In the morning, Thia decided she knew why no hatchling dragon had ever picked her. "It's so stupid, I can't believe I never thought of it before!" she muttered under her breath as she thundered down to the records room. Cine chirped rebelliously and curled her tail tighter around Thia's neck. "Where is it..." Zealously, she dug through dusty volumes of the weyr that had come before this one, old hatching records and Thread charts no longer of use. "Yes!" Dragging a huge old book from the shelf, she tenderly spread the hide pages out onto the table and flipped until she found the page.

Scanning with a finger to the bottom of the page, she read aloud, " 'Note: Some dragon's riders are not there at Impression. If it is possible, attempts must be made to prevent the hatching from going between and potential candidates for the next clutch should be presented to the dragon to see if they will be chosen. Hatchlings cannot last very long without a rider, and some will die within a sevenday.' See Cine? My dragon has hatched somewhere else, we have to find it!" The sliver chirped curiously and sneezed because of the dust. "I'll bet H'nal can arrange for a lift around to possible weyrs and I'll find my dragon!"

So excited by the idea, and feeling horrible for leaving her potential lifemate all alone for so long, Thia ran upstairs and right into the temporary weyrleaders office. The man looked up at her from his desk where he was writing something. "I didn't even think he might be busy, and I never know what to say..." Mumbling something about being sorry she barged in, Thia quickly turned and started to leave before the dragonrider took her arm. "I know you didn't run in her for nothing Thia, what is it you need?" she turned and looked back up at him curiously. "Yes, I know your name. It's on most of the registries and records here. Come, sit and tell me what you seem so excited by." Nervous now, Thia sat on the edge of the chair and stared at the ground. "What did you want? Don't be so shy, I don't bite." He smiled at her. "I, uh, wanted to know if Icouldgoaroundandfindmydragon." The last half was said so fast the words melded together.

"All I heard was 'I want to know if' and 'dragon'. Speak slower." With a deep breath, Thia repeated herself. "I want to know if I could borrow a dragon and go find my...dragon. You see, I have this theory that since I've been turned down at so many hatchings, my dragon has aleady hatched and I wasn't there. So now it's sitting alone somewhere with no rider and it'll die if I don't find it!" H'nal laughed and leaned back in his chair. "He's not going to let me, I know it..." she thought, and braced for the worst. "I think I have just the perfect person to take you. K'mon re-Impressed his Nanvooth and they are now strong advocates for re-Impression. They both happen to be available. Noon, you'll begin. Sound good?" She opened her eyes which she didn't realize she'd squeezed shut. "You're...letting me go?" He chuckled again. "Do you all think weyrleaders are unapproachable tyrants? Of course I'll let you go. It's against my policy to prevent a person from seeking Impression in any way."

Outside, a muffled bugle interrupted his sentence and a young man walked in. "You wanted to see me?" he asked. "Yes, K'mon this is Thiadril. She's looking to re-Impress just like you did, and she needs a ride around to hopeful weyrs." A smile spread across K'mon's face as he looked down at Thia. "That's great! We'll go through all of Pern first, then try some other worlds." Quite bewildered that this was so easy, Thia just stammered at K'mon as he guided her from the office. "We'll go now, if you don't mind. I'm sure H'nal has informed your parents." His dragon, Nanvooth, was sitting outside in the sun and turned when K'mon exited.

Is this the girl?

The blue asked this for both to hear. "Yep. I say we start at DawnSisters, I heard that they had a few abandoned dragons recently..." K'mon babbled on to his blue while he gathered things they'd need. Thia had to sit and comprehend all that had just occured. "I'm going to find my dragon!" her mind rejoiced after awhile. Cine crealed happily as well, dancing in the air around Nanvooth. Before long, they were all loaded up and headed for new weyrs, and Thia's dragon!

They appeared over a strange place, heavily forested and definitely not DawnSisters. Once landed, K'mon and Nanvooth had an argument about where they were. "What do you mean you didn't mean to come here? You can't just appear at some random place, you have to know where you're going!" While the two bickered, Thia wandered into the dense trees, a strange feeling pulling her deeper and deeper within....