Hungry Hatchling

Writers: AL, Kastaka
Date Posted: 21st February 2009

Characters: Vasha, D'son
Description: Vasha's fire-lizard egg hatches in class.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 5 of Turn 5

It was getting on for a sevenday since her mother had given her the egg, and she was beginning to think that her hope of it not hatching was going to come true. She hadn't been taking that good care of it, after all, carrying it around with her in that pouch everywhere because there was nowhere she really felt safe storing it. The kitchen staff must think her mad for pilfering scraps of raw meat to keep in another pouch in her bag, and the stuff was beginning to make her notes smell kind of funny. If it didn't hatch within the next couple of days she was going to call it non-viable and ditch it, she decided as she pulled her notes from her bag and set them out on her desk, waiting for the anatomy class to start.

"Seats!" D'son strode into the room and the rest of students quickly filed into their places. The dragonrider placed some parchment upon a desk then turned a critical eye toward his pupils. It had not been a good day. His dragon had lost a flight and D'son had little time to prepare himself afterward before it was time to teach his class. He was grumpy, more so than usual. "How many vertebrae does a dragon have? Raise your hand! No blurting out answers!"

Vasha obediently raised her hand, but was rather distracted from her attempt to remember the answer by the egg pouch attached to her belt falling against the chair, practically jumping off her lap. She winced at the drop - she must have shifted awkwardly when she moved to raise her hand and dislodged it - but fortunately someone else was called on and she had time to rearrange it. The egg still felt reassuringly solid, which she was mostly grateful for - as much as she didn't want the thing to hatch, she didn't want to feel like she had killed it either.

"What are the average ranges of length for a dragon?" D'son asked as the first question was answered. He glared around the room and finally settled upon one of the apprentices. "Vasha. All colours."

"Twenty to twenty-five for greens," recited Vasha confidently. There was a muffled thump, too quiet for anyone else to hear, as the pouch fell off her leg again. She must not have re-seated it correctly, she thought. "Twenty... seven to thirty for blues." It was kind of tugging on the belt. Had it fallen right off the chair too? "Thirty to thirty-five for browns." Now it was off the chair. It had definitely moved. Of its own accord. "Thirty-five to thirty... eight for bronzes." Oh shards, it wasn't, was it? "Thirty... eight to forty... two for golds?" Another jump. Yes, yes it was. **Just wait a moment,** she thought desperately, **just a moment and he'll be looking at someone else...**

D'son turned away from Vasha and addressed the class as a whole once more. "What colour is a dragon's blood and why is it that colour? Meerka."

Vasha squirmed in her seat, trying to surreptitiously retrieve the meat from her bag. The egg pouch was getting more and more energetic and she was afraid that any moment the wretched creature was going to burst forth inside it and start eating its own wings or something equally unpleasant. Having retrieved the pouch of meat, she was caught at an impasse for a moment - what was she going to do, dump one bag inside the other and hope it all worked out?

"Vasha!" D'son snapped when he realised the apprentice wasn't paying attention. "What are you doing? Sit up!"

Vasha instinctively straightened up, but kept her hands on the bags under the desk. She felt something give way in the egg pouch in her right hand and there was the unmistakable creeling noise of a hungry hatchling firelizard. She winced and froze in panic for a moment.

"And just what do you think you're trying to hide, young lady?" D'son stomped around to the side and over to Vasha, peering down with a deep scowl upon his face. "This is not play time."

At just that moment a little green head popped up out of the egg pouch and let loose a desperate chirrup in D'son's direction.

For a moment, the dragonrider simply stood there. Then he looked at Vasha. Then at the little green. Then Vasha again. "Well?" He finally said at length as the firelizard began to creel hungrily. "Don't just sit there! Feed her!"

Suddenly startled back to reality by the journeyman's order, Vasha dumped out the fire-lizard on her desk, put down an old candidate-class hide, and dumped the meat she'd prepared on top of that. "I'm sorry, little one," she said to the fire-lizard as she tried waving the meat enticingly and only just got her fingers out of the way in time, "this wasn't how you were meant to come into the world, was it?"

D'son started back at the unceremonious display of firelizard and meat. "I didn't mean here!" He chided. He had expected her to run off and grab some meat from the kitchens - evidently she had come quite prepared. He glanced around as the other students were crowding around and growled in defeat. "Hurry up and get it fed and go clean up!"

"Where else was I going to do it?" asked Vasha distractedly as she fed the meat to the small green creature and wondered as the little thing absorbed its own body weight in rather less than fresh scraps. There was a feeling, dim and far off, of contentment as the creature had its fill and promptly fell asleep. There wasn't much to clean up, but Vasha took the opportunty to leave for a moment anyway - wrapping up the remaining scraps of meat and the sleeping firelizard in the hides like an impromptu sling.

"The kitchens would have been more appropriate." D'son fairly growled. "See me after class!" With that he turned and made his way back to the front, leaving Vasha to take care of what she needed to do.

"Oh yeah, being in the kitchens would be completely appropriate during class," muttered Vasha on her way out, tying the sling around her shoulder and heading to the nearest place she could wash her hands and dispose of the rest of the meat.

****

D'son at least waited until all the other students had left, his gaze harsh as it fell upon Vasha. When they were alone, he motioned for her to approach, his scowl deepening.

Vasha had improvised a kind of sling with some bandages for her new charge, who was sleeping contentedly in the depths of its folds just above her hip on the left. She shuffled forwards with what she hoped was due respect and contrition, and looked up nervously with her head still in the 'downcast eyes' position.

"I do not approve of the disruption you caused in class today." D'son glared over at his pupil, eyes narrowing. "You should have left that egg with someone else. If it had hatched, so be it. When I ordered you to feed the creature, you should have left the room to do so instead of adding to the disruption you have already made."

"Sorry," mumbled Vasha. What else could she do? There was no point displaying any anger in front of D'son or telling him he was wrong. It would only lead to worse trouble. So she looked as apologetic as she could muster, which wasn't a bad act as she was something of an accomplished actor in these matters, and said as little as possible.

"As such, your free time will be taken away for the next three days." D'son continued without remorse. "You are to report to the infirmary immediately."

"Yes, sir," replied Vasha meekly, trying to hide her relief. It wasn't as if she had any particular plans for the next three days and one of them was Threadfall anyhow, meaning she'd be stuck in the Infirmay anyhow. She began to head out of the room towards the infirmary to obey his command, taking a quick look back to check his reaction was good and she was doing the right thing.

Last updated on the February 21st 2009

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Hungry Hatchling