Raking a hand through her long wavy hair, Dri looked in the mirror. At 5'8" tall, she was pretty, but neither extremely attractive nor ugly like her foster brother Leyken oft times teasingly called her.
| Read the first part of Drikara's Story Here! |
At 18 turns, the blonde haired weyrbred girl was nearly to old to Impress - not technically, but it was reasonable. She'd been at every Hatching since she turned 13, and hadn't Impressed yet.
She generally enjoyed weyrlife, the cooking, cleaning, the occasional Gather. Not that she didn't like hunting or riding Runnerbeasts or exploring - she just took everything in stride and gave it her all, despite how tedious or disgusting the task may be.
Raking a hand through her long wavy hair, Dri looked in the mirror. At 5'8" tall, she was pretty, but neither extremely attractive nor ugly like her foster brother Leyken oft times teasingly called her.
'My mother is the headwoman's second, and my father is a bluerider.' She thought, and turned away from the mirror. 'I've been entrusted to watch the children, feed the livestock, helped cook meals, I've even helped the midwife deliver babies. If that doesn't qualify me to be a dragonrider in the eyes of others, what does?'
Drikara goes off and changes into her nightclothes. When she returns, she neatly packs her things into a carrisack, setting it beside the clothes chest on the floor.
"Well," she said to herself. "If it's me, it's me. No use losing sleep over it."
Dri crawled into her sleeping furs, and closed the glowbasket. She curled up and immediately went to sleep, not one to fret what she couldn't control.
Drikara awoke refreshed, just after sunrise the following morning, and headed off to the baths for a quick scrub. She returned and dressed, just like this was any other day, even though her heart was beating a thousand lengths a minute. She looked around the room, and saw that the only thing out of place was the sleeping furs. A quick fluff, and even that was in it's place.
Dri walked down to the kitchen to see if she could get some breakfast this early. Walking in, she saw her mother breakfasting with R'lan.
She helped herself to some porridge with fruit, and klah from the hearth, and went to join them.
R'lan was talking, and didn't see Dri come up. "As I was saying, Ikara..." R'lan noticed her, and cut his sentence off abruptly. "Good morning Dri!" He said cheerfully. "Glad you could join us."
Drikara sat down in a vacant chair, setting her meal down at the same time.
"You look well this morning." Her mother said. "D'run didn't get you too worn out yesterday, did he?"
"No," Dri replied, taking a sip of fresh klah. "We had a great time."
"Good to hear it." Ikara said, rising. "It was nice chatting with you, R'lan." Then she was gone, leaving Dri with the Searchrider, who was grinning at her.
"So," he said, "are you all packed?"
Dri was shocked. The spoonful of porridge that was halfway to her mouth slowly sunk back down to the bowl as she stared.
R'lan laughed. "Either shut your mouth or eat your breakfast, Dri. Ancith had you pegged for a candidate ages ago."
Dri set down the spoon. "Okserth never Searched me - I've been around him all my life."
R'lan nodded, understanding her implied question. "Some people," he waved at her to continue eating, "are born to become dragonriders, and some suddenly get whatever it is you need to be a rider." R'lan sipped his drink. "You've always had it, Dri, so your father's dragon never noticed it. Ancith, however, noticed because he met you after he'd grown up."
Drikara nodded. Her father's blue never noticed her potential because he'd thought it was just part of who she was. R'lan's blue, on the other hand had seen it for what it really was.
Dri set down the spoon again, and reached for her mug. "So where are we going, and when do we leave?" She asked.
R'lan grinned. "*You* are going to Alabaster Weyrhold, and we leave as soon as you've finished eating." He stood up, picking up his dishes. "I'm going to go put Ancith's riding straps on. See you in the bowl."
Dri finished her breakfast, and took the empty dishes to the kitchens to be washed. She spotted her mother, and went to tell her.
When Ikara saw her daughter, her face blossomed into a grin. She already knew. "Good luck, Drikara." She said, hugging her. "Make us proud."
Drikara walked out into the weyrbowl, wearing her very own Riding Jacket and Cap, and carrying her sackful of belongings.
R'lan, leaning against this bright blue dragon, whistled as she neared. " I can see it now, Drikara, rider of ..." He stopped there, grinning. No one tried to guess a dragon's name before it hatched. Every dragon knew it's name the instant it cracked it's shell. "Toss that over, Dri, and I'll tie it on."
Dri heaved the sack, and it sailed towards the Searchrider, hitting him square in the chest. "Nice Toss."
Drikara walked up to the dragon, who'd lowered his head to her level. "Good morning to you, Ancith." She said, cheerfully as she reached up to scratch his eyeridge. Ancith's eyes whirled faster and tended to be a bit more purple as he smiled in his fashion at her.
She climbed up without assistance - she'd been Riding with her father for turns - and R'lan followed suit.
When the Riding straps were fastened, Ancith leapt skyward, and they went Between.
| Located on the Kshau Protectorate. Background from Boogie Jack's Web Depot. |  |