"And is that all she has with her? I mean..." The search rider faintly nodded toward the skinny girl nearby, "I've seen people show up with less than the clothes on their back, but just in case, it's best to not have to do this more than once per candidate."

"No no she's packed, they travel light, those wanderers." The local search rider, K'roohan (if that was his shortened name, one might imagine his full name was quite the doozy!) thumbed at a small pack resting by the girl's feet. It was all but the same color as the dirt, and covered in it to boot... but then so was the girl, and her sisters, parents, and probably that young man who had the same brightly copper colored hair over by the goat pen. Him especially. S'nam was at least a little relieved that the goat tending bunch weren't going to be crowded too closely. Plus it wasn't like he wasn't used to getting a good coat of dirt all over, playing football or exploring. There wasn't much sport going on here at Dragonhope, he mused, but then that's because the ground was usually frozen solid, and it was too cold to just play outdoors. It was even colder than the surroundings of his own home...

As K'roohan wandered away to gather the candidate and help sling her up into the harness, that girl excitedly made sure that everyone in her family had something to remember her by. Not that... well, not that she would be gone all that long; was supposed to be up to years, but it might be weeks, might be days, Meridian worked funny that way.

Finally she was done, without a tear in her eye but a very big smile. Lopsided; she was cute in that awkward teenager way, but she'd never likely be a beautiful woman. That was fine: she could clearly make her own way with confidence and not have to rely on appearance alone like some. She had checked out the periwinkle and sky blue dragon that S'nar rode with an observant yellow eye - and quickly compared him to another nearby blue who was quite different in build and coloration. The way Siasli appraised the dragons was admirable, she wasn't doing it like he'd seen some folk - dragons were not runners, they were not cattle with a value based on weight or their fur. No, she looked at the dragon and said "I bet he likes to fly fast and low over terrain, he could get a good swing around a tree and not snap his own neck in the process."

Whether that was true or not, it was the first time someone had said such a thing, and S'nam was sure that she would do well on any sands, let alone Meridian's.

K'roohan stooped over (bringing him to... S'nam's chest height) and folded his long fingers together, Siasli stepped into the offered boost and sprang into the harness as if she'd been born to it. It was a wonder that the two of them weren't related: both so skinny it was painful to look at them, only the search rider was almost half again taller than the girl...

"This is exciting," Siasli breathed, as she looked over the harness straps and began pairing them up with the right buckles without being told which to use.

The dragon aimed a thought, something to the order of "you're almost out of a job, my rider", and S'nam chuckled, waving it off when she turned and gave a little 'huh'?

"Nothing, just the dragon's idea of a joke," he said, "but you've got it all right, are you snug, not jostling around?"

She nodded, straightening her back and wiggling around. She had definitely been in a saddle, whether it was on a runner of quality or a burden beast who could say. "Oh! What... should I do with Fumble?"

S'nam had hardly even noticed the brown flitter that was curled around her neck, buried under not only the big loose shirt collar, but her own hair. "He'll be fine: as long as you keep calm, the flitter will know what we're doing." His own pair of flitters had been somewhat reclusive, but now that they were getting down to business, they both returned and burrowed around in his own flight jacket.

As they prepared for taking off, S'nam heard her muttering to herself how instincts could be good, how she did know they'd been exploited to create the dragons themselves. So she wasn't completely off the charts education-wise, he thought. He'd been warned ahead of time that she would need to learn to read and write properly, and he'd have to inform their Weyrleaders about that fact. Her family had been on the road and wandering her entire life, and while she could count and do simple maths, she didn't even know how to sign her own name. Yet she wanted to, he'd overheard the evening before that she was excited to finally be in a place with proper Harpers...

The inevitable knowing chuckle of those riders around them... Dragonhope wasn't known for hiring 'mere' Harpers. They had a squadron of Scribes, though, so perhaps they'd give her the start of her education at Meridian while she was waiting for their clutch to hatch, and the locals would complete it. She would do well there, too, S'nam considered. Bright girl, eager, it was too bad she had hardly ever been in a Hold or Crafthall long enough to wait for a Harper to come along and teach her.

***

"So... where... Where is the queen?" Siasli asked very quietly. She looked at the sands and the pair of dragons that were standing together, and though one was brighter and more sun-shiny than the other, they were both clearly bronzes. She'd seen other dragons here, recounting their ranks quietly as was her way, all but keeping a score card... Kaia was positive that had she been able to write before she got here, that's exactly what she would have been doing. Kaia waited until the girl wasn't looking, and then nearly busted her gut keeping a laugh inside.

"Well, right there," she offered her hand to wave at the pair, knowing that it wouldn't clear anything up.

"I... um." Siasli finally turned with her eyebrows quirked together and chewing on her lip a little. She leaned in closer to the assistant Weyrlingmaster who had been tasked with helping her study, "bronzes are males, though?" she whispered.

"Usually, yes," Kaia offered, "but this time... well, one of them is most definitely a queen..."

At that word, the self-same bronze queen glanced up to their ledge and gave a snort.

"Aalimeth is an unusual bronze, and her partner Risperoth is definitely an unusual bronze as well, being ridden by a woman," Kaia continued in a conspiratorial tone. She watched as the girl's eyes - gold as one might expect a queen dragon - widened in surprise. But they didn't narrow in anger or confusion.

"You can do that?" She gasped. "That's amazing!"

After a few minutes of gawking at the pair of disparate bronzes on the sands, Kaia grunted, "what would be amazing is... if you could finish your first letter home without my help?" So they got back to tutoring and crunching that education into a few weeks rather than a lifetime. Kaia took advantage of the girl's nature - her focus on animals, dragon anatomy, and environmental concerns gave them subject matter to learn about first. Though 'weyrlingmaster' usually meant more or less 'harnesses and squad training' it was clear she was not going to be a fighting rider once she did get on her own dragon. But it was too good to pass up, watching someone who was simply hungry for knowledge eat it up. Her handwriting... would be like her hair. Pretty when it's cleaned up a bit but adequately messy normally. But the fact that she'd been learning all of two days and was already able to begin composing that letter? That impressed Kaia as well as others.

Maybe it would impress the dragons on the sands, too.

*** (July 4 2022 ^from hatching)

It was definitely chillier than she was used to, even when camping on the road. But when the call went up Siasli was quite glad for the nice warm robes traditional for such an event. She was certain that Fumble would be down in the Sands, as he wasn't picking through her hair by the time she was dressed. She and the others hurried down, and oh it was chilled, but nice on the sands themselves.

The magnificent bronze parents made way for their eggs to break, and one that was bronze hatched first! And female! Siasli would have such things to write home about when this was done!

She committed to memory: blue, blue, green, brown. Another brown, another pair of blues. Something changed in Siasli, when the darker of those blues began looking at the candidates. Because he stopped looking at the boys, and made a bee-line right to her! Turned out, that was no male blue!

^I am so glad I found you, the hatchling sighed with relief. I should have come to this side first - I just had to meet the person who's going to teach me to write! The first dragon with perfect penmanship on the planet - imagine!

Siasli's jaw dropped open for a moment - she'd only started writing herself just days ago, how could she teach someone else, let alone a dragon ! "Are you sure you've got the right candidate, Meissath ?"

The blue dragon eyed Siasli knowingly at the mention of her name. Positive, she affirmed, and Siasli felt her tension ease with a wave of assurance from the dragon. Her dragon.

"I'll teach you what I can," Siasli replied, and Meissath hummed happily. "We'll learn together!"

Kaia, from her place in the stands, applauded as her student Impressed. They'd make a fine pair, and if Meissath's work ethic was anything like Siasli's... well, perhaps a dragon could learn to write, after all! ^

***

Taught at Meridian for a bit, but then taken back to Dragonhope to complete their training, Siasli had figured out how to get Fumble to move between back to Meridian, which seemed harder than it was to go from there to Dragonhope's area. So she diligently wrote - and could use the paper that Dragonhope had without worry. No parchment needed, they had groves of trees, and reeds, and a number of other plants that they protected for exactly such a use! Kaia would probably get a chuckle out of their flight training, almost as though Fumble was the one teaching Meissath how to do it. Thankfully there were no injuries too big to deal with on the field.

It is quite cold, even colder than during the hatching! She wrote with that inelegant but now confident hand. And there is a hold, a big bay with a harbor, and then the ocean. I will admit I'm afraid of having to fly over it. I know that Meissath won't ever drop me (not after that one time) but I still worry when I must train there.

There were other expert scribes at the Weyr, interesting people all of them, and it appeared that they were happy with how much she practiced her writing. Since it was still somewhat messy they wouldn't claim she was apprentice-level at it, but more than once she was asked to also include a little sealed slip of paper with her own letter - from Aniz, the Weyr Masterscribe - which informed Kaia of their plans for the girl. It was very clear that Siasli never even considered opening those secret messages, particularly when she got that later letter...

Of course even though she tried, Meissath was not really that good at holding a stylus, so her own letter-writing consisted mainly of dragging sticks through the sand on the nearby wash. That's not to say she couldn't write. She absolutely could. Now if only there was a way to take what could be seen from above on that self-same dragon's back, and instantly show others before the wind covered the script!

***

"I should probably know this by now but... what's a 'lee ay zon'?" Siasli scratched her head, and Fumble eeped and tried to return his nest to its proper messy state. Weyrwoman Kira and the Masterscribe Aniz, along with several other higher ranking folks in the Weyr, were writing up the new rider lists and wing assignments. There had been quite a lot going on here for the last few years, and as weyrlings grew they needed to be assessed for their skills. Put in the wrong wing, they could spell disaster - Thread was now starting to fall in earnest. But put into the right wing...

Kira spoke, "It means that you are our contact, you'll deliver notifications and return messages, but we want you to be set up with the right spots to connect." She glanced at the tall search rider beside her.

"Meissath isn't a search dragon, but you have a good eye for details, and so does she." K'roohan gave that quirky smile of his, and Siasli had to resist giggling. "With navigation and wilderness survival abilities like yours, though, and the fact that you've been beyond between... You are a good one to have on my wing."

The grey-haired eyepatch-wearing R'vfen gave an obvious grunt, but laughed. "My wing," he muttered, still smiling. "But true enough." He looked at Siasli, who met the Weyrlingmaster with a straight salute out of habit more than anything else. He waved that off, "and also true that you'll be working more closely with the Search riders than with the candidates."

"So... I would be heading back and forth to Meridian?" Siasli brightened.

"And many other places, we have a network forming - both to bring candidates here, as well as send them out," the tall rider Opal said, she was much taller than her mother the Weyrwoman, that was for sure.

Siasli pondered this, hearing in her mind the questions that her dragoness had. And finally she put those to words. "What about the rest of the time? Surely we can't be flying and going to these other places all the time? I notice hardly anyone in the Weyr is usually slacking about," she grinned, there certainly were a few weyrbrats that liked to duck their duties.

"Your instinct for aid will be quite valuable among the scouts and watch riders," D'rao spoke next, "so you'll be able to use that wherever you fly, and bring back information for the rescue riders, should they be necessary."

It was all coming together, all coming true - her deepest desires, and her wildest dreams. Siasli was never one to just burst out into emotional flutters, but here and now, no one faulted her. She was to be responsible for quite a lot, and everyone knew she'd live up to their expectations. She would pen a letter to Kaia, but deliver it personally!