"Hey, Shailey." Rioalnaar said, poking his head into my room.
"The Esling Rurachi's here."
"We've met." I answered, grinning impishly.
He grinned.
"So that's why she's so irritated.
Akyoth likes you, though."
I laughed.
"So I heard.
How long is she staying?"
"Not long, she's only here for dinner.
At the Weyr, but we're invited." He answered.
"We?" I asked, looking quizzically at him.
"All FGPC candidates." He elaborated.
"Sounds neat, I'll come." I answered, standing up with my three firelizards.
"You went to a Healer for the brown?" He asked as we walked through the forest.
"Yeah, she fixed him up nicely.
He'll never fly but neither can Synde's Chesapeake." I responded, not watching my words.
However, he did not comment on that.
Instead, we talked about fire lizards and the clutches and other Pernese things.
It made me feel as if my Earth-life was far behind me.
And it was, in a way.
Even if I did return home, I would never be myself again.
But that was not such a bad thing.
I would have had to make new friends in University after all.
So, I walked down the darkening path with bright spirits.
The Esling candidate noticed my energy and grinned.
"Race you!" He challenged and ran off.
So what if we were fourteen and sixteen?
A good race is what someone needs now and then.
So, I broke into a run after him.
Ayukay and Neiden leaped off my shoulders and Detrenim crouched on my head, fanning his wings.
[[Okay, hated the previous ending about here so I got rid of it.
Say bye bye mushy ending!]]
My flying two glided slightly near my shoulders, landing by the time we reached the Hold.
There, we slowed to a walk.
Rioalnaar looked at me.
"You seem to be adjusting alright for an Earthling." He said.
"Heh, I can always ask to be brought back to the time I left if I don't Impress." I pointed out, looking up at the sky.
Above the Weyr circled a few dragons, all heading for the Weyr.
I blinked.
"Are there more Eslings coming to visit?" I asked.
"I would guess so." Rioalnaar answered, looking up quizzically.
"C'mon, let's hurry up." I said, walking faster.
Neiden grumbled as he watched the dragons.
He was obviously jealous that they could fly so high and so fast for so long when he was tired.
I grinned.
I had a jock-flit.
Ayukay, however, was nibbling on my ear.
There was no doubt in my mind that my little amber was not all-together sane.
And that he should never be given caffeine or sugar of any kind.
Detrenim was my sweetie.
He was the most loyal of the three.
And he was the cutest little suck-up ever.
Toadie! I thought immediately.
We reached the Weyr a few minutes after the dragons landed.
I looked at them and grinned slightly to myself.
I recognized the lot of them.
Haeth was there.
Wait.
Haeth?
Was he not at Sunstone Weyr?
I shrugged.
He had his own ideas now, I could not dictate them all.
Anyway, Haeth had come as had Mikioth and a dragon I knew all too well to be Cael'kinta-n'ume.
Along with them were two small greens and a blended green-blue.
I knew them all.
"Haeth, Mikioth and... Caelki?" Rioalnaar said needlessly.
The massive black dragon shifted down to his human size.
He grinned as the candidate walked up to him.
"Thought you could take away my job in my absense, eh?" The black-haired young man teased.
Akyoth snorted at that and said something that made the shape-shifter laugh.
Haeth's rider, Ch'vi, clapped Rioalnaar on the shoulder.
Ke't, however, looking around.
"They've done a good job bringing this place back." He said quietly.
I stood jealously outside of the small circle of riders.
The green-riders - L'for, Niena and N'fel - stood slightly apart without their dragons.
I knew that N'fel's Shaith had sired a clutch on the F.G.P.C. sands.
I supposed that Sevalidith and Forgoth were here for egg donation as well.
"It's good to see this place back on its feet." Ch'vi agreed.
Unfortunately for me, my nervousness and jealousy communicated itself to Neiden.
As much as I adored that bronze-gold of mine, I wanted to hurt him as he sneezed loudly.
The five riders and shape-shifter looked at me all of a sudden.
Rioalnaar came to my rescue as I quickly reddened under their stares.
"This is Shailey, another candidate." He said quickly.
"She's from Earth."
Cael'kinta-n'ume grinned amiably at me.
I blushed redly.
Why did my characters end up being so attractive in real life?
I made sure to keep a close grasp on my thoughts.
Dragons could read stray thoughts, after all.
"Ah, well then we better introduce ourselves!" The shifter said happily.
"No need." I said quickly, not wanting them to go through introductions.
"I know all of you."
Rioalnaar gave me a strange look, but Caelki nodded understandingly.
"Ah!
You come from that Earth then." He said, obviously not making sense to the others.
I smiled nervously and the shifter came up, slinging his arm around my shoulders, making Ayukay and Neiden move to my arms.
I felt dwarfed by him.
Like I felt around everyone else.
Why was I so short, anyways?
And why was I thinking about that now?
"Well, my little Earthling, let's skip over useless introductions." He said brightly,
"I heard there's food inside.
We've decided to abandon our duties until the hatchings.
It wouldn't do to be late now would it?"
"No, it wouldn't." I agreed, slowly becoming more at ease.
"And clutches can be so unpredictable, hatching at night or at dawn and such inconvenient times."
Ke't grinned.
"Now I see why Akyoth likes you so much." He observed.
"Uh oh... Seems like we didn't manage to sneak away so well." N'fel observed as a purple-toned dragon appeared overhead.
"Odd, Shay said she told the Council where we were going and they were alright with it." L'for said uneasily.
"It's not a Council-member." Caelki stated.
"Semmal followed us."
"Oi, we had better run and hide then." Ke't observed, wincing up at the large dragon.
"Nah, not if we're not the ones she's angry at." I said confidently.
The dragon landed lightly on the ground.
A rider swung from her back along with many tiny shapes.
I blinked.
Semmal had not had eleven fire lizards last time I checked.
In fact, she had not had any!
"Where is she?" The Records-Keeper asked acidly, walking up to the group.
"Where is who?" Caelki asked innocently.
"YOU!" The green-haired young woman snarled, glaring at him.
The shape-shifter blanched and shifted into a black cat, hiding behind my legs.
However, Semmal grabbed him anyways - by the neck - and held him up.
"You're supposed to be on Mythicalae with Ormukim and Ckrena.
Why aren't you?
If you're not busy, you should be doing your shaffiting job!"
The cat squeaked wordlessly and seemed to be turning a pitiful color of blue.
His eyes were rolling.
I doubted that he could feign such a thing.
So, I hit the purple-lavender's rider's elbows and made her drop the cat.
I caught him and took a few steps back, stroking the large creature.
A large gold fire lizard landed on Semmal's head.
"Your unbondeds managed to get me stuck with these eleven things!" The geneticist cried irritably.
I could not help but grin.
A dawn, a cream, a gold, three browns, two blues and three greens.
A lot of fire lizards.
My three looked innocently at her from their perches on my shoulders and head.
