Sevar glanced at his blue fire lizard, staring anxiously at the food on the boy's plate. The sixteen-turn-old just glared at him. "Go away, Saceko. You've already been fed."
Saceko crooned pitifully, eyes whirling, and finally, Sevar sighed. "Oh, all right!" He said, and tossed half of a meatroll to the fire lizard, who gobbled it down eagerly. "Shaffing little glutton..." He muttered.
A second fire lizard, this one a large bronze, popped out of between, and crouched beside the blue, staring up at his owner anxiously. "Ahvel, not you, too!"
"You shouldn't be surprised. You spoil those flits rotten." Sevar turned to see a tall, tanned bronzerider standing behind him, grinning.
"Hi, Dad." The boy said. He picked up his now empty plate, and whistled to his two fire lizards. They immediately perked up, flying off to their owner. With a fire lizard on both shoulders, Sevar turned to his father. "What do you want?"
His father grinned. "Well, I talked to the Weyrwoman..." Sevar looked up hopefully as his father continued. "...And she said she'd let you stand for her queen's clutch."
Sevar brightened. "Really?" At his father's nod, he grinned. "I'm gonna be a dragonrider!"

Sevar stood on the sands with the other candidates, shifting nervously. He looked up at his father, sitting with his mother in the stands. Smiling at them, he turned back to the eggs as they began to hatch.
A large bronze was first, and quickly chose his bond. He was followed by blues, and greens, and browns...
The rest of the Hatching went by in a blur, and still Sevar had not Impressed. The last egg rocked, shivered, and finally, it split neatly down the middle, to reveal a large brown dragonet. There were only two candidates left now, Sevar and another boy.
Sevar looked on hopefully as the dragon rushed towards them, and chose his rider. The brown crooned, as the other boy smiled and scratched his dragon's eyeridges. Crestfallen, Sevar followed the new riders off the sands. He was the only one that had not Impressed.

His father came up to him after the Hatching Feast. "Don't worry, Sevar." He said. "The dragon for you just wasn't in that clutch. You're still young enough to stand for a few turns yet, there'll be plenty of other Hatchings."
Sevar sighed. "But there won't be another clutch on the sands for a while. None of the dragons are even close to rising yet."
His father paused, considering the problem. "You do have a point...Well, you could always go to another Weyr, I'm sure there's someplace that will take you."
Sevar looked up. "Really? But what about Mom?"
Sevar's mother was very protective of him. She'd never allow him to stay at another Weyr for such a long time.
Sevar's father winked. "Don't worry, I'll take care of your mother." He said as he left.

A sevenday later, his father came up to him, grinning. "I've talked to Weyrwoman Aletha, from Maura Lynna Weyr. She said she'd be more than happy to let you stand for her queen's clutch."
Sevar grinned. "Yes! Thanks, Dad!"
His father smiled cheerfully. "C'mon, pack your things and call Ahvel and Saceko. I'll give you a lift."
Sevar grinned, laughing as Saceko appeared, nuzzling his owner's neck as he landed on the boy's shoulder. "Looks like I'll be a dragonrider after all, Saceko."

Bursting out of between on the back of his father's giant bronze beast, Sevar gazed down at the very green Weyr below them. "How do they keep so much plantlife if there's Thread?"
"Grubs. The soil's crawling with them. Looks like it's worth it, though." His father answered as they landed.
Sevar jumped off the bronze's back as a brown-haired woman walked towards them. Sevar watched as his father introduced the woman as Weyrwoman Aletha, and introduced his son to her.
The Weyrwoman smiled at him. "Pleased to meet you, Sevar. I hope you will Impress from Zaltith's clutch."
Sevar blushed. "Me, too." He muttered. The Weyrwoman called to someone else, asking them to show the newest candidate around the Weyr. Sevar glanced around the Weyr, and decided he definitely wouldn't mind staying here for a while. At least until the clutch hatched.

Sevar lay on his back, staring blankly up at the white ceiling. He wasn't going to Impress. He hadn't been left standing, but the eggs just...didn't hatch. At least this time all the candidates had been disappointed, not him alone. As they say, misery loves company.
But he wasn't sure what to do now. He'd been disappointed twice now, and he didn't have faith in the old saying, 'third time's the charm.' Real life didn't work that way. He gritted his teeth angrily, glaring up at the air, green eyes brimming with tears which he wouldn't let fall.
He didn't want to go back home, to face his father's disappointment and his mother's overprotective coddling of him. He was almost seventeen turns now, he wouldn't return home unless he was riding on a dragon!
Determined, he sat up, and ran off to find someone to take him to another weyr. This time he would get it right.

"New weyrs?" The bluerider repeated, turning to look up at the young man in front of him. He was standing, and was not short at that, but this boy was huge, almost 7' feet tall, and not skinny, either. Despite that, he didn't look like he could be much older than seventeen or eighteen.
The boy nodded, green eyes peircing through the strands of dark wavy hair that occasionally fell over his face. "Everyone's leaving, I'd like to get a ride before I get stuck having to walk halfway across the continent just to get to another Weyr." Sevar answered the old man's question.
The bluerider nodded thoughtfully. "Well, there's actually a couple. Kanarsh, Black Dragon, Mountain Lake, Sunstone..." The old rider probably
would have gone on for candlemarks, but Sevar stopped him.
"Sunstone? Do they have a clutch on the sands there?" He asked.
"Oh sure! A gold's clutch, though the sire's a brown. Still, I suppose there's a chance of a bronze if you're lucky." The rider cast a sidelong look at Sevar, knowing that just about every boy old enough to stand dreamed of Impressing a bronze at one time or another.
Sevar just smiled. His parents being who they were, he was expected to Impress better than most, but he didn't intend to get his hopes up. He'd seldom dreamed of Impressing a great bronze, even before he arrived at Maura Lynna Weyr. He didn't have much faith in Impressing a brown, for that matter. Shells, he'd be glad to Impress a green if it meant he'd finally be a dragonrider!
Out loud, he said, "Sunstone sounds good. Could you maybe drop me off near there, if you don't mind?"
The old dragonrider grinned, showing crooked teeth. "Sure! No problem at all for us, 'tell the truth, there's really not much else for us to do here." He waved to the boy with one arm, then turned to get his dragon ready. Sevar grinned in relief and followed the old man out of Maura Lynna, another failed dream come crashing down.