"That cheating little wench," Faunsey spat, tossing another scarf tangled with a belt into her carry-bags.

"Watch your language," her sister warned, "mother and father have told you-"

"Well mother and father could have told me that Chardha had already been Searched, now couldn't they? Years ago?" The red-head fumed, her crooked nose almost as bright as her hair. She almost always threw a fit if something didn't go her way, and since she was the youngest of her brood her whims - unlike Chardha's - had been completely sated. Reading? That was too much work. Embroidery was much easier. Servants were there to cook and clean, so she hardly had to lift a finger to do that.

Her sister leaned against the wall, watching the younger girl with a bit of jealousy. "Well, I was never searched. Nor any of us before you. You're the lucky one. And the dragons had seven chances with us."

Faunsey grunted, hardly satisfied with that. But there wasn't much to be done, except put her clothing into the bags and decide whether to bring her mirror or not. She decided to, but then couldn't locate it. Fuming, she searched practically the entire floor of the Hold. Turning up nothing, she flopped on her bed and gave a dramatic whine.

"And now my mirror's gone, how am I supposed to make myself even look presentable for the Weyrleaders, if I can't find it!"

Finally her mother arrived and smoothed out Faunsey's skirt. "We'll find it, dear, and when we do we'll send it along to you. After all," she winked, "it's going to be a while before we see you on a dragon coming back to visit us, there's time for us to send you things."

"Will you?" Faunsey over-reacted, "oh momma do, do please. And send cookies. I just know they won't have anyone who makes cookies near as good as you do at the Weyr. And oh - oh - what if I find a fire lizard! Oh that would be marvelous, I could send you anything!"

Her mother indulged this as she had with any other idle talk - prudently realizing that mentioning Faunsey had never learned to read and thus would not be able to send the family any letters, well, perhaps Chardha would be able to write them. But willing? Neither of the girls would possibly manage that feat.

***

The riders from Shintaru left the pair of families standing, waving, on the windblown grassy flats above the Hold.

"Well," Chardha's father said to his brother, "those two are finally out of our hair!"

Both their wives smacked their shoulders good and hard - but laughed with them on the way back into the Hold proper. Perhaps Chardha would send letters. At least they'd know what was going on through her, until Faunsey's dream of having a fire lizard came true...

***

By that time, however, it was also just about the same time as the massive first portion of the hatching at Shintaru began. Faunsey had to keep her head on her shoulders, fed her little blue Woobie another scrap from her pocket and watched as the miracle of a hatching occurred.

A green and a brown bumped into each other on their examination of the candidates and two youths ran forward. The girl reached the dragons first and tried to untangle them only to be rudely shoved aside by the boy.

"Hey!" She shouted, punching him in the shoulder, "You can't have Niketh , you jerk!"

Don't get your panties in a knot, Faunsey , he doesn't want me. The green replied, finally wiggling off the other dragon.

In the next few weeks, this lime-colored dragon and her obnoxiously House-born bond proceded to cut a swath through every friendship they could have made. Fortunately for them, many of the people that the dragonet inadvertently insulted, and every other that Faunsey put off, were not going with them to Dragonhope.

Unfortunately for Dragonhope.

"First," Fuiaam stated without any humor, "you will learn to read. You must be able to keep up, and frankly," she glared at the red-head sulking in her seat, "you're not even at the level Dragonhope's servants attain. So you will be tutored not only until you're sick of it, but until you're good at it. Is that clear?"

Faunsey glumly nodded.

"And you will stop feeding that flitter so much," the Weyrlingmaster's assistant added, "because it needs to be able to fly, if you're to start writing to your parents and send any letters with him. As it is, that gobbling maw of his is going to give him a girth bigger than his wing span. It's an embarrassment."

Would Faunsey ever really fit in here? She had become a rider! Now... Now she was nothing, lower than low. She'd never been put into this position before, and really didn't know how to react. She'd tried crying: that had led exactly nowhere good - in fact it had led to her having to scrub the walls. Scrubbing WALLS.

Well, there was very little for it but to stomach the painful admission that she had been lazy. And her dragon wouldn't want a lazy rider. She could reward herself later. For now... Studies. And scrubbing.

Faunsey

Status: Commoner, House Born child
Age: 16
Gender: female
Siblings: 6
Born: last
Legitimacy: born into a healthy family
Childhood Health: average for a youngster
Adult Height: unusually small for their age
Adult Build: kind of overweight but strong enough
Skin Tone: fair
Hair Color: auburn red
Hair Style: fluffy
Hair Length: cut to the neck
Eye Color: dark brown
Literacy Level: can't read, they are illiterate
Politeness Level: everyone knows them as a rude person
Focus: they are able to focus easily on the tasks at hand
This character isn't winning any beauty contests
They will rarely share with anyone

Values and Goals
Likes: their father
Is very happy with: being far from home
Practically nonexistant goal: protect something or someone
Practically nonexistant fear: being alone
Weak goal: locate something lost
Odd Skill (learned outside of craft if any): midwifing

Originally From: island community
Location size: smallish
Location climate: blustery
Searched: a couple weeks ago

Doll Palace

Name: Niketh
Gender: Female
Colour: Green
Father: Bronze Pernese, Argaeth
Mother: Night Gold Pernese, Plelmyath
Size: Green-Sized (Small)
Abilities: Psionics (Telepathy, Teleportation), Firebreath
Basic Personality: Indulgent but sometimes unguarded with her words, Niketh has a way of speaking that can lead to hurt feelings all around -- bond included. She's friendly and wry in the sense that she will slip in little insults or compliments in an offhanded way, so most other dragons get the sense that she is cold or at the least ambivalent.
Bonded To: Faunsey