You walk into the cool,dark weyr.  It is dimly lighted, by a fire in one corner.  It sends shadows flickering about the walls like ghosts.  Sitting on a mat before the fire is a teenage girl, her back towards you.   You think her hair is a reddish brown, but can not be sure in the light.  So you look around at the walls.  They seem unusually bare, with only one weaving, nothing else.  It is of a gold sitting in the hatching grounds with twenty-four eggs, two golds, and her bondmate, from a dragon's eye view.

You turn from the picture and look at the dragon couch. At has been covered in wool and has a knitted quilt.  It isn't wonderfully made, but it seems well toiled over.  It has a kaleidoscope of colours on it.  Beside the couch is a bed, which has a matching quilt, and pillow, to the one on the dragon couch.  "M' sister made those for me," you hear from behind you, "She used to be a top knitter.  It was the last thing she made for me before she," she girl bites her lip, saying quietly, "died.  She'd first had trouble, 'cause she'd broke her arm, and then she, she drowned, falling off the boat." The girl turns from you and you can tell she is crying.  "I, I..." you start to speak and she cuts in, "I shouldn't have said anything.  M' name's Serephina.  I's Searched by Dawn Sisters Weyr.   They'd got nine eggs, including one queen.  Why I's Searched I don't know.   I'm just fourteen, I never thought I could be a candidate.  I still don't, kind of.  I've already stood for that clutch.  To much avail.  To stand there, feel the excitement biuld up, and then to be passed over.  It's horrible.   I don't know if I'd stand restanding, after I've been passed over.  But maybe my dragon is somewhere, not even an egg yet.  I don't know. I's given a flit egg once, but no one bothered to call me when it hatched.   My only companion here is my cat Serea.  She's hiding under the bed right now.   Always was timid.  Like me."  She smiles softly to herself.   You look to the bed, and sure enough, you make out a cat.  You smile to yourself, before hearing a call, "Serephina!"  "Oh!"  the girl clamps a hand over her mouth, "Gotta go!" she says, sprinting out.   You look once more round the weyr, which seems very empty and lonesome now, and go.

*Catch a flight to Dawn Sisters Weyr

*Back to Celeste