Iyola and her friends were all sitting together feeding their ravenous dragons. They were in a room, actually, more of a cave, with all of the other new riders. They were sitting on wood and stone benches, buckets of meat at their side and hungry dragons at their feet. The Feeding Room, as it had been named, was lit by fires at each end and glows hanging from the ceiling in the middle. Iyola was just scolding Vexeth to chew for about the tenth time when the Weyrleaders entered the room.

"Greetings, new riders, and might I say congratulations?" spoke the lady. She was wearing a dark green dress with gold pictures of dragons etched all over it for the occasion. It matched her eyes, which were the same dark green as the dress, and had her dark brown hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. She was of average height, but her body was lithe, and almost appeared fragile. The only marks of age that colored her were in her eyes: the grief she had felt over the years, the wisdom of life, and the hard glint that one took on when they had a great burden on their shoulders. Hers was the burden of running the Weyr.

"If you don't already know who I am, I am Weyrwoman Fain, rider of queen Fayleth."

"And I," spoke up the man beside her in a deep voice, "am temporary Weyrleader K'yane, rider of bronze Payorth." His bulkier body was odd next to the Weyrwoman's small one. His eyes were a dark blue and his skin was a dark tan. His hair, a mop of brown, looked like it hadn't been brushed. Despite his large size, he looked very kind.

Weyrwoman Fain spoke up again. "We are here to find out the names of you and your dragons, as well as welcome you to the Weyr." As she said the last bit, a creel of hunger went up from one of the hatchlings. Its chosen one blushed and fed it a chunk of meat while shushing it. "And please, don't favor us over your new life-mates. We don't mind if they're eating while we talk to you." Fain gave a smile that soothed the anxious crowd, and the pair started making their rounds as the silence broke and the talking started up again.

"Can you believe it?" Cydney asked from opposite of Iyola. "We're dragon riders! And I wouldn't give up Sophiath here for anything in the world!" As she spoke, she scratched her young new friend's eye ridge.

"I know!" Taylor answered. "No offense meant, but I wouldn't give up my lovely Carolineth even for your gold, Iyola."

"Well, I'm fine with that," Iyola answered. "I wouldn't give her to you anyways!" That sent up a bit of laughter before the conversation continued to move along as it had before.

"Can you believe how lucky I am?" asked T'y from beside Cydney. "I have the best little bronze in the world! No, the best out of all the dragons!" Everyone agreed.

R'ant, who had been sitting a ways off by himself, heard that and turned. "I don't think so," he disagreed. "My Quiseth is the best bronze."

"Well," Amy broke in, stopping the fight before it started, "that may be true, but my Ameth is the best dragon there ever was!" This sent up another fit of laughter.

Ameth, after a very brief look-over from the dragonhealer, had been given her sight. Without even a knife the healer had opened her eyelids, which had been stuck together for some off reason. Now the little green looked around at everyone with her bright eyes, her excitement obvious.

Just then the Weyrwoman walked up to them. "Hello, who are you?" she asked the closest one to her. It just happened to be Taylor.

"I'm Taylor, rider of green," a little excitement went through her voice as she said this bit, "Carolineth." As if to prove it so, the jade-green dragonet at her feet butted at her legs affectionatly.

"Nice to meet you," she replied and moved onto the next one.

"She paused at Cidney as she noticed the green was not pure green. She was a blue-green, and she asked Cidney is she felt anything odd about her dragon.

Cidney almost yelled at her. "Of course not! There is nothing wrong with Sophiath!" The blue-green dragonet gave the best impression of a growl it could and glared at the Weyrwoman, a hint of red coloring her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to take offense," and she moved on.

She saved Iyola for last. "And you are?" she asked the new queen rider.

"I'm Iyola, rider of queen Vexeth." Her voice didn't falter at all, and she said Vexeth with pride. The Weyrwoman nodded in approval. She was about to move on when she noticed something odd.

"Uhm, have her eyes been gold the whole time?" she asked, a bit of worry in her voice.

"No. Before I Impressed her they were red. She says gold is just her happy color, like green for any other dragon. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, no, but I've never seen a dragon before with gold eyes, is all." Then the Weyrwoman scooted herself quickly away. As stealthfully as she could, Fain left. K'yane lingered for a bit longer before leaving, as well. Then the Weyrlingmaster came in to take charge.

"Hello," he greeted them all. "I am Weyrlingmaster T'loff, rider of brown Renteth. You are in my charge, until you all become full dragon riders. My first means of business is that, as soon as you are done feeding your new life-mates, to show you to the weyrling barracks. It's not a far walk. Just line up outside when you're done."

It didn't take long for everyone to finish feeding the dragonets. They ate almost as fast as their riders could feed them, and still asked for it to come faster. When they had finally filled their gullets, Iyola and her friends, still in a bunch, walked with their dragons outside to wait.

T'loff was right, it wasn't a long walk. They had come directly off the sands to get to the Feeding Room, and all they did was skirt the sands a little ways until they arrived at their new homes. Everyone had the same room mates as before.

As Amy and Iyola settled their dragons down on their beds, raised wooden platforms, Iyola let down her mind-shield. She heard Amy converse with Ameth as she settled down Vexeth.

You're such a silly dragon, to think you will be able to stay up with me, Amy was telling the green.

You'll have all the fun without me! And I've never heard music before. What is it like?

I don't know how to describe it….

Does it sound like this? And Ameth gave the best roar she could for her little body.

Both Iyola and Amy giggled.

No, deary, it has a melody. I'll tell you when you wake up. Shhh, now, go to sleep.

But what if Vexeth snores? Ameth asked drowsily, though she was already closing her eyes.

Iyola and Amy let out a quiet snicker before leaving the room and turning out the lights.

As the room mates walked to the Hatching feast together, something seemed to dawn on Amy.

"You laughed with me, didn't you?" she asked Iyola.

"Uhm, yeah, I guess…" she could see where this was going and she wanted to avoid it.

"But why? What was so funny to you?"

"Something Vexeth said," she put in quickly, but it was obviously a lie.

"No, Iyola, really. A dragonet roaring randomly can't be that funny."

"Vexeth-" Iyola started, but a glare from Amy silenced it. "I could hear her," she admitted.

"All dragons?" Amy asked calmly, as if she had always expected it.

"Yes, but it just started at the Hatching. After the first few dragons hatched, I managed to shut out their voices, but… I let my guard down back in the barracks."

"Well," Amy sighed, "I suppose there's a reason Vexeth chose you and not someone else. That's not to say," she added quickly, "that you don't deserve her, but… It just explains some things, I suppose." A small grin planted itself on her face. "I can't wait to see their reactions when I tell them!"

"No!" Iyola immediately protested. "I don't want anyone else to know!"

"Oh, cool down. I'm not going to tell anyone but Taylor, T'y, and Cydney. They'd find it out on their own, anyway. Dragons, remember?"

Iyola surrendered and they dropped the conversation as they entered the noisy dinning hall.