R'dar Impressed Brown Dritath!!!!
In this story, you are Romdar a 20-turn-old cotholder's son.
It's a bright sunny day at Aneris Hold. You are walking down the beaches to a place that you know well. You had seen the most incredible sight in your life of 20 turns there several sevendays ago.
It had been a day just like this one. You had been walking just thinking to yourself when you had seen something flash overhead. You manage to see a gold fire-lizard zooming through the sky. Bronze and brown shapes following close behind. It was a flight. Ever since that day, you had walked to this spot hoping to find the clutch. And find it you did, you almost stepped right in it.
The queen had hidden it in a cove not too far from where you had seen her flight. You had been walking your usual path of beach in search of the clutch when you tripped over the covered mound of eggs. You quickly checked to see what damage had been done. Luckily the eggs were unharmed. All your fall had done was effectively uncover the clutch. You looked down at the pile of mottled eggs. There were 22 in all, and one was golden.
You had carefully reached down to touch the eggs when the queen had come back from hunting. You had just enough time to tell that they were still soft before she came hissing and clawing at your head. You had hurriedly run away.
You had purposefully kept the clutch as your secret. You knew that your mother and father would want to sell the eggs, and your three brothers would want them for themselves. You didn't even tell your best friend Okala. Even though the two of you had been planning for years on how to become dragonriders. That was yours and her ulimate dream.
Ever since you knew what a dragon was and what its purpose was on Pern, you wanted to be a dragonrider. You used to beg your parents to take you with them when they visited Telgar weyr which you were bound to. That's why these eggs were so important. This was the closest you and she were ever going to get to be dragonriders, and you really wanted Okala to have that gold egg.
You checked on the eggs every sevenday until they got hard, and then it was everyday. Yesterday the eggs had been very hard, so today you are heading back to the same cove to see how they are doing.
You walk leisurely up the beach not thinking much of the possiblities. You are almost to the cove when a strange noise reaches your ears. It's a soft humming. As you approach, it grows louder. Then you finally realize what's going on. The eggs are hatching!!!
You rush forward to the scene you have been dreaming of for over six sevendays. There is a whole fair of fire-lizards stationed around the eggs. Several are still coming in carrying fish and other food in their talons. Most of the eggs are rocking, and the gold one is already cracked. You glance at the eggs nearest you. Two of them haven't started moving yet. You reach for them not even caring if the fire-lizards attacked. You pick them up and put them in your pack, but where to take them? Then you recall that Okala was out this morning. She would be somewhere on the beach too, and she would have food. You quickly gather up your burden and set off up the beach calling to your friend hoping that she wouldn't be too far ahead of you.
You finally spot Okala sitting on the beach. Her feet are covered in sand, and she is eating something. As you draw closer, you feel a shaking at your back. The eggs were almost ready to hatch. You gather up your second wind and sprint toward Okala.
"Okala! Okala!," you call."Okala, I finally found you,” you gasp once you reach your friend.
”What is it Rom? Why have you come all the way here,” Okala says brushing a lock of light brown hair out of her eyes. She tries to mask her expression, but you know all of her tricks and quickly pick up on her worry.
”No need to hide it , Okala. I can see the worry in your hazel eyes like always. The green always shows through more than the blue when something is wrong. It’s not what you think it is anyway. He hasn’t come,” you say in a supportive tone knowing that Okala is worried about her pending marriage.
”Then what is it, Romdar,” she says sharply angry that you know her so well.
”I found a clutch of fire-lizard eggs, and they’re hatching. I knew you were out and I knew you’d have food, so I brought two eggs with me. I know how much you want to be a dragonrider, and I thought that owning fire-lizards was the closest we were ever going to get. They hadn’t started rocking yet, so I figured it was safe to bring them,” you finish then unburden your pack removing the two eggs. No sooner did you put them down then both began to rock furiously.
You watched as Okala nervously moved one of the eggs aside. Then she stretched out her pale hand and put some meatrolls into your slightly larger tan one. You brush a stray brown hair out of your brown eyes and stare at the egg as it begins to crack. Suddenly a small bronze fire-lizard is free of the shell. You look at him nervously until you feel his hunger. Then you begin to stuff him with the few meatrolls you have. Before long, the bronze is asleep in the crook of your arm his belly bulging with food.
You look over at Okala to see a dark-green fire-lizard asleep in her lap. She keeps glancing at it lovingly and yet longingly as if imagining the larger dragon version. You look down at your own fire-lizard and realize that you too are wearing a goofy grin. You decide that you need to give him a name. After all, you can't call him "him" forever. You think about everything you ever knew about dragons and finally you come up with Scorin. You choose it because with dragons it's either scorch or be scored. You look at Okala again. She appears to be deep in thought. You decide to bring her out of it.
”What are you going to name her, Okala? I have decided to call mine Scorin,” you bring her out of her musings.
"I think I am going to call her Lilani."
"That's a good name," you reply. Then suddenly you remember something you had heard and can't believe that you had forgotten. "I heard that her is a Search going on for candidates for Istabitha's Weyr. I think that they are supposed to be at Aneris tomorrow. Do you want to give it a try?" Having said that, you suddenly feel ignorant. What a stupid question. Who wouldn't want to give it a try?
"Of course. Do you know what time," your best friend replies with glee. Your heart leaps at the thought. A Search here tomorrow.
"No,I don't, so I'll just meet you in the kitchen first thing in the morning."
"See you then," Okala finishes then picking up her precious burden walks away. Leaving you with your thoughts.
Istabitha's Weyr
Gallimim Weyr
Aneris Weyr
