A Glimmer in the Darkness
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, Yvonne
Date Posted: 13th June 2025
Characters: Thiseta, Q'vettan
Description: Imbeth lays her eggs.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 7, day 18 of Turn 12
Notes: Barrier Lake Weyr Records for m7 d18 of t12 document that Imbeth had a fine clutch of 29 eggs.
Thiseta put down her pen as her still unnamed Nobody of a flit started cooing from her perch draped across her shoulders. She reached for Imbeth, but when her gold dragon didn't reply Thiseta was hit with a sense of _knowing_ strong enough to steal her breath.
Imbeth had started laying.
The Weyrwoman grabbed her coat and hurried from the office, Nobody squeaking in protest at the sudden movement. The flit curled her tail a little tighter around Thiseta's throat as if to urge her on. Thiseta, for her part, tried to remember to be polite and greet the people she passed along the way to the Hatching Caverns with a smile and a murmured word.
The Weyr moved to the heartbeat of its golden queens. What happened today would set the tone for her time as Weyrwoman, at least for the next few Turns. She wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and pushed the door open.
The Stands were silent. As they should be-- Thiseta had made it clear that the Stands and Hatching Cavern were off limits ever since Imbeth had started digging her enormous nests. She paused to let her eyes adjust to the dark and heard the faint scrape of sand on hide and Imbeth's laboured breathing. **I am here.**
Imbeth replied with a wash of gratitude and welcome that washed over her rider like a wave. Nobody the flit spread her delicate wings and launched into the dark, presumably to join the golden queen on the sands.
Thiseta herself walked quietly to the edge of the Sands. There, half-hidden in the gloom and artificial dunes, Imbeth lay curled around a sticky mass of what looked like at least ten eggs. **Can I come closer?** Thiseta asked.
}:You may stay,:{ Imbeth's mindvoice was strained. }:Tzenketh's rider will come shortly as well.:{
Thiseta looked up and scanned the ledges around the cavern. It took her a moment to spot Tzenketh's greenish-bronze hide and glittering eyes looming in the darkness. She turned her attention back to the eggs, hopping the fence to get a little closer. The Sands were hot through her boots.
Imbeth's low growl made her turn as a sliver of light pierced the shadows. A door had opened somewhere above them: Q'vettan, she supposed. Imbeth's growl subsided as the Cavern grew dark again.
**Where is he?** Thiseta asked her flit, sending the little green an image of her Weyrleader's face and silver-streaked hair.
She heard a chirp in the darkness to her left. Thiseta started back towards the Stands and was climbing the fence when Nobody suddenly sent her a blurred image of an amorphous shape overlaid with a sense of satisfaction. She chirped again, high and straight ahead. Q'vettan had probably found a seat. The Weyrwoman headed in that direction until she could make out his bulk in the dim light, and sat next to him. "I saw ten eggs down there so far."
Q'vettan nodded. In the darkness, he could barely make out the shape of a dragon moving, though Tzenketh happily kept him apprised of the goings-on. "Do you think they'll all go in that particular hole she's in, or will she change her mind halfway through?" He asked.
“Likely they’ll all end up there, but I wouldn’t bet marks on it,” Thiseta said after a moment. “After the eggs harden enough to move, I expect that they’ll end up halfways across the Cavern.”
"Tzenketh will report back with the news, I'm sure." Q'vettan said dryly. "How is she faring? I can only see a shadowy shape of her and a glimpse of her eyes."
}: Don't question the expert. :{ Tzenketh quietly chided.
“She’s loving the darkness. And I think that was another egg… so, eleven?” Imbeth’s pride at her clutch radiated through the bond with her rider like summer sunshine. Thiseta basked in it. She reached out and squeezed Q’vettan’s hand. “I think that this will be a good clutch. Thank you.”
Q'vettan squeezed her hand back. "A good, strong clutch." He assured her. "This is all you and her. It was a good first Flight. This will be a great start for your tenure here. And a special first clutch, after all the tragedy that preceded it."
“I hope so,” she said softly. “I know that accepting a new Weyrwoman is a hard transition for any Weyr, but what happened here… I hope that this can be a little spark of something good amidst the grief.” Not to erase it or diminish the enormity of Riyanth’s loss, but maybe to ease it for a little while. A Hatching was something to look forward to.
"The Weyr will be brighter once we have weyrlings in the barracks again." Q'vettan said, "They have a way of doing that." He leaned back in his seat, squinting through the darkness in hopes of seeing more than the two dots of Tzenketh's green eyes high above. "Well, seeing as Imbeth's made this less of a spectator sport, tell me about your last few sevendays. How is the Weyr?"
“Weyr or weyr? Because I have thoughts about both,” Thiseta said, and then proceeded to fill him in while they sat in the dark and waited for Imbeth to announce the arrival of her clutch.
Last updated on the June 22nd 2025