A Dragon Waiting for You
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Len
Date Posted: 28th July 2024
Characters: L'fael, Sh'del, Jaylene, J'zen, Tenani
Description: Lafael Impresses green Sojanth
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 5 of Turn 11
Notes: Panitanth’s voice used with permission from Suzee
Lafael was sitting in a quiet corner of the Candidates’ barracks, doing his best to write an essay, when the place practically vibrated with the hum of the dragons. So this was it, Dolphin Cove’s Hatching and his last try. He glanced up as the Weyrlingmaster 2nd came into the room. He was a handsome type, all of the Weyrlingmasters here were, Lafael thought idly to himself.
}:Less thinking about my lifemate, yours might be waiting for you.:{ came Loranth’s gentle voice in his head.
Lafael blushed deeply and gave Sh’del as much attention as the roomful of excited candidates were. Everyone around him seemed so much more scared, excited, nervous than he felt. But he had done this so many times, and all with the same result.
}:Don’t be down, mine waited a long time before I found him too.:{
Lafael sent Loranth warm thoughts. A pretty brown like him would be nice, but…
“Come son, go get dressed into your robes.” Sh’del gave his shoulders a fatherly squeeze before turning his attention to a young girl who had begun to have a panic attack.
Lafael went into the dorms, feeling like the last boy to get dressed. The place was already half empty, with a group of loud boys gathering in a large knot of nerves and white robes by the exit out of the barracks. Half watching them, he opened his chest to pull the robe out of the bottom. It was rather rumbled, he had meant to iron it out before now. But he had only been here a sevenday, and most of that time had been used helping with the hurricane cleanup. Feeling a bit sheepish, he threw it over his head and followed in the same direction of the larger group of boys. They joined in with the girls and were guided rather like unruly herdbeasts onto the Sands. Lafael wondered if Jaylene and Renath had come.
}:Up here!:{
Lafael looked up to where the dragons had settled and saw both the delicate form of Reanth, and the much larger bronze Tribeth. Both dragons extended their wings in greeting, and Lafael saw not only Jaylene and J’nne wave from the stands, but also J’zen and their mother. Feeling better, he turned back to the Hatching.
The eggs were rocking violently. One cracked open and a beautiful green all but exploded out. Then there was a bronze. Both were stunning, would either one want him? Before Lafael could think anymore about it, the bronze had lashed out at a boy, throwing him into another boy. Both went down. Lafael stepped away as the semicircle of candidates moved away from the scene and back onto the eggs. He let himself get pushed away until he was off to one side, rather idly watching the scene instead of being part of it. Hatchings were always so overwhelming, listening over and over to that moment of Impression. It was like being in a crowded room, or in the scene of one of those Weyr fiction romances where everyone was finding their one true love whilst he was left alone after the scenes were over. All those voices, it was always hard to pick any one of them out.
}:Why are you so far away?:{
Lafael wondered which one had said that and looked around for who she"it was a feminine voice"was talking to.
}:Lafael!:{ Reanth shouted.
He blinked at Reanth and then looked down. A tiny green, her hide dark with the remains of her egg, sat at his feet, her great eyes looking imploringly up at him.
}:I need food, L’fael!:{
**I…what…? Me?** Feelings of overwhelming love flooded the young man. Was she his, really his? Was this really happening?
}:We knew you would be good for our Sojanth:{ Panitanth’s warm voice told him. }:She’s waited for you a long time.:{ Her eyes whirled green and blue as her head reached out to the new pair.
Lafael"now L’fael"looked from the great queen, to the tiny Sojanth, to Reanth.
}:She is yours and you are hers:{ Reanth bugled her joy, Tribeth joining her.
*Me…?**
}:Yes, you!:{ Sojanth butted his legs with the top of her head. }:Let’s go, I’m so hungry!:{
“Oh…okay.” L’fael gathered her oversized wings up and helped her over to the waiting Weyrlingmaster crew. A table stood just off the Sands, all but dripping with small cuts of meat for the new dragons.
“Here,” one of the assistants put a bucket into L’fael’s hand and directed him over to an empty seat. Sojanth pushed him when she felt he wasn’t going fast enough.
He crashed down onto the seat and began feeding his beautiful green. Was she his, really his?
“I told you there was a dragon waiting for you.”
L’fael looked up into Jaylene’s smiling face. Beside her were her family. “Back when Uetia and I found you I knew you would be a dragon rider.” Her voice broke at the last words. Her mother put her arm around her shoulders, tears running down both women’s cheeks.
“Congratulations L’fael,” J’nne said, affectionately patting his arm. J’zen leaned over and very gently hugged him, being careful not to upset Sojanth.
}:Who are these?:{
“My family.”
Family wasn’t those who had thrown him away and who had used him as a drudge. Family were those who had taken him in, and family was now those who braved the skies on dragonwings.
He, unwanted drudge, was now one of those brave men and women who protected Pern.
L’fael was now a dragonrider.
Last updated on the July 31st 2024