Kashmir
Waiting at this big place made Kashmir a bit bored. But then again, she was a cat. She would find something to do in the mean time before the eggs hatched.
She studied with the other candidates, certainly, and found that she 'got into' their reading and informative lessons with ease. She'd love hunting and flying, that was a given. But she also would love the extra special care that would be given to the hatchlings and as they grew up, the adults.
They would need a lot of attention, and if there was one thing that Kashmir specialized in, was attention. Grooming, especially - and as the leader of their little group, any dragon of hers had to look good.
While they were waiting for the eggs to harden and hatch, something about the place sort of felt different. Kashmir couldn't quite put her nose on it, but ... one night she looked at the stars and they were different ones than had been at Opal Moon's locale.
She kept silent, because she wasn't entirely certain. After all, she was used to the Big Dipper and Orion and those constellations - not these strange clumps of foreign ones! So it might just be that their night sky was so odd to her she couldn't keep them straight.
We all know how likely that is, huh?
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Then, not more than a month after Kashmir's arrival to the place they now called Kjan Liyr Eyrie, the dragons began to croon their song of hatching. It almost stung it was so powerful, this song.
Kashmir smoothed down her fur and went to the dark sands. No, she did not have an overwhelming urge to bury things in the sand - but she was certain that all of her sisters would. There were other fur-covered candidates, canines and the like, along side the human ones and the almost-human ones. All of them were nervous - there was one guy there who already had a dragon, though, and Kashmir wasn't sure what that was all about.
The first egg to hatch was a lovely pair of greens - Kashmir had thought that only one dragonet per egg would come out, that was what anyone else expected too, she could tell by the gasps and oohs and aah's of the assembled onlookers.
They both paired off, very fine greens, beryl greens, indeed. Then a beautiful whitish marked male and a brown came from their eggs and bonded off. They were all so very pretty. Kashmir wondered how they made their choices, these dragon hatchlings. They seemed quite intelligent right out of the egg, of course - they knew how to contact their rider mentally and apparently a couple of them could talk aloud. That was an oddity that Kashmir didn't really understand. She was after all a taking walking cat.
Then there was a lull. It was almost long enough for Kashmir to have taken a short nap, but that would probably have looked a bit queer right there on the sands. No one else would do that, so she refrained. Then a large egg broke open, revealing a pair of golden, marked-winged beauties. They both paired off to males, and both of them spoke aloud.
Kashmir's heartbeat had grown rapid. Why weren't any of the dragons even looking her way? There had been six already, and not one even glanced at her. Should she be concerned? There weren't many more eggs.
When she was thinking on this, an apparation of a woman appeared over the sands. A ghost? Kashmir's fur stood on end, but she was silently there to watch the hatching too. And it was a good thing, because a ruby colored dragonet seemed to want to pair off with the ethereal woman.
There was something weird about the way that some girl from the audience came down to help her out - apparently they were trying to fend for a person or creature that wasn't long for the world. Kashmir almost offered to help too - but then hastily remembered that not only was the rest of her litter not present with her, but.... she hadn't paired off yet either.
Two more eggs burst open loudly, making everyone jolt. A blue with night sky patterns and a more purple one with the same kind of markings, came from those shells and boldly walked out to the candidates. They both walked up to the canine-smelling creatures, Tiamat and Kamal, who eagerly accepted their bonding.
Kashmir was growing more concerned again. If those guys could bond, then where was hers? Even a kind of grumpy looking young man bonded moments later to a pale brownish marked one. Then the little young woman who claimed she could hear dragons speaking mentally paired off with a pretty rose colored dragonet.
Kashmir's tail was lashing, unconsciously she let it vent her agitation. Another girl bonded to a pretty ruby colored one, almost the same as that which paired off with the ghostly woman before.
There were no more eggs on the sands.
A big knot built up in Kashmir's throat. Was this what it was going to be like? Being rejected like this? She could hardly believe it - the search riders were so confident in sending them to their respective sands... and this? This wasn't right.
But then, in the sand itself, came motion. There were buried eggs? The riders of the dam and sire were almost furious, but they were also pleased. The candidates would not leave the sands unhappy this time.
But even when the first dragonet came out, a quartz colored dragonet, he went straight for the guy near him. The next egg, revealed when the dam blew away the black sands from its smooth shell, broke open and one could barely see the hatchling against the dark grains of sand.
The color could only be called Black Opal, and she walked with the same grace of a feline, right toward Kashmir. The long stretch that the dragonet did near the Van Cat proved right there that this was in fact the right dragon for her!
When Kashmir's eyes met the whirling multicolored orbs of her dragon, a strange mental voice penetrated her mind. It was so familiar to Kashmir, so perfectly fit, that she knew it was the dragonet before her.
What's chocolate?
She jumped even still, though, because all this time she was ready for 'anything' to happen. And this certainly qualified as anything!
"Um, chocolate... I can't exactly describe it to you, Kreasiath, all I can tell you is that it's the creamiest, richest and most decadent sweet you'll ever taste." Did that sound dumb? It didn't matter - dumb, silly, perfect, it was all she could say.
When do I get to meet your sisters? Coda sounds pretty. What's a siamese? Are you going to lose all that fur when we fly? Where is Mystech? Why can't we meet Katherine?
All kinds of other questions came tumbling from the dragonet. And so, Kashmir did her level best until she realized that the dragonet would just learn this stuff later on.
"We can meet them when we get back to Mystech. Coda's cute enough, but I think she's full of herself. A siamese? That's another kind of cat. Not as good as me. I'm not going to lose any fur! I groom all the time! It's... it's...." She drifted away with the hatchling, off the sands, and into the kitchens where the prepared meats and later on, the celebration would take place.
Kashmir was exhausted. This dragon thing was really a work out. Even more so than she'd anticipated. She was strong, and hardy - and that made all the difference. Several of the human females of her size would have to give up on oiling or washing their dragons after a while because, well, they were so darn big! Fortunately, Kashmir wasn't one to give up easily. She relished the work, it kept her busy.
She wondered how her sisters were doing. Of course, Kreasiath asked about them constantly. Her mental battering of poor Kashmir hadn't let up for a minute since her hatching.
Aren't cats normally just pets? That is what the other people seem to think. You are not a pet, are you? I am not your pet, I'm a dragon, and you will ride me soon. Soon! Because you know what? The flight instructor told us that we would fly!
"I know, Kreasiath," Kashmir sighed with a grin. Even with the endless barrage of questions, Kashmir did her level best to try and answer them, and keep herself on her toes mentally as well as physically. If she didn't know the answer to something, she sought out someone who could help her. That dragon was so curious, she'd been run ragged looking up events, finding out people's names and relations, and all sorts of other detail-oriented things.
And surely, they would fly. If she'd ever shut up, Kashmir thought, she might even be able to boldly lead the group of Kittens when they got back...
How could they leave? The place - Opal Moon - was gone. In its place was Kjan'liyr, yet, it was the same.
I want to meet your sisters, Kashmir. Kreasiath nuzzled her rider, and spread her boldly patterned wings.
"And I'm sure that they want to meet you. Now, we're going to have to concentrate hard. Remember the teleportaion training you've had?"
I enjoy doing that. It is cold there but it is also fun.
"Fun?" Kashmir grunted a laugh, her tail swishing around. "What's fun about the nexus?"
The landings! Kreasiath assured her rider.
Soon enough, they soared over the new eyr, and went into the dark chill of the Nexus.
