Time Enough to Learn
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
Date Posted: 3rd June 2025
Characters: Chandrany
Description: Chandrany attempts to train her young firelizards, with mixed results.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 5 of Turn 12
After dinner, once her chores were done, Chandrany cleared off a wall shelf across from her bed, gathered up her two young (firelizard) children, and placed them on the shelf.
Flower, still so tiny, visibly round from her recent meal, allowed herself to be placed on the shelf, giving only one soft, inquisitive chirrup as she glanced at her surroundings before settling down to sit placidly where she had been placed.
Gallant, however -- honestly not much bigger but not nearly so baby-chubby even after eating -- immediately stood up, wobbling uncertainly at the edge of the shelf. As Chandrany took a few steps away and turned back to face the pair, he was already crouched as if to leap from it, held back only by the confused realization that Chandrany wanted him to stay there for some reason.
“No, Gallant, you have to _stay_,” she reinforced, holding up a hand with the palm out. “_Stay_.”
She could feel his unhappiness tickling around the edges of her brain. He didn’t have words the way that she did, but his emotions were clear -- fluttery and confusing sometimes, yes, but the meaning got through. He didn’t want to be there. Why couldn’t he be with her? Why didn’t she want him to come?
“I’ll tell you when to come,” she said. It was hard to tell if the firelizards actually understood what she was saying, or if they just reacted to whatever they picked up from her head -- from emotions and pictures. Dragons were hatched speaking language. Firelizards obviously couldn’t speak the same way, but did they _understand_, truly? She wasn’t sure.
Gallant peeped his distress, shuffling from side to side on the edge of the shelf, still poised to jump.
“I’m right here. I haven’t gone anywhere. You can still see me, even! You-- Flower!” The little green had turned away, curling up to sleep. “Flower, wake--”
Gallant chose that moment to make his decision and leap into flight, gliding (albeit awkwardly) directly into Chandrany’s chest, digging his claws into her shirt to cling there. He craned his neck up to nuzzle the underside of her chin with the top of his head, cheeping uncertainly. He was happy but had done something bad, he was happy but he was wrong, was she disappointed, was she mad?
Chandrany took hold of him with both hands, gently disengaging his sharp talons from her shirt (and the flesh underneath). “You can’t always be attached to me, Gallant,” she said, sighing with frustration. “You have to be well-trained firelizards, or everyone is going to think that I shouldn’t have you!”
The little brown radiated feelings of ~sorry sorry sorry~ and ducked his head.
“I’m not mad at you, baby bupkins,” she reassured him, ashamed to have upset him. The tumultuous swirl of his unhappiness in her mind made her unhappy, which made him unhappy, which made her unhappy, which just became a never-ending spiral of _awful_ if she didn’t make a conscious effort to break the cycle. “I promise I’m not mad. I just-- _Flower!_”
She rushed forward, jostling Gallant under one arm so that she could extend the other to catch Flower in her palm as the green stretched and rolled right off the side of the shelf.
“Flower, _please_,” she begged, her heart racing as the little green plopped safely into her hand, raising her little head and looking around as if uncertain how she got there. “You didn’t even _try_ to fly or go /between/! You would have splattered all over the ground, then what would I have done?”
Gallant, struggling where he remained tucked under her arm, squealed his distress, and Flower, too, picked up on everyone else’s emotions and began making a high-pitched creel of fear for the disaster that didn’t even happen.
“Oh no, no, don’t cry!” Chandrany gathered them both up against her chest and went and sat down on the end of the bed, rocking them. “It’s okay. It’s okay, I’m not mad. Maybe we’re pushing too hard, too fast. Maybe we shouldn’t have trained so soon after dinner. I was going to use treats and didn’t want you so hungry that you bit my fingers again. But maybe you’re just too sleepy now. Don’t be upset. We’ll just… we’ll try again tomorrow. Maybe just one at a time. I think that’ll be easier on all of us.”
As the young firelizards calmed, she settled them down in her lap. Flower curled up again to sleep, but Gallant sat poised, looking up at her. She could feel the eagerness to please radiating out from him, and the tentative desire to do _something_.
“You want to try one more thing? Something easy?” She thought for a moment, then reached up and pulled a hairpin out of her hair. “Do you see this?” she asked, holding it in front of him. His shining eyes focused on it and he gave a soft little cheep. “Can you hold it? Just… hold it in your… foot? Claws? Hands?”
She tried to focus on an image in her mind of Gallant doing exactly that: sitting there with the hairpin grasped in one little… hand.
He looked at her, and at the hairpin, and then back at her again. And then reached out, tentatively, to grasp it.
“Look at you!” she crowed, barely remembering to keep her voice low so as not to scare either of them (or bother anyone else). “That’s perfect! What a good job!”
Gallant chirruped, bobbing his head with excitement. He did the thing! He did good! She was pleased with him, and his little heart overflowed with love for her. She felt it, too, and she teared up, picking him up again to bring him up to eye level.
“What a good baby,” she told him. “So talented! We’ll do more tomorrow, after we’re all rested. We’ll start with this again, and work up from there. Don’t worry, Gallant, you’re going to succeed! I’m never going to doubt you, okay?”
He probably didn’t know what “succeed” meant, but he seemed happy. Happy enough, at least, to bump his forehead into hers gently and croon.
Last updated on the June 10th 2025