laughed at the sight of her.
"Are you cold? You're dressed like an eskimo!"
"A what?" she asked with a yawn. He shook his head.
"Nevermind. Are you ready to go? Where's Ice? He'll wanna come with us." This was enough to spark Shakaina's interest. She called to Ice, and he joined her, chirruping. And then, they were outside. The same dragonrider from before was waiting there. He didn't look her up and down this time, but looked nervously at Garen. He helped them onto the back of the dragon, and then they were off. Shakaina didn't know where they were going even when they blinked between.