As It Should Be

Writers: Jenny M.
Date Posted: 10th May 2006

Characters: Janella
Description: A slight cut is suddenly the least of Janella's troubles.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 11, day 8 of Turn 3

With a wince, Janella dipped her hand into a basin of tepid water. She watched with distant fascination as a red cloud sluggishly blossomed around her palm. That had been exceptionally clumsy, even for her! Blushing, she tried to forget her inelegant tumble over a broom-handle in the stables. Using her uninjured hand, she hissed as she picked out the pieces of grit that had been caught in her wound. It was unlucky that she just happened to put hand out right over a sharp stone. The gash was shallow, and shouldn't get in the way too much, but Faranth, did it sting!

Over a distant rumbling she patted her hand dry with a cloth, wrinkling her nose at the blood spots. She considered it impersonally for a moment. It wasn't really serious enough to bother a Healer about, but she'd forgotten her salve in the rush to pack, and it wouldn't do to risk infection. Maybe she could ask an apprentice to make some up for her. It wasn't like she didn't need it often enough.

With a bang, the door to the candidate barracks slammed open. Pounding feet on the other side of the curtain caused Janella to jump from her cot in confusion, as whomever it was turned around and dashed back out again. Puzzled, she started towards the door to see what the fuss was about. But before she could reach it, it was forced open once again, this time by a delicate young candidate she recognised as Oniya.

"What's going on?" she asked the panting girl.

"It's the Hatching" Oniya replied breathlessly, hurrying to her own cot to pull on the traditional white robe, "You'd better get moving!" With that, she hastened out of the barracks.

The soiled cloth drifted to the floor, forgotten in Janella's shock. Hatching. already? But, she wasn't prepared! She didn't have heavy shoes on, or her Hatching robe, and what if none of the dragonets wanted her, would she have to go home alone.

She shook herself. This wasn't the time for those thoughts, she could think about that later if she didn't Impress.

Folding her fingers over her injured palm so as not to get blood on the pristine robe, she snatched it from the peg and pulled it over her head. She darted past the candidates running for their own robes and out the door, hurrying across the Weyrbowl to wait before the Weyrlingmaster.

Soon the other candidates caught up, until a throng of white robes and equally white faces surrounded her. There was Illiana, Jerric, that boy from her Seahold. A fierce rush of anticipation filled her as they streamed into the Hatching Cavern. At this moment, she didn't care that Thread was falling, that the clutch was tiny, that her feet were burning in her light sandals. The only things that mattered were the roiling eyes of the rumbling queen, and the rocking huddle of giant eggs on the sands.

Her heart in her throat, Janella wove her way through the quaking eggs. Time seemed to slow from the hectic rush towards this moment, this place, to a slow crawl as the tension built. The roar of the crowd at the first hatchling faded to nothing against the shattering shards, and Illiana's triumphant gasp at Impression. Janella smiled fiercely for the kind Journeywoman who had guided her past her irrational fear of runners as gently as the Beastherder would calm any colt in her care. The older woman deserved this.

But her Arianath was not the only Hatchling any more. A brown dragonet, and a blue one, had already paired off, as had several greens. There were so many greens; she stood a much better chance of Impression with these odds. With a pang of guilt at her first thought, Janella wondered what this would mean for a Weyr already stretched by Threadfall.

While her thoughts had turned internal, most of the eggs around her had already birthed their dragon. Her wild smile widened as she realised Jerric had Impressed, and Impressed well; one of only two browns so far creeled for food beside him. The eggs were few now, but she didn't falter. Her mate was coming, she could tell. The sound of eggshell shattering over a green snout caught her interest for a moment, but she looked away. That dragonet was not hers. Sure enough, the young green bonded swiftly with one of the oldest candidates present.

With just three eggs remaining, many of the candidates were growing frantic, hurrying closer then further away as if to attract a dragonet by the sheer speed of their movement. Janella remained still, hypnotised by the slow snaking of cracks along the egg closest to her. It seemed inevitable, somehow, that the glistening dragon-child emerging from the shards was green. A beautiful, natural green, like the noon sun through the leaves of a jungle tree, she realised, as the dragonet stumbled purposefully closer. Even before the voice reached her head, she knew that -this- was the only dragon for her, now and always. The bond clicked into place somewhere below her ribs with an aching familiarity, an eternity of connection forged in an instant.

}:I am Kaminth:{ stated the young green imperiously }:and you will feed me now:{ "Of course" Janella breathed, caught halfway between awe and triumph, "of course I will!" Together, the new rider and her infant lifemate wended their way towards the supplies of meat.

}:Why is it such a long way?:{ Kaminth half wailed, as her uncoordinated feet snagged a shard of shell and she stumbled against her rider. "Don't worry, love, we're nearly there" Janella comforted her, taking a bowl of cut meat from the hand of an assistant. She held up a handful of scraps to her dragon and watched with amused amazement as they were inhaled. "Slow down a little, there, or you'll choke!"

}:I will not choke:{ the dragonet informed her, but slowed down slightly. Each mouthful of meat she swallowed was outlined against her smooth green throat, hide still glistening slightly with the smoothness of the freshly-hatched. As Janella fed her new life-mate, she marvelled that such a delicately beautiful creature chose this bond. What would her father think, to see her now? Would he be proud, proud of his unwanted, forgotten daughter, a true dragonrider? Well, she thought bitterly, it's not likely. He didn't even show up for the Hatching, did he?

}:Whether he was there does not matter.:{ Kaminth stated firmly. }:You were at the Hatching, and I Chose you, and that is all that matters.:{ Thinking over the dragonet's words, Janella found herself nodding in silent agreement. Yes. Genard did not matter anymore. She was no longer 'Janella, Daughter of the Seaholder of Lizard's Cove.' She was 'Janella, Rider of Green Kaminth' and that was exactly as it should be.

Last updated on the May 10th 2006

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As It Should Be