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Date Posted: 22:28:47 04/21/02 Sun
Author: Karsky
Subject: .::.Walks in, bright eyes peering around.::.

*Karsky padded down High Reaches’s hallways, booted feet muffling the clip of her stride. Her deep, blue
eyes sparkled like two stars placed in the night of the heavens. She smiled, even teeth
comlpimenting her eyes. The tall girl of 16-turns hummed a jaunty tune, her feet padding to the
tune. Soon, the tune picked up pace, leaving her no choice but to dance her way into the Sands. It
certainly wasn’t traditional Harper music, but it was from a Harper. Her brother had composed
the song for her while she had been training a delinquent child. But that was a story for another
time. As she waltzed down the halls, her hair fell out of its loose band, falling into her face in neat
layers. The strawberry-blonde color was enhanced by the heat coming from the near-by Sands,
causing it to glow warmly as it had done so many time before when she sat in front of a camp-fire.
She smiled fondly at the memory of camping and the person it brought to mind. Aukin, the
wonderous son of the Holder. He was the one who had taught her everything she knew. From
traditional dance to trader’s dance, and from camping to acting like royalty, he’d taught her
everything. He’d even told her stories about all the Weyrs and their histories. He’d taught her to
read so he wouldn’t have to tell her everything. Karsky had always been fascinated by reading and
nothing had stopped her from doing it. One night...*

* * F L A S H B A C K * *

**Karsky sat on the battlements closest to the palace door, watching the gaurds intently. She had
been moniterrng them for two weeks now, watching to see when each shift passed. Her first
intention had been to only learn the shifts, but she had managed to learn the gaurd’s personalities
as well. Like the two guarding the door now, they wern’t as tough as the one’s on duty before
them. They were somewhat calmer and acted like they knew what they were doing when in
reality, they didn’t. Those two would be the easiest to slip by. Karsky moved further down the
stair, avoiding showing her shadow and giving a heads-up to the guards. They may be dumb, but
they had brute strength to make up for it.**
**The girl squatted and waited for the next guard-round. Just as the two senetried turned and the
guards left, sh sprang forward and padded the ground quietly, slipping in through the doors and
closing them gently. She slipped into the shadows, breathing shallowly. After making sure the
guards had not heard, she glided through the shadows, taking the second right turn and then
slipping across the hall to the left. She came out of the shadows, brushing off any dust that had
gathered on her dress and tilted her chin up. Using the walk Aukin had taught her, she moved into
the library, nodding to a visiting official and making her way towards a shelf. She picked a scroll
and sat down, rolling it open. Remembering to keep her posture, she studied it happily, soaking
up the information.**
**The time trickled by at a fast pace until she finally rolled up the scroll and replaced it. She
almost smiled, but kept it back, about to slip into the shadows again. A hand touched her
shoulder, turning her around to face the owner. Small black eyes stared down into hers, sizing her
up. Remembering she was supposed to be royalty, she narrowed her eyes slightly and brushed his
hand off her shoulder, looking up at him calmly with a fake smile.**
“And who do I have the pleasure of addressing, sir?”
**She recited cooly, voice pitched to match those of the Ladies. The man lifted his eyebrowns
and placed his hands at his side, obviously pleased with her answer to his silent question. He
bowed and she curtsied, placing her right foot behind her left and dipping. The man spoke.**
“I am surprised you do not reconize me, my Lady.”
**He said with a knowing smile, black eyes glittering in humor. Karsky felt herself frown against
her will at his statement, racking her brains for an answer. As she looked at him, a name popped
into her mind. Oh great, she moaned mentally, Only he would know who I am. But
she quickly recovered from the initial shock.**
“I do reconize you, m’Lord, I was merely testing you. I’ve heard you have a great fondness for
practical jokes, sir.”
**The Holder quirked an eyebrow, looking around to make sure no one was left in the library.
Seeing that his assumption was correct, he gripped her arm and pulled her into a corner, dropping
the Holder attitude.**
“You’re as good as Aukin told me. You really should come to one of my parties.”
**Karsky felt her mouth round into an “o” of surprise at his comment. The Lord Holder merely
smiled and removed his hands to fold them across his chest.**
“Yes, I know who you are, Karsky. I managed to pry the information from Aukin before he went
off to look for you.”
**In a last, desperate attempt to hide her nature, Karsky tried a move she had thought up.**
“Why, m’Lord Holder, I don’t believe I’ve ever heard the name ‘Karsky’ before. What in the
shar- er, heavens are you talking about?”
**She nearly winced at her slip-up, knowing most officials didn’t use “shards” around him. The
Lord Holder only smiled and nodded knowingly, leaving her time to recover and confess.**
“Alright, sir. You’ve blown my cover. I admit it.”
**The Holder nodded again, eyes twinkling merrily.**
“I knew you’d confess sooner or later, so I didn’t say anything.”
“So what’re ya gonna do with me?”
“Well, first, we’re going to change your accent so you don’t have a chance of slipping-up again.”
**The Holder started listing off ways to improve her tecnique, leaving Karsky speechless. This
man, she thought, This man must be insane. Or maybe he really does want me to pull a
prank on a certain visitor... As soon as she thought that, a face flashed into her mind: that of a
long and narrow face with high cheekbones and a crooked nose. A pair of crude specticles hung
over his nose and did nothing to hide his beady grey eyes. Karsky smiled sweetly and said his
name.**
“Bithil.”
**The Lord Holder seemed surprised and nodded dumbly. Basking in her glory, the girl dived
farther, pushing the limits like she always did. Only this time, she would not get away with it.**
“I knew it had to be Bithil because he seems the type to pull one of those practical jokes you are
so fond of. Am I correct?”
**The Lord Holder frowned and adjusted his jacket, staring down at Karsky.**
“I had rather hoped you would know how to keep your mouth shut. I had been planning to pull a
prank on Bithil for some time now, and you would have been included. If you knew how to be
quiet. You see, my plan involves you being VERY quiet, and since you can’t do that, I can’t offer
you the position.”
**Karsky felt her heart drop from her ribcage to her feet as she stared back at him, mouth dry.
She stuttered out an answer in vain.**
“But, sir! I can be quiet. Please give me another chance!”
“I’ll think about it, but for now, you better run off before the guards get to you.”
**As he said that, he rang a bell to signal the guards. Karsky glanced at him in resentment and
slunked into the shadows, speeding off towards the exit. As she passed through the doors, she
heared the holder call out.**
“And until further notice, you are hearby banished from my Hold. And I never want to see you
around Aukin again!”
**Karsky stumbled past the guards in blind shock, closing the main door behind her. She leaned
against it, tears streaming where they had never been before. The irl buried her face in her hands,
sobbing painfully past the cramp in her side. She felt a hand on her shoulder, this time a familiar
one. She looked up through her tears into her love’s face, moving into his arms to cry against him.
Aukin smiled sadly and led her away from the palace, still cradling her to him. Soon, they slipped
into an unnoticed place, Aukin waiting until Karsky could regain her control.**
“I overheard your conversation with my father, Karsky...”
**He started. She looked up and nodded.**
“Yes, it didn’t go too well, did it?”
“No, it didn’t. But when my father learned of us, he was angry and I heard him say he’d do
anything to get us apart.”
“It seems like he’s doing a fine job of it, too.”
**Karsky mumbled the last comment, not expecting to be pulled into another embrace, this time
feeling Aukin’s tears on her head. She looked up, eyes startled. She reached up and brushed away
a tear, comforting him like he had her.**
“Please, Aukin, don’t cry. It’ll only make this harder.”
“I know...but I’ll miss you so.”
“And I’ll miss you.”
**They whispered their farewells and parted, Autin going back to the palace and Karsky to her
home. She told her care-taker, who knew it would happen someday and packed her things. As she
was folding the dress she had worn, a plan came to her mind. She grabbed a weyrhide and pen,
scratching a message onto it. Eagerly she slipped into dark clothes and grabbed her bag, sliding
out the window and dropping to the ground. She hid her bag in the bushes, grinning happily. If
she was going to leave, she’d do it with style...**

** E N D F L A S H B A C K **

*Karsky snapped back to reality as a wave of heat hit her from the Sands, causing her strawberry
blonde hair to glow in the heat. She smiled and stepped onto the sand, knowing her feet wouldn’t
slip. It would be fun to live here, having a new slate to create a life on. She could choose any
personality she wanted and live in it. She could be the dark and mysterious type, always causing
trouble, or the preppy type who talked to everyone and made friends with every rider in the Weyr.
Or she could be herself. A broken, worn-out child who desperatly needed love. But, no. She
wouldn’t be herself completely. At least not yet. That thought brought up why she was here,
causing her to grimice as she remembered what happened after she was ordered to leave her
Hold.*

** F L A S H B A C K **

**Karsky curled her hands over the stone masonry of the palace and hefted herself up. She felt
her feet leave the ground and seek hold in the blocks of the wall.She intook her breath sharply as
her left foot caught on a lose stone, causing her to stumble. She managed to haul herself over the
wall and tumble into the grass, holding her ankle painfully. After what seemed like hours of
nursing herself out of a pity-party, she stood and hobled off. She would need some sort of
transportation, she would have no chance of making tracks quickly. Afterall, there had been a
small price issued on her head. Karsky knew the loot was merely for show, Aukin's father
wouldn't have the guts to kill her. At the memory of her one love, her heart constricted in visible
pain. A sob broke through her mouth as she continued to stumble her way to a small hamlet.**
**The girl woke to the sound of a mother tutting her children out the door. Karsky groaned and
sat up quickly, immediantly wishing she hadn't. Her hands flew to her head, holding it as she
doubled over in pain. The mother hurried over, worry evident in her eyes.
"You okay little one? You took quite a fall an' the village lead'r told me ta look after you."
**Karsky looked up at her, forcing a smile onto her face. She looked at her surroundings before
answering the lady.**
“How did I get here, ma’am? I only remember walking along some battlements and then a quick
shove to my back. The rest is a mystery.”
**She lied through clenched teeth, making her sapphire eyes as big as they could. The mtoher fell
for it and began to cluck around her again.**
“Oh dearie me! What an awful thing to happen to a pretty thing as yourself. Why, who would
want to do such a thing! My, my, oh well, let’s get you clean up, girl. You may call me Mrs.
Mary.”
**The woman helped Karsky up and led her to th humble bathing room where she left her to her
own devices. The girl smiled, feeling her heart jump into her throat at the sight of bathing water.
With a contented sigh, she shed her clothes and slipped into the water. After bathing herself and
thoroughly scrubbing her hair, she sighed and let herself soak. Karsky stared at the odd pakage of
berries beside the sand. She picked them up and studied them, weighing them in her palm. They
would be good for dying, which is what she needed to do in case the Holder had sent out his
people to look for her. She carefully squished three berries in her hand and applied them liberally
to the top of her head and the hair around her ears, leaving the rest a coppery red. She washed her
hands and pulled out her pocket knife, sliding the blade through the end of the dyed hair. She
tossed it away and cleaned her knife and replaced it. She grabbed a brush and combed out her hair
until it was straight, which took some time. When she finally had her hair to her liking, she
stepped back and regarded herself in the mirror. She hardly reconized herself in the older-looking
girl. Her luxorious black hair fell aroud her shoulders in one continuous wave, accenting her blue
eyes like her strawberry blonde hair had never done. Karsky smiled at her reflection and absently
pulled on the clothes Mary had provided, which happened to be a sleeveless, plain dress made of
sackcloth. She looked exactly like a farmer’s daughter. The thought sent a thrill through her for
some reason. As she stepped out of the bathing room, she tucked away her knife and rummaged
around for farming history. She found Mary in the kitchen, baking bread for breakfast.**
“Mary?”
**She asked quietly, keeping her blu eyes wide. The plump housewife turned around with a
delightful smile, envealoping Karsky in a floury hug.**
“My dear! You look beautiful! Oh, my boys’ll love you. I’m surprised a pretty one like yourself
doesn’t have a husband yet.”
**Karsky gulped, a painful image of Aukin seared across her mind. She had to remember that
people like Mary married early. She swallowed past the lump in her throat, lying again.**
“Aye, sadly enough, my father wouldn’ let me marry. Although I’m interested in raising a family.
It doesn’t feel right to have all your friends married and you’re the only one who’s not.”
**She said, watching Mary’s face closely. Mary lit up like a fire.**
“Really? Well maybe my boys can take care of that for you. I’m sure you’ll like Kagem. He’s our
second born, but Jeran is already married.”
**Karsky made herself smile and blush, looking out the window.**
“You think so? Which one is he?”
**Mary beamed at her reaction and pulled her away to the stove.**
“We’ll have time to chat later, but lets get dinner ready.”

** E N D F L A S H B A C K **

*Karsky shivered despite the blazing heat of the Sands. Those days had been torture. She had had
to play sweet and simple to Kagem and his family. She wiped away the cold sweat that had
formed on her brow, remembering well Kagem’s face. He wasn’t ugly, he was what she would
call...handsome. His honest brown eyes always felt like they could see to your heart. And it had
made her charade all the harder. She still longed for Aukin, but Kagem made her legs feel like
jelly. So she had ran from the place and started a third life, searching to be closer to Aukin. She
ran back to the Hold and became a helper to a merchant. Karsky had learned the ways of being a
merchant quickly and managed to get acess to the Holder’s encampment after a Turn or two.
Unfortunatly, she heard that Aukin had been transferred to Tillek/ Hold and now this Hold had
one of the Holder’s children from Tillek/. She stayed as a merchant for a few more weeks, making
arangements and then setting off again. She had moved into Southern and her hair had become
bleached by the sun. And then Thread had struck the Southern continent.**

** F L A S H B A C K **

**16-Turn old Karsky grumbled as she hauled on the lead rope of a stubborn roan runner. She
sighed and sat down on a nearby rock, letting him graze contentedly. The only way to get a
stubborn runner was to let him eat himself into stupidity. She sighed and stretched out on the rock
after tying the rope to a tree. She must have dozed because she was woken by the frantic
squealing of the roan. Her clear blue eyes opened as a gasp caught in her throat. Thread! She
scrambled off the rock and untied the runner, hopping on his back and kicking him into action. He
immediantly ran off in a crazy direction. Karsky reigned him in and headed for an outcropping of
rocks. She forced the runner in under the rocks and followed, keeping an eye to the skies. What
she saw changed her life.**
**A brown dragon swooped out, catching her off-gaurd. But the bright flame that spurted from
his jaws sent her mind reeling. She tore her eyes from the dragon and crept back under the rocks,
waiting for the Thread to pass or be charred.**
**
**After what seemed like ages, the ble eyed girl crawled out, dragging the runner with her.
Shakily she checked the skies and after making sure there was no more Thread, she lead the
obediant roan back to her home. She asked around later about the giant lizard in the sky and
found the answers she wanted. She sold everything except a few changes of clothes and a few
other things and set off. Soon, by way of foot, she reached a Weyr. She didn’t want to go to
Southern Weyr, she absolutely hated her hair being blonde. It didn’t go well with her large, dark
blue eyes. Along the way to the Weyr where she would eventually ride a dragon, the coppery
color of her birth began to infiltrate the detestable blonde and the tanning of a year in Southern
began to wear off to a normal, healthy glow. The climates she traveled through had caused her
hair to become wavey and she had cut it to her shoulders. With a joy to override every other joy,
she had stepped into High Reaches.**

** E N D F L A S H B A C K **

**Karsky began to smile, for a good reason. This is where she could truely
become herself. She wouldn’t have to hide behind a noble mask, or a farmer mask, a herder mask
or even a merchant’s mask. No, she could be herself. The only problem was, she had been other
people for so long, she had forgotten who she really was. She bit her lower lip and pushed the
thought away, knowing she could find that out in time.**
**She shook her head stubbornly and grinned, eyes wandering over to the three other people in the Sands. When they fell on Alysia, she smiled a bit wider, glad to see at least one of them had grace. She shook her blonde curls and walked out, seeing that no one was here besides Thorn. Waving to him, she slipped out to find either the Weyrwoman or the one in charge.*

(Okay, okay. I was bored! Don't blame me for typing that much. Besides, I like this char! Put alotta effort inta this one. *for once*)

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