[Statistics] [Candidate] [Adult]

Kysarna gaped open mouthed at her mother's statement, unable to believe what she'd heard. "Pardon?" she said after a long moment.

Kaian laughed, her well-rounded form bouncing with mirth. "It's hard to swallow, isn't it? Our little Rynan, all grown up, or so it would seem."

Rynan was Kysarna's 15-turn-old brother, and apparently he'd just Impressed. Brown, no less. Rynan... R'nan, now, a brownrider!

"Just think, Kyssie, we could have an entire family of dragonriders!" Kaian said dreamily, her eyes glazing. She and her husband were Holdbred, but when two of their children had been Searched at the same time, they had up and moved to the Weyr to continue crafting in the Lower Caverns.

She and her brother had stood for the same clutch not long ago, but had both failed to Impress. Rynan had been Searched for a Northern Weyr not long after that, and Kysarna for the same Weyr at which she had previously failed. It seemed that the little boy she still thought of him as had finally grown up.

At 17 turns, Kysarna was about average age for a female candidate. Being Holdbred, of course, she had little knowledge of Weyrlife and over the past month or so had been learning rapidly. The open and varied sexuality of the Weyrbred was something she'd come into contact with early on, and although she wasn't entirely happy with the idea, she was getting used to it.

The small group of candidates left from the previous hatching had grown again with recent additions, and, being one of the 'most experienced' as it were, Kysarna had somehow found herself as unofficial group-leader. However, beyond this, the young men who hoped to Impress at the next clutch looked at her with somewhat akin to awe. She was not without beauty, and now she was beginning to get the hang of things at the Weyr, she had found it was rather amusing to flaunt it shamelessly once and again.

One of the boys, a gawky 16-turn-old called Garredd, had seen fit to become her personal slave. At first, Kysarna was hugely flattered and so accepted him into her fold, but as time went on, he was becoming somewhat of a nuisance. But he was just so sweet! He reminded her of Ry... R'nan.

Kaian, finishing her news for the day, had begun to make her daughter's bed, folding neat little corners and setting the old stuffed canine known as Teddy tidily on the pillow. She puffed the blankets once or twice, then stood back and brushed herself off.

One of the candidates threw Kysarna an enquiring glance, which she replied with a roll of dark brown eyes and a helpless shrug. She may have held sway with the other candidates, but it simply wasn't possible to say anything to her mother about anything without getting a lecture in return. It was generally easier to let her have her head. Like a runner, Kysarna thought, stifling a giggle.

"So," Kaian said finally, leaning over and pushing a lock of dark tightly-curled hair behind her daughter's ear. "You're looking healthy. Taking care of you, are they?"

She resisted rolling her eyes once more. "Yes, of course, they're all very good to us. We're the future of the Weyr, you know," she said importantly, half hoping to get a rise from her mother.

Kaian simply nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, dear, I suppose you are, at that." She paused, then her face took on an expression very familiar to her tall daughter. "You know, when I was a girl about your age, I wanted to be a dragonrider too. But, it doesn't always happen the way you want..."

Kysarna sighed, set her smile in place and let her mind wander.

"The Hatching!" someone screamed over the sound of the lecturing Master Healer's drone. Every candidate sat to attention for the first time that day. "The eggs are hatching, come on!!" came the voice again.

There was somewhat of a lag on the message, as the candidates sat in shock, their minds relaying the urgency to their feet which presently started running towards the front of the large room in the Barracks. The noise followed soon after.

Kysarna was one of the first to leap to attention and start the short race to the girls' quarters. Her heart beat its way up into her throat and made her legs tremble and her eyes dart every-which-way in fear and nervousness. It was happening. It was finally happening. This was real. She was going to be a dragonrider!

And she wouldn't let herself think anything else. If she started to doubt, she would never succeed.

She grabbed the white gown, flung her dress on the floor and threw the candidate's garment over her head, straightening her un-straightable hair and took a single, big, deep breath.

Kysarna watched the candidates line up with a strange sort of detachment. She felt herself pushed into line and watched the Stands fill inside the great Hatching Cavern. She was smiling, she knew that. It would be a good day. It all felt right, somehow.

And as she was led towards her future, she thought about what it might be like.

"What _are_ you doing?!" Kysarna gagged, laughing hard.

Before her was a stunning specimen of dragon, half grown and just learning that she could use her wings for more than swatting at irritating firelizards.

Flying, the weyrling replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. }:Why do you ask?:{

Kysarna fell over, gasping for breath and stammering.

The dragon looked a little insulted. You're laughing at me.

"N-No, I'm n-not!" she said between breaths. The dragon must have done something even funnier just then (or perhaps she was merely remembering an earlier action), because she fell over again. How exactly you fall over when you're already on the ground remains a mystery, but Kysarna managed it. She's special.

The weyrling regarded her chosen rider dubiously, then stopped 'flying'. Well, she said proudly, perhaps hoping to her to rider to change her opinions. Maybe I won't do it any more.

It worked. Though Kysarna didn't stop laughing, she did stop gasping just enough to reply "Maybe not for a while yet, hun. Not for a little while."

When can I? the dragon retorted, hopeful but still a little sulky.

"Soon."

The glimmer of the ensuing thought - the little dragon, all grown up and soaring through the skies - was rudely interrupted by Kaian.

"...Kysarna! Are you in there?!" came the exasperated voice.

The candidate looked a little stunned before she caught herself and recalled where she was standing. "Yes, mother. I was just thinking."

Kaian chuckled. "Well, we mustn't have you doing that too often dear!" she joked, elbowing her daughter in the ribs as if she'd made some hugely funny comment. "You might hurt yourself!"

"Yes, mother." But the thought did not leave her completely.