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"Well," L'real laughed, running a hand through her hair before she set to work. "I'm afraid it's not so grand as it looks. I'd love to say it happened when I was off searching for a lost child in the midst of thread. Or that I walked across coals to get to the hatching... But, um, I can't..."

She winced as she pulled off the last bandage, turning so Rhiannon didn't see the damage. What a great first impression this was turning out to be. However, the weyrling plunged on as she spread just a thin layer of numbweed on her feet.

"The truth is, it happened the other day, during that unexpected Thread, the one in the middle of the night, you remember? I was helping Freya, one of the other new green riders, with her patients. She was assisting in the doctoring. I was wearing new boots, hadn't taken the time to put socks on, and somehow I managed to aquire some rather tattered feet. I might have been just a little too involved in it all; I didn't feel it 'til a healer asked me why my boots were bleeding. I haven't really been all that careful to follow his instructions, either." She grinned. "So they haven't been doing to well. Plus, the heat of the sands didn't help much. Still, I've more friends here to help me around than I've had since I was really little. Plus I have Noth now. It just makes my life a lot simpler."

"So that's my story, the whole of it. But if anyone asks, it happened in a fight to the death," she winked as she finished tying off the new bandages. She turned back to the other rider. "What's yours?"

"I can see it now!" The child of harpers laughed, her mind already creating the new story behind her wounds. "I was traveling on the outermost edges of the Fort lands, when I came across a trader's camp. I managed to beg for a meal and a place to sleep, but the next morning, before dawn, they told me I was to duel the camp's champion. That'll be your stunning older brother, the pride of the group. So they woke me up, and I couldn't see straight to save my life. They'd slipped some of their strongest wines in my food! I was a goner for sure.

"Just then, the beautiful sister of my competator, the most beautiful woman in all the land, came forward and offered me a drink before the fight. Well, I was lucky. She'd taken pity on me and given me water filled with precious herbs to clear my head. Even so, the battle was nearly impossible, both of us fighting with staffs around the fire pit. He had the upper hand and was pushing me back. He walked me right through the fire! My feet were torn to shreds, while his were still whole, due to his many days of intense training." L'real couldn't help but get into the story, though at the same time, she was near a complete breakdown into laughter.

"At that moment, I feared I was done for, yet I pressed on. He seemed surprised by my wreckless attacks, and now I had the advantage. I swung, he parried. High, low, left, right, right, low! Then he faltered as a dragon soared overhead. I hit him smack in the ribs and he fell with a strangled grunt. 'I give you my thanks for the food and the rest. And for this gratitude,' I said with far more courage than I felt, 'I give you your life.'

But his family turned on me, capturing me and tying me to a pole in the main tent. They told me I would be left in thread at the next fall. Which was the very next day. I sat there for hours, bloody and beaten. But just as I lost hope, the beautiful maiden who had saved me earlier returned, and cut me free. With out a word, she draped my arm over her shoulder and helped me out of the tent. There the guards finally saw us, but much to my surprise, the maiden had them beaten and trussed in less than a blink of an eye. She slung me across her runner, and we were off. She left me in a nearby village to recover, where I was Searched. She said she was off to seek her fortune. Imagine my surprise when I Impress, and find she has to. At last I know the name of my savior, and it is Rhiannon." The weyrling bowed as she finished her story, still careful not to disturb Noth. This was fun, she found herself thinking. Really fun.

"But you're right, I'll likely make my feet a lot worse before they get better. Still, it's worth it." She was quick to switch from story teller to person. "And thanks for the offer, but I think I'll try to keep Noth up myself. I'd rather not burden anyone so soon. But really, you were a trader? Where all did you go?" Being a bit of a wanderer herself, she was curious.

((I assume we are, but I don't know what state it's in. Though I haven't heard anything about any Lord Holders with more than one hold, so I guess it's just another hold...))

L'real grinned at her new friends laughter. Yes, she did enjoy creating stories that could change things. Noth grumbled and shifted again. The girl was starting to feel the effects of not sleeping more than two hours a night for the past week, and she was growing drowsy. All the same, it was a nice, warm sort of drowsy, what with a secure place to create a life, Noth's dreams echoing in her head, and Rhiannon, her newest friend, laughing at her stories beside her. The next day promised to be interesting, with all of her new companions, N'rin included.

"That sounds like quite a life if you ask me." L'real commented as she tried to trace out the area in one of her mental maps. "I was born at the Harper Craft Hall, my parents being Masters of their crafts. They... died when I was little, so I got bounced around for a while. A couple of the harpers at the Hall wanted to bring me up, but they were overruled by remaining family. I ended up in Keroon, where one of my uncles is a Lord Holder. But he and I... that is I decided I needed a change. So I took to the sea at first, as a cabin boy. I made it to Nerat before they realized I was, in fact, not a boy. From there I was on my own.

"I worked odd jobs where ever I came to a hold or a cothold, even had a runner for a while. But mostly I just walked. The boots that tore up my feet were actually the first new pair I'd had in years, which is rather ironic. Still, suffice to say I managed. I'd made it past Ruatha, and was headed for High Reaches when I was searched. It was actually kinda fun. The wandering that is. But now I'm a rider, and that's a heck of a lot better. So that's my story, and probably the only true one I'll ever tell you about myself. I'd like to know yours if you don't mind terribly." The green rider had to smother a yawn as she finished. Still, she never missed a chance for a good tale, and the true ones were always the best.

"It sounds nice, though." She smiled at Rhiannon. She had a feeling that the girl's story might have a little more to it than that. Still, she could wait. "To have a family, and a place, and- just to have a life promised to you for years to come. I mean, even if you didn't like it that much, you always had a place to come home to, y'know? This is as close to home as I get, I suppose. Actually, it's the closest I've come to Harper Hall since I left, and look at me! I had to be coaxed with the prospect of Impression to even get this close! I'd give anything to have a duller true past, really. But we are in the present now, and however awful or boring or exciting the road here, we made it. And really, I wouldn't change it for the world."

She trailed off, considering. Unfortunately for her, though, it wasn't long before her mind drifted onto a less pleasant topic. The reason she was a rider now was to fight Thread. The same Thread whose power she'd seen demonstrated at the last fall. Her agitation brought Noth near the surface again. Mine? Why are you still awake? "Shh. I'm fine. Get some rest, beautiful," she whispered. Her dragon rumbled, and fell back to sleep. It still felt odd to have another mind mixed in her own, giving flashes of dreams. L'real refocused on Rhiannon, fighting back the coaxing of Noth's mind urging her to sleep. "I wonder if we'll ever get used to hearing them in our thoughts? Our dragons I mean."

"I wish I knew! I hope it's not longer than a turn, though. I can't wait to fly with Noth," she couldn't help smiling as she said it. "What a rush! It'll be like being lookout on top mast of a ship, except you can fly however you very well please, not just where the captain steers. I've mapped half of Pern on foot, just imagine what it'll be like from the skies! And between... It was so cold, but at the same time, it was amazingly infinite.

"I dunno about Thread, though," she shivered. She'd seen Thread, and it was a force to be reckoned with. Still, she wouldn't fear it. It was the enemy, but it had given her Noth. "Not for a while, anyway. Probably sooner than the Flights begin, I hope. Oh SHARDS!" It finally sank in. As a green rider, there were going to be a lot of Flights. "Flights! And I've never even really had a conversation with a boy. I mean, not unless they thought I was a boy. Well, except maybe N'rin, but he's probably forgotten me by now. How long do you think it'll be until all the greens start rising?" Still, even with her forlorn expression and moaning, she wouldn't have traded her impression for anything in the world.

"I know," she moaned, a bit over dramatic, sensing a bit of a sore spot there. "I mean, I know that as a fact, I suppose, but I'm not a weyr brat or anything. I'd do anything for Noth, of course, but it could get very awkward, very fast. Ah well. Noth's small, maybe she'll rise late enough for me to get used to the idea of it all." L'real made a face at her new companion.

"I'm just worried that at the rate I'm finding... friends...," she hesitated at using the word, unsure if everyone who'd been kind to her would regard her in the same way once the initial hatching rush wore off. "That is, if we keep up as we have been, we're likely to end up having some sort of a relationship with everyone, y'know? And until I get used to it, I'd think it hard to just have a Flight if I.... Nevermind." She paused again to yawn, then settle back in against the soft warm hide of her dragon. HER dragon. She smiled to herself. "So tell me, what're you looking forward to most now that you've impressed lovely Koriyath?"

The sounds of another weyrling moving about caused Freya to open her eyes groggily. As soon as she appeared awake, a dragonet head with whirling eyes came into her vision. She could already feel the knawing aches of hunger, and jumped up with alarm.

"Dearest, why didn't you wake me?" she murmured, moving to caress Sulaith's eyeridges with one hand while grabbing a set of work clothes from her trunk. The sudden movement brought on a small, persistent headache and the previous night's engagements surfaced in her memory. Your mind felt very pained, mine... She winced and resolved to mix some of her herbs into her morning klah, ruefully rubbing her temple.

"Well, getting your breakfast is a far greater priority than me getting more sleep!" she said, throwing on her clothes and stepping into her sandals. As the pair turned to leave, her eyes fell on L'real and Noth and she was reminded what had woken her in the first place. "Ah, good morning you two!" she said; she winced and dropped her voice to a softer tone after she realized that talking didn't help the headache. "Care to get some breakfast with us?"

Freya grinned at A'ra's expression. "I see I'm not the only one with a little headache..." she said ruefully, grabbing a pouch of herbs from her belongings. "Some of this will help. Off to breakfast then!" she said cheerily, heading out of the barracks.