Aaryea, female, 5’9”, 150, blond hair, blue eyes, with lightly tanned skin, aged 19 turns.

Her hair is often kept back with ties and weaves, and she is very fond of dresses, particularly fancy ones. A Lady Holder herself, born outside of Caledrus but from a larger and richer Hold. Originally she was meant to marry into the Caledrus family, but the young man she was supposed to marry wound up running away with a seacrafting girl. She has remained on, halfway adopted into the Hold house, and very welcome in it. She is well known for being very beautiful, though there are more subtle women about. She is typical of Ladies everywhere, in that she has been groomed for certain expectations, however she herself tires of the endless chatter, sewing and busywork which takes up most elder Ladies time. She is remarkably selfless when it comes to certain things, she knows that she is beautiful but she then turns to her tailor, her seamstress and even her drudges on occasion to prove where the beauty lies. She is also rather brave, though in physical ways rather than the Holder ways. She would never dare challenge a Lord to his holdings, nor presume to know anything other than her place in a Hold. However in any other setting, particularly a Weyr, she is very curious, intense, and strong willed.

-- Later pairs up with Tzaedo, has two children with him, Ryzo and Azaeda

"I live here," she said, and pushed aside a thick burgandy-colored drapery. The room which it hides was dim but easily brightened by the stirring of glows in their baskets. Soon enough, the room's dimensions become apparent. It was a low-ceilinged but wide area, with dark walls strung with many tapestries and cloth hangings. Here and there was the glimmer of gold or brass, copper and other metals which shine when glows hit them. There was a wide bed toward the end of the room, curtained off halfway by a deep brown hanging. It smelled of musk and heavy perfumes, but certainly not unpleasantly so.

There were low cabinets along the walls, each made of wood that has been carved and laquered heavily into a rich almost-black shade. A large chest rested open near the edge of her bed, and Aaryea smirked while walking over to close it.

"I study here," she waved a tanned hand at a long writing desk which had a wax tablet and its own warmer beneath it to re-melt the wax when she was done using it. Since paper was in better abundance here than anywhere else on Pern, she seemed to have a lot of it about as well. Her handwriting seemed to be heavy, fluid and graceful, just like her stride.

When everyone has had an eyefull of her room, Aaryea asked if anyone had any questions.

"I do," replied a young woman, whose appearance and garb remind Aaryea of someone she knew back her her home Hold. "How would a girl like yourself manage to get herself stuck in a place like this, when she was born to do better things?"

There was muttering from the other visitors. How rude!

"The girl has made the absolute best of her situation, and would hardly want to return to her home Hold when there was only stagnation and commonality there." Aaryea chose to say. Her words clearly stung the woman, who must have been just slightly older than she. Turning abruptly, Aaryea smiled to the others and said, "because Caledrus is my chosen home, and not what was merely foisted upon me, I have had the chance to better myself in whatever way I chose. My planned husband did nothing for me - or the Hold - so his parents accepted me as their daughter none the less."

"How good of them to do so," muttered the Lady, "otherwise you'd have been out on your ear."

"And it would have been a grand adventure, which I believe I'd be up to," Aaryea spat gently. The lesser born of the group sensed that this was a spat that could only take place between two high-born ladies, and they slipped away. That left one or two people, a crafter boy whose father was considering moving to Caledrus, and two young Lordlings who were quite interested in seeing how this was going to play out.

"Hmph," Aaryea snorted, when she noticed that her group was no longer intact. "You seem to have driven away some potential Hold inhabitants," she turned her icy glare at the girl, "I'd ask you what you'd do in return, if you've made a handful of new servants turn away from their employers? Would you be interested in staying long enough to mend this curtain?" She touched one corner of a deeply colored cloth which had tattered - apparently from a cat or small animal deciding to shred it. "Or, perhaps you would rather be placed among the kitchen staff - where they would serve food nonstop and clean and gut animals?"

The expression on the offending Lady's face was precious to the Lordlings, this Aaryea girl knew how to insult people - but she also seemed keenly aware if not interested in the wellfare of her servants. That was rather odd among them.

It interested the crafter boy, though - he knew because he had friends that were drudges, that the hard work of a Hold was done tirelessly by people, not machines, not animals, but people. And Aaryea had a way with people.

"Ma'am, I think she'd be best off in her own home setting, and not here. But I'd love to stay," He suggested. The Lady in question turned with her eyes aghast, but the boy didn't seem to notice. "My father and I would be happy to work for yours."

"Ugh," the visiting Lady scoffed, turning to show herself out, "how completely common..."

One of the Lordlings left with her, the other stayed. This proved to be a bit much for Aaryea. However, she turned first to the young lad. "Thank you, for saying so. I think you'll like it here quite a bit. The Crafter's Narrow is where you'd be residing - it's always busy and always has something going on."

The boy beamed, and got the idea that the two higher ranked people would prefer to be alone now. He exited, to locate his father who was part of another tour group.

The Lordling who was left with Aaryea was visiting from a less well off area, they'd had some problems with blight on their crops, and Aaryea recognized the signs of slight desperation on his face.

"You'd be welcomed, but I can't say your station would be the same if you don't have the money to keep it up," She said. The young man nodded. He was hardly handsome, but had a rugged look about him and Aaryea thought he would make a good hunter or perhaps even rider.

As though she could tell those things... They parted ways, he was interested in spending more time with her, but he was also not as rude as some Lords could be - he would never presume that she wished his presence in her private chambers, longer than necessary.

Aaryea leaned against the rich cloth padding her doorway, and wondered how many of that little group would choose to stay, which ones must, and who would be leaving soonest.

***

Her life among her own family was dismal. In dreams, Aaryea had often felt the anger and resentment returning, but she usually held her tongue in her waking hours. The dream she had now was sparked by the Lady from her home hold. Bitter bitch, Aaryea wondered exactly whose daughter she was - and why she'd come to Caledrus to mess things up?

Her father was a decent enough man - to her brothers. With a Hold the size of theirs to control, her three elder brothers would have their hands full when he was gone. Sometime deeply long ago, Aaryea had vainly thought that she too could be helpful running their Hold properly.

Aardan, her eldest brother laughed the loudest, scoffed the most, and even went so far as to shove his sister out of his way like a common drudge. She saw him doing that to the woman who was going to be wed to him, as well. She despised the young man, even before she knew the word to use. He was so abusive, that after she'd made the mistake once of telling him she could help run things, at about 5 turns old, she so rarely spoke to him again that he probably forgot he even had a little sister.

Yardan, the second eldest, held his tongue when Aardan spoke. He could calm a storm, with his sweet blue eyes. But he could not calm Aardan. Aaryea spent days with him on the Hold's properties, learning about the crops they grew, and the people who worked for them. He was the one who explained how important each and every Hold inhabitant could be. Without one, he explained, they would lose a rung in a ladder - and then you'd fall.

His wise words made as much impact as Aardan's pushy ways. And they left fewer bruises.

Daarea, the youngest of the three brothers, still three turns older than Aaryea, was typical of a Holder's son. He knew that he too would be helping inherit the Hold, but he felt his duties lay in producing a better heir than his brothers'. And thus was born Aaryea's dislike of true Holder's Sons. He would have his close friends over a lot - he would party with them a lot - and they would go whoring a lot. The women that they brought secretly into the Hold smelled of spices and musk and sweat, they were not wholly repugnant.

One night, one of the girls who Daarea and his two friends brought in was trying to find her way out of the Hold. She was crying, Aaryea was nine.

"What is wrong?" Aaryea asked, quietly. She was awake because the storm outside was brewing and she had a headache from the storm's pressure system. "I can't sleep either."

The girl stopped short, giving a sniffle. "I ... I am lost, this Hold is so big. So many turns."

"I know - but it's fun that way too. Come on, I can show you something. Something special." She held out her hand to the girl who wasn't more than half again older than she. Born to a low family, a worker's child, too many mouths to feed. These things Aaryea knew now were what drove the young lady into her 'craft'. There couldn't have been enough money to feed a family as large as this girl's.

The young Aaryea took the still-sniffling but tearless teenager into her own quarters, and then made a shhhushing sound. "Here, come look!" She pushed aside a curtain, and below the window box, there was a small door. "It's big enough for you to squeeze through. Follow me!"

"I - I don't dare," the girl said.

"It's okay - I was scared the first time I went inside it too. It's just a little dark. Then it gets better. You'll like it."

"Okay," the girl replied, if a young child could stand that kind of space then so could she. She knelt down, her plain brown and white dress wasn't going to get any dirtier than it already was. The child's dress was worn at the knees - not through any kind of hard work, the young prostitute thought, but because she must spend time crawling around in dark tunnels like this...

The tunnel under the window box led to the side of the wall, within its confines, for about a dozen paces. Then, it turned left abruptly with the corner of the Hold's exterior. Carved into the tall solid cliff face of their canyon home, this Hold would last a thousand years - and they were usually lucky enough not to have Threadfall come close. The girl followed her young guide.

"Here, you can sit here, it's high enough." Aaryea said in a whisper. She patted the stone below her, and the girl came around to the side. From that angle, there was a half-worn piece of masonry, which looked out over the whole valley. The homes, slate-topped huts and stone built houses, gathered in clumps around the fields they worked, and larger animal-pens were roofed in beaten metals. In the storm's light, everything was slick and shiny. The fields had a covering of water already, reflecting the underlit clouds. The sun had set but only an hour ago - the clouds reflected the dim light.

"This is beautiful," said the girl. "Thank you for showing me. I won't forget this."

"It's all right. Sometimes I need someone to be with me too. Do you like my brother?" Aaryea asked. That elicited another sob from the girl.

"I... well, no, I don't... He..."

"He's a jerk too," Aaryea sighed. "It's not fair that my brothers have to be big jerks. Maybe you could marry Yardan."

The bitter laugh that the girl gave made Aaryea aware that she'd said something importantly stupid. "I'm sorry... He's already spoken for, and Daarea still has money enough for me." She sighed. "I won't be marrying him though. I'm too low-born for him. That was ... what he said tonight."

Later on, many years later, Aaryea would realize that her brother had said this after not only using her services, but as he changed over to the other girl they'd brought home that night. Kicking her out? Without paying her - probably.

"You can stay with me for a while," Aaryea said in the uncomfortable silence. "I don't mind, and the storm's coming down now."

So the girl did stay. For a night, that night, she enjoyed the comfort of a soft blanket and pillows - even though she slept on the floor beside Aaryea's bed, she was still in more lavish comfort than she'd ever had at home. And then the morning came.

"What is that?" Asked her mother Reah, pointing to the girl lumped into the blankets. Aaryea jumped from her bed and tried to stand between her mother and the girl.

She didn't even know the girl's name, after all this time.

"She's - she was with-"

"She was with your brother," Reah growled, "yes. Of course. Get her up. Wake her."

There was a clear demand in her mother's tone, and her mother wasn't one to be ignored. The strong woman, in her late fifties already, would probably have been able to run the Hold herself, with or without sons to help her. "Get. Her. Up."

"Yes mother," Aaryea said, and carefully she shook the girl's shoulder. "It's time to wake," she said, kindly but worried. "Wake up..."

Groggily, the girl came to, but then put her arms up around her head in fear. Reah had approached behind Aaryea and pushed the child away. She grasped the whore by her upper arms and literally dragged her up.

"You get out of my daughter's bed, you sickening whore," Reah spat, shaking the girl. She turned to Aaryea, who was petrified. "And you, housing this slut. Not in my home. You're just as bad as the boys, thinking to keep creatures like this in my home." She turned back to the girl, "you're not even fit to scrub our floors, you infectious slattern. What is your father's name?"

She demanded many things of the girl, all of which were eventually answered in a halting, stuttering sob. Aaryea was unable to move, watching her mother do this interrogation. The girl wound up with scratches on her pretty face, and bruises on her arms where Reah had clutched her so hard.

"Good. Now we know who to send away." Reah said, and turned on her heel. She glanced at Aaryea over her shoulder before leaving the girl's room. "Have her out of here in five minutes, or she will be put to death. I have the guards ready for you. Don't try stealing anything."

She slammed the door behind her, and Aaryea could hear her speaking with those guards outside her room. Her father might control the wealth, but her mother controlled all the people under her thumb.

"I'm - I'm sorry," Aaryea said, as she turned to see the girl crying. The girl had collapsed into a heap next to the bed, and Aaryea tried to comfort her. "I didn't mean for her to find you - I thought..."

"It's not your fault," the girl whispered, but it sounded hard to say. It sounded like she hardly meant it. "I must go."

She stood up, and tried to tidy her hair, but through her tears Aaryea knew it would be all but impossible. As she rushed out of the girl's room, she ran into the guards, who menacingly told her where to go to leave the Hold. It would be less than half an hour later, that Aaryea saw her mother again.

Storming worse than the clouds outside, the woman was clutching her dress to her neck. "She stole my necklace," Reah said to a guard. "Go get her." She paused, "on second thought, bring her to her father's home. He lives down by the bovine slaughterhouse. Bring her to him - and deliver my sentance," Reah said. She leaned in to the guard, said something quietly, and the guard nodded briskly once. He stomped down the stone hallway, and left.

Reah gazed down at Aaryea. "She was a thief and whore," Reah stated flatly. "And both those things are unwelcome in any Hold. You must remember that, child."

"But - she didn't have your-" Aaryea started to say.

"Silence! She stole my necklace! It was obvious that she befriended you to hide it!" Reah spun and left her young daughter to worry what would her sentance be, once the girl's father was found.

Of course, less than two days later she did find out. The girl had been located, taken to her house. Apparently there were six children in their family, and she was one of the eldest. Unable to attend a harper's class, but too weak to work the slaughter equipment, and mocked for the way that she could hardly hold a needle to sew with, the girl was just about useless in their home.

So she was killed, right there before her family. For a theft that she hadn't committed.

The next night, Aaryea heard her brother and his friends, and saw around the corner one of the other whores that they were fond of buying.

She gazed right at Aaryea, giving her a brief, arrogant grin. The glimmer of the stone-and-silver necklace that belonged to Reah around her neck, given to her obviously by Daarea. The look of superiority stayed with Aaryea for many years. This woman had had her own friend butchered for the wealth she could find among Lordlings.

***

Aaryea woke - it was her. That was the woman she'd seen. How had she forgotten that face?! That woman - that whore! She must have managed to get one of the Lordlings to actually ... marry her? Or was she just posturing now? She was in her mid twenties, not too old to be married off, not too young to be innocent of these things. It was possible that the woman had earned enough through her prostitution to actually afford to buy herself into a Ladyhood. Given how Daarea and his friends spent on the women in their lives, that was entirely possible.

Aaryea felt sick after she woke. Seeing that woman, having that vivid memory-dream, brought everything in her old bad life back to her. Not everything - the girl hadn't been responsible for the errant man she was meant to marry, but that didn't matter. It was though him that she found her true home here in Caledrus. She didn't fault him for that - especially since it put her in a nice strong solid position.

She trembled, lighting a glow basket. She stared at the light splashed against the ceiling in her lush room. She could never forgive herself for being - what? Kindly to the prostitute? It wasn't her fault, she was only nine years old. Aaryea blamed herself, but knew better really. Her mother was to blame.

She set about writing to her old Hold's records keepers, that morning. She had to know - what was the girl's name, if she could find out, what was the family, and was any of her own family gone yet?

***

"Narid," Aaryea said, looking at a flower basket that she'd picked from the high cliff flats, "I'm sorry that I caused your death." She spoke to the flowers, the sky, the distant sea. "I wish I'd said something to my mother, stood up to her. But you were bigger than I and ... how she hurt you before you were murdered..."

Each statement followed her throwing a flower down into the Hold's fissure. It would drift on the winds, until being swallowed up into the Hold itself.

"My mother is dead - murdered by another woman. It fits her. I'm ... I'm glad." That was hurtful. That was cruel. That was true. "I couldn't find the name of the woman who came after you, but... If I see her again I'll remind her that her wealth probably came at the cost of your life. I don't know if it'll make a difference but it will to me."

Sadly, each of the flowers on their long stems were carried on the breeze to the Hold and cart tracks below.

Aaryea didn't know that she was being observed by the dragons who lay on the Dragonflats. Dragons who observed her actions and her mind.

*** (this search takes place after the Kshau Protectorate shifts to Alskyr - without having told anyone about it.)***

It was only a few days later that Aaryea heard that a trio of dragons had arrived - one was from Alabaster, but the other two were foreign to their eyes. It was a strange sensation, Aaryea felt something stirring in her breast. Could this be the day that she was Searched? Perhaps would someone take her to a weyr even if only to look around?

Excitedly, she told her foster family that she'd be up on the Dragon Flats, and ran out. They watched after her as though she were their own daughter, with loving, knowing grins on their faces. Their son, the lout, would never have made them happy like she had. They had other children, whom Aaryea doted upon just as though she were their eldest sister.

What would they do without her? They would somehow manage, but she would be missed...

Aaryea rushed to the Flats, where dozens of others were already gathering. The weather was quite clear, early spring in this area brought with it the smell of greenery and the sounds of rutting wherry. She recognized a good dozen of her friends, and clung to one of them, Cendar. "Have they said anything yet?" She asked of her friend.

"Not yet - but they're going to. I think the one is from another part of the Kshau Protectorate," Cendar announced, "but I don't know who the other is."

The riders motioned for everyone to please quiet down. The brown rider from Alabaster was K'yle, the Lord Holder's son. There was a blue rider, T'shen by name, whose travels through the Protectorate were quite amazing. The third was a woman, but quite the odd one, on a gold dragoness. For some reason, it looked as though this woman had ... fur and a tail. No one quite believed it until she dropped to the ground and started talking to her companions, but sure enough there were small ears poking out over her mop of silver hair, and a long tuft-tipped tail that swished about.

People began muttering almost immediately, but K'yle shushed them with a wave of his hand. "We're here on search, yes! We're going to give an announcement that's a bit important, to your Lords!" He answered several questions quickly, and then turned to his dragon who bellowed for quiet again. "Thanks - now listen - the Protectorate is going through some drastic changes. We've found a place that's better than all this," he waved his hand but few understood what he meant by that cryptic remark.

They continued to answer typical questions, but avoided mentioning this odd event, and then began allowing people near the dragons so they might be searched.

Aaryea and some others grouped up, and started their approach. Cendar snuffed, "there's Caledrua herself," at the sharp-tongued woman who was the eldest daughter of the Lord Holder of Caledrus. "Does she really think she'll get Searched?"

"I think she just was," Aaryea sighed, blue eyes showing not concern, but not glee either. They managed to wind their way around to the golden dragoness, who passed over three others before sniffing intently at this pair.

The warm breath of the big gold thrilled both of them, ran a shiver down Aaryea's spine even though it was a pleasant day. Then shortly, the gold lifted her head and gave a trill to her rider.

The furry woman (furry?! What was she!?) came over, graceful and happy looking. "Quisanth says you're good for standing," she said. Her voice was rich, not really high, but so distracted by her appearance were the two that Kaytcha had to wave her hand in front of them to bring home the fact that they'd been Searched.

"I ..." Aaryea stammered, for the first time in her life speechless, "could you please tell me, how you came to be that way?"

Kaytcha gave a little funny start, and then chuckled. "oh - that. I'd almost forgotten. When we switched over, I've changed into this. I used to have just skin."

"Switched over?" Aaryea asked, curious to no end. "How?"

"That's something that you'll learn later. And, if you pair up with a dragon, it'll be even easier to explain. They know already." Kaytcha thumbed (with a furry, padded claw-tipped hand) back at the dragons. "And they can explain it more easily. We've ... well," she leaned in and both Aaryea and Cendar perked up, "we've already switched over, this speech that K'yle's going to give is just to make it official... Didn't you feel anything odd recently?"

Aaryea and Cendar turned to one another, and Aaryea furrowed her brows. There was something, less vivid than her more memory-based dream the other day, but one which had struck her as being quite odd, even for her. "I did, I think... I rarely remember my dreams, but I had one really strange one recently, about flying and landing, and how things were the same but they weren't... Is that what this is about?"

Cendar looked into the distance, and a strange look came over her face. "Aary, look. Those mountains aren't familiar, at all. They're not covered in snow, they're really green."

Aaryea wanted to ask more, but Kaytcha and Quisanth were busy searching others. They would find out soon enough, then, where they were to go, and what they would do once they'd bonded a dragon!

*** (from the group's search page)***

The large group of gathered Caledruans milled about, surprised at how many there were, and how many of them knew one another - or at least knew someone else in the group. Each had an attachment to the next, they almost could form a chain of familiarity.

When another rider showed up, a day after the trio had Searched, several of the Seached recognized him as a man who had formerly lived there! One of the girls, Janice, bolted to his side when he got off the back of his proud bronze dragon.

"H'ndar!" She cried, laughing and relieved to see him. Every time he would visit, there would be another scar on his skin, and every time, she was eager to locate it.

"It's just Hendar, if you want," the rider said, with an odd smile. "I'm not so fond of people saying it that way any more." He smirked at Janice's odd reaction (she furrowed her eyebrows and went to apologize, but then stopped and swatted him instead).

"But why?" Janice asked. "Why suddenly this odd change? What has really been happening out there?"

Just then, two more riders and dragons arrived, yet more old Caledrus inhabitants who had long since vanished to their own devices. One was riding a dragon whose color shocked a number of the Searched - and a good portion of the onlookers who couldn't be forced to leave. The dragon was a bright shade of red, with paler white markings on it. The rider was a girl who had been well known by the higher status Lordlings - Ezhar the dancer. Her partner, T'nor (who had no such problems with his name being shortened, he still thought it quite an honor) rode a two-toned blue dragon, both clearly from one Weyr by their appearance.

"We will be needing the different dragons to take you all to your destinations," K'yle announced loudly, in his half-squeaky voice. He could sound very serious, when he put his mind to it, but he'd never have the command over people that his father did. "We're going to show you some places that are in need of candidates, and if you think one or another is to your liking, we'll see if you can bond there."

Someone called out, "don't you mean Impress?" But K'yle glared at them.

"No, I mean bond. It's a more broad term. We've found places that aren't all ... well, you'll see. You all will understand best after you get there. And the rest of you," he gazed at the assembled inhabitants who hadn't been Searched, "don't worry. We're all going to explain it soon enough - but you will have to be patient and you will have to trust us."

Another trio of dragons and riders came through the nexus, Betweening was such an old-world term, one of whom had lived at Caledrus as a first-class records keeper, before he was searched. Waadier, now fondly known as D'ier, and his pretty green (what a surprise for people who knew him, huh? NOT!). D'ier and Elkinorith joined the search team on occasion, and he apologized to K'yle for not being there earlier.

"It's all right. It's these two I'm worried about," the Lord Holder's son glanced at his half-sibling Pasha, and Pasha's brother Haze. "Didn't you think there would be enough good candidates here?" He asked them, and both men waved him off with a grin - the same grin that he often had on his face.

They had ridden in on a pair of large dragons, Haze's large bronze Alkalmith, and Pasha's brown Surketh. The dragons moved from their landing spots to an area with bumpy ground that suited them to rest upon, with the others.

Gold, Bronze, two Browns, two Blues, Green, and Red... They lined up like a spectrum of possibilities. Resting and chatting, the dragons seemed to largely ignore the people around them, until K'yle whistled for their attention.

The little booklets that D'ier handed out to the group of Searched folks had shiny pictures on them, of dragons and different weyrs - they could tell that these images were real pictures, not paintings. There was something very surreal about this. Very few people of Caledrus knew about photographs, and most of the ones who did, only knew in theory. They did know that Alabaster had some strange machines that could almost seem to think for themselves. Perhaps these pictures came from them?

"Now, look over everything. There is information about each location's needs and desires," K'yle said, as D'ier finished handing them out. "But I want you all to keep in mind one very important thing. We are *not* going to be fighting Thread any longer."

There was a pause, when everyone put down their pamphlets and stared at him like he was insane.

"There are other things on our minds now, as riders. There are threats to our home, but Thread is not among them. However we have learned that those people who were born on our old home," (that elicited a lot of muttering about what in the world he could mean) "tend to bond best to old-world dragons. Dragons who would be best familiar with you. Dragons of the older colors," he tossed his head at the fivesome plus one oddity. "and not ones with the newer breed types. When you get back to Alabaster, you'll see what I mean."

"How much has our home changed?" Demanded someone, "where are we if we aren't on our old home?"

"The world is called Alskyr," said Kaytcha, her gold dragoness tossing her head and reminding people that even though the girl had fur and a tail now - was not human as far as they were concerned - she had still impressed a grand golden dragon like herself. "And it's a very nice place. You will all benefit," she turned to the onlookers who had started to mill about nervously, "because this world is rich in plant life, and our isle has some wonderful people on it that accepted us on it."

"The arrangement was made," K'yle said, "by my father, by T'shen, and by some other people high-up. We knew that if there was an announcement there would be panic, and we wouldn't be able to bring everyone along properly."

Pasha and Haze, standing together with their shoulders bumped, nodded. "And you never noticed, did you?" Pasha asked. He was the stronger telepath of the two, and his lineage (K'yle's side especially) were ones which had helped the most.

"It's not important how long we've been here," said Haze, having heard someone ask that among the Searched, "what is important is that we integrate everyone into our new ways, sooner or later."

"That brings us to the dragons," T'shen said, sweeping past the brothers. The Searched group were apt to stare at him anyway, tall and handsome as he was. Even D'ier (perhaps especially D'ier) gazed at him in wonder. "The dragons who pair off with Caledrus inhabitants will be living with you, here." He swept his hand and suddenly - because they had been inclined to ignore it and nudged telepathically to do so by Engell and his troupe - people noticed that the mountains that had greenery about them, also had ledges, caverns, terraces... Big enough for dragons to roost if they so wished.

"... So you're saying," one of the Searched girls said, "that we will be coming back here, to live, with our dragons."

"That's it in a nutshell."

"Then let's go!" She said, laughing, looking through the pamphlet. Aaryea was grinning like mad, as she looked through her own.

One thing that a number of the searched noticed was that there were multiple openings at several of the locations. Particularly, a place called Enzan Shi had lots of openings, but for some unusually colored dragons on the sands. Some of the searched were leery of such things. K'yle told them not to try for those types, then. There were other locales fit for them.

Aaryea kept coming back to the Enzan Shi pages. The dragons were so sturdy - very healthy looking, very smart. They lacked the long elegance of some, and the had smooth necks and backs without any tines or spines. But that suited Aaryea - there would be less chance of hurting one's self on them that way, right?

Grinning, then, she walked up to Haze and said, "I'd like to go here. Enzan Shi. It's not... on the old world, either, is it?"

"Nope," Haze said. "We can get you out of here shortly. I think there are a couple others waiting for that place. I'll make sure that you all get there together." He apparently contacted his dragon, and then returned his handsome face to gaze at Aaryea. "I'd suggest you start packing up. You're going to stand!"

Aaryea, Tzeado and Joser have arrived at Enzan Shi. Tz'o and J'ser bonded (bronze and brown) but Aaryea and the other 4 gold-candidates were all snubbed by the single gold hatchling of the clutch. This has left Aaryea somewhat depressed and worried. Tz'o and J'ser are doing everything they can to help her through this time.

Everything... Including finding a little flitter to keep Aaryea occupied. Read on, to see what that's all about.

The hatching was announced and Aaryea was shuffled with the other girls into the sands. They all noticed it immediately, but Aaryea commented: "look at all the other people on the sands..."

"What is up with that?" Asked another of them, "why so many?"

Well their questions were shortly answered. After Tzeado became Bronze Rider Tz'o, a big egg shattered to show off not one but two green hatchlings inside! Several of the eggs during the hatching had twins - and not all of them chose to bond.

It was when the gold, the beautiful lustrous gold hatchling came from her shell, that Aaryea's world came apart at the seams. The gold opened her shell, and the group of girls unconsciously all stepped foward. There were too many faces, too many grasping hands... The little dragoness gave a shriek and pushed her way through them, to huddle below her mother's protective glare.

The bronze queen snarled, and announced loudly that her daughter would not be bonding anyone.

"no one?" was the oft-repeated question on their lips. How was this possible? Aaryea saw through tearing eyes that there were men and women to help the group off the sands. But - there were unbonded dragons! Wouldn't they die if they weren't bonded?

Eventually they were explained that in this day and age - and at this place which was not the old world - dragonets didn't up and die if they did not find their appropriate bond. They would wait, or even just live their lives without a bond.

The thought was devastating. Aaryea could hardly stand, and she barely saw where they were led, back to the normal barracks - not the candidate rooms. That in itself caused an outburst from several of the girls.

Somehow, Aaryea slept. There was a celebration going on down in the feast hall, for the new bonds. She had dreams of falling, being crushed, suffocating...

She woke with a start, to see Tzeado - Tz'o - standing near her bed. "Are you all right, Aaryea?" He asked.

"Such the gentleman," she muttered, wiping the sleep from her eyes and noting that her tears had left her eyes all puffy and red.

"We wanted you to stay," he said, tossing his head back at J'ser. "We've spoken to the rurachi and she said it was all right, you can stand again if you wish, and there is a clutch on the sands, too."

"I don't know if I want to put myself through this again," Aaryea said, her hand trembling as she reached for her comb. "But thank you for the thought."

"You're going to stay, aren't you?" It was J'ser's quiet request that stung her. Maybe she should.

***

As their dragons grew in size and maturity, J'ser and Tz'o both had Aaryea working with their dragons. At first she was a bit put off by the smell of hatchling muck - but then realized that the men didn't even notice it, it was their dragon shitting so therefore it was obviously the best smelling stuff in the world. So she had her fill of it, helping shovel it, and helping to cut up meat with the other candidates who hadn't impressed. Some of the others who hadn't bonded remained, some moved on.

J'ser and Tz'o waited until a nice spring day - her birthday - to give her something they'd found. A basket with an egg inside, tiny but warm.

"Oh - this is a surprise!" Aaryea said. As she cradled the egg, it trembled and broke open.

"What color is it?" Asked J'ser.

"... Looks like... a warm brown, taupe, it's a girl myph!" Aaryea said with tears in her eyes. "She's lovely!"

"What are you going to call her?" Asked Tz'o. His two brown flitters looked nervous around the feathered creature but they warmed up soon enough.

"Sandy," she said, "because she knows I'll be on the sands again some day."

***

Aaryea watched the pair of dragons grow up. There was always something to do - except that Aaryea could only handle sitting on the sidelines for so long, and then she had to leave their sight. Some times for days, once almost a full week went by while Aaryea slunk around the corridors of the place with little Sandy on her shoulder.

It took until well after the brown and bronze boys were fully adult for there to be a proper clutch again. There were several now, in fact, after a couple truly amazing flights. And Aaryea looked at the beautiful dragons - gold, gold blue... silver and gold... So many colors that her old world heart almost broke. They were all lovely. Exotic.

The eggs were finally shaking after what felt like the longest wait ever. Tz'o and J'ser and their dragons had remained on at the Deragonry waiting. Just in case, perhaps? Aaryea thought perhaps they wondered that if a dragon hadn't chosen her by now, there might not be one? Her heart sank again but Sandy chirped at her and cheered her up.

"That's right, Sandy, with so many eggs, how can I go wrong?" She said, and rushed down to the sands when the call went out urgently. The eggs were cracking, and two of the clutches were coming at once!

The superb males that flew with one of the golds, the two-toned one, all clung around the nest. They didn't all look like they really wanted to remain this long, but their precious mate wanted to string the bonders along as much as she could. She had never told which of the bunch was her actual mate.

But when the first of the eggs hatched, one of the dragonets seemed to tell off one of the males - and Aaryea wondered just what was going on. He left, leaving a couple of them, which of them was the sire?

Sandy flew up to where the other flitters and such were resting, back a ways, where they could all chatter and talk among themselves if they were able. Aaryea's shoulder felt more bare than ever, while she watched the other dragonets choose their bonds. So many at once! Almost all the eggs had hatched really before anyone got there. The queens decided to hold the hatchlings back, an attempt to make them patient and organized.

Even Aaryea saw the futility of that, when the first bunch were allowed to run off. It was hard watching so many bondings before Aaryea noticed something wonderful. In the back of her mind, something more solid than Sandy's little eager feed-me and love-you emotions. Something deep.

Something gold, with shining black wings. Who came to her, silently on the sands, but with a pleasant hum of mental activity. This was no indecisive or shy daughter of a half-gold. This ... was Kaairth's daughter.

There were differently gold dragons out there. This one was awesome. And was her own. My name is Etiuruth. I am glad that there were no others worthy of me, I would have had to deny them. Only you - you are mine.

Aaryea threw her arms around the gold's neck, knowing that she wouldn't be hurt. This was a large female, and her wing sails were a beautiful obsidian shine! She announced the name to the recordskeeper, and then went off to the hatchling's gathering, where for the first time she fed her own dragon.

The time started to fly by now that Aaryea had finally impressed. Etiururth was as polite as she was regal, and Aaryea enjoyed the looks on people whenever they would parade past. It was as though she'd been reborn. All her past moments were nothing, everything was here and now.

That is not true, bespoke Etiuruth, because your past led you to me. That means it must be important.

Smiling, Aaryea and her growing dragonet headed to the flight parade area. There, they would learn more about flight process, the gear needed, and they would eventually fly. Having grown up in a place that was as vertically intimidating as a weyr only 'deeper' down, Aaryea had little fear of heights. The stocky gold-obsidian by her side was trying her best to emulate that feeling.

"Don't you want to soar like your mother?" Asked Aaryea.

I do - just ... not today. Today I think I need to practice flapping a bit more. I am bigger than those others, you know.

Aaryea nodded. While it was true that Etiuruth was bigger, she wasn't going to be a huge queen. Overhead, Aaryea looked at the flight of sweep riders - Tz'o and J'ser's dragons among them - and considered that Tz'o's bronze would probably be bigger than her two-toned gold.

In the cool of the morning, when most of the dragonry was still groggy from a long night's party or eating too much, Aaryea, J'ser and Tz'o signed out on the roster of exiting dragon pairs.

"It's been really good here," Tz'o said. "I've learned so much, and I hope to pass those skills along to others." He recieved a handshake and a salute from one of the esling trainers for that, and his bronze gave a trumpet.

"It is time for us to head home now," said J'ser. "Got everything?"

Aaryea nodded. Sandy was busy flitting around Etiuruth's nose - barely bigger than the dragon's head entirely. So with their posessions, pets, and dragon gear all assembled, the trio began to head home to Alskyr. It was such an adventure - Aaryea had kept an on-again-off-again journal about her time here.

She was planning on making it into a book, if she could. J'ser encouraged her to do it, and Tz'o kept asking if he was in it. A lot.

Do you think we should tell them that I am going to rise when we get to this Caledrus place of yours? We have spoken about it before.

Let's keep that a secret, and do try and behave yourself until then. I want to see what others have done for themselves too, you know. There may be other males you are interested in, not just those two.

I do not know, Etiuruth said with a glance at the bronze Xakyth. Aaryea could feel the stirrings of her gold's emotions already. He is pretty good for a male...

Don't start! Aaryea pleaded with her gold, and finally they swept between to the coldness of the nexus.

***

Caledrus on Alskyr was little different than it had been on the old world. Only now, the sun rose on the other side of it. That was all. Since it had been in a fissure and set within the stone of a hillside, few people ever really noticed when the sun came up in the 'west'.

That sun was rising now, in its true easterly way, and the trio of riders came down to the landing flats in triumph. Everyone cheered when they saw Joser was now J'ser, and most of the girls came to see Aaryea and her lovely exotic queen.

They really seem to like me, the gold-obsidian said. I could get to like this!

Dragon

Name: Etiuruth
Gender: female, queen
Size/Shoulder/Length: Medium (pernese queen size), 13' s / 55' l / 70' ws
Colors: body vibrant yellow-gold; wingsails rich black with high-shine reflectivity (marking? maybe?); claws and horns white
Features: nonstandard pernese-based, horns instead of headknobs; bare tail; 3 fingered wings with double wrist thumb claws
Powers: Winged Flight
Teleportation
Command
Telepathy
Telekinesis?
Carries Assisted Firebreath
Parentage: gold-quartz Kaairth and black-obsidian Ahotpeth
Origin: Enzan Shi Deragonry
Other Info:

Participated in Alabaster/Blackstone breedings over the years on Alskyr, giveaway

Gold Obsidian Etiuruth and Bronze Xakyth (Aaryea/T'zo enzanshi) [unknown if up now] Rares and 2-tones possible

DRAGONFLIGHT GOLD Huth – 13 Kaiiv f 35
[JESS GOLD Obstacaath – 13 Oei f 24 ]
[ice BLACK Tonihth M– 13 Vun f 23 ]
[rae COPPER Gihepth – 13 W'en m 32 ]
MOLLY SILVER Darlinth U'hu (added)
KTRENAL SLATE F Loovooth – 13 Yuik f 28
[NYX BROWN Bhenath – 13 X'mi m 27 ]
molly BROWN Haihetaeyth – 13 Neod f 26
[KEILIN BROWN Lideth – 13 Nahl f 32 ]
DRAGONFLIGHT BROWN Gegath – 13 Neju f 25
[KESAVA PURPLE Ebnurth – 13 Hep f 27 ]
[SHERRA RED Thameth – 13 Di'no m 29 ]
[kless BLUE Eljerth – 13 Fos f 30 ]
[dns Blue Kyrith, unknown]
[DRACOSINF GREEN Ovskth – 13 Nhi f 28 ]
[KESAVA GREEN Jemingbith – 13 D'uj m 26 ]
Shard GREEN Jamnamath - 13 Niidka f 24 (added)

**

BK Obsidian-Gold Etiuruth (aaryea) (enzan shi) and Clouded brown-white Hivlth (Padist) (eriolb) > for myself, only (~2015)

ROOKERY Red-Yellow m Irhujath - unknown date - Rex m 30
ROOKERY Orange Creamsicle Gold f Zukianth - unknown date - Wally Breen
ROOKERY Red-Brown-Tan m Zulmollarth - unknown date - Whilce Breen