Within, I heard a strange keening sound, and was reminded of something... The small white fire lizard on my shoulder began to creel as well, adding its small shrill voice to the hum within.
Curious, I moved up into the darkness of a passage, and walked into it.
Well, I thought to myself, it's better to actually be given something already bleached, than to wait for my ancestors to do it for me... ((Inside joke, see the prior page))
So I took it and entered the main cavern. It was huge! I hadn't realized that the hillside that I had been walking beside was all hollow on the other side, nor that this might have once been a volcanic crater. But that is essentially what it had been and now, these folk cleverly built their homes within them.
And homes for the dragons!
I realized that the noise (which was already deafening my sensitive ears) had if anything gotten louder.
And down on the floor of this huge room was a golden dragon, the likes of which I'd never seen. She was beautiful, and she was guarding eggs.
Around me were the younglings, and I felt remarkably out of place here all of a sudden. After all, it's hard to hide my Zekiran heritage when I stand nearly a foot taller than any adult man on Pern!
But instead, I was soothed by the look given to me by the boy (hardly a man, only perhaps 14 or 15 turns of age) beside me. He smiled so wide I thought his face would burst. He was so proud to be there, and as soon as the eggs on the sands began to break open, he was intent on them.
His pride turned to glee as a Brown erupted from an egg and came wobbling over to greet him. I was happy for him, and still confused. Why had I been awarded this status?
I was about to find out!
