Reeka stared at the Searchrider's dragon. It was black. She hadn't known that there were black dragons.
'Of course there are black dragons!' she thought. 'I have Tolenys, after all.'
Tolenys was her fire lizard. Some of the people in her father's hold thought that he was bad luck, or some such nonsense, because of his black color. Reeka didn't care, he was her fire lizard, no one else's.
Reeka listened as her father, the Lord Holder, introduced the Searchrider to her as J'ril, and his dragon as Delduwath. She nodded at him, but said nothing. The searchrider was looking for candidates for the clutch at Tiynarea Weyr. She didn't particularly care, she had never obsessed over dragons, like some of the other hold children had.
Tolenys landed on her shoulder as she left. She brushed her hair over her other shoulder as Tolenys crooned. She absently scratched his head as she wondered if the searchrider would take anyone from the hold, perhaps even one of her older brothers. At sixteen turns, Reeka was the youngest of four children, and the only daughter. Her father, coming from a line of dragonriders, was hoping that one of his children would be searched. Reeka had no interest in dragons, but her older twin brothers, Laval and Nabil, were fascinated by them. The eighteen-turn-olds were likely trying to impress the searchrider already.
Reeka had long, black hair, and light blue eyes. She took after her father in more than just her looks, because she was rather cold and distant to most people, and her father was not one of the well-liked Lords. Despite that, Reeka would do anything to please her father. When the searchrider came back that evening asking if she would like to stand as a candidate, she accepted.