A Lovable Pain in The...

Writers: Aaron, Heather
Date Posted: 16th May 2024

Characters: Corofel, Reven
Description: Reven presents Corofel with a gift that he hopes will be well received.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 11, day 1 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: L'cor, Arippa

Corofel

Reven

Perhaps this was something he should have cleared with Corofel first,
but Reven hoped his surprise would be something to please the Acting
Lord Holder.

The Green Valley Minor Holder walked the halls of Emerald Falls with a
pail of sand in one hand and his bronze firelizard Keeper on his
shoulder.

~~Happy. Curious. _Curriiouusss_.~~ The little bronze's head swiveled
this way and that as he studied the bucket his big friend carried.

"Corofel?" Reven asked as he knocked on the door of the Lord Holder's
office and entered.

"Hm?" Corofel looked up from where he had been reading the same
paragraph over and over and trying not to fall asleep. He downed the
rest of his lukewarm klah all at once when he saw Reven. It would have
been bitter by then if not for all the sugar and cream he had added.

"Is everything alright?" He almost expected bad news, but then he saw
the man was carrying... a bucket? "What's this?"

Reven carried the metal pail over to the fireplace hearth and set it
as close to the burning wood as possible. "After our talks about you
possibly doing a little traveling through the territory, I thought it
might be best if you had a better way of communicating. I hope you
don't mind that I took some liberties, but I pulled some strings and
managed to get my hands on this firelizard egg. It's from a good sire
and dam, I'm told."

Corofel's eyes widened, and his face split into a wide grin. He was
certainly wide awake now. A real honest-to-all firelizard all his own.

"I don't mind at all. By Faranth, Reven, I don't know how to thank
you. Can I see it?"

"Oh, good," Reven said with a little smile of relief. "I was afraid
you might think I was being overbearing." He motioned for Corofel to
have a closer look. "The egg is just buried right about," he scooped a
little sand gently to the side, "here."

"Whoa..." Corofel breathed. He gently touched the egg's shell as if
that might endear its tiny occupant to him beforehand. "This is going
to be so wonderful."

Oh, he had no idea.

"It _is_ pretty great," Reven admitted. Keeper gave a warm hum of
approval at the sight of the egg. Leaving Reven's shoulder, he perched
on the lip of the bucket, his coppery wings stretched out to balance
himself as he sniffed at the buried egg. "You'll need to keep close.
It could honestly hatch at any time. You'll want food, meat, and as
soon as it breaks shell, just start feeding it until it's stuffed and
content."

"I'll ask the kitchens right away," said Corofel. Any time! How
exciting. He tentatively reached out to scratch Keeper, ready to pull
his hand back if he did not want to be touched.

"There's no guarantee on what color of firelizard is in there," Reven
said. It was an average size egg so it could really be any color.
Typically the overly large eggs were expected to be a bronze, but
there was never an absolute way to know for sure. "Do you have any
preferences?"

"Does the color make any difference?" Corofel wondered. He supposed
the obvious answer was bronze, but it did not mean the same thing as
with a real dragon. Someone had just picked this egg and handed it to
him, and whatever was in there would be happy staying with him if he
fed it. That was hardly equivalent to being chosen like a Candidate.

"Well, what I've always heard is that intelligence levels are
reflected in the colors. Greens and blues are silly and perhaps not as
intelligent at carrying out tasks, as compared to browns and bronzes."
Reven lifted his shoulders. "I'm not a beastcrafter, though, so don't
hold me to it."

"Oh. Well, let's hope it's brown or bronze then, eh? If it's going to
be carrying messages for me," said Corofel.

Reven went to the Lord Holder's desk, tore of a slip of paper,
scrawled a note on it about needing meat in the office. "Here you go,
Keeper. Make sure the cook gets this," he said to the firelizard,
picturing the intended recipient.

~~Happy! Fun! Happy!~~ Keeper eagerly snatched the note out of Reven's
hand and disappeared with a 'pop!'

Corofel touched the egg's shell again gently, as though worried he
might accidentally crack it.

"How did you train Keeper? Is it like... training a canine, or...?"

"Yeah, it's honestly not that different, although, these little guys
can respond to your thoughts and feelings, so that part is different.
They're pretty motivated by treats when they're first born... Well,"
he cut his eyes at Keeper, who had reappeared and bore the signs of a
'treat' on his muzzle, "some of them never seem to grow out of it."

"Ah, I, too, am motivated by treats," said Corofel. "What did you find, buddy?"

Keeper chittered and whistled with excitement, leaving Reven to
translate. "He's sending me pictures of a bit of meat smothered in
gravy, courtesy of a woman in the kitchens."

"Uh oh. Well, don't worry. I'll take the heat for it this time, and
we'll say the bit you ate was mine, eh? But let's not make a habit out
of it." He grinned.

The bronze firelizard's whirling blue eyes showed his thanks.
Swiveling his small, yet giant walnut head around, he was clearly
asking Reven a question.

"He wants to stay here with the egg until it hatches, if that's
alright with you." Reven had never seen Keeper interact with an egg
before.

"Of course," said Corofel. "If it's alright with you, it's fine with
me." He smiled and hoped his firelizard was just like Keeper.

"Sure." Reven saw no harm in it. "My wife has a couple of firelizards,
green and blue, so you may see them pop in as well, especially when it
comes time for the hatching."

"It's a veritable family tradition! Do your brothers have ones of
their own, too?" Corofel wondered.

"No, I mean, T'ner has a dragon, so there's that, but Coran has
neither a firelizard nor a dragon... As a matter of fact, he doesn't
have a pet at all. I suppose he thinks his patients in the infirmary
require too much of his attention for a pet." Reven made a face at
that, clearly showing that he felt his brother needed to live a
little.

Corofel sighed as a series of thoughts about dragons and brothers
passed through his head.

"I wish... I wish all of our people looked on sending people to the
Weyr to Stand the same way we see fostering at other Holds. We make
strong connections when we stay abroad. And even though riders don't
come home to stay, I see L'cor all the time. I even saw him at Amber
Hills, like a little piece of home could follow me there," he said.

"The trouble is, so many of them would be thrilled to see their sons
come home from abroad with a wife but terrified he might come home
with a green dragon."

"We come from a conservative area with old ideas. It doesn't make them
all out to be killers or haters of dragonriders, however." He held up
a hand. "I wasn't implying you thought that. It makes it an
interesting line for us to talk in providing proper support and
respect to the Weyr, while simultaneously generating respect in the
opposite direction." Reven loved his brother, he didn't care what
color dragon T'ner rode or what it meant, but disrespect between the
Weyr and the Hold went in both directions. He was not blind to the way
some dragonriders looked down upon holders like backwater dimglows.

"It can't be easy for them to see us in a favorable light when we
poison their babies and cut their heads off," Corofel grumbled.
"Still, I want them to see me standing up for them."

"I have a hard time seeing them in a favorable light when they're
constantly expecting to be treated like Lords for being on a dragon
fighting Thread. Obviously it's not every dragonrider that behaves
that way, just like it's not every holder who is poisoning dragons and
cutting peoples heads off. We'll all have to stop placing blame on an
entire group for the actions of a few, won't we?" Reven reasoned.

The conversation was interrupted when Keeper made a sudden trill of
excitement. The bronze firelizard flapped his wings with gusto before
hopping up on the mantle to peer down at the bucket of sand, his
little head swaying with a hum.

"Well, it looks like you're going to be getting that firelizard sooner
rather than later!"

"Oh, no!" The humming quickly interrupted Corofel's thoughts on what
Reven had said. "Should I run and get that meat?" he asked.

"I'll get it. Stay here in case it hatches!" Reven called over his
shoulder as he dashed from the room.

Corofel leaned in close to watch and placed his hands on either side
of the pail. He glanced back and forth to the door as the egg began to
wiggle beneath the sand. Soon, a chip of egg popped out, and a tiny
blue snout poked out.

"Oh, hello," said Corofel softly. He glanced at the door again... then
back. The egg crumbled, and the little blue firelizard climbed atop
the sand. Corofel began dusting him off and scooped him up into his
hand.

The thing promptly bit his finger.

"Ow! Aahhhh..." It was bleeding, but he had not, thank goodness,
bitten all the way through it. "You little arsehole." He chuckled, but
he hoped the meat would arrive before the hatchling decided to try
eating him again. He creeled with hunger, and Corofel almost thought
he could feel it himself. Maybe just a suggestion of it in his mind,
as though the blue were trying to tell him how hungry he was.

Reven came stomping back into the room, but drew up short so as not to
startle the firelizard, as anything could send them suddenly /between/
and then they were gone forever. "Send him reassuring feelings.
Feelings of safety." He slid the bowl of meat across the floor toward
Corowel.

~~Welcoming! Welcoming! Welcoming!~~ Keeper sent the warm emotions to the blue.

Corofel snatched up a piece of the meat and fed it to the ravenous
little thing. It happily gobbled it up.

**Safety. Fondness. Warmth. Food.** Corofel did his best to imagine
these things as concepts and feelings and not just words the blue
would not understand. He kept up the feeding, though he did his best
not to let him just swallow the stuff whole.

**Savor. Enjoy. Slow.**

Reven watched as the flit filled its belly and then curled up in the
crook of Corofel's arm.

"It looks like you have a new friend. What will you name him?"

"Well. I can't very well name him Little Arsehole," Corofel snickered.
He flexed his finger. It was probably fine. Well. He should probably
bandage it. Maybe ask Master Rhudas about stitches... maybe. "So I
might have to call him LA. Ellay."

Reven smiled. "Your secret is safe with me."

Last updated on the May 16th 2024

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A Lovable Pain in The...