We Will Fly

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 21st December 2025

Characters: D'miran
Description: D'miran Impresses Elamith
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 14 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Kavalas (not by name), Mesarian

Lightning flickered, and a clap of thunder boomed through the tunnel leading to the Hatching Cavern, startling the shivering group of candidates who waited near the entrance. The air was oppressive, chilly outside, heavy and humid with the warmth radiating from the Sands and the crowd further in, and they were all dripping from the rain that had lashed them as they ran across from the barracks. Below the gusting wind, the dragons' hum resonated in their ears and echoed from the stone walls, until it felt as though they were surrounded by a pulsing wall of sound.

Damiran slipped off his sandals as they began to form up, ready to process out onto the Sands. The spark of excitement rising within him, that perhaps he'd find his dragon today, was tempered with what he could plainly see; there were many times more candidates than eggs. With fifteen, there might not even be a bronze.

He glanced over at the holdless candidates, standing apart from the main group. They seemed to him even more awkward in their white robes than the rest. **Clean clothes don't make you any less of a criminal,** he thought, and then tried to put them out of his mind as they moved out towards the light ahead. He needed to focus on welcoming the hatchlings.

Out on the Sands, the sounds of the storm were muted but the humming was more intense. Damiran tilted his head back, awed by the sight of so many pairs of glowing, whirling eyes. Dragons, and fairs of tiny jewel-bright firelizards, looking down on them and welcoming their kin. The crowd was a blur, he couldn't have picked out his family if he'd tried, but the eggs stood out sharply under the bright light. He could see the texture of the closest one, speckled and brittle and hard, and made out a faint vibration.

Off to his left there was a sharp crack, and he turned instinctively to see a little green hatchling emerge, kicking away fragments of shell. She seemed to him to know exactly where she was headed, away from him and straight towards a big, burly man who looked out of place even among the holdless. Damiran watched in disbelief as she collided with his legs. Out of all the available candidates on the Sands, she'd chosen one of _them_! It had to be a mistake. Poor little thing...

As if the first green's hatching had been a signal, more eggs now split open, revealing a blue, then another green, and another. Damiran tried to focus, put the holdless man out of his mind and reach out to the hatchlings in welcome, without much effect. A roar and a burst of cheering rose up - someone weyrbred, with family here. The nearest egg wobbled and a crack zig-zagged down from the tip of the shell, revealing a dark green. Her glowing gaze swept past him and the two boys on either side of him, but he felt nothing, and she turned away and began to prowl around the half-circle of candidates.

Then he saw the golden-brown dragonet, and his heart leaped. Even from across the Sands, and fresh out of the shell, he could tell that the hatchling was much larger than his clutchmates. In fact, he'd all the best features of sire and dam, Galgaith's size and presence and warmly glowing hide, Rhalith's sturdy but athletic build. A Wingsecond's dragon... Damiran hesitated, wondering if he should move closer, or if it would be more proper to wait and let him come if he wanted. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted that insolent Mesarian following a blue who clearly had no interest in him. So undignified! Better to stay put.

But that perfect dragonet turned his back on the rest of the candidates and headed arrow-straight for Mesarian. For one astonishing moment Damiran thought the hatchling was going to bite the holdless boy for chasing his clutch brother, and he stepped forward to call out a warning - even Mesarian didn't deserve _that_ - but no sound came from his throat. He watched, stunned, as the other candidate turned and stared, then fell to his knees before his new lifemate.

For a moment, all thoughts of love and welcome went out of his head, pushed out by resentment and shame that burned. How was it possible that two - no, _three_ dragons now would choose those worthless thieves over - over him?

That was when he heard the voice.

Although it was low, but cut clearly through all the distractions, the cheers and the humming and the cracking of eggs, almost as if someone had come to stand at his shoulder in a quiet room and was speaking in his ear.

No, it was more than that. It was within him.

}: D'miran, don't be sad. I am here. :{

The holder boy looked around wildly, and only then saw the eyes looking up at him, awhirl with all the colours of the storm. While he'd been distracted by the brown, another hatchling had crept shyly up on him and now he was nudging his side with his damp, wedge-shaped head.

"Oh, I'm not sad!" He forgot the rain, the heat and the burning gritty sand beneath his feet, the holdless, everything. His knees buckled and he dropped to the ground. All he wanted was to touch him, reassure him, promise him that he was the best, the only dragon in the world for him.

}: My name is Elamith, :{ the little blue said.

"That's a beautiful name." He reached out, hardly daring to breathe, and touched Elamith's snout with the tip of his fingers - and felt a fizzing surge of warmth, pleasure, connection, as if someone had stroked _his_ skin. "I'm Da - no..." He closed his eyes and concentrated. **D'miran...**

}: I know. :{ Elamith tilted his head and leaned into his touch. Suddenly, the noise of the crowd rushed back, and D'miran heard cheering, and somehow, familiar voices. A rush of joy and pride near overwhelmed him, and he looked up, finding the faces of his parents.

"Elamith! His name is Elamith!" He waved. He was really a dragonrider, like Uncle V'laran. He would _fly_.

}: We will fly. :{ The blue spread his pale, translucent wings and shook them. In the heat of the cavern, they were drying fast. D'miran could feel it, the slight itch, and a gnawing sensation in his belly that grew more difficult to ignore by the moment.

"You're hungry!" He scrambled to his feet, glancing around for the others, and caught sight of a girl leading a green back towards the entrance. "That way. Wait, fold your wings, so you won't trip."

}: You will catch me if I do. :{ Elamith said, trustingly, and side by side, the new dragonpair walked out of the Hatching Grounds, feeling as though they were walking on not sand, but air.

Last updated on the February 8th 2026

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We Will Fly