A New Life

Siona tilted her head and gave him a smile that was intended to be equal parts alluring and mischevious. "So?" she asked. She deliberately looked him up and down. "Either you're the most overgrown child I've ever met, or you're a man grown. If the latter is true, it seems to me that your father's approval should probably not take precedence over your own desires and path for your life. But that's just me. If you're genuinely not interested in being Searched, I'll let you get back to your... revels..." Her expression made it clear that she didn't think he'd been having a good time when she found him, and that she didn't think his life would have much fun if he let her walk away now.

He blushed when she so blatantly looked at him. "I'm not a child," he said, trying not to sound overly defensive. "And I don't want to go bac.. wait, did you say Search?" His voice cracked on the last word as his heart skipped a beat. "You're Searching me?"

Search still took precedence, he thought, his hopes soaring. His father would HAVE to agree!

Siona's smile grew. "I could be," she said, holding out her flask one more time. "If I thought you were interested."

He took the flask without really thinking about it, and the pull he took made him cough until his eyes ran. Him a dragonrider? Was that even possible? Would a dragon not mind that he didn't care for... well, either gender as more than a friend?

The Lightening did it's work though, and the questions melted away with the idea of dragons in his mind. "Yes," he said firmly, eyes bright from the drink as well as excitement.

Siona laughed and clapped him on the back. "See how easy that was? Congratulations, Candidate Niall, you've just been Searched. Now, I need to get you back to the Weyr sooner rather than later. Do you need to go talk to anyone before you leave? Or can you send them a message like a grown man would?"

Under any other circumstance he would have at least said goodbye to his brother. But her words, and the alcohol made him bold. "I'll send a letter," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "Let's go."

As the Gather drove on into the evening, Evzen leaned against the fence of the stockyards and grinned at random passerby. It had been a good day. Stock sold, stock bartered for, and Yalsine knew that by next spring they'd be well set up for their wedding.

It was an excellent feeling, and he couldn't help beaming at the world around him. He should have left - his father had already headed home, and despite their serious engagement, Yalsine had had to go home with her own father rather than staying any later, but he was too full of good will to let this day go, just yet.

So when a lovely woman (not as pretty as Yalsine, by far, but striking and graceful) slowed her step and turned to lean against the temporary fence just a bit away from him. "Enjoying the scenery?" she asked, looking out over the still well-populated crowd.

"I am, that. It was a good Gather, wouldn't you say?"

She glanced at him, shrugged with a sudden brilliant smile (Yalsine was still notably lovelier, but this woman certainly had a magnetism to her that he was not lout enough to ignore), and made a gesture that said 'so-so'. "The weather held fair enough. But I've seen better."

Evzen snorted, but there was a laugh in her tone that he couldn't help but match. "Well-traveled, are you?"

"Some might say." As though by magic, a flask appeared in her hand. "Join me for a drink?" she asked, waggling it a bit in offer. "It's strong, but a good topper to a good day."

It would have been churlish to refuse, and Evzen was in too good a mood to even consider it.