Sarine
:Story::Search::Hatchling::Weyrling::Adult:
:Opal Moon Weyr::Tripaldi Weyr

Sarine rode without stopping, keeping Dart at a brisk trot to keep him from tiring too quickly. From time to time she slowed him to a walk to allow him time to catch his breath, but before long she would have him trotting out again. Night fell and still she kept on riding, determined to catch up with Rodilon. She knew where he’d gone, but she had no idea how far ahead of her he was. She had not thought to bring food so there was no reason for her to stop, besides her own growing exhaustion. But on she rode, never once thinking about the importance of rest in such a situation.

Sometime the next day Sarine felt her eyes begin to grow heavy. Her stomach had been growling unmercifully since sometime in the middle of the night, but around mid morning it had stopped and Sarine was grateful. Barely able to keep her eyes open Sarine’s grasp on the reins slackened. Dart, almost as tired as his rider was used this as an excuse to stop, his head falling to the ground where he weakly lipped up some strands of grass. Sarine bent in the saddle, her eyes closing as she tumbled off. Dart took two side steps away from her and wandered aimlessly to the side of the path, where there was plenty of grass and a small stream to keep him occupied and content.


Sarine’s eyes opened slowly and she blinked as the light stabbed into them. She shook her head but the pain in it was excruciating. She groaned and raised a hand to protect her eyes from the glaring light. She felt something soft brush her forehead and the sweet scent of horse whuffled over her as she realized Dart was standing over her. Then something cool and wet was placed to her lips and she drank eagerly. She blinked her eyes open again then and saw the man squatting beside her.

Sarine sat up in a hurry but she had to stop to hold her head as it began to throb. She winced and propped herself on one arm as she pressed the other to the back of her head.

“Easy there,” said the man, placing a restraining hand on her shoulder. “No need to get up in a rush, you hit your head pretty hard when you fell off. What were you doing riding out here if you couldn’t even stay in the saddle?”

Sarine scowled at the man and said nothing for a moment. She was in no mood to be insulted and she snatched the water bottle from his hands, drinking gratefully before she handed it back to him with a glare.

“Well, so you’re not going to explain yourself, are you?” he said with a chuckle. “Very well, allow me to introduce myself. I am M’naz, and that big blue beast over there is my blue, Falaath.”

Sarine’s eyes opened wide at that and she peered past him where there was indeed a blue dragon peering at her curiously. She turned her gaze back to M’naz and cursed herself for a fool. He was indeed dressed as a dragonrider, with the knots of a searchrider on his shoulder. She heaved a sigh and bowed her head, realizing that any dragonrider deserved respect.

“Thank you for your water, dragonrider,” she said softly and M’naz looked at her in mock surprise.

“Ah, so it does speak, does it?” He laughed heartily and stood up, carefully helping her to her feet. “Are you feeling alright?”

Sarine wavered as she stood, feeling very shaky, but her legs held her up and she looked at the dragonrider as she replied. “Not perfect no, but I suppose I’ll live.”

“Haha! Now that’s the spirit!” he laughed, patting her gently on the back.

“Thank you for coming to check on me,” she said, swallowing her pride even more. “I’m afraid Dart and I forgot to take any food on our journey. That must have left me weaker than I thought it would.”

“Ah, so you were travelling, were you?” he asked, arching a brow at her. “Where from and where to?”

Sarine didn’t like the urgency beneath his casual tone when he asked that question and she frowned. “What does that matter? What’s important is I didn’t die en route.”

M’naz’s eyebrows shot up at her tone and he looked surprised. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much. Don’t worry though, if you’re a runaway I wasn’t about to take you back. I thought I might offer you a ride to wherever you were going. Or perhaps ask you to return to Opal Moon Weyr with myself and Falaath.”

Sarine’s eyes grew huge as M’naz turned slightly away from her and walked in the direction of his dragon. Falaath was still staring intensely at her and she could almost detect a low croon coming from his direction. She looked wide-eyed from Falaath to M’naz and back again, not sure what to think. Behind her, Dart was grazing peacefully, oddly not at all afraid of the nearby dragon and she shook her head.

“Thank you, but I couldn’t possibly leave my runner behind,” she said, almost wishing she’d come on foot so she could have taken M’naz up on his offer. He wanted her to go to the Weyr with him? She shook her head again and turned still rubbing the back of her head where she could tell she had a small lump forming.

“You could ride your runner to the nearest cothold and we could leave from there,” said M’naz casually and Sarine turned once more to look at him.

“You really want me to come with you don’t you?” she asked, a bit puzzled. “Why?”

“Because Falaath thinks you would make an excellent dragonrider,” he said simply and her mouth fell open.

Sarine stood there staring at him for a moment, knowing this was a huge decision, knowing she should think this through. Somewhere deep inside her a little voice asked, But what about Rodi? She paid it no heed, her impulsive nature took over and she turned to clamber onto Dart’s back.

“I’ll meet you at the nearest cothold!” she yelled, unable to keep her voice steady. “It should be one mile west of us!”

Forgetting her aching head and her weak limbs Sarine kicked Dart into a long ground-covering canter. Excitement and anticipation lending her strength she raced the wind, knowing in her heart she was probably being foolish and cursing herself for so easily abandoning Rodilon. But being a candidate was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she wasn’t about to pass it up. Rodilon would forgive her, and Sabriana would be so proud of her when she found out!