Freedom To Be Green

Writers: Halyonix
Date Posted: 21st November 2024

Characters: Katora
Description: Katora Impresses
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 22 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: S'vin, Sybana, Zorenh

Notes:
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At first, she thought the hum of the dragons was an earthquake starting far away. The rumbling that resonated through the stones of the Barracks felt like one, until Katora caught on to the musical quality of the sound. And while people around her sprang into frenetic motion, it wasn't in panic.

When Bark, her firelizard, began humming, she realized that this was the start of the Hatching. While Candidates began shouting and whooping, Katora closed her eyes and listened to that hum rumbling in her body. How did the dragons make that sound? It was like an unending chorus or the constant waves of the ocean. It was both soothing and exciting.

"Katora! Are you coming?" someone shouted at her, breaking the moment. She turned her dark gaze at the offending Candidate for a moment, daring them to interrupt her again, but slid from her bunk and changed into her robe. She picked at the fabric skeptically. What did a white robe have to do with Impressing? Did the color attract the dragons? Or was it some archaic tradition that the Weyr held?

Questions upon questions that would have to wait until later. After. The Candidates were filing into the Sands, with its elevated tiers of seating. And all of the dragons ringed along the top, humming louder than before. Katora didn't need to close her eyes to feel its ebb and flow this time. It resonated through her limbs, warring against the warmth of the Sands spreading up through her feet.

Katora scanned the seats for her family. Eventually, she found them, a gaggle of Traders sitting together, all of them excitedly waving at her. "Bark, go sit with them," she told her firelizard, just in case he decided to act up during the event. She didn't want to embarrass her Caravan today. Bark flew off, leaving Katora to shift her gaze towards the rocking eggs.

The first egg cracked -- a bronze that went for Zorenh -- and that was the signal for all of the others to begin. What Katora likened to the unending, peaceful flow of the ocean quickly devolved into chaos, as hatchlings hurried to find their partners, Candidates tripped over their feet (or over hurrying dragons) -- all while the watching adult dragons bugled, hummed, and warbled their welcomes and approvals. It was loud. Almost excruciatingly so.

Katora felt like she was standing in the eye of the storm, watching. As the gold egg finally cracked, she watched as an enormous hatchling emerged, not at all as beautiful as the gold mother behind her. S'vin's words came back to her, about how she had what it took to Impress a gold. If the other girls stepped back, Katora didn't. It was just another draybeast to her: unwieldy, cumbersome.

Still, she held her breath, waiting for it to choose.

When it lumbered towards Sybana, Katora exhaled. The more Katora learned about the Weyr, the more she realized how much responsibility a gold dragon was. She knew she could handle it but did she want it? No. She still didn't even know if she wanted a dragon at all.

Her dark eyes turned away from the gold Impression to get a new reading on what was happening with the Hatching now and that's when she saw a prim, graceful little seafoam green dragon approaching. The warmth of the Sands shifted, centered to a warmth spreading within her chest.

}: I hope you're not disappointed, :{ a verdant voice said. }: I may not be a gold, but I _am_ beautiful. :{

Katora didn't realize that she was smiling as she knelt, offering her hands to lissome hatchling. "I didn't want her anyway. She wasn't the right dragon for me," she said, realizing it all to be true. Here was the dragon for her -- green like skybroom trees that had always shielded her Caravan as they had traveled. Green like the fields of the various Holds she had passed through. Green like the freedom of the road and all it had to offer.

}: I'm Saoirth, :{ the hatchling said as she nuzzled both hands and then nuzzled Katora's chin. While her name phonetically sounded short, like Serth, Katora had the impression that there were a lot more letters in between. Did dragons know how to spell their own names?

Saoirth tilted her hand to the side, considering. }: We can review that over food. I am rather hungry, being confined to that egg for so long. Announce me please, Katora-mine. :{

Katora grinned. "Saoirth!" she breathed. Somehow, in all of the din, she heard her family screaming and cheering. She had a dragon -- she had a dragon that fit _her_, like a piece she hadn't realized was missing within her.

"Let's go, Saoirth. I've an entire world to show you."

Last updated on the December 10th 2024

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Freedom To Be Green