"Come on, give them back, please Gryric?" Jedri pleaded, watching his little blue pouch get juggled back and forth, its contents rattling with the maltreatment.

Gryric, the bully of a caerbrat that had snatched the pouch from him, only barked a laugh and continued tossing it around. "You want it so badly, why don't you take it back from me, huh?"

Jedri, five inches shorter and several stone lighter than his tormentor, only bit his lip and silently berated himself for letting his prized possession be snatched from him so easily. He didn't want to get in a fight with the older boy-- he couldn't, even! It was tantamount to suicide. Gryric, though he was not the nastiest boy on the Caer's land and had never hurt anyone badly, nevertheless had a nasty habit of picking on any other boy that was younger, shorter, and/or lighter than he was... that is, any other boy that had little chance of fighting back and winning.

Jedri and Gryric had no personal grudges against one another-- Jedri had just been unfortunate enough to find himself alone in Gryric's path when the latter had happened to be in one of his poorer moods. Gryric was really more of a nuisance than an actual threat, but he was a persistent nuisance, and Jedri was really just too quiet a boy to simply tell him off. There were also no adults in sight to call in for reinforcement. It was midday, and the sun was high in the desert sky, so most of the caerfolk were inside if they could help it. Jedri didn't know what had possessed him to go for a walk-about at this time of day, but he was rather starting to wish it hadn't.

Gryric snorted as Jedri made no move to reclaim his little bag, and the older boy's expression was somewhere between disgust and disappointment. "Oh come on, aren't you going to try at all to get it back? Wuss!"

Jedri bowed his head timidly, though still trying to meet the other bow's scowling eyes. "Please, Gryric, I don't want to make a fuss... just give me back my bag, please?"

The bully spat in disgust, and stopped tossing the little sack between his hands. "Tell you what," he huffed, lifting the pouch high in the air and holding it over his head with a malicious little smirk. "Jump for it, then maybe I'll give it back."

Jedri flushed with embarrassed indignation, looking longingly up at his little bag, its sides bulging and lumpy with the secrets therein. As much as he wanted it back, he wasn't about to degrade himself by leaping for it like a puppy after a treat. Plus, he highly doubted Gryric would give it back even if he did-- the other boy was just looking for a cheap laugh.

Seconds dragged by so slowly it was almost painful, with Gryric waiting for Jedri to do something, and Jedri refusing to give him that pleasure. The bully's face slowly twisted with annoyed disgust, but just as he opened his mouth to taunt the young boy again, the sky exploded with dragons.

The two boys immediately forgot their quarrel and turned as one, eyes wide and jaws dropping as the largest dragon-horde either of them had ever seen materialized in the sky over the dead volcano of Serpent's Reach, darkening the fierce sky with their wings. A heartbeat afterwards, the pair were suddenly swamped with the wave of raging emotions that roiled off the massive pack, emotions that they were both too young to fully understand, and yet they knew what it stood for anyways. As dragons bugled all around the Caer and took to the sky to join the living stormcloud, they knew a dragoness had brought her flight to Serpent's Reach.

Gryric took off running back towards the Caer, completely forgetting about the other boy, and dropping the bag he had snatched away. Jedri's own trance was broken when the bag struck the ground and spewed its contents all over the sand: small stones, dozens in count, gleaming with countless colours and striations, all worn smooth by either time or water. They spilled across the sand and their gentle clatter brought Jedri's attention away from the sky, and he moaned to see his precious collection scattered like so many worthless bits of debris.

He dropped to his knees and picked up his little pouch again, and started to recollect his stones one at a time, examining each one and lamenting over every scratch or scruff he found upon the once-smooth surfaces. Jedri only managed to gather up a half dozen of his stones, though, before he forgot his task and his eyes went to the heavens once more. Dragons everywhere, black as night but for the occasional splash of colour that was one of the Caer's dragons.

Where did they all come from? the boy thought in amazement, watching the creatures wheel far overhead, and trying to pick out the risen female at the head of the flock. They were magnificent and terrifying all at once, and Jedri could not help but stare.

He had never seen a flight before, and though he didn't much like the fury and other nameless emotions that radiated off of the massive horde, he found himself growing excited at the thought that surely, the dragoness would clutch here and lay her eggs.

Eggs that would need bonders.

Jedri scooped up the rest of his stones in a rush, now heedlessly tossing handfuls of sand in along with the timeworn stones that only he found so precious. Then he leapt to his feet and raced down the slope, headed back home. People were streaming out of the Caer, now, drawn by the dragon-cry that accompanied the awe-inspiring flight.

Eggs. Baby dragons. Two other hatchings had come and gone at the Caer rather recently-- Jedri had watched them both. The first had been incredible, and frightening, with night-scaled beasts unlike no dragon Alskyr had ever seen, and the candidates that had shown up had been similarly alien, with barely a human among them, and no natives whatsoever. The second clutch had been more mundane, though the duo-wing hatchlings had been gorgeous, there had again been no natives among the mere three that had been Searched.

Now, surely, another clutch would come to lie on the Caers sands. Jedri had missed out on the first two, a fact for which he had quietly sulked many days afterwards. Like many children, Jedri dreamed of being a dragoner because he, also like many other children, was not content with his lot in life and dreamed of greater things. Jedri's father, Ibaur Thiaron, was a tailor, a good one, and wanted his only child to follow in his footsteps. He was a kind and gentle man, and had never forced the career choice on his son, oh no... Ibaur was simply quiet and hopeful, and Jedri loved him too much to disappoint him. He had apprenticed to his father because it had made Ibaur happy, and stayed his apprentice because he was good at the work.

But though good Jedri was, he did not enjoy it, yet continued doing it because it pleased his father. He would never have told Ibaur, 'I don't enjoy this, I want to apprentice to someone else.' No, never! That would have broken his father's heart, and nothing in the world could make Jedri do that to his father.

If he was Searched, though, and stood on the sands and bonded to a dragon... now that would not disappoint his father. On the contrary, his father would give him up to the life of a dragoner with pride and well-wishes. There had never been a dragoner in their family line except distantly. For that, Jedri could cast aside his needles and thread.

All he had to do was get Searched. A long shot, by far, but he could try. That was, of course, assuming the dragoness being courted overhead chose to clutch at Serpent's Reach... but if she did, Jedri would make sure he caught a Searcher's eyes this time. He'd never have a chance of standing if he didn't. He wouldn't sneak onto the sands, as he heard some people did. He'd do it the right way, and make his father proud.

Jedri ran all the way home, working up quite a sweat, but hardly noticing it. His parents were outside their little home with an entire crowd of people, and he ran up to them, joining the rest in watching the flight progress with awe and amazement.

It lasted a very long while, but Jedri's parents ushered him inside long before one of the chasing males actually caught the female he pursued. He didn't mind, though. It wasn't the flight that was the important part. That night, he went to bed hoping and wishing that the dragoness would lay her eggs up on the Caer sands, and that he'd eventually see the Searchriders fly out to hunt for candidates. He was prepared to wait and watch.