Miarra stood in line with all the other hopefuls, waiting to see if she would be chosen. Everytime a dragon looked at her she held her breath. Everytime a Searchrider glanced at her, her heart would skip a beat. This was not unusual, most of the hopefuls were nervous. The difference was that, unlike everyone else standing here, Miarra didn't want to be searched.
A blue turned and looked at Miarra, obviously interested in her. No! Miarra shut her eyes tight. She sent a silent message to the dragon, hoping he would understand. Don't look at me. Don't tell your rider about me. I'm not here. It didn't work. Miarra opened her eyes to see a tall man standing in front of her. He was smiling.
"What's your name girl?"
Miarra sighed and looked at her shoes. "Miarra." She mummbled her name so quietly the searchrider barely heard her. He smiled, thinking she was shy at the honour of being searched. Boy, does he have another thing coming. Miarra thought to herself.
"Well, Miarra." The man continued. He obviously liked his job. "Why don't you just come with me. You've been searched. We'd be glad to have you on our sands." Miarra saw some of her peers glaring at her, and others congratulating her. The swarm of people pushed her nearer the searchdragon.
For a second Miarra imagined going with the man, of riding the beautiful dragon, of flying... Miarra panicked. "Wait!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. The entire procession ground to a halt. "Wait." She murmured more quietly. "You didn't ask me if I wanted to go." She spoke to her shoes.
The searchrider smiled, thinking that she was just a traditionalist he proceeded to question her. "My dragon believes you would be a good candidate on our sands. Will you come with me?"
Miarra continued to stare at her shoes. "No."
Her voice was quiet, but it silenced the whole Weyrbowl. The searchrider was flabergasted. "No? NO? You say no?"
Miarra looked for an exit, finding one she quickly looked up and gave the crowd a half-smile. "Nice to know you thought of me. Honoured to be chosen and all that, but I'd rather stay here. Bye!" She ran full out for the gates. She burst through them and was most of the way to the beach before anyone could move or speak again.
Whispers ran through the crowd. Everyone was astonished. Miarra made it to the beach and flung herself down on the sand. The enormity of what she'd just done finally caught up with her. She sunk her head into her hands and tried to catch her breath. She'd just turned down a searching.
"Where is she?" Mala demanded at the top of her lungs. The Assistant Headwoman had just been told the news about Miarra.
Media, the Headwoman, sighed and put her arm on Mala's shoulders. "Calm down Mala. I know she's your friend and you're worried about her but..."
"But!" Mala flung her hands in the air. "She just refused a searching. No one has ever refused a searching. Not for as long as I can remember."
"Or as long as I can remember." Media added. "Which is a lot longer than you can."
Mala sighed and threw herself into a chair. "What does she think she's doing?!?"
Media continued to clean the kitchen. "What she wants to do."
Mala sighed and went to help her older friend. "But..." Mala trailed off, not knowing exactly how to express herself.
Media smiled. "She's on the beach. She's been there since she escaped the searchrider. If you're that worried about her, go talk to her."
Mala nodded and smiled at the older woman. "Okay." Her mind made up, she quickly headed towards the beach.
Miarra floated in the cool water, staring up at the sky. It was turning an odd red-orange as the sun set. She watched the searchrider and his dragon fly overhead. She wondered briefly if he knew she was below him. She watched the dragon flash between and shuddered. She could never be a dragonrider. The dragon was confused. She nodded off, drifting with the tides.
The sound of shouting woke her. "Miarra! Miarra!" It was Mala. Miarra flipped over quickly and swam to shore. Mala ran to her friend. "Miarra. What were you doing?"
Miarra looked up at her friend. "Swimming?"
Mala glared. "You were asleep. I can't wouldn't believe even you could be that stupid. What if you floated away? Or drowned? Or worse?"
Miarra sighed. Mala always over-reacted. "But I didn't, so I'm okay." Miarra shook the water from her short red hair. She'd always hated her hair. It was thin and wispy and limp. She kept it short so it was out of her way when she was working. It hung, plain and straight, to her chin. Miarra was about 15 turns, but never acted it. She was very calm, and never seemed to get upset. She just took everything in stride. That's why the scene in the Weyrbowl was so unusual. It was so out of character for the 'foot loose and fancy free' youth. Miarra was average height, but her wiry frame made her look taller. A smattering of freckles covered her nose and cheeks. Her eyes were the only thing people tended to notice about her. They were an astonishing shade of bright green and sparkled with an inner light.
Mala examined her friend from head to toe, wondering what could have possessed her to act so weird. "You refused a searching."
Miarra gave a half-smile. "So I've heard."
Mala sighed and swatted at the younger girl. "For once in your life take something seriously Miarra! Do you even know what you turned down? Some people would give their right arm to be searched and you casually turn it down."
Anger flashed in the bright green eyes, another oddity for a girl who rarely lost her temper. "I know what I did. It's my decision to make."
"Well explain it to the rest of us before someone tells Celeste you've lost it!" Mala snapped back.
"I'm not cut out to be a rider, that's all!" Miarra attempted to end the conversation by heading back into the water.
"Oh no you don't" Mala grabbed her friends arm and spun her around. To her surprise there were tears in Miarra's eyes. Something was obviously wrong. Three times now today Miarra had acted weird. First by that show of emotion in the weyrbowl, then by loosing her temper, now she was crying. Mala was very concerned for her friend. "Miarra. What is it?" She asked, hugging her friend close.
Miarra just sobbed on Mala's shoulder.
"Shhh." Mala tried to calm her. "It's okay. I'm not mad. No one's mad. Just calm down." Mala sat down in the sand, dragging Miarra down with her. When the red-head had calmed slightly, Mara tried asking her question again. "Why don't you want to be a rider Miarra?"
Miarra's eyes filled with tears and for a moment Mala thought she'd pushed her friend too far. Miarra gulped and brushed the tears away though. "Dragonriders have to fly with their dragons."
Mala stared at the other girl, not understanding. "What?"
Miarra stared out at the ocean. "I can't fly Mala."
Mala was completely confused now. "You don't have wings, Miarra."
The red-head smiled, but didn't meet her friend's gaze. "I'm afraid of heights Mala. Even thinking about getting on that dragon's back sends chills up and down my spine. If I was ever forced to fly on a dragon I'd be too terrified to even open my eyes, let alone fight Thread."
Mala gazed at Miarra, feeling sorry for her. That wasn't a very good reason to refuse a searching, but how could she be a dragon-rider if she couldn't fly with her dragon? "Oh Miarra." She put her arm around her friend again.
The next day...
