Kandar’s eyes took a moment to adjust to the semi-gloom of his room after the glare of the bright afternoon sunshine.

There were two beds in the room. He tossed his pack onto one and sat down on the other. He’d never had the opportunity to choose anything, much less which bed would be his for the foreseeable future. And he might have this entire room to himself?

What an amazing week it had been. The scrapes and bruises he’dsustained after falling with his horse were almost healed.  Now he was in a Weyr as a Candidate for Impressing a dragon. A real, flying, fire breathing dragon!!

He rubbed the drive dust from his face. At dawn, he’d helped drive a herd of cattle to the Hold. C’val, blue dragon rider, had picked him up and brought him to the Weyr. It had been his first ever experience on the back of a dragon and had ended far, far too soon. But the few images he had before they’d gone between were amazing. How small and different everything looked from the sky! It had taken him several moments to recognize his brother and uncle riding back to their cothold, leading his grey horse.

And then, appearing in the sky over the Weyr had been even more astonishing. The sea! It was so big, so vast, sparkling in the sunshine and stretching to a horizon he’d never known existed.

C’val had hovered, allowing Kandar to appreciate the view. The best part had been the utter joy of being astride a dragon. It was like riding a powerful stallion, but infinitely better, because this one FLEW.  The beating of Rastabenths’ wings just behind his head had been the most exhilarating, after Kandar realized the pinions wouldn’t hit him in the head.

When they landed, a drudge took him by the hand and led him to the Weyrlingmaster. His torrent of information had been too much, too soon. He was glad that he’d  been led to his room, as the weyrling barracks were a maze. He was used to a small, single storied cavern with just his family, a place so small that one could cross it end to end within fifteen strides. Yet now he was in this massive stony fortress with kitchens and storerooms and a track and barns and a beach and so many people-and dragons.

He needed a bath. He needed something to eat. He wasn’t at all sure whether he could find the kitchen.  Right now, though, he needed time to sort things out and there was more than he thought he could process all at once.

What have I done?  he wondered. Had he made a big mistake? He felt so vulnerable.  It was all so big, so complex, so strange to a country boy who’d never lived anywhere but on a tiny ranch.  He’d never been alone like this. He would never remember all the things he had to learn, where this was, who that was, when to do what.  It was so different.  So strange. So frightening.

His heart began to pound. He was afraid. Then he remembered the roll his sister, Glyena, had pressed into his hand just as he’d mounted his horse.

“Don’t read it until you get into the Weyr.” she said. For such a young girl, she was so self- assured.

He reached into his shirt and pulled it out. It was just a scrap of hide. He unrolled it.

On it was a drawing.  It showed a smiling man with the word “Kandar” over its head. He was perched atop a bulbous dragon. Its’ four short legs were all on one side and spread wings far larger than any real dragon had. A tongue of flame issued from the dragon’s smiling mouth.

Below it the words, written in a childish hand, read “Kandar dont forget give me a ride I love you Glyena.”

 He didn’t know which to do: laugh, cry or press the hide to his heart…so he did all three.