Beledin stared up at the endless blackness of the night sky. Or, more accurately, he stared at the brilliant points of light studding the heavens like diamonds. Muttering to himself, Beledin took up his brush and deftly dotted another star onto his painting. Standing up and wincing at the stiffness in his knees, he took several steps back to appraise the canvas. "Hmmm....something's not right..." Beledin furrowed his brow and bent back down to add another streak of deep blue to the background. He groped about in the faint glow-light and held up his distance-viewer. "Ahh...so if the Dawn Sisters are usually there...that means..hmm.." The young man trailed off and put the viewer down, walking to the doorway. A glance into the hallway told him he'd better be off to bed or there'd not be time for sufficient rest.
Beledin found himself back at the Harper Hall of his birth. He looked around in confusion. The normally crowded aisleways were empty, deserted. "Beledin." said a voice behind him. The Starcrafter apprentice turned. His mother, long dead, smiled at him. It was not a nice smile, more like the feral baring of teeth. "Come with me, my son." she ordered, grabbing Beledin's arm. Beledin tried to pull away. His mother's grip tightened as she dragged him along. When she turned, her face was no longer pale-skinned and lovely as Beledin remembered, but a horribly disfigured mess of blood. "Let me show you how I died.. " she hissed malevolently.
"Beledin! Wake up!" hissed a voice in his ear. "Huh..?" the Starcraft boy rolled over sleepily. "Dragonriders are coming! Don't you want to watch?" asked his friend, who was shaking Beledin. "Oh all right, if it's dragonriders." Beledin got up grumpily, pulled on his clothes, and walked down to the Outer Court. It really was too early to be getting up...
Once outside, though, Beledin forgot such trivial matters as sleep. Gazing up at the sky in awe, along with several other apprentices, the young man watched as a large brown dragon descended. The rider dismounted once they were on the ground, and walked up to Beledin. "You're an apprentice here?" the dragonrider asked. Beledin nodded. "I'm almost journeyman.." he added. The brownrider grinned. "Well, young Starcrafter, how'd you like to Stand on the Sands at the Healing Den?" he inquired jovially. Beledin gaped, mouth hanging slack. "Me. You mean I could be a...dragonrider?" he asked. The rider smiled and laughed. "Oh, yes, you could be. And believe me, stars are all the more beautiful when you're a-dragonback." he added, seeing Beledin hesitate.
The last comment decided Beledin. "Of course I'd like to go!" he exclaimed.
Beledin was waken up by someone shaking his shoulder. It was Baeris. "The eggs, Beledin, they're hatching now. I think you'll like the Sands this time of night." she whispered, throwing him a Candidate's robe. Beledin immediately shot out of bed, into his white robe, and down to the Hatching Grounds. The young Starcrafter watched with bated breath as all the other boys Impressed and led their dragons away. He was one of the last Candidates on the Sands when a bronze dragonet hatched. Flapping his damp wings, the bronze sprayed sand about as he looked around. Then the little dragon stopped and went up to Beledin. B'din, you must forget those horrid dreams and live for me now. The stars cannot wait, and I cannot wait for the stars! I am Svatith! You are mine! Svatith declared. B'din grinned so hard he felt like his face would crack as he led his new bronze lifemate out of the Sands.
