Gisoa awoke immediatly to a banging on her door. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she must have at some point. "Hang on!" she called as she climbed out of bed and straightened her tunic. She opened the door to see her father standing there, looking absolutely livid. In one hand, he clutched a peice of hide.

"What. Does. This. Mean." he asked, speaking each word as its own sentence as he did when he was enraged. Gisoa met his gaze levelly, pushing fears and memories of her father to the back of her mind.

"What does what mean?" she asked in a conversational tone, though both father and daughter knew exactly what the message scroll meant.

"Read it!" Gardolov snarled, all but throwing the scroll at Gisoa, who caught it neatly. Cado, who had been drowsing on her bed, flew over to Gisoa and perched on her shoulder, peering at the hide.

Gisoa fought to keep her fingers from trembling as she unrolled the scroll and read it. She tried to keep her excitement from showing on her face as she read the healer's reply that he would be happy to take her to the healer hall to become an apprentice and that he'd arrange to have a dragon come to transport her sometime that sevenday. "Exciting, huh?" Gisoa replied, handing the scroll back to her father.

"I don't remember giving you my permission to become an apprentice," Gardolov remarked, turning the letter over in his hands. "Why did this healer seem to think I did?"

"I told him," Gisoa said bluntly. She had learned over the turns that lying to her father was the surest way to a more severe consequense than her actions deserved.

"You did, did you?" Gardolov asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, how about if I were to tell him that it was a mistake, and not to come and pick you up?"

Gisoa chuckled, suprising both herself and her father. "How would you? Cado won't go anywhere I don't want him to. And you don't even know who I sent it to! You couldn't give him proper refrence points. Face it, I've managed to escape from you, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it."

From Gisoa's shoulder, Cado chirped his agreement and bugled a challenge to Gardolov, who was looking considerably less haughty than he had when he'd stormed into his daughter's quarters a few minutes ago.

"I control who comes and goes at my cothold," Gardolov said at last, voice low and threatening. "You won't go to the healer hall." With those words hanging in the air, Gardolov turned and strode out of the room, not bothering to close the door.

   
Sure enough, the next morning, a green dragon was sighted over the hold, spiraling down to land in the courtyard in front of Gisoa's cothold. "There's a dragon here!" Gisoa was informed by her five turn old brother Sirdlom as he came running into her quarters.

Gisoa was on her feet and out the door as fast as her brother could get out of her way. The greenrider was dismounting when she arrived. "Are you the transport dragon?" she asked, a bit winded from her run.

The greenrider looked at her questioningly. "Were you expecting a transport?" she asked, frowning when Gisoa nodded. "Sorry, I'm not on transport duty. I'm Anya, by the way, searchrider with my green Sveiketh from Dark Moon Weyr."

Gisoa smiled in an attempt to hide her dissapointment. "I'm Gisoa," she introduced herself. "Would you care to come inside for a mug of klah?"

Anya conferred with her green for a moment before replying. "I guess I have time. I'm to meet with the Lord Holder in less than an hour, but I won't refuse a cup of klah."

Gisoa accompanied Anya back into the cothold, Sveiketh following along behind them. Gisoa's mother was waiting at the door and babbled a greeting to Anya before dissapearing to mix some klah.

Gisoa's father was already in the kitchen when Gisoa and Anya arrived. "Brought home a friend, I see," he remarked, eyeing Anya distastefully.

"She's not the transport dragon," Gisoa told her father before slumping into a chair. "She's just here to meet with Lord Varin."

"Ah," commented Gardolov, smiling welcomingly at Anya now that he knew she wasn't here to take his daughter against his wishes. "Please have a seat."

"Thank you," Anya said a bit warily, casting a curious glance Gisoa's way and finding no answer in Gisoa's now expresionless face. "Gisoa tells me you were expecting a transport?"

"Sort of," Gardolov replied in a tone that said that he would offer no explanation for his vague answer. "May I pour you a cup of klah?" Gardolov asked, all smiles, as his wife set the pitcher of klah down on the table along with five four mugs.

"Please," Anya answered, obviously more than a little confused by this family. "What was the transport coming for, Gisoa?" Anya asked, ignoring Gardolov's glare.

"To take me to the healer hall," Gisoa replied in a steely voice, glaring back at her father.

"Actually, she only thinks she's going," Gardolov remarked to Anya in that infuriating way he had of completely ignoring the presence of who he was talking about. "I haven't given my permission."

"Really," Anya commented, though Gisoa thought she detected a note of worry in the greenrider's voice. Perhaps she would leave soon.

The thought of Anya leaving hatched a new plan in Gisoa's mind. Anya was a Searchrider. The fact that she was at a hold meant that there must be a clutch on the Sands at Dark Moon. Perhaps if she could get Anya to pretend to Search her and then take her to the healer hall instead... that just might work.

"Have you found any Candidates yet?" Gisoa asked in her most conversational tone, as if she were merely changing the subject for courtesy's sake. It seemed a courteous question to ask a Searchrider.

Anya shook her head. "Not here. My hope is that I will find a likely young man or woman before the day is over, but Sveiketh hasn't shown a shred of interest in anyone I've met so far."

"I'm sorry," Gisoa replied sympathetically. If Anya was telling the truth, then that meant she wasn't acceptable either, which meant neither Anya nor Sveiketh would have a problem with taking her to the healer hall. Now she just needed to get her father out of the room...

Cado, as usual, provided the distraction. A loud crash from the kitchen and a shriek from Gisoa's mother were sufficient bait enough to draw Gardolov from the room. "Would you do me a favor?" Gisoa asked Anya from behind her mug of klah as soon as her father was safely out of earshot.

"Depends on what it is," Anya replied, muttering the words under her breath as she sipped at her klah, evidently picking up on Gisoa's need for quiet.

"I need you to take me to the healer hall," Gisoa told her. "Just pretend to Search me and then take me to the healer hall instead of Dark Moon Weyr."

"I'm not sure if I can do that without your father's consent," Anya replied after a few moments.

"Could you Search me without my father's consent?" Gisoa asked.

"I suppose I could," Anya mused. "But if I weren't taking you to the weyr... no. Sorry Gisoa, I can't help you."

"Then just take me to the weyr!" Gisoa pleaded, seeing her plan crumble in Anya's words. "I don't care if I can't Impress! Just take me away from here!"

Anya's eyes seemed to soften at Gisoa's childish outburst. "Alright. I'll take you. Only as far as Dark Moon Weyr. From there, you'll have to bargain your way to the healer hall."

Gisoa only smiled her thanks, for Gardolov chose that moment to stride back into the room. "Cado made quite a mess," he told Gisoa. "You'll need to clean it up."

"Well she'd better be quick about it," Anya told him. "We have to be leaving for Dark Moon Weyr soon if I'm to be back for my appointment with Lord Varin."

"We?" Gardolov repeated. "I gave you no consent to take my daughter, greenrider."

"I need no holder's consent to claim the object of my Search for my Weyr," Anya reminded Gardolov. "I suggest you let her leave."

Gardolov looked ready to protest but meerly nodded. Gisoa lept from her chair and made short work of cleaning up Cado's mess, which proved to be nothing more than a few broken mugs and some spilled klah. When she returned to the dining room, Anya was still seated, sipping quietly at her klah. Gardolov had stormed off to his study to vent his rage.

"Thanks for helping me," Gisoa said after a moment, not sure what to say to the woman who was helping her to escape.

"No need to thank me," Anya replied with a grin. "Thank Sveiketh for Searching you."

"S-searching me?" Gisoa stammered. "But you said she hadn't found anyone you'd met yet acceptable."

"Dragons Search on their own schedule, especially greens," was all Anya offered for an explanation. "Sveiketh takes her time before announcing her choices."

Gisoa had to sit down, amazed at her good fortune. Searched. If she Impressed, even if she didn't, Gardolov couldn't take her from the Weyr, as he might try to take her from the healer hall. She was finally free.