Aunty Vaheri

Writers: Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 25th July 2007

Characters: Rahona, Vaheri
Description: Rahona and Vaheri discuss the still-unnamed firelizard.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 9 of Turn 4

"I'm sure she's waking up earlier every morning," Rahona said, hurrying into the galley with a harried expression on her face and an appearance of having dressed hurriedly. "Oh, Vaheri, is there meat ready for her?"

The older woman pointed to the counter where a bowl stood, heaped with small chunks of raw meat. "That was the first job I did this morning -
even before starting fresh klah brewing. I left it sit out so that it wouldn't be chilled from the cooler."

"Thank you ... thank you." Rahona sighed with relief as the firelizard got the first mouthful and the creeling stopped. "The _noise_ she can make ... And, you know, I _feel_ her hunger." She looked up at the headwoman. "I know they say that, but I didn't understand it."

Vaheri placed a cup of klah next to Rahona. "I had heard something about that, but so much of what is said about firelizards - and dragons
- is nonsense from those who have never even seen one of them close up.
I'll admit that this is my first contact with one." She moved quickly to the other side of the galley to grab one of the loaves of bread that another of the women had just removed from the oven. Holding it on a well-worn cutting board, she placed it near Rahona and started to slice thick slabs from it.

"Ohhh, that smells wonderful!" Rahona said, sniffing the air and then frowning at the firelizard who was choking down each lump of meat.
"Slow down, you're already eating as fast as you can." When the firelizard did hesitate a moment between mouthfuls her mistress was able to look back at Vaheri. "I grew up around dragons but I don't know that even that gives a real understanding. We can see _how_ Impressing a dragon makes a person different, but to really _know_ it has to be experienced."

"At my age I'll experience it through you." The older woman placed two slices of bread on a plate at Rahona's elbow with a jam pot and spoon next to the plate. "It is interesting to watch this one. She's grown considerably in the past sevenday and shows definite personality traits."

"She does like herself - a _lot_. But I'm trying to get her used to lots of people, in case I'm busy. Not passengers, but crew. The children certainly want her to be willing to spend time with them.
Would you like to feed her?" Rahona asked, looking at the bread and jam with obvious longing.

"I shouldn't, should I? I thought that was something that you must do?"

"From what I understand the first feeding is the most essential, and we're a long way past that. Just see if she will accept food from you."

"As long as you think it's alright." Anxious to see whether she actually could tempt the young firelizard to eat from her hand, Vaheri chose a chunk of meat. "Here you go, beautiful one. Slow down - you may have as much of this as you want, no one will take it from you."

The firelizard looked at a meat, creeled anxiously and moved closer to Rahona. Then her greed got the better of her and she snaked out an already long neck and snatched the piece of meat from the headwoman's fingers.

"Good girl," Rahona said, rubbing a hand along the gold hide between the half-extended wings. "Now you just let aunty Vaheri feed you while I put some jam on this ..."

Vaheri barely resisted the urge to jump back when the flit took the meat, but reminded herself that the creature was much like a child - a very _young_ child - and instead dipped her fingers into the bowl to retrieve another piece of meat. With voice soft, she spoke again to the gold, offering food. "That's it, eat it and then you'll have a nap.
No, not that - the meat's for you."

"I think she thinks we're supposed to share everything," Rahona mumbled with a smile on her face now that her own hunger - Or was it still that of the firelizard? - was abating. "Here." She reached into the bowl and got another piece of meat out and offered it to the firelizard.
"See. It tastes just the same no matter who gets it out of the bowl."

The riverboat headwoman snorted in amusement. "She's much like a human child, isn't she? She's curious enough to want what everyone else has and to explore it all." She picked up still another piece of meat and offered it.

"Like a child, yes, but not like a newborn - all dependent. More like an insistent two Turn old." Rahona would have been smiling at the small creature if she could have managed that and eaten at the same time. She swallowed. "Not that I care."

"Of course you don't mind it," Vaheri agreed, "any more than you'd mind caring for a child." The woman knew that she should return to her work but was fascinated by this new addition to the riverboat family. "Have you thought about what you're going to call her? We can't keep referring to her as 'she' or 'the flit' indefnitely."

"I've asked everybody to give me ideas," Rahona said, "but I want a really _special_ name." The firelizard paused in her gulping and eyed her mistress, looking for all the world as if she understood that the discussion was about the name she would bear for life. "So, we'll see what everybody comes up with."

"A very special name for a very special lady," agreed Vaheri, reaching to scratch beneath the flit's snout. "The name must suit her, describe her, and grow with her."

"And suit her personality. I'd heard gold firelizards were always bossy, but she doesn't seem to be - yet - just interested in everything."

"True, though curious or nosey don't seem to be adequate names. Perhaps something to describe where she lives, since she _is_ the first firelizard that we've had on the Sungazer?"

"Rivergold or something like that?" Rahona suggested, smiling at the firelizard as she stopped eating with a sigh. "Here, look, she can already sit on my shoulder, but I'll need to sew patches in my dresses to keep her claws out of my skin."

"Perhaps a quilted pad would be better," noted Vaheri. "We sometimes make smaller pieces for gloves or hot pads. It would be easy enough to make a smaller piece with straps so that you can just slip it on in the morning. Then when it wears through you'd only need to have a new shoulder guard."

"That's a great idea," Rahona said, again struck by the skills the women of the riverboat had at their disposal. She could have cobbled together something that would work, but a quilted shoulder pad made by these women would undoubtedly be more attractive.

"I'll see what I can make later today - just something temporary until we see how it wears and if it rubs at any place - and then I can try to make a more final pattern." The headwoman laughed. "Who knows? If this works out, we could start a new line of wares for flit owners."

"That sounds like the riverboat way of doing things," Rahona agreed.

Last updated on the July 29th 2007

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Aunty Vaheri