Alotta ran through the hallways looking for something she’d dropped. She didn’t know why she was looking for it, but she knew she’d dropped it. She ran so fast she watched the halls blur past her in her rush of motion. She saw something sparkle from the side of the hallway. She skidded to a stop, and looked down to find the emerald that she had dropped. "Journeyman Klia is going to kill me!!! How could I have let this one slip! It’s the only one that I actually cut right!" Suddenly there was a tap on her shoulder, and she turned around to face.... Journeyman Klia. "Ah.. G’day Journeyman---Journeywoman--- Klia. Is there anything I can do for you?"

The Journeywoman looked at her, an angry glint in her eye. "Where were you an hour ago?"

Alotta blinked. An hour ago she had been.... Well, let’s not think about that right now. "An hour ago... I... I was---"

"Doing something you shouldn’t have been obviously, you missed your lesson. Now, give me that emerald and get out of my sight!"

Alotta dropped the emerald, and it split in a diagonal through it. She looked up at the furious Journeywoman, and ran outside, her bootlaces hanging loose.

Morhen sat talking to R’derb, rider of Blue Greenth. They were laughing about something when Ridera, another dragonrider, walked up, and started whining.

"R’derb!! I can’t like find her like anywhere and it’s like driving Blueth crazy and stuff! Cause like we know she’s here and like and like it’s all getting like all muddled up and stuff."

R’derb looked at Morhen and then back at Ridera and said, in the same whiny tone "Ridera-a! We’ll like like find her like somehow and stuff and like calm like down cause it’s like not really like that worth it like you know and all. You go into the like lower caverns and like have some klah and stuff and like and stuff, you know?"

Meanwhile, Morhen was looking at the pair as though they had some sort of disease. He changed his look when Ridera went off to do exactly what R’derb had sent her off to do, and smiled warmly at the rider. It was not a good idea to make them angry. Nod-nod.

R’derb turned to Morhen and said, "I’m sorry you had to see that." In the same calm manner in which he had been speaking with Morhen before.

Morhen, not wanting to respond, looks down at the ground, and sees that R’derb’s bootlace is untied. So, being the neat-freak that he is, Morhen says "Your bootlace is untied."

R’derb nodded, and said "Oh." He reached down to tie his bootlace, and the lace snapped in his hand. It sounded like he said "Shards!" under his breath, but one can never be sure when a rider is intending to swear or not, especially R’derb.

Morhen, wanting out of the sibling riders’ company, said, "I have an extra bootlace, I’ll run get it for you." And Morhen got up, and started running across the courtyard.

R’derb said "But.. wait.. but-- shards." As the boy started running.

Morhen ran for the nearest entrance just as Alotta was running out of it. And, as one would expect, they collided, both falling backwards into the dirt of the courtyard.

They both said "Hey!" in unison, and neither of them noticed that Ridera had run up to R’derb, flustered.

Morhen stood up, and held a helping hand out to Alotta. "Let me help you up. I’m sorry, I should have watched where I was going."

Alotta blinked, no one had ever treated her nicely, and it just got her all worried. She took Morhen’s hand, and he helped brush all of the sand and grit off her pretty yellow dress. "It’s all right. It’s just a dress after all."

Morhen nodded, and said "So long as you’re all right."

Just then, Ridera and R’derb walked up to them, and R’derb said "Greenth and Blueth want you to be candidates at Dragonstar Weyr."

Ridera followed that with "A chance at like impressing cute little draggies and stuff, you know?"

Morhen looked at the still-frightened and slightly dusty Alotta, and then back at the riders. "I’ll go." He said, finally getting around to brushing the dust off of his clothes

Alotta nodded. "Me too." She said, taking a reflexive step backwards from the riders.

Ridera nodded, and said "Let’s go!" and grabbed Alotta’s arm and dragged her off towards her green Blueth.

Morhen looked at R’derb, and he shrugged., and gestured to his blue Greenth.

"After you." Morhen said.

And that was that, they were off to Dragonstar Weyr.

Morhen and Alotta are candidates at the wonderful Dragonstar Weyr!