Helena liked Darkling Dawn. It was wild and crowded and strange and unexpected. You never knew what sort of creatures you might find there. Pern, in comparison, was drab and boring and plain, like their dragons. And she'd know, because both of her parents rode full-blooded Pernese dragons and were themselves born and raised on Pern. They wanted to move back there, now that dragonriders were needed more than ever, and they intended to bring their only daughter with them, but Helena wanted to stay where she was. Unfortunately, she was only twelve years old and had no say in the matter.
"You certainly can't stay here by yourself," her father said.
"But all the other kids have foster parents because they're not raised by their real parents, why would I be any different?" Helena demanded.
"There's not a foster mother in the lower caverns I would inflict you on, Helena," her dad replied, not without affection. "Cheer up, you'll grow to like it. In another year, you'll be old enough to stand as a candidate. Maybe you'll even Impress a queen."
Helena snorted at that. "Golds are big and grumpy and boring. Why would I want one of those?"
She was holding a young rukel in her arms, one who was being forced to breathe shallowly thanks to the grip the girl had on him, and he squirmed uncomfortably. Helena glanced down at him before turning her gaze back to her father. "Can I at least bring Darby with me?" she whined, eyes wide.
H'omi sighs, but he cannot resist. After all, it wasn't as though he didn't have a rukel of his own. "Alright--as long as he stays out of sight."

That wasn't difficult. Darby was a reclusive rukel at the best of times, and though he enjoyed the occasion spying expidition or sneaking up on someone to scare them, overall he caused little trouble for Helena and her parents. She was pretty sure he met with other rukels at Sedona as well, though she couldn't say for sure.
That wasn't Helena's style, though. She was loud and brash and always drew attention to herself, though unfortunately not the sort of attention she wanted. She was reasonably well-liked among the other candidates, but though she stood for each of Sedona Weyr's clutches, the dragons ignored her completely. The best she could say was that she was friends with several of the riders who did Impress, and each girl she shared her room with went on to Impress a dragon. At least, until she appeared.
The latest gossip flitting around the Weyr was that the ever-nosy Lord Tuan had appeared at Sedona Weyr and cajoled the Weyrleaders into having his daughter stand as a candidate. Helena didn't believe it at first, until she was informed by Weyrwoman Noa herself that she would be getting a new roommate, the infamous Taline.
Darby was sitting on her bed when she entered, preening his wings. Helena sighed. "Sorry, Darby, new roommate coming in. And this one cannot know you're here, or she'll go to her father, His Lordliness of Sedona Hold."
The rukel sneezed with laughter. "Oh wow, good luck dealing with her." He had scarcely ducked underneath the bed when her roommate arrived. Helena couldn't help glaring suspiciously at her. Tall, willowy and pretty, with silver-blonde hair. Disgusting. Oh, and of course she had a gold fire lizard. Judging by the brown and green slinking around on the ground, exploring the room, it had taken her a few tries to hatch the all-important queen, too. It figured.
She tried to introduce herself, as if everyone didn't already know who she was, and Helena told her so. "I'm Helena," she said grudgingly, and sighed. "Look, stay out of my stuff and no trespassing on my side of the room, alright?" That drew an incredulous scoff from the other girl, and Helena shot her another glare. "I'm serious. Stay out of my way." With Darby safely hidden, she saw no reason to spend any more time in Taline's company. She left.

It was funny. Living with her other roommates had never been this nerve-racking. It was alright if one of them caught a glimpse of Darby, there was nothing they could really do about it, and none of them stayed around very long anyway. Taline was another matter. Helena took to glaring daggers at her whenever she found her inside their shared room, and gradually the girl started spending more of her time elsewhere. It suited Helena and Darby just fine. He practically had his own little den underneath Helena's bed (she'd wondered where her extra blanket had gotten to), but he didn't relish being cooped up there all day any more than she did.
She rejoiced with the rest of the candidates, excluding Taline, when Syroeth rose a few months after Mirheth's hatching. That meant there'd be another clutch on the sands soon. And she was a very pretty green-gold, too. Odd colors were quite a bit rarer here than they were at Darkling Dawn, but it would be nice if she Impressed such a unique-looking dragon. Plus, she could just imagine the look on Taline's face. Heh.
"Excuse me, Candidatemaster T'rak?" Helena couldn't help but snort as Taline spoke up. The "Candidatemaster" barely deserved the title. T'rak was only a few turns older than them, and he and Helena had actually been candidates together. He was fresh out of weyrlinghood, thanks to judicious use of time travel, and it was apparently his turn today to direct the candidates. The thought of time travel did give her an idea, though, one she tucked to the back of her mind for now. There was someone she'd have to talk to later.
"I'm not expected to stand for Syroeth's clutch, am I? I mean, there's no chance she'd lay a queen egg, so..." Taline's voice trailed off, and Helena rolled her eyes. The girl was a golddigger if ever she saw one.
T'rak just blinked at her. "Why wouldn't you? A dragon is a dragon. No need to throw away a perfectly good chance at Impression. But to answer your question; yes, candidates are expected to stand for all clutches, regardless of dam or sire. If that doesn't suit you, clear skies, safe journey, it was nice knowing you."
Helena lost it; she giggled at the look of chagrin on Taline's face.

Taline was often late coming into their shared room for bed; half the time Helena was already asleep. With Darby having to remain hidden most of the time, this suited her perfectly fine. She looked up and stifled a yawn as the other girl came inside. The gold firelizard was draped around her neck, as usual, and Helena rolled her eyes. It seemed like Taline hardly went anywhere without that gold, and more often than not the other two, accompanying her.
Taline ignored her entirely, as was also usual, but she soon tripped and fell onto Helena's bed with a squeal. Helena couldn't help the snicker that escaped her as she witnessed the fall, but her amusement ceased abruptly when she realized what the girl had tripped over in the first place. She'd recognize that tufted brown tail anywhere.
Sure enough, as soon as Taline crashed onto the bed, Darby darted out from underneath, startled by the noise. "Darby," she told him, "You know you're supposed to stay under the bed when she's here."
Darby shot her a glare that clearly said he was scared of being crushed. The hair was standing up straighter than usual on his back even now. The gold fire lizard hissed at him, and Darby hissed back, but Helena's attention was focused on Taline. Would she tell her father about this?
"W-What is it? Some sort of new creature from Southern's jungles or something?"
Helena gave a shrug. "Or something," she replied. She'd leave it at that. If Taline thought he was a native Pern creature, so much the better. "It's called a rukel. His name is Darby, and he is usually silent and stays out of the way." That was mostly for Darby's sake, especially the warning to keep quiet. Taline didn't need to know he could talk, too.
Helena stared as Taline reached out to stroke Darby's fur, which the rukel tolerated with surprising good grace. She continued to stare as she admitted the rukel was "kind of cute." Taline glanced at her own bed, and Helena followed her gaze to note the three fire lizards, which had calmed down a bit by now. "Look, I don't mind you having a pet. I have three, after all," Taline told her. "I assume that's why you didn't want me staying in our room?"
Helena gave a shrug, but that was essentially the reason she'd been so wound up about it. She hadn't thought Taline would take the rukel's presence as well as she had, given her father's outspoken opinion on "unnatural, unPernese" things. All she said, however, was, "Yeah, whatever."
They went to bed, and things went, more or less, back to normal, if significantly less strained.

It wasn't long after that when Helena decided to go to someone with an idea she had had before. Syroeth was still a long time from clutching, and with the number of candidates already at Sedona, there was little chance she would succeed in Impressing a dragon from such an inevitably small clutch. Perhaps it was time for her to go somewhere else, and the idea of time had given her a plan. If the weyrlings could use time travel, why couldn't she?
She arrived outside of the weyr her parents shared, though the only one inside at the moment was Armuketh, her father's blue dragon. He wasn't as talkative as her mother's dragon, but he always listened to her and would occasionally talk back. "Hey, Armuketh!"
The blue dragon's head tilted slightly to let her know he was listening. "Is my dad around? There's something I need to ask him." She could have asked her mother as well, but Elewen was a bit more protective of her daughter and was less likely to let her go away, even if it was only long enough for her to Impress.
There was a pause while the dragon craned his away, presumably towards wherever H'omi was located, but before long, the rider himself arrived outside the weyr. "You called?" he said wryly.
Helena gave her father her sweetest smile. "I'm getting bored waiting for Syroeth to clutch. I thought maybe I could go to another Weyr or Weyrhold that already has a clutch on the sands."
H'omi raised an eyebrow. "And this has nothing at all to do with your newest roommate?" Noting Helena's scowl, he continued. "Did you have a particular Weyr in mind, then? There's not many that are in need of candidates, you know."
"Well, I was thinking the other day about timing it. We still have some ties with some Eleventh Pass Weyrs, right? Who's to say I couldn't Impress from one of those clutches?" Helena smiled.
H'omi still looked a little skeptical. "You'll still have to convince Weyrwoman Noa of that. Not to mention your mother," he said. Helena wasn't sure who would be harder to convince. "But if the Weyrwoman okays it, then I will as well."

Elewen was reluctant to let her daughter leave, but with her father's help, Helena managed to convince her. After all, it wasn't as though she had to be gone for the entire time it took for her dragon to mature--from this end of history, anyway. She thought the Weyrwoman would be the tougher one to convince, but Noa proved to be surprisingly amiable.
"If your parents are okay with you going, then I will allow it as well," the goldrider said, making Helena grin. "In fact, I already have an idea of which Weyrhold to send you to. Shintaru is hosting--or will host, I suppose--a Frenzy for Old World Pernese dragons. They've got more than enough eggs there, you should stand a pretty good chance of Impressing." Noa hid a smile as her eyes lit up.
"In fact, I do believe they have several queen eggs..." Helena scowled. She had nothing against golds, but she couldn't imagine it could be much fun to ride one. "While another junior weyrwoman around would be nice, there is another problem we could solve. How about we call in your roommate?"

Well. Shintaru had turned out to be a bust. Helena scowled to herself, kicking a pebble away from her as she sat on the ridge of Sedona Weyr. "I really hoped it would work out that time," she muttered.
Darby purred. The rukel was curled up on her lap, being surprisingly affectionate. "Your dragon is bound to come along eventually. You just have to be patient, I guess. At least we get to be back home again."
Helena's mouth twisted into a frown. Yeah, "home" again, at Sedona. And to top things off, she had missed Syroeth's hatching while she'd been away. Not to mention the other clutches. Even Yuneth had risen while she'd been away (and that new Weyrleader's dragon looked awesome; she didn't know why anyone would be scared or unnerved by him). The one upside to it all, Helena thought, was that Taline had come back just as empty-handed as she had. She wasn't sure she'd have been able to live with herself if Taline had Impressed a dragon instead of her.
"Well, seems to me you've got two choices," Darby said. "You can either stay here and wait on Hadeth's clutch, or one of the others to rise...or we can go somewhere else again. A change of scenery might do you some good."
"Hmm." Helena thought it over. Hadeth was a green, and while she had nothing against greens, there were an awful lot of candidates for a clutch of only six eggs. Yuneth, she'd heard, was due to rise again soon. But none of her current suitors seemed nearly as cool as Safiu'Nest. Then again...she probably shouldn't be so picky. It was, like, impossible to not genuinely like your bondmate, after all. The fact remained, though, that if she wanted to Impress at Sedona, she would be waiting for a while. Whereas if she went somewhere else...she might still be waiting for a while for her bond to arrive, but she'd at least be attending hatchings at the same time.
Helena gave a nod, and took the rukel into her arms as she stood up. "Alright then," she told him. "I think I've made up my mind. I'll talk to Weyrwoman Noa again; if anyone knows of a Weyr with a clutch on the Sands, it will be her!"
Darby purred and fluttered his wings. Then he paused thoughtfully. "I wonder if they're okay with rukels?"