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  "The kids, their parents, the teachers, they all hate me!" Culisa shouted at her mother. "I can't do this stuff and they know it! They just give it to me because they want me to suffer, and that's because they hate me!"
Nilisa sighed at her middle daughter, by far the most troublesome of the lot. The girl was very skilled with any and all tasks befitting a properly raised young woman, as well as those practical for a person born by the sea, but when it came to schoolwork she was a complete incompetent, unlike both of her sisters. Genni may have been crude and outdoorsy, Nilri too quiet by far, but at least they kept up their grades and didn't whine when they made a mistake.
She was, however, the prettiest of the three. Her long chocolate hair fell in full waves to a waist that had never been anything but slender. Plumish eyes were slightly exotic, just a bit of height gave her a marvelous profile, and creamy skin accented her delicate appearance perfectly. Some might even call her a beauty, though that was going a bit far.
"You know that's not true, dearheart. You simply need to apply yourself as much to your schoolwork as you do to the sea dragons." This was familiar territory. "They aren't going to help you any in the future except in the general sense. The Institute is."
The brunette immediately took the defensive, as she always did in this particular argument. "You won't say that when I Bond! No one will! The sea dragons are my future!"
Her mother said nothing, just gave a long-suffering sigh. She absolutely refused to get this fanciful idea out of her head that she was going to be a Bonder. It was ridiculous and everyone but her could see that very clearly. Things like that didn't happen, not to people like them.
Suddenly the youngest daughter ran into the room and jumped up and down excitedly, completely out of breath and very excited about something.
"What is it, youngling?" asked the older woman in her best 'this had better be good' voice.
"Genni got Searched! Genni got Searched!" she squealed, so incredibly unlike her normal silent self. "Some Bond Searcher for another Cove arrived this afternoon, and he went to the trouble of searching the coastline until he found her, his dragon was so insistent. She's going to, um, Agendor Cove I think it was. Isn't that great!"
The expression on Lisa's face was that of a whipped puppy. She quickly pushed past her sister and left, blinking and wiping furiously at her eyes as she went. Her sister watched her go, then sighed and sat down.
"She's gonna be really unhappy now, huh?"
'Unhappy' was not the appropriate term.
 "Damn!" Culisa screamed, kicking sand. "How dare she?! She got Searched and I'm stuck here doing meaningless chores and horrible schoolwork. I'm the one who loves sea dragons more than anything else! I'm the one who would have given my left arm to Bond! I'm the one-"
"Will you please stop it?" snapped a man's voice from behind her. "It's really irritating, and no one rewards a whiner."
She attempted a surprised whirl-around-to-face-stranger move, but ruined it by losing her balance and falling into the sand. A strong arm helped her up, and she was left staring at a tall young man in sea dragoner's uniform. "Ah..."
"As articulate as your sister, I see," he observed dryly, dusting her off. "But just as much Bonding material, or so my boy insists. He must be off his rocker to want a little brat like you and a rude tomboy like her, but he's the one that can feel potential in kids. Girls especially."
Listening to him, she could only blink in response. Who was this guy?
"Very articulate." He sighed. "Looks like I'm going through this again. I'm acting as Bond Searcher for Agendor Cove, I've Searched you and your sister, she said yes, will you?"
She was silent a few more seconds, then flashed him a bright smile. "Of course I will!"
It was nearly evening at Agendor Cove when Culisa heard a deep humming, joined not a moment later by a higher melody. The sound reminded her of the air dragon hatching call that she'd been told of once. When she saw yellow Kelar and her rider coming towards them she needed no encouragement and ran to the beach where the eggs were quaking, guarded carefully by their indigo mother.
The high tides and fierce winds which would normally bother her were all but forgotten as she stared at the eggs, eyes very slightly glazed. She didn't even notice the stinging particles of sand peppering her face in the enchantment of the moment, her usual the-world-is-against-me melodrama all but gone for today.
She was so fascinated that she barely registered the scene Berbria was making, or she would have joined in. On the opposite side, of course. She couldn't stand the girl.
The first shell split with a sound like tearing silk, spilling a brindled female out onto the Sands. Tossing her head, Caswir's first daughter hitched herself damply across the Sands. "Culisa," she declared proudly, broad wings undulating. "Come away with me, and you can spend forever with sea dragons! At least one, anyway." She nosed the girl's hand lovingly. "I am Velishaess."
 Culisa could scarcely breathe. This gorgeously brindled green-blue-violet calf had just chosen her? The day couldn't get any more beautiful! Ignoring, of course, the frigid winds and sandy spray. She knelt down and caressed the smooth, perfect head of her Bond.
"Velishaess," she whispered. "Oh, you're so perfect!"
The young female preened slightly. "Of course I am! I chose you, after all, and you were the only real choice. Now, how about some food?"
"Yes, of course, anything for you," the girl agreed immediately and stood, warm jacket whipping about her. And after that, maybe we can go someplace a little warmer?"
The first few weeks after the hatching were hard, especially getting used to the near-frozen waters of Gwynllaith. Even in a wet suit she could barely stand it for more than a few minutes. She was raised in a very tropical climate, after all, and this cold was a shock to her system.
"As soon as you're old enough," she chattered to Velishaess during one such swim, "we're going back to Lathis. It's warm there!"
"Whatever you want, Lisa," the calf agreed.
Calf training progressed predictably, with Genni and her brindle excelling at everything despite the rough climate. Culisa resented that a bit, but Shaess convinced her that it didn't matter because she was a better swimmer than her sister anyway, and it was only the cold holding her back. The calf had become very good at placating her Bond, something the other people on the island appreciated to no end. If her performances before the hatching had been spectacular, they were more subdued now and much shorter, easier to stop. She was generally more pleasant to be around.
Velishaess had grown much since hatching, her manta wings larger and more graceful in the water, her flippers better for steering, her tail not as disproportional as it had seemed. By far the most noticeable change, however, was the fact that her true color had begun to show through...
 Culisa looked up at her sea dragon in admiration, remembering her as a fresh-hatched brindle calf. She certainly wasn't brindled anymore, having gradually grown out of the dark mixture of colors so that purple and blue dominated. Now the dragoness was a vivid, glowing shade of indigo.
"And quite lovely, as you're always telling me," Shaess spoke up, nuzzling at her Bond lovingly as she often did. "I can't wait to see Lathis."
"It's beautiful," she assured the indigo, rubbing the offered nose. "I never really appreciated it 'til I came here. The people are pretty nice, but it's freezing all the time. You may not be able to feel it, but I can and it's not fun."
"Then let's get this show on the road, no sense in wasting time. Genni and Xein already left half an hour ago."
Velishaess swam around in lazy circles, loving the feel of lukewarm tropical water against her slippery skin. The extreme cold of Agendor hadn't bothered her, but living at Lathis was definitely a treat. She could feel that the water was warmer because it felt like gliding through silk.
Yes, life was definitely good. Her rider was happy to be back with friends left behind, she was happy to have two of her clutchsibs nearby to chat with. It was nice being in a pod as well. It gave her a sense of purpose, a feeling that she wasn't just a drain on resources. Her brother was Pod Leader and he did a wonderful job of it.
Only one thing dimmed this contentment slightly. She wanted to mate, and didn't want to wait behind another female on the swim boards. That oddly colored silver was scheduled to swim after the current clutch hatched and there were already other females with the same idea.
What she needed was a different Cove with no one to wait on. She'd taken her problem to Aselluiss and the purple had given her a list of possibilities. She just couldn't figure out which she preferred, and how to broach the subject to Lisa.
"No need, lovey," her rider's cheerful voice cut in. The indigo blinked and twisted around to see her rider sitting on a rock not ten feet away, grinning.
"How long have you been there?"
The grin changed to a smirk. "Long enough. It really shouldn't be that hard to choose, they're all good Coves. Tavrobel, Altus, Mara, whatever you want. I won't mind."
"Oh. When you put it like that, it does seem a bit silly. How about Mara? D'you think their Covelord would mind?"
"Doubt it, but there's only one way to find out."
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