A/N There are spoilers in here to New Girls regarding who Impresses so be aware! however I did promise to post this as the direct follow on from Horgey the Harper so here it is to wait and read later or carry on with now. As you will see by my slightly imprecise numbering code this is in time period 8 of my reckoning. There's four more period 7 stories to come 2 of which spill into period 8. I apologise for not being more efficient or precise.

Chapter 1

Kitiara was decidedly nervous.

She had never been so far away from home and parents before; though she had had no more contact with them during her apprenticeship than any other apprentice.

That was not the whole of it; or even the main part.

Kitiara had acknowledged her love for H'gey before he Impressed and was now effectively moving into marriage with him; as they would have been wed had he not Impressed so unexpectedly. Consequently her life would change. And she was not quite sure who she was right now.

She had been Lady Kitiara, granddaughter of Lord Groghe, all her life; and she had cheerfully shed that – with a few shifts in her perceptions – to become Apprentice Kit, with her bunch of friends and looking just like one of the boys. She had almost forgotten that she was not; and certainly the boys had forgotten totally! It had only been her violent infatuation for T'rin that had reminded her that she was a girl.

And she had outgrown that.

She still loved T'rin; most dearly. But she loved him as one might a brother, the way he had always loved her.

Growing up was painful at times; but it brought its own rewards too, like more certainty and self assurance. Most of the time, anyway! Certainly as Lady Kitiara she lacked no confidence; Kit grinned as she remembered the reactions of H'gey's paying students, stuck up tunnel snakes some of them. She had outranked and out dressed them, and she had done it on purpose to keep them down until Horgey – as he was then – had them under control.

Well, Lesara had been a failure; but no-one could succeed with her, even the Masterharper!

And now she, Kitiara, was one of the lowest of the low, a candidate, not even a weyrling. As a senior apprentice she carried some rank, which counted; but here in the Weyr her birth was immaterial.

There would be, doubtless, some candidates trying to use Rank; and Kitiara wondered if she were justified in using her own birth to put them in their places.

She resolved to try not to; it OUGHT to be irrelevant. And if her Rank were known it might put off those of lower birth she might otherwise make friends with.

Besides, it would be more fun to conceal it and then mention in passing and watch the less pleasant chew on their own bile. Kit brightened. That was THAT decision thought through.

Who she was inside was still a problem. And whether she was 'H'gey's weyrmate' or not. They had exchanged quite chaste kisses, but Kit was cautious. H'gey seemed willing to take it slowly, so she could make the decision not to move in with him until she was ready to go all the way.

Kit knew it was to her advantage that she knew some of the members of the Harperweyr; L'gal, the acting master, T'rin and H'gey, the journeymen, F'lim, senior apprentice who not so long ago had been Felimmy the flaming nuisance of the Harper Hall. There was T'arla, who she knew slightly and had heard a lot about from T'rin.

And there was T'rin's baby daughter too, Tylessa, child of the Harperweyr Headwoman Allessa, whose son Lyseder was an apprentice and a fosterling of T'rin too!

But she must not hide behind the Harpers.

She was a candidate too; and must try to make friends with the other candidates.

Somehow Kit doubted it would be as easy as settling in and making friends amongst the happy-go-lucky Harper apprentices!

Some would have come on search for the right reasons, to serve, and because they loved dragons and could not stay away. Others would be there to please family – though of course that happened in crafthalls too, the Harper Hall no exception to apprentices trying to live up to talented parents or trying to bring honour on their family regardless of whether they were truly as talented as their fond parents liked to think. Some would have come to the Weyr as an escape; either seeing it as a soft option, as some saw Harping too, or to escape from very real misery or oppression. And some would come in the hopes of prestige. It was these last who would be the troublesome ones; the ones who saw the idea of riding a dragon as glamorous, raising them above others.

There would also be the incurably romantic; they might well love dragons, but might well have come to the Weyr in the hopes of finding true love after being swept off their feet – metaphorically or actually – by some handsome and dashing rider.

The boys would doubtless have similar motives to the girls – save perhaps the last, though with young homosexual lads one might not rule it out – so there might not even be any joy of them either.

Kit decided to dress ambiguously and stick to her apprentice nickname.

She could decide whether to make friends then amongst the boys or the girls or both!

Daenilth had not yet laid her clutch, so search was not yet on in earnest. That too gave Kit an advantage; she would be well established in the Weyr by the time most candidates came in, and might even be mistaken for weyrbred if she was careful. She had absorbed already a considerable amount of knowledge about dragons and weyr life from T'rin after all!

The only other girl who had so far been brought in with the intention of standing since the last clutch was Ishelle, from the Woodcrafter Hall. Kit knew that T'rin respected H'llon, the Weyrwoodcrafter, so went in search of her; of those who had failed to Impress last hatching, only a girl called Jarla would be standing again, Siselly and Elena having elected to stand down to do other jobs in the Weyr, Siselly in fact helping Allessa in the Harperweyr. Carlinna had elected to spend more time improving her art before putting herself forward again as a candidate, once she felt herself more worthy. There were other women and girls of the weyr who were eligible; but Kelia still preferred not to stand, Mayana was adjudged too young by her parents still, and Meliandra was still in too minds over attempting to join her sister I'linne in Impression. Kit judged that Ishelle would be the loneliest in some respects, the woodcraft apprentices being rather young, and likely to welcome overtures of friendship. Thus she approached the girl with a warm smile.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully "It's nice to meet others with a craft; as you can see I'm a Harper, so we're in a similar situation of having respectable craft halls."

Ishelle smiled nervously.

"I'm not really a very competent apprentice" she said. "If I could Impress, I'd likely give it up. I – I became an apprentice and then came on here to avoid getting married."

"Oh, I see" said Kit. "Some parents can be the limit, or so I'm told; I'm lucky I guess, I have pretty understanding ones. They've never tried to coerce me in any way."

"Luckly old you! My parents want the acceptable thing. They – I – I say, aren't you a friend of Journeyman T'rin?"

"Yes, but that's all it is" said Kit firmly. "Friends. And if you don't mind a word of advice, try not to fall for him; he's a good natured rogue who likes to keep it as well oiled as a dragon is in as many women as possible."

Ishelle flushed.

"I – I hadn't fallen for him" she said. "I just wondered if you knew how it all worked here; I've been here nearly three months but…. I don't like to ask the Impressed weyrwomen and – and there are things I can't ask H'llon; and I nearly asked the girl called S'hana because she used to be a friend of Elissa, but – but she's a bit…."

"Abrasive?" laughed Kit. "Yes, I've heard of S'hana. And her foster mother Y'lara! What do you want to know? I can't guarantee to know the answers you know! I mean, you've had more time than me to pick up the customs here!"

"Well…you see, at the Woodcrafter Hall I – I pretended to know more than I did about…intimacy…and I ended up insulting people worse than I meant; and I've been terrified of making the same mistake, so I've been wary; only Journeyman T'rin is well liked, and I guess a friend of his would be nice…that Kelia, Brown Rider K'len's sister is doing the same thing I did, pretending she knows all about….men and women. Z'ira's been kind to me; and L'sya too; but of course when I arrived they hadn't long been Impressed, so they're kind of preoccupied. It – it would be nice to have a female friend close to me in age."

"Well we can certainly resolve to try to be friendly" said Kit "Though we might not end up friends-forever-undivided if we've few interests in common. And I haven't really done much in the way of intimacy either, though I was betrothed – which was my choice – to H'gey before he Impressed. And we shall probably weyr together soon. But I guess he's too tired to want to go any further, with Brieth so demanding still; and I'm not displeased at the moment because it's still all a little scary."

Ishelle heaved a sigh of relief.

"It's nice to be able to be honest about one's ignorance" she said. "Elissa sent me here; she found out that I was putting on an act and I didn't even know about….bleeding" she blushed "And put me right about a few things, and how I was being really nasty by ….by what I said."

"Silly clunch" said Kit, without rancour. "But then we all make fools of ourselves one way or another. I had a most violent crush on T'rin for a while, and then I had a violent crush on the idea of having a crush on T'rin. I got over it, then I met Horgey, as he was then. And I also pretended hard I was a boy for turns – the Masterharper knew, and my special friends – but I didn't want the masters to have apoplectic fits that I had a thought or two in my head as well as teats in my tunic. For some of them, the two are mutually exclusive!"

"What about Menolly?"

"Oh, Menolly's exceptional; unique; a genius. Even the most superannuated old caprines had to accept her ability, and you didn't hear that description of any of our masters from me" she grinned.

Ishelle smiled back.

"There are one or two of them less than nice in Lemos too" she said "Though it's a young craft, so I guess there are less that are hidebound. Nobody makes any problem about female apprentices except Master Gerney; and he accepted Elissa as a special pupil because she's so good. And now I hear they've got married; so I guess she taught him not to hate women."

"Probably just confused by them the way H'llon's supposed to be" said Kit. "Nice to think there's somewhere that isn't hidebound!

Ishelle was almost pathetically eager to please; and not, perhaps, terribly bright; but she had managed to lose the airs and false sophistication she had assumed at the Woodcrafter Hall and was a nice enough girl able to admit to fears and concerns for her future. Kit thought that once she learned a little self confidence she would blossom – or at least she hoped so! She found the woodcraft apprentice a little tedious, but was nice to her anyway in an offhand sort of way, reflecting wryly that it would probably lead to Ishelle attaching herself to her with embarrassing effusion! The girl was at least willing to try to fit in; and so was less wearing than poor pessimistic Duthi with his black moods and frequent threats to throw away his apprenticeship, for finding it hard to even see the possibility of success!

There was another girl whose things were in the female candidates' dormitory, but Jarla slept a lot of the time over near the weyr runnerbeasts she helped to tend, being very good with animals. Jarla was younger than Kitiara by a good turn; and had been a little childish when she had first arrived. She was growing up fast for being able to be a real help to the Weyr, rather than feeling she was set to makework. Her leatherwork too was famously good, and she worked with the Weyrtanner as well as helping with fighting straps. The girl was in many ways treated more like a young weyrwoman, a resident, like weyrartist Geriana, than like a candidate. Those in authority were pleased by the way Jarla had shaped up, and were definitely planning on putting her forward again. But until the clutch was laid, Jarla liked to be across with the beasts she helped care for.

H'gey was pleased that Kit was trying to make friends with candidates out of the Harperweyr and mentioned Jarla as someone she might wish to get to know.

"She's a bit runner-mad, mind" he said "I don't know if you've anything in common or not."

Kit wrinkled her retrousse nose.

"Oh dear" she said. "I always stayed out of the way of runner-man fosterlings. So terribly HEARTY!"

H'gey laughed.

"Maybe you'll like other forms of riding one day" he said.

"If I Impress? Of course I…" she briefly misunderstood; then flushed! "H'gey! You BAD one!"

"I do my best!"

Kit brushed his lips with hers; and he drew her to him for a hard, demanding kiss.

He broke off quickly, feeling her alarm.

"I'm sorry my dear" he said. "You are so lovely…."

"H'gey….." she was trembling "I want it but I'm a little…. I liked that…."

"But the intensity scared you?" he asked gently.

She nodded.

"I'd better try and be good then" he said gravely; and pulled a comical face at her.

"I guess…. I guess I don't want you to try too hard" said Kitiara, shyly.

"Girl, I'm not made of stone" said H'gey. "I can't play games; you affect me too much. I can only live with so much teasing."

Kit blushed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tease. I – I want to get used to….to finding out what it feels like to want someone and to be….you know."

He nodded.

"I'll always respect your wishes, love; I'll never go further than you want; but I do ask in return that you try not to make it too fardling hard for me."

"I didn't know I was teasing; I'm sorry."

He held out his arms; and she went to him, to be held against his strong chest, enlarged and deepened by so much upper body exercise as much as by singing.

H'gey did not show how much he wanted to go further; that this wonderful girl loved him was amazing, especially in light of their less than auspicious beginning several turns ago; and he would never do anything to frighten her or push her away!

He changed the subject.

"T'lana wants to put Meliandra forward too" he said.

Kit, enjoying his scent, cared little about Meliandra; but asked politely,

"Oh?"

"She's one of Meron's girls, our I'linne's older sister. Not that the two are much alike!" he grinned, for I'linne's pedantic speech initiated to irritate her foster parents was legendary. "Meliandra was….used….by her foster father and his sons. So too was the fellow's own daughter, the creep."

"Ugh!" shuddered Kit. "But that's…."

"Incest? Yes, my innocent, one of the country crimes, to be found in small Holds as well as in cotholds."

Kit suddenly remembered how H'gey had told all T'rin;s friends of the abuse he had received at the hands of his own uncle; and hugged him fiercely.

He hugged her back, and went on,

"Meliandra can be prickly and defensive. She's friendly with J'esha, but I think it would be nice, should she agree to be a candidate, if my well-adjusted love could be friendly towards her too."

Kit nodded.

That did not sound to be a problem.

"And you'll be a logicator, of course?" it was almost more a statement from him than a question.

"Oh, of course!" laughed Kit.

The apprentices of The Dormitory – as they referred to themselves – had done some logicating, though collecting and collating information was more their speciality! But T'rin had told tales of the logicators and Kit was eager and curious to join! It was a shame that Ishelle had not wanted to join the logicators; Kit thought it might be good for her, especially as the other woodcrafters were all leading lights in it! Still, the girl evidently still needed time to find her feet!

Meliandra, it turned out, did come to some at least of the logicator meetings. It was thanks to the logicators that her plight had been known and that of the younger girl at the Hold abused by her own father. Meliandra might be prickly, and occasionally sulky, but she was essentially a fair minded girl who wanted to give back what she had gained. She also mucked in to help with the orphaned children of the childhold – basically run by the logicators – whilst claiming firmly to loathe children.

She made a pretty good job of hiding it from the children if she spoke truth; and Kit admired her for that, and said so.

Meliandra tossed her head and gave a harsh laugh.

"Oh well, it's not their fault that I'm not maternal" she said.

Kit decided not to actively seek friendship with Meliandra; the girl's very touchiness would likely lead her to push Kit away. It was better to let any friendship develop through shared interest in logicating and love of dragons. For Meliandra did love dragons, even though she pretended indifference!

She was more relaxed, Kit noted, with J'esha, if there appeared to be nobody watching. In public she made a show of deference to an Impressed rider – which irritated J'esha, but the Green Rider put up with it for her friend's sake – but in private Meliandra spoke in a more relaxed way, yet with animation.

Kit thought that Meliandra felt defensive about her friendship with her Impressed cousin; and was half afraid of losing that friendship: and at that, the Harper girl was not far from the truth. Which was why T'lana had asked J'esha to broach the idea of standing this time as a candidate to Meliandra, to ask her to be a colleague!

T'lana's planning – and timing – rarely went awry; and Meliandra agreed! This meant four candidates already for the female wing, and although that would not limit the numbers brought in it gave enthusiastic Blue and Green Riders bent on search something of a yardstick to compare other girls to when Daenilth clutched her thirty nine eggs one cold winter's day!