Derin
Searched without
Knowing
Derin looked up from his fishing when he heard a
faint crack. He looked around, but saw nothing. But no! There it was
again. Someone was getting closer to him...closer and closer...Suddenly
he was attacked!! He screamed and tried to get up from under his
opponent, trying to get in the river where he could swim to safety. He
saw an opening and ducked through, hoping he wouldn't tear his clothes.
He reached the water and dove in, safe now from his brother's teasing.
He saw his brother standing on the shore, taking his fish...he would
probably be rewarded for catching this many...and Derin would be
punished, for playing in the water, but his brother was dead-scared of
water. He was safe there, and sometimes the shipfish would come and play
with him, they were his friends.
Derin was a tall young boy of about 14 turns, he
had halflong brown hair and bright blue eyes. Neither of his parents had
blue eyes, but his grandmother had, she had been nice to him. He had
spent hours with her when she was still alive, helping her out, so his
parents couldn't complain.
He crawled up to a nice sun-warmed rock and tried
to dry his clothes and catch some fish before he had to go back. He was
lucky today, the shipfish came to help him. Well they ate most of
the fish they caught, but he had 5 nice enough ones to take home. He
waved at the shipfish and left for the village.
He took a long winding path, leading to the back
of the small hold, he hoped he wouldn't see his brother, Mikael again.
The sun was setting and the water turned that nice orange blue that
could only be found here, at the Southern continent. They hadn't lived
here for long, they had come like so many others to find a hold of their
own, to live life easier in the lush forests of the South. But life
wasn't easy here, his parents had to work hard and his brother was in
charge of him.
He reached the end of the path and saw the cots.
He smelled roast wherry too, it would be good eating tonight! Then he remembered, there were eggs hardening in the nearby Beach Shards
Weyr,
searchriders were coming to recruit youngsters. it would be wonderful to
be searched...he could dream hours of soaring through the sky, fighting
thread, not needing to report to anyone except the weyrleaders who were
sensible people. How else would they have impressed a dragon? But he
wasn't allowed to speak to anyone at these formal diners. He could do
something stupid and offend a person of high rank, yeah right, as if he
would spill his food like he was still a baby.
He noticed his brother had already got back with
his fish, and by the look on his face, was greatly rewarded too. Derin
brought his fish to the kitchen and sneaked back outside, hoping to see
a glimps of the dragonriders. Suddenly they filled the sky, 2 big blues,
circling to find a good landing spot. They landed in a nearby vacated
meadow and sat down. Their two riders, both still young, came to the
hold and smiled at all the fuss.
While they were eating, Derin softly went near the
dragons and looked at them. One raised his head and stared with his
facetted eye, whirling blue and green. He was amazed by their strength
and beauty. Knowing he would probably never experience the deep bond
between rider and dragon. Not while he was in this hold, being bullied
around by his brother. He took a decision then that would change his
life completely.
In the deep of the night he rose from his bed and
took some leftover wherry and some extra clothing. He looked at the
stars and by the light of Belerion he found his way to the forests, and
the trail leading to Beach Shards Weyr. The trip was relatively safe, it
wasn't that far to Beach Shards Weyr and all the way there were small holds
like his father's.
He arrived there 3 days later and heard the
singing of the dragons. He stood there in awe for a minute realizing the
eggs were hatching. Then he ran to the hatching grounds and dashed in,
not realizing he was interrupting and coming in uninvited. But there he
saw what he always dreamed of, the newly matched pairs, caring for each other
and the knowledge they would always be together. He went
closer, not able to stop until he joined the group waiting near the last
5 eggs...
~***~
Hatching
Derin rushed to the hatching
grounds. He didn't count the times he went to the hatching grounds
again. You would think a mother knows when her eggs are hatching, but
apparently this one was a bit nervous. The pretty teal Lilac dragon had
announced the hatching 7 times already and the candidates had gone to
the sands, hoping to impress. He had been accepted as candidate, after
one of the searchrider dragons had confirmed they knew him. At least
they couldn't take that away from him anymore. By following the laws of
logic he now wished that the hatching wouldn't take place. That there'd
be another 12 announcings before they hatched, and maybe, just maybe,
the eggs would hatch today.
He enetered and saw a big swoosh of sand surrounding the first
hatchling. He ran towards one of the boys he had met and hoped no-one
had seen his tardy entrance. The his eyes set on the beautiful clouded
gold. He didn't know there had been a gold egg in this clutch. Next up
were two greens, but by then Derin only noticed the two eggs rocking
right in front of him. Suddenly they broke and two blues emerged. Both
of them moved into their direction and Derin sighed as he heard laughter
in his head and a dark blue voice, sounding a lot like smoke, saying:
"My name is Motreth, Rider."
He hugged the dragon and together they left.
"I'm Derin, how come you are such a dark blue?"
"You aren't anymore, now you are D'rin
and you are all that I need. I don't know about the blue"
Motreth looked puzzled.
"Can we go eat?"
"Of course."
~***~
MOTRETH
~***~
Motreth swam quietly in the sea, all
but the tip of his nose and eyes popping up from the surface. The deep blue
of his skin was very noticeable in the light blue waters of the shoreline,
but that didn't bother him. After all he was here to relax, not play hide
and seek.
Not far from him, his rider, Derin, 19 turns old, was drifting lazily. He
had scrubbed his arms off washing Motreth and he deserved some rest before
the dragon would dump his wishes onto him.
Motreth chuckled in anticipation.
"What is it?" Derin asked surprised.
"Nothing." Motreth answered.
"That means trouble... It always does. Just tell me, I can take it, I
can take just about anything right now."
"I want to fly a female."
"That's not that bad. Where is she rising."
"Haven't thought of that yet."
"Strange... I've never heard of this place."
"Funny."
Derin gulped down a mouth of seawater, plummeted to the bottom of the sea
when he tried to turn into the water, forgetting that drifting on your belly
isn't quite as easy as drifting on your back.
"What?!" he croaked when he had slightly recovered from both those
events.
"Don't take this lightly!" Motreth
called. "It means a lot to me."
"Sticking the guilt on me."
"Always." Motreth chuckled, "Please?"
"Okay, but I better get some rest out there."
"More rest than today?"
"Lots more."
~***~
Derin impressed at Beach Shards Weyr.