What do you mean I'm not supposed to be here?

[wonder123]

(Completely and utterly open. I ran out of room to say that though.)

It had been nothing less of a whirlwind.

From their small and very humble abode in Southern Weyr, Trevan had led his sister and uncle into a dream. Toress had scoffed at the story initially, almost ready to beat Trevan for drinking his stash of homemade (and horribly tasting) wine, but there had been something about the young man's eyes. The fact that his breath smelled like the jerky he'd eaten earlier and nothing else cleared up that assumption. Anessa squealed and hadn't wasted time scrambling about, grabbing little trinkets and her best, if slightly ripped and worn, outfits. Toress hefted his hammer and a bag (complete with a skin of that wine). They had packed in minutes.

They settled on not telling anyone. Who would believe Trevan, first of all, and then there was no guarentee they wouldn't have reacted exactly like he had. Of course, fourty disaffected Holders made for a much bigger problem than one upset teenager. If it worked out, they would come back. Trevan meant to live up to his promise to himself. He would be what a Rider should, and not what they currently were.

J'sian had warned about the cold of between, but nothing could have prepared Trevan and the others for the numbing of his bones that it was. Staring wide-eyed, they dismounted, trying to recover from the shock. After that it had been a maze of tunnels, meeting the Weyrleader, seeing dragons in different shades,even bigger thn Alimeth (was that possible?!), getting settled in an abandoned room in a wing for Crafters, and then blissful sleep. The dawn had brought a new day and the full realization that this would be a new life. Well, he ought to start learning his way around.

He'd been given the option of sleeping in the Candidate barracks or with his uncle and sister. He'd chosen the latter for now, holding on tightly to what was familiar in a strange place. But today he would explore the other option, curiousity getting the better of him. There were people his age, at least a few, who stayed in these Barracks, he'd been told. Tre figured if he was to be one of these Candidates, he ought to find one and see how it worked.

The door creaked open and he stuck his head inside hesitantly. Did one knock? Just go in? Not seeing anyone, he took his first, slow steps inside. The beds looked like normal beds. There were chests for belongings. He moved to an unowned bed, tracing the worn knife marks in the wood of the headboard, before bending to inspect the drawers beside it.

He had arrived.

(If there's any problems with the assumptions I made, just let me know!)

[E]

Somadin finished tying off the small bundle of clothes that were his to claim. Looking around at his bed mat once again, he finally gave in and rolled up the blanket too, not sure if the Candidate Barracks came with them already or if there were just mats. Besides, the Creche ladies would have no problem coming up with another blanket as often as the Aunties were making them in the colder months. There was no reason for him to catch a chill at night.

His small size calling for more steps, Somadin made his way toward the Candidate Barracks, his stomach dancing with butterflies. The Candidate Master had been receiving enough of him, but that did not mean the candidates would feel the same way. While they could begin their candidacy at 15 turns they could continue till they were 20 turns before finally being turned away from the hatching grounds. With how far between they had gone with the last queen and her clutchs, not to mention the small size, Somadin imagined very well that many of the candidates were older and larger than he.

Stopping before the door, Somadin recalled the schedule he had looked at earlier. He couldn’t remember if the other candidates were at lunch or free time. Then again the two could be considered the same thing really. Well, despite not wanting to run into other candidates he knew he would have to sooner or later. With a deep breath, he straightened his small shoulders and entered the common room.

The Office was clearly marked, as was the classroom, but the male and female Barracks were simply marked that – “Barracks”. Taking a guess, he figured peeking in he would be able to tell the difference between the two once he seen inside. Girls, after all, had cooties and while he wasn’t sure what that was, he was sure he’d tell when he saw them. Moving aside the door, he looked inside to find the room empty besides a man looking at the drawers alongside a bed.

“E-Excuse me. Is this the boys Barracks or the girls Barracks?”

[starshine]

Kesstriel had been using her spare time to catch a short nap. It had been a long morning and afternoon, the first being filled with work transcribing letters for the Candidate Master, the second being a long drawn out lesson. She was now comfortably reclined on her bed at the far end of the room, her slender frame left little to be seen once sunk into the mattress.

She had been lightly dozing when she heard the door creek open and soft footsteps enter the room. Her eyes peeked open, and gazed at the sealing. It was most likely another of the girls here for the same reason she was. After several moments her curiosity for who it was got the better of her and she sat up slowly expecting to see Iaslia, of Hava, or even Acele. Instead she was faced with a boy.

He was new to the weyr. Having grown up here she knew pretty much everyone by name, this boy was unfamiliar. He was young, most likely about her own age, and tan. He was well muscled. She ran a hand through her dark hair, and curled her legs beneath her. Before she even openned her mouth to speak another small boy peeked in. "E-excuse me. Is this the boys barracks or the girls?" She grinned, the barracks weren't really marked well at all.

"The girls... boys are across the common area." Her voice was light and cheerful as it usually was. "Two new candidates huh?"

[wonder123]

Trevan was lst in his own world, when another voice broke into it. He wasn't alone anymore.

E-Excuse me...

Trevan's sharp eyes glanced up to see a small boy standing in the door he'd just entered. The problem with being the new kid in town was he could no longer instantly recognize everyone - able to instantly put people in a category and know their life's history. In this place, he was surrounded by strangers. Was this kid lost? Were his parents looking for him? Or was he just trying to catch a nap? Maybe this was his bed that Trevan had been standing over. Shards, how horrible of an impression would that make?

It soon became apparent that the boy was looking for the same thing he was. It hadn't really occured to Trevan boys and girls (there were girl candidates?) would be seperated into different Barracks. He'd just assumed that once upon a time there had been so many, the Weyr had needed to buildings dedicated to house them.

Wrong.

The girl who just spoke up, from her bed, was proof enough. Had she been there the whole time, watching him?

"They are?!" Trevan glanced to the other boy - just as confused as he was. Involuntarily, he could feel his cheeks burning. Just one day into his new home and he would surely get into trouble for being in the wrong barracks.

"Sorry. I'll," he glanced to the smaller boy and backed up to him. "We'll get out of here, then..." He turned to go out, until he realized she'd asked a question. Well, he might as well answer, as he was intruding on her space. "Yeah, Candidate. That's what J'sian called it. I am one."

[E]

Somadin watched the larger man look at him, the mixture of emotions that ran across the face were unreadable to the smaller boy and Somadin wondered if he had asked a rather dumb question. When the woman at the back of the room spoke up, Somadin decided his question had been valid whether the larger man thought it was or not.

Surprised to see the larger man move closer to him, Somadin made room for him at the doorway, shuffling his belongings into both arms. He was reassured to see that he was not the only one with warmed cheeks. Listening to the conversation being had by the two, Somadin was surprised to hear the other boy say ‘candidate’ as if the word were foreign to him. Pausing to take a good look at the man, Somadin was surprised to find that more than just his vocabulary was foreign to the Weyr. While he did not know everyone by name, he did recognize faces and the face above him was defiantly not related to anyone in the Weyr.

Sudden realization dawning on him, Somadin’s eyes widened. “You’re NOT from the Weyr!” He said as if it was a grand discovery. “I thought the search riders were banned from searching…” Looking at the woman, Somadin begged for confirmation in this knowledge that he had taken for cold hard truth.

[starshine]

Kess stood from her perch on her bed and crossed the Barracks to the two boys. "I'm Kess." She grinned at them. She was short compared to the one boy, and for once taller then the other.

"If the searchriders have been banned from searching the holds, how did J'sian find you??" She was curious. Searchriding was something Kess was interested in. She had fancied herself as a searchrider several times, if she was to impress a green.

[wonder123]

He had been found out. Maybe he should have kept that part to himself? No, it wouldn't have worked. Trevan couldn't lie to save his life, a fact his uncle used to his advantage whenever he dragged Tre into his games of chance. How was he supposed to know Searching wasn't allowed? He didn't even know what a Search was yesterday. But he was here now, so obviously someone had their facts wrong.

He glanced at the boy like he'd just been betrayed. But the girl had been too quick to jump on the bandwagon that he really had no chance but to give them an answer.

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" He opened his hands plainly. He had to fight back a grin as he remembered the encounter. Trevan had imagined that Jungle experience going a lot different that it had.

"And it's not so much that I was Searched, but that I almost stepped on his dragon." So maybe they hadn't meant to take him? He had passed by J'sian earlier that day, and gave him the brush off. Maybe he didn't have the qualities of a Candidate, but since Trevan had found them out, dragon and rider had been forced to bring him along. Why else hide in the Jungle, secretly?

He had messed it all up.

[E]

Somadin did not miss that wounded glance from the taller boy and found himself shrinking a little further into the door frame. Perhaps he wasn’t suppose to figure it out? Perhaps he should have at least asked the boy first before announcing it. Shards and Shells… Not even moved into the candidate barracks and he was already saying the wrong things.

“And it’s not so much that I was Searched, but that I almost stepped on his dragon.” Hearing this Somadin lost composure and fell right out of the doorframe he was attempting to meld into. Laughing hard, it took a moment to catch his breath.

“Dragons are FAR too big to step on silly!” Wipping a tear from his eye, he grinned back up at the taller boy. “No I bet you were searched, you certainly look the part of a dragon rider with your height and those arms. Watch class tomorrow and tell me who looks more out of place. Sure your face isn’t familaur around here, but I’m small and I will have to work twice as hard to keep up with all the other candidates.”

“No if I had to find a candidate you would have been exactly what I was looking for.” As he went on, his chest fell slightly, knowing his own shortcomings, but the smile remained on his face. Despite those shortcomings he was still here and a candidate to boot.

[starshine]

"...exactly what I was looking for." She smiled as the boy finished his comment. Well to be fair this new boy did fit the criteria. She gave him a once more over. She ran her hands through her hair, pushing the stray tendril back behind her ears.

"So, how long have you been here? Well I guess not long at all since I haven't seen you before. I guess I mean well when did you get in?" She found herself prattling on and her cheeks flushed. She lowered her head and again her hair fell into her face.

[wonder123]

The laughing broke a bit of the tension, and Trevan found himself able to chuckle once or twice at his explanation. If he thought about it long enough, it did sound a bit absurd.

Well, he'd thought it was absurd as it happened. But in this light he could see the humor in it all.

"I'm serious. I know their big, but let Thread strike me if they can't hide well in that shardin' Jungle." The smile lingered for just a moment, until he realized he was being sized up by both the boy and girl in his company. If he'd ever seen a cow, he would surely be able to sympathize with it. Somadin went on to compare their physical statures, and Trevan found himself scoffing.

"Don't be ridiculous. I don't see any reason why being short would make you unable to ride a dragon. You have legs, don't you?" For a horrible moment, he thought he missed something, but a quick glance reassured him that yes, Somadin did have legs. What was he worried about? Were all the people here that crazy about height?

...So, how long have you been here...

Tre missed the blush, as he was too busy ticking off exactly how many hours it had been since his whole world changed. "I suppose...a day and a half? We've been busy meeting with your Leader and his wife. Last night was my first night."