"Mother." Faralona said with a sigh. Her mother Forra ignored her blissfully, still pinning and sewing on the hem of the dress that Faralona modeled. "Mother," she said a little more aggressively. Finally, with no effect there, she added a turn and put her fists upon her narrow hips. "Mo-THER!"

"Hold still dear, the dress won't make itself."

Fuming, Faralona was very tempted to just yank the skirt away and leap from the box she stood upon. Instead, she chose to glower at the back of her mother's flaxen haired head until she could take no more.

"Mother, I'm not going to wear this."

"Of course you are," Forra said with her teeth gritted around another pair of pins. "You'll look wonderful at the gather."

"But mother I won't be able to ride that runner there, and it'll be impossible to chase that dimglow colt around in this. I can't wear it to the gather!" She said, flustered. But at that notion, her mother stood up and removed the pins from her mouth.

"You will go to that gather and look nice there." Her voice told Faralona that she meant it. But that was beside the point - because Faralona did too.

"Mother, I'm going to the gather to sell that runner and her colt, not to find a husband. For the last time, I'm wearing my normal clothing." Faralona stepped down from the box, and so-so-so wanted to yank the dress off herself and throw it down. But she knew how much work Forra had put into it.

"Look," Faralona said, holding her hands up, "I - for the last time - am not interested in getting married off! I'm ... I just don't - want to!"

"What you want and what you're going to get are different things, Fara!" Her mother yelled, losing her temper at last. While she was normally quite sedate, Faralona often brought out the worst in her. In fact, Faralona brought out the worst in everyone. She was always in scuffles and fights, and not just little ones. Spats with the other drudge children and perhaps the herder folk Forra was prepared to deal with. But too often, Faralona got mixed up with some of the younger Holders - their superiors. If it went too far, Forra was worried that they'd wind up being penalized or even sent away for her behavior. They could not afford that.

"Faralona, you are going to marry eventually, and you need to find yourself a man who will put up with you. They're not going to let you wear men's clothing, nor parade about as though you were more skilled as they! They're men! They have egos - but they also have the money and the power around here!"

While some of the words that her mother spoke might have been true, Faralona understood only one thing: that she was being mocked, and being married off would kill her as surely as a dragon turned thread to ash.

She growled and spun, "mother you don't understand at all!"

"I understand that you're a young woman, and you're in a cothold that can afford a little leeway now and again... But with your father away and your brother too young to work much-"

"Marry him off," Fara hissed, "he's cute, at least he 'gets' to wear men's clothing!"

And with that, Fara stormed away into the barn.

 

**she is the one who is in Eshishy's story, let's hope she gets a gold... wherever she goes**