A ten-turn-old Tauryn limped past the group of teens, ignoring their stares, but turning red at the same time. By the time she reached the doorway, she was red as a ripe tomato. She felt tears welling up in her eyes as she heard the first insult being shouted at her.
"Hey, Gimpy! Where's your cane?"
"Hello, gorgeous! You have the prettiest legs I've ever seen!"
"May I have this dance? Can you dance? Or does your leg mess you up?" The most painful, perhaps, was what Tauryn overheard a girl whispering to her friend.
"Look at how beautiful she would be if her leg wasn't like that." Tauryn rushed into her home, tears streaming down her face.
Tauryn remembered that night, the one a few years ago. She had sixteen turns now, and wasn't hurt as much by their rude remarks, when they came. She sat on her sleeping furs, staring at her leg. The twisted, deformed appendage which had caused her so much pain and grief. She had been born that way, with the deformed leg. It was alright from the hip to the mid-thigh, but then it was...different. It was twisted, the bone was weak. It caused her to walk with a serious, very noticable limp. That girl had been right, six turns ago. She was beautiful, had it not been for her leg. She had long, dark brown hair which fell to her shoulders in tight spiral curls. She usually wore a band across her forehead to keep the curls out of her face. Her face featured two large brown eyes that always seemed sad, even when she smiled. They were framed by very long, thick, dark lashes, and middle-sized arched eyebrows. Her nose was small, with a slight tilt. She had rosy-pink lips, permanently set in a pout, for a smile from Tauryn was rare indeed. She was not thin, and not fat. She was middle sized, with tight stomach muscles. She was short, giving people another reason to tease her. Her dark eyes and hair gave her a dramatic look.
"Come on Taur, snap out of it." She often found herself feeling sorry for herself, and would never, ever let it get out of hand. Ever since that night that she had ran away crying, she would not crush her pride again. She pulled a cape around her, and pulled up the hood. She then left the house, off to prove that she was just as good as anybody else.
For as long as she could remember, Tauryn was told she would never amount to anything. That she would never get a job, never have any friends, and never be in love. And the main thing, the one thing that she wanted more than the whole world- to ride a dragon- she was told never to even try. She had gone to a searchrider three turns before, when she had thirteen turns. She had stepped up to the rider and his giant blue dragon. He looked at her face, and saw how determined she was. He asked her to please come closer so that the dragon could Search her. She walked forward. He noticed her limp, and then saw her leg. She saw the look of disgust on his face, before it was masked over by a look of indifference. But nevertheless, she remembered what he had said.
"Little girl. Are you sure you want to be Searched? If you are, and you are accepted as a candidate, are you sure you want to go? Because there will be many able-bodied people there. They will most likely torment you. Can you handle that? And even if they don't, the dragons are not going to want someone with a... disability like your own. You can barely walk, let alone take care of another life."
Tauryn knew that her leg had nothing to do with her ability to take care of another life. She knew that she was perfectly capable to do anything that she wanted to. She had survived thirteen turns, hadn't she? And she knew, or at least she believed, that dragons were not so quick to judge as humans. A dragon would not care if she had a gimp leg. They wouldn't care that she was short. They wouldn't care if a person was white, black, yellow, or polka-dotted, just as long as they were a good person inside. Or at least that was what she had thought, before encountering that rider. But he was older than her, and he had a dragon to boot. He must be smarter than her. He would know more than she did. And so, foolishly, she believed him, and walked away.
"That will not happen again. I'm not gonna take anything from anyone, I don't care if she's a goldrider! They do not know me, and they have no right to judge me." Tauryn stormed up the street, fully prepared to tell someone off. Her royal blue cape swirled behind her. She found the gather easily- it was where everyone was going. Of course, whith lots of people was not the best place to be.
"Hey! Don't you need to be able to ride a dragon in order to impress it?"
"Go home!"
"No dragon is ever gonna want her."
Tauryn held her chin up and walked right past them. The taunts followed her all the way up to the line waiting to be Searched. The people in front of her stared for a moment before turning around. The person who lined up behind her stayed a good three feet away, as if she had some kind of contagious disease. She looked ahead to see the searchdragon and rider. Her heart sank. A blue dragon. It was not the same one, this she knew. But was the rider as shallow as the other? This she would have to find out.
As she neared the front of the line, she could hear laughter from the people already searched. She saw eyes turned toward her, looking her up and down, and then turning away. She felt another wave of red threatening to crawl up her neck. But she would not let it happen. She thrust her chin out, and stepped up to the searchrider.
"Hello. My name is R'lan, and this is Blue Ancith. We are searchriders from Ryslen Weyr. Now, if you'll only wait a moment, while Ancith Searches you, that would be great." Tauryn was floored. he had to have noticed her limp. It was impossible not to miss it. And yet, he didn't care. He was treating her like everyone else.
Tauryn was still confused when the dragon roared over her head, signaling that she had been searched, and was now accepted as a candidate. She gaped at R'lan, who smiled nicely at her. She ventured a smile of her own, the first she had smiled in over ten turns. It felt strange on her face, but right just the same.
"Congratulations. You are a candidate at Ryslen Weyr," whispered the bluerider to her.