raisa

"Fardling horse!" Raisa's voice was impatient and angry. She was standing in the middle of the field, and couldn't see her runner anywhere. He should be easy enough to spot, what with his black coat and all! She thought. I should have tied him down!
Raisa sighed and began to comb the field once more for any sign of her runner. She knew he wouldn't have left the meadows, but the place was huge, and she couldn't even begin to know where to start looking.
Hours passed, or so it seemed, to Raisa, as she trudged up and down the hills in the meadow, searching for her horse. She called his name, whistled, and even tried to whinney like the runners did to draw his attention. Nothing worked; it was growing dark, and Raisa desperate. There was no way for her to get back home without Night, and she couldn't camp out here because Thread was due in the morning.
She kicked at a rock in her path, and screeched with frustration. She wasn't prone to temperamental outbursts, but her situation definitely warranted it. She was about to turn around and start walking home when she looked down at the rock. It was a largish rock, made of sandstone.
Why would there be sandstone out here? It's at least five miles to the cove's beach. But then a dark feeling settled over Raisa, and she ran in an easterly direction, stopping suddenly when the land took a sharp incline downward, showing the beach below.
I'm ten miles from home! Her mind rasped. I have no way to get back there without Night, and Thread's falling tomorrow! As if to emphasize that thought, a clash of thunder rumbled across the cliffs of the cove, and a flash of lightning showed itself over the sea.
"Just what I need." Raisa mumbled, and decided if she had to be caught out in this weather, she might as well find a nice sheltered place on the beach. Raisa scrambled down the rocky incline, and began her search. It only took her a moment to find a little stone overhang, right against the cliff face. It was like a lean-to tent that the traders sometimes used during Intervals, and didn't face the ocean, so Raisa wouldn't be bombarded with mist and water and cold air. Raisa looked around, seeing how long she had until the storm hit.
Not long. She decided, and shoved her pack into her temporary shelter. She had some time to try to find Night. He wouldn't fit in the shelter, but she could tie him nearby. There wasn't enough time for them to go home, and she hoped desperately that she would find him now. She walked up the beach, trying to see if Night had somehow made it down here. He would have sensed the storm, and looked instinctively gone towards the rocky area of the beach.
No luck, he was nowhere to be found. Tucking up her skirts and tying them under her belt, she climbed back up the cliff ace and started at a jog in a random direction. She made sure to stay in a straight line. It wouldn't due for her to get lost now. She looked in vain for nearly an hour as the winds grew worse and the sky grew blacker. There wasn't so much as a hoof print to be found. Raisa suddenly thought of the small grove of trees that she and Night had passed on their way to scout out the field. It was too far for her to go now, but it was a very protected area.
He went there... She thought firmly, hoping that he'd be all right for now. She knew that grove of trees wasn't supposed to be there with Thread falling and all, but she was glad the Lord Holder hadn't torn them down yet, and just as the first droplets of water fell from the sky Raisa began her run back to the beach.

Several hours later........
Raisa sat in her shelter, staring at the fire-lizard eggs, not believing what she saw. The shelter was warm, having absorbed all the heat from the sun, so bringing the eggs here wouldn't damage them. There were six eggs there, but they were from two different clutches. And wonders of all wonders, the two from the queen clutch were beginning to rock. Raisa couldn't believe her good fortune, despite being left in the storm.
She had tripped over a round "rock" on her way back down the beach in the rain. Spitting out mouthfuls of sand as she stood back up she turned around and saw that it was no rock at all. She brushed the sand away to reveal a tiny fire-lizard egg. Raisa dug in the same place, despite the rain, and uncovered three more eggs. They were so close to the surface she was certain the storm would kill them. She decided they must be from a green's clutch, and saw no harm in taking them back to her warm little "cave".
As she carried the eggs down the beach, she saw a familiar glimmer down in the sand, and setting down the green's eggs, she uncovered another clutch of fire-lizard eggs. She picked up the greens, re-buried the other eggs, and ran back towards her shelter to deposit the eggs in her hand. She buried them in the warm sand, and raced back to the other clutch. Her father would be so proud! Maybe he'd even forgive her for getting stuck outside in the storms. But when she showed up and presented a clutch full of fire-lizard eggs to the Lord Holder of Fort.....but she'd make sure to keep eggs for her family. They could use some fire-lizard eggs when they moved their beast cothold to clear away tunnel snakes.
Raisa came to the nest again, and dropping to her knees began to dig up the eggs. She hurried as fast as she could, she didn't want to leave the hard eggs exposed to water for very long. Kicking herself for not bringing her sack, she dug the fourth egg out of the sand. Suddenly with a whir of wings and squawks several fire-lizards were about her in the air, beating at her head. She saw the glimmer of a golden hide, and realized she'd found a gold clutch and not another green. One of the angry fire-lizards managed to scratch her cheek, despite her arms waving about trying to protect her face. She knew this was not the time to get more eggs, and scooted the four she had back into the clutch hole. She feigned trying to stand up, and the fire-lizards backed off her for just a moment. The moment was all she needed; she reached down into the nest and pulled out two eggs. She was well down the beach before she heard their angry squawks again.
Now the two eggs from the gold clutch were hatching, and Raisa knew no one was about to stop her from trying to Impress them. She dug some meatrolls out of her pack, and waited expectantly. But she needn't have worried so soon. It was well into the night before the first egg began to break it's shell, and Raisa was nearly asleep.
The hideous scratching sounds woke Raisa from her dozing, and it took her several moments to realize what caused the sound. She rubbed her eyes, and looked down towards the two eggs she'd found. The smaller one was cracking it's shell now. Raisa picked the meatrolls up that had fallen into her lap, and then into the sand, and held the egg with one hand.
The shell suddenly burst in all directions, and Raisa had to drop the food to keep the tiny fire-lizard from falling. It flapped it's tiny wings and cried piteously. The sound made Raisa's heart break as she picked up a meatroll and held it for him to eat. The tiny brown creature snapped into the food ravenously, and gulped down the meat, crying for more. Raisa gave him five more meatrolls before she realized she'd realized it, and told the thing to hush because he'd have to save some for his sibling, who was hatching soon. That was when Impression was made, and Raisa felt her mind reeling with the wonderful feeling of it. She held her tiny brown close to her, stroking him lovingly and murmuring at what a perfectly beautiful creature he was. The tiny hatchling crooned happily, and curled up in her lap to sleep. Raisa smiled down at him, and wondered what she would call him.
Then she turned her attention back to the other shell, and appreciated all the more what might happen with it. She only felt sorry for the others of this clutch, for she knew the wouldn't survive hatching outside during the storm. As if to emphasize this, a huge roll of thunder shook the rock around her, and several crashes of lightning were seen reflecting off of the ground. Raisa shivered, and huddled around herself closer, watching the other egg.
This one cracked less dramatically than the little brown, slowly chipping away at its shell until it finally had a hole big enough to push through. The tiny green creature crowled miserably, and Raisa immediately picked her up and stuffed her with the remaining four meatrolls. She didn't feel anything dramatic as the little green curled up next to her to go to sleep, and wondered if Impression had been made. It really wouldn't bother Raisa if it hadn�t; after all, she still had her little brown Rumbler.
Rumbler? Why Rumbler? But Raisa knew it was because of the storm. And besides, she thought, Rumbler suits him. Raisa was immediately asleep.

In the morning, just as the sun creaked through the opening of her shelter, Raisa was awakened by a loud snort. She blinked her eyes against the light, and shivered against the cold morning air. She looked down to Rumbler, to see him staring up at her, eyes whirling with hunger. She felt his hunger too, and promised they'd leave soon to find something to eat. She then looked at the green. The green was sitting in much the same fashion as Rumbler, looking to Raisa.
I've Impressed her after all. Raisa thought happily, and picked up Rumbler and set him next to his sister. I need to pack up my stuff before we can go darlings. She thought to them, and that was received with more hunger pains. She grimaced, and quickly reached for her sack. She uncovered the four other eggs, and to her delight they were still warm, and stuffed them in with her hidebook in the wherleather sack. She tied the strings, and lifted her two fire-lizards and placed them on her shoulders.
They squawked their unhappiness as Raisa stood up, and dug their claws into her tunic. Raisa sent them reassuring thoughts, and walked out into the sunlight. She heard another snort, and looked above her. There stood Night, dry as a board and whickering at her anxiously. Raisa sighed and held back the curses and urges to throw large heavy objects at the runner's head.
She climbed up the cliff face, mounted Night, much to the disarray of Rumbler and his sister, and rode at a leisurely pace for home. She made it home just before Fort's watchdragon bugled the Thread alarm. She had forgotten Thread was due to fall that day.

"You can't believe how worried we were Raisa." Her mother wept, "We thought Thread had come early, and you, you were just gone!" Raisa's mother was prone to weeping fits, so Raisa listened instead to her father, who was far less emotional. He grunted in agreement.
"Girl, you shouldn't have stayed out so long. Lucky for you you found them eggs; otherwise I'd really have it in for you. Now show me the two you say you Impressed..."Raisa's mother stared open mouthed at he husband's words, and Raisa just smiled. She promptly presented Rumbler "and the little green girl" to her parents.

Two weeks later.....
Raisa was devastated when her father's proposal to use the meadows that Raisa had drawn was denied by the Lord Holder. He stated that he liked them "unsettled" and gave them a few more acres already adjacent to their land. But Raisa's disappointment was nothing compared to her father's. He had so wanted to leave the tiny place they had now, and expand and become more profitable. They were barely eeking out a living as it was; a few more acres of muddy land wouldn't help much.
Raisa was certain her father would do something desperate, and sent Rumbler and Green to watch him whenever she was unable too. Raisa hadn't officially named her female fire-lizard, and none of her family had. Her two brothers and sister quickly lost interest in the flits, saying they took energy away from real work, and suggested no names at Raisa's request for the little green. She'd thought up dozens, no, hundreds of names, but nothing seemed to fit. The little flit would need something to be called by, and unconsciously Raisa just began calling her "green". The name stuck with her, and two weeks later it was official. Green.
But the fire-lizards both kept an excellent watch on her father, until he began to resign to the fact he wasn't getting any better land. Instead, he made plans to further develop the land he had, moving the stables to give more ample grazing, and spreading some tasty, healthy weeds that would flourish in this area, and help the herdbeast's and runner's diets. Raisa thought this was a good plan, and helped erect the new barns and tear down the old ones.
Life fell into a routine for Raisa and her family. Everyday the same, everything geared to raising the herds and making them better. Raisa's fire-lizards cleared out tunnel snakes like nobody's business, and her siblings began to appreciate them for only this fact. Thread came and went, and nobody really thought much about the future. That was until another ordinary Threadfall day, and Raisa's sixteenth birthday.

Raisa had woke, feeling strange and restless. Even the fire-lizards felt it, and were impatient all through the morning chores. Although they couldn't say why when Raisa asked them. Rumbler had learned several simple words, and spoke them with only a little difficulty. Green had learned one, and that word was "Rumbler". Whenever she couldn't communicate properly with Raisa, she'd let Rumbler know what she wanted, and he in turn would try to tell Raisa. Raisa was surprised and delighted that her fire-lizards had learned to speak. Most fire-lizards never learned a word in their lives, including golds and bronzes. But that didn't ease the frustration of the day any.
And Thread falling didn't help matters. Raisa didn't like to be confined when she needed to think, she wanted to get out and walk and draw. Instead, she spent the afternoon in her tiny room, drawing the fire-lizards as they struck amusing poses for her. After awhile, Raisa began to calm down, and not be so restless. Until she heard a runner's hooves galloping through, past the cothold.
"Dragonriders on Search!" A male voice yelled. "Assemble your children of proper ages! Dragonriders on Search..." The voice faded into the distance. Dragonriders? On Search? Raisa couldn't remember the last time there'd been a Search here, she wondered which Weyr was Searching.
Rumbler chirped, and rustled his wings excitedly. Raisa told him to hush and went down to where her parents were mending fence posts outside. When they saw her, they immediately told her to get to the Hold and get back. Her brothers were alreadythere, and they needed her to help with the fence posts. Without warning Raisa exploded.
"Fence posts! I'm not your drudge, I'm sixteen! It's time I picked my own future and you supported me! Fence posts indeed!" Raisa whirled around and jogged down to the main Hold, with her parents staring after her in bewilderment. Raisa was no less confused.
I wonder what brought that on? She asked herself. Is that's what's been bothering me? I didn't know I cared for a future........Raisa immediatly stopped jogging, and said out loud.
"If I think I can make my own decisions, wouldn't it be my choice to be looked at by dragons on Search?" Raisa immediately laughed at this idea and continued to the Hold. As if she'd be Searched anyway, it was just a "formality" from living at Fort. The Lord Holder here made sure he knew everyone's children, and made sure they would all be present when the dragons rode on Search. Raisa didn't know if it was because he honoured and revered dragonkind so, or if he wanted the prestige of being a Lord of a Hold that produced many dragonriders. Either way, whenever a Weyr asked Fort to Search, Raisa and her siblings were always assembled and looked over by dragonriders.
Raisa then burst through the trees, stepping right into Fort's huge courtyard. Dozens of people, mostly her age and younger, were standing about, looking nervously and expectantly at the two dragons dominating the yard. But Raisa's eyes were drawn to the huge blue; she'd recognize him anywhere. His name was Siyeth, and he was a Falas Weyr dragon. Raisa hadn't seen him since she was eight years old, but he'd been the first dragon she'd ever seen. The dragon turned his massive head to look right at her, and Raisa thought she saw him nod. She immediately shook the feeling off, and went to join a group of her friends that had just arrived.
Suddenly, the blue's rider, P'mir shouted above the noise of the yard.
"Everybody listen! Form two lines! One men and one women! Quickly now!" The bluerider's eyes twinkled with amusement as the young people scampered about, making the two requested lines. Siyeth warbled and sniffed the air deeply.
He and the other dragon, a green, began to look through the group, weaving their necks and heads about to get a better look at people. Suddenly the green's head stopped, and she lowered her head and snorted at a boy standing in the back of the line. The green's rider walked up to him and smiled.
"You've been Searched lad. What's your name?" The boy stared in awe at the dragon, and Raisa thought he couldn't be older than thirteen.
"I....I'm Bavin." He stuttered, in amazement, and the greenrider laughed.
"Would you like to join us Bavin? At Falas Weyr?" The boy's face lit up with a grin, and he nodded.
"More than anything Greenrider, I've always wanted to have a dragon!" The woman smiled, and led Bavin to her dragon to mount. Raisa sighed, happy for the boy who wanted to have a dragon. Hopefully, he would Impress. She failed to notice that P'mir was standing right in front of her, and watching her with a look of concern on his face.
"Are you sure Siyeth?" Raisa whirled around to see him standing there. She took a step backwards, nearly falling into the boys who were now filing past; sure they wouldn't be Searched that day. One of them caught her, and Raisa smiled at him, he was so handsome! She quickly surpressed her romantic thoughts, and turned her attention back to the dragonrider, she was astounded to hear a voice in her head.
Of course. I've wanted her for a long time, before she was of age. I even warned the others off of her, she's not meant for their clutches. Just ours. The voice, Siyeth, finished smugly. Raisa felt a certain feeling of fear and pressure rising within her. Trying to calm it, she gulped and looked the bluerider, who smiled at her.
"What's your name girl?"
"Raisa."
"Raisa? That's an unusual name. "
"Yes sir. My parents name me that because they "raised" herders, and then "raise" children. Had I been a boy, my name would have been Raise." P'mir quirked an eye at her.
"You're the oldest then?"
"Yes sir." He nodded.
"Well Raisa, my Siyeth says he'd like you to come stand Candidate for the clutch we've got on our Sands at Falas. What do'ya say? Do you want to be a dragonrider?" Suddenly two fire-lizards, a green and a brown, burst through the air chirping excitedly. They landed on Raisa's shoulders, and made odd coughing sounds, but they sounded strangely encouraging to Raisa's ears. "You've fire-lizards?" The rider asked her.
"Yes sir. They hatched when I was alone, and I couldn't let them out into the rain. It wouldn't have been right." The rider nodded and grinned at her again.
"Good then, at least you feel for the other creatures." Raisa nodded at him. "But will you join me as Falas? And perhaps Impress a dragon from our Clutch?" Raisa smiled, and with Rumbler and Green's encouraging cries, shook her head happily.
"Of course I will bluerider! I'd love to be a Candidate at Falas Weyr!"