"Get it, Ripple!" Fifteen-Turn-old Lamarnir shouted as he spotted a tunnelsnake, and the blue flit dove downwards, quickly pecking at the six-legged creature. It soon began to run away, but the blue firelizard was relentless. It drove him back several times, and Lamanir stood with his makeshift spear in hand, waiting for it to get close enough for him to spear. Ripple kept on herding the 'snake, and soon enough it was within striking distance of Lamanir. With a quick flick of a wrist, he sent the wooden stick spinning towards the firelizard, and it hit him cleanly behind the head.
"Good job!" Lamanir said, brushing back his black hair from his hazel eyes. "C'm on, boy, that makes a half-dozen, and it has to be getting close to supper time. What do you think?" He smiled at the blue, thankful that his mother had let him "borrow" her flit to go tunnelsnake hunting.
The blue flit chirped in agreement, and Lamanir started back towards White River Weyr, whistling all the while. Ripple's trillings turned into excited squawks half-way towards the Weyr, and Lamanir looked aroudn wildly.
He panicked slightly, and watched as a gold firelizard swooped down on him, screaming. "Firelizards!" Lamanir said, and saw the well-hidden circular mound of sand that signified a clutch of firelizards.
Digging frantically, Lamanir ducked several more of the queen's dives, and soon retreated, appearing beaten. However, in his mind he'd won, because clasped in his dirty hands was a tiny, mottled firelizard egg, also covered in sand. "Wow," He breathed quietly. "What do you think, Ripple?" Lamanir asked.
The blue chirped excitedly, and Lamanir was thankful that the blue had come along. Not only had he caught and killed a half-dozen tunnelsnakes, but he was now going to have a firelizard of his own.
Cupping the egg in both hands, he jogged back to Tarizal Weyr, Ripple following close behind. Since Lamanir was Apprenticed to the WeyrHarper, he often made up songs about anything and everything. Along the way he began to hum, taking pleasure in the way that the tunes echoed off of the cliff walls.
Before long, he found himself at Tarizal Weyr, and headed for the kitchens where his mother worked. "Mother?" He asked, shielding the firelizard egg from prying eyes. He knew that he was supposed to give the firelizard egg to the Weyrleader, but somehow he simply couldn't bring himself to giveit to him. He wanted the egg for himself...
Lamanir had never been greedy, but he wondered how one little firelizard egg would make a differance to the mighty Weyrleader. After all, most of the people that went and asked if they were allowed to keep it got to. So what was the point in asking anyway?
His mother came up, slightly impatient. "What is it,Lamanir? We're working on preparing the hatching feast for the clutch of eggs on the Sands. We're not getting everything, of course, but everyone's trying to figure out what we'll have enough of by the time that the eggs harden."
Lamanir smiled, then opened his hands to reveal the mottled egg. "I found it out on the beach about a mile or so back from the Weyr. I don't know where the clutch is, becuase it was hard to find anyways, and I was so excited about finding the egg, that I didn't really look at the surroundings much. There's no point in trying to go back and find it."
His mother smiled sadly. "Of course, you realize that you're going to have to take this egg to T'kel, don't you?" She asked, and Lamanir looked at her strangely.
"I plan on keeping it!"He said happily, but in a hushed voice, the way that a young child speaks whenever they've taken a piece of jewelry from their mother's box. "No one really has to know, do they?" His smile faded at his mother's grim look. "Mother? Come on,please? I only want this one egg, and what good is it going to do if T'kel keeps it? You know that we don't have many holds in our territory yet, and he doesn't Impress them himself! He only took that one little green, and that was all!"
< Leci smiled down at her foster-child. "Well, Isuppose." Her smile turned grim. "But if T'kel gets a word of this, remember that I had nothing to do with it," She added. "I do not want to live like a holdless, that's for sure. I want to stay here at the Weyr."
He hugged her, being careful not to disturb the firelizard egg that he held in his hands. "I'll make sure that it stays in my weyr," He added at her worried look. "T'kel won't hear a thing about it."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"AND THE FACT THAT YOU FAILED TO REPORT IT TO EITHER ME OR WELASIA MAKES YOUR CRIME TEN TIMES WORSE!" T'kel yelled, and Lamanir flinched under his stinging words. T'kel had found out about the firelizard egg- right after the bond of Impression had been made between the little brown and Lamanir. He'd come bursting in, fuming about Portath telling him everything, and Lamanir had been scentenced to middens duty for a month. He had a feeling that it was going to get much worse, though. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" He bellowed.
"Yes, sir," Lamanir replied meekly. He wished that he'd just turned the stupid firelizard egg over to T'kel in the first place. However, looking down at his brown firelizard that lay curled in hislap, Lamanir was glad that he hadn't.
T'kel stopped for breath. "Most Holds would make you wring the neck of the firelizard if it was stolen, but you'd better be thankful that Welasia is the Weyrwoman here atTarizal. She forbade me to make you do that, so offer her your gratitude." He smiled grimly. "She gave you the middens duty. I, however, am going to bestow upon you something much worse. Do you want to know why? We'd been watching that clutch for sevendays, waiting for it to hatch. Do you know what happened? The gold got so distressed over you coming in and stealing an egg that she left the clutch and let them get eaten by tunnelsnakes. The eggs had already been promised, so you just denied every single Lord Holder and their family a firelizard. That's stealing, in my opinion. That's why I'm going to have to do to you what I'm doing. I deny you the privelage of ever standing onTarizal Weyr's Hatching Sands. Is that quite understood?"
With tears stinging his eyes, Lamanir nodded and headed back towards his ground-level weyr, his brown firelizard crooning slightly in his sleep.
Upon reaching his weyr, he placed the firelizard in a padded basked and threw himself on his bed. The firelizard paid no attention to the racket that Lamanir was making, simply curled up into a ball and went to sleep, Lamanir sobbing on his bed.
Someone crept quitely inside, and Lamanir didn't recognize the footsteps. He satup, and turned around to see Erilam, a whiterider that he had never spoken to, but knew by name and face. She came from Black Night Weyr, and was already known for a few things: She didn't approve of Weyr morals, she could pack a punch, and she could comfort someone whenever they needed it.
The first had been obvious to everyone in the Weyr since the day that she transferred. The second had been learned by one unfortunate brownrider Jr.Weyrling, P'ral, who had transferred with her. The third only a few had seen, but everyone knew. "Hey," She said quietly. "Mind if I sit?" She gestured to the place on the bed next to where Lamanir was sitting.
"Sure," He murmured, scooting over slightly to make room for her. "I guess you heard what T'kel said?" He asked, angry that T'kel had yelled that with others around, especially Erilam. She might not approve of Weyrmorals, but many of the male Candidates, Weyrbrats, and Weyrlings thought that she would grow accustomed to that. Rather, they were hoping that she would. Although Lamanir wasn't following her around, he did think that she was rather pretty for a craft-bred girl.
"Yeah," Erilam murmured. There was a silence before she continued. "Look, I hate to say it, but T'kel was right. In some ways," She added at Lamanir's look. "You should of told about the firelizard clutch. However, he had no right to forbid you from standing. That should of been Welasia's choice. We all know T'kel, though. He doesn't know when to back off, and you can't blame him. Talking like that is the only way that he can get throughto some of the riders, and he forgets that we aren't like them. We as in the Candidates, Weyrbrats, and Weyrlings, I mean."
Lamanir looked strangely at Erilam. "So is this what you came to do?" He asked sarcastically. "Offer me words of comfort instead of the chance of standing for a dragon? The chance that I always wanted?"
Erilam smiled slightly. "No, actually, I came to offer you that chance. T'kel forbade you from standing here at Tarizal, right?" At Lamanir's confused look, she added, "Forbade you from standing ONLY at Tarizal!"
Lamanir's face lit up at that, and in his excitement the tiny brown firelizard woke up. It screeched loudly, and Erilam laughed. "Have you thought of a name for it yet?" She asked, and Lamanir shook his head. "What do you think about the name Ghenal?" She asked, and Lamanir nodded. "Well, then, I suppose that I should leave you so that you can think about which Weyr you're transferring to, eh?"
Lamanir nodded again, and Erilam turned to leave, walking out of the weyr without a glance back. "Well, Ghenal," Lamanir said to his brown flit."I guess that we had better get looking, huh?"
Click on Ghenal for the next installment!
