Flit Acquisition (2/3)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Duskdog, Steel
Date Posted: 12th April 2025
Characters: V'tian, Chandrany
Description: V’tian and Chandrany go flit-hunting
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 6, day 12 of Turn 12
When they emerged back out into the sunlight, Chandrany exhaled all at once. “Oh good, the sharding _sun_. Always hits different after you’ve been in absolute cold, doesn’t it?”
“Completely.” V'tian agreed. “Which is why you won't catch me going North for anything but duty. Give me a warm day on the sunny beach any day.” He added, as Indith swung into a circling pattern over the sand.
}:I don't see anything…:{ The green said, but landed obediently where her rider wanted her to.
V'tian surveyed the coastline, frowning as his gaze lingered on spots that might be likelier than others. “... Don't dig too close to the tides.” He said finally. “Keep one eye on the oceans too. Indith'll grab you if we need to though.” He added.
“What, you think I’m dumb enough to just stand there and drown as the tide comes in?” She was already rummaging through the packs to retrieve a shovel. Once she had one in hand, she squinted out over the beach, shading her eyes from the sun. “That looks like a good spot there. Come on.”
She struck out across the beach, shovel in hand, without waiting for him.
}: I will start on the other side of the beach?:{ Indith asked hopefully.
**Go on**, V’tian told her, and the green took wing to glide away to the other end of this stretch of beach.
“How do _I_ know if you have the sense to avoid the ocean?” V’tian muttered aloud, but followed her general direction. “... You dig there. I'm going to try that.” He gestured towards another spot, an area of sand with some dislodged scree.
“Are we looking for anything in particular?” she asked, digging around in the loose sand with her foot before committing her shovel to it. “I mean, do they leave any signs behind, or is this all just a gamble?”
“... Look for disturbed sand or pebbles.” V’tian said. “Sometimes there's shell fragments left behind.” He kicked at some of the sand moodily, started digging at his own spot. “They won't be too deeply buried either. No more than half an arm's length at best. They're not very big.”
“It’s _sand_, it always looks disturbed to me,” she snorted, but tried to focus on something that seemed out of place. That swirl of sand? Seemed good enough for her. She started digging. “Hey… you know what would be funny? Dragons burying their eggs. Like digging a big hole in the Hatching Caverns every time.”
V'tian continued to dig at his own target sandpit. “Dragonets bursting from the sand-- now there's a thought.” He hmphed. “Indith’s no _tunnelsnake_.” Then he paused, relented. Just a little bit. “... She'll call our attention if she finds something. Or keep off any angry parents if need be.”
“Angry parents should have hidden their eggs better. Finders keepers!” Digging in sand was harder than she would have imagined. Sand kept wanting to slip back into the hole. But things got a little easier once she got past the loose sand layer and into more proper ground. She kept an eye out for anything that might indicate a nest she was only just barely missing, but it all just seemed like plain old boring ground with nothing inside it except maybe some bugs or grubs or whatever, though she couldn’t see any. “Nothing here but crackdust. I’m gonna try a different spot.”
V'tian snorted, amused despite himself. “This spot's useless too.” He commented, and kicked some sand back into it as he rose, peered around. “I'm going to try right there.”
He paused a moment. “And if they leave their eggs just laying around, maybe we're doing them a favour.”
She laughed, the sound carrying across the beach as she began digging in her new chosen spot. “Do you think that means that pet firelizards are the stupidest firelizards? Because the only ones we can find are the ones with stupid parents? And then we just keep breeding those, so they just stay stupid?”
V'tian snorted again. “I mean. It wouldn't surprise me.” He commented. “But… who really wants a _stupid_ firelizard? At the least I'm hoping they'll be useful, and of course pretty to look at.”
“They can be stupid _and_ trainable,” she insisted. “If you're a good trainer, at least. I'm going to use food to teach mine to sit pretty on my shoulder, but also maybe to fly-by buzz people's heads on command. Not like hurt anybody. Just scare them and muss their hair up when they need to be taken down a peg or two. What do you want yours to do?”
“Sitting on my shoulder for sure.” V'tian responded immediately. “Maybe carry small things from here to there, like messages.” A pause. “Might even be able to teach them a game, like fetch.”
He made a face. “... this spot’s no good either. Going to go _there_.”
“This one's a bust, too. I'll try, hmm… there.” She paused to wipe her brow. “Carrying messages! I forgot they were good for that. Some games and tricks would be good, just to show off. Maybe I'll dress it up? That seems like such a Lady Holder thing to do.”
She dug in silence for a while -- a testament to the difficulty of the labor, because silence was clearly not something she enjoyed. It didn't last long.
“Hey, V'tian, what sort of stuff do you like to do? When you're not fighting Thread and/or digging holes on beaches? Not that that'll be a hobby much longer anyway, because we're _definitely_ going home with eggs today. I'm not going to be defeated by a sharding _beach_.”
“I train. Wing drill formations, speed and strength training for both me and Indith. And I keep working on being a Dragonhealer.” V'tian added, loftily.
A pause. “... or I look for flits, but that's a more recent choice.”
Further down the beach, Indith nosed at some sand, before moving on.
“What made you decide you wanted one?” she asked, giving up on her current hole and shuffling around a bit, trying to concentrate on the ground. There were lots of places that seemed different or “off” to her, but… it was sand, with some pebbles mixed in closer to the rocks. Every weird patch could just as easily be due to the tides, or animals foraging, or… whatever.
“Why _not_?” V’tian responded. “I finished my Weyrling training, I graduated, I keep up with drills and my Dragonhealer training… They might not be dragons themselves but the things are still definitely useful.”
He kicked more dirt into the hole as he straightened, casting around for a better potential spot and then selecting one. Down the beach, Indith did so as well.
Time passed, the sun overhead gradually changing position, accompanied by snippets of conversation or observation as V’tian worked, and Indith found a nice sandy spot to sun herself and dozed off.
It was hard work. Ocean breeze or no, Chandrany’s shirt clung to her back with sweat and her arm and back muscles burned, but each empty spot only increased her resolve that she wasn’t going home empty-handed. Owning a firelizard hadn’t been a _burning_ desire before now -- more just a memory of childish yearning -- but now that the idea was in her head, and she kept _failing_ at it, she was determined to make it real.
Moving on from yet another spot, she glared down at the beach in her quest to find any sign that the next place to dig would be any different than the rest.
Eventually she came upon a spot that _did_ look a little bit different. Maybe? With sand it was so hard to tell. But it looked like a small slightly-sunken spot, like someone had dug a shallow hole and then scooped sand back into it, but only partially. Crouching down to examine it, she didn’t see any broken shells or anything like that. Briefly she imagined it was a quicksand spot, like she’d heard about in a harper tale once, but that would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it?
She stood back up and pushed her shovel in at the edge of the spot, dislodging sand, the same as she had been doing most of the day.
Four shovelfuls in, she hit something and heard a _crunch_. The end of her shovel came away coated in translucent goo, with bits of eggshell stuck to it.
It took her a moment to process, and then she’d tossed the shovel and was on her knees, digging through the sand with her bare hands.
“V’tian! Eggs! I think there’s eggs!”
Last updated on the April 15th 2025