Candidate

"Just pick it up Tyrenn!" His sister cries. "No way! It's gonna bite me! Look its staring me down! It's gonna kill me Kialna!" Tyrenn protests. Kialna sighs. "He;s waiting for you to pet him Tyrenn. You're 18 turns and you're still afraid of felines." Tyrenn flashes his sister an angry look. "Yeah well for 20 turns you're

pretty stupid. And besides you weren't the one attacked by a feline when you were little!" His sister rolls her eyes. "Well that cat wouldn't have attacked you if you had stopped pulling its tail." Tyrenn opens his mouth to say something but closes it and croses his arms instead. His sister sighs again. "You're hopeless Tyrenn. I don't know why I even bother. Well I'll be back when I can handle more of this. I'm leaving the cat here though," she says as she walks out.

Tyrenn looks at the cat, and it looks back calmly. Tyrenn takes a deep breath and then walks toward the cat. The cat remains still, waiting for Tyrenn to finially stroke his fur. Tyrenn puts his head out and lightly touches the cats head. The cat moves closer and Tyrenn pulls his hand back in fear. When he notices that the cat was only being affectionate he puts his hand out again and pets him longer. The cat starts to purr and Tyrenn finially feels at ease. He breathes out and then looks around. He pulls up a old, worn-in chair and down. The cat quickly jumps down onto his lap and curls up. Tyrenn continues to pet him until the cat goes to sleep. "Now what I going to do?" He doesn't want to get up, fearing he'll wake the cat.

About a half hour later the cat jumps off suddendly and heads for the kitchen. Tyrenn follows him, not really sure what he's going to do. The cat walks up to a bowl of meat his sister must have put there before. Tyrenn gets him a bowl of water and puts it down next to the meat and then walks towards his room. When he reaches it he pulls on a pair of sandals and then walks back out to the living quarters. He pauses to look at the cat again before walking out the door.

Tyrenn walks down the long flight of stairs and walks to the hatching sands. When he reaches them he looks over the candidate list. He smiles when he sees that the current clutch needs candidates. He looks over the other females soon to be clutching. "Well this clutch is as good as any," he says before he writes his name in an open candidate slot. "Hope I get white," he says to himself. "Why would you want a white?" A voice says from behind him. Tyrenn wirls around and comes face to face with Hulin, another candidate. "Well I just think they're neat," he says. Hulin frowns. "Don't you at least want a brown? Then you can mate with the queens," he says. Tyrenn shakes his head. "No I don't really want to fly a queen. Flying any female is good enough for me Hulin." Hulin raises an eyebrow. "But they're so small! Smaller then greens, and they seem small to me." Tyrenn smiles. "I think thats why I want one, because they're small. I mean look at me, I'm about as tall as an elf." Hulin smiles. "Yeah thats true," he jokes. "What color do you want?" Tyrenn askes. "Bronze or blue I think," he replies. Tyrenn smiles. "Blue? But they can't mate with queens either." "Yeah but it's my favorite color," he says. Tyrenn frowns. "Well thats probably the color I want least. I'm not big on blue so..." Tyrenn trails off.

Later when he walks into his weyr again the cat greets him at the door with a welcoming meow. "Hey cat," he says. He bends down to pet the cat again and then continues into the living quarters. He sits down and once again the cat jumps to him lap and lies down. Tyrenn absently strokes him while he thnks about the dragon color he really wants. he finds himself talking to the cat. "Well I think I want a white, but Hulin was right, they can't

mate with queens, which is a minus. But they're small, which is a plus, well for me anyway. So we're pretty much balanced in the end. What do you think cat?" He askes. The cat looks at him and meows a response. Tyrenn sighs. "Yeah thats what I thought too." Tyrenn is quiet for awhile and then he looks down at the cat, who meows again as he meets his gaze. "You really need a name," Tyrenn says. The cat meows again. "How about Meomit?" The cat meows once more. "Ok," Tyrenn smiles, knowing the cat could probably care less anyway.

In the evening, Meomit jumps from his lap and walks toward a walll opposite the chair. Tyrenn watches as Meomit sits and waits for a large rat to come out of a crack in the wall. When he does, Meomit pounces and captures it, taking it into the other room when he will most likely eat it. "Well at least he's good for something besides keeping your legs warm," he says with a laugh. He gets out of the chair and walks into the kitchen, where ih starts to make dinner for himself. He males a new pitchen of klah and takes some fruit from the basket on the table. With this he akes a fruit salad which he eats quickly so the apples in it don't turn brown. After he finishes that he pours himself a cup of klah and drinks it slowly, enjoying the warmth. He cleans up his mess and then walks to the bedroom wear he changes and jumps under the covers to avoid the cold stone floor. Even in the south the nights are cold in a Weyr. Meomit jumps up soon after and the two friends fall asleep.