Raylan pushed a sweaty lock of black hair from her face as she worked with the hoe. It was a hot afternoon to be working in the large garden. She lived with her father, mother, jealous older half-brother Dretti and her two younger sisters in a small cothold outside of Cold Rocks Hold. Their family owned a small bit of land and had cultivated a large and lovely flower garden in their turns there, the large and lovery garden in which Raylan now worked dilligantly in. She didn't mind, it was hard work and made her tired, but she enjoyed the beauty of the garden, and was glad to help make it beautiful.
    Raylan was a tall girl of eighteen turns, with straight and dark black hair, brown eyes and coppery skin. She was usually quiet, but not because she was meek or shy, but because she usually had little to say. She liked to think and listen rather than talk. She was relatively strong for working in the garden all of her life, but not terribly strong, for her brother could and often did beat her up. Her strength of will often made up for her lack of physical strength, whenever she cared to use it.
    Raylan laid down the hoe, finished with this spot of the garden. Tired, she decided to go to the stream for a drink. As she apporached the stream, she heard shouts from the neighboring families.
    "Searchriders? Here, are you sure?"
    "I tell you I saw them! Said they were from Valley Weyr and were looking for candidates!" Raylan straightened, listening intently. Searchriders? Could it be! Her mind was racing. If there were actual Searchriders here, this could be her change. She had to get to them before Dretti did!
    Raylan's familiy had visited a Weyr once, and Raylan very much wanted to go there again. The people there had even wanted her,  Raylan, to stand for a clutch! She had wanted to yes, to Impress a dragon? Who would miss the opportunity! But her older brother Dretti had found out, and jealously whisked her away back to the cothold before she could agree to become a candidate. He had stayed there for a while, hoping they would chose him as a candidate, but they hadn't, they wanted Raylan, and angrilly he had returned home to beat her up. Now, Raylan could get her chance again! If only she found the Searchriders before Dretti did!
    She ran, forgetting her thirst, looking for the Searhriders, and found her way barred by the large form of her older half-brother. He was holding a peice of cloth and had a dangerious look in her eye. Raylan gulped. Normally, she could tolerate Dretti, but as she had seen at the Weyr, with anyting to do with her being a candidate, he might do anything. Raylan nearly screamed in frustration.
    "Dretti-" She began, but he cut her off by grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her cruelly.
    "Are there searchriders here?" He demanded. "Did you see them?" Gasping with pain, Raylan struggled in vein.
    "Yes!" She cried out. "Yes they're here, but I didn't see them." He let her arm go and she fell to the ground, gasping and cursing her weakness. Not for long though, seeing a chance, she struggled to get up and run away, Dretti may be strong but she was quick!
    Dretti saw her and grabbed her arm again. "No you don't." He said, holding her still and as he tied the cloth around her mounth so that she couldn't make a sound.
    "Come on!" He ordered her, dragging her roughly by the arm to the storage house. He open the door and threw her inside, locking it behind him. She couldn't cry out, but she banged on the door with her fists.
    "If you dont stop it, you'll get it when i let you out." Dretti told her sourly. Not if the Searchriders find me and take me to the Weyr!  Raylan thought, but beleived his threat and stopped pounding. He hadn't thought to tie her hands, maybe she could get the gag undone.
    Dretti, feeling quite pleased with himself, was about to go in search of the Searchrider, but she found him. The Searchrider from Valley Weyr, Adlan on Green Rarrath, attracted by the large garden, came to land in front of him.
    I can sense...something. Rarrath told her rider. Someone near here. Adlan looked around. If her dragon could sense a would-be candidate, it was her job to find that person, and Rarrath insisted strongly that it was not this boy that she sensed.
    "Hello." The boy said cheerily to them. "I'm Dretti, welcome to our cothold." Adlan looked around, humoring him. Probably he had hopes of becoming a candidate, and she woudl humor him until she found the one she was looking for.
    "Did you create this garden?" Adlan asked.
    "My family and I did."
    "Who is your family?"
    "Me, my father and my stepmother, my half-wit sister only a few turns younger and my two little sisters."
    "Where are they? I'd like to meet them." Was that sweat beading on Dretti's face?
    "Um, well, my little siters are helping my stepmom in the kitchen and my father is out working, you can meet them if you want, buy my other sister, she's away right now, on, on a trip to visit a sick friend." That was sweat.
    Rarrath was looking intently at the storage house, Adlan noticed and she followed Dretti to go meet the others. She must find who it was that Rarrath sensed.
    A faint drumming noise fell apon Adlan's ears.
    "What is that?" She asked Dretti, who had a very angry look on his face.
    "Ignore that." He said, rather loudly. "It just happens sometimes, we are never sure what it is." Rarrath was still looking at the storage house, the direction from which the sound was coming.
    "It sounds like it is coming from over there." She said. "Maybe we can find out right now what causes it."
    "Nooo, Dont!" Dretti said frantialy. "I- I mean, dont worry about it now, you are on Search and have more important things to worry about than strange noises."
    Adlan ignored this, sure now, that the source of Rarrath's feelings came from inside this building. There was someone inside, pounding on the door! She unlocked it quickly, and Raylan fell out in a breathless heap. Rarrath bugled. Adlan hastily bent down to ungag the girl. Raylan stood up, her face hardening as she glared at Dretti.
    "You've really done it now." She began, her mind going through all of the things she could do to him. She had a whitness now, this Searchrider, and she could get him back! The Searchrider cut Raylan off.
    "He sure deserves what he'll get once your parents find out, but right now, don't worry about it, not when you've got a better opportunity, and opportinuty to be a candidate! In fact, if you don't come back with me to the Weyr willingly, I might drag you there myself."
    The rage in Dretti's face made Raylan gloat inside. "Of coarse I'll go!" And Dretti wouldn't try anything to stop her, not in front of a Searchrider.