Her mother is somewhat sickly, and Ambrosia hopes that she never reaches the state that she's in. She is a plump girl, but a healthy and attractive one. Her skin is peaches and cream complexion, very smooth and rarely burnt in the sun. Her hair is a deep, chestnut-rust red, with glossy apple-red highlights in the sunlight. Ambrosia's sultry eyes are brilliant blue. Her face is usually seen with a smile, albeit a sly, knowing one.
Having grown up near the sea, she is used to seeing a huge variety of people come and go. Fishermen to gypsies, dragonriders to rich House brats. Her favorite people by far are the dragonriders. She admires the freedom they have to fly across the world and see the sights... But she respects them greatly, their work is so important to keeping life moving!
"M-mother? Are you all right?" She said, entering the dark chamber with unease.
"Ambrosia," her mother said, drawing a ragged breath, "I am not well... Your father, he must be working still..."
"He is, but... I can call him in. I will call him, mother. Don't--" She found herself almost saying, 'don't die' but she swallowed it. She bolted out of the hold and ran back to the docks where she knew her father was doing business. Her booted feet nearly slipped on the cobbled dock street, and one of the young seacrafter boys caught her.
"Father--" she gasped, "it is mother, I think--"
The man dropped his happy work-face, and put the bolt of sample cloth that he was dealing with back in its crate. He bellowed out an order for work to continue, but then all but teleported to get to his home.
She saw her father holding her pale, weak hand, but she heard the woman's ragged breath clearly. It was not a pleasant sound. The healer passed Ambrosia and gave her shoulder a squeeze before entering, but his face was dour.
Ambrosia waited, hearing low voices but not even trying to listen to what they said. When the healer and her father finally came out again, it was well past sunset, and neither of them had a happy look.
Tellar's eyes held tears, as he nodded to Ambrosia. "She's at peace now," he said, before his voice could crack. Ambrosia ran to her father's embrace, while the healer contacted his apprentices to deal with the body.
Ambrosia watched this with a distant ache. When her mother had been wrapped, readied for funeral, Ambrosia pushed her face into her father's chest. It was hard to do, since she was taller than he -- like her mother had been. "Father, I will not die like that," she moaned. "I cannot bear that..."
"You will not, then..." He said. "I'll need assistance keeping the records and work loads clear."
"I can do that," Ambrosia replied, wiping the long stains of tears from her normally cheerful face. "I can keep them well. It comes easy for me."
With half a light of a smile in his sad eyes, then, Tellar said, "then you're going to start earning your keep tomorrow. We've a ship arriving."
Tellar came home early one afternoon, with a broad smile on his round face. "Amby, there is someone outside. They're calling for anyone of age."
"Of age for what," she asked, almost flatly. "I'm only seventeen."
"That would be about right," said a man that Ambrosia had not met before. She jumped, as she had been working hard to get the books balanced. He had a rider's jacket on, and knots that said he was a--
"He's here on Search," added Tellar, "and that blue dragon of his outside is too big to be kept waiting!"
"Ahh, Loyeth doesn't take up much space. Don't worry. I'm Tr'yan and yes, a search rider from Calyeni Caverns."
Ambrosia put down her quill, closed the record book, and gave her father a look asking his permission. The grin on his face was enough.
There were others outside, mostly boys since this was mainly a sea-faring town and needed good strong young men to work. There were one or two other girls. But none of them were sniffed at as much by the blue dragon, as Ambrosia was.
"Well, he says that you're the one he was sniffing for. Would you like to stand on our sands? There is a very special clutch there right now." Tr'yan announced, as the other young people, disappointed, turned back to their work.
Excited suddenly, Ambrosia's eyes lit up, then her face fell. She turned to her father. "But, who will do your books? And make sure you get your rest?"
"Ah, Amby, let me worry about that. You said that you wouldn't want to stagnate in your life, not the way Ameret did..." His mention of her mother drew a sad look to Ambrosia's face for a moment. But he continued. "This life killed her, Amby. I was born to it, but you ... You have a choice. Take it." He hugged her, arms strong as ever, but with a sigh in his chest.
"Oh father... I will make you proud. And mother's memory."
"It will be hard work," Tr'yan said, "if you do bond at all. There are many things to take care of in a cavern, and... life is a bit different than here."
"I can adjust," Ambrosia said, drawing herself up. "And I am no stranger to work. I did all the cleaning and cooking, while mother was ill, and that was from when I was a child until about my fourteenth birthday. So let me gather my things, if I'm allowed?"
"Of course," the rider said, and while they waited outside, Tr'yan complimented Tellar on his daughter's courage. "Some girls faint dead away, or are afraid they'll get their hands dirty."
"She's a good girl," Tellar explained. "She has heart."
Ambrosia, once packed, brought with her things she wanted to remind her of her parents, of her life, but most of all, of her mother. Tr'yan helped her on to Loyeth's back, and they winged their way to Calyeni Caverns.
There were twenty candidates and they all sprinted with Ambrosia down to the sands as they were summoned for the hatching. It had been a while for Ambrosia and one or two others who had come early. They all had found an egg which called out to them, and Ambrosia found herself standing in front of one which almost drove her mad with need.
Will it hatch? How will it know her? What color will the hatchling be? Everyone had those questions in their mind, of course.
A bronze was the first to hatch, handsome and strong. Then a big egg broke open showing two white-speckled hatchlings, one blue and one green! The green bonded to another dragon, something which Ambrosia hadn't expected. Perhaps this would be a far more interesting hatching than she expected!
Then a bi-colored red and pink, along with a brown and a cream hatched. The brown bonded to the cream, to everyone's surprise. The red one simply left for the food, unbonded and unconcerned.
>>excerpt<<
A small egg swirled in all different colors was the next to break shell. It revealed a spectrum of colors, as well as a dragonet. The large dragoness, for it looked to the female�s side, who was all the colors, and even more than imaginable, �regally� bounced up to Ambrosia and sat down. �"Amaryllisith, you're more than I could�'ve imagined.�" Ambrosia said, still in awe of the dragonet�s shimmering hide.
Your father will be proud of us both. Now that we'�ve found each other, can we find something to eat? The rainbow dragonet asked loudly.
"�Of course.," Ambrosia answered, and led the large dragoness off the sands.
