Writer's Note: This chapter should make you happy, brownrider. Oh, and I think I finally did a good job of leaving you in suspense. I might or might not wait until tomorrow to add the next chapter. :
The next couple of days passed without anything extrodinary happening. Iyola didn't hear much from her friends as they were all busy with their new firelizards. She occaisonally went out to the dolphins, but they were constantly bombarding her with questions. They knew she was in a bad mood, but they were annoyed that she wouldn't tell them.
After literally being prodded three times within the span of five minutes, Iyola finally spilled her emotion onto OceanDancer, the worst dolphin she could have. Of course, she knew OceanDancer the best, but telling her mother's dolphin about being angry with her wasn't the smartest thing she had ever done. Nevertheless, Dancer seemed to understand. She agreed with Iyola that dragons weren't just working animals, and it felt good to get it off her chest. Still, dolphins were gossips, and she knew before long it would all leak back to her mother. Still, it took her by surprise when later that day her mother confronted her about it.
"Iyola, dear, I heard you talked to the dolphins today…."
Iyola groaned. Here it comes, she thought, here comes the lecture.
"Honey, you don't seem to be getting over this dragon thing. You seem to be unable to shift in your opinion. Dear, will you just tell me why?"
"Well, for starters, I read a lot about them back at the library. Dragon riders don't believe their dragons are 'just working animals,' but a farmer knows his horse is. I've also read about firelizards. The books say they are just smaller, not nearly as smart or attached creatures as dragons. I've been around firelizards enough to know they aren't 'just working animals.' I attended a lizard Hatching, remember?"
Loray sighed a sigh of forfeit. "I give up. You're right, they aren't 'just working animals.' They are important, and they do have a use, but not in the same way as horses."
Iyola was so happy that for the next few days she didn't notice much at all.
It was only when a dragon landed by the library (where she had been reading about the anatomy of a firelizard,) that she realized about two weeks had passed since the queen had risen to mate. She had laid her eggs!
As the blue and brown riders dismounted, a crowd started to surround them, many whom had never before seen a dragon. Iyola sighed and, realizing it would be fruitless to try to wade through the crowd just to glimpse the dragons, she looked back down at her book and continued reading.
Iyola was just about to leave the library when something at the bottom of the page caught her eye.
"Firelizards rising to mate, in specific, queens, have a similar effect on their masters as dragons do when they rise."
Iyola's heart sank as she realized what that meant for Herlin. She had been wrong, he was much to young for a lizard.
Iyola was pacing on the beach, something she rarely did as it agitated the dolphins, as she told her friends about her recent discovery and what she had done to her little brother. All of them were in attendance, Taylor, Amy, Cydney, even Tayl. They all tried to help her find a way out of this one, but she had gotten herself stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"You could, um, take away Frizza for that week!" Cydney tried to contribute.
"I don't think so," Iyola replied without stopping her circular trot. "You should know from experience firelizards can go where they want if they want to and there is nothing you can do about it."
"You're right," Cydney replied gloomily and looked at her shuffling feet.
"You could let him deal with it," Taylor put in.
"Yeah, that would go over real well with Mom and Dad."
"I could get my queen to-" started Amy.
"Frizza is a queen herself. She wont easily take orders from any other lizard unless during thread Fall and from a bronze."
"Don't firelizards listen to dragons?" Tayl spoke for the first time the whole session.
"Yes, but I don't see where that puts us," Iyola replied grouchily.
"Get a dragon rider to control Frizza. Have the dragon send her away while she's in season, and then bring her back when it's over."
"Don't get me wrong, Tayl, that's a brilliant idea, but should we really get dragons and their riders involved in this? They're all Pernese, and they're going to think me mighty stupid for letting him Impress a lizard so young.
"You've got a point, but my idea still stands. Unless you can think of anything better before it happens, that's our best bet."
Iyola sighed as she realized he was right. She plopped down into the sand cross-legged and put her cheek in her hand.
"How long do we have?" asked Amy.
"It takes about a year and a half for a firelizard queen to mature, half the time of a queen dragon. In other words, I have a long time to worry."
"Don't," Taylor immediately told her. "When it happens, or even when it gets close, I'll know," and she pointed to the bronze bundle in her lap.
As Iyola let out her breath, she only then realized she had been holding it, she submitted herself to the new plan's mercy. It was going to happen, whether she wanted it to or not, and she might as well not worry until it happened. Everybody stood up and stretched their muscles, it had been a couple hours they had been sitting there, and started to part ways. As they started to say their goodbyes, they didn't notice the beast in the sky. They didn't notice it until it landed in front of them and glared at them all in the most curious of ways.
