You find the player a stride a draft runnerbeast with no saddle to hold her in place. To your slight surprise you see that it is a young girl of 13 turn playing the pan flute. Her eyes are closed as she plays and even if they were open, the bangs of her short cut, feathery brown hair would have shaddowed them enough that you'd know nothing of their color. She wears what looks more like boy's clothing in the colors of Delaway Hold, yet you think it some how fits her. Idially, you notice the set of aprentic knots on her shoulder, though you can seem to find any sign of what craft she's in.
As she comes closer to the ending of the song you start to notice that you're not the only one to take a liking to her playing. As her pan flute lets out the last sweet notes and they die away for a moment there is the usual respectable sighleince and soon the audiance was clapping and cheering for the girl. At that moment the girl looked up, as if half startled to see a crowd around her showing their appreasation for her pretty play of the song on her pan flute. The girl blushed slightly as she stood up gracefuly on the runner's back and bowed without so much as a wobble.
"Uh, Thank you," she said with a winning yet humble smile as she brushed her bangs away to show her green-gray eyes for a moment, "Really, it was nothing, it wasn't that good." Imediatly there were comments thrown back at her that she was being too hard on herself, along with comments that she should apprentice at Harper Hall.
"Thank you for the kind words, sir," she replied, "but saddly I can't sing ta save m'life. Aside from that ladies an' gents, I'm already a senior aprentice in the Beastmast craft," she says pulling back the collor of her shirt some to show the badge, "But for my thanks, I'll give you a peice of advice that my be something of interest to you. Behind me and to my left you'll find Beastmaster Rentelo. If you need a herdbeast or a runnerbeast, he's the man to see. Runnerbeast your fancy, he has racers and drafters, turnlings and adults, stallions and mare, colts and fillies, geldings and pregnet females all ready to be sold to you and for this day's Gather only. Also we have runnerbeast rides for the kiddies. So step right up and perhaps you'll go away with a fine runnerbeast or herdbeast for resonable marks."
You chuckle at the girl's sales pitch, it was pretty good, she seemed to have done it enough times. As you look around, you see that it seems to work well too. Most of those who'd come to listen to her went over to the make shift padock either because they felt obligated to, thought it was a good idea, or their kids wanted to ride the runnerbeasts. You, on the other hand, decide that you'd like to get to know this girl better.
"Excuse me, miss..." you ask trailing off because you don't know her name.
"Name's Kare, Harper," she tells you less friendly than she'd been moments ago. You blink at this and for a moment she looks impasiont. "Yes, may we help you?" she asks you after coming back to a sitting possion on her runner, only to slide off its left side with ease. You unconously notice that she's tall for her age, already being 5ft 3in.
"Sorry," you tell her sheepishly noticing that her features are growing more blank by the second, "I just wanted to get to know you a bit. Thought it might be nice so that if I ever see you anywhere else I'll know something about you."
Kare looks at you a bit unsure of your intentions, then makes a motion for you to follow her. The two of you, Kare leading her runnerbeast by her halter, end up at the back of the tempory padock where nobody is within hearing distance. For a time both of you are sighlent and in the time you notice that Kare has a two scars, one on each cheek.
In that same time the young girl pulls out a lead rope from one of her deep pockets and clips one end onto the runner's blue halter and the other end she tied to the fence with a quick release knot. After doing this she sat herself on the top of the fence so that she was at a slightly higher hight than you.
"So ya' gonna question me or not, Harper?" she asks in her now dead pan voice.
"Sorry, just tryin' to think of what to ask about first," you tell her noticing that the voice didn't really sound impatioant but was still not what you expected. As Kare opens her mouth to say something you come up with your first question.
"What's with the mood, so to speak, shift of acts?" you ask. Her green-gray eyes look at you again as if she couldn't believe it took you that long to think up such an odvious question.
"Well," she says looking to make sure nobody's near by to over hear, her expresion still not changing from the stone face she wore, "That has a lot to do with these two scars of mine," she says this tracing each one slightly with one of her grubby, yet delicate fingers.
"You see I'm Beastmaster Rentelo's second oldest daughter, fifth child to be born to him from my mother Brecoka. So I've been around herdbeast and runnerbeasts all my life, my father also gave me a female runnerbeast when I was young. She was well trained and would rarely shy at anything. My father'd also trained her to keep me always safe around her. She and I became very close, like dragon and rider you might say."
"Well, when I was a few months shy of being 10 turns of age I took her out for a ride. It was a calm and peaceful day, nothing could go wrong. And nothing did... that is till we were within sigh of the padock..." Kare trailed off for a moment and you chanced a sideways glance at her. To your surprise, her eyes were a full gray now and tears were running down her face. She took in what looked, but didn't sound, like a shaky breath.
"As we aproched the padock my mare side stepped something in front of her, at the time I thought it was a branch. The next thing I knew she screamed and my back hit the ground hard. Before I blacked out I saw her rear and come down with her hooves. When I woke my head was acking and my family was just arriving to my aid. My father was the one who told me she was dead, and right away, he doesn't believe much in keeping news of things from anybody. He told me, and I soon saw for myself, that she'd been bitten by one of the deadly types of tunnle snakes. As I was finally able to get myself into a sitting possion I found out the reason why she'd reared up to bring her hooves towards me. My head had landed on the tunnle snake and she'd killed it, at the same time as killing the tunnel snake she gave me my two scars."
"When a healer finally arrived to take a look at my cuts she said she could so them up so there'd be no trace of the event happening. To my parents displeasure, I refused to get stiched up. They soon realized that I wanted them as a memory of my runnerbeast. I haven't had the heart to get a new one or a pet since. This mare here isn't even mine, she's my father's."
The uneasy sighlence takes you both again. You quickly surmize that she was like a mild case of something like a dragonrider without his or her dragon, only putting on the smiling face when need. After a while Kare once more broke the sighlence.
"I have been thinking of getting a fire lizard lately though," she says softly. You look at her again and the tears are now gone and her eyes are starting to show tinges of green again that might soon over take the gray. You nod, that's something you'd have to do when you got a chance as well, get a fire lizard of your own.
"That would be a good start," you say in a polite voice, "When did you start to aprentice to the Beastmaster Craft?"
"I've been doing it my whole life," she tells you in her dead pan way, "Though officialy I started shortly after I turned 10. My father thought it might help to keep my mind from lingering on my mare."
"May I ask you how many syblings you have?" you ask trying to get her way from the death of her late runnerbeast.
She seems to brighten at the change of subject, as much as one who was unconously determined to be stone face could be, "I have three brothers and three sisters, and my mother is expecting two or three more on their way."
"Any interests or hobbies?" you ask as she seems to warm to the more friendly questions.
"No hobbies really, swimming when ever I can," she tells you and for a moment you think you saw the corners of her wide mouth turn up in a soft smile, "I've only been to the ocean a few times and those times I was lucky enough to play with the dolphins but I haven't been there since I turned 9," you wince as she pauses thinking you've brought her back to her runnerbeast but instead she goes on, "I may not look like it but I have a huge interest in dragons and their riders. I almost know all the riders of Talor Cliff Weyr on sight though not one of them knows me."
"Is that right?" you asked surprised.
You finally see an almost full smile as you ask her this.
"It's quite true," she tells you, "For instance, that one over there is green Trith's rider, C'fron and next to him is his little brother, N'tron, newly rider of blue Zhantrenth," she then points over to a stall that bubbly pies are being sold, "Over there is the newest queen rider of Mekoth, Quachir, and her half sister, Tiff Prisim, also a new ride of green Vasharath. Hanging just behind them is Tiff Prisim's half brother X'tro rider of bronze Rezoth."
She turns a bit to look around for other dragonriders from the Gather's Weyr to identify to you. Finding one she grins.
"Over there is white Coquinath's rider, Valisia, her white was just resently flown by brown Zaharth," she says and her smile gets wider, "And speaking of the brown, there's his hansom rider, R'shen, now," she pauses as she looks for more, "Ah, there, coming down through the Minner Craft's stall and the Wine Craft's stall is Searchrider Nora blue Mitanth's rider. And the one who just nodded to Nora, that's the Aprentice Searchrider Beka green Reth's rider, and...."
"Whoa, whoa, Kare, I get the point," you smile and you finally find a full smile on her face. Just as you are getting used to it and are about to bid her a good day you suddenly see the color drain out of her face, "What's the matter, Kare?"
"They're coming this way," was all she said as she pointed back at the last to riders she'd mention.
You look back to the dragonriders and nod, "Indead they are, perhaps they're coming for a couple of hearbeast to replenish the weyr's herds so the next dragon to fly will have fresh herdbeast to blood."
Kare nods and replies in a not so believable voice, "Maybe you're right, Harper." You both watch the women near the padock and a warm breaze carresses your neck as well as the Senior Aprentice beside you. To your odd amusement the beasts in the paddock all head for the oposite side of the pen you're on. The breaze come again and now you notice it smells of firestones. You tilt you head at this as the two riders point in your dirrection.
Out of curiosity both you and Kare turn around and find a large blue and an equaly large green standing behind you both. Both off you are startled yet oddly the runnerbeast still tied to the fence chews on a peice of grass as if she's not even seen or smelled the two large dragons. After a moment you could tell that they were inspecting Kare. At this range you could almost count the facites in each of the dragons' eyes.
It seemed a long time before Nora and Beka arrived at their respective dragon's sides. Beka looked at her dragon.
"So what do you think, lovely?" she asked her green scratching her eye ridges. The green looked at Kare once more, sniffed her and nodded her eyes whirling a bright blue.
"And do you concur, dear heart?" Nora asked her blue Mitanth. His eyes whirled faster as he nodded and the bluerider turned back to Kare, "What's your name?"
"I-I-I'm," she stuttered, she'd been thrown into speachlessness. Feeling you should help her some you smile plesently.
"Her name is Kare, Nora blue Mitanth's rider," you tell her formaly.
"Do I know you, Harper?" she askes going off her subject for a moment.
"No, bluerider, I was only informed of who you were a moment ago when I was talking to this, lass," you tell her, "I think she's just baffled that you came over, either that or she has an idea of what you're doing here talking to us."
"The latter of the two," Kare finally says.
"Good to hear you found your tongue, Kare," Beka replies with a chuckled, "Tell us, do you like dragons."
"No," she said flatly looking at the ground. How could she say that, just a moment ago she'd told you differently, what she said next made you chuckled, "I love them, Beka."
"Ah, the girl knows your name as well," Nora says poking joking fun at her fellow searchrider, "Well then I guess you know what our dragons are doing here looking you over, Kare."
"I have an idea," she replies meekly.
"Well if your idea's about you being searched then you're right," the head searchrider replied, "So shall we go talk to your parent and get you ready to move into the weyrling barracks now?" Kare only nodded and lead the two riders off towards her father.
"Yo, Kare!" you call to her as she walks away and you lead the runnerbeast of her's to her. Though you haven't known her long you give her a quick hug, "Congratulations, I'll come visit you at the weyr when I get the chance, I just hope that if I don't see you till after the hatching I find you with your friend for life."
"Thank you, Harper," she gives you a kiss on the cheek in thanks, "for asking about me, listening to me, and for your praise, I hope you make your Masters soon." And with that she walks off to tell her family the good news and move into the canidate barracks which might some day become her weyrling barracks.