almara2

"You mean how did I get to come here or where did I come from?" Almara asks.

"Well..." you think. "Both. I guess." Almara smiles.

"I'm originally from Adani Hold. It's not too far from here. My dad often sent me on missions to this weyr to get things from Celeste. He's a healer. My mother is a harper so I never saw her often. I get a letter from her now and then but I haven't seen her since, well.....along time. My father raised me along with my two older brothers and younger sister. I got to know Celeste very well, from my father's errands, but why I always agreed to go on the long trek here was to see the weyr. I would wander around here for hours before meeting Celeste. I would look around at the candidates, the workers, the riders, everything. Adanuk Weyr is so much bigger than Adani Hold that it amazed me. My brothers are both following in my father's footsteps and my sister has already travelled to Harper Hall. My father honestly wasn't surprised when I told him I wanted to come here." She stretches and pets Tali who is getting slightly impatient.

"Anyways, he told me I could go if I wanted to. So, the next morning I left. I go and visit him at least once every two seven-day. He lives alone now, and although I feel kinda bad, I know he's not lonely. Adani Hold is a tiny Hold. Everybody knows everybody else. If he got lonely he could just go to a friend's."

"He sounds nice." You think.

"Oh, he's the best. The best at everything. The best father, the best friend, the best healer, although Celeste would say otherwise."

"What happened after that?" You ask, urging her to continue with the story.

"Well, I came here expecting to become a candidate immediately. Imagine my shock when instead I was once again running errands. I was 14 turns I believe, and too young to Impress. I'm 18 turns now. I was errand runner for almost four years." She smiles. "Now I've been upgraded to candidate and I only run the important errands."

"Like me?" You prompt.

She smiles. "See there is hope for you yet? I guess I can't complain all that much, on one of my errands I met Taliana. "

"Really?"

"Yep. I was over at Gallimim Weyr picking up some supplies for Celeste and someone grabbed me. Turned out someone had found a clutch of firelizard eggs on the beach that were hatching right away. It was a huge clutch and they didn't have time to screen people. They just wanted bodies for these firelizards to impress to. The lady who grabbed me grabbed a couple other people and dragged us down to the beach. There was a pile of meat there and a bunch of eggs. I sat down, and grabbed an egg. It was thrumming deep inside and the wild firelizard queen, who's clutch it was, was leading her troop in humming. It gets kinda foggy after that, because it all happened so fast. The egg just cracked and out plopped Taliana. I didn't even register that she was a queen until I'd already fed her and she was asleep. Then somebody mentions that getting the only queen in this clutch was a strike of luck." She smiles at the memory and swats playfully at Taliana. "Although if they knew what a trouble-maker you were, they would have laughed at me." The minature queen raises her head proudly and glares at Almara. You both laugh. "But," Almara continues, talking to Tali, "I wouldn't trade you for the world."

You smile and continue the discussion.