Amalasa yawned. It had been a long night of work for her, scrubbing and cleaning until the weyr was spotless. She was proud of it, even though it wasn't really hers. It was a joint weyr, were two dragonriders lived in their separate chambers, G'idin with his blue and Gwinna with her green. And of coarse, the two hated each other with a passion. Gwinna had been there first, and thought that G'idin, it had been Gaidin at the time, she thought that his arrival had been a personal insult to her, what with him trampling her plants (Gwinna loved to garden) and insulting her. And G'idin, many turns Gwinna's senior, thought her an annoying child that he constantly had to put up with, and it was all Amalasa could do to keep them from each other's throats. It was enough to drive anyone mad!
    How Amalasa had come to live with them had been special circumstance, something she now regretted. She had been born and raised at a small hold outside of The Twin Weyr, and had come to live there at the Dragon Fang half at a young age, to apprentice to the headwoman. After a while though, Amalasa realized that that sort of job was just not the type she wanted, but she dreaded going back to her hold. The headwoman had kindly offered her a place to stay that had soon turned into a weyr for Candidate Gwinna, and Candidate G'idin as well. Gwinna was young, so Amalasa took care of her in much the same way as a foster mother her fosterlings, and G'idin didn't really need it, but now the two were so arguementive that Amalasa's duty now included keeping the peace in that weyr.
    Her firelizard, a bronze named Deadglow, for he seemed to lack intelligence sometimes, sat preening himself. She remembered impressing him there at Dragon Fang Weyr long ago.

    Now of coarse, she had to clean for them. She had to cook for them, and do general housekeeping for them, for they were so busy with their weyrling training, and now with their threadfighting, that they had time for little else. It was nice, she supposed, to live at a Weyr, better off than she was at the hold, but she still didn't really want to spend the rest of her life cleaning after two dragonriders who couldn't say five civil words to each other. But what could she do? Return to the hold? And if she did, who would keep Gwinna and G'idin in check?
    When her way of escape came, it came from such an unexpected direction that she had never expected it to come from that direction before. But once it did, once the seed was planted in her mind, it was all she wanted to try. Having lived in a weyr much of her life, it was quite a surprise that Amalasa hadn't ever thought of becoming a dragonrider herself before. Of coarse she had dreamed of it, who on Pern hadn't, but she had never really considered it. By now, at twenty five turns, she felt she was too old anyway. But the day one of the riders at Dragon Soul had made a remark about her "having enough wit to be a dragonrider!" When she had tricked him into drinking klah instead of wine, by the Egg he was drunk enough already, but that casually joking remark planted a seed in her head that she could not ignore.
    How to escape was to become a dragonrider! There was a clutch to be laid soon, and perhaps she could get a Searchrider to stand her as candidate for it! It wasn't quite as easy as that, but with luck, and if she kept her wits about her, she could do it.
    So on the day the visitors from Dark Moon Weyr arrived, she did not notice. She was too busy trying to be noticed by the Dragon Fang searchriders, which was foolish of coarse, but Amalasa hardly took a care. She only noticed the Dragon Fang seachriders, not the guest dragonriders strolling along the halls with them.
    Yet K'var noticed her. His first glimpse of the woman with the long, wavy brown hair in a yellow dress was casual, but when he saw her again, he was sure of something about her. His Blue Merrenth confirmed this, from his position in the weyrbowl.
    "Excuse me." He said politely to his hosts and started down the corridors after her. It took some doing, she could walk awfully fast, but he caught up to her.
    "Hello girl, what is your name?" Of coarse, she was hardly a girl, and at first glance at her face K'var wondered if she was too old to be a candidate for Kasamath's clutch.
    She made a slight curtsy and answered, looking levelly into his eyes. "Amalasa sir."
    "How old are you?"
    "Nearly twenty six turns." She replied. Almost too old, but still possible. She would do fine.
    "Well Amalasa, will you come with me back to Dark Moon Weyr, there is a Gold Clutch there that I would like you to stand for." Amalasa gasped. What she had intended all along, but at a different Weyr! Her chance!
    "Yes sir, I will, just let me pack my things and I'll be ready!" Head still whirling, Amalasa scampered down the hall and to her shared Weyr. Of coarse, now that she was leaving there would be no one to keep the two dragonriders from each other's throats, but perhaps a little time forced to live just with each other would teach them to get along, and they would both agree, how could she miss this opportunity. A Gold's Clutch! At Dark Moon Weyr!
    The next day, as Amalasa climbed onto the Blue's neck behind the Dark Moon searchrider, her adventure, and a new stage of her life, truly began.