Spectating
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Sia
Date Posted: 7th June 2025
Characters: Q'vettan
Description: Tzenketh watches Imbeth's nesting
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 7, day 10 of Turn 12
Notes: Follows "BLW: Nesting"
Imbeth posed with permission from Yvonne
The sands whispered.
Far below, Imbeth toiled, golden and radiant, heaving another mound of sand across the cavern floor. From his ledge above the Hatching Grounds, Tzenketh watched her move like the tide: shaping, sweeping, stopping to assess, then reworking the nest all over again.
He shifted slightly to one side, foreclaws curling over the stone lip. From up here, he could see the full span of the cavern: the partially covered Stands, the heat-warped shimmer rising from the sand, the deep gouge Imbeth had carved near the back wall, now half-filled again
}: It is not the right spot. :{ He informed Q'vettan, not because his rider had asked, but because he should know. Whatever meeting he was having with the others was not nearly as important as this. }: It was too far from the lake. But the other place was too damp. This one is a compromise. :{
Below, Imbeth snorted. She’d caught the edge of her tail against her newest slope and sent sand tumbling. Again. She growled low in her throat and dug harder, hind legs working like pistons, throwing up high arcs of fine, pale grit.
}: She is perfecting it. The sand must understand. :{ Tzenketh's voice was deep and mellow, all admiration. Again, Q'vettan hadn't asked. He was going over charts or something with his Wingsecond, old musty things recovered from a place that no longer existed.
A pause. }: She is also very annoyed. :{
Tzenketh rumbled quietly to himself. Imbeth had moved four dragonlengths from where she’d begun this morning. The old nest was buried now beneath an oddly sculpted ridge that looked, from up here, like a windswept wave turned to stone.
He thought it was beautiful.
**Is that the Stands covered in sand?** Q'vettan asked.
}: She knows what she's doing. :{ Tzenketh assured him. His head tilted, eyes whirling slow and soft green. }: She is so precise. She knows exactly what the eggs need. What the Sands must feel like. Where the air must move. How close the lake must smell.:{
**Even if the spot changes five times a day.**
}:Especially then.:{ His tail gave a satisfied flick. }:She is careful. And clever. And fierce. I will stay until she is finished.:{
He was always watching her. Not guarding, Imbeth didn’t need guarding. Not judging. He was not the expert in building nests. He was just a bronze. His job was to fight Thread, not build the best home for the best eggs.
A gust of lake breeze curled up through the cavern’s entrance below and stirred the edge of her latest hollow. She paused. Lifted her head. Smelled.
Then, slowly, with ponderous and powerful grace, Imbeth stepped from the nest. She circled it once. Twice. Then began to dig anew, this time just to the left.
Tzenketh sighed, pleased. }:Yes. That one. That is the one. Probably.:{
Q'vettan gave a groan of exhaustion from somewhere far away. **You two are going to wear each other out.**
Tzenketh blinked lazily. }:We are not tired. We are creating. Do not interrupt.:{
Last updated on the June 8th 2025