Vinyanni was the son of an inkeeper and his mistress, who worked in the nearby vinyards. His parents loved him equally, he stayed with his mother in the inn, since many of the workers resided there - though it could be considered a cothold, it was more for travelers and temporary workers than any true settlement.

It was well known that when Vinyanni was young, no more than a toddler darting between the vinyard posts or peeking out from behind the tavern's bar, a search rider had spotted him and expressed interest. It wasn't that she was sad because she herself could not or did not have children, it was that her dragon, a blue, trumpeted and kept making noise until she brought the babe to him outside.

Though it was known he had been searched, Vinyanni was brought up as any other child of this community. He learned the vinyard, and he had a gift with customers at the inn. The master vintners of the area quickly snapped him up as an apprentice when he was old enough, his mother was very proud of him and knew that he would probably go farther than she had in the guild.

Vinyanni picked up every little secret from the people who stayed in the inn, at first it was accidental - he would overhear conversations or gossip, tucking away information and connecting the dots later on. But then it became more serious - he helped avert a plot against a local Lord that had been brewing in the inn's rented rooms. Thankful and impressed by the lad's work, this Lord gave him a stipend and hinted that when he was older, and closer to mastery at his craft, he might be welcome as a court vintner!

Vinyanni liked this idea a lot. He knew when to keep his mouth shut about such things though - he was not stupid and knew how dangerous it could be to continue spying on people. But he did it anyway, and this extended into his gambling as well as social events. His father knew that he could count on Vinyanni to entertain guests with his dice and cards, while there was stew cooking.

One area where Vinyanni faltered however was in respecting others from outside his community. He eagerly defended the guild, his father's inn, and his Lord friend's family. But anyone coming in from outside proclaiming to be better? Oh they had better watch out for the spiteful tongue on this young lad.

By the time Vinyanni was thirteen, he was already a full apprentice with the Vintner guild, enjoying a round of new wines that he helped create. Also around that time, another dragon rider came through the community. Again they looked at Vinyanni with a careful, Searching eye. So it was reinforced that he would stand for a dragon, and at this point in his life he wildly entertained any idea that came his way.

He was the only child in the whole place that had ever been Searched, after all. Even his younger sister didn't get searched, so he spent half his time working the grape vines, and the other talking to people about how awesome it would be to ride a dragon.

He grew more confident in his abilities as a vintner, but remained distracted. As a senior apprentice, he was given more responsibilities and he took them on with ease, but without gusto - dragons flew in the skies more often now, and it would be only a matter of time before he was called upon to stand somewhere.

Anywhere.

Finally at age fifteen, the call officially went out - Dragonhope weyr was sending their riders off to pack their sands, and so he was contacted again. With equal amounts of joy and trepidation, Vinyanni climbed up behind the brown rider, secured his packs on the wide beast's back, and flew off to this far-northern Weyr.

It was so freaking cold. Vinyanni was used to the warm, dusty air of his homeland, and got nosebleeds almost continually for the first few sevendays. But he was pleased with the wine cellars, and even more pleased with the gambling he could do. Since he could already read and write he was one up on many of the newcomers to the Weyr. But he still had a long way to go before he'd be of any use in a wing.

It wasn't much different, he thought, than making sure that your cards were stacked right. Dragon Poker was a lot more like spycraft than dragon riding - but he used the theories from his gambling to learn the wing formations and drills with ease. There were eggs hardening on Dragonhope's sands, and every few days the new candidates were brought past them to touch and sense them.

When the hatching finally arrived, however, Vinyanni didn't impress - but he consoled himself with the fact that neither had most of the others who had been brought on, and there would be other hatchings. There had to be.

There was. Only it wasn't at Dragonhope - but a weyr around the world from there, Falas, which had a strange, small clutch. Two white dragons... Two. White? Dragons! Well he put his odds together and realized this was a great opportunity. A few eggs, far away, who knew who else would be there, but he immediately put in for a trip there. He'd be back to the chilly sea cliff of Dragonhope if he impressed, but he'd be able to enjoy the warmer climate at Falas if nothing else!

His attitude had not improved about his fierce loyalties... Vinyanni was apt to brag about the Vintner guild, about Dragonhope's fine scholars, and the beauty of their women. (Something he knew first hand, how to handle a woman... And in a weyr the notion of being offended when a charming young man propositions a pretty young girl was just right out the window and that was awesome.)

Vinyanni didn't get into fights, exactly, but certainly battles of words were common. Particularly if there were any Vintners in the area. But in general he kept his head and enjoyed his time continuing his education about dragons. Since weyrs were filled with activity, he could never say he was bored - and his distractable nature meant that while he might postpone finishing something, it was generally because there was other work being done that he enjoyed getting in on. By the time his interest in one thing lapsed, it was time to go back and finish that other project. It all worked out just fine in his opinion. He hoped that a dragon would think so!

He also hoped... well, wished and maybe even dreamed, that the black-haired girl named Qenda thought so too. She was another candidate, brought from a completely different part of the world - and would be heading to Dragonhope too. She was scarred by threadscore, and had colorful tattoos on her arms - some of the other boys claimed those things made her look ugly, but she was far more interesting than the bubble-headed girls from other Holds. Plus... she had a secret, and she kept looking at Vinyanni shyly over every evening meal.

Finally he couldn't stand it any longer, and got up, put his plate down next to hers, and nudged the chubby boy next to her out of the way.

He knew how to start a conversation around here: "so, what sort of dragon do you think you'd want to be impressed to?"

She chuckled, and tossed her head. He saw that the scar on her neck extended up into her hair, which he only imagined would be extremely painful - she'd been through enough, and he'd never - ever - tease her about it. "Oh I don't know. I've no idea. Wouldn't it be amazing if those eggs all had little white dragons though? The parents are both white!"

"I know," Vinyanni smirked, "but did you see the size of the sire?"

They discussed this for a while, but he noted that she was still hedging about something. Particularly, whenever she picked up her glass of wine, she would look at his Vintner badge and then suddenly look away. After dinner, and the drudges swept through the room cleaning up, they still sat together chatting. He taught her to play a new version of Dragon Poker he'd invented, one which was far more relevant to the Weyr and didn't have as many silly Holders involved in the cards. She thought it was very clever, but she would do no gambling on it. Until, "Qenda, I will challenge you to a round of poker, and if I win, you need to tell me what you keep hiding. If you win... I'll stop wondering and let you keep it secret."

Her eyebrows bunched up, "how did you... hm..." She bit her lip, and then smiled. "You're on. But go easy on me, you keep winning because you made the game up!"

She took the first game, but he took the next two and when it was quite late in the evening, she sighed. "I think you win," she said, blinking away the sleep. "But I'm going to want to sleep first, tomorrow I'll show you. Okay?"

"That's perfect," Vinyanni said, kissed her on the cheek (to her surprise) and went back to the dorm. She slept with the other girls, but all the candidates had classes and duties early in the morning.

As they were shuffled around and sent to class, breakfast, and more duties, Qenda finally caught Vinyanni's eye just before lunch, as they were practicing with firestone bags. Both of them were filthy, the sacks were ash-covered and the coal within was always a mess to touch. The afternoon was free, so they decided to head to the baths.

Together. It was obvious that Qenda was nervously excited, but she'd also brought a small wrapped purse with her, and as they cleaned up (more serious than the younger candidates were nearby, tossing soap and flinging buckets of water at each other) Qenda seemed more at ease with this new situation than she had before.

"I really appreciate you ... you know, um..." Qenda said, "not..." she rolled her eyes and glanced briefly at her scars. They ran from her scalp down the right side of her neck, and around the back of that shoulder and onto the other. The tattoos she bore seemed to have been put on after the scars, and were abstractions of dragons in flight - blue on one arm and green on another.

"I'm only curious about the tattoos," Vinyanni said, "why dragons?"

"So that I'll never be threadscored again," she whispered, eyes down. "It's silly, I know, but ... there were none to save us, my bastard father left my family to die outside. Thankfully I was the only one hit, but still..."

"That's horrible, if I'd met him I'd have slugged him."

"He'd have beaten you to death," she whispered again, and Vinyanni knew this was the end of that conversation, so he nudged her and stared pointedly at the purse she'd brought.

"So....?"

"Oh! Oh that!" Qenda was relieved not to be talking about her family. "Well, this is... this is the only part of my father I wanted to keep, and frankly I kept it because it destroyed him."

"It... what?"

"Well, me taking it destroyed him, I hope." She looked proud, her teal shaded eyes meeting his indigo ones. She pulled on the strings of the purse, and opened it up to reveal a piece of parchment, a scroll kept in good condition. "Once I saw you... you and your apprentice knots, I knew that it would be important to eventually get this to you. I can't use it, really, but I think you can." She handed it to him, as they sat in the noisy echoes of the bathing hall. Thankfully they were off to a distant side, as another water war broke out.

As Vinyanni opened the scroll his eyes widened. "Qenda, this is ... this is a formula for wine! It's like... it's like nothing I've ever tried, but it looks really good."

"It was really good. My grandfather developed it, I think, and my father would have done something with it - but not make wine. He was never very good at wine making, he screwed everything up. Before my grandfather died, he asked me to take it, to not tell father, and so I did. So when he went to sell it to some merchant that came through our territory..."

"It wasn't there," Vinyanni said. "What happened?"

"They took our horses instead," Qenda said, blinking meaningfully. "Without them, we were trapped... When thread fell, my father took the only runner left and vanished up into the hills. We could never have followed him, so we tried hiding under whatever we could. I was getting my little brother hidden, when this happened," she tossed her head again.

She didn't seem quite so nervous about talking now, and Vinyanni was duly impressed with her bravery as well as the contents of her secret stash. He tucked it back into its purse, put it down, and pulled himself closer to her. Her hair was still a bit wet, so he could see the lines where the scars were. He kissed her neck, and felt her tremble. Vinyanni whispered, "we're not supposed to get intimate as candidates. Will you promise me something?" She sucked in a breath, said nothing but nodded. "When we're riders, we're together. If it doesn't work out, that's fine, but ... I can't think of anyone I'd like to share with than you."

"That's so sweet," Qenda said, and nodded again wordlessly.

"Should I keep this?" He asked, standing and pulling his tunic on, "until I know whether I'll be a rider or a vintner, I mean?"

"I think you should," Qenda said. "I think you know what any of it means, I don't. I can barely read it, and I was never even shown what half the ingredients could be."

"Then some day - whether we're riders or not - I'll have to show you!"

***

Qenda Impressed a lovely green at that hatching, but Vinyanni once more walked away without a bond. He was beginning to think that a dragon might not actually want him - but they remained at Falas while the next clutch hardened and as Qenda's green grew up.

The smallish clutch that was on the sands was far more normal, a pale gold with her fine bronze companion. And this time, two browns had hatched, followed by a paler brown then the first two. As they came into the light of the illuminators, it was apparent that the paler brown was actually a cream. By this time, all of Akyth's eggs had hatched so the confusion made it hard to follow each Impression.

Vinyanni just knew. He had such a hunger, he was a bit dazed, his head spun. And there was a word in his mind, he dared speak it.

"Dentanth!" cried Vinyanni as the brown-sized cream bounded into him. "Careful!" he laughed. The dragon only tilted his head as if confused as to what 'careful' really meant.

Dentanth would have to learn, of course, that his big paws and his large wingspan could hurt someone, or even himself. But that would come later. For now, dinner and sleep! The lovely color of this brown.... well, cream, reminded Vinyanni of extremely expensive bubble-wine. It would be a while before he'd be allowed to enjoy that wine again! Poor Qenda so wanted to help him celebrate but it would be bad for everyone if they allowed the newest riders to become drunk on their first night!

Vinyanni & Dentanth

Color: cream
Color Size: brown
Length: 34'
Height: 9'6"
Genetic Code: XgwDF Y Rr BB Hh LL UU C2C6 T1T2 OO (Ss N1N2) M1M2

Status: Guild Born
Age: 16
Gender: male
Siblings: one sister
Born: first
Legitimacy: born before their parents could marry
Childhood Health: average for a youngster
Adult Height: kind of little
Adult Build: slender and willowy
Skin Tone: fair
Hair Color: amber
Hair Style: very straight
Hair Length: cut to the neck
Eye Color: dark blue
Literacy Level: read at a good level of competancy
Politeness Level: on occasion they've been known to mutter an insult openly
Focus: they don't much care about any one task
Their looks are not spectacular in any way
They are known for being very giving and generous

Values and Goals
Enjoys deeply: their gambling dice and cards
Values: Deep Forests
Weak goal: ride a dragon
Average fear: losing self control

He owns Gambling dice and cards

Crafting Guild: Vintner, Status: senior apprentice
Other Skill picked up around Guild folk: spycraft

Searched! When: as an infant

Originally From: scrubland community
Location size: busy but small
Location climate: very hot