Venice, Rider of Cereneth

Springs come with joyous music, warm sunshine, and new things. New things that make the world of winter before seem unreal. New leaves appear on the barren, desolate branches of trees, new snow-white clouds in the sky, new sunshine beaming down upon the world. The frost-bitten harsh winter was over; and spring jumped out like a cat pouncing on its prey down upon the earth.
But to Venice, spring came and went and meant nothing more than school dances, boys to meet, and new clothes.
Venice, quite tall and beautiful, and very aware of it, had long slender legs, thin pale arms, and a milky-white face. Usually there was a small bit of mascara on the tips of her blonde lashes, and ruby-red lipstick covering her thin lips. Everyday her shoulder-length blonde hair would be pulled back into a stylish bun, with two strands of her golden hair hanging in front of her green eyes. She had two girl comrades, who followed her every move and step, and had a secret envy of the boys’ attraction to lovely Venice. They were swept under Venice’s thumb, and did anything she asked them to do.
So now, when spring had just sprung it’s highest, and the sun sat warm and smiling in the brilliant blue sky, so blue it hurt your eyes to look, and the birds were singing their fullest, Venice strode unsmilingly into her high school, immediately accompanied by her two comrades. She did not notice the burning blue sky, or the warm sunshine, or the singing birds. To her it was any ordinary day, probably a boring one she thought as she struck up a conversation with her two supporters.
“So, what did you do your last weekend of school?” Venice spoke not turning her head, but suggesting that both of them answer. “Well, um, I had a lovely time. I went to my Uncle’s and went boating.” Venice scowled at the girl on her left. “Really! Boating! Ha! How funny, you’ve never had any interest in boating before, Jenean.” “Well,” said Jenean, quite disturbed at Venice’s comment. “I decided to try something new. But perhaps you are right; boating is not as appealing as it seemed yesterday.” Jenean looked down at her feet. Venice noticed and quickly said, “Well, you might as well try things and see what your good at. Since there's not a lot you're good at.” Venice mumbled under her breath. “And you, Natalia? What did you do this weekend?” Natalia quietly remarked, “Oh, not much. Stayed home. Did homework. That’s about it.” Venice looked approvingly in her direction. “Well, this weekend I didn’t do much, except buy some of these $40 dollar shoes.” She emphasized this as the girls stared in wonder at the new, shiny, brown leather boots going up to Venice’s knees. “Wow!” exclaimed Jenean. “Those are just lovely! Just perfectly lovely!” Natalia silently nodded approval, and Venice beamed. She loved to show off her new and fashionable clothing. Suddenly the bell for school to start rang loudly, and the two comrades quickly kissed Venice’s cheeks and all three of them split and hurried off to class.
Friday finally came after what seemed like what must have been a billion years to Venice and she rejoiced after their last school day on the phone, lounging on her bed, talking to her two friends, switching on and off to talk to each of them.
“Did you see Mandy’s hair? Oh my god! It seriously looked as if she had just woken up! And on the last day of school too!” Jenean spoke into the receiver to Venice on the other line. “Oh I saw it alright, but please, did you take a good look at Jenkens this morning? He was really dressed up and was looking at you practically all day!” Venice knew that Jenean had a crush on Matt Jenkens, a tall, strong boy with wavy brown hair. There was silence on the other side of the line and Venice knew Jenean was blushing. Finally she heard a small voice say, “Come on Venice, you must have seen Jeff. He was completely fixed on you in Math.” Now it was Venice’s turn to blush. Jeff was her guy, and Jenean and Natalia knew it. Venice silently put the phone to her ear. Natalia was saying. “Come on you guys, you already know they like you. You might as well leave it at that. I got to get off and help my mom with dinner. Bye.” Venice heard the receiver click. Then Jenean said, “Sorry Ven, my brother is tearing up my room. Got-to-go-bye!” Venice enjoyed Jenean calling her Ven. Her parents never called her by her nickname, nor her brother whom she rarely saw because he was in college. She set the phone down on the table and snuggled under the covers of her luxurious water bed. Her deep green eyes settled on the purple canopy above her bed. They shifted to around her room; her purple painted wall, her wardrobe, her desk, her T.V. Her bean-bag couch and her long, mirror, stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Every time she looked into that mirror she saw a beautiful young lady standing their, smiling, waving. In the most adorable outfit. Venice slipped out of bed and turned on her lamp, and looked into the mirror. She saw her face, smiling, staring back at her.
Then the girl staring back didn’t smile. The lamp turned out, and a cold, spine-tingling wind rushed into the room. She was surged into deep darkness; she could feel her self spinning, spinning faster and faster. Just as she thought she was going to puke, she stopped, and the air was cold and clammy. She was sweating, and breathing hard, as if she had been running for a long distance. Suddenly she felt a small breeze wash over her, and she desperately tried to keep her eyes open, but soon she felt herself go numb, and before long she was asleep.
When she woke she stared up at the ceiling, a ceiling not her own. She sat up in bed. Her purple walls were gone, and were replaced with stone ones. Her desk was merely a lump of boulder, and her magnificent waterbed was only a shelf of rock covered in many blankets. Horrified, she pulled down the sheet and looked at her clothes. She was dressed in a thin blouse, reaching all the way down to her knees. Venice gasped, and nearly fainted. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice. “Venice,” the voice called, “come get your breakfast. Hurry. The eggs could hatch any minute now.” Venice was dead silent. The voice was her mother’s, but she could not comprehend what she was saying. Eggs? What eggs? Slowly and quietly she made her way through the door way which now had no door and was only an arch, and spotted her mother standing in the next room, putting breakfast on what had to be the table. “Venice!” her mother exclaimed, “why, you’re still dressed in your p.j.’s! Go back to your room and get your robe on. Your friends will be here any moment to pick you up.” Venice turned and marched back. What was happening? She didn’t own any robe. But as she looked on top of what she had thought was her desk, she spotted three purple robes neatly folded. She picked one of them up and saw that they reached down to her waist. Printed in gold letters on the front said, “V. R.” Venice’s initials. She suddenly dropped the robe and pulled her hair and slapped herself. “Wake up! Wake up!” she cried. “This must be a bad dream, it must!” Sobbing, she carefully picked up the robe and put it on. If she must be here, for whatever reason, she thought, she might as well get it over with. She buttoned it up and soberly dragged her feet back to the other room. Her breakfast was steaming on the table, and she couldn’t help but look gratefully at it. Her stomach pains were worst now when she could smell the steaming food. She gobbled it down quickly and hungrily, not even noticing that it was a different kind of food then she was used to eating. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother smile. Venice looked out the window when she was done and spotted two other girls in red and yellow robes that looked very much like Jenean and Natalia. Her mother followed her gaze and said, “Oh my, here they are now! Quickly dear, go meet your friends and be off! Good luck!” Venice hurried out the door not knowing why but went straight to the girls and immediately blurted out, “Why am I here? Who are you? Where is my house? My room? My clothes?” The Jenean and Natalia giggled and stared straight back at the disheveled Venice. “Well,” said Jenean, “I am Jenean. And this is Natalia. You’ve always been here, and as for your house and room, well you just left them.” The girls giggled again. Venice scowled and started to argue but just then she spotted what looked like Jeff. Her Jeff. Her normal, ordinary Jeff. He smiled, and waved, and she waved back. Well, this dream isn’t going to be so bad after all. She said, returning to her original self. “Hello girls, aren’t you supposed to be somewhere?” Venice turned and saw a tall, old man, with a long white beard and a shiny bald head. His voice was low and gruff, and he wore a bright blue coat with the gold initials S.W.M. She stared curiously at them. “You, and you,” he pointed to Jenean and Natalia, “be off to wherever you need to go. You,” he pointed directly at Venice, “come with me.” The man turned, and started to walk in the opposite direction. Jenean and Natalia looked back at Venice and giggled but continued on their way.
Venice had no choice but to follow the man. When he stopped underneath the shade of a large elm tree. He said, “Do you have any idea why you’ve been sent here?” Venice mumbled under her breath, I must be in a really bad dream. “No,” the man said in response, “you are not dreaming. Many people are sent here. But you,” He pointed again at her with his bony finger, “you are a mystery. I guess that since you have been sent during a clutch that you were meant to Impress. I suppose you will join the others in the upcoming Threadfall.” He shook his head. Venice stared in amazement. “Who-who are you? Threadfall? Impress? Wha-“ The man explained. “I am the Senior Weyrman. You are in the Sayliethe Weyr. You have been sent here to go to the hatching, and Impress a dragon. Mind you that a dragon chooses its rider, you don’t choose it.” Venice tried to understand, “So you’re saying, that I have to ride a dragon! But dragons don’t exist! You can’t do this to me! You can’t!” Venice tried to hold back tears. Suddenly there was a great gust of wind and Venice looked up. Above her she saw a huge, gold dragon, wings beating furiously, and a man on top of it, riding it, as it soared into the sky. The man said, “So I can’t make you. But you have been sent here for some reason, and you must accomplish the task you have been asked to do.” Venice looked back at him. “What task?” she blurted out, almost angrily. “Miss, you must rid of your anger. I do not know your task, for I do not read the future. But you were sent here at a peculiar time, and so I am guessing that it has to do with the Threadfall. Thread, is like rain, except it burns anything organic it touches. Like you.” The sound of his voice sent a chill up and down Venice’s spine. “I-I get it. I think. What do I-I do now?” The man pointed in the direction of where the girls had headed. “Go to the hatching grounds. Find the two girls who met you at your door, and stay with them. I will talk to them.” Venice opened her mouth as if to say something, but instead shut it and hopelessly trudged off in that direction, the hot sand burning the bottom of her soft feet.
When she reached the hatching grounds, she felt as if her feet were on fire. She moved to the shade of a nearby tree, and looked around her. She saw a huge dragon; wings folded resting in the shade, just like the one she had seen in the sky, but a Silver color. Next to the dragon stood a proud girl, with long flowing brown hair and sharp, almond eyes. The girl stared happily at the batch of brilliantly colored eggs beside the dragon. Suddenly, an egg swirled madly, spinning and swirling the colors on the egg until finally a small crack appeared, and then a small claw pushed its way out. Then a majestic blue wing appeared, and soon a small, blue, dragon stood on the hot sand, looking around with curious blue eyes. Finally the young dragon stumbled over to Natalia. Natalia stood still, shocked. Venice watched as the pair left the hatching grounds, Natalia trembling all over. Venice scanned the area; the towering crescent moon shaped rock shading the colorful eggs, the girls and boys crowding around the eggs, desperately trying to get a look at the eggs, the benches surrounding the area, where many parents and other members of this-this-dragon place. She stopped as she saw the old man under a tree with Jenean and Natalia. She could see that he was talking to them, and every once and a while they would turn their heads and look directly at Venice. Poor Venice looked away and pulled some of her blonde hair behind an ear. Her once straight, neatly combed hair was now stuck in all directions, and Venice couldn’t even comb her fingers through it without yelping in pain. She had no shoes, no stylish clothes, and for once in her life she felt unimportant and undistinguished. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Jenean and Natalia followed by Natalia’s little blue dragon coming towards her. Venice pretended she didn’t see them and held her head as high as she dared. Finally she turned her head and stood to face them. Jenean spoke first. “I’m so sorry we acted like we did. It’s just usually you’re so neat and dignified that I couldn’t help giggle. We totally get what’s going on. So, as you saw, Natalia Impressed! And this is her little blue, Sparneth. Isn’t she adorable? Okay, so dragons talk through their mind. You know, mental telepathy? So whatever you think, your dragon can pick up. It’s really nice; they know just when you are sad, or mad, or any other emotion. So, I guess you’re here to Impress then? Well, there isn’t any real way to do it. You just wait for the right dragon to choose you. Stick with us, I’m still waiting to Impress too. Let’s go sit down on that empty bench over there.” Jenean led the three of them to an empty red bench, partly shaded by an oak tree. Natalia kept a strange smile on her face, as she looked at her dragon lovingly. Venice could almost feel the conversation between Natalia and Sparneth. Suddenly she heard gasps and excited whispers from the crowd around them. Another egg was hatching! As Venice watched, she saw one silver tip break out of the shell. The crowd stared in awe as a beautiful silver dragon walked importantly over to Jenean. Venice, her mouth open, looked back at the egg from which the silver had originated from, and held her breath as did everyone else as another wing, this time an emerald green, emerged from the egg. Out stumbled a clumsy but seemingly proud green dragon. It looked around expectantly, and, spotting Venice, it waddled to her. Venice just stared, mouth open, unaware of the many surprised eyes looking at her. As she stared into the bright green eyes of the little dragon, she heard a voice in her head.
Venice-stop staring at me like that. Get me some food. I’m hungry. Hurry up. Please stop staring at me!
Venice almost fainted. Her face was pale. Jenean looked at her curiously. “Well wouldn’t you know,” she finally said, “we got an egg twin. Looks like we’ll be together for awhile. You see, your dragon and my Mesith won’t want to separate.” Venice pulled herself together and spoke directly at Jenean in a sharp tone without meaning it, “Mesith? Well, this is-uh-erm-this is-Ceren.” Venice’s emerald looked at her confusedly and spoke again into Venice’s mind.
Venice, my name is Cereneth. Not Ceren. No dragon here has a name that ends without ‘th.’
Surprised at this sudden interval, she softly said to Jenean. “Um, I guess her name is Cereneth then.” Jenean smiled and said, “Try sending a thought to Cereneth. You know she can read your thoughts too.” Venice stared blankly at Cereneth. She tried to think of something to say. Finally, she thought at Cereneth.
How do you know my name?
To her surprise, she felt a response from Cereneth.
How? I’ve know your name ever since I was a puny cell. I’ve just been waiting for you to arrive. Now, get me some food. I’m hungry!
Cereneth reminded Venice of herself. She turned to Jenean and said, “Where do we get dragon food?” Now that she thought of it, Cereneth might be a real pain to have to feed everyday.
“Well,” said Jenean, “the feeding grounds are over there. I’ll come with you, so that these dragons’ won’t feel separated.” Together they marched off to the feeding grounds, Venice still dazed by the day’s events.

That night Venice prayed that everything would be normal in the morning. Tired out from the day’s trial, She dragged her feet to her changed home and was welcomed with a bear hug from her mother. The little dragon was given a pile of wet sand to sleep on in Venice’s room which pleased Cereneth sincerely. Venice climbed into her own bed and fell asleep almost immediately. Right before she thought she could hold her eyelids open no longer, she felt a thought pierce her mind.
Good night Venice.
Venice glanced at her little emerald, smiled for the fist time since she had been transported to this place, and fell into a deep, dream-less sleep.

Unfortunately for Venice, she was again woken up again by her mother’s call, “Venice, come get your breakfast. Cereneth is waiting for you.” Venice sat bolt upright in bed, and suddenly remembered Cereneth and the strange place she had been transported to. She sighed, and slipped into her robe. Venice was lured into the kitchen by the smells of the hot, steaming breakfast on the table. Cereneth kept thinking at her impatiently, telling her to hurry up and why he couldn’t go by himself to get some food. Eventually Venice was dragged out of the house by the irritated little creature, and was immediately confronted by Jenean and Natalia. Venice smiled and the two girls smiled back. Mesith and Cereneth had a warm greeting, and Sparneth clung to Natalia’s side. Suddenly the old man appeared behind the girls from out of nowhere, and they all turned and listened to what he had to say. “Girls. Today our first lesson begins. You will go through all these lessons of flight, and soon you will become full fledged dragonriders. Now I suggest you be off, for the lesson will start any moment.” Without a word the girls nodded and ambled off in the direction the bony finger of the man pointed. By the time they reached the small shaded area where the lessons would take place, Venice was so tired out from answering all of Cereneth’s questions that she could hardly imagine another 6 hours of training with the dragons.
The next 2 months she spent with Jenean and Natalia at the training grounds working with Cereneth. By the time they were released from the training, Venice was able to easily jump on top of Cereneth’s back, and fly through the air. Venice had changed a lot during the two months. Now she never woke up and scowled at the robe, or looked around her room in disgust. She noticed everything, the trees, the warm sunshine, and the birds singing. Cereneth had changed too. During the months she had grown considerately. Venice was no longer able to look down on her little green. Now she had to look up at the beautiful emerald hide, the wide, almost transparent wings, and the long, muscular tail. In 4 more months Cereneth’s leg was as tall as Venice.
“What a gorgeous morning.” Venice sighed one dazzling, clear day. She jumped out of bed, yanked on her robe, and marched out to the kitchen. “Mmmm…..that smells delicious mother.” Venice said kindly to her mother who replied with a smile. Venice shoved down the luscious warm food and sprinted out the door to meet Natalia, Jenean, Mesith, Sparneth, and Cereneth. She gave them all a warm greeting, and Cereneth a special hug, and together they sauntered down the hill on which Venice’s house was placed. “I heard that Threadfall is coming soon. Do you think we’re ready?” Jenean said, looking worridly at a gradually nearing what seemed a storm cloud. Natalia and Venice followed her gaze. Venice didn’t think it looked any different than the rain clouds at home. “There’s no need to worry. Even if it is Threadfall,” Venice said doubtedly, “we’re plenty ready for it. Look, there’s the Senior Weyrman.” All three girls stopped and gave a hearty good morning to the old man. The man said nothing, but pointed to the cloud. “Threadfall.” He said with dread in his voice. He looked directly at Venice. “We must be ready.” The girls watched as he solemnly trudged away. “That man gives me the creeps.” Said Natalia suddenly. Venice too could feel a tingle go up and down her spine. “Come on, let’s go meet with the other dragonriders and see what they think.” Hurriedly the girls rushed off to the gathering group of riders near the hatching grounds.
Their teacher of the training was saying, “Threadfall is today. It will begin in approximately 2 hours. All riders please mount and follow me.” With that he sprang up and onto his gleaming gold, and up into the darkening sky. There was the sound of several wings beating, and a group of different colored dragons rose into the air. Cer and Venice were last getting up, because Cer was smaller than most of the dragons. But with Cer’s speed, they reached Jenean and Natalia, who were riding their own dragons, Mesith and Sparneth. Jenean gave Venice a worried smile, and Venice patted her shoulder to comfort her. The teacher was desperately shouting directions. “All green dragonriders, please come up front. The fastest dragons should be in front. Next, all blue riders, all blue riders, please make a second row.” Cer quickly flew up to the front, and Natalia sped right behind her with her blue. Cer turned her head to look back at her sister. Jenean waved, and Venice waved back.
Venice, pay attention! Everyone is getting the firerocks. Let’s go!
Venice spun back and Cer whisked her down to the ground again. Venice jumped off her back and quickly pulled out a pouch from underneath a bench. Out of it she pulled several reddish-yellowish rocks, each steaming with heat. Cer opened her mouth to reveal her dangerously sharp teeth, and Venice skillfully fed them to her. Cer chewed, swallowed, and breathed out a puff of fire.
All set. Let’s go!
Venice sprung back onto Cer’s back and Cer took off in flight, wing beating rapidly. Venice steered around to the front of the line. The group of dragons were directly underneath the cloud. Suddenly, Venice could see tiny droplets falling from the cloud, looking very much like rain. Cer, familiar with what to do, aimed her mouth for one of the falling drops and breathed a brilliant mass of fire to deaden it. As Venice looked around, she saw Jenean and Natalia and many other riders intensely focused on the falling drops.
Venice, look out!
The thought was screamed into her mind by Cer, and Venice leaned sideways as a Thread nearly touched her arm.
Sorry, Cer, I’ll be more careful.
Venice studied the falling drops. She nudged Cer to burn one on the right. A flame pounced on a falling thread. Suddenly Venice noticed a declining thread, that no one had seen. It rapidly fell towards the earth. Venice nudged Cer again, and the two disappeared from sight. Abruptly they were seen again, this time right underneath the thread. Another flame.
Cer and Venice had a great many triumphs during the Threadfall going in between. Several times Cer had to fly back to the earth and get more firerocks.
The Threadfall had been going on for about an hour or so, when Venice happened to look behind her and see a Thread Cer had missed. “Cer!” she screamed as the thread headed toward Natalia’s arm. Cer raced down, flanks heaving, wings beating rapidly. Cer breathed a flame at the Thread. The flame reached the thread, and Natalia, being totally surprised shot a smile quickly at Venice. Venice smiled back. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her back, and her body being thrust forward. She couldn’t see anything. Then a piercing cold ran through her body, and then she was falling. Falling into nothingness, falling and falling and falling. It seemed that the rest of her life was going to be spent falling, and then she was caught, and placed down with a thump.

When she was able to open her eyes again, she felt a soft, soothing hand caressing her hair. She stared into loving green eyes, and the soft face of her mother’s. Her mother’s! She sat bolt upright. A terrible pain in her head forced her to lie down again. With difficulty she turned her head, and saw her own purple wall, her own purple canopy, her own purple desk. No sand outside the window, no robe on her dresser, no stone doorway. There were warm luscious smells coming from the kitchen, but not of that she remembered. They were familiar smells, smells of eggs and bacon and jam. Her mother caressed her hair and said, “Now you need your rest my dear. You just stay in bed. I’ll bring you some breakfast.” Venice watched as her mother left the room. “Cer-“she started to say. “Shhhh….” Her mother turned for a moment and continued to the kitchen. Slowly, Venice raised herself to an elbow with difficulty, and felt herself. She could not feel her legs; they seemed numb under the quilt. She rubbed her forehead and sensed a tightly wrapped bandage around her head. When her mother appeared again with a tray of steaming food and orange juice, Venice lowered herself back down again. “Mom-what happened?” She asked weakly. “You were sleepwalking my dear and fell down the stairs. Now try to eat some breakfast.” Venice mechanically shoved down the steaming food in front of her. When she was alone once more, she unexpectedly noticed a piece of paper on the floor. She called her mother in and ordered her to pick up the piece of paper. “It’s just the grocery list.” Her mother said. Venice insisted on reading it. Reluctantly she handed over the paper and quietly trudged out of the room, mumbling about how the fall had probably done something to Venice’s brain and that she should get a doctor to look at it. As soon as her mother left the room, Venice looked over the paper and saw that it wasn’t a grocery list at all. She began to read it aloud to herself:
Dear Venice,
Congratulations on successfully escaping your time transportation. You will find your time on earth has not stopped completely, but it has been moving very slowly. You will also find that your friends and family believe that you have sleep walked down the stairs. But in fact one of the students became jealous and attacked you at the back. Hopefully you will get back into the swing of things in no time at all.
Yours forever,
Cereneth and Senior Weyrman.
Venice read the short letter over and over again. Finally the pain was unbearable and she slipped it under her pillow and fell into a fast sleep.

Venice woke half expecting to find herself in a completely different time. She rolled over carefully and glanced at the clock ticking away endlessly on the wall. 10:00 A.M. She groaned as light footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. The door to her room creaked open, and in tiptoed Jenean and Natalia. “Hey.” Natalia whispered. “We brought you some flowers, and the whole class wrote get well notes for you.” Venice didn’t stir as they set the flowers and cards down on her desk and slipped away. When they were gone Venice took a big whiff of the sweet smelling flowers, which she found caused pain in her head immensely. Cautiously she propped herself up and silently read the cards. “Hope the fall didnt’ hert too much.” Wrote Ian, the class nerd and terrible speller. “Get well soon and come back to chess club!” Wrote Marissa, the class genius. “We love you, and hope you enjoy the flowers!” Wrote Natalia and Jenean. Venice skimmed over the last cards and finally reached Jeff’s. “Love you, babe. And hope you get better.” Venice held it close to her heart and sighed. “Love you too, Jeff.” She softly whispered to herself.

The days grew shorter as summer approached. In 3 months Venice was able to get around the house easily, and a short time later she was allowed to go back to school. Everyone was glad to see her, especially Jenean, Natalia and Jeff. But Venice had changed a lot since her time with Cereneth. No longer did she fuss over her stylish and expensive clothes. The warm sunshine and birds singing in chorus added to her delight of the day. Each morning she looked out her window at the rising sun and wondered what new enchantment the day would bring. Natalia and Jenean noticed this change, but never spoke a word about it.
Laying amongst the wild flowers, gazed a starry-eyed girl, blonde hair loosely swaying with the breeze, the sunlight dancing over her bright, expectant face. A very changed Venice was fixed on the clouds shifting in the azure sky, and not once did she blink or take her eyes away from the beauty, afraid that it would vanish. She smiled, a gentle, loving smile, as she spotted a cloud looking very much like her own, dear, small Cereneth.~