Vignette: Revelation
Evana had just finished her shift and headed out to find Achidi in case the journeyman Harper had any errands for her to run or passages to memorize. As she wandered the halls, she heard a familiar voice saying "Hey idiot -- did you fail to impress recently? As if a dragon would want a moron."

Evana whirled angrily and said "You take that back, Trynt!" She noticed that he was surrounded by several other older boys. So much for beating him up if he didn't.

"No, I won't. So, answer my question, dummy." The other boys snickered as Eva's fists clenched.

Then, suddenly, something clicked, and instead of rushing the older boy, she said "Yeah, I didn't impress. But at least I wasn't sent home in disgrace before the hatching."

There was a murmur among Trynt's cohorts. Trynt himself was struck speechless, so one of the others asked "What's all this, then?"

Evana said sweetly "Didn't you hear? The reason Trynt came home was that he was banned from the Weyr after going onto the sands in the middle of the night. I hate to say it, but his action seems like a much better indication of stupidity than heritage."

The other boys looked at Trynt, but all he could do was splutter. Still not wanting to believe what they'd heard, one of them said, "But then again, how do we know you have it right? Maybe it's just another stupid notion of yours."

Evana's fists didn't clench this time. Her eyes glittered maliciously, though. "Well, there's an easy solution for anyone who is smart enough to think of it. Just invite him along to the Weyr with you. If he refuses to go or if he goes and gets kicked out, you know that I was right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm taking advanced lessons with journeyman Achidi, and I'd just as soon be on time."

She fairly skipped off, leaving the boys with mouths agape at her sudden change. More importantly, she had finally realized what people had been telling her -- that there were ways, other than fistfights, to deal with the taunters.