"Shaethe! Please get down from there! I'm not looking! I'm not going to watch you!" Sasianne turned her back to the wall, putting her hands over her eyes and shutting them. Her brown braids fell over her face as she cringed. She waited for a response to her shouts, and when none came she spun around with a worried look on her face. It vanished and was once again replaced by one of frantic annoyance when she saw that her sister hadn't fallen after all. "Shhaaeettthhe!"

"Come on, Sasi! You're being shrill." The statement was followed by a wry giggle, and Shaethe looked down from her height to see her sister staring up at her with an almost angry look. She sighed lightly, then smiled again. "I threw it up here, so I'm going to get it down. Isn't that right, Denji?"

The older boy stood beside Sasianne, and when she turned to him he put his hands up defensively in a mock look of terror. "Don't ask me, Shae! You're not down here with her." He laughed as Sasianne hit him lightl in the side, then turned his eyes up to Shaethe. "Ya almost there?"

"Yeah..." She spoke slowly. She was walking along the high wall around the blackstone bin just outside the Hold's kitchens. Denji and she had been tossing around one of the new experiments the Hold's woodcrafter had been working on. You threw it, and because of it's shape it was supposed to come back to you. So far Denji had thrown it into the blackstone bin and Shaethe and gotten it stuck up on the corner of the wall. It was covered with blackdust, and she resisted the urge to sneeze.

"Here we go!" She came within a foot of the wooden object and bent over, retrieving it. She snapped her wrist, tossing it down to Denji who caught it deftly. "Now only if you could throw as well as you catch." She grinned down at him and laughed at the hurt expression he put on his face.

"I bet I could knock you off of there and onto your head with it." He spoke teasingly, but he earned a glare from Sasianne and a grin from Shaethe.

"I'd like to see you try!" Despite her bold words, Shaethe was walking as quickly as she could back to where the wall connected with the Hold's outter wall. There the stones were uneven, and it had been where she'd climbed up from. She made in there in one piece and began to climb down.

"That was quite impressive."

The suddenly spoken words surprised all three. Denji and Sasianne whirled around to see a young woman standing there. She had black hair and deep brown eyes. Shaethe craned her neck, trying to see past her mass of curly hair since she couldn't afford to let go and move it away. In doing so, she didn't pay attention to her footing and lost her grip as she flailed to find somewhere to put her foot.

She landed with a thud on the ground, letting out a low moan. Sasianne shrieked and ran over to her, her dark blue eyes round and staring at her older sister. "Shaethe! Are you alright! Oh please tell me you're alright, Da's going to kill us!" She flitted around her sister's head, trying to pull her to her feet.

Finally, Denji motioned Sasianne to one side and grabbed Shaethe's arm. He hauled her to her feet and waited while her unsteadiness disappeared. She brushed herself off, blinking her light blue eyes and shaking her head as if shaking away the cloud of blackdust that covered her once white clothing.

After taking a moment to get her bearings straight, Shaethe looked over at the woman who had surprised them. She wasn't wearing the normal holding clothes, not that many people at Haethis did. However, her garb was a bit unfamiliar to them. She wore leathers that one usually only saw on racing jockeys from High Reaches. "Can we help you?" Her words came out sounding a bit more angry than she meant them to, but her bum hurt and her head felt as if it might fall off her shoulders.

"I didn't mean to startle you into falling." Despite herself, the woman was unsuccessfully trying to hide a grin. "I was just watching you. Seems you don't have much of a fear of heights."

Shaethe grinned wryly. "The trick, as they say, is not to look down." She walked over to the woman, Denji and Sasianne behind her. She waited expectantly.

The woman took a moment, then smiled and chuckled. "Oh yes, I'm sorry." She extended a hand which Shaethe took hesitantly, and then pumped the other girl's arm vigorously. "My name is Nora, I'm a Searchrider from Talor Cliff Weyr."

Shaethe raised an eyebrow, then both of her eyes went wide. "The Weyr?" Her question came out sounded quite stupid, and she sounded more awestruck and slow than meant- but she was very surprised.

Nora laughed, then smiled at her with a sly smile that made Shaethe's hair, her pride and joy, stand on end. "I'd like to have a talk with you..."

********

"Oh, Leusan, let the girl go!" Icarra sounded annoyed from where she lay in bed. She coughed lightly, taking a sip of her water. She was sitting up, and it was a strain on her to do so. She was upset that Leusan had even woken her up. "She's always wanted to go to the Weyr, ever since you told her about Juliana. So let her go."

Leusan looked over at his wife of many Turns, then sighed lightly. "I know, love, I know. It worries me though. She is my eldest daughter, and if anything happens to Leucarr, though it's doubtful, she'll be the next in line. Sasianne's not strong enough to become heir, and Jailun's too enwrapped in herself that she wouldn't want to take the time. None of your daughters are even close to that age, and..." He sighed, sitting down on the edge of Icarra's bed. "And I'm so old, Icarra."

His Lady Holder laughed, surprising him enough to cause him to look over at her with disbelief. "I can't fathom what you would think is so funny."

Icarra smiled at him, her dark eyes looking on him with a kind warmth. "Nothing will ever happen to Leucarr, you know that. The hold-people love him too much and they all look out for him. If you'd like to know what I think, I think you just don't want to let her go." She gave him one of those 'you know I'm right' smiles, then coughed again and went for a drink of her water.

Leusan turned away from his wife, a wry look on his face. "Shardit woman, why must you always do this to me?" He smiled lightly, leaning back on the bed, his head rested on her knees as he stared up at the ceiling. He didn't even need to look over to see the look Icarra was giving him.

"Would you stop that? I can't argue. She's going."