"Welcome to Pern," R'lan yelled back to them over the wind. "Your new home!"

Lena peered down at her new home and immediatly closed her eyes. It was so far down. "Can't we land?" she asked, not sure her stomach would wait until then.

R'lan chuckle. "Soon! We've got to get greet Sioxth first!" Ancith let forth a deafening bugle which jarred his passengers. A green, smaller version of him bugled back in reply.

Ancith continued to spiral lazily to the ground. After what seemed like an eternity to Lena, he touched the ground and knelt for his rider to dismount. "Ah, it's good to be home!" R'lan annonced, leaping from Ancith's back.

"Where were you?" R'lan stopped celebrating at the icy words. A woman who reminded Lena of Sara with the same gray haired yet powerful and somewhat deadly looks stood with her arms crossed. "I thought it was supposed to be a short, routine trip to Earth."

"Well, Ancith got his coordinates mixed up and we ended up on..." he looked to Ryff and Lena for a name but they only shrugged. They had never had a need to name their world. "On their world," he indicated Ryff and Lena who were still clinging to Ancith.

The woman seemed to be appraising both of them. Lena met her steely gaze with the fiercest look she could in the face of this powerful woman and Ryff simply returned the woman's gaze stonily. "They certainly are an interesting pair," she admitted after a few minutes.

"Very interesting," R'lan agreed. "In their world, there was some sort of revolt going on. They were leading it, or helping to lead it. They won't tell me or Ancith very much."

"Hmm. Smart too," the woman commented, then, dismissing R'lan, walked up to Ancith and his passengars. "I'm sure Ancith needs to rest, so you should get down now," the woman instructed them. "I won't look up at Candidates if I can help it."

Lena slid down Ancith's side and was followed by Ryff. The blue rumbled and then began lumbering off across the dusty bowl. "Welcome to Ryslen Weyr. I am Weyrwoman Tiyanni," she introduced herself. "What exactly that means will be explained to you during your studies before you Impress. But for now, just understand that I am in charge."

"So, why are we here again?" Lena asked. "R'lan said something about being Candidates to Impress dragons, but he didn't say what that meant."

"Ah, searchriders," Tiyanni sighed. "So good at finding Candidates, not so good at explaining much of anything to other-worlders. It means that you will, if you Impress, become the rider of a dragon like R'lan's Ancith, who brought you here. It sounds confusing now, I know, but you will understand it before the Hatching."

Lena and Ryff were shown to different barracks where other Candidates, Searched from this world and many others, were already living. As they had learned to be upper class, now the Workers would learn to be Candidates and, someday, riders.



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