Nevi wasn't sure why Wede kept looking at her like that. She knew that the girl was boyish but she wasn't interested in women like that, was she? Since Wede had Impressed her brown dragon (how appropriate) she'd had to give off a lot of her duties with the canine groups, the kennels, to others. Nevi was only fourteen when she'd done that, about sixteen when Wede was able to come back down more often, and by that time was more than halfway in charge of breeding and training the hunting dogs that the Weyr used. Along with two or three others, they took their instruction from Wede's prior ways because frankly she was the best canine keeper they had. Even if she wasn't particularly social, she was exceptional with animals.

Nevi had been told she had a good rapport with dogs too, and even as a young child she was able to befriend them instead of letting them scare her. Since Wede had to fly Thread often enough, it was Nevi that took command of the dogs most often now. She never let anyone tell her she couldn't, especially not the boys that ran around trying to distract the dogs and make them run around like pets.

They weren't pets. They were hunters. The best hunters on four legs - without wings, of course... Dragons rather took the top spot. But what dragons lacked was a pack mentality. Nevi ran with the pack, and showed her subordinate canines what to do. Corner that snake, drag it out, expose it, kill it, get the reward. Her dogs always learned faster than others' did.

So now, here was Wede staring at her with a weird expression on her normally stern face.

"Well, what is it brown rider?" Asked Nevi, a little curt. But she knew that Wede of all people would understand that she didn't mean offense, just 'get to the point'.

"Takatwarth has said he senses someone to Search... I think he means you." Wede said, blinking. "If you're up to it, I'd like to take you to the real search riders. I'm not good at this at all am I?"

Shaking her head but allowing herself to grin broadly, Nevi laughed and said, "nope, you're pretty bad at it... But that doesn't matter."

Shortly they arranged a more proper meeting with K'roohan, the older of the search riders. He confirmed it, put his seal on the orders to send Nevi to a clutch to stand. And just like that, Nevi's world changed.

Though she'd always lived in the Weyr, she had usually never been up and about with the riders. The lower cavern staff was more her style, along with the fishermen and hunters and merchants in the town below. Far from being a humble new candidate, the first thing Nevi did was run down to the docks and yell that she'd been Searched! Since they knew her, since the many litters of pups from her breeding projects gave the men and women down there good guard and hunting dogs, everyone was either thrilled or saddened - didn't this mean she wouldn't be working with dogs any more?

Well of course she would, just like Wede did. It wouldn't be her single claim to fame now. And fame was something she might just enjoy, if this last batch of great local chowder in her honor was any example...

***

Brought to Seiryuu on short notice, but still squeezed in before the eggs actually hatched, Nevi had a little time to devote to brushing up on her reading and writing - she had to fill out a form to stand, which she thought was exceedingly weird. But riders did have to learn charts and send notes, so it wouldn't do to let her own skills atrophy. Wede, on returning two years back, had insisted that her old friends in the kennels start learning to read and write, she'd had to do it, everyone ought.

Unafraid to dive into a project, Nevi grasped tactics like Wede had - but also enjoyed learning about the anatomy and behaviors of dragons. They were quite different from canines, but they had their similarities. What would be the most amazing thing to Nevi was learning to ride. She'd never had to ride anything, not even a runner, since she lived in the weyr and ran beside the canines down to the hold below. So the flight on dragonback to Seiryuu was an eye-opener. Or, closer, because she had her eyes gripped tightly shut while they went between.

Very soon, not more than a couple days after their arrival, the eggs began to show signs of hatching... Would she be ready? Was Nevi really going to be a rider? How she'd be able to crow about that when she got home!

She didn't feel like crowing. She felt like throwing up. The trip to this Seiryuu Weyr place (where ever it was, it was a long way from Dragonhope!) was dark and cold and bone-numbing. Between had never lasted so long, and Nevi realized that even if she didn't impress here, she'd have to leave that way too, through the darkness of what one rider she'd heard called the Nexus.

Wobbling down with the other candidates to the sands - the warm, blessed sands, Nevi wondered at how small the clutch was - and then looked up to see that it was no normal queen's nest. It wasn't even a normal green's nest! The dam was silver!

Well that put an interesting twist on things, didn't it!

Blue, brown, greens, there were several hatchlings that impressed before the middle of the clutch, and then...

A lovely dawn-colored green approached Nevi. She never had eyes for anyone else on the sands, her eyes were bright and swirly and looked just lovely to the canine trainer.

I am Ofeth, the dragoness confided in Nevi, Isn't all this wonderful? I have never seen any of this before...

"Well of course not, silly you haven't seen anything before... Let's show you the food dishes, I think you'll like those..." Nevi whispered, and then Ofeth chirped cheerfully at that thought. Nevi was about ready to eat her own food raw at this point, so hungry and faintly disoriented.

But she was a rider, now. Ofeth would be with her forever... They would fight Thread!

Nevi's Dawn Green Ofeth
Personality: Overly Curious about everything; who, what, when, why, and how.

Her excellent grasp on dragon anatomy and quick wits got Nevi and Ofeth a stint as curriers to and from one of the major healer's halls, picking up supplies. Sending just anyone would not do, but sending the dragon healers themselves would mean leaving the weyr a bit short handed. Nevi took up the trips with gusto, once they'd learned how to go Between. She still didn't like the chill there, but it was brief, and every time she went she understood it better. It was just the place you weren't, while you were moving...