Aerbi drew a rough outline of the dragon before him, a large brown this time, and then smiled up at the rider. “Alright B’vin, I’m done. Would you like to take a look?”
The brownrider walked up to Aerbi and looked down at the sheet of hide that he was still making notes on. “He looks great, but how are you going to match the color?”
Aerbi shrugged and got up, getting his bag of paints and walking towards the brown. “Not a problem,” he said as he took his case of browns out. “I’ll match it right here and write the number down on the paper so I know when I’m ready to add the color to his hide.”
B’vin nodded in understanding and brown Aireth warbled his thanks. Aerbi found his color and then walked back to his sheet of hide, marking the color down for future reference. “I’m going to get started on this now but I’ll be done by the end of today. I’ll bring the model to you after dinner most likely.”
B’vin nodded and said, “Ok that’s fine. I’ll give you your marks then too. How much do you think, I mean, just so I can have an idea of quality.”
Aerbi sighed softly and said, “Well I think he’ll end up being a foot tall or so, but he’ll have more height to him because of the way you want his wings. It will probably be about twenty-five marks or so.”
B’vin nodded and walked back to his dragon. He waved to Aerbi and then took to the sky, flying back to his weyr. Aerbi gathered his things and then headed back to his weyr as well.
When he opened the door Evela warbled from her spot on the chair and looked up at her owner. He smield and walked up to her, rubbing her eyeridges. “Can you believe that? He needed an idea of the quality. Hasn’t he seen any of the other ones I’ve made since I got here?”
Evela
warbled again and watched as Aerbi took the hide out of his bag and placed it on his worktable. She flew over to him and landed on the edge, careful to stay out of his way. He stroked her once more and then looked through the stack of wood by the side of the table. When he found one that was about a foot and a half tall he started to carve out the image of brown Aireth.
His rider had wanted him sitting on his haunches with his front legs square in front of him. That part wasn’t hard to do, none of it was really. However, he wanted his head straight up, so you’d only see the underside of the head if you were looking right at it, and his wings up and stretched out and above his head.
He took another look at the drawing, just to be sure that he was following the outline he set up for himself and then nodded, knowing he was. “I don’t see why he wanted his head like this Evela,” he commented. “You can’t see any of the detail in the face, or the face in general.” The green warbled and Aerbi smiled, not even looking up from his carving.
About an hour later he had the dragon roughly cut out and was ready to start on the fine detailing. He carved the claws out, making sure they looked narrow and were pointed correctly. As he moved up the back legs he added the muscle lines and any indents in the hide that may be present. The front legs were a little harder since they were so much thinner than the back legs but Aerbi didn’t have much trouble with them.
As he worked on the jaw he made sure that every detail was right, since that was one of the spots you would probably focus on when you first saw it. Aerbi laughed slightly and said, “Yeah, because you’re going to be wondering why you can’t see the face.” He shook his head in amusement and flipped the model around so he could work on the brown’s face.
He carved the eyes in, making sure they were large and he even added in the tiny indents of the facets. He moved down the dragon’s back and put the detailing on the spinal ridges and then sighed. He had left the wings for last, as he always did, because they took so much time and detailing.
When he had finally finished them another hour had passed. He rubbed his eyes and asked Evela to turn up one of the glows before he continued his work. The firelizard crooned, happy to be of service, and did as he owner asked. He fixed up anything he missed before, now that he could see better with the added light, and picked up his paint bag. He chose fire shades of brown for the hide, a creamy white for the talons and teeth and four shades of blues for the eyes.
As he started painting there was a knock on the door. He sighed, finished paining the area he was working on quickly and then stood up. He walked towards the door and opened it, surprised to see searchrider P’mir. “How are you doing?” he asked him.
P’mir shrugged and said, “Same old I suppose. You haven’t started to work on Siyeth have you?”
Aerbi nodded and said, “Yes I have actually. I have him all finished except for the paint I have the colors chosen but I would like your opinion on them before I put them on the wood.”
P’mir nodded and said, “Yeah no problem.” He scratched his chin and then asked, “Hey I didn’t interrupt you while you were working did I?”
Aerbi walked over to the shelf by the table and pulled the model of Siyeth down, handing it to P’mir. “Actually yeah, but it’s ok. I needed a break from this brown anyway.”
P’mir smiled as he looked over the model and then handed it back, looking at the brown. “Who is that, and why did the rider want the head like that? You can’t see the face,” he said.
Aerbi laughed and said, “That’s brown Aireth, and I tried to convince B’vin to change the positioning of the head but he wouldn’t listen. But hey, I don’t have to look at it everyday so I don’t really care that much.”
P’mir nodded and asked, “Ok so the colors you were thinking of?”
Aerbi nodded and opened one of the table drawers, pulling out a few tubes of blue paint. “I was thinking these five,” he said as he handed them to the searchrider.
P’mir looked at them all and then handed them back, nodding his head. “I think those will work fine Aerbi,” he said.
He nodded and placed the paints back in the drawer. “Ok, then I’ll get him done tomorrow. You should have him in your hands by dinnertime.”
P’mir nodded and slapped the boy on the back. “Wonderful, I look forward to it.” He smiled and then walked out the door, closing it behind him.
Aerbi sat back down at the table and finished painting the brown hide, careful not to get any spots that weren’t supposed to be the same color. While the brown was drying his painted the claws and teeth, which didn’t take long since they were all the same color. He worked on the eyes as well, mixing and blending the blues so that they looked like they were swirling.
When he finished that he painted the spinal ridges and the eyeridge over the opalescent eyes. After that he tested a part of the brown paint, to see if it was dry or not. When he was sure it was he added the different shades to it so it wasn’t just one solid color but a smooth mixture of five. He smiled, very proud of this one, even if the position was a bad one.
He wiped his forehead, getting brown paint all over himself as he did so and then picked up the brown he was going to use for the wingsails. He painted them quickly but was careful not to let the lighter colored brown get on any other spot on the dragon. After they were finished he glazed the eyes over and looked the creature over.
Evela warbled in approval and then looked up at her rider, chittering away. “What is it?” Aerbi asked her as he set the brown on the shelf and took the model of Siyeth down.
She warbled again and pictured her rider, with a smear of brown paint on his forehead. He smiled and picked up a damn towel, scrubbing at his forehead. “Better?” He asked her when he had finished. She warbled again so he threw the towel down and started to get his blue paints out.
He was just about to bring his brush up to the blue’s tail when there was another knock on the door. He sighed and put the brush down, looking towards the door. “Shells, now what?” He stood up and walked to the door, not really interested in talking to anyone else. He really wanted to get Siyeth done but that wasn’t going to happen if he kept getting interrupted.
He opened the door and was greeted by a young boy. “Hello,” he said.
Aerbi smiled but said, “I’ll be happy to carve your creature later but right now I have a few backed up that need to be finished. Could you stop by again in a day or two?”
The boy smiled and said, “I think you’ll awnt to set your work down for a moment Aerbi. The weyrwoman has sent me to gather the candidates and tell them to come to the sands. The eggs are hatching.”
Aerbi raised his eyebrows in surprise and then pushed past the boy. He ran down the stairs and towards the hatching grounds in his excitement, Evela flying closely behind him.