All right, gather around here, younglings. Mistress Ardella and the Weyrwoman have instructed me to keep you all out of trouble until it is time.
Davad! Get over here and leave that firelizard alone! No, I don’t care if it is your brother’s lizard, leave it alone and come here. That’s better. Too bad it’s raining today... be nice to sit out in the Bowl and watch the dragons come in.
Sit down, Davad.
Now, what shall we do?
No, Davad, we can’t play catch-me... We’ll get in the women’s way. They have enough to do just getting ready for the feast.
Shigrall! Put those sweet roots back. Those are for after! You come sit here, beside me.
Now, we were deciding what to do until it is time. What’s that? A story? I don’t know any stories... But I can try if you really want. You do. What do you want me to tell a story about? *Laugh* Impression! I should have guessed. But don’t tell me you have none of you been to a Hatching! Jaysen, I remember you from the last Hatching, throwing sand from the top tier, shame on you!
Oh... You want to know about my Impression, when I Impressed Sherbeth... Well then! That is a story! Let’s see...
Well... This was back in the fourth month of 1281. I was the child of a masterherdsman, up in Lemos. I grew up in a beasthold, nothing spectacular, just a common sort of beasthold. Well, one day, my father received notice that the tithe to the Weyr was due, so, he selected two of his plumpest herdbeasts and set me and my brother to driving them to the Hold. Raymen and I, (Raymen is my brother), Raymen and I drove the herdbeasts into Telgar Hold and delivered them to the stables, where the tithe was being gathered. That... was when I saw... the dragon.
Hmm? Oh, no, *laugh*, I wasn’t scared... I’d seen dragons from a distance before. The Weyrleader even landed at our hold once, after Threadfall. But I’d only seen his dragon from a distance, through the windowslits of our attic. And I knew dragons didn’t ever hurt people deliberately.
But, back to my story. My brother and I turned in our tithe and headed out of the stables. It was almost like a Gather at the Hold, there were so many people there, all running this way and that, preparing the tithe train. Raymen and I got separated, and I wandered around, looking for him. I walked around a corner of a building and tripped over this great brown tail lying on the ground.
Have you ever lay on the ground and looked up at a dragon? You think they are big when you are standing on the ground and they are sitting up on the fireheights! Whew!
I tumbled tail over head and fell flat on the ground. This fellow, all dressed in wher-hide he was, he runs over and asks, "You all right? You hurt? Senath didn’t mean to trip you, he’s sorry. You all right?" and rolls me over. I look up and see this... head hanging over me. That head was as big as I was! The dragon tips his head sideways a bit to look at me, his eyes all whirly and red and yellow, and his rider is looking at me all concerned-like. "I’m fine," I says, all embarrassed. "My duty to you, Senath, sir." I scrambled to my feet and started to back away, bowing like a wherry, and backed right into the grain wagon the dragon and his rider were stepping aside from. Well, that knocks me down again, and the dragonrider, he comes over and helps me back up and dusts me off. "Careful," says he, "clumsy sort, aren’t you?" "I am not!" I says, all indignant.
Davad... I see you! Put that back and come sit down. Better. Where was I...? Oh yes.
"I am not!" I says, all indignant. "Well," says he, "I can see I was mistaken!" and he grins at me. I grin at him and go on my way, still looking for my brother. I find my brother, and he says that the Lord Holder is looking for drovers to take the herdbeasts to the Weyr, and that he’d volunteered us. So, we drive the herdbeasts to the Weyr, nothing exciting happening ‘til we get there, just toodling along, driving the beasts. So...
We get to the Weyr, and everyone is all in an uproar about the upcoming Hatching, and we have to hurry and get the beasts to the pens and get them out of the way. So we do. Then we are told to go on to the Lower Caverns, and get something to eat, wash up... so we do.
And guess who shows up! Right, Shigrall! That brown rider! He walks in and sees me and comes over and taps me on the shoulder and says, "Come with me." So I go with him, thinking, "Uh oh... What did I do this time? He looks serious... I must be in big trouble!" The brown rider takes me out and across the Bowl to the Hatching Ground and shows me to this other dragonrider and says, "I know it’s late to add one, but I think this one has a good chance." And the other rider looks me over, and gets that vacant look on his face you see when they are talking to their dragons and says, "Mm... Trellith agrees... Don’t suppose it could hurt anything. You know what to do." And turns back to the Hatching Ground and a weyrwoman, saying "I should think today..."
And, of course, silly craftholder that I am, I have no idea what they are talking about. So, the brown rider grabs my sleeve and says, "C’mon... we’ve got to get you a robe..." And I blink and say, "A robe? Whyfor?", but he doesn’t hear me. He drags me along, back across the Bowl and back into the Lower Caverns, up some stairs and into a room where he opens up a chest and pulls out some white cloths. He separates the cloths into robes and starts holding them up to me, muttering, "No, too small... too small... How old are you anyway? Can’t be more than sixteen turns... Hmm... must have the wrong chest." He puts the cloths back into the chest, moves to a different chest and pulls out some more cloths. He holds one up and says, "Yes! This will fit. You had a bath?"
But before I can answer him, this loud humming noise starts and he yelps, "Quick, put this on! Go back down the stairs and they’ll tell you where to go! I have to get the Holder!" and runs away. I just kinda stared for a minute, then shrugged and put on the white robe and walked back down the stairs.
No, Jaysen, I’d never seen a Hatching before. I had no idea what was going on... and I’d just walked from Telgar Hold to Telgar Weyr without seeing anything besides the backside of a herdbeast. Mighty unappealing scenery, let me tell you! I was tired, still hungry as I’d not had much of a chance to eat before that rider came in... who still hadn’t told me his name... I wasn’t really thinking very much.
So, anyway, I went back to the Lower Caverns and a couple of dragonriders grabbed me and one of them says, "Hurry up! Everyone, get together!" and they hustle me into a group of other people wearing white and troop us all out into the Bowl. We all stand there for a few minutes, just kind of milling around before a wing of green and blue dragons appears and they start hustling us on board, saying, "Remember! Don’t be scared of them! And don’t let them overeat! Good luck to all of you!" Someone shoved me up on a green and the dragon leapt into the air and flew into the Hatching Ground.
The dragon hovered over the eggs and I had just enough time to say, "Let who overeat?" before the dragonrider pushed me off his dragon. "The baby dragons!" he yelled as he flew away. "Baby dragons!" I was thinking... "WHAT baby dragons?" Then my feet started to hurt...
Have you ever been on the Hatching Ground when it is almost time for eggs to hatch?? Make sure you have really good thick-soled shoes on! Ouch! Yeah, that’s right Deena, I was hopping from one foot to the other, just like that.
Anyway, there I was, scorching my feet and doing a hoppy dance like some kind of crazy person, all the while looking for a way off this frying pan of a Hatching Ground, and never even noticing that the eggs were moving... At least, not until one of them rolled completely over, towards me. Then the shell shattered. Just vaporized! One moment, there was whole egg rolling around, the next there was this little wet dragon sitting there. The little bronze blinked, looked around and then staggered off towards some little kid standing to one side of the rest of us. That was when I finally figured out what was going on. That little kid looked at that little bronze and got the happiest look on his face. It was embarrassing to watch.
I looked around the Hatching Ground and saw the same thing happening all over. Little kids and little dragons all looking at each other, happy as can be. There were only a couple eggs that hadn’t cracked yet and everyone who didn’t have a dragon was headed for them. I was still looking for a way off those hot sands. I felt like my feet were charred to stumps! Finally, I saw what looked like a doorway on the other side of the sands, past one of the unhatched eggs. Well, I hot-footed it across the sand towards...
What? Oh... Hehe... hot-footed... I get it... hot-footed... That’s funny. *chuckle*
So I hurried across the sands towards that doorway thing and just as I passed the egg, it cracked and out fell this little green dragon. She was so cute...
Hmm? No, no... I didn’t Impress her right then... Actually, I stepped around her and kept going toward the door.
Yes, it was Sherbeth, but...
No, I didn’t try to refuse her, but...
Yes, I did see her, but...
No, no one was trying to get between me and her, but...
HEY! I’m telling the story! Now sit down and be quiet and let me tell the story, or we can just go do something else!
Are you going to sit down? Then I’ll tell the story.
AS I WAS SAYING... Just as I passed the egg, it cracked and out fell this little green dragon. She was so cute. But my feet were on fire and I just knew I wasn’t really supposed to be there, I was just going to get out of there before anyone got embarrassed... namely me. So I just stepped around her and kept going towards the door. I’d only gone a few steps before I heard this unbelievable squalling behind me and I turned around to see that the poor little dragon had somehow fallen on her back and had gotten her wing trapped under her at what must have been a very uncomfortable angle. And every time she moved, she just wrenched it more. So she set up this wailing and hollering like she was going to die. And all the other people on the sands were either headed towards the other eggs or just standing there like dimglows. You’d think they never saw a baby dragon before.
So I sighed and turned around and went over to the little dragon and got her set up on her feet, got her wings all straightened out and checked over to make sure there was no damage, patted her on the head and started for the door again. I made it out of the Hatching Ground and was almost to the Bowl when that brown rider showed up with the biggest grin on his face. "Senath and I knew you would Impress!" he says. "Got a lovely little green there."
"Huh?" I says, intelligently. He points behind me and, sure enough, there is that little green dragon, following me just like a puppy. "I’m hungry," she says. "When do we eat?" "EAT?" says I. "Eat!" says she. "My name is Sherbeth. I’m hungry. Thank you for helping me up. You’re so kind and gentle. Will you feed me please? I am so very hungry!"
I don’t know how long I stood there, gaping at her. I’d Impressed a dragon. A beautiful, intelligent, clever little dragon...
...
...
...
Hmm? What? What’s what noise?
OH!
Oh dear! Quickly now! Everyone find your seats in the tiers! Those of you who are Candidates, get your robes on now! Hurry! The Hatching is happening!! Good luck to you all!
