16.Oct.20, 12:52 AM
Ah, correct you are, Sariel said, shaking her honey-blonde head in amusement. If I get an egg right now, so to speak, instead of the next time his green firelizard rises, you have to promise to care for it as much as I do and be very, very careful until it hatches. Baby firelizards are hungry all the time, so I'll be--
Sariel waved to the dragonman and then pulled a tub of salve out from her carryall. "Here's your salve, F'lant. I think I managed to get those scents right for you."
"Ah, goldrider Sariel!" he said, grinning. "You're in good timing. Mika's clutch is near about to hatch. You can take one back to your weyr this evening if you like. It might need a few days or so, I think." He took the tub with eager hands and popped the lid. "I think you've outdone yourself. This is perfect. Not too light, not too heavy. Well worth the barter for one of my girl's eggs. I'll get you one of the larger ones. Can't promise what's in it but you might get lucky. I've seen a few browns from her in my time but mind, it's usually blues and greens."
"Not an issue," Sariel said with a soft laugh. "Cirith has been mad for one for ages, now. I think she'll be happy with any friend no matter its hide."
"True, true enough," the man said, humming thoughtfully. "I think browns make the best messengers, myself, but a blue or green will be biddable when in comes to your Cirith, that's for sure. After dinner, before all the dancing, for the handoff?"
"That sounds excellent to me, F'lant." She squeezed his free hand warmly and set about getting boots and winter weather gear in green as well as a lovely tooled suede harness set with a wonderful pattern that Cirith immediately fell in love with.
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13.10.741Sariel & Cirith's weyr
11pm
The egg had several false starts the second day of Gather and Cirith had been dutiful in her reports about its behaviour ever since the first wiggle. By the end of the day, Sariel was ready to pack it in when Cirith started to hum and dropped a hunk of meat the half the size of Sariel's arm very delicately into a very large bowl that had once held fruit that she had managed to get ahold of at some point during the day.
"Leftovers," Sariel said and set about using her belt knife to hack it into firelizard hatchling sized pieces. A sharp crack fifteen minutes later revealed a swirling red eye, then the egg split raggedly down the center and out spilled a blue firelizard nearly the size of the smallest of browns. She quickly fed him a piece of meat while Cirith crooned and carried on in the background. Sariel remembered the fierce hunger and kept feeding him until his creeling stopped.
He had attached himself to her forearm at one point, at the crook of her arm, where he had stayed, chirping happily in a half-doze.
"You're going to get stuck," Sariel said dryly. "I'm coming, you golden menace. I'm coming. Back up."
With a snort, Cirith retreated to her couch, crooning with delight as Sariel tucked herself near her lifemate, laughing softly. The blue hiccuped, then belched, and then crawled his way onto the end of Cirith's nose. She kept trying to get a look at him, twisting her head this way and that, her faceted eyes whirling. The hatchling didn't really seem to mind at all and she was very careful.
Eventually, he flitted from her nose back to Sariel's shoulder, his wings having dried, and the young gold got a better look at him.
"A sapphire?" Sariel carefully warmed a little bath for the firelizard as set about cleaning him up and then gently oiled him. He crooned and warbled and definitely enjoyed all the attention. When all was said and done, Cirith got him to curl up on her head.
"Then I guess his name is Sapphire."