Another Hatching had gone by. Exhausted with his efforts in the kitchen, as well as the enthusiasm of certain female riders, the young Iatori collapsed onto his bed. A few blue weyrlings stirred, but nothing else. Because of a lack of room, Iatori had to live in the Weyrling Barracks. He was forever teased about this, with people saying he was a reject. His real mother, now five Turns dead, was much to timid and small to make them stop, and his foster mother really didn't care as long as he stayed out of trouble and made himself useful. The only comfort Iatori could find was his little green fire-lizard, Clicks. He stroked the sleeping creature, so tiny and innocent.
The latest of Chath's clutches had just hatched, and only two people hadn't Impressed. The riders were Tefa, who Iatori never really thought should be a queenrider, and R'att (poor R'att, having to be paired with Tefa) the Weyrlingmaster. Of course, Iatori hadn't stood as a candidate, because... well, he didn't know why. He supposed it was because he was too young, but he had lost track of how old he was several Turns ago. Nothing had really seemed important since he had Impressed Clicks--he doted on her like she was a human child, feeding her until her belly bulged when she was hungry, nursing her tenderly when she was injured, and cheering her on during mating flights. Now the only thing that seemed important was the sleep that was washing over him like a black fog. He just had to close... his... eyes... and....
"Iatori! Wake up, Ia! There's a searchrider from Glass Island Weyr and he wants to see all the 'unpaired youngsters'!! Ia, get up!" Iatori opened his eyes to see Karoyin shaking him. The white-haired boy was grinning from ear to ear. "C'mon, Ia!" He zoomed out of the barracks and up the stairs.
Iatori blinked. Searchrider? From Glass Island Weyr? That was on the other side of Southern! Didn't they have enough candidates? Suddenly, he smacked himself, causing Clicks to wake up and croon anxiously. "No, Clicky, I'm all right, just an idiot. Who cares if it's half a world away? It's a chance for a dragon!" Eagerly, the brown-haired boy scooped up his flit and all but flew up the stairs and burst into the bright sunlight of the Weyrbowl. Sure enough, there was an unfamiliar blue dragon (too small to be Kuzalth and too large to be any of the blues here) and a blonde-haired rider grinning at all the children gathered around, asking questions. Suddenly shy, Iatori crept up into the back of the group.
"All right, , who's to be the lucky candidates?" the rider asked in the blue's direction. A thought projected into Iatori's mind, a deep, rich bass voice.
The girl with the little sister, the boy with black hair, and... the boy with the little green, the blue dragon said, indicating those chosen with a nod of his head. Iatori stared, then looked at the other children. None of the other boys had green lizards.
"Well, come then, we shall go ask the Weyrleaders!" the searchrider declared. He marched straight into T'yir and Laroa's offices, leaving those rejected to wallow in disappointment and those chosen to stare at one another and question whether it was really them.
"Did he really mean us?" asked a girl with a golden fire-lizard on her shoulder, her soprano voice filled with awe.
"He must have," the black-haired boy said. "The dragon nodded towards you and me and him." He indicated Iatori.
"Yeah, he also said so, didn't you hear him?" Iatori asked quietly.
The other two stared. "Hear?" the boy asked, breaking the silence. "Of course not! You're not supposed to hear someone else's dragon!" Iatori flushed.
The girl, however, looked curious. "Did you really hear him?" she asked. "All I got was a slight, well, nudge in the mind. Have you heard dragons before? And what's your name?" Her fire-lizard chirped.
Iatori suddenly took great interest in the ground. "W-well... at the Hatchings... I heard the queens... and sometimes I can hear bronzes and browns..." He shrugged.
She frowned again at him. "You didn't answer my last question. I'm Marinna, and this is Kite, by the way."
"I'm Iatori," he answered, still staring with his large green eyes at the ground. She shrugged and peered into the Weyrleader's quarters.
"Well, I guess if you're not going to be very talkative, Kite and I will go see if he's going to be done soon. A chance at a real dragon!" She excitedly set off towards the Weyrleaders' offices.
Iatori and the black-haired by looked at each other. "I think I'll go see, too," the boy murmured, and followed where Marinna and gone. Iatori sat down on a rock and stroked Clicks' eye ridges, wondering how he had been lucky enough to have a chance at a real dragon, and when that searchrider was going to come back...
name: Iatori
Age: 10 (and a HALF) Turns
Gender: male
hair: Brown
Eyes: green
Candidate At: Glass Island Weyr
Rank: Candidate
Hopes to Impress: Bronze, brown, or blue
Name: Clicks
age: Adult
Color: green
species: Fire-Lizard (flit)
Impressed at: Glass Island Beaches
Picture: 
