Sunrise, Sungleam, Dawngazer, or SunQueen?

Writers: Ainsley1, Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 27th July 2007

Characters: Lihona, Linli, Jezz
Description: The three girls discuss names for the new firelizard.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 7 of Turn 4

"It still doesn't have a name," Lihona said in whispered complaint as she peered down from the cotton bales to where her mother was showing the creature to one of the engineering crew. "We could come up with a good idea and tell her."

"She's so beautiful...I can see where yer mum would have a time deciding on the right name," Jezz replied. If a gold firelizard was this breathtaking, what must a gold dragon be like? "But I'm sure we could come up with some good ideas."

"I said 'Goldy', but she didn't like that. Said it was bragging."

"It should be special. How many riverboats can boast a Gold firelizard?" Jezz wondered. "My mum always tells me that the dawn's light is special but I don't get up that early. She likes the sunset too and there's gold in the sunset," Jezz offerred, just thinking out loud without giving actual proposals just yet.

"Well the firelizard sure wakes up early! Sunrise? Or Dawn?" Lihona suggested. "I can tell my mother our ideas. She said if there are ever any eggs the person who finds the right name can have their pick of the clutch."

"Why not Sunny?" Linli asked, sitting up quickly at the thought of her very own firelizard - determined to come up with a suitable name.
"Sunshine? She's certainly golden enough."

"That's nice, but is it ... important-sounding enough?"

"Important enough? I dont' think so, but...she's just.." she couldn't say a pet, but really, a firelizard wasn't much more than a pet. Like a canine, more useful than a feline, but just a pet. "She's gonna be more of a friend to your mam than anything else, isn't she?"

"She's going to be important! She can take messages - My father had to _pay_ a man on his ship for his _blue_ firelizard to bring us messages.
And gold's are better at things than blues. And she can have _eggs_.
People always want firelizard eggs."

"How about Sungleam or Dawngazer, you know...like the Sungazer!" Jezz offered enthusiastically enjoying the game, utterly mesmerized by the thought of a firelizard of her own. Her mother said that a Gold Firelizard was a very important boon for the Sungazer, but the five-turn-old wasn't quite sure what a "boon" was. Had she been a bit more certain, she might have offered that as a name for the little Gold.

"That's what I was going to say next!" Linli cried, "Oh poo!" She frowned in concentration, determined to come up with a name for the little firelizard she had seen when it first cracked shell.

"It's all right. I'm sure my mother will give us all an egg if we come up with a name together."

"Do you think so?" Linli's face lit up in a wide, expectant smile, then slowly faded. "I don't think so, the adults will get them Lihona.
They're more important than us." If they were lucky one of them would end up with a firelizard, but she didn't think all three would be so lucky.

"What's 'destiny' mean?" she asked suddenly. The word had been rolling around in her head for days, it was an unusual word, one she had never heard before, but it sounded nice on her tongue. She hadn't meant to listen to adult conversation, but she had heard two of the passengers talking, and that one word had stuck in her head.

"Um - the future? Or something." Lihona was older than the other two girls, though they knew more about life on a the riverboat, which had offset her age advantage to begin with. "Who said that?"

"One of the passengers, about your dar." Linli shrugged, "I just liked the word, it sounds nice, like a name, but not."

Jezz's brow furrowed, "Does it mean a good future or a bad future?" It was a nice sounding word, but sometimes the words outsiders used to refer to riverboat crew were not so nice, or so her mother informed her.

"I don't know.." Linli shook her head and looked to Lihona. "I think it was good, they were saying it was _destiny_ for Lineal to end up back on the Sungazer, so I think it _must_ mean good."

"Oh." Lihona tried to make sense of the passenger's words but thought she might have to ask her mother for help. "Well I'm not sure, then, but it is a pretty word. We couldn't have the firelizard named that, though, until we know what it means."

Her head bobbing in agreement, Jezz tried to concentrate on other possibilities. "Maybe something something to do with the river or the water?"

"If Rahona had two, she could call them Ebb and Flow." Linli chuckled.

"Upstream and downstream," Lihona added.

"Hey! I know!" Linli bounced up and down on the bale in excitement.
"How about 'SunQueen'? Does it sound important enough?" She looked from one girl to the other, but her excited smile slowly faded as she watched their expressions.

Lihona was frowning. It _was_ a good name, one she hadn't thought of herself. "I suppose it does," she said slowly.

"You don't like it, do you?" she looked from one to the other.

"I do ... It has some of the Sungazer in it, as well as being what she is. But my mother has to like it, that's the thing."

"Yeah, but if you don't like it, and Jezz doesn't, its not a good name.
But -
I'll think of more, I know I will!" Linli brightened again, she would think about names tonight when she went to bed. She'd ask Tahna what she thought of the names she could think of.

"I didn't say I didn't like it!" Jezz insisted, her mind had been wondering as her cousins talked. "I was just thinking. I do like it.
I think we should make a list of all our names to show Rahona, but I can't write words yet only some letters."

"I can write some things," Lihona said, not very certain of her abilities. What if they asked her to write 'destiny'? "But we could ask my father."

"D'ya think Lineal would help us?" Linli asked, "I'd ask my Dar, but I don't know if he'd be able to." she still wasn't sure just how badly Fog was affected by his accident.

"If Uncle Lineal doesn't have time, I just know my mum would help," Jezz piped up.

"Shall we go find out?" Linli asked, anxious to get some names written down on the list before she forgot her favourites.

Lihona nodded, squirming around ready to crawl out of their hidey-hole for this trip. "Yep. Let's go."

Last updated on the July 29th 2007

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Sunrise, Sungleam, Dawngazer, or SunQueen?