Chapter Four: Silver Eyes
When I looked into her eyes
Starlight I did see
Half hidden by an ink dark veil
And shrouded in mystery
"I can't believe I let you guys talk me into this." R'kel muttered as he walked behind A'ron and Reven.
A'ron grinned at him and Reven laughed but it was R'kel's sister who answered. "Gathers fun." Mora said, "Fun-fun. Breakwater best fun. Everyone say Breakwater best fun. Big brother needs to have some fun-fun. Little brother here too, so family fun-fun. A'ron here too, so friend and family fun-fun."
"Mora's right, bro." Reven slowed his pace a bit and matched his stride to R'kel's. "You need to get out more."
"I get out enough…"
"Secluded coves don't count as 'out'." A'ron slowed his pace a bit as Reven had, "Besides, Breakwater gathers have the best music between the Weyr and Seven Coves Hold."
"And pretty singer sing at Breakwater. Very pretty singer sing pretty at Breakwater." Mora giggled lightly and Meg peaked out of her hair and looked about the crowded gather before the green fire lizard hid ducked back into hiding.
"That's right Mora!" Reven said, "One of Breakwater's harpers has a friend from outside the hold that comes in for gathers and you haven't lived until you've heard her sing."
"Alright, alright. I'm already here so you can stop trying to convince me that it's a good idea to come."
"Fire lizard!" Mora suddenly cried out, pointing up at the sky. A pair of fire lizards, blue and bronze, flew out of a nearby stall, carrying some kind of tool between them. A man ran after them, shouting all the way. Another blue fire lizard suddenly appeared and scolded the other two. They both ducked their heads and flew the tool back to the stall they had stolen it from while the stall's keeper looked on, scowling.
"Wonder what that was about?" A'ron asked.
"Who knows?" Reven shrugged and turned the party down a different path.
Mora giggled, "Naughty, naughty fire lizards. Silly, goofy fire lizards. Meg a good fire lizard, good-good fire lizard. Meg not take, Meg not steal. Nope, no. Meg good, Meg best."
"Yes, Mora. Meg is a good fire lizard." R'kel set his hand on his sister's shoulder. Meg stepped out from Mora's hair again and onto his hand, chirping up at him. Mora giggled again as R'kel used his free hand to scratch the fire lizard's head.
"Hurry up, guys!" Reven shouted from a ways ahead. A'ron had stopped to wait for R'kel and Mora to catch up but Reven had kept on going. "There aren't going to be anymore hot pies at the baker's stall!" He whined.
R'kel and Mora caught up to A'ron, who shook his head, "And he thinks that he's mature enough to be a dragonrider."
"You're the same age A'ron." R'kel reminded him.
"I know, but I think I might be a bit more mature."
"I think Mora might be a bit more mature."
"Me? Me?" Mora looked around, "Me, what?"
"It's nothing Mora." A'ron said as Reven whined impatiently from ahead of them.
Mora caught sight of a jeweler's stall and became entranced by the shinny objects, "Pretty, pretty. Very pretty, pretty."
"Come on Mora." R'kel wrapped his arm around her shoulders and towed her after Reven. A'ron paused but Reven shouted his impatience once more. "We need to catch up to Reven, now. You can look at the pretty later. Now, we have to catch up to Reven."
"Catch up to Reven." Mora repeated. "Reven find pies, Reven always find pies. Pies good. Best! Best-good."
A'ron grinned, "That's right. Reven's going to find us all some pies."
"Not if you don't hurry up!" Reven shouted.
"Oh, relax, would you." A'ron called ahead, "At the rate you're going, they won't even have the pies made yet."
"Reven is impatient, very impatient. Impatient little brother, little brother impatient."
"That's right, Mora." R'kel said as he gently towed her along, "Little brother is very impatient."
"I can hear you, you know!" Reven shouted back to them.
"That was the point, wasn't it?" A'ron asked.
"Yes."
"Pies!" Mora declared, pointing to the baker's stall, where the baker was just pulling a tray of pies from his oven. Reven leaned over the front of the stall, already trying to barter prices before the pies were even cool enough to sell.
"You see, Reven, I was right! Even if we were faster, you would have had to wait for the pies to finish baking anyway!" Reven stuck his tongue out at A'ron who just rolled his eyes. R'kel sighed, anticipating another round of bickering but Mora interrupted.
"Pies!" She declared again, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Pies good! Pies best! Pies best-good!"
The baker looked at R'kel and smiled. "Well, hello there, dragonrider." He said, completely ignoring Reven and A'ron. "What can I do for you on this fine day?"
"Hey! Journeyman Kalaam! What about us!" Reven demanded. "A'ron's a dragonrider too!" He said, gesturing angrily in A'ron's direction. A'ron just bowed his head and hid his eyes with his hand.
"Perhaps but A'ron is hardly a proper dragonrider, now, is he?"
R'kel decided that an intervention might be necessary before his brother blew his top. He stepped in front of the protesting Reven. "I'm not entirely sure that I could be considered a 'proper' dragon rider but this troop here," he gestured toward his brother, friend, and sister, "told me that these are the best pies between the Weyr and Seven Coves."
"Did they now?" Journeyman Kalam eyed Reven and A'ron suspiciously.
A'ron and Reven watched in awe as R'kel somehow managed to wrestle four pies out of Journeyman Kalam for nearly half the price that they Reven usually got out of him. "You are seriously amazing bro." Reven exclaimed as they sat down at a table in one corner of the gather square. "You ought to come with us more often." R'kel just rolled his eyes and started eating his pie.
"Figured that Kalam was swindling us, but I didn't think it was that much." A'ron grumbled. "A couple pies could never have been worth that much."
"Pies good! Pies best!" Mora exclaimed. "Pies best-good."
"Mora's right." R'kel said. "These pies are second only to Dia's, though I'm not sure that they're worth what you've been paying for them." Reven kicked his shin. "Hey!"
Reven pointed over R'kel's shoulder. "That's the singer." He hissed under his breath.
"Pretty singer sing pretty." Mora said using the same hushed tone as Reven, though more out of mimicry than a need for secrecy.
R'kel glanced over his shoulder, more to appease his siblings then out of actual curiosity on his part. A girl about his age sat at a table behind them sipping from a tall glass of juice. Yes, he would admit that she was pretty, but an average everyday pretty. R'kel suspected that the beauty that Reven had spoken of was because of the idolized position he held her in. The singer's hair was black as fresh ink but the ends uneven as if it had been hacked shorter with a belt knife at some point, though it had grown long enough that it was less immediately apparent. Her eyes, which were an odd shade of grey that could have been better described as silver, had a hard, determined look about them. A look that made R'kel feel that it would be a bad idea to cross her while she was in a foul mood.
R'kel turned back to his own table and found his brother looking at him with expectant eyes. Realizing that he wasn't going to get away with not responding, R'kel shrugged. "Alright, she's pretty." Reven beamed at him but before he could reply Mora decided to play mother hen and tried to wipe pie filling from his face. R'kel used his brother's momentary distraction to meet A'ron's gaze and roll his eyes. A'ron returned the gesture. He didn't understand Reven's over-exaggerated hype was about either but, then again, A'ron's preferences were well known.
Unfortunately, A'ron's eye roll didn't go unnoticed. Reven glared at him after he fended off Mora. "Well we all know that A'ron would rather—Ouch! Hey! What was that for?" Reven whined, gripping his injured shin.
R'kel fought the urge to laugh and failed. "Don't you remember, Reven?" He covered his mouth with his hand to hide his laughter. "A'ron hits hard for a little guy and hits where it hurts."
Reven glared at A'ron who returned the glare tenfold, in R'kel's opinion anyway. But before the glaring contest could turn into another argument about things that even Mora knew A'ron did not like to discuss in public, Reven hit R'kel's shoulder and was pointing over it again. R'kel gave A'ron an exasperated look as he did his brother's bidding a looked back over his shoulder.
Another girl had joined the singer. She was taller, her skin darker, and had rather elongated seeming limbs but by her garb she was a runner so the long limbs fit. Her brown hair was tied back in a frizzy braid that appeared to be falling apart. This, coupled with her labored breathing and the glass of juice that she was guzzling down, gave the impression that she had sprinted straight from the runners' station.
"Uh oh, M'dor alert." A'ron said in a low voice, gesturing toward a nearby table. M'dor was, thankfully, not looking them but he was eyeing the singer and runner.
"What's his major malfunction, anyway?" Reven grumbled. "He's a bloody bluerider with a bloody weyrmate and yet he'll flirt with any bloody girl in sight."
"I'll never understand why F'ren puts up with him." A'ron added, slumping back in his chair and crossing his arms. "I hope whoever flies Mareth doesn't have such a jerk for a rider."
Reven tapped R'kel with his elbow. "Don't think you have to worry about that one—Ouch! Hey! What's with you two?" R'kel had smacked Reven on the back of the head and A'ron kicked his shin once more.
It was Mora who answered Reven's question. "Weyr talk, lil' brother. Weyr talk. Talk for Weyr, not for gather. Not for gather."
Reven opened his mouth but before he could retort there was a sudden panicked shout. "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!" R'kel turned just in time to see the runner leap to her feet and start trying to hold open and dig through her carry-sack at the same time. The bag was shifting around and bulging in odd places as if there was a small creature trapped inside. The singer stood to aid her but R'kel's table let out a collective groan as M'dor reached her first.
He held the bag open and, the moment there was enough room, a small green fire lizard leaped out of it and latched herself to the runner's tunic. "That's some fire lizard you've got there." Reven made a gagging sound and R'kel rolled his eyes as A'ron fought laughter. M'dor was in his best 'charm mode' as the wingleader called it. The fire lizard squawked and dove back into the runner's carry-sack, sitting very still as if she hoped that no one had noticed her. She poked her out, hissed at M'dor, and hid again. M'dor scratched his head, "Never seen a fire lizard do that."
The runner giggled, "I don't think she likes you."
"With good reason." A'ron muttered under his breath. Reven stifled his laughter and R'kel rolled his eyes.
"Well, why ever not? I'm a dragonrider, silly. I'd never hurt you." The runner's bag shifted slightly but the fire lizard did not emerge. The runner started giggling again. M'dor shrugged, "Can't charm them all, I suppose. M'dor, Taluth's rider."
The runner smiled at the introduction, prompting Reven to mimic gagging again. "Saiasha," the runner introduced herself, "apprentice runner. Nice to meet you." Saiasha glanced over her shoulder at the singer, who had at some point sat back down, and her grin widened. The singer shook her head, obviously knowing what the look was asking better than their eavesdropping audience. "Come on, please?" Saiasha pleaded.
"No." The singer replied without making eye contact.
"But it's fun."
"In my personal opinion, it ceased to be amusing quite some time ago."
"Please?"
"Oh, fine. If it'll make you happy." The singer rolled her eyes.
"What're you two talking about?" M'dor asked, his expression puzzled.
The singer looked over at M'dor and then over at the field where the dragons rested. "Is Taluth the biggest blue one?"
M'dor's mouth dropped open and R'kel had to stop his from doing the same. "How'd you know that?"
The singer shrugged and Saiasha giggled. "She can always tell what rider goes with what dragon." The runner said.
"Interesting…" M'dor muttered but before he could finish the thought the fire lizard poked her head back out of Saiasha's carry-sack and chirped. "Well, look at that! The silly one is back."
"Actually," the singer began, a mischievous grin forming on her lips, "she's Shy. Silly's the one that's about to land on your head."
"Huh? What're you—" Before M'dor could finish the question a bronze fire lizard winked into existence over his head. It dove and nestled himself into in M'dor's hair. M'dor jumped and threw his arms about his head in an attempt to dislodge the fire lizard, who was just as determined to stay right where it was. "Get off you goofy little son of a—" The fire lizard released his hair but continued to dive around M'dor's face.
Saiasha was laughing and the singer was grinning. "No, I just told you, he's Silly. Goof's the blue fella' digging through your belt pouch."
"What!" M'dor jumped again but managed to unravel the blue fire lizard that seemed to have gotten itself tangled in his belt. He leaped backward away from the troublemaking fire lizard duo and straight into a server carrying several flasks of wine. The wine spilled, mostly on M'dor, and both he and the server woman fell to the ground.
M'dor jumped to his feet and offered his hand to the woman but she smacked it away. "Watch where you're going!" She shouted as she stood. "That was good Benden!"
"I do apologize, ma'am." M'dor said, back in 'charm mode'. "I know that it is a high-crime to waste good Benden wine but…" He eyed the fire lizards that now sat on the table, "that pair of maniac fare lizards was heckling me."
The woman eyed the fire lizards as if she knew exactly who they were. "You've not been to many of Breakwater's gathers if you don't know those two." She grumbled something else under her breath and stalked off.
R'kel, A'ron, and Reven were shocked into silence. They had never before witnessed and occasion where M'dor had not gotten his way when it came to a woman. Mora suddenly started giggling and then the others could hold it back no longer. Reven and A'ron were barking with laughter and R'kel found himself laughing as well, though not with the same gusto as his brother and friend.
"Not so charming drenched in wine, are you, M'dor?" Reven, for some reason that R'kel couldn't fathom, thought it would be a good idea to bait the already irate bluerider.
"I wasn't aware that he was charming to begin with." The singer's comment probably didn't help M'dor's mood any but it sent a new round of laughter through the occupants of R'kel's table and this time Saiasha, the runner, joined in.
This, all and all, turned out to be a bad thing as M'dor rounded his anger on them. , "At least I'm not a useless brat, an underage green rider, the Weyr's idiot, or the rider of a worthless runt!" He stomped from the Gather Square, leaving both tables in semi-stunned silence. R'kel recoiled as if he'd been struck. He dropped his eyes to the table.
No brooding. It upsets me and it upsets Mareth's rider which upsets Mareth.
Callanth?
You are mine, I am yours, and Taluth's rider has the sense of a wherry in heat. Enjoy yourself and forget Taluth's rider.
Thanks buddy.
Reven broke the silence at the table first. "I'm not a brat, am I?"
"No," A'ron said, "and before you say, R'kel," he kicked R'kel in the shin to knock him out of his stupor, "you and Callanth are not worthless."
A half smile formed on R'kel's lips, "You can't exactly deny the underage comment, though, A'ron."
Mora giggled and Meg peeked out from her hair, "M'dor is very rude, very rude."
"Very rude indeed." The singer agreed, standing, as her friend began to laugh. "I'm going to go find Pallor." She declared. As she turned and began to walk from the Gather Square, R'kel noticed something that he hadn't before. The singer had a scar that was without a doubt threadscore wrapped around her arm. It made R'kel wonder what the hell she'd been doing out during thread fall.
Saiasha watched her go but then a slightly panicked look appeared on her face and she ran after the singer. "Hey, wait a sec!" They were too far away for R'kel to make out what was being said but Saiasha produced a small package from her carry-sack and handed it to the singer. The singer started off again and the runner trotted over to their table.
"Hiya' I'm Sai. I take it you know that creep."
R'kel had to laugh at her straight-forward manor. "Unfortunately."
Sai giggled. "Mind if I take a seat?"
"Sure! Go ahead." Reven said in a hurried voice. "We've always got room for a pretty runner."
"Keep hittin' on me and I'll teach ya' what happens when you get on my bad side, dragon-boy."
A'ron laughed as Reven stumbled over a response. "Bet she kicks even harder than I do, Reven." He grinned at Sai, extending his hand across the table. "A'ron, Mareth's rider."
Sai giggled and shook his hand. "Nice ta' meet 'cha."
R'kel smiled and shook his head. "R'kel, Callanth's rider."
"I'm Reven and as soon as the weyrleader let's me on the sands I'm gonna Impress a bronze!" Reven blurted out before Sai could reply to R'kel.
Mora tugged on his arm. "Little brother is very rude, very rude. Interrupt big brother, very rude, very rude."
"It's alright Mora, I was done talking."
"You guys siblings?" Sai asked, tipping her head to one side.
"Yeah, they're the weyrleader's kids." A'ron said as Reven came to his senses.
"Hey, R'kel? Do you think you could talk some more pies out of Kalaam? Pretty please?" Reven begged.
"Pies!" Mora exclaimed. "Pies good! Pies best-good!"
"Kalaam makes the best pies on all of the Southern Continent. He's stingy as all get out though." Sai added with a grin and a giggle.
"Alright, alright I'll get you more pies."
"Awesome!"
"Thanks bro!"
When R'kel returned with a tray full of pies, everyone at the table was laughing and Reven was wiping his face as if juice had shot out his nose. It made him wonder what they had been talking about in his absence. "Pies." He declared and set the tray down on the table. Hands reached out and started devouring the pies. "No need to thank me." R'kel muttered as he sat down. There was a chorus of thank yous shortly after.
"Hey, R'kel? If you don't mind my asking, how come Callanth hatched? 'Cause I heard that little Ruth wouldn't a' hatched unless Lord Jaxom hadn't helped it." Sai asked shyly. "Don't get mad at Reven, but he said that it was a good story."
R'kel sighed, took a deep breath, and began the story. "About two turns ago the first clutch laid since the move to Cove Weyr was about to hatch. Boys were gathered around the eggs and their families wait anxiously just off the sands. However, I got in trouble trying to get my idiot brother out of trouble," idiot brother in question opened his mouth to protest but A'ron kicked his shin and shushed him, "and I wasn't of age anyway, so Reven and I were setting up for the Impression feast instead of watching the sands."
"And the twelve-year-old me," A'ron jumped into the method of duel story telling that best suited this story, "was standing off the sands with my mother and father waiting for my brother who-was-supposed-to-impress to do so."
"After a while there were only a few eggs left on the Hatching Sands—"
"—and my brother starts approaching this green who then careens away from him and knocks into this little egg that no one expected to hatch, cracking it—"
"—just enough for this little brown dragon to fight its way free of its egg."
"Now, the green dragon starts barreling through into the crowd, completely ignoring all of the actual candidates and sounding horribly distraught."
"Meanwhile, the little brown dragon is walking, much more slowly, in the charging green's wake."
"The next thing I know, said green dragon is standing in front of me. She extended her head toward me. I was absolutely terrified and jumped backward, falling over in the process. She started keening again and then started asking me what was wrong and why I was scared and saying that she would eat whatever was scaring me because she was so very, very hungry. R'kel, Rekel then, materializes at my side and hauls me back to my feet, telling me to quit standing there like a lame wherry and tell everyone her name."
"So, he told us that her name was Mareth. I could tell that his parents were anything but happy so I started towing him toward the other Impressed candidates and hatchlings, using the path the Mareth had created to reach A'ron, then Aaron."
"Of course that path leads us straight into the little brown dragon, which then clings to the leg of R'kel's trousers, nearly tripping him. He untangled the dragon with an amused smile and told me that the dragon's name was Callanth."
"A'ron was still too terrified to do or say anything so I went back to dragging him toward the dragonrider who were handing out food for the greedy guts we call dragon hatchlings."
Am I still a greedy gut? Callanth asked, listening on the story, even though he had heard it as often as R'kel had told it.
Yeah, buddy, you are.
A smile slowly spread across R'kel's face. "One angry brother and a promise to talk to the weyrleader later, and we're sitting on the ground shoving food into some hungry hatchling stomachs."
Sai giggled. "That is a good story. Hey, A'ron? How come your family wasn't happy that you'd Impressed?"
"Well, I come from a family of weavers and when my brother was Searched they were happy because their older son, who couldn't weave cloth to save his life, was still going to have a respectable position in life as a dragonrider and their younger son, aka me, who could actually weave, would carry on the family trade. But instead, their talented son is the dragonrider and they've got their less than talented son as the family heir. Basically my entire family is mad at me."
"Wow, that bites."
A'ron shrugged. "It's disappointing I suppose but I wouldn't trade Mareth for the world and I've got plenty of new family now." He elbowed R'kel.
"So, you guys have been friends ever since?"
"Well, we were both kind of outcasts in weyrling training." A'ron told her. "We were both under the permitted age for proper candidates, a good deal in my case, and they all had some stupid problem with Callanth's size."
Sai shoved loose-frizzy hair out of her face to have it fall back in the same place, only managing to succeed in getting pie crumbs in her hair. She scowled at it but then apparently decided that it wasn't worth her time. "Isn't the permitted age for a proper candidate, like, twelve turns or something?"
"In most Weyrs, yes." R'kel replied.
"But Weyrleader R'sil will only put candidates sixteen turns or older on the hatching sands, though, sometimes, if a younger candidate is really promising the Weyrleader will let them stand on the fringes."
"How come?" Sai tipped her head to one side while changing her mind about the pie crumbs and trying to brush them out of her hair.
"Well…" A'ron began, but he hesitated.
"To avoid A'ron situations." R'kel finished, earning himself a glare from his friend. Sai's head tipped slightly to the side in a manner that clearly said 'I don't understand.' "It means that—"
A'ron interrupted him, "Dragons mature faster than their riders. So, the Weyrleader doesn't want situations, like mine, with a fourteen-turn-old rider and a could-very-well rise-any-time-now green dragon."
Thankfully, Sai didn't inquire any farther on that topic. Instead, she turned to Reven. "Do they do that a lot?"
"You mean finish each other's thoughts?" Sai nodded. "Yes, they do. It's kind of creepy sometimes." Reven folded his arms across his chest. "We've told you about us, hows about you tell us a little about you."
Sai shrugged. "Not much to tell. My ma's a station manager. My pa's a runner. My aunt's a runner. My uncles are runners. My siblings are runners. My cousins are runners." Shrugging again, she continued, "Like I said, not much to tell. Runner born and bred, I am. Nothin' else, no awesome story behind it."
"You're part of one of the first well-developed runner families on the Southern Continent, that's a story." R'kel said.
"Huh? Hey you're right! I've got a story."
"Everybody does."
"How about how you got your fire-lizard? That's got to be an awesome story!" Reven nearly shouted, earning himself sharp glares from R'kel and A'ron.
"Loud little brother." Mora whispered. "Little brother loud. Much-loud."
Sai giggled. "That he is. Anyway, Reven, if you're asking about the scaredy green that was clinging to me earlier, she's my friend's not mine."
R'kel mentally counted the fire-lizards he had seen gathered around Sai and her friend's table earlier and could tell that the others were doing the same. A'ron spoke up first, "Your friend has four fire-lizards?"
She laughed so hard that it startled everyone at the table. "She's got a baker's dozen fire-lizards. At least!"
"Great stars!" A'ron exclaimed as his mouth dropped open.
"What's a baker's dozen?" Reven asked with such a look of confusion that R'kel had to chuckle under his breath.
"Thirteen."
Reven's jaw dropped now. "But that's even more than Master Harper Menolly!"
As if alerted by some sort of signal, a blue fire-lizard appeared and landed in front of Sai. Carefully held in its fore-claws was what looked like a folded letter. The creature held the letter out to Sai who took it and deposited it into her carry-sack without even looking at it. She scratched the fire-lizard's eye ridge for a moment before the blue winked back out of existence.
"Aren't you going to read that?" Reven asked, the first to query about the curious incident.
A shocked expression appeared on Sai's face. "Why?" She asked. "It's not for me."
This confused Reven even more while R'kel and A'ron were trying not to laugh at the expression on his face. "Then how come it was delivered to you?"
"It's for my friend's sister. I'll deliver it to Seven Coves during my next run."
"Can't one of your friend's fire-lizards just deliver it?"
"The hawkeyed hag might be watching and she wouldn't know about it."
Loud laughter from behind Reven made everyone seated at the table, save Mora, jump. "Spoken only like someone who has met the good Master Healer of Seven Coves." Sai made a face. "I must agree."
"Hey Pallor." Sai said.
"Afternoon Saiasha." The man, now identified as Pallor, answered.
"Ionnae went…" Sai touched her finger to her lower lip as she glanced around the square. "She went… that a' way." She said, pointing, with a look on her face that told R'kel that she hoped that she was pointing him in the right direction.
Pallor caught the look as well but grinned. "Talked to her already."
"She's staying, right?" Sai whined in a manner that reminded R'kel of Reven hurrying him along to get to the baker's stall.
"She told me that she was so she had better. Speaking of tonight, I've got to go dig up Nyle before we have to perform."
"Later, Pallor!" Sai shouted at him as he walked away. Pallor glanced back and gave her a backward wave over his shoulder. She glared at his retreating back for a moment, then crossed her arms in a huff and blew loose hair out of her face. It fell back in pretty much the same place so Sai tried again with the same result. It was such a sight that Reven was trying to stifle laughter and A'ron had covered his mouth, likely doing the same. Sai eventually started giggling, prompted by the quite laughter. Suddenly the entire table had erupted in laughter.
This was how a good chunk of the afternoon went. R'kel thought that he'd laughed more than he had in his entire life. Sai was one of those people that it was just impossible not to like. Despite that she'd thought she had no stories to tell, she had a harper's tongue, and could weave words in a way that made an everyday event seem like an epic adventure.
"So then," Sai was saying as evening fell, "the entire population of the station was off hunting for this alleged monster that Deyvn was going on about. Later, we'd all find out that the sound that had scared him witless was a wherry falling out of a tree!" Laughter answered the end of her story and she joined in a well. R'kel's gut was starting to ache from all the laughing he'd done.
"Just like A'ron's alleged dolphin pod."
A'ron glared at him. "And R'kel's alleged fire-lizard clutch."
"It was there! You think I scratched myself up like that?"
"What's all this now?" Sai asked.
"According to A'ron there's a small pod of dolphins living in an area a ways from the Weyr where there hadn't been any reported dolphin activity. None of the rest of us have laid eyes on them." R'kel told her and then waited patiently for A'ron to talk about his alleged fire-lizard eggs.
"According to R'kel there was a clutch of queen fire-lizard eggs in a cove between here and the Weyr. However, it seems to have vanished without a trace."
"He did come back looking like he'd been mobbed by fire-lizards." Reven added.
The crowd that had gathered in the square suddenly fell silent. Sai, forgetting the conversation, gave a thumbs-up to someone behind R'kel and, as he turned to look, the singing started.
"Little queen, all golden
Flew hissing at the sea
To stop each wave
Her clutch to save
She ventured forth bravely"
R'kel was shocked, to say the least. It was hard to imagine the average seeming girl he'd seen earlier as the object of his little brother's idol worship but now it made a bit more sense. The nameless singer had a beautiful voice, though she was obviously not harper trained and sang lower than most women did.
She sang into the night. Traditional ballads, more modern songs. Alone or with the group. Eventually she turned her silver eyes toward the stars they resembled. She turned and smiled at the harper playing the guitar behind her, Pallor. He smiled back and laid his guitar across his knee. The drummer likewise set down his sticks. The singer turned back to the crowd with a slight smile on her lips. She drew in a breath and sang.
"Dreaming of the stars on high
That drift into the sacred sky
Drifting on a breeze
Only I can hear and feel"
Hi… been awhile. I actually wrote this in about six days. The problem is that those six days were several months apart. I hope to get the inspiration to write this a bit faster but while I know where I'm going, getting there is still a bit foggy, though I think I have a better idea for what will happen in chapter five than I did when I got up thing morning.
I'm starting college in August so it might possibly be another half year before I get the next chapter done. I truly love this story and hope that I'm able to get it done. I'm having a bit of trouble portraying R'kel's complete lack of self-worth.
Maybe I should find a beta or someone to bounce my ideas off of. It's not easy to find people who've read the series.
Thank you all readers and reviewers. I hope I don't let you down.
-Ebony
