A gift

Writers: Danielle
Date Posted: 2nd December 2005

Characters: I'zar
Description: Izaronin works on a gift for his mother
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 9, day 3 of Turn 3

He was up early, again. It seemed to become a habit lately. Maybe it was all the excitement of the Hatching that needed an outlet. Sleep eluded him more often than not the past few days. Izaronin didn't mind, much. He had work to do.

He was curled up on a ledge just below the top of the cliff. He liked to climb, and this was a hard to reach bit of rock. He'd had to make his way though the hallways to the highest levels of the weyr, then climb the rest of the way up, worming through fissures and cracks in the caves and the cliff face, just wide enough for a too-thin boy of fourteen turns to squeeze through. It was easier to find quiet up here, even though the wind was cold and sharp. He brought a warm cloak, and waited for the sun.

By the time the sky was light enough for him to see well by, he'd set out most of his meger collection of tools, had mixed the mortar, and had laid down the cloth with the painstakingly sketched green dragon on it. That was the hardest part, trying to sketch a dragon...they like to move too much! But he'd finally managed it. The next hardest part was finding enough green bits of glass and stone and crystal.
He'd even combed the beach for shells that could be used for teeth and claws.

Now he began to match the different shades of green and white, separating them into little piles of similar shades. Sometimes he would hold up a bit of glass or stone and compare it in the brightening sun to another. Once he had at least five or so little piles, he began to fit the pieces into the drawn outline on the hide.

His tongue poked out between his teeth as he worked, and the wind made a terrible snarled mess of his hair. By mid morning, he had something resembling little green dragon made of mosaic. He grinned, pleased with the result. Then he started to carefully add mortar between the pieces, fitting them together as neatly as he could. He was still new at this, but he was meticulous almost to a fault.

There. Done....almost. The mortar had to dry and harden still...and that would take a day, at least. With utmost care, Izaronin wrapped the glass and stone creation in a hide and tucked it away in a crevice in the cliff face. It would be safe there, protected if anyone chanced to come this way, but it would still gather the heat of the sun to set the mortar.

Izaronin looked up at the sky again and felt his heart leap into his throat. He'd miss his lessons if he didn't hurry! In great, clumsy haste, Izaronin shoved his supplies back in to his stachel, and started to head back down to the lower levels of the Weyr.

~*~

That evening, under the starry sky, Izaronin returned to the ledge and his piece of work. It had set, dried almost completely. The glss sparkled in the starlight, the shell accents shone with irridescent colors. Izaronin was proud of his little creation, and he wrapped the sun-catcher in a scrap of soft hide. On quiet feet, he padded through the halls while most everyone was at dinner. He'd peeked inside the dining cavern, and had seen his mother just sitting down to eat with his father and some of the others in their wing. Perfect!

Izaronin ran then, darting through glow-lit halls up and up and up to his mother's weyr, which he knew now to be empty. He eased open the door, and slipped inside, crossing the clean, modest rooms to her dragon's ledge.

The dragon stirred in her sleep, opened one luminous, whirling eye.
She recognized him and rumbled a sleepy greeting to her lifemate's offspring. Izaronin reached over to scratch her eyeridges. "I brought a surprize for Mother. Will you keep a secret?" The dragon rumbled again, which Izaronin took for an agreement. "See? It's you...only little," he whispered, opening the hide and lifting out the delicate glass mosaic. "I'll just hang it here, out of the way so you won't knock it down when you fly off your ledge." He wedged a metal hook into the stone and hung the sun-catcher on it. "Okay. Goodnight! Tell mother I made it for her!" The green nudged him in farewell, then he began to retrace his steps through the weyr to the hall.

The little suncatcher sparkled in the starlight when he glanced back over his shoulder. He smiled in the dark and slipped out again. Then he ran all the way back down to the dining hall, hungry now that his mission had been accomplished!

Last updated on the December 2nd 2005

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A gift