Someone for Me

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 3rd June 2024

Characters: Ketlyn
Description: It's Hatching Day, and Ketlyn finally gets what she wanted
Location: Barrier Lake Weyrhold
Date: month 13, day 1 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: N'kayden, Casmari, Inyara, K'lvin

"Today! It's happening today! The eggs are Hatching today!" The call went up just as Ketlyn settled into a chair to put up her achy feet. She immediately leapt up again, heart racing and sore feet forgotten.

Hope was a dangerous thing. Maybe this time she'd actually _succeed_ at something. Maybe this time she could walk off the Sands with a little green dragon at her side and become someone new and fresh and actually capable of saving her brother and her siblings. Maybe she could finally find the strength to just walk away from her family entirely--

Maybe.

She swallowed her nausea and followed the others to get ready. The pre-Hatching rituals were eerily familiar. A bath, the white robe, braid her tangle and too-curly hair away from her face. Try to ignore the way some of the Candidates were hugged by their families, from here or elsewhere. Try to smile and listen to what the Weyrlingmaster said over the roaring in her ears. Or was it dragons humming?

Mutely Ketlyn followed the others through the Weyr. They stepped onto the Sands as a group and she stared wide-eyed up into the sea of strangers in the stands. Heat radiated up from the soles of her feet as they walked toward the dragon eggs. She felt over-exposed and awkward.

Dragons lined the walls and their humming rattled her bones. Riyanth was a glowing gold presence and between the reigning queen and the glittering dragon eyes forming a ceiling around them Ketlyn felt like she was floating across the sky. The Candidates formed a loose semi-circle around the eggs and it seemed like the entire Weyr held its breath.

The first egg cracked; a brown dragonet, still wet, tumbled out. His nose swung toward the group of Candidates like he was a compass and they were north-- like _Nikhayden_ was north. "It's Abereth!" he cried.

The crowd roared and the humming increased. Ketlyn rubbed her temples and blinked, the Sands briefly blurred. Eggs rocked frantically, the sound of cracking shells buried beneath the voices and noise around them. Every snatch of green made Ketlyn's heart jerk-- maybe this time, maybe her.

Her vision swam. **Am I going to pass out?** A tiny green dragon stood in front of her, eyes an impossible whirling blue as she nudged her hands with her tiny nose.

}:I am Varinth.:{

Ketlyn stopped breathing. The roar in her head grew louder and she could see herself reflected in those beautiful, faceted eyes. "Varinth." Had she said it or just imagined it?

Varith nudged her again. }:Bring me food!:{

"Varinth!" Breath caught in her lungs, an afterthought as joy suffused her body and made her glow bright as a star. Her joy? Varith's? Both, together, indistinguishable.

}:HUNGRY!:{ Varinth's voice was shrill in her mind.

Ketlyn just laughed. "There's-- Varinth, there's meat, I'll feed you. Stars above, you're my _dragon_!"

She ushered Varinth off toward the weyrling entrance. The noise ebbed as they passed through the doors and a bucket of chopped meat was shoved into her hands. Ketlyn let herself be led into a corner by the Weyrlingstaff and began to carefully feed her tiny little perfect dragon, oblivious to their congratulations and the blood staining her white robes. All she could see was Varith's eyes and she could practically taste the bits of meat-- but that was Varith, they were blurring together.

Outside the noise dipped, then the stone shook with the reverberations of a growling cheer. "A Stands Impression," someone said reverently. Ketlyn only half heard it. Then the noise rose again-- "Another girl Impressed a blue!"

That was enough to make Ketlyn blink out of her reverie. Another girl on a blue dragon?! A fleeting echo of what could be jealousy sifted through the overwhelming joy. Whoever it was that Impressed a blue dragon would be so, so _special_. Unlike her.

}:MORE!:{ Varinth's tail whipped against the stone of her tiny wallow. }:I am HUNGRY and you should think only about ME! I am the only important dragon!:{

A smile tugged at Ketlyn's lips. "Of course you are," she said, handing her tiny, demanding, perfect green another bloody hunk of meat. The noise around her became meaningless and she stopped paying attention to the door to the Sands to see who might come through.

She'd done it. She was a dragonrider now, and Varinth would love her and be with her from now to forever, and she'd be able to save her siblings and everything would be perfect. Ketlyn couldn't wait.

Last updated on the June 7th 2024

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Someone for Me