Eshishy had always been a servant. But she was no drudge - her family had always been with the House of Ruald, and with them a kind of status in and of itself flowed in her blood. She knew how to sew, knit, tailor, embroider, and repair. She knew the ins and outs of serving food on quality dishes with fine silver and beautiful goblets without spilling a drop. She rarely strayed into the kitchens but she knew a wherrie steak from a bovine one, and could tell you how best to serve the wine with it. She also knew how to escape all the duties she'd been given in a day, and still manage to come out ahead.

Delegation, she knew, was the key to her success. While she would listen in on people's conversations one night, she'd use that information to get something she wanted the next. Whose family had shamed what village, who was late on tithes and who could carry their cothold through a bad winter. Those things were all known to Eshishy. This baby was born out of wedlock, but that one will be loved by her foster parents. An exceptional judge of character even at a young age, Eshishy could tweak the ear of a noble, or bend the neck of a rider with but a word.

What she didn't do was go out much. For all the work she dodged, it was merely to do other slightly less hands-on activities. Rarely if ever did she bother with the outdoors world - for it was far too bright and the sun blistered her skin if she remained under it for too long. One would think from the work she skipped out on, she'd want to have gone out to ride a runner or play in a stream, or any number of other activities. But she did not.

At least, not while anyone was looking, and not while the sun was in its full heat! Riders - riders were the only people who could get her to come outside in the noonday sun and bear the brunt of its burning. To watch a rider dismount, or lead a wing, or just land... The dragons themselves were so beautiful, so varied from weyr to weyr! Even the riding leathers she could see with her keen eyesight, they too varied in texture and style from place to place. Some seemed shoddy, expecting their riders to do the work themselves. Some were ornate, weyrs that didn't often have to worry about Threadfall damaging their goods. Still others were merely functional and not ugly - and honestly she liked those best.

***

The sun glinted sharply off the lake, over which the House Ruald sat. Damnable lake, Eshishy thought, because in the summer time not only did it bring the unbearable light into her mistress' quarters far earlier in the day, but it also brought mosquitoes and biting bugs by the thousand. Not enough spinner bugs, too many bleeders. She swatted at another one, and squinted into the day light outside through the shuttered windows.

"It will be quite warm today," she commented, "did you want to wear the new dress after all?"

Her mistress, the elder sister of the Lord Holder here, Ruena, nodded. She was quite old now, and needed assistance getting dressed and sometimes moving about. Her mind was active, and she enjoyed talking and listening to gossip. In fact it was from Ruena that Eshishy learned most of her trade skills. Even the sewing, and Eshishy knew that stung her - because the old woman's hands could no longer hold a needle properly and she did so enjoy embroidery. The new dress that Eshishy took from the wardrobe was lightweight, and pale in color. It would keep the worst heat away.

The style was a bit more suited to a much younger woman, but Ruena didn't care - it might even make her light on her feet once more.

"The men will love you in this," Eshishy said while draping the dress over her mistress' shoulders. It did look nice, and the woman would always hold herself with a strong pride if not a straight back. "You'll have to fight them away."

Laughing, the elder woman said, "you'll have to take the ones I don't want, then, dear."

Donning her own summer wear - something with sleeves because oh-those-bugs! - and a sun shade in her hand, they walked from the House's main residence down to the lake shore. There, a traditional runner race and trade was going on. For a week at least, there would be racers and gypsies, traders and caravans, in other words a very nice Gather.

Which Eshishy hated. Now, to be fair she'd come back during the evening hours and enjoy herself. But right now? When she'd soon be sticky and sweaty hot, covered in prickly heat and half-blind by the glare off the lake? She endured it because she enjoyed the company of her mistress, and Ruena would have a difficult time getting back up to the Hold's upper areas.

They took in the sights - runners and men, children and their mothers, and goods! Food smells drifted everywhere, mingling with the half-stagnant smell of the warm lake and the runner wastes.

"Watch where you're going!" Someone said, and Eshishy jolted. Someone was pushing their way through the crowd, and it looked like he didn't feel like stopping when he came across the elderly woman and her servant!

"Out of my way," he growled, and made to push them to the side with a burly arm. But Eshishy snarled at him and instead placed herself like a stuck post between he and her mistress.

"Only if you say please," she said with a glower. Her red-brown eyes were filled with life, normally bored or sly - and Ruena was actually half proud of her for it.

Suddenly taken aback by the presence of this tall, healthy young woman, the man pulled up short. Then he furrowed his brows and made to hit her, but Ruena cleared her throat. "Would you care to announce who you are to be striking the honored servant of the Lord Holder's sister? For I would certainly enjoy announcing you to everyone. At your dismissal from our Hold."

Between the glare given by Eshishy and the stinging words from the older woman, the man faded to the side and slipped through the crowd with less vigor and more hesitation.

"That was well said," Eshishy commented as they continued their journey to the race area.

"That was very brave of you," Ruena told her, "but you should be careful. He would have hit you, if I hadn't been with you."

"I'd just have hit him back," Eshi grinned, and Ruena chuckled. The elder woman wished that the girl would take her a bit more seriously though. She might get hurt, badly, some day, for her rude behavior. Eshishy would frequently be chastised by the Holder for it, especially when she could be heard 'accidentally' not-whispering about their guests' behavior or the gossip about them that could paint them in a poor light.

But all in all, even those times, Eshishy had the best interests of the House at hand - and everyone knew it. She'd never truly been punished for any of her actions, spurring her to continue doing them of course. There might come a day when she insulted the wrong person, but until this point it hadn't happened. She was regarded as being too intelligent for that to happen easily.

Through the long hot day, Eshishy kept the sun umbrella up over herself and Ruena. They bet on races, bought treats, even looked over some pottery and cloth items. But in the end, the long day came to its conclusion and they went back up to the residence tired and happy. Eshishy let the night servants take over from there, and enjoyed herself with a long, tepid bath. Her skin hadn't been burnt - this time. But the gather would last for days more...

Though, the way that Ruena was walking back and forth to see things, it looked as though she was struggling more than usual. They probably would pass the next day, perhaps heading down again day after that.

***

Eshishy handed Ruena off to the other servant in midmorning, after bringing the elderly woman her breakfast and helping her dress. She was very stiff, the Lady Holder, and though she forced a smile onto her face Eshishy knew that it was masking a bit of pain and weakness.

But ... there were dragons today. The gather had attracted the attention of a number of riders from here and there, mostly there because the House wasn't quite close enough to be considered under one specific weyr's protection. Several blues, browns and greens dotted the cliffside, while another dropped down to the gather flats.

A gold? Here?

Eshishy stood in awe, at the top of the stairs leading down to the lake. Another cloudless day - she'd put on a shawl and that had to do for now. Her face would probably get burnt, looking up into the dragon's shimmering eyes.

"She's not very big," said someone, ignorant and callous. Eshishy passed him by with a snort. What did he know about dragons?

Come to think of it, what did she know? She'd paid a lot of attention to the ballads and the writings about dragons. It was true that in comparison to some of the ones on the clifftop, this gold did look a little small - but then as Eshishy got closer she realized that it was a young gold, not a queen yet by the way her crest wasn't fully grown and her wings hadn't been scarred by any sign of threadfall or stress.

"She's young," Eshishy said to herself, appraising the gold's condition.

"Yes, she is," said the rider, who overheard. Eshishy wasn't one to blush at such an intrusion, she turned to look the rider over. "We've completed our flight training, and are heading back to our weyr. But gathers are so fun! She's never seen one, and I wanted to get her used to the people and sounds."

"That's a great idea!" Eshishy commented. "Are they headed back to the same weyr? They're different breeds, I see."

The girl looked up at them lined up, and nodded. "That's a good observation, the brown and big blue are from one weyr, the others from the one we're headed back to. Mine is from another entirely."

"I still say she's awful small," said the same shameless man as before. Eshishy noticed that he was - the same man who'd pushed by them before? And, that the gold rider was suddenly white as a sheet!

Before she could even think about it, Eshishy stepped in between the girl and what must have been her very angry father. She suddenly saw the resemblance - though the girl was pretty enough she had his nose which would bulb out if she drank too much, and his hard shining eyes though in another color.

"Girl, out of the way before you get hurt too."

"You can't possibly mean to strike a gold rider can you?" Eshishy exclaimed loudly. That caught the attention of everyone else around, those who hadn't already seen. "That's certainly not your place sir!" Her fists balled up, and she noticed then that he was actually a bit shorter than she. She would use that to her advantage normally, but he was quite big in the shoulder. She was hardly fit to fight him with anything but words.

"Father!" The girl cried, and her dragon gave a loud trumpet that deafened everyone for a moment. "Stop this madness! I cannot come home - you can see that yourself!"

He stepped one foot closer, to which Eshishy squished herself next to him. She could feel the warm breath of the dragon's head above, and for some reason that gave her tremendous comfort.

"This little wench can't protect you, nor can this lump of dragon," the man growled. No one in the crowd had ever seen someone so audacious!

"I might not be able to," Eshishy said, low, "but I believe you are mistaken if you think that a gold dragon - even a young small one - would allow you to harm her rider."

She glanced up and saw the red swirling eyes, and remembered: red was angry. The rider finally pulled herself together, and stood straighter.

"Father. The weyr is waiting for me, and no man you've chosen for me to marry would ever compare to my dragon. Perhaps if he were searched and found himself impressed to a fine bronze - but, oh wait. He's much too old to be searched, and much too fat to ride a dragon into threadfall."

She turned, snarling with the confidence that a rider should have, "thank you," she said to Eshishy, "this won't go unnoticed by the weyr." She again glared at her father, "any of it." The dragon's large paw reached down and assisted her in reaching the shoulder and neck, and as the dragon spread her huge yellow-gold wings people scattered. Eshishy remained planted to the spot, as did the rider's father.

They took off, reaching the cliff top in three short flaps. Eshishy watched until she saw motion from the man next to her. She tried to duck, but his fist impacted her shoulder hard. She spun, losing her shawl and falling into the dust where the dragon had stood.

"Little whore! You and that dragon have cost me too much!" He yelled. Several people finally rushed back up to him, it took a number of strong men to restrain him.

"Take him inside, he's going to have to be kept here until a harper judge can come." Eshishy said, rubbing her shoulder.

"You'll need a healer?" Asked someone else, one of the other riders. Four of the dragons had flown on with the gold, while two of them remained. "It'll swell up and get too stiff to work otherwise."

"And you'd know swollen and stiff, right?" Eshishy said. No one was sure whether that was meant as a barb or a come on. She was clearly in pain, and he helped her up. Though Eshishy was quite tall, this man towered over even her.

"I would, in fact," the man said with a bold grin. "Let me help you back inside. Oh - here, here's your shawl..." He helped her straighten it over her dusty hair, hemming and hawing at it as though he were a green rider. He wasn't. He was a brown rider, a search rider in fact.

***

Inside the cool darks of the House, K'roohan clucked like a wherryhen over his prize girl. The local healer administered a cold pack, and some herbs, which satisfied the rider. She also dabbed on a bit of skin ointment to Eshishy's nose and cheeks, knowing that the girl could hardly go outside without being burnt to a crisp.

K'roohan looked at the servant oddly, and then smiled. "Well, what say you come along with me, back to Dragonhope? The weyr needs riders - like the one you could be."

All the pain in the world didn't matter all of a sudden. While pale tan already, Eshishy turned a bright white and then her cheeks flushed with red. "... Sir?" (That caused the healer and a couple locals to blink in surprise - she'd never bothered to call any stranger 'sir' before!)

"Well certainly, that kind of bravery and guts ..." He glanced around, and then leaned in close to her, "well, here it's ... a bit wasted, don't you think?"

"Sir!" Eshishy said again, "... I ... I would like to, but I have duties to my mistress, Lady Ruena. I can't leave. Not ... not right now."

She could see the expression on the rider's face fade, and his eyes drifted from side to side. She knew he was communicating with his brown dragon outside.

What she didn't know was what he said.

The woman? She ... will not last the summer, if she lasts this sevenday. Tell her to wait, we must send for her shortly.

"We can wait for you then," K'roohan said with a bit of hesitation. "When you're ready to come, we'll be able to pick you up. Your Hold does have flitters to use right?"

Someone else answered that yes they did, it was covered. Eshishy was still in shock - both from the wound and from the news.

She was searched!

Ruena would be so happy for her!

***

Eshishy spent the next few days in a tizzy of emotions. On one hand, it was her future opening up at last! Her family was proud of her - so happy for her, and well they should be! For she would be headed to *** weyr, a place known for its beautiful large and healthy dragons.

And on the other hand, Ruena was dying - quickly. She'd been relatively healthy the week of the Gather, but she hadn't gone back out to visit any of it after the one day. Her voice had all but failed her, and her breathing was shallow. It was so sudden, but not completely unexpected. Lord Ruald himself remained near her as much as he could during the day, but the duties of his Hold as always had to come first.

Eshishy saw the pain in his face, when he was called away yet again to his Gather clean-up. The runners and racing and trading brought in a tremendous bounty and would make tithing this season very easy indeed. But that was small consolation, as the woman he'd known all his life - she was nearly fifteen years his senior - was about to expire. He seemed beside himself, but had to go.

Eshishy held Ruena's hand, and listened to her rough breath. The girl kept her mistress clean, and warm, not too warm because it was growing hotter every day after all. But now, tucked gently into her big bed, Ruena grasped her servant's hand and pulled her close.

"You know why he allows you to get away with so much?" Ruena breathed. Eshishy shook her head, confused. "I had... I had a daughter, she looked quite like you, you know. He and she grew up together for some years..." Ruena took a long breath, while Eshishy took that in. "But... Nena died, near about the time that Ruald was finding himself his own wife." The gleam came back into the old woman's eye, when she added, "and you know, I wasn't married, no. Never was. I found myself a handsome rider one night and ... well..."

Eshishy burst out laughing, but there were still tears in her eyes. Ruena continued. "So ... he knew how much you resembled Nena, and how much I saw of her, in you..."

Finding words was quite hard. But Eshishy finally said, "thank you, I ... never knew that."

"No one does," Ruena said, voice so quiet she could barely be heard. "Only you, and my brother, now..."

Eshishy stood up carefully moments later, and summoned Ruald urgently. He wasn't long in coming, but it was too late for him to see his sister alive once more.

***

"Why does it always take a death to make life so much more worth living?" K'roohan asked himself, mostly, not thinking he was speaking out loud. He often made the weird kind of talking-to-ones-self mistakes that younger riders did, when speaking to their dragons aloud instead of mentally.

Eshishy grunted anyway, keeping up with him quite easily since her legs were long and strong from marching up and down the House's steps. "Everything is in its time, Ruena taught me, it's a cycle. I guess... she had known I'd find out her secrets some day, I just didn't realize it'd be ... that secret."

"You're not her daughter," K'roohan said with a smile, "now that would have been one of those secrets you'd not soon forget!"

Eshishy had already considered that aspect - and was glad that she wasn't. For one thing, she'd have been in her late forties already! For another, she'd have been subjected to the Hold's rules - and have been married off (like that gold rider would have been!) by the time she was, well, her age! Not so for one of a servant's bloodline.

But again, servants weren't drudges. She was no half-wit, she was tall and strong, and rather pretty. And, capable! The more she thought about it, the more satisfied Eshishy was with having been Searched. She would certainly enjoy the new life ahead of her - whatever it brought!

To be sure, what Eshishy was brought, was a little bit more trouble than she expected. Life at a weyr was busy, good hard work. She realized that she couldn't quite get away with the same level of 'supervisory' work that she'd had at the Hold. Riding a dragon would be difficult, she had to learn how to be much more physical.

Well that came easily enough, especially after the hatching! Well, even during the hatching!

It was toward the middle, when there were still a good number of unhatched eggs left but many had broken already. The large, light colored green stood in defiance of her bigger, darker brown brother. They'd just come from their shells, but it was obvious what the situation would be here.

Mine! The green broadly bespoke, Mine! You cannot have her!

I do not want her! You're in my way!

No one knew quite what to do, until the dragonets all but came to blows. The candidates backed up, one or two tripping and having to pick each other up. Snarling, the green lashed her tail, while the brown gave a rumbling growl. I just want to go by you, move! He barrelled past the green finally, landing halfway on his side near Mikhali's feet.

Grumbling audibly, the green stalked around and busied herself with the shards from a blue's egg, and the blue dragonet himself rushed behind another candidate to avoid the blustery green.

The green's eyes had gotten so red it was a wonder that the Red Star didn't turn jealous. Finally, at the risk apparently of life and limb, one tall female candidate stepped forward. "It's me, isn't it, you're looking for me?" Eshishy asked. "Come on, you won't be nearly so cranky with some food in your belly, Vidrath. I know it always helps me."

The green still hissed at others as they passed by, almost the whole time mentally adding mine. "Yes, I know." Eshishy repeated, every time.

The possessive streak that Vidrath showed continued on into their adolescence and training. The fact that she was a green simply never entered the pair's mind - greens were known for being small and forgetful and flirty. Vidrath was none of those things. While she was not a huge green, she was at least blue-sized. She remembered everyone from the hatching, every time they went into formations on the bowl's field for practice. And she was determined to get a good spot.

"When you say, 'a good spot,'" said Aniz, who impressed one of the two golds in the clutch and would be going back to Dragonhope - she was their Master scribe anyway - "you mean a wing leadership spot, don't you?"

Eshishy nodded, and glanced at the sleeping dragon nearby. Because of the personality clashes that inevitably followed being paired up in a shared weyr, she and Vidrath had been given their own for the time being. Once back at Dragonhope they might find a proper room mate set up, but frankly Aniz doubted that too.

"I don't know if it's possible," Eshishy said, "but even trying for it is good enough for me. Vidrath is strong, and with good aim she'll be able to conserve flames and fly longer in Threadfall."

Aniz looked at the former servant with concern. "You aren't worried for your safety? I know I am."

"Yeah but you don't have to fly Thread, you're the Master Scribe! They can't afford to put you out there in Threadfall." Eshishy narrowed her eyes and smiled at the scribe. "I can't even believe how humble you are, after everything you've done."

"Well," Aniz laughed, "I can't believe how humble you can be, when you're in formation and following drill instructions." She stood, gathered her writing instruments and bowed.

"It's because we want to be able to play every spot in a wing well enough," Eshishy said. "And if we can't fly in the day time because of the sun and my stupid skin," she added while Aniz was headed back to her own shared weyr, "it'll be watch riding at night, and that will be lovely, won't it Vidrath.."

Along with the darker green ridden by that cute boy with the cats, Eshishy and Vidrath flew on the ends of the V shaped wing that their small group made on arrival to Dragonhope. They took instruction from Aniz and her perfect memory, passed through her gold, and to the big bronze that handsome Z'an rode. Vidrath picked up the pace on her end of the V, as the bronze went ahead down to the weyrbowl to meet his new mate - a copper-gold colored dragoness that would certianly be their next weyr's queen.

Once they'd been given their weyr - private as most were here at Dragonhope, Eshishy got a visit from the weyrleader.

He was tall, dark and handsome, like stories of such men ought to read - he fit the bill. Maybe too tall. And maybe too dark. And certainly way too pretty with that hair! But Eshishy held back any kind of comment on his grooming habits when he indicated they should speak outside on the ledge. The wind was strong, but refreshing, and the sun was just past noon - the peak where the Weyr had been carved blocked most of its burning rays and Eshishy was confident she could remain out here for hours.

"I've been told by Tripaldi's Weyrling master that you've got a very bright dragon," he said.

"I like to think so, she's not like any of the stories of green dragons I've ever heard." Eshishy glanced at the green who was even now stalking a herdbeast in the dragon-feeding meadows below. "She is still a bit stubborn though."

"I've heard more angry dragons than you might have," S'xon said, "she fights for her place, not to upset anyone else's. That's a good sign." He turned a bit, and waved to a passing rider, who abruptly descended to the ledge. Vidrath wasn't too happy when she spied this, from the ground, but Eshishy aimed a careful, calm 'stay there' at her.

The brown dragon was strong, and his rider was as dark. Z'zi came from the harness and dropped to the ground, bowing toward the Weyrleader, and giving a nod and a half grin to Eshishy.

"I'm sure you know that this is Z'zi, the Wing Leader of our Next Generation wing," S'xon said, "and over there, don't know if you can see him, is C'lem and bronze Uuvinth, his Wingsecond."

Z'zi gave a glance at the Weyrleader and when he recieved a tiny nod, the brown-skinned man said, "I'm looking for another Wing Second. C'lem enjoys the spot but we've got a bigger wing than ever to manage these days." Casually he looked around, and then back to Eshishy he said, "I'd like to try out your green for that spot, if you think you're up to it."

Eshishy stood numbly, almost as though she'd been Searched all over again. Down below, Vidrath trumpeted happily and went down to the bronze's quarters to drop off the half of a herd beast she hadn't eaten yet.

"I think that means Vidrath is ready for it," Eshishy laughed when the men noticed what she'd done. "I would love to try. If you think it isn't working out, it's okay - this is a ... it's a big step from weyrling wing to W... Wing Second," she almost gulped back those words.

"Well I'll enjoy the company," Z'zi said. "I'll see you on the practice field tomorrow at dawn, then, the sun's not as hot. And if your skin burns, maybe it'll mean I can convince this guy here," he thumbed toward S'xon, "that we really do need a night-wing spot created."

Eshishy watched the men depart, one on his dragon and the other toward the offices in the Weyr. And then she gave out a long, hardly private exclamation of joy!