I Might Have Made Her Angry...

Writers: Michelle, Eimi
Date Posted: 18th January 2006

Characters: R'mer, Mayla
Description: Nyith makes a powerful first impression on a new candidate
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 17 of Turn 3

Reymer shouldered his pack as he looked around the crescent shaped cliffs which seemed to surround him, almost close in on him. It was like one the mountains he could see in the distance from the top of the hill behind their farm was towering over him! He had seen anything so big in all his seventeen turns.

And then there were the dragons, coming out of holes in the rock face and taking to the skies like wherries flying from cliff-side nests.
Others were just laying on top of the rocks. And then there were the people bustling about. So many of them. He had seen large groups of people before, but only at gathers. Could so many people _live_ in this place?

He took a few tentative steps towards what looked to be a great cavernous entrance. P'jet had said just inside the largest entrance was the dining hall. Well, that hole in the cliffside was the largest entrance he'd ever seen!

Reymer walked through the gaping mouth, but as his worn out boots touched grains of sand, he was met with the most frightening sight he had ever seen. A mountain of gold with whirling eyes pointed right at him! His eyes grew wide and his legs catapulted him with speed he hardly knew he had back out into the Weyrbowl. The young man's chest visibly pulsated with the pounding of his heart as he stood flat against the rock wall, watching the opening fearfully, sure that the great golden dragon inside was about to come screaming out of the hole in search of the little morsel that _dared_ to invade her lair.

His heart almost burst and a startled cry escaped his lips as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

The woman laughed, "Lost?" she teased, not in an unfriendly manner.

"Be careful, ma'am. I think I might have made the gold dragon angry,"
he whispered, his head inclined towards the mouth of the Hatching Grounds.

"You didn't try to take one of her eggs?" Mayla asked, a little concerned. The boy was obviously the new candidate she had been told about, and she wouldn't entirely put it past an arrogant lad to try and get a much closer look at the clutch.

"No, ma'am, I swear, I barely touched my feet to the sands," he answered, his eyes still wide and wild with alarm. "But I think she saw me. I would swear on the First Egg she looked right at me! But I wasn't trying to do nothin'. I just wanted to find the place to eat.
That's all I wanted, I promise."

"Well in that case she certainly isn't chasing you," Mayla could help but chuckle a little bit to herself. The Headwoman's heart went out to the boy, he seemed genuinely frightened and out of sorts, "you must be..." Mayla said, grasping for the name P'jet had given her just moments before. Shards, why couldn't she remeber anything these days?

"Reymer," he mumbled quickly, still breathing heavily and looking over his shoulder at the gaping mouth in the cliffside. "I think that gold could eat the green I came in on..."

"She could, but she wouldn't," Mayla said placing a kind hand on Reymer's shoulder, "I have met Nyith personally, and I know that she would never harm a soul for no good reason. You have nothing to worry about."

"If you say so, ma'am." Reymer would _certainly_ not make that mistake twice. "Excuse me, but I'm supposed to go to the Dining area and ask for the Headwoman. Can point to which door I was _supposed_ to go in?"

"I can save you the trip," Mayla said, suppressing a smile. All too often holdbred candidates were obnoxious at first, their egos over inflated at simply having been chosen to stand, not this lad though, "I'm the Headwoman. Mayla," she offered the boy her hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He looked down at her hand for the briefest of moments, unsure if she really wanted to him to _shake_ his hand. Reymer took it tentatively and gave her a shy smile. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

"Hungry?" Mayla asked, "I wouldn't mind grabbing a cup of klah while we discuss how to go about getting you settled."

"Yes ma'am. But..." The young man looked up at her self-consciously.
"P'jet said it didn't matter, but I didn't bring but a half mark with me." He pulled out the coin from his tattered pant pocket and showed it to her as proof of his claim. "I promise ma'am, I am a hard worker though. If you can just find something you need me to do..."

"I'm sure you are a hard worker," Mayla interrupted quietly, "but you don't need marks to buy food at the Weyr, although you will certainly earn your keep."

"I will, ma'am. I can do anything you need me to do. I can farm, or tend the animals. I can repair fences and equipment. I can sharpen anything you need sharpening..."

"and hopefully lift heavy things," Mayla gently teased, "thats what I seem to need the most help with."

"I can do that," Reymer nodded. "Anything you need me to do."

"I'll keep that in mind," Mayla assured the new candidate, thrilled to have another set of eager hands around, "but lets go get you some food, then see what we can do to get you settled into the barracks."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you." Reymer gave the mouth of the Hatching Grounds one more look over his shoulder, a slightly forbodding chill running down his spine. Or perhaps its was anticipation. His entire future, and the future of his family, was caught in the clutches of that great golden beast. He just hoped he hadn't made her mad...

Last updated on the January 18th 2006

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I Might Have Made Her Angry...