A New Life (6 of 8)

Writers: Paula
Date Posted: 4th June 2019

Characters: L'fael, Jessmyr, Jaylene, Hannell
Description: Lafael experiences his first blizzard
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 6, day 18 of Turn 9
Notes: Part six of eight

Jaylene

It was so warm in Lafael's bed that he didn't want to get up. He
snuggled deeper until a fellow candidate's green flit began scratching
at his covers, trying to bury herself into them. Rather than scold
her, he just reached out and patted her headknobs. Being a constant
attraction to every flit in the area was becoming normal for Lafael.
Quickly he lept out of bed and got dressed.

Hannell, the flit's owner, gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, she's
really nosy."

"It's okay, I don't mind," he said, smiling. It certainly beat the way
he had commonly been booted out of bed at Sunstone. Quickly he
scrubbed that thought out of his mind. Sunstone was gone. That sad
little drudge was also gone. He had a new life now.

Buoyed by happy thoughts he all but skipped down the stairs and
towards the Dinning Hall for breakfast. There was a faint cold breeze
coming down the hallway. Curious if the snow from the other day was
still sticking, Lafael jogged towards the entryway. He could take a
quick look before going back to the Dinning Hall. And besides, Jessmyr
always kept him a seat, so it wasn't like he would be late or
anything. He turned the corner and the full blast of outside hit him.

Mouth agape, Lafael wandered a few steps out into the sheer face of
whiteness that had met his eyes. And the full blast of the blizzard
hit him.

Jessmyr didn't like cold or winter, he hadn't liked when he was a boy,
didn't like it any more now. The cold made his heart condition worse.
After waiting for awhile for Lafael join him to for breakfast, he sent
his flit to scout. "Find Lafael," he told Val and added image of the
former drudge. The brown chirped and flew off to search for him.

Over the howl of the wind Lafael heard the faintest chirp. Stumbling,
letting the wind blow him back into the entry-way he saw the brown
flit. "Come on Val, take me to Jessmyr." It wasn't hard to find the
young man since the Dinning Hall was half empty. "Wow Jessmyr, you
should see the snow!"

"I've seen plenty of snow in my life. It's cold, wet and white. If it
falls heavily enough, you can get lost into it," Jessmyr said with a
shiver.

"I've never seen it, well since this last sevenday. And certainly
never a blizzard! You should go look, it's just white out, you can't
see a thing!" Lafael couldn't contain his excitement over the
blizzard. He didn't even notice he was bolting his food down as fast
as he could so he could back out and watch the snow. Already he was
getting pleasant images it from some of his new dragon friends. "We
only ever had hurricanes and they were pretty crappy." He shivered.
Hurricanes had never done him any good, thinking about the way he had
broken his ankle in one. "But then again, if it wasn't for a hurricane
I never would have met Ugot and he turned out to be Uetia's brother
and was the one who told her about me." He took another bite of food.
"Maybe hurricanes aren't so bad after all."

"I don't know about hurricanes but blizzards are bad, very bad. People
get lost in blizzards and then they freeze to death and get buried by
tons of snow and you don't find their body until spring," Jessmyr
replied, sipping his klah. "One of the herders near our waystation
died that way. Worst part? He was only half a dragonlenght away from
his home."

"Really? It can get_that_bad?" Lafael's eyes unfocused as he took
another quick look through the eyes of Reanth, who was sitting on her
weyr ledge, just as curious as he over the blizzard.

}:I've never seen snow before this winter either,:{ she explained to Lafael.

He blinked and refocused on Jessmyr. "Wingthird Jaylene's Reanth says
she's ever seen snow either," he repeated. "Where I'm from it was only
ever hot and sticky. We had_loads_of thunderstorms but never any
snow."

"Yes, it can get that bad. So, if you have outhouse and there's bad
blizzard, don't go there, use a pot," Jessmyr replied and sipped his
klah. "I would love some warm, although I'm not sure about
thunderstorms. Although, I'm pretty sure that too much heat wouldn't
be healthy to me either."

Lafael nodded sagely. "The heat was really sticky there. Some days it
felt like you could cut the humidity with a knife, it was that thick.
Particularly in the jungle. It was quite pretty though, some mornings
when I was still with the traders I'd wake up at dawn and it was
really beautiful. The mist would settle on the forest floor and all
the trees were just silhouettes."

"Sounds spooky," Jessmyr wasn't much of a romantic. He sighed bit
wistfully. He would love to see more places than those who could be
reached by foot or flying straight by a dragon. But /betweening/ was
just too much for a risk for him.

"No..." Lafael mused as he took a bite of food. "It was quite
beautiful. certainly much more beautiful than Sunstone. That place was
horrible."

"Well, I take your word for it. I never been elswhere than my home
runner-station, here and Opal Cove Hold," Jessmyr replied and fed Val
some of his leftover sausage.

Lafael, eager to see more, shoved the rest of his food under Val's
nose. Already he could see through some of the dragons' eyes that a
group of them were playing about in the deep snow. "Maybe if I'm quick
I can take another look before classes start. You coming?"

"Nope, I stay inside in warmth," Jessmyr replied. "Besides, Yanley
needs my help."

"Okay." Lafael gave his friend a forlorn glance. It must be hard to
have the type of health condition Jessmyr had. "See you at dinner?"

Jess nodded, "Same time, same place."

Lafael smiled brightly and gave his friend a quick hug before he was
racing back down the halls, eager to see the blizzard.

Last updated on the June 16th 2019

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A New Life (6 of 8)