Surprise sat with her eyes whirling distress and adoration at the same time. Never had the flitter encountered her mistress with such strong feelings in her head!
What is that creature? Why won't it let me sleep? Demanded Lalinth.
"She's Surprise, my little fire lizard. Like you, only more annoying."
Tell me about my birth, again... Asked the woozy dragon, after feeding and oiling, even only a sevenday after her birth she was begining to forget things. Such was the life of a green. Helene, being one to have a strong memory, needed to learn patience -- and having taught children on her way to the weyr, that was good practice for her dragon.
"Well, I had to wait for most of the eggs to hatch, and then, you were ready, but you didn't come out. You only put a tiny hole in the side of the egg, and I think people were starting to figure you for lazy or even cold..."
I was not cold! I was not lazy! I was spying!
"That's right," Helene laughed, rocking with Surprise on her lap. "So I told you that you may be trying to spy, but you had to come out if you wanted to eat!" Lalinth nodded, and rolled to her side, for a better view of the little gold stranger in her life. "So then you came out, finally, flapping your wings and asked me if I could teach you how to spy better. Better than any dragon. So," Helene rubbed the dragon's neck, "I told you that I could teach you later, but you're a dragon. You can just listen to spy on people!"
By the time Helene had ended her reiteration of the dragon's birth, Lalinth had fallen to sleep. |
