Dragons. She'd only seen a few in her fifteen years, here, but they'd always been amazing creatures. Now she was surrounded by them constantly, and with all of the stories that their riders would tell. Dragons that flamed and flew great distances, dragons that did something peculiar called 'teleportation'... She'd even heard stories that some of the dragons roaming Darkling Dawn had come from different worlds!

Back home, different worlds... 'the nexus', as some old nannies and uncles would call it, were used to threaten disobedient children. 'If you wander off you'll fall through the nexus, and you'll end up on some different world where people walk on their hands and eat children for dinner!' Etc. etc. Mondriel had never believed them, preferring to think that those who disappeared from her village had suffered more believable ends. But now... her curiosity had been piqued.

So had her ambition, unfortunately. P'ax had been an open door through which she could see, and hopefully grasp, new opportunities. By bonding a dragon, she would have to take on new, interesting responsibilities. If she was lucky enough, and strong enough, she'd bond to one of the stronger, higher ranking dragons, which would lead to even more interesting responsibilities. People would look up to her like never before... the very thought of it made her shiver. She craved the attention that such responsibilities would bring... and she, at least, was certain that she could stand up to the challenge of keeping a challenging bond.

But now all of that was cast into doubt. She hadn't been Searched, officially, she'd just signed up to stand at Darkling Dawn. How could she be certain that any dragonet would care for her, let alone one that brought envy and admiration? The brown-rider that she followed down the steps of the front entrance hadn't seemed to impressed with her, and, despite the fact that Mondriel knew the woman was mostly upset over the incident with P'ax... she couldn't help but fear that, now, the dragonets wouldn't Impress, either!

She kept these thoughts to herself, of course. It wouldn't do to look worried, especially with so many people around! She smiled and waved to a few of the younger people that passed her by, acquaintances and fast-forged friends who had every confidence in her... but who were certainly wondering what she was doing, trailing a dragonrider out into the landing fields.

"Hah," a voice boomed out over the fields, the very greenness of it sounding strange and alien in Mondriel's ears. "There you are! What took you so long, Ibbie?"

Mondriel looked up, and up as the gigantic shape of a dragon came to a landing just short of them. It as like standing in the face of an avalanche--albeit, one that came to a stop before crushing her. It didn't matter, the effect was the same. Huge gouts of wind blew Ibbie's skirts around her, so the brown-rider had to clutch them to her sides. Mondriel's hair whipped about her face, the braids she'd had them in stinging as they hit. She did her best not to quail in the face of such power... and did a pretty good job of it, for one who hadn't seen dragons until the last few weeks of her life.

Ibbie was talking, once the wind settled, directing her voice up to the large green. "You want to Search someone, Emeraldth? Fine, have at her." The older woman jabbed a finger at Mondriel, still obviously upset.

"Now now, Ibbie," Emeraldth rumbled, her tone placating, "No need to sound so angry."

Ibbie made a noise quite alike to a snort, and began to walk away. Emeraldth, amused if nothing else, took a closer look at Mondriel. Her eyes swirled in merry hues of blue. "Oh, I remember back in the day," the dragon began, her thunder-deep voice holding a hint of... nostalgia? "I was the one who Searched Ibbie, you know! Of course, whether that turned out for better or worse..." she winked at Mondriel, the gesture surprising the young girl more then anything.

Mondriel swallowed, then rubbed her hands over her trousers. "I don't suppose you've had a lot of experience with Searching..." she said.

Emeraldth sighed, a great heaving movement of air that smelled hot, and only a little unpleasant. "Well... I guess you could say that. I've gotten rusty, however. My clutchmate has managed to scam out any possible Searching that I might have done from right out under my nose. He's tied down at the moment, however, so I think this ought to be a rather more leisurely affair then it might have, otherwise." She chuckled, then, as if in response to something Mondriel couldn't hear. Probably said clutchmate, if she were to guess.

Mondriel, feeling a little more secure under the cheerful dragoness, cast her voice up to say, "I'm sure it isn't as bad as you think!" She paused then, wondering if she'd be crossing any lines, and then deciding that she might as well ask, anyways. "Tell me, Emeraldth," she had managed to catch the dragon's name from Ibbie, before the rider stalked off, "...when you Search, do you know what kind of dragon a person might Impress?"

The dragoness canted her head a little, then chuckled again. "You want to know if you'll Impress a green or a brown, or maybe even a gold, hmm?"

Mondriel looked hopeful.

"Well, who am I to say?" Emeraldth grinned, revealing teeth as long as the candidates head. "There's so many peculiar dragons now-adays, you're as likely to bond a polka-dot pink dragon, or maybe two or three! Me, I only give the 'yes' or 'no' as to whether or not said polka-dot-pink-three-headed dragons might like you, rather then like to eat you." She paused, and Mondriel wasn't sure whether to laugh, or to back away slowly. "I'm kidding, of course," the dragoness added, and now Mondriel did grin.

"So tell me, then, how many pink-headed-polka-dot-people-eaters am I likely to attract?" Mondriel asked, her tone joking.

"Mm, I'd say two. That's a good number. That's how many my bond has--well, I'm not a polka-dot-people-eater, even if my brother might as well be. We both bonded her when we hatched, you know."

"Double-bonded?" Mondriel blinked, and then added, "you're serious about the first part, though... I could double bond?" Hope flared up in her again, bright as a torch.

Emeraldth coughed and looked away, her faceted gaze wandering over the landscape before settling to a rest, back on Mondriel. "Well... everyone has the potential to bond more then once, if the dragonets are like that." She went quiet as the white-haired girl's eager stare went a little more skeptical.

"That was rather evasive," the candidate accused, and then said, "How about a straight answer, O Searchmaster Green?"

The dragoness seemed amused by that, and settled to the ground to give Mondriel a more thorough look. "To be honest, no one can predict just what a person will bond, only if they will or won't." "And...?"

"And," Emeraldth said, dragging the word out, thoroughly aware that the girl was hanging off every word, "I'd say you'd make a passable candidate." She winked again, grinning a dragon grin.

Mondriel's heart sank for the second time in under an hour. 'Passable'. She'd probably end up another green rider, flouncing about like P'ax from village to village, ending up half-dead in a ditch while her dragon tried to remember how to breath. Not that Emeraldth wasn't a perfectly good example of a green. Mondriel's perspective of them had just been soured by Nydith and her flirtatious rider. It was her turn to sigh gustily. "Just passable?" she finally asked. She sounded hurt.

Emeraldth canted her head again, "'Passable' is better the 'failable', don't you think?" When the girl didn't respond, she snorted. "Of course, you're probably hoping to steal the show. Well, maybe you will, maybe you won't. That's all up to the hatchlings."

"I suppose it is," she said, resigning herself to all of the imagined hideous fates that she could think of.

The dragoness was moving on, however. "I think you should stand for my brother's clutch, actually." She was smirking, now, apparently holding some side-conversation with her co-bond. "After all, you might do quite well and... well, it would be deliciously satisfying, seeing the singular candidate that I Searched, Impressing a high-ranking dragonet from his clutch."

Mondriel blinked. "And if I don't Impress high?"

"Well," Emeraldth shrugged, her wing-arms moving expressively, "you'll still have a dragonet who loves you, and that's all that matters."

The candidate paused long enough to give that some thought. She hadn't really taken into account the attention a dragonet would give her... in some ways, that mollified her urge to seek great things. At least, maybe a little. "All right," she said, finally, "I'll stand for it."

"And I'll be there," Emeraldth replied. If they could, they would have shaken arms on it, but as it was, the dragoness simply gave a promising nod. "Now then," she said, "I have to return to the hatching cavern to mock brother dearest, and I'm sure that you've abandoned your duties for long enough for today." With that said, she stood, and, stretching her great, semi-transparent wings, leapt into the air.

Forewarned, Mondriel braced herself and brought her hands to her hair, hoping to keep her braids from snapping into her face and eyes. She followed the flight of the dragon to the upper entrance of the mountain, through which would be the hatching chambers, and smiled. She liked Emeraldth and, if she could help it, she'd Impress high, just to bring about the devious plot that they'd shared. And, of course, for all of the other ambitions she harbored... but that was besides the point.

She hurried back up the steps, sure that the water of the washing bins would be cool by now, but also sure that the gossip would be nothing if not hotter then ever!