Nesting

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 4th June 2025

Characters: Thiseta
Description: Imbeth starts nesting, and Thiseta considers nesting too.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 7, day 10 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Teigan, Lord Bryvin, Kapera, Tzenketh

Imbeth was nesting. The Hatching Caverns, previously not worthy of her attention, had suddenly become attractive. The gold dragon was spending more time there now that her belly was visibly swollen with eggs.

Only... the sand wasn't right. She dug at it with her forelegs and heaped it with her hindlegs, pushing great dunes of it back and forth across the cavern expanse and occasionally burying the lower stands in drifts, much to Tzenketh's amusement.

Thiseta watched too, her hands on her chin as Imbeth widened the hole she'd dug at the cavern's back. The sides were taller than her head at this point, and if it weren't for the height of the stands she wouldn't be able to see Imbeth at all. It was as if she were trying to copy her little cousins, the gold firelizards that buried their eggs on Pern's beaches.

**Careful,** she told Imbeth as the gold's tail brushed the side of her nest and sand began to slide back down into her nest.

Imbeth froze. }:The sand won't _stay_,:{ she grumbled as she turned again. }:I need a bigger nest. I should dig it again, perhaps in a different spot. I am not sure that I like this spot.:{

**This is the biggest nest you've built yet. How many eggs do you think you are going to lay?**

}:As many as I have,:{ the gold replied. }:But only if this sand will stay! Put!:{ She snorted. Her breath sent a plume of dust across the Hatching Cavern.

Her rider understood the need to nest. Barrier Lake Weyr was still new territory. Even though Imbeth was now the Senior Queen, both she and her rider felt as if the weyr might crumble around them or get washed out with the tide.

The feeling was strongest each time Thiseta walked into the Weyrwoman's weyr. She hesitated every time she stepped over the threshold. She felt like an imposter when Kapera had nearly died on that floor. The weyr held too much history in its freshly finished walls. The furniture didn't even really feel like theirs. It was lovely and sturdy, but too heavy and dark for her tastes. And there were so many rugs...

Perhaps she'd take Teigan to the Woodcraft Hall to order new furniture. She could do that now she was Weyrwoman. If she had the time to go... **Or perhaps the Seahall,** she thought. Sunstone Seahold was a hub for tithes, trade and people, and she ought to call upon the Lord Holder soon anyway. Perhaps there she could find something that felt more like 'home'. Or maybe she could order some of the Candidates to repaint her weyr, or bring in a muralist from the Harper Hall...

Imbeth, down on the Sands, crawled from her hole and began to methodically fill it in. }:This is the wrong spot,:{ she told Thieseta. }:My nest must be closer to the entrance. I want to smell the lake.:{

**You moved it before because you thought being near the entrance would be too wet,** Thiseta reminded her.

Imbeth swung her giant golden head to glare at her rider. Dim light glinted off her faceted eyes like sun sparking off the water. }:It would get wet if it rained. I will build a nest somewhere closer to the back, but also close enough to the entrance to smell the lake.:{

**That sounds like a good plan,** Thiseta told her. **I can see a good spot from here, about a dragonlength from where you are now.**

Imbeth tipped her head and considered the expanse of sand before her. }:I will consider it,:{ she eventually said, but both she and her rider knew that she wouldn't. This was Imbeth's nest, and nobody was going to tell her where to dig it -- least of all her fragile rider.

Last updated on the June 8th 2025

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Nesting