Biarni     Biarni's eyes flew open as she hit the hard wooden floor. She sat up, clutching her blankets to her, eyes flicking around the dark room. The glows had tumbled from their basket and cast an eerie light over the scene.

Shaking, Biarni put a hand on her overturned cot and stood up. The caravan was swaying from side to side like a boat in a hurricane and it was all Biarni could do to stay on her feet. Hastily pulling on her over tunic and slipping on a pair of indoor shoes, Biarni stepped out into the main part of the second floor. Her mother and step-father weren't there but Sarlan was, the twins clinging to him. He looked very serious for his thirteen turns. Much too serious.

"Biarni!" he exclaimed. Raliana took her head from the folds of Sarlan's tunic at the sound of her sister's name and tottered over, hands outstretched to be picked up, which Biarni did, hoping Raliana wouldn't notice her nervous shaking.

"What happened? Where are Mother and Sardinas?" Biarni asked, sitting down because standing up had suddenly become a much more dangerous action. "Where in Faranth's name are we?"

"They're out coaxing ol' Toad and that brat Dewberry out of the mud," Sarlan explained. "It got so bad, the wind, I mean, that we couldn't stay put. So we're going to keep going, sort of. None of the work beasts want to move but they've got to."

"Where're we going?" Biarni asked, shivering. She knew she ought to be out helping, but she couldn't bring herself to get up. And she suspected thayt if she did, she'd fall right back down again.

"Falas Weyr," Sarlan replied, a note of awe in his voice. Sarlan was going through the typical "I'm old enough to Impress now!" stage all thirteen-turn-olds went through, and was constantly jabbering on about dragons and dragonriders. This wouldn't be his first visit to the weyr, but now that he was of age to Impress, he was much more excited about it.

"It's been a while since we've been to a weyr," Biarni mused. All she knew about her father, Br'san, was that he had come from some distant weyr. Her mother had never told her which one, she suspected that Ranili was slightly emberassed about it. Perhaps Br'san lived at Falas and she'd finally get to meet him.

"Me neither," Sarlan sighed. "I can't wait. I hear they've got a clutch on the Sands. Maybe I'll get Searched."

"Who knows," Biarni said encouragingly. "Right now, I'd settle for getting out of this windstorm and inside somewhere. I suppose it can't be as bad at Falas, with the slopes of the mountain to protect it."

Once the wind had settled down a bit, Biarni left Sarlan with the twins and went down and outside. It was getting lighter but it was still dark. She could see the vague silhouettes of her mother and step-father beside the beasts. Dewberry snorted as she tried to skirt a patch of deep mud and was guided back by Sardinas.

"Biarni!" Sardinas called when he saw her. "Climb on down here and let your mother go in for a bit of rest!"

Biarni obeyed, hopping down and ignoring the glare she got from her mother for being in her sleeping things. "Go on in Mother," she urged. "I'll take over."

Ranili protested but Sardinas and Biarni suceeded in getting her to go up and check on the twins. Biarni took Toad's halter rope and tugged gently. His great eye blinked as he regarded her. Toad snorted happily when he recognized her and rubbed his head against her shoulder. "Stop buttering me up and start walking, you big oaf," she commanded him, but gave his muzzle an affectionate pat.

"Sleep well?" Sardinas asked from the other side of Dewberry.

"I slept well, I just didn't like being awakened by hitting the floor," Biarni called back. "You?"

"About the same," Sardinas replied. "Except the glows chose that moment to die, so I was stumbling around in complete darkness."

"Lovely," Biarni drawled, looking down disgustedly at the muddy ground. "How much further in this horrible weather?"

Sardinas was silent for a moment, calculating, probably. "Not too much longer," Sardinas told her. "A few more dragonlengths and we'll be able to see Falas Weyr."

The caravan in front of them turned and talking ceased as Biarni tried to get Toad to turn and Sardinas tried to get Dewberry to follow. Toad bellowed his annoyance but turned, Dewberry following with a prim flick of her tail.

Sure enough, about a quarter of an hour later, Falas Weyr's hollowed out mountain loomed in the distance. The rising sun lit it from behind, bathing the entire scene in a red-orange light. No dragons were visible except for a watchdragon on the ridge which looked to be a blue but with the dim light Biarni couldn't tell. "Amazing," she breathed.

"Isn't it?" Sardinas replied. "I've been to many weyrs as a trader, never gotten over how magnificent they are.

Biarni nodded, though Sardinas couldn't see it over the bulk of Toad and Dewberry. "I wish we came to weyrs more often. I haven't been since I was thirteen or fourteen."

"It's been a while since I was at Falas," Sardinas admitted. "We don't come this way often. It's probably changed a lot."

They trudged on in silence, gazing up at Falas Weyr as they walked. Biarni found herself dreaming of meeting her father and his bronze, of maybe even getting to have her father take her on a short ride. She quickly pushed the thoughts away. What were the chances that her father would be here, out of the many weyrs in Pern?

By the time the bedraggled caravan stumbled into Falas, the sun was climbing into the sky and the weyrbowl was already busy. Weyrfolk of all ages ran about, evidently getting ready for the arrival of the traders. A young weyrbrat ran up to Biarni, staring up at her in her strange trader garb with big green eyes. The girl's mother came running through the crowed and snatched her away, smiling her apologies at Biarni, who realized suddenly that she was still in her sleeping clothes.

When the caravans were parked, Biarni ran inside and changed, getting back out in time to help set up the bartering tables. More children had gathered around, aged all the way from two turns old to eleven or twelve. Most were young enough to have never seen traders before and gazed at all the trade goods in wide eyed wonder.

A few riders strode through the crowd, their strides as well as the knots on their shoulders declaring who they were. One young man walked up to her, he was quite unlike the others, with a different, more fun-loving manner. "Can I help you, sir?" she asked after a few minutes. Sardinas was off bargaining with another rider and so Biarni had taken over the table.

"Yes, I think you can," the man replied. "I'm looking for a Biarni, daughter of Sardinas. Would you happen to know where she is?"

"Step-daughter, actually," Biarni replied with a wry grin. "And you're looking at her."

The man smiled. "Merry meet! What luck to find you after asking only five other traders. Let me introduce myself. I am Ker't, rider of copper Barahirth. We're on a special search team for the FGPC, which has a clutch of dragon eggs at the moment, and Baharith has Searched you."

Biarni gaped at him, unable to absorb so much information. "FGPC?" she stammered. "Don't they breed fire lizards?"

"Normally they do," Ker't corrected her. "But they have engineered dragon eggs much the same way as they do those fire lizard clutches. There are quite a few of them, too. We're pressed to find so many Candidates."

"But I've barely arrived here," Biarni managed. "How could he know so soon?"

Ker't shrugged and flashed a bemused smile. "Barahirth is a quick decision maker. He tells me you have very strong potential and it was easy to pick you out."

"Thank you, I guess," Biarni replied. "But I'm not sure I really have that much potential, I'm just a trader's daughter."

"Your father was a dragonrider, was he not?" Ker't asked. "I found out from other traders," he added at the suprised looke on her face.

"He was," Biarni replied. "But my mother wasn't. Does it really make that much of a difference?"

"Truth be told," Ker't shrugged, "not really. Some weyrbred kids never Impress while drudges can end up as whiteriders. It all depends. It can help sometimes, dragons can tell dragonrider blood when they see it."

"So I suppose if I accept I just stay here when the caravans leave?" Biarni asked, finally giving up on figuring out just why a trader's daughter like herself was so easily recognizable as a potential candidate.

"Actually, no. We'd leave today for Falas Hold, which is not far on foot and even less far on dragonback, where you'll begin your training," Ker't replied. "I'm only here for a little while, we're not supposed to be at the Weyr, they need their Candidates for Flynnth's clutch."

"So... I'd have to leave? Just leave?" Biarni asked, gazing at the caravans that had been her life since she and her mother had joined the caravan when she was two turns old.

"I know it's sudden, but if you'd like to go, I do need to leave soon," Ker't told her. "I will give you time to say good-bye, if you wish to accept, that is."

Biarni took a moment to compose herself and turned back to Ker't. "My brother'd probably stangle me if I didn't accept, so I suppose I accept. How much time do I have?"

Ker't shrugged. "A good hour or two. I'll meet you back here then." With that the rider was off through the crowd, leaving Biarni to deal with a line of angry customers who had been kept waiting.

As soon as Sardinas was able to take over the table, Biarni told her mother and brother and went to pack her few things. The two hours flew by much too quickly for Biarni and her familiy. When Ker't and Barahirth arrived, they were halfway to tears. Biarni gathered all the dignity she could muster and handed her bags to Ker't to secure on the copper dragon's back and then climbed up to her seat behind Ker't.

Barahirth lept from the ground and quickly winked between, appearing seconds later over Falas Hold...