Her ever-so-slightly older and far-more-calm sister appraised Robbyn with a glance, and grinned quietly.
Robbyn glanced down at himself, and then back up at the grey-haired pair. "...Yes?" He said, and then more defensively he added, "I'll have you know these are all the rage right now!" He indicated his skimpy blue thong and strange bow-tie.
"Yeah, maybe at Boll Seahold for SWIMWEAR," bellowed Beena, she pointed at the beast pens. "You march your self right in there, mister, and you'll have to wait until we find you something to WEAR before you get half a dragonlength closer to the Hold!"
Robbyn did as he was told, but pouted. His long face brightened when he stepped into the nearest stall. "I could put this on," he said of a brightly-colored woven runner blanket.
"You will do nothing of the sort!" Screeched Beena, and even Misota cringed.
"Beena... Why not go see if there are any tunics or something laying about. I'm sure that there are, it's been busy with the harvest and all. Lots of things get left around when there's work being done."
Beena nodded and hurried off.
Left in the beast pen, avoiding the annoying little goat which had eluded Misota in favor of a romp through the uncut grasses near the vinyards, Robbyn and Misota glanced at one another slyly.
Robbyn noticed that the girl's short leather skirt had obvously been mauled by the goat, it had the distinct chew-marks and missing bits. Yet, the girl's smile said she'd completely forgotten the skirt.
Minutes later, Misota and Robbyntym were rolling as it were, in the hay.
***
"Oh TELL me you didn't!" Beena yelled, adding her exasperated foot-stomp as she flung a tunic toward the pair. They were both grinning like complete idiots and were still in a state of shall-we-say disarray when Beena came back to the beast pens.
"You both belong here," she said, and turned on her heel. "By the way, the dragon did land, Misota. It's a blue search dragon."
Misota was up in a moment, and she threw the tunic at Robbyn. "Put that on and don't you dare mention a thing to the lord Holders, you understand? Don't even speak to them!" She said, a hissing whisper.
"Whatever you say, sweet Misssssota." Robbyn grinned. "Not a word. Not even to the search rider?"
"Of course you speak to the search rider. IF they talk to you first, you ninny." Misota cuffed him on the shoulder and they followed a stomping Beena back to the Hold.
"Spoken for," said a young man, pushing his way between the rider and the Journeywoman vintner in question. She giggled and the rider moved on. He saw a clump of three people, remaining close to one another as friends or relatives -- or lovers -- would. The girls both had mops of grey hair, the boy was a redhead. And they all looked a little more rumpled than they ought at such a formal party.
The pale skinned girl kept pulling her skirt down a bit, with an angry look at its rough hemline now and again. The dark skinned one seemed both miffed and entranced with the boy. And the boy... Something odd about him, thought the rider. V'tar walked toward them.
The trio looked up as if startled, the dark skinned girl nearly jumped out of her beautiful short outfit.
"I'm sorry to intrude," V'tar said, "But I'm on search from White River Weyr, and I would like to see if you three would enjoy standing on our sands."
They stood, stunned, until he spoke again.
"It's an unusual clutch, we don't really know how many eggs there are, but that's kind of normal, queens -- no matter what their color -- seem to always keep a few secrets."
They still stood, eyes all agape. The dark skinned girl caught her breath first.
"I'm Beena," she announced, "and this is my sister Misota," she presented the pale skinned girl and V'tar doubted her word, "and this is Robbyntym."
At the mention of the young lad's name, the search rider caught short. He furrowed his brows and felt his blue Morineth speak.
We have to search him. He's destined for this clutch.
Oh he is, is he? Queried the confused rider. But he smiled and took Beena's hand, escorting her to the drinks table. "I'm sure that Morineth will like the scent of you. You're quite entrancing, my dear. What is that you are wearing?"
Beena looked at him and then laughed, "eau d' goat, I think..."
***
Later in the evening, the blue dragon stood in front of the Hold's courtyard and was presented with the number of young people that V'tar had looked over. The trio of odd folk were the ones which Morineth had sniffed out, and he reiterated that Robbyntym for some reason HAD to be there. Just had to. Or else.
"So you three, will you be ready by dawn? We'll be going to White River Weyr. I can come for you later, but..."
"We'll be ready," said Misota.
"I'm already ready," replied Robbyn, with a broad grin, and the waggle of his eyebrows indicated that he MEANT to go get impressed wearing nothing but a bow tie.
Back to Robbyntym
Candidates at White River weyr
