Keylyn: Childhood

Baeris Kshau's Healing Den | Ryslen Weyr

Stats | 14 Turns | Search | Impression | Hatchling | Weyrling | Adult

        Keylyn sat cross-legged high in the fire-heights, gazing down at her surroundings.  The Hold, for once, was at peace.  Thread was not imminent, and the Hold was preparing for its annual spring Gather.  In the distance, she glimpsed a wing of dragonriders, probably coming o the Gather.  The dragons seemed to be mostly blues and browns, with the occasional green and - wait!  Keylyn stared.  That had to be a bronze. . . Clowning around, too.  The young dragon swooped and soared, and Ke was surprised and delighted when, after watching for several minutes, several of the blues and younger browns followed his example.  Watching the dragons gave Keylyn a kind of peace, and raising her flute to her lips, she began a soaring, trusting melody that seemed reminiscent of the dragons' play.  Continuing it, she mentally put words to her tune:

I alight on my dragon, and we fly, high-soaring,
O'er Weyr, Hold, and Hall; the land and the sea.
I know that wherever, whenever I go,
He will always be there, my blue dragon for me.
        Ke smiled.  The song conveyed a feeling of the complete trust and certainty in each other that dragonriders must share.  Looking back out over the countryside, she noted that the first dragons of the wing were beginning to circle, looking for a place to land.  She jumped agily from her seat on the wall, and dashed for the stairs.  Halfway down, she heard her mother, Alynn, calling.  "Ke?  Are you ready?  Get your brothers up!"
 

        Keylyn ran to the chambers she shared with her family, and, after searching desperately through her wardrobe, found and pulled on her amber-swirled Gather dress.  Hurrying to her brothers' room, she shook them awake.  "Come on, Savyn, Asalan, get up!  It's Gather day!"
        The twins woke quickly, and Keylyn, as excited as they were, ran to her mother's room.  "Can we go down to the Gather?"
        Alynn sighed.  "Yes, go on.  I'll be there with the twins in a minute.  But you might have to take them for a candlemark or so while I take my turn playing."
 

        Keylyn leapt down the stairs, and ran out into the courtyard.  She strolled past the many stalls, pausing to marvel at the wares, and later to purchase several bubbly pies.  Several minutes later, she stopped at a jewelers stall to admire a pair of delicate, flit-shell earrings.

        The young journeywoman in charge of the stall watched the girl for several minutes, then asked kindly, "How many marks do you have, child?"
        Keylyn looked down, ashamed that she had taken up a journeywoman's time.  "None. . . I'm sorry.  And my name is Keylyn."  She started to move away, but the older girl, remembering a similar childhood experience, called her back.  "Take them, Keylyn.  And wear them in good health, with best wishes from the Jeweler Hall."
        Keylyn ran back, delighted.  "Thank you.  But. . . " she paused, "I shouldn't."
        The journeywoman smiled.  "No, do.  I won't tell."  She handed them to Ke, and watched as the girl ran off, waving a thank you.
 

        Several hours later, while walking with her younger brothers, Keylyn was met by a young dragonrider wearing the insignia of a Searchrider.  "So you're who Keveth was so excited about," he remarked.  "I'm D'kan, rider of blue Keveth.  And you are. . ."
        "Keylyn," she supplied.  "But. . . aren't I too young to Impress?  I've only ten Turns."
        D'kan frowned.  "Too bad, you would be a good Candidate.  Wait a minute. . . would you object to Impressing a flit?  That would be a good guide as to whether you'd Impress at a Hatching."
        Keylyn was amazed.  "Yes, of course!  Could I?  I mean, I'm not even an apprentice yet!"
        D'kan was emphatic.  "If Keveth says you're the right person to Impress, that means you are.  I'll buy you an egg; there must be someone selling them at a Gather this size."
 

        Several hours later, Keylyn ran excitedly to Alynn, who had just finished her turn playing.  "Mother. . . you wouldn't believe what happened to me!"