Lake's pages, originally written around 2001
Lake is the youngest of four sisters and one brother, all of whom are farm crafters. On the outskirts of Dawnlight, Lake's family makes their living. She is only 15 turns old, but she knows that her time in the Hold is near its end.
When dragons fly overhead, she has often noticed them long before they arrive. She cannot truly 'hear' them, but she can sense their arrival and has a sharp sense of animals around her.
She has made an ideal hunter, and really enjoys working out in the scrub lands and light forests protected by Blackstone weyr's wings. Lake is brave, but to a point: she is not stupid! When something bigger than she can handle comes along, she gets help!
Lake cannot read nor write, but she does want to learn. She hopes that with her Search recently, she will get the chance at a Weyr while she is in candidacy.
Lake hopes to become a strong rider, and will be a good wing member.
"And who's this little girl?" Someone asked, as Lake carried a bundle of green speckled hissy-fit back to her weyr.
"This," she said, "is Mottle. She's my new watchwher. I was at Sapphire weyr to see about their canines and hunts, but instead, I came back with a wher! I don't think a canine and she will get along. Unless I kept a dog outside...Can you tell she'll be doing a good job?" The wher squirmed around in Lake's grasp and hissed at the visitor to the weyr.
"I... can see that..." he said, and bolted from the area.
"Now, Mottle, how am I supposed to get any friends to come by if you scare them all off?" Lake cooed to the green and white speckled watchwher. Mottle gave off a gurgling purr, and snuggled herself into Lake's arm.
Even though they were not truly bonded with Impression, Lake loved the little wher's colorful skin and her even more colorful shrieking warning system. When Lake's wher had grown into a fully fledged and rather uppity adult, Lake made sure that no one else got hurt. Several weyrbrats had wandered in, thinking that the noisome wher was only kidding. She wasn't.
Lake drew her arms around Mottle. "You be a good girl while I'm gone. You be good. I'm getting one of the brave young brats to feed you, so don't you dare bite him!"
After having been Searched by A'rd, Lake knew that her time in the cothold would be limited, and she might not get to see her family or friends for quite a while, even if she did not impress. But she had enough sense in her head to learn a little about Isla Weyr, and how it had interesting colorful draogns, unlike those in most other weyrs. She was glad, because that meant that Mottle would be in good company if she was lucky enough to impress one of those rare oddly shaded ones!
A'rd waited near her doorway. The presence of a dragon rider such as A'rd seemed to calm the watchwher, he had that effect on most animals. Of course, it had been implied by many at Dawnlight that he was originally sensitive to animals, and not to dragons, but obviously both ways were true to an extent.
"The weyr's waiting, and the eggs are hardening," He said, and Lake gathered her things.
"I know... When I have my own weyr, do you think that Mottle and a dragon would get along?"
A'rd raised a pale white eyebrow. "A wher and a dragon? I don't know. Perhaps if you introduced them slowly. It's worth finding out. Mottle is a good girl, I'll make sure to drop in while you're at the weyr. All right?"
"It's all right with her, and that's what counts, right?" Lake said, and A'rd nodded. Then, they were on their way.
"What a beautiful dragon!" Lake exclaimed when she saw Zenith, the sire of the clutch on the sands. Her heart soared when she learned there was a queen sized egg, but truly, Lake didn't think she'd have what it took to actually impress to a gold. It turned out that there wasn't a gold, but... When the hatching started at midnight, Lake put on her white candidate robe and hoped that there might be *something* unusual...
The first to hatch almost did so before the candidates had all arrived! It was a good thing he had to shake off his shell and collect his wits, for the ice blue dragonet impressed soon after the boys all came to the sands.
Then, a green and a bronze hatched, and Lake was enrapt. The green was just the most beautiful creature she'd ever seen. But when the dragonet tried to head toward the girls, some of the boys got in her way! She had to move them around, angrily.
Lake! I'm over here! Get out of my way! The dragon nosed at the boys, and looked around them to where Lake was. She wrapped her tail around Lake and wouldn't let go.
"Thuthnith! It's okay, I can see you now." Lake tried to balance but with that tail wrapped around her legs, it was hard. She fell when Thuthnith moved away from her, and got an apology.
Sorry, Lake, she bespoke, nuzzling the now-near face.
"That's all right, Let's get you something to eat!"
Thuthnith grew every day -- itched horribly half the time, and creeled in hunger the other half.
Until her wings were big enough to stretch into flight. Thuthnith suddenly didn't care that she was a bit hungry, she wanted to see the sky. She wanted to see the Weyr from above now, not just wandering on the ground.
Dragons are creatures of the sky, are we not? She asked, and Lake nodded.
"That's very wise, Thuth. Now... Can you stop squirming your neck around just long enough to let me put the harness on??"
I will... Should you watch me fly first, though? I do not want to accidentally dump you on the ground!
We're supposed to go up together. We'll be together forever, anyway. Lake grinned.
Forever! Good! Now, I want to fly!
"You are SO grounded!" Yelled the weyrling master at Isla. He stomped through the barracks and singled out Lake and her friend A'sh. They looked to each other, surprised, and their dragons communicated beyond their minds. The blue and green shifted around on their ledges, uncomfortable with the way their friend the weyrling master was treating their riders.
"For one thing, you've learned enough and now it's time to fly straight. For another," he pointed up into the air, "... the protectorate will be needing you both. You're off our wings, and you've both been summoned to the Isle. Go home, riders." He changed his tone and A'sh breathed out a sigh of relief, as Lake ground her teeth.
"You could have just sent a flit in to deliver this," she said, snatching the transfer papers. She handed them off to A'sh. She had concentrated well enough on learning flight techniques and leather binding, cleaning and upkeep... But had yet to learn to read properly. She recognized the Protectorate's symbol, and her name, as well as Thuthnith's, but ... Little else.
A'sh took her aside and muttered something, something she'd never forget...
"The protectorate's moving away from this world..." He breathed.
