The large cothold among the low hills beckons you. Around it for several hundred yards are fields and gardens, as well as pens with goats, sheep and the occasional larger herd beast.
Notably, a number of brightly colored birds (perhaps brought by the Ancients? they certainly don't look natural around the other native animals) walk carefully among the plants, and high in the trees.
The building is made of stones and brick, with two large chimneys each with a plume of pale smoke coming from it. There are low, large windows on several sides of the home, with glass set into them that shines.
There is a courtyard on the east side, where a pair of runner beasts are tethered, and a larger area beyond which it appears that dragons habitually use as a landing ground.
Vines grow on the west side, all the way up the side of the building. Small, violet and blue flowers accent the whole area on that side, and fragrant smells waft on the slight breeze to your nose.
You estimate there are at least a dozen children in the house, and, curious, you move closer to look into the window.
Sure enough, there is a group of young children, all perhaps under 12 turns old, gathered around an adult woman, singing and playing a dance game.
Suddenly aware of you, the woman looks up and breaks off from her game. She smiles brilliantly and tells the oldest girl to continue the game, while she gets up and comes to the door.
"Mostly..." She repeats. Then she smiles again, and holds out her arm indicating the more orderly and unused dining room area of the house, on the eastern side. "Come in, traveler. Anyone is welcome for a day or two in my cothold. That is, if you can tolerate the children."
"You certainly have a lot of them!" You say, suddenly, blurting out before you think it might be rude.
She just laughs. "They aren't all mine," she says, "only three of them. I do have many more, but these are the youngest of them."
"Like those ones with the tails?" You ask, looking at them outside, as they make an odd noise.
(("Reeeaaaww! Reeeaaaw!" they call))
"Oh, no, those ... well, yes, I suppose that you could say I bred them, they were nearly extinct when I found them on the Southern continent. They're called peacocks. Truly beautiful, aren't they?" She watches them for a moment, as entranced as any one would be as if seeing them for the first time.
"Would you like some klah? I've always got some on." She makes herself busy with getting you something to drink, and adds a small plate of cookies to your serving as if on impulse. "Don't tell the children," she whispers. "They don't get cookies until later."
"I've come about the Candidates," you say, around a mouthful of tasty oatmeal cookie.
"Oh, my children. Most of them are quite old enough to take care of themselves, but they always come back to visit me. If you want to see their pictures and learn more about each of them, you can go into this room and take a look at their journals. They continually send me updates, some of them even send me pictures and gifts from their Weyrs. I'm so very proud of all of them, even those who I only Fostered."
