Cendrine didn't remember her parents so much as her older brothers. She was only three turns old when the plague swept through the cothold, her brothers were both spared but they were expected to return to their Crafts. She did also remember very clearly, the two blue dragons and one brown, who had come to take away the survivors and make sure they had care and new families.

It wasn't much of a surprise she recalled them, as anyone seeing a dragon - and riding one - at that age would be duly impressed. But she didn't know what their words meant, she was used to only the small world of her mother's songs and her father's scent of fresh dirt and grass. He was a farmer, like most of the commoners out that way. Her mother was at one time considered quite the beautiful Harper, and Cendrine didn't understand why everyone insisted that she not be seen in her last days.

The plague boiled away flesh and skin, necrosis was common, and obviously the sight of such a thing might have made Cendrine permanently shaken. She did see her father, shortly before his own death - but he hadn't died of the plague. He'd been struck by a massive tunnel snake's gaping maw as he and others fought it in their field. The trail of blood he bore up the path and into the house still made Cendrine shudder. The smell, mingling with the fresh grass, his slowly throbbing open arm, part of it dragging by merely a shred of skin... so familiar, and yet so horrific.

Ceibar and Dralec, her full and half brothers, took it upon themselves to send for help when the Lord Holder would not, in the plauge days. Though she didn't understand this either, the Holder perished just like half his staff and family - it was far too late for them, the dragon riders and their Healers said.

Because she had been able to carry a tune even as a child, Cendrine was brought to the Harper hall, but they were essentially full up on youthful talent. The next best thing, someone pointed out, was one of the wandering caravans. Now, normally those gypsies and folk weren't thought very highly in a Crafthall. But several of the better Journeymen and women living and working there had come from families that wandered the world. They knew better than to scoff at the talents that could be found on the road.

So, Cendrine was sent out with one of their families, and as soon as she could hold a lute or any other stringed instrument in her hands, she produced amazing music. Since she was still quite young, she was trained easily in the acrobatic arts - put her in a bright costume and let her go, was the typical phrase around the camp.

This success at her skills did not come without a price, however. When she was nine as the troupe passed through a territory they hadn't been to before, they learned that it was already the haunt of a rival group of wanderers. Their fight was subtle at first, showing off to the locals in whatever way they could, to get more money. But when Cendrine was obviously able to draw more of the motherly and excitable child vote... the clan's leader abducted her!

Cendrine spent several months trapped, traveling with the rival troupe across difficult terrain and into distant towns. The clan leader had an imprint of their troupe's symbol tattooed onto her skin, a painful reminder that she now belonged to him. However, she wouldn't perform, refusing to do even the smallest dance or acrobatic routine. The others in the troupe reminded their leader that if he beat her or caused her too much injury she would be worthless anyway - so she escaped permanent harm. But she was starved a bit, taunted a lot, and made to do more menial tasks like cleaning up the runners and scrubbing their wagons.

Thankfully, her 'home' troupe had hardly forgotten how much they adored her. Besides, a nine year old girl, abducted by an unscrupulous gypsy? That made for news far and wide. They headed northward around the wilderness that the others ploughed straight through, and at the start of the cold winter months they met up again.

This time, there was more fighting than competition. Both sides had their losses, and Cendrine withdrew for weeks after her rescue - seeing more bloody battles and limbs torn? That didn't do her mental outlook any good at all.

Eventually however, life went back to normal. She performed, sang and played her lute, to the point of making one of the now-elderly Harpers who had turned down her stay at their Hall break down in tears. Oh how they could have trained her, she was stunning as a singer and player! But... she was of far more use to her family of travelers.

As Cendrine became more a young woman and less a gangly child, it was obvious that she would be a charmer as much as an entertainer. She was truly beautiful, with her thick hair, big eyes, and sleek muscular body. Since they spent more than a month in any given location, as long as conditions permitted, many in the troupe would form friendships and even relationships with local folk. Cendrine was no exception. Though in general, she tended to attract far more boys than girls to her side - most girls would be jealous of her appearance and talents. Not all: there was a group of runner-racers, small and witty and all girls, who enjoyed her company because they could talk about physical things and not be thought of as 'too boyish'.

However it was during this latest phase in her life that Cendrine became pregnant, and later bore a blond-haired boy. Obviously she wasn't able to perform other than singing and playing for much of that time, and she was torn by it. She didn't regret her love of the lad who'd become a father. But she did regret that it took her out of the performances too much in the meantime. That, and none of her clothing fit right! But she bounced back pretty quickly, and after a lengthy discussion with the young man's family, decided to leave the child with them. They'd just lost an elder son, and a new child in the house would take away some of that grief.

So now, this young woman looked to continue her career!

And then - THEN - of course, the riders came!

She was sixteen turns, a year past her first child's birth, picking up new sashes and scarves for her routine. The troupe traveled the woodlands and the mountains, and thus Dragonhope's riders were visiting this gather. Their information on this girl was quite old, but the dragons knew instantly that she'd already been Searched so long before.

"I don't want to," Cendrine said, but even she wasn't convinced. What girl would want to pass up the chance to stand? "I mean... what happens if I Impress?"

"Then you ride," the ruggedly handsome rider said. "Or, you perform and ride."

Cendrine tilted her head, "isn't that.... kind of odd?"

"Of couse it is, but this is Dragonhope we're talking about, not Benden or something." He replied. "We've many crafters. And since you're not technically a harper, so much as a singer, the Weyrleaders won't have too many issues with you."

Cendrine didn't know of Dragonhope's long-standing dispute with the Harper hall, prefering the Scribners over any verbal storytelling. But that was fine, because if she would be allowed to perform ... "I'll do it!" She exclaimed, and her traveling family cheered her on. Of course they'd miss her, of course it would be hard because who could replace her? But they did have a pair of twins who were just about ten turns, learning the rope acts that were becoming more popular these days. They would be in no danger of losing too much income.

Cendrine's life changed dramatically after that. She bid a tearful farewell to the troupe, and promised that if she Impressed she'd seek them out to show off!

***

"I think it's highly unusual, yes," R'vfen muttered, "I have hardly seen it, actually."

Cendrine proudly grinned. Her ability to read and write was as strong as her lute playing, which surprised the Weyrling masters. Normally, they claimed, anyone who wandered the wilderness all their life barely knew how to recognize numbers, let alone read and write. But her proficiency wasn't just by chance. That same performer-turned-Harper had insisted that his family learn and pass on their education to anyone else in the troupe, so that they could exchange proper letters to each other, without relying upon outside sources.

Cendrine could skip the tutoring class, but she was interested more in the complicated threadfall charts and how to read stars to get places. She found it all very intriguing, rather than confusing. Perhaps that was what the dragons and riders had seen in her even as a child, that she had potential for both physical skill as well as mental flexibility. Respectfully she listened to the instructions, asking questions only when she was really flummoxed. And that itself was rare, while she wasn't the most intellectual of the group they were instructing, she had the patience and concentration that they required to learn well.

"It's come to our attention that there is a rather... unusual clutch at Sedona Weyr," R'vfen said, addressing Cendrine alone among the candidates present in the room. "And coming from us, that's saying something." She was sure he would have winked, if he hadn't only had the one eye. "So we're going to put you on their sands, and if you Impress there, you'll learn for the first year there, and then transfer to our Weyr when your dragon fledges."

"Sir, what's so unusual about this clutch?" Cendrine asked, wondering what it could possibly be.

He paused, and then leaned in. "The parents are green and blue."

"Well that's hardly --" Cendrine said, but R'vfen cut in.

"The sire's green, the clutch mother is blue," he said, tilting his head, and watching her reaction. It was what he expected, her brown eyes grew wide and then a smile crossed her face.

"Well that's different! I'm excited!"

They hooked her up with a transport rider, wrote up her papers to instruct for transfers and the like. Sedona was almost literally on the other side of the world from Dragonhope. Not just east to west, but north to south too! Sedona was on the Southern continent, and deeply so - just as far south as Dragonhope was north. The climate difference was stunning, Cendrine sweated for days before she finally got used to it. After all, winter was summer here, and it was quite warm and sticky.

But she realized, she was now on a whole different continent, and ... that would make sending letters to her family a little difficult. That was solved almost immediately after she'd settled in, when the local weyrbrats started talking about how the flitters were nesting and there were plenty of eggs to go around. All she had to do was head down to the beaches and trip over one, really. Not that Cendrine tripped - she was far more graceful than most her age.

She did however find a clutch, and because she was raised with the idea that if you have a lot, you should share, but if you have a little it's yours to keep - she took only one egg. She could have had a whole nest full of flits to her name but then what would she do with them all? The big warm egg hatched within days, revealing a burly brown.

"Flip is your name," Cendrine announced, feeding him scraps from her own meal. The warmth of the flitter's mind echoed his soft hide, as he curled up under her mop of hair and nuzzled her neck. He was a good flitter, too, he learned quickly and because her mind was clear, Cendrine was able to train him very well. She concentrated on the appearance of, say, the kitchen archway - and the flitter met her there a few minutes later. He had good results with people, as well, being as polite as his mistress and not begging for treats and getting in the way like other message-bearing flits might. After a month or so, and shortly before the clutch was due to hatch, Cendrine wrote a letter detailing her adventure so far, and concentrated on her foster parents. She warned Flip that it would be a long flight, but he braved it anyway.

Hours went by, Cendrine was worried. Had she sent her beautiful flitter on a pointless journey between?

With great relief, though, just when she was going to get very agitated, Flip returned! He was pale, cold, but healthy, and bore a similar scroll in his paws. She tucked him under her vest, warming him back up and generously feeding him along with the praise and mental joy that she had for him. She read her family's exploits, they understood that the flitter wouldn't be able to make this long journey very often, as he'd arrived chilled to the bone. Cendrine treasured each letter she'd ever sent or gotten, so she tucked this one away into her things, and waited for the hatching... Perhaps after that, she'd send him again if she Impressed!

***

The feast celebrating the new rider-pairs gave Cendrine time to appraise her situation. Her little Taneth was now soundly asleep, the last to hatch. Cendrine was a bit thankful that she got a 'normal' green. So many questions to answer if she'd turned out to be a he. She began humming a tune, something halfway familiar and distantly recalled from a passing Harper in her childhood. But she didn't know the words - she made her own, to this tune. She wrote it down just before bedtime, and would work on it over the next few days. She caught the names of each of the dragons and their riders, incorporating them into the song.

It wasn't a Harper's tale of woe or history. It was descriptive and witty, making second-guesses about how the pairs would wind up when they were grown. If anyone asked her to, she'd perform it for them - almost always when parents showed up to visit their new rider kids.

Eventually, it came time to learn many more things than merely the lyrics to a song. How to arrange dragons in a wing, how to not get hurt coming in and out between. So vivid was her mental image that Taneth easily mastered going to even distant places. Of course, she snuck out a visit to her family. She had to! She had to show them everything! Coselle and her green Naleth came along, the girl had never been much past the Weyr herself, and to see the great chilly plains and woods for the first time almost struck her numb.

Though they did get in trouble for sneaking out, Cendrine knew that her skills at flight and star-reading were far too good to get herself lost. It came time to bid Sedona farewell and return to Dragonhope, and Coselle came along with them - she had yet to convince her dragon to spit flames at Thread, and if anyone could do it, the folks at Dragonhope would help.

Cendrine and Taneth however would be placed easily into a wing. In fact, the Queen's wing would do best for her. Between her and the other star-chart readers among the riders, any predicted Fall would be advertised and warnings brought to every locale they could reach. Proudly, Cendrine's family performed for the Weyr in celebration of their wayward girl's accomplishments.