Bali is a weyrbrat through and through, though she was sent from Blackstone weyr to Dawnlight Hold to be fostered. Her brother Bolano is now known as B'olo, a greenrider! Her other younger brother Belanu is now Bel'u on blue!

It was while she was in her early teen turns that she began working as a Hold guard. She is very talented in that regard, and has a strong hand-to-hand combat ability. She was given first-rate training even though she was a girl, since she was apt to beat up older and bigger foes when they picked on her as a child.

Now, at 15 turns, Bali is ready to move back to the Weyr, Searched out by A'rd's Trelerth while at the Hold. Her determination and intensity will help make her a devoted dragonrider.

Bali hopes to be on a brown or big green dragon, though she is eager to become a female wing leader. She does not want to ride a gold dragon, she is far from even 'girlish', certainly not feminine enough for a gold.

Bali looked at the ledges and sighed. It would be a long wait before she was chosen to stand on the sands. Trelerth promised her but... Trelerth wasn't Searching for any particular clutch. Just out smelling people.

"Just like him," she muttered while sweeping out one of the weyrs for someone *else* to use. "To search and run."

"Now what are you muttering about?" H'lis asked, and Bali spun.

"You scared me half out of my wits, you dimglow!" She said, abruptly realizing that it was the-- "Oh I'm so sorry..."

H'lis laughed. "It's all right, Bali. Synesth told me you were feeling broody. What's up?" The pampas-haired bronze rider leaned against the weyr's wall, and waited for Bali to 'fess up.

"I've really been itching to see the sands," she said. "You know, like... first person. Standing on them. Waiting for a dragon to come to me."

"You've been Searched," H'lis pointed out. "That's farther than most people ever get."

"But it isn't far enough, H'lis. You know what it's like to be a rider. All your life, practically."

He nodded, solemn. His own life... How odd. Rushed onto the sands as a too-young boy, then having made himself flip through time so he could grow up enough to match the monsterously large Synesth's size... I am not a monster!

Hush. H'lis bespoke. He didn't even unfocus his eyes. He was such a pro at his speech with his dragon. Bali knew, though. She just knew.

"You're speaking to him, aren't you. I might never know that feeling. I want it, H'lis. My brother is a rider."

"A green rider," H'lis chuckled.

"Yes, a GREEN rider, what's wrong with that?" Bali hissed. "He's riding and you're proud of him just like I am. He's a fighter and he has told me he just loves it." She sighed deeply. "I want to fly. I want to impress and watch my lifemate grow. And itch, and crap in their weyr, and all that other stuff that only you riders have done. Not from the sidelines. I'm strong, and even though my face is scarred I see just fine," she indicated the long Threadscore she'd gotten one season not so long ago. "I don't want to try for a gold, I don't want to be a queen rider! I want to ride a fighting dragon!"

H'lis held his hands up, "I get it, I get it... Calm down." She huffed and nodded, and began sweeping again. The weyr would be inhabited by a new weyrling, his dragon and he would spend the rest of their natural lives together.

"I know of a clutch," H'lis said, quietly.

Bali stopped sweeping.

"It's at Wu weyr. A very good weyr indeed. Strong, beautiful dragons out of there. And many for the Protectorate. Good breeders." He continued to speak, as Bali turned around slowly.

"A clutch... Are you telling me that I'm going to stand? Do I have to do anything? Get permission from someone?"

"You're getting it from me, Bali," H'lis said. "I mean, I'm flying the biggest bronze in the Protectorate, who else needs to okay you for this?"

Bali dropped the broom handle, and as it clattered to the stone floor she rushed up to hug H'lis, then ran off to gather her gear. H'lis chuckled to himself, and wondered who in the world had decided to torture the poor girl by having a guard-trained lass like her sweeping up a weyr... Couldn't have been him, could it?

He laughed on his way out of the weyr.

When the time finally came for the hatching, the eggs were shaking rapidly. The dragons above hummed, and the stands were filled with people wanting to know -- would their son, their sister, their auntie or brother Impress?

Bali was only concerned for herself, she knew that was a silly thing, but the honor of being selected at all was still so strong in her that she wanted to... The first to hatch was a pretty green, going to a male! Then, two greens and a blue. They impressed the right young people, of course. There was never any doubt. The dragons knew.

A blue and a green hatched, finding their impressed friends. A brown hatched and ran into the boys, then a green, also going to the boys.

Bali stood with her hands going numb from the working she was giving them. At last, though, another pair of greens split their shells and while one of them seemed unable to figure out who she wanted, the second ran right toward Bali!

I'm Vinnith! She exclaimed, bolder by far than the other greens!

Bali laughed, and hugged her new life bond. "You sure are! Let's go feed you. I've so many things to show you!"

Vinnith grew slowly, finally announcing to the weyr that she was grown. She would be finding Alskyr to her liking, apparently, because she knew unerringly where to go when the Protectorate vanished from the old world.

Good for us. I can now breathe fire without chewing that awful stone. And I am still fertile. Do you think that is all right, Bali?

"Do I ... Of course I think it's all right, Vinnith! You're going to be a beautiful mother, AND fighter!"