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gmtaslashTitle: Fourth Pass
Author: Trojie
Fandom: Pern
Rating: G
Quiet moments are rare in the hours before a Hatching, as Kessika was finding out. Having dodged question after question from newly arrived guests as to Waetreth's health (fine), the number of eggs (twenty-seven), whether or not there was a queen egg (no) and whether or not she was excited (er, what do you think?), she finally managed to get to her weyr and change.
Are you coming out to see me soon? came the plaintive voice of Waetreth.
In a moment love, I have to get my shoes on or I'll burn my feet on the sands.
It will start soon.
I know. Your first clutch! Kessika hurriedly slipped on a pair of soft wherhide slippers and made her way to the Bowl. Waetreth was crooning softly to her eggs.
'They're beautiful, love,' she said, looking up at the soft, sleek bulk of her golden dragon. Waetreth, eyes whirling a happy blue-green, said I know Her crooning got louder, and the note was taken up by the other dragons lining the edge of the Bowl. Kessika hurriedly stepped back from the eggs, watching the Candidates move nervously closer to the clutch. She reached out and touched Waetreth's flank, recalling the joyousness of Impression.
At the first crack of shell, the approaching Candidates began to circle more eagerly. Waetreth eyed them suspiciously. The first egg broke open to reveal an energetically wriggling bronze dragonet, who accelerated out of the shell at an alarming rate and crashed into a brown-haired boy from Fort. Then a blue made his entrance, keening and circling until one candidate stepped forward and tried to soothe it. Then two greens hatched almost simultaneously, another bronze ... and suddenly the sands were full of squalling dragonets. A newly hatched brown seemed not to take to any of the candidates, abruptly changing the direction of his wanderings and heading back the way he'd come until he backed into an Istan boy whose face broke into the rapt smile of the newly-Impressed. Sometimes, however, the dragon knows exactly who she wants, and one green sent two girls and a boy who were converging on it flying in her efforts to get to a girl who was just behind them. As other dragonets made for the toppled candidates, the determined green launched herself at the slower girl. Kessika smiled as Impression was made; the girl crouching to cuddle and soothe the hungry dragonet. Looking up at the older woman, the new weyrling grinned and called over the top of keening baby dragons and bugling adults; 'She says her name is Laralth!'
***
Several hours later:
'Has anyone seen Solanna?' Journeywoman Weaver Meru was standing helplessly in one fo the main cook caverns, revolving slowly with what appeared to be a dress hanging limply in her grip. 'Only she wanted this dress for tonight and if she would just stand still for five seconds I could get it fitted properly-'
'No time!' said Solanna, appearing as if from nowhere and taking the dress. 'It'll have to do. Can you stir that stew, please? Yvory, I'm just changing!' she called out to the plump woman attending to the roasts.
Meru obediently stirred the thick wherry stew, sniffing appreciatively at the aroma it exuded. Looking around, she smiled as she spotted the new weyrlings and their parents, the former beaming beatifically and the latter looking proud and sometimes uncomfortable, if they were the more hidebound species of holder. Around them wove hordes of dragonriders, energetically enjoying this special day with wine and song and friends old and new. A tap on the shoulder brought her back to her sentences, and a pair of mischievous blue eyes sparkled at her.
'Taken to cooking now, have we?'
'Only because I knew it was the first place you'd visit once you got here, you walking stomach,' said Meru, hugging her friend. 'Travelling Harpers are all the same.'
Sykee, the Harper, smiled and sniffed theatrically loudly at the stewpot. 'No chance of a taste, is there?'
'Not at all,' Meru said firmly. 'It isn't done yet. Be off with you, gannet. Don't you have Harper Hall business to attend to?' the weaver asked, cocking her head at a figure dressed in blue on the other side of the cavern. 'You know she loves to hear your news.'
'Obviously you're deaf to the growls of my stomach,' shrugged Sykee. She squeezed Meru one last time, then ducked off, weaving through the crowd 'Save me a portion!'
The black-haired Harper darted through the throng of people in the Lower Cavern. 'Ileana! Oi, over here!'
The woman she was waving at turned and smiled. 'I was wondering when I'd see you. Come and sit down.' The weyrsinger dragged her friend to a niche in the wall. 'So. Tell me everything.'
'Everything?'
'You know what I mean.'
'Well,' said Sykee, taking a dramatic breath. 'Nothing much, actually. Oh, there's some interesting politicking going on over the wedding of Usinna of High Reaches Hold and Muren of Telgar Hold, but nothing serious. And Thread falls in three days?'
'Three days,' the weyrsinger confirmed. 'And we're flying with a full complement for the first time this Pass, now that the weyrlings of Emereth's last clutch can fly firestone supply and messages.'
'All the Weyrs are producing well,' said Sykee happily. 'Two golds rose to mate in the last week; Sarrath at Ista and Jaraneth at Igen, and Jaraneth's a senior queen. Telgar have a queen egg hardening. Pern will be well protected this Pass.'
*** END PART 1
Author: Trojie
Fandom: Pern
Rating: G
Quiet moments are rare in the hours before a Hatching, as Kessika was finding out. Having dodged question after question from newly arrived guests as to Waetreth's health (fine), the number of eggs (twenty-seven), whether or not there was a queen egg (no) and whether or not she was excited (er, what do you think?), she finally managed to get to her weyr and change.
Are you coming out to see me soon? came the plaintive voice of Waetreth.
In a moment love, I have to get my shoes on or I'll burn my feet on the sands.
It will start soon.
I know. Your first clutch! Kessika hurriedly slipped on a pair of soft wherhide slippers and made her way to the Bowl. Waetreth was crooning softly to her eggs.
'They're beautiful, love,' she said, looking up at the soft, sleek bulk of her golden dragon. Waetreth, eyes whirling a happy blue-green, said I know Her crooning got louder, and the note was taken up by the other dragons lining the edge of the Bowl. Kessika hurriedly stepped back from the eggs, watching the Candidates move nervously closer to the clutch. She reached out and touched Waetreth's flank, recalling the joyousness of Impression.
At the first crack of shell, the approaching Candidates began to circle more eagerly. Waetreth eyed them suspiciously. The first egg broke open to reveal an energetically wriggling bronze dragonet, who accelerated out of the shell at an alarming rate and crashed into a brown-haired boy from Fort. Then a blue made his entrance, keening and circling until one candidate stepped forward and tried to soothe it. Then two greens hatched almost simultaneously, another bronze ... and suddenly the sands were full of squalling dragonets. A newly hatched brown seemed not to take to any of the candidates, abruptly changing the direction of his wanderings and heading back the way he'd come until he backed into an Istan boy whose face broke into the rapt smile of the newly-Impressed. Sometimes, however, the dragon knows exactly who she wants, and one green sent two girls and a boy who were converging on it flying in her efforts to get to a girl who was just behind them. As other dragonets made for the toppled candidates, the determined green launched herself at the slower girl. Kessika smiled as Impression was made; the girl crouching to cuddle and soothe the hungry dragonet. Looking up at the older woman, the new weyrling grinned and called over the top of keening baby dragons and bugling adults; 'She says her name is Laralth!'
***
Several hours later:
'Has anyone seen Solanna?' Journeywoman Weaver Meru was standing helplessly in one fo the main cook caverns, revolving slowly with what appeared to be a dress hanging limply in her grip. 'Only she wanted this dress for tonight and if she would just stand still for five seconds I could get it fitted properly-'
'No time!' said Solanna, appearing as if from nowhere and taking the dress. 'It'll have to do. Can you stir that stew, please? Yvory, I'm just changing!' she called out to the plump woman attending to the roasts.
Meru obediently stirred the thick wherry stew, sniffing appreciatively at the aroma it exuded. Looking around, she smiled as she spotted the new weyrlings and their parents, the former beaming beatifically and the latter looking proud and sometimes uncomfortable, if they were the more hidebound species of holder. Around them wove hordes of dragonriders, energetically enjoying this special day with wine and song and friends old and new. A tap on the shoulder brought her back to her sentences, and a pair of mischievous blue eyes sparkled at her.
'Taken to cooking now, have we?'
'Only because I knew it was the first place you'd visit once you got here, you walking stomach,' said Meru, hugging her friend. 'Travelling Harpers are all the same.'
Sykee, the Harper, smiled and sniffed theatrically loudly at the stewpot. 'No chance of a taste, is there?'
'Not at all,' Meru said firmly. 'It isn't done yet. Be off with you, gannet. Don't you have Harper Hall business to attend to?' the weaver asked, cocking her head at a figure dressed in blue on the other side of the cavern. 'You know she loves to hear your news.'
'Obviously you're deaf to the growls of my stomach,' shrugged Sykee. She squeezed Meru one last time, then ducked off, weaving through the crowd 'Save me a portion!'
The black-haired Harper darted through the throng of people in the Lower Cavern. 'Ileana! Oi, over here!'
The woman she was waving at turned and smiled. 'I was wondering when I'd see you. Come and sit down.' The weyrsinger dragged her friend to a niche in the wall. 'So. Tell me everything.'
'Everything?'
'You know what I mean.'
'Well,' said Sykee, taking a dramatic breath. 'Nothing much, actually. Oh, there's some interesting politicking going on over the wedding of Usinna of High Reaches Hold and Muren of Telgar Hold, but nothing serious. And Thread falls in three days?'
'Three days,' the weyrsinger confirmed. 'And we're flying with a full complement for the first time this Pass, now that the weyrlings of Emereth's last clutch can fly firestone supply and messages.'
'All the Weyrs are producing well,' said Sykee happily. 'Two golds rose to mate in the last week; Sarrath at Ista and Jaraneth at Igen, and Jaraneth's a senior queen. Telgar have a queen egg hardening. Pern will be well protected this Pass.'
*** END PART 1
