The Big Move (Yithel, open!)

[wittypiracy]

It wasn't technically such a big move. Yithel had formally lived in the Lower Caverns, sharing a room that was best described as cozy with her mother and her sister. The Candidate Barracks were not far, as the wherry flies, but it felt like an entirely different world. Yithel had always dreamed of earning her place in the long room lined with beds, and had managed to sneak a peek several times when she was much younger. The dream had been fading with reality, however. She was twenty Turns, and it was time to settle down and find some goal for her life. Thus, the dragons taking notice of her had come as a complete surprise.

Now that the physical process of the move was complete, Yithel walked out of her new home, stopping to grab some lunch in the process. She was hungry, but too thoughtful to do much more than sip klah and look at the wall. A potential dragonrider. Her. All the dragons Pern had were here, weren't they? They were Perns best kept secret, and she could be living that in an entirely different way soon. Yithel had always envied the Candidates and had watched a few Hatchings at her time at the Weyr. It still seemed unbelievable to her... Like a dream that she really, really didn't want to wake up from. She half expected to feel her mother's hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake.

The Search had caused a few problems at home. Nanel was awfully jealous of her sister's good luck, and seemed prepared to insist that if Yithel got to go, she had to go to. Yanel seemed halfway inclined to agree, savoring a life without her daughters. She wasn't an entirely unattractive woman, after all. But by losing Yithel, she was also losing a valuable set of hands. She would never say no to being Searched, but she made it clear that if Yithel didn't Impress, she expected her daughter to come back and be helpful, instead of mooning about. Yithel privately disagreed. She would standing until they kicked her out, which would give her at least another couple of Turns.

Swirling her klah, Yithel started back into the present, looking about herself guiltily. She wanted to make a good impression on her fellow Candidates and any riders that might be present. It was still a bit early for lunch, but she was rather hoping for company. The weather wasn't too nice- dragons probably wouldn't be happy about flying about today. Smoothing a wrinkle in her pants, she looked about again, and then tried to smile and look inviting and friendly.

[hrsegrl]

There was rarely a time when Caselo found himself without a friend nearby to take to lunch with him. Today somehow he had managed to be alone which was wholly depressing to the young man. If he had had time to check in with some of the family maybe he could have found a sibling or two to come with. At any rate the fair haired youth went ahead and grabbed a couple of meat rolls and some fruit. As soon as the fruit was on his tray he reached for some water and walked off toward the seating area.

The Weyrhall was quiet, making the Candidate quite uncomfortable. He liked the gentle hum of chatter that was almost constant in the Lower Caverns. As it was a bit early for lunch he had not exactly expected a crowd but it was one of the slowest times at the Weyrhall he could remember. Normally he ate his midday meal later however, he had one chore to complete around midday and could not have it interefere with Candidate Lessons that afternoon.

As he continued on his way to the Candidate Tables he noticed the young blonde woman and stiffled a laugh as she straightened out her pants. "Trying to win the prettiest smile award I see." Caselo said with an air of ease and friendliness that came from those comfortable not only with themselves but with other people.

Without any form of real greeting he placed his tray across from where she sat and continued to sit himself. Pretty girls were always good company no matter what anyone else said. Besides he didn't recall seeing her at lessons which would make for a most interesting story. All of this paled to his real reasoning, which was she was the only person sitting at the Candidate Tables and he refused to eat alone.

[wittypiracy]

Yithel was more than happy for the company, even if she was somewhat uncomfortable with the flirtation and flattery that accompanied it. He's just trying to be friendly, she silently reassured herself, though she self consciously tugged her blouse up a little bit. She hadn't met another Candidate yet, and she wanted to make a good impression. Too bad she hadn't had time to check her reflection in the back of a spoon. If she did so now, it would be far too obvious. Yithel would have to assume she looked presentable, or else he wouldn't have sat with her... Would he?

Trying not to dwell on what were obviously very silly worries, Yithel smiled again. "No, just trying to get some companionship. I see I succeeded." The young man sitting before her looked vaguely familiar in the way that all weyr residents did- Ponaa was not so large that you didn't see everyone at least once. But Yithel had never interacted with him, probably because he was a Candidate and on a different level from what her life had been previously. Now, however, she would probably be working with all the Candidates on chores, and if they all Impressed, they would go forward into dragonriding together, to live highs and lows as they came.

"I'm Yithel. I'm new to this table." Not new to the Weyr- very few people were, and especially in the case of women. "I just moved all my things a few hours ago. It was a bit surprising, really... I felt like I would never be allowed to stand! How long have you been a Candidate?" No longer feeling so apprehensive about first impressions, Yithel felt herself easing into a more natural state of conversation. It helped that the young man wasn't bad looking, and there was something about his nature that set Yithel at ease. If everyone was so friendly and welcoming, she would enjoy this very much! This wasn't at all the fierce competition Yithel had thought there would be, but perhaps there would be a keener edge among the women. Well then. Yithel could use a little bit more competition.

[hrsegrl]

The youth grinned and agreed, "Indeed you did. " There were few people he did not know well that were Candidates which at first puzzled him. Her face was familiar but not placeable till she said her name and understood, she had waited to be Searched before becoming a Candidate. Women had a harder time of being presented before a clutch then men so he could only imagine how interesting this class was going to be.

"Welcome then, Yithel. I am sure you'll enjoy lessons. I'm Caselo." After taking a sip of water he continued on to say, "I bet it will be a bit of a transition for you. Honestly its hard to remember the first night I spent at the Barracks but I suppose its been the same routine every day since then. I have been a Candidate for about six turns." This usual made some people stiffle a laugh or openly snigger. He was not up to insults at this point not with a woman he barely knew.

Six turns was a long time. Longer than he really wanted to contemplate. The rejection from the latest clutch had been harder on him than previous clutches. One more chance was all he had though it seemed the future he envisioned for himself was slowly slipping out of his grasp. Still he clung to hope. Sometimes one had to wait for the things one wanted the most.

"Lets just say that Candidate Lessons are becoming overly redundant for me. I could probably teach most of the lessons now." He smiled. Caselo did not want sympathy or pity. Neither would help him at all and both were very good at sending someone into negative thoughts. Eventually everything would work out for him. His heart knew this, even if his head was slow to follow.

[wittypiracy]

Six turns /was/ a long time. Six turns ago, Yithel had barely been a teenager, and she knew that she was a vastly different person then. The nature of dragons puzzled her. If they picked someone so young, did they shape who their rider would grow up to be? Or did dragons prefer older Candidates who had time to develop and blossom? They would probably talk about that during Candidate lessons... and perhaps she should have been more observant over who Impressed what over the years. It had never seemed important before, but then again, she hadn't been a Candidate.

Yithel tried not to let her pity for what Caselo had had to go through show in her voice or face. Hopefully she was somewhat successful in that, for in her experience, few people liked when others felt bad for them. Besides, Caselo hadn't done anything wrong, had he? Yithel didn't know him and didn't know much about the mechanics of Impression, but she didn't think that anything you did could make a dragon not want to Impress you. Or maybe there was. No, then dragons wouldn't have bothered to Search him at all. Besides, the Weyr bred good, strong people, and it was unlikely that Caselo was out of Weyr.

"Well, your dragon probably just hasn't come yet." Yithel shrugged. "I mean, dragons are fairly picky, right? But the dragons said that you were worth being a Candidate. That means that somewhere out there, there's a dragon for you. It just may not be on the Sands yet. Besides, you look like you have at least another Turn or two left in you. That plenty of time!" Hopefully it was, since Yithel was up there in age as well. It seemed as though female Candidates were allowed to stick along for longer though. Again, Yithel really should have observed the ages of the Candidates more carefully.

At the news that she had met someone who knew the Candidate lessons well, Yithel was overjoyed. She had been so afraid that she wouldn't do well on them, but Caselo could help her! Hopefully. "Oh, that's good! I don't know the first thing about being a Candidate, or much about dragons at all. I don't want to mess up or be behind everyone else. I mean... is it really difficult, the lessons?" Were they tested on this? Yithel was torn between loving and loathing tests, be they physical or otherwise. She liked them... as long as she did well on them. Otherwise, they just tended to make her anxious.

[hrsegrl]

The emotions of other humans were not lost on him. He could see that his words affected something in her. No doubt she was searching for the right words. Caselo wondered how old she was briefly and decided she must be over eighteen. He really couldn't see her being younger than that. There was a certain maturity that many younger Candidates lacked.

Brightly he answered, "That is exactly what I told the Candidate Master. He was suggesting I take up a craft, as a back up plan. I do not believe I will be needing a back up plan. This next clutch is going to be it. I know it is." His attention turned to that of the food in front of him. Taking a bite out of his meatroll he looked back up at the new Candidate. She seemed to be as certain as he was. A nice quality in a person.

After taking a few more bites he answered her. "Oh lessons are not so bad. Most of it is about dragons and dragonriding but they add on to it in depth when one starts Weyrling Lessons. Candidate Lessons are not nearly as difficult or as life threatening. A'rik did great this time around and they even had Master Phaedon teach us about dragon anatomy. The diagrams he had were truly amazing." Probably the most exciting lesson ever. He hoped they would do something similair this time around.

The hall was growing a bit louder and more crowded but few Candidates had walked in at all. Morning chores could take candlemarks depending on the chore and the Headwoman was not pleased when she saw Candidates being lazy. He was glad that he rarely was on her bad side. Yithel probably well understood the wrath of the Headwoman by now. "I suppose the dragonriders anticipate a Gold in the next clutch then, if they are searching so many young woman."

[wittypiracy]

The Candidatemaster had actually gone so far as to suggest Caselo take up a craft? That was blunt and rude, and Yithel didn't think she could have stood through it or reacted as calmly as Caselo was now. Her voice would have cracked just telling the story. Abstractly, she knew that the Candidatemaster probably knew better and had Turns of experience in such matters, but Caselo still had at least another Turn ahead of him! Many things could happen in a Turn. Would Yithel be receiving the same treatment? She had never considered a craft before, and she wasn't about to.

"I mixed dragon anatomy? Shards!" Realizing she had cursed, Yithel's large eyes grew even wider, and she blushed as she slammed a hand over her impertinent mouth. "Er, sorry about that. I've just been really interested in how dragons are made lately, and I'm honestly more than a little disappointed that I missed when they talked about that. I guess I"ll do my own research." More records would be available to her now as a Candidate, and she would have more reason to be browsing them.

"I honestly don't know what the dragonriders think are coming in the next clutch. They didn't say anything to me, and you're the first Candidate I've really met. I have noticed a few more young women than young men, but I didn't think the ratio was that far off. But I guess if it is, they must be. Queens need a large selection, don't they?" The other colors very rarely Impressed to women- at least, that's how Yithel understood it. There were precious few female greenriders, and she had only heard rumors of females who rode any other color besides gold.

"Do you think it'll be a very big clutch? With everything that's going on, maybe the Queen will lay more." Had a Queen even risen recently? Yithel could not remember if anyone had, and if so, who was due for a Flight. It seemed to her that all the obvious contenders were far too young, but she could have very well been incorrect.

[hrsegrl]

As much as he tried to hold it in, Caselo could not help but laugh. “No need for apologies. It is a pity you missed it. Most exciting lesson ever. Besides, Master Phaedon is a fairly interesting individual. Two of his sons and one of his daughters are Candidates too. Luphaedon told me about how Phaedon was a candidate and an apprentice healer. One day he was standing for a clutch and a dragon hurt itself coming out of his shell. Although he was supposed to be impressing a dragon he ended up helping the injured one who had already impressed to someone else. You can imagine that the dragon healers were impressed by him so they suggested him for their craft rather than his family's usual healing craft. From what I've seen of him he is very clever and good with dragons and their riders. He even performed a surgery on the newest Bronze, Rovanoth.”

Caselo loved a good story so he listened to a lot of gossip. That was how he knew so much about so much. After all, he was social to a fault. The more people he knew the happier he was. “It is a pity women aren't permitted into crafts like that unless they are exceptionally gifted. I do not see why there should be any difference. Of course I do not think its so horrible to have women on fighting dragons either. So long as they are prepared to do the work, what should it matter?” Most women would agree with what he was saying but that would never be the reason he would bring something like that up. He truly believed what he said.

“Well there's the two E'dian brought in the other day, Holdless girls. They are a bit wary of everything here and who could blame them? Then there are the girls here at the Weyr that stood for Nisurath's egg and did not impress. Plus the newly Searched like yourself. Oh and that girl that was attacked by the feline. I'm not sure if she's standing yet though. The people who I know who have seen her say she's still looking fairly torn up.” One had to wonder what a young woman was doing alone out in the middle of the jungle on the Southern continent. He wouldn't do that and he was a young man. The dangers of the jungle were not lost on him. Not that he was overly cautious. If he had a dragon he might go out alone to let him or her hunt.

“The good news is you have competition and that means a likely Gold. The bad news is that I have no idea when that will be. Gaelle is missing along with Gold Aliath and Nisurath is too young. There is a rumor going around that the Weyrleader is plotting something. What it is I don't know but it sounds like something big.” The thought of some daring plan to create more dragons pleased his imagination even if it was unlikely. Better to dream and hope than to despair and wither away.