Re-read the mating Swim?
She was one of those Healing Den dragons, after all. Mijath was known around the Weyr as being little more than a tiny pale yellow shadow to Kallia the weaver. But now… She was a queen dragon!
With a strange, startled look on her little white-yellow face, Mijath herself started the humming.
My children will be coming out of their shells, my love. The candidates need to be down by the water.
Kallia looked up from her weaving, and put the shuttle down with her eyebrows crawling up over her forehead in surprise. “Now? Really?”
Now. Really.
The little yellow-white dragon with the impossibly straight wings made her way down to the water’s edge where the warm sands and pebbles held her beautiful eggs. Alternately, one or another of the small special Stunt dragons still living around Buenos would guard them so she could rest and watch from above. Should anyone have ever tried to get too close to those eggs, Mijath would have alerted her human bond and that would be the end of that! She was not overly protective, but a sensible mother to her eggs.
She knew well, for instance, that they would require more close proximity to the water’s edge than she or even Moeomth had needed when they hatched. The big orange rescue dragon had such fun in the chilled waters of the weyr’s lake, that he almost missed the hatching entirely! But he drew himself out of the water, as his rider did as well. They spent almost more time in the water than out of it, it seemed to Kallia.
Baeris rushed down with her golden-green dragon Dulath, when her bond mate announced the hatching. The handful of candidates had hustled themselves down to the waters edge as well. They were not burdened by hot uncomfortable white candidates robes, the robes they wore were pale blue and were very light indeed: made by skillful Kallia’s hands for just this event.
The trio of girls who had not impressed at the last Healing Den hatching were the first on hand. The eldest of them, Dasera, looked also the most pessimistic about the hatching. The other two tittered at one another and hoped beyond hope that they would impress this time.
If they did not… They didn’t think on it, but Dasera did. She had little choice in that matter: this WOULD be her last hatching. She just couldn’t take yet another disappointment. Not again!
When she looked up again from the shimmering sands and the bright eggs on them, Dasera noticed that there were mostly girls at this clutch, and only two boys. Well… They were men in their own right: more handsome than not, well muscled and with tans to match. She wondered if they were – no, the way they looked over the girls showed her they surely didn’t belong on any green dragons!
“I heard that the hatching is on,” said Azmere, the deaf girl. “Dulath told me!” Baeris laughed and asked Dulath to bid the girl to stand by the eggs, with the others. That done, two girls who adamantly claimed their fear or hatred of heights strode down to the waters edge together. It seemed only sensible that Leoca and Miarra became at least aquainted with one another. Baeris knew that if they both impressed here, they would be having to do more than that, until their dragonets were old enough to leave.
Mikalla and Karige strolled around near the water and looked at the eggs from there. Mikalla tilted her head and said, “can you hear them pecking at the shells inside?”
“I can. My heart is beating so fast…” Karige thought of perhaps a day when she might be watching the stars with a dragon below her…
The two males, Rayle and Tarran, figeted in their robes. Baeris carefully leaned between them and whispered, “they do not make you look like girls, they make you look like candidates.”
Both young men straightened up and tried looking like they’d not been pulling at the neck line or standing as ‘manly’ as they could. Kallia gave a snicker with Baeris while watching them. When a gasp passed around those who had started to assemble, Baeris glared at those who openly stared. Maranni the farmcrafter’s girl came along, helped by one of the apprentices down to the edge of the hatching area. She sat on a stone, her candidate’s gown just long enough to cover the stubs of her amputated legs.
Whispers continued, how could a girl with no legs ride anything, let alone a dragon! Yet… Baeris gave those whispering folk the icy glare that she was well known for, and they ceased. The dragons of the weyr, and the Den, had continued to croon their song, until one of the eggs began to rock harder than the rest. Near the center of the pebbly area, the egg was a small one indeed. But then, all of these eggs were considered small by any normal standards. The pebbles and stones were just as hot as the sands on any hatching ground, and the candidates – as well as some of the locals – did a foot-hopping dance while this egg took its time hatching.
The nose of a dark, sleek green came from her egg. The crowd cheered a little, and waited with their breath held. Who would she pick? When the dragonet had mostly left her egg, she bleated loudly as the girls around looked confused. She hadn’t chosen yet, she hadn’t even looked at them! She was barely moving!
The dragon’s skin was a rich wet shade, and it looked as if, even in the drying rays of the sun, it would continue to be that color. The sail of her wing was almost white, but had a shimmering kind of oily look to it as well, the same shimmer that the wet dragonet had all over her green skin. She looked to have slight fins at the tops of her legs, and her clawed feet were widely webbed. She glanced up, eyes angry red and still warbling a sad wail.
“Who does she want?” Cried Miarra. Then, the dragon seemed to stop her wailing just long enough to gaze between two of the standing candidates. She saw a girl who for all the world seemed ready to crawl under the stone she sat upon to hide away from herself.
It is YOU! Help me! My wing is pinned!
Maranni’s dark eyes widened in fear. “I—I can’t!” She called, tears brewing.
You must! No other is for me!
Maranni pulled herself to her hip, and swung one of her legs over the pebbles. “It’s too hot!” She screamed, picking up the leg impulsively. She would have toppled, but her strong arm steadied her. Tears poured down her cheeks.
My wing hurts! The stones are hot on me too! I am Twengith, Maranni! Only you know me!
The other girls watched the sudden burst of tears come from Maranni’s eyes, then they witnessed a transformation. Maranni could not stand, but the stumps of her left were still strong enough to keep her moving over the hot stones.
Baeris watched the girl with sad, respectful eyes. She cursed herself for not having contacted a smith or tanner to assemble some artificial legs – yet right at the moment it didn’t look as though the girl would be needing them.
Maranni reached Twengith and, gasping from the heat on her legs, pulled the green’s wing out from the remnants of the shell. It had been pinned below one of the other eggs, which was rocking violently now. She threw her arms around the back of her new lifemate, sobbing with joy.
“Nothing can stop us, Twengith, I see now!” Some hatching attendants helped both of them off the hot stones, and into a cooler area where meat had been prepared for the hatchlings. Baeris would see if there were any serious scrapes or burns on either of them. But she suspected that the worst of it was all over for Maranni.
Just about the time that the girl and her dragon cleared the sands, two of the largest eggs began to shake. Well, one of them had been rocking nicely but then the other struck it, and they both went spinning about.
Excited, the girls moved over to where they had spun. To their amazement, the nose which broke through the smaller of the two shells was a rich golden-brass shade – a sunlit color of autumn leaves. A bronze, in other words. He picked his way out of the shell, but had a difficult time doing so. For his feet had no claws on them at all, but were solidly webbed! They were flippers, much stronger than any fishes’ fins. When he cleared the egg, his wings could be seen. They were perhaps large enough to propel him through water, but unless they suddenly were to unfurl… They would never get off the ground.
The bronze stood and looked rather comical when he tried to walk toward the two boys. His big flippers made it hard for him, but he managed to walk about halfway without slipping. His shipfish like tail flipper waved in the air before he nosedived into the pebbles.
“Now, that’s falling on your own, Oshianith, but you only need a little practice,” Said Tarran. He looked at Rayle who laughed.
I would not need help if I got in the water… I am so dry, T’ran, and I am hungry! I do not know what to do first!
“First you eat, then we swim!” T’ran cried out, helping the flippery dragonet off the beach.
The largest of the eggs stopped spinning, and then cracked at the top. It was not a surprise to see a tail come out first, a long, sinuous and thick one, but then the foot which followed it, the rear end, and finally the forelegs, wings and head eventually – they were astounding as the last had been! Only… The great long flipper feet of this opalescent beauty were quite large, long, and there was only one choice for one girl in the hatching.
Dasera had to go help the dragon into the water. Right away. The long, narrow nose of the white-golden dragonet poked into the sand beside the pebbles, and she shook her head, giving a bit of a sneeze. Dasera watched, in awe, as the red-orange whirling eyes of this big sea-faring dragoness looked back at her… And changed to a rich blue-green.
You do not have to wait any longer, Dasera… I am here for you. If you can get those … ship-fishes to teach me how to leap out of the water… maybe you and I will fly!
“Tengerth!” Dasera’s voice was nearly a shriek, but one of pure amazed joy. She’d finally impressed and – and she’d done so with the most beautiful, most elegant –
Most hungry! And most itchy!
Laughing, they made their way to the water, where Dasera rolled into the water with her beautiful queen.
Another of the eggs was tumbling about, and two of the girls had to dodge it or it might have smacked right into them. Instead, it smacked into another of the eggs, a very oblong-shaped one. The first shattered and spilled out a dark, greenish-blue dragonet onto the pebbly beach, while the second disgorged an unhappy looking pale yellow-green one. The green-blue had thick, flipper like wings, and large flipper feet, with a very long tail and a narrow nose like its sister.
“Is that a blue? Or a green?” Asked some wise-cracker in the stands. Baeris shot him a look, but wondered herself: was this like Hzith? Something both green and blue? They would find out as time went on.
But what they didn’t have to wait for was the little hatchling to snap at its newly hatched companion and flop away towards the girls. Not to be out-done, the yellow-green dragon creeled angrily and stretched out of her shell completely. She was quite amazing herself, with feet more clawed than not, but her mothers straight-boned wings. The strange thing was, her hind legs were so much straighter than most…
The greeny-blue dragon splapped its way toward Leoca. It sat down, smacking her with his long tail as it beat like a cat’s.
I won’t go very high, Leoca.
“I know you won’t, little Yinteth. But you better learn to catch the fastest fish in the sea! You aren’t getting off that easy!” Leoca laughed and helped Yinteth off for the food, while the other dragon rested on the ‘sands’ still.
Azmere! I do not know about this… What if I stop you from hearing the others?
Azmere perked up. Someone had said her name… Spoken to her. It was a strange voice, yet so familiar, she couldn’t believe she had never ‘heard’ it before.
Then, her eyes widened as they turned to look at the tall yellow-green dragonet on the beach. Those hind legs of hers were shaped… like legs of a person, more than anything else… So when the dragoness stood up to dry her straight wings off, everyone – including Baeris – gasped in awe. She wasn’t any taller than the candidates, and would probably be a small dragon in her adult days, but she stood up like a person! Her wings draped around her like a cape!
Of course, when it came time to walk… That was another story! But Azmere caught on quick enough. She bolted to the dragon’s side, and held her up, then let the front end slip down again to her four-legged stance.
Cerenth is my name, Azmere. Did I surprise you?
You certainly did… But I can still hear the others, they’re very happy for us now!
The green-tinted eyes of the dragon looked up at Azmere with love.
Two more eggs began to move, on opposite sides of the shells already broken. No one knew quite where to look when they both broke open at the same time! One of them held a deep, blackish green dragon, while the other had a tealy-green shaded. The first, dark green one, had the look of a more normal dragon than either of her parents. She had slightly webbed feet, but otherwise looked as if she would be taking to the air just as easily as water, with her large oddly colored wings. She strode with some confidence to Karige.
I would like to see these things, ‘stars’ you call them.
“We will!” Karige cried, “oh, Reinith, we will! Tonight you’ll see everything!”
The bluish-green dragonet flapped her wings, they were solidly like flippers, more geared to smooth underwater currents than anything else. She even had a tall fin on the back of her smooth head, making her look exotic and ocean-ready.
You will not have to fly again, at least not with me, chuckled a mental voice to Miarra. I do not think I would care to fly either. Tynth is my name. Could you help me with the food? I can see my brother is already hogging it.
They looked toward the stand where the cut meat was served, and true to form, the greenish-blue – apparently male – Yinteth, was gobbling down yet another bowl of meat.
“We can get more, and besides, you’ll like fish much better, I think.” Miarra laughed and picked up the small teal-green dragon to help her off the hot rocks.
There were now only two eggs left. They were both fair sized, one much darker than the other. Rayle and Mikalla looked at each other. This would be the moments of truth for both of them…
The dark egg rolled around a bit, and then crumbled into large pieces from the strength of the large wide flippers within. A long snout broke through the main portion and forced its way out. A brownish speckled nose. There was no moment of waiting here, the dragon looked right at Rayle.
I am sorry I took so long… My brother is already done. Now I am ready to show him how to get from one place to another.
At that, the finny footed dragon stood, unfurled his pale translucent wings, and balanced his way across the hot stones to Rayle, now R’yle. You see? I can do anything he can, and do it more gracefully.
“I bet you can, Viharth. You’re a calm one.”
And you are not always. So you see why I am glad that Oshianith did not choose you?
R’yle hugged the beautiful speckled neck of his dragon, while the other egg broke open.
The last egg showed a pale, icy sea colored dragon’s hide. The beautiful warbling inside the egg got louder as the blue’s head came out, with a long fin atop his head and wide, white-blue wings beating dry.
Mikalla stood with her breath held. This song… This song that she had in her head – the dragon was humming it too! Tears coming down her cheeks, Mikalla cried out a long note that changed with the dragon’s voice.
You know it too. I am glad. My name is Amineth. We will sing together often, won’t we?
“We will, Amineth, we surely will!”
The hatching over, Baeris congratulated the new dragonpairs, and made sure that everyone was fed, watered, oiled and scratched well before properly dumped into the water. The whole bunch of them, even the trio of slightly more normal looking dragonets, all bounded or flippered or splatted their way back to the water line as if in a race. Fortunately, they all floated…
Dasera, on Opal-Gold Tengerth
Mikalla, on Opal-Blue Amineth
Karige, on Black-Green Reinith
Rillan, on Green Aiteth
Azmere, on Yellow-Green Cerenth
Leoca, on Greeny-Blue Yinteth
Maranni, on Oil-Green Twengith
Miarra, on Teal-Green Tynith
Rayle, on Lava-Brown Viharth
Tarran, on Sunshine-Bronze Oshianith