Winter

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 27th October 2019

Characters: L'keri, Arten, Eluri
Description: Arten's firelizard egg hatches
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 10 of Turn 19
Notes: This takes place before L'keri's accident.

L'keri

L'keri was returning to his weyr after breakfast to prepare for Fall
when he heard the humming. It wasn't the overpowering sound that dragons
made at a Hatching, which vibrated right down to your bones, it was far
lighter in tone but had the same quality of expectation and welcome.

**Rhalith?** He frowned. **What's that?**

}:The little one comes,:{ Rhalith said, turning his massive head
towards L'keri's sleeping quarters. His eyes glowed green.

**The what...oh!**

Instantly alert, he ran for the bedroom, to be greeted by several pairs
of glowing eyes. Firelizards from the Weyr, perched around the hearth,
here to greet the new arrival. As he watched, there was a faint scraping
of clay against stone as the pot rocked on the hearth.

He had to find Arten. Fortunately he'd been paying more attention to how
his son spent his days recently. He hadn't yet joined the candidate
classes, so he'd likely be at chores. This soon after a meal, there was
a good chance he'd be in the kitchen scrubbing pots, and if he wasn't
there, someone would know where he was.

There was no time to be lost. L'keri left the weyr and sprinted down the
corridor towards the dining hall, asking Rhalith to keep an eye out for
the hatchling as he did so. He wasn't sure how much time they'd have.
And meat. He'd need meat, or something for it to eat at least.

One thing he hadn't counted on was that he wasn't the only one in the
Weyr to know that Feral's clutch was hatching. Word had spread among
those who'd purchased an egg, and he nearly ran into Arten coming out of
the kitchens, a bowl of scraps clutched in his arms.

"Quick - back to my weyr!"

"We've got to get Eluri," Arten insisted. "Her teacher said she could
watch."

"I'll get her. You go on to the weyr. Rhalith says it's not hatched yet,
but we can't lose any time." L'keri gave the boy a swift encouraging
smile as he turned into the corridor that led to the classrooms. The
children would only just have begun their morning lessons. "Hurry!"

***

In his haste to get back in time, L'keri scooped up his daughter in his
arms and ran. They burst through the door and into the weyr, where
Rhalith waited, his eyes whirling rapidly in excitement.

}:It is almost time.:{

L'keri set Eluri down and she ran to the bedroom ahead of him, pausing
in the doorway. Arten was kneeling before the hearth, glancing anxiously
over his shoulder as the pot juddered and scraped. His eyes lit in
relief as he saw that they'd arrived in time.

"It's ready to hatch. You should take it out," L'keri said, breathless,
his heart thumping. Shards, he thought, it was a long way up stairs from
the classrooms. Maybe the Weyrhealer was right; he should take more
exercise.

Arten carefully removed the egg from the pot, spilling sand on the floor
as he did so. It rocked wildly, then stilled for a moment as if the
hatchling inside was gathering strength. And then, there was a loud
crack and a piece of shell fell to the floor, revealing the dark, bony
knob of a wing. Arten gasped and watched intently as more fragments of
shell fell away, until a finally a crack zigzagged down the shell and it
split in two, revealing a tiny, damp blue hatchling, creeling piteously.

"Feed him!" L'keri pushed the bowl of scraps towards Arten, then backed
away, his arm around Eluri so they wouldn't interfere with the Impression.

Arten reached into the bowl and took out a piece of meat, which he laid
on the ground before the little blue. His fingers were barely out of the
way when the firelizard leapt on it and gnawed it with his tiny teeth,
near swallowing it whole in his haste to satisfy his hunger.

"Slowly," the boy murmured, taking out a smaller piece, which the
hatchling snatched and gulped down. "You'll choke yourself. Slowly,
slowly..." He was beginning to feel a peculiar sensation in his belly,
as if it was both full and hollow at the same time. As he fed the little
blue, piece by piece the hunger diminished and a slow, all-encompassing
sense of warmth and contentment overtook him.

Soon, the hatchling had calmed enough that Arten was able to gently lift
him in his cupped hands. Now that his wings had dried, the boy could
tell that he was a rather pale shade of blue, like an iced-over lake.
But he was warm, his belly bulging with meat, and when Arten held him
close to his chest the small claws snagged in the fabric of his tunic.

Knowing that the Impression had been made, L'keri let go of Eluri's
shoulder and she ran over to kneel by her brother's side.

"Oh, Arten, he's beautiful!" She reached out, then hesitated. "Can I
touch him?"

"I don't think he'll mind. He's nearly asleep." Arten watched, awed, as
the tiny, delicate lids closed over the faceted eyes. He covered a yawn.
"I can feel how tired he is!"

"You'll get used to it." The brownrider crouched beside them, watching
as Eluri stroked a gentle finger along the little blue's back. "What are
you going to call him?"

"I hadn't thought." Arten realised, guiltily, that he'd not been certain
that his father wouldn't mess up the gift of the egg somehow. That he'd
forget to keep it warm, or give it to some girl of his instead, or lose
it in a poker game. But he hadn't. He looked up, past Rhalith's couch to
the weyr entrance. Though they were warm and snug within the bedchamber,
close to the hearth, he could just make out flakes of snow tumbling from
the skies outside. "How about Snow, or Ice, or...Winter?"

"Winter is cute." Eluri moved aside so that L'keri could take a closer
look at the hatchling. The brownrider touched him as lightly as he
could, wondering. He'd never seen such a small one before, all the
firelizards he'd known had been fully grown.

"What do you think...Da?" The boy looked up at him.

He smiled. "I think that's a good name."

"All right, then. Winter." As Eluri climbed into her father's lap, Arten
leaned, almost without realising it, against L'keri's shoulder. He heard
Rhalith's low rumble of contentment from the couch, and for the first
time in a long, long while, felt himself part of a family again.

Last updated on the November 1st 2019

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