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Smiling wildly, the girl unwrapped the package she knew was a brand new gather dress. How exciting it would be, when her fingers finally smoothed over the fabric that had never been worn. It wouldn�t even matter if it was ugly, as she knew it would not be, because it would be new, and it would be hers. Never before had one of Haliva�s younger children had anything new. The only siblings who were allowed anything new were Hidei and Brolo, and only because they were the oldest, and needed good things to wear and use for their travels as Journeyman.
�Oh Ma.� Triss said, as she pulled the ribbon off in a swift motion, and was rewarded with a pleased look from her mother. Did Haliva know her second youngest daughter had guessed what her birthing day present was? Triss could have laughed with glee to know, except the brown paper was now off the box, and all that was left was to take the lid off, and remove her dress. Triss took a deep breath, reveling in the tension, and quickly threw the lid aside and plunged her hand into the box.
Thick, velvety fabric touched her fingers, and for a brief moment Triss held back the urge to yell with delight, but as she pulled her gown from it�s package, to her utter dismay she saw it wasn�t something new, it was an old gown of her mothers, one that went out of fashion before her mothers time. Triss still held back the urge to yell, but for a different reason this time. She lowered her hands, resting the old moldy gown in her lap, and didn�t say anything. Her mother hadn�t even bothered to alter it yet, so it was still too lengthy, and wide.
�Well?� Haliva asked anxiously, obviously thinking her daughter was more pleased than upset; after all, this had been the dress Triss had loved when she was a child-although the girl might not remember it. Haliva had no idea that Triss would have burned the gown if she could. It was a long moment before the girl said anything, and even then her voice was so unemotional that Haliva took it for shock, and beamed proudly.
�Your old dress.� Triss said plainly, and looked up to see her mother smile. Did Haliva actually think that she could enjoy this for the gather? How? It would take several days of altering before it would even fit her, much less the time, and money, it would take to make it presentable in today's times. By then the turn�s end gather would be long gone, Triss again being forced to wear trousers and a tunic, and pretending to be working there, instead of being a guest.

Triss didn�t so much mind being poor, or not really having anything of her own, but just once she�d like to be able to be herself out in the open, and not feel ashamed. What would people think if she went to the gather like usual, and said she was there for a good time? She�d be treated like a high-ranking drudge, and Triss wasn�t a drudge. Or, Triss felt an evil kind of malice rising up inside her, what if she wore this dress as it was? She�d look crazy, and people would avoid her. Wouldn�t that be lovely? Triss thought. Mother would see it, and then she�d feel so ashamed for giving this wretched thing to me.
No. Triss sobered. I wouldn�t want to hurt mother like that, plus she�ll probably be working anyway, so it�d be useless. Sweet revenge I think not. And Triss shook her head, and plastered a fake smile on her face.
�I love it Ma!� Triss forced the words out with an all to convincing enthusiasm. Haliva smiled, and patted her daughter affectionately.
�I�m glad dear, I was worried you�d be wanting something new! Faranth knows we don�t have the marks for it this year, not with Yollin going off as an apprentice, and Sharsha needing a good dowry.� Haliva sighed, getting depressed thinking of how much money it took to keep her large family functioning, and then stood up to get back to work. She was the assistant headwoman at GreySide cothold, and that took up a lot of her time. �Try it on then Triss, see what adjustment�s need to be made before the gather in a sevenday, and we�ll get to work on it tomorrow.�
�Fine.� Triss said, biting back tears and forced her face to flash a grin. Now there wouldn�t even be the marks to get some more fabric, to fix the dress up a bit. Why did life have to be so unfair? No one understood how hard life was for the poor, large, family. Especially for the children, who never had a choice in where they were born. No one understood what it was like to face ridicule all the time because you were poor, or you weren�t beautiful, or the fact that you simply didn�t have new clothes.
Stop it fool! Triss yelled at herself, and tossed the old dress back into its box. You are so spoiled, listen to yourself. Lots of people don�t get anything, much less something new, look at the drudges! What have they got to show for their hard lives? One set of greasy rags and a pile of straw.
But as Triss stood up to go to work, for she cleaned in the Hold for a small pay, she couldn�t help but feel disappointed. She tried to shake it off, but she couldn�t do it. She couldn�t keep herself convinced that she was being spoiled be wanting a new gown for the gather. So as she walked away, she prayed to Faranth,
�just please let me have a new dress for this gather. I swear on your golden shells if you do this for me, I�ll do anything you ask, and never ask for anything again!

It was several days later, and Triss was frantically finishing her gown for tomorrow�s gather. She�d realized, too late, that Faranth had no intention of answering her little �prayer�, and she had managed to scrounge up a tailor mark to buy some green, fake velvet/leather stuff. It was cheap, but it would look nice on the pure velvet cream white of the gown. Triss began to think this was her mother�s old espousal gown, since there wasn�t a colour on it save the white and a touch of silver at the sleeves and neck. Ah well, Triss thought, and took up the hem a bit before reaching for her needle. She knew how to sew, all her family did, it was important in case one of the Holder�s family members needed something done quickly, and no tailors were around. But Triss found a minor enjoyment in sewing, and if she thought for a moment her family could afford it, she�d apprentice herself to the Tailoring Hall.
As for this being Haliva�s old espousal gown, Triss didn�t much care anyway. Haliva had born four children to one man, and when she was pregnant with the fifth she finally convinced the man to marry her. His name was Gerruand, and he had been a bastard. He stayed with Haliva for three more turns, providing another child in addition to the one she bore seven months after being espoused, who, coincidentally, was Triss, and then he left her for a pretty woman who was sterile. Haliva had been heartbroken, but she was also strong, and didn�t let her misery show through to her six children. She made herself get over her husband by assuring herself she was young, and still beautiful, so someone else would want her. She didn�t count on the children making her less appealing. No man that would want a kitchen worker had the money to support all her children by another man, plus those she would carry for him. No respectable man anyway.
So soon enough Haliva found herself in love with a runner trainer from the stables, his name was Possarial, and he had sired twins on her, promising her they�d be married as soon as he saved up thirty marks for them. The twins had been born, and Haliva was now thirty, and quickly deteriorating from her youthful beauty. Two turns later, Possarial informed his �beloved� he had the thirty marks, and he was going to move the family off to his cousin�s hold in the west, where they�d have a cothold of their own. Haliva hadn�t really believed this man, and wasn�t surprised when Possarial left to �write up the contracts�, and never came back. By this time Haliva had the twins off Possarial, plus another boy, who was given to another woman to foster, because Haliva could only take so much.
But still, the now assistant headwoman had eight children, plus one nearby that she kept her eyes on, and money was stretched very tightly. The two eldest, the boy Brolo, and the girl Hidei, were the only ones to ever receive the occasional piece of new clothing, or �necessary� object. After that, all their old things were passed down among their younger siblings as the children all grew. Brolo went off to join a Lord Holder's Guard when he turned fifteen, and Hidei soon followed him, except she married one of the stable hands there, and had two children. The next girl, Sharsa, had been quick to find a cotholder for herself, and her espousal was arranged for spring. Then there�d been Ithialin, who�d been quick to get himself Searched, although he�d jumped around from Weyr to Weyr, never quite being able to Impress. He was near twenty now, and Triss knew her mother was worried that Ithialin wouldn�t Impress at all, and come home. Her mother loved her son, but just couldn�t afford to feed another mouth. Then there was Triss, who stayed home but earned her own keep, minor as it was, giving all her pay to help support the family that remained.
There was then Triss�s closest sister, Sharyon, and after that there was a gap between Gerruand�s children, and his successor Possarial�s children. That meant three turns later, twins had been born. (Haliva had begun producing children when she was quite young) The twins, both boys, named Yollin and Bresak were both adventurous, outdoorsy boys. Yollin, now thirteen, had shown himself to be the pride and hope for the family by getting accepted as an apprentice to the Harper Hall, the downfall on that is that the first few turns of his apprenticeship would be spendy for Haliva and her brood. Bresak worked up at the main Hold, in the stables and occasionally in the fields. He earned about as much as Triss did cleaning, and that wasn�t much. The last son was Jerliam, but he was the only child of his foster mother, and didn�t have much to do with his birth family. Triss knew little about him, and it didn�t bother her at all.
Triss sighed, trying to throw all thoughts of her family out of her head. Lately she�d been feeling more and more oppressed by the sheer amount of people there were in it, and she didn�t like that. Oh sure, she loved her brothers and sisters individually, but when you put everybody together it was just one big mess. Triss bit off the end of her thread, and lowered the gown back into her lap.
Done. She thought. It�s not perfect, but it�ll be good enough. Maybe I�ll only spend a little while at this gather, and later I�ll fix the dress some more so I can wear it to the next one. Triss sighed again, and leaned her head back. Why did life have to be like this? Even her important problems were nothing really; but it still made her angry to think about them. Why couldn�t she lead a more exciting life, one where a new gather dress wouldn�t matter at all?
Why don�t I just become a dragonrider and fight Thread! Triss�s mind yelled at her. Honestly girl, just deal with it. You�re dress is lovely��And Triss held it experimentally up to her, and realizing one of the sleeves still had some of the old buttons on it, she got out her sewing cutters, and began to remove them. It would defeat the purpose of fixing this dress if everyone knew where it came from before, and buttons on the sleeves was a popular fashion from about thirty turns before.......

The gather was dull, and the whole time Triss kept kicking herself for making such a big deal about it. No one had really bothered to show up, and even the Harper band playing kept with easy tunes that no one wanted to dance to. Hardly any stalls were set up; only a few food stalls, and the guests were kept to a minimum. One could measure how popular a gather was by seeing how many dragons were resting up on the heights. Today there were about five, and that meant no more than fifteen guests total, including the dragonriders.
How boring this is. Triss thought, and played with the end of her heavy skirt as she walked through the crowd. She got no admiring glances for her gown, but no repulsed ones either, so Triss guessed she�d got the sewing done about right. It would look better next time. And next time I�ll be sure to look stunning, and maybe even get somebody handsome to dance with! Triss smiled to herself, and looked over into a stall selling fancy bootlaces and other cheap oddities like that. These stalls were the ones that did the best at gathers, but Triss had never seen anyone buy anything from one, or claim to have gotten anything from one.
Triss looked at all the junky little things, and ignored the stall keeper�s smiles. He wanted her to buy something from him, and he�d flirt with her to get her to do it. She pretended she had money of course, everyone did, otherwise the even un-busy peddlers would send you away from their merchandise. In truth Triss had a little bit of money, but so little she wasn�t sure she could afford a bubbly pie for herself, much less.........
A sudden sparkled on one of the shelves caught her attention, and Triss leaned forward. There was something shining green over there�. The stall keeper wasted no time in picking up on his potential customer�s interest, and stepped towards the back, raising his arms to indicate all Triss had to do was point out what she wanted.
�That.� Triss said, and indicated the shining object. The man grinned wider, and pulled it from the shelves, bringing it forward. Triss reached out her hands like an eager child and he placed it there.
�That would look marvelous on you miss.� The man said, and Triss peered down as the thing revealed itself to be a necklace. It was a plain chain, one that Triss could buy five of with what she had on her, but the shining that had caught her eye was a small charm at the bottom of the necklace: a green dragon soaring upwards. Dragon items sold quickly around here, so it was surprising that this man still had a lovely necklace such as this on him, despite the lack of customers that day. But not that odd. Triss thought as she looked at her prize find. It was a green dragon, and green dragon items sold poorly. People liked to show their support for dragonkind in gold and bronze, with the occasional brown and blue. People always thought greens were below them.
�Would you care to try it on before you buy?� The man asked, and Triss suddenly realized she couldn�t pay for this. She clenched the necklace in her fist and handed it back to the man, shaking her head.
�I�m sorry sir, I don�t think so.� The man looked disappointed, but didn�t ask why. He must have guessed she couldn�t afford it.
�Excuse me, sir? Can I see that for a moment?� Someone came up behind Triss, and reached out a hand to see the necklace. The man smiled with pleasure and nodded.
�Of course ma�am. Here you are now.� Triss turned to see the other person; a young woman wearing dragonrider knots, examining the jewelry closely. Triss felt a lump in her throat at the loss; a dragonrider could afford a cheap piece of jewelry like this. Somehow giving it up wasn�t so bad, but seeing someone else buying her treasure was.
�Oh, it�s lovely. It looks like my Sopaith.� The woman smiled, and brushed some hair from her eyes; and Triss glowered before turning to walk away. As she retreated she heard the rider�s voice, �How much? I think I�d like to buy it.�
Great. Triss thought, and wrapped her shawl tighter about her shoulders. Everything in my life works out just great. I don�t get new clothes, I can�t afford cheap jewelry, I clean rich people�s bedrooms for a living, and now I�m angry with myself for complaining at all! Triss stomped her foot childishly, and sat down on a nearby bench. She didn�t bother searching for one of the warming tents that would have chairs and tables to sit and socialize; she didn�t want to be bothered at all. And no one would come up to her if she were out here in the cold scowling and looking mean.
Of course someone came up to her, and to Triss�s distress this person was the same rider who had bought the necklace.
�Mind if I sit here?� The rider asked, and Triss didn�t bother to look up.
�Should I mind?� Triss asked, and made a point of staring out at nothing. She heard the rider sigh, and sit at the other end of the bench. Triss made up her mind, if the rider edged closer, she would get up and leave. But the rider seemed content to stay where she was, although the woman did turn towards Triss and began to speak.
�I�m Narize, a greenrider from Quinalt. Have you heard of it? We�re somewhat out of the way��
�Yes.� Triss said, trying not to be friendly, but finding it hard. Triss was by nature a friendly person, and hated being rude to like-minded people.
�Good.� Narize purred, and from the corner of her eye Triss saw the woman grin. A long moment passed, and Narize�s grin faded, and Triss still didn�t say anything. Narize rustled uncomfortably. Good, Triss thought, maybe she�ll leave. But instead Narize reached into her pocket and pulled something out. Triss didn�t need to look to know it was the dragon necklace. Triss turned her head away. She heard Narize sigh and lay the necklace carefully on the bench. �It�s for you.� Narize said, and Triss instinctively reacted.
�I don�t need it. I didn�t buy it, did I?� But Triss looked down at the jewelry, and was once again choked by its beauty.
�Ah.� Narize said, and stood up. �Well, there�s many ways to explain that. But consider it my late gift to you, for your birthingday.� Narize walked off, and Triss picked up the necklace, staring after the woman. How had she known it was a sevenday after her birthingday?
I told her. Triss swore she heard someone say, but shook her head, only putting the necklace around her neck, deciding if the rider gave it to her, she would keep it. No one could make her give it back now. Triss fingered the green dragon lovingly, before standing up to go show her mother.
It was as she was walking down the empty pathways that the dragonrider Narize came up to her again.
�Looks very nice on you.� The taller woman said, and Triss turned to look at her. She felt guilty for being so rude before; but still she felt miffed, like she was accepting charity.
�Thanks.� Triss said, and continued walking where it would be polite to stop. But then she looked back to Narize, her eyes questioning. �How did you know about my birthingday?� Narize laughed.
�Oh, my Sopaith told me. She�s very good at getting that kind of information off of people.� Narize looked suddenly apprehensive; as if she let something away she wasn�t supposed to. �I hope you don�t mind it�� But Triss wasn�t paying attention.
�Sopaith? She was in my mind? Was it her that said something to me?� But Triss turned an embarrassing red, how would Narize know if Sopaith talked to her?
�Probably.� Narize said, and suddenly snapped her fingers. �You know what, Sopaith mentioned it before, and after talking to you��How would you like to go to Quinalt to stand for the clutch we�ve got on the sands? I know it seems sudden�Triss isn�t it?�
Triss didn�t have to think before she agreed to go, and it was the next day as she was loading her single pack onto Sopaith�s back that she realized Quinalt was where Ithialin was standing. She would be with her brother!