Finally Free

Writers: Vix
Date Posted: 4th July 2007

Characters: Ch'bal
Description: Chabal Impressed green Vaith.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 16 of Turn 4

"They're humming - get moving!" Toncha rushed toward her brother, her white robe billowing behind her as she shoved a folded garment into his hands.

"Huh?" Chabal had gone to the beast pens as usual and after a long day of mucking up and feeding wanted only to plunge into the bathing pools and get clean.

"The eggs! They're hatching!" The girl gave her brother an exasperated look. "Honestly, Chabal, this is why we're here at the Weyr. How can you be so dense?"

"I'm here because a dragon said I should be and Grandda told me to go." The young man wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Which is the same reason that you're here. Maybe tomorrow we can finally go home." He raised his hand to forestall her reply. "Just head for the Sands and I'll join you there in a few minutes. I'll dip into the bathing pool so that I don't smell too much like dragon food and be there in plenty of time."

He watched her go, off at a run, before finishing his trek across the Weyrbowl to the candidate barracks. "Silly girl," he muttered, though he did quicken his steps.

The past several sevendays had been difficult for Chabal. He had arrived at the Weyr reluctantly, certain that the life of a dragonrider was not for him. He was an apprentice Beastcrafter and needed at the small cothold, needed by the other residents and especially by his Grandda. To him, the trip to Dolphin Cove Weyr was an intrusion into his life and he wanted nothing more than to go back and to pick up the pieces of that life.

At times he had found himself wavering - there was definitely an appeal in those magnificent beasts, flying over the Weyr, soaring or blinking out to /between/. The eggs themselves were fascinating, so large and each one slightly different from the next.

Then the hurricane had hit and the eggs had been endangered. Though he was busy with his own duties, helping to secure the beasts in their pens, worrying over the depth of the water, he had felt the same panic as others when the eggs had been moved, wondering if they would hatch, not knowing whether he would be taken even further from home to where the eggs rested at Dragonsfall Weyr. The eggs had been returned to Dolphin Cove and he had felt relief, telling himself that it was relief for those who would Impress, not himself.

Of course, he had also heard the whispered comments, the speculation over whether the eggs would hatch or remain there like so many rocks on the Hatching Grounds. That had also caused a queasiness in him, though again he insisted to himself that it was on behalf of those others.

He had occasionally found himself thinking about what would happen if he did Impress, or if his sister did so. What would it be like to have a dragon of his own, one with whom he could communicate, never alone? He had quickly set those thoughts aside, reminding himself that after the Hatching he would return home, as would his sister. When that happened, he would talk to Grandda right away - a marriage should be arranged for Toncha so that she would not get any ideas of returning here and sullying herself with the looseness of Weyrlife.

But now here he was, hurrying through a bath, drying himself, and pulling on the white robe that marked him as a candidate. He paused long enough to shove his feet into the clean boots he wore while in the barracks - no sense placing himself in front of a ravenous hatchling while smelling of his work in the beast pens. After all, he was much more likely to end up mauled by a young dragon looking for its mate as Impressing one.

The eggs were already rocking when he made his way onto the Sands. Chabal looked for his sister and saw her at the other side of the group of candidates. He decided to stay where he was rather than make his way closer to her.

The first egg split and a bronze emerged. Chabal felt a slight surge of hope and then chuckled. A bronze dragon? He really was thinking with his head in the clouds.

A green found Harila, who had argued so that she would Impress and that they should think positively. He nodded, feeling happy for the girl. She really wanted this - though why she should want to endanger herself so was a mystery to him.

The candidates near him pulled closer, drawing his attention to an egg that was slightly smaller than many of the others. He did not recall being this close to the eggs but must have wandered toward them. His foot rose to step back, but instead lowered in place as his eyes fixed on the egg.

Pieces of shell, small pieces fell away to reveal something darker within, a snout he supposed. Then the egg split revealing an damp hatchling, irritably shoving the remaining shell away from her. **Finally I am free!**

Chabal blinked, speaking softly to himself. "Why did I say that? I've been free all along."

}:But I have not!:{ The petulant answer rang in his head, foreign to him and yet as if it had always been there.

Again the young man blinked, staring at the dragon. "Vaith." The word formed on his lips. Then he grinned broadly, stepping forward. "Her name is Vaith!"

}:Of course it is. Now feed me.:{ He embraced the small dragon, oblivious to his sister's Impression on the other side of the Sands - and shoving aside all thought of how his life had just changed.

Last updated on the July 8th 2007

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