"I'm sorry my dear," said her father, "But there's really nothing for it. You've made it plain you don't want to stay here any longer, but you've yet to come up with a better idea than finishing your education at a full-scale Healer's Hall." Meriden glowered at him, radiating her displeasure like heat from an oven.
"But father," she said, doing her level best to keep her voice from straining under the pressure of her anger and doing a fair job at botching the attempt, "How am I to go? I'm not good enough to become a full-fledged healer even if I wanted to, I'm simply not talented enough to learn. The most I'll find there is a soft husband!" This last comment was an only vaguely subtle shot at her father's inability to even get her to spark an interest in other people her age - she bore a curse they did not, that of intelligence, and thus under most circumstances found each others' presence a mutually disturbing experience.
"Then," her father blustered, gathering an unusually large amount of spine with which to rebut his daughter, "in order to make the best of it, you'd better find yourself a husband while you're there, hadn't you?" He turned and scurried off before she could utter the words of her disgust at him. After a few minutes of silent fuming, Meriden stalked outside to sit beneath the fruit trees that grew nearby, mind reeling in the sheer despair of the bleakness of the life her father had consigned her to.
She gazed upwards into the boughs of the trees. Her eyes traced their intermingling as they got higher, noting how one could not grow without the involvement of the others. It was a calming experience, as much as because it allowed the small voice in her mind to reason away her father's actions, as because it was a pretty view. She reflected on how the trees, whom she had helped care for as part of her household duties since she was a small child, seemed to be repaying their debt to her by providing protection against the rays of the sun, which burned her badly. It caused a feeling of subdued pleasure to pervade her mind, and she decided that she would walk to the forest today.
She stood and dusted herself off before turning towards the east, and the vague hill-country that rose there. She smiled, her previous anger already completely forgotten, and began her trek.

((Alrighty, longer than you're used to from me :P, but I started to get into her personality more than I expected. All yours, Fury =D *hops off to play WoW or Hellgate or Assassin's Creed or something*))

((Uh oh, another WoW player. Stormy, we're like a virus!

Phantasm, I will reply to this today. I am sorry to leave you hanging so long. Christmas was a little overwhelming, with full-day visits Monday, Tuesday, and yesterday.))

((Not a problem =). Also, fear me, for I.. am... BOOMKIN! :P)

A full sevenday after the disastrous lesson, Emig still felt restless. She'd tired days before of replaying the events over in her mind. She'd blamed herself, Liranath, K'mav - even poor Aeryn, who'd nearly drowned - in alternating bouts of self-pity and fearful anger. No one had spoken a word of it, not even Alesia; and Emig had fully expected a reprimand, at least. This confused her even more. She knew without a doubt that she had done wrong. She'd allowed her dragon's vigil to relax; let Liranath flirt with K'mav's bronze. She herself had gotten distracted.

She always got distracted. M'cail, in his calmer moments, used to assure her that she'd grow out of it. But at seventeen, she felt little different than she had at fourteen. Still awkward and unsure; still covering that up with quirky humor and thoughtless, daredevil antics.

Liranath turned her head back toward her rider, peering at her with one greeny-gold eye. Maybe the difference is that now you think about being distracted, instead of just being it. Now, tighten the chest strap a little more. I feel like I could get my leg right through it, and I don't want you to fall off my back.

The dragon's incisive comment cheered Emig a good deal. She smiled brightly at her green and jammed her riding helmet onto her tangle of black, curly hair. "Maybe you're right. Nobody ever said it was easy growing up, huh? I should stop being all angsty about it."

I like you better when you do.

Slapping her dragon affectionately on the foreleg, Emig gestured for her to kneel so she could mount. From Liranath's foreleg, she settled comfortably between the last two neck ridges, ducking her head as the dragon moved fully out onto the ledge. Where are we going today?

"Izvand, for a low sweep," Emig replied. "Weyrwoman's cracking her shell over tightened security ever since Thyra's rebellion. So we're flying low, checking the hills around the Hold to make sure there's nothing out of place. Thread's due there in a few days, so that's a good excuse for it."

Another volunteer mission, but this one Emig felt all right about. It would be just her and Liranath, and all they had to do was a few low passes and report back anything unusual. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Izvand was a good Hold, conscientious about removing greenery from susceptible areas, and keeping its livestock well in check.

Liranath launched into space, and Emig reveled for a moment in the delicious sensation of flying: the swooping free-fall in her belly, the exhilarating rush of the wind. She gave Liranath the coordinates for Izvand's notable building structure; the green dragon rose above the Star Stones and blinked between. A few moments of suffocating, cold blackness, then they burst out into the markedly warmer air of Izvand Hold. The regular stonework of the Hold proper was just below them, its back nestled firmly into the low mountains. Away in front of it spread the foothills whose rich soil was terrace-farmed with great success. A snaking line of thick evergreen forest marked the southern boundary of Izvand's territory as the land sloped down toward the rolling grasslands of Tregad.

They would fly several passes over the grasslands, as far as the forest, Emig decided. She and Liranath mapped out a pattern between them; Thread training came in handy here, as did Emig's turns in the wilderness as a child. One thing she knew well was terrain, and she was comfortable in all types. Deciding on a northeast-to-southwest diagonal series of sweeps, Emig and Liranath flew lower, about eight dragonlengths above the ground. Not enough to scare the herdbeasts and farmers, but low enough to make out detail when they needed to.

On the third pass, they saw the girl. More accurately, Liranath heard her.

Someone is running down there. Strong.

The dragon's comment made no sense to Emig. Who? she asked; no sense screaming her lungs out in the wind at the speed they were traveling, when Liranath could hear her thoughts just fine.

I don't know. Let's go find out. Liranath's mental voice, and her mood, were deeply curious. Emig even felt a surge of jealousy; the green dragon was never this interested in anyone other than herself. A few seconds' gliding and she spotted the figure below them, striding with long, graceful steps through the high grass. She was headed east, toward high ground, where the foothills rose more steeply to join the mountain mass.

Liranath made a sound in her throat between a croon and a rumble. Her earknobs were pricked forward, her neck arched downward so she could better see the lone hiker.

Don't scare her, Liranath, Emig said sharply as the dragon dropped lower, her shadow floating over the girl - for it was a girl, bone-thin but graceful, Emig could see now.

The dragon pulled up sharply, flapped her wings once, then curved around and dropped into the high grass half a dragonlength in front of the stranger. She crooned again, lowering her chin so that it brushed the tips of the grass, her eyes whirling as she surveyed Meriden.

Emig decided she'd better say something before Liranath gave the poor girl a heart attack. She pulled off her helmet and rubbed a hand through her sweaty black hair, undoing the fighting straps so she could dismount. "Hi!" she called. "I'm real sorry if we scared you. Liranath here took it into her head that she just had to say hello, but she refuses to tell me why." She gave the green a clout on the shoulder as she slid easily to the ground. The grass came up nearly to her waist. "Wow, interesting place for a walk." She approached Meriden with a quizzical smile. "My name's Emig."

At first, the noise startled her. She had never heard so loud an individual flapping before - certainly, she had startled flocks of birds, but those were small noises in great number. This was a great and monstrous thumping of a noise. She looked into the sky above to see a silhouette familiar to every being on Pern, but realized with a start that it seemed to be descending.

It is hard to describe her emotions at this point, because she didn't really know her emotions herself. She was somewhere between awe, at sight of the majestic creature; fear, for who wouldn't be afraid at sight of a being of near-legend?; and nervous excitement, for at this rate she would actually get to meet one of the dragons and it's rider! In fact, she was already debating if she was supposed to curtsy or some odd thing like that when the dragon landed in front of her.

So shocked was Meriden when the dragonrider introduced herself so nonchalantly that she was stunned into forgetfulness of what she had finally decided must be the "proper protocol", as her father would say, that she simply replied, "Hello, I'm Meriden. I'm honored to meet you, my lady," this last part came out as part of an instinctive regression to the drilled respect of her younger Turns. She hadn't thought that anyone would cause her to be truly respectful without her knowing them, but the sight of the dragon and knowledge that this young woman in front of her commanded the adoration of that creature caused it to come out without any effort at all.

Emig stared for a second at Meriden, fighting an insane urge to giggle. She was peripherally aware of Liranath's mental scrutiny of the other girl - was she younger than Emig? The green rider was certain she must be, but something about the way she carried herself, and talked, made Emig think of a much more mature person. Meriden had addressed her with a formality Emig wasn't used to. My lady indeed! Imagine if mean old Ywain had heard that she, Emig, had been spoken to in such a manner!

But now was not the time to let her mind drift to old grievances. Pulling herself together with an effort, Emig smiled brightly, cheeks dimpling, and offered her hand to Meriden, palm up, in the formal gesture of greeting. Well begun should be well finished, her brother used to say. It had driven her crazy, but it served her well in this case.

"It's a pleasure, Meriden." Emig cocked her head, studying the green eyes and flame-red hair before her, so different from her own black curls and dark, indeterminantly-colored eyes. With her free arm, she elbowed Liranath sharply in the nose, for the green dragon chose that moment to drop her great head to eye level with Meriden, whuffling gently into her face with her eye facets sparkling and whirling like crazy. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what's gotten into her." She shot Liranath a look and struggled to regain control of the situation. Sweep rider. Threadfall only three days away. Okay.

"So where are you headed off to by yourself today, Meriden?" Emig tried to sound stern and responsible as she cast an eye toward the cloudless sky. "Not battening down the hatches with the rest of the Hold in preparation for Threadfall?"

Meriden had just started, tentatively, to return the greeting when Liranath's head dropped into a space just next to Emig. She stepped back, shocked, and the giggled at herself, shaking her head. "Just wandering, really. It's like saying goodbye, because if any Thread gets through, this place will likely not be the same for several Turns. As for the Hold, it's fair prepared by now. No green anywhere as I can see. Another reason I like to come out here.. there's still green to be seen. It's peaceful."

Meriden knew she was beginning to ramble more than she ought, and probably not showing the respect in speech that was a rider's right, but the sudden friendliness of this strange new person practically caused the words to spill out of her mouth, like an invitation to speak freely, because at worst the rider would just go away, and at best, she may be a friend. Meriden was not much hopeful about the latter option, as most people around her age weren't interested in her in the least - but, Emig was a dragonrider, and that meant she was special by definition. Mayhaps she'd be special enough to value intelligence at least equally with aesthetics? That would certainly serve to bring much hope to this sometimes dim world.

Meriden's words robbed Emig of her own, for once. She opened her mouth to answer right away, as was her habit ... then she closed it again. Something about the way Meriden spoke of saying goodbye to the rolling grasslands around them, the dark line of forest serrating the horizon, struck a chord in her. Also, Meriden didn't seem in the least perturbed by Emig's attempted sternness. She was remarkable, and Emig, who hadn't expected to encounter a single soul today, found herself surprised and intrigued into a rare silence.

She is truthful and means everything she says. She is extraordinary. Liranath's musical voice was laced with a mystified excitement that was totally new. Doubly speechless, Emig turned wonderingly to her dragon. Liranath's great eye was sparkling an alternate blue and gold, the facets whirling fast, her head cocked as she studied Meriden. Now she flicked her earknobs toward her rider and gave a little satisfied hum. She must come with us to the Weyr.

Emig's jaw dropped.

"Liranath!" She found her voice at last. A smile lit up her elfin features, and Emig had to clap both hands over her mouth to keep from shouting or laughing out loud. Liranath was a Search dragon! And she had Searched this extraordinary young woman, seen right into her mind and heart. Right? She asked her dragon, remember herself before she turned back to Meriden. You did, didn't you? Just Search her?

Of course. Liranath was smug, impatient that her thick-headed rider hadn't noticed Meriden's potential at once.

Emig dropped her hands, turned to Meriden, seized the girl's hand in both her own, and squeezed. "Meriden," she said, "Liranath just told me the most amazing thing. How would you like to come back to Kharasi with us - as a Candidate for Iolath's next clutch?"

((Sorry for taking so long to reply, I've gotten slammed with work lately. Coworkers either called in sick or, in one case, got into a head-on collision, so I've been the replacement. This space reserved for the post I'm trying to write. :P))

*Taps foot* ... :P

eheh...
I'd love to explain away this massive lack of posting on my part, but I'm sure no one wants to hear about the major downturn my life took recently and just didn't stop going downhill. However! I promise a post within the next day or two as part of my new "Get Crap Together!" series of self-inflicted socialization / positive emotion events. <<

Also, I'm starting to get sick.

Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry.....

=Real post goes here! *off to rewrite it entirely*=

Are you kidding? It's just great to see you back, Phantasm. I'm sorry things are so rotten for you and hope life gives you a great big upswing very soon.

((Thanks =3 Anyways, wrote a half-decent post before collapsing last night, so huzzah!))

A stunned look crossed Meriden's face, a look which was matched only by the rapid-fire confusion of thoughts which had suddenly sprung up in her mind, a wellspring of disbelief and amazement.

"Me? Go.. with you? To the weyr?" Meriden managed to say, semi-coherent as she regained her mental footing. "That.. that.. that would be absolutely incredible! I would like nothing more in all of Pern than that!" she said, her wide green eyes locking with Emig's, filled with an amazed joy that almost seem to well out and fill her entire face with a glowing happiness, such as that seen on the faces of the happiest dreamers. Such an amazing offer, how could she possibly refuse? It was by far superior to becoming a Healer, or some kitchen-bound holder's wife.

Emig beamed. The day seemed much brighter, with the sun shining on the long grass in the field. Liranath was solid and wonderful beside her, and Meriden had agreed to the Search!

After her near-disastrous Weyrling lesson, Emig felt much relieved. She hugged Liranath's foreleg and let out a whoop to the sky. "Okay! We'll go to the Weyr whenever you're ready - I'm sure you want to pack, and say goodbye to your folks." She looked from her dragon to Meriden, still grinning. "Want a dragon ride back home?"

Meriden grinned mischievously and her laughter pealed across the valley like tiny bells all ringing simultaneously in melodic rhythm.

((they.. do have small bells, right? I suddenly can't remember a reference one way or the other <<))

"Why, of course, m'lady! I'm just not sure how I'm going to keep from laughing at my parents when they see us arriving!" Her thoughts whirled. What to pack? What would she even need to pack? How to break it to her parents? She didn't care, she was going to go to the Weyr!


((Worked for thirteen hours on one of my students' go-kart trailer last night, got home at 6am, went to bed. Woke up at 12. It's now 12:40. Apologies for crappy post x_x But now I can't get back to sleep, so caffeine is my hero.))

((I remember the dolphins being called by bells; no reason there shouldn't be little ones too.))

Emig's eyes sparkled as she covered her mouth with both hands to keep from giggling. "Just ... don't call me m'lady, okay? I know I'm a dragonrider and everything, but I'm just not used to that and I don't want to burst out laughing in front of your parents." Even so, her impish grin was fit to split her face. "C'mon, Meriden - I'll just hover in the background and try to look all-knowing, and let you do the talking. Finally your chance to say whatever you want, right?"

She turned to Liranath, who still had her green head lowered level with the grass and was gazing at Meriden with sparkling eyes. Emig slapped the dragon as high as she could reach on the shoulder. "Drop down, wouldja? Show Meriden how to properly mount a dragon, so's she'll look like a pro."

Liranath obliged with a croon, but Emig caught her breath and cast a worried glance at the new Candidate. "You, um, haven't ridden a dragon before, have you? I don't want to try to teach you something you already know!"

"Me? Ride a dragon a before? Oh, no, there's never been a reason for it. I'm more than honored to have Liranath be the first dragon I ride!" She was still grinning madly, excitement flowing through her. She still was half certain she must be dreaming, but if she was dreaming, she hoped with all her being never to wake up. "So.. I'd be grateful if you would show me how," she added, unsure how to even begin.

((Sorry for shortness, wasn't sure where to go from there D:))

((I'll leave that up to you. If you'd like to allow Meriden to have it out face to face with her father and leave in triumph, I'll happily go along with it. But I also know how long this Search has taken, so if you'd prefer to bring Meriden straight to the Weyr so she can get on with meeting weyrlings and candidates and going to the Gather, I'm just fine with that too. Just post back and I'll sew it up however you like.))

((So, this is one of the most delayed replies ever, but as I sit here in the middle of the night updating my Linux install on my dual-OS box, I find that I am struck by my muse. Or perhaps just a hefty brick.))

Meriden looked at Emig, the grin still dancing on her face and the joy in her eyes. "You know, there really isn't much I need from my home. But.. perhaps a chance to say goodbye? Especially to my father," she said, trying her hardest but in the end failing miserably to keep a tiny bit of delighted, malicious vindictiveness from her voice with the last phrase. Oh, she would enjoy telling him exactly what she had done to get around his 'choices'. She would enjoy that very much indeed. 'Ha! Marry me off or send me to the healers, eh?' she could just see it now, the beginning of a truly marvellous speech, forming in her mind..

((Alright, if you want to drop this thread now, we can, but if you want to continue it into it's truly Iliad-inspired potential in both length and time (especially time), we may. =3))