Calder smiled as he watched his two sons play. The two strong young boys did exactly what strong young boys did in every culture since the dawn of time...they wrestled with each other. The fisherman continued to smile as he pulled the rope tight and brought the sail back into the wind so they could go a little further out to sea. The fishing was never good this close to the rocky shore. "You two be careful!"
"We’re always careful!" Aseradric called back. The older of the boys by 2 whole turns, Aseradic was winning the fight and had comfortably replied from a position on top of his brother’s back.
"DAD!" Oloder, the younger, 6 turn son, obviously felt that his father should do something about the older boy.
Calder smiled. "If I were you I’d be nice to your brother, Ser. He might grow up to be taller than you." The darkly tanned man watched the waves, the wind and his nets, seeing if there was any place near here worth stopping at. With his two sons on board he really didn’t want to bring the craft out any farther. He could handle the boat by himself easily, in any conditions. But he could not handle the boat and keep an eye on Aseradric and Oloder.
Aseradric snorted and let his brother up. He hated the fact that his father continuously seemed to bring up the fact that Olomer had just had a growth spurt and was almost as tall as his 8 turn brother. "I’m going to grow soon too!"
Calder laughed and quickly let the rope loose so the sail would stop pulling them forwards. "I know. I know. Young boys grow at different rates. I was just warning you." With one last look at his boys to make sure they were being safe, the fisherman turned his attention to his work.
Oloder snickered. "The only thing growing is your hair Ser."
It was true that Aseradric liked to keep his hair slightly longer than was fashionable at their Hold, but it wasn’t overly long. It wasn’t as long as some of the other fishermen...and it definitely wasn’t as long as the dragonrider’s. That was the whole point. Aseradric would have done anything to look like that bronze-rider. He was tall, and muscular and, to an 8 turn child, he was everything a man should be. Most importantly, his hair was long. "Real men have long hair, stupid." Ser knocked his brother in the arm.
"Do not!" Oloder smacked him back, somewhat cautiously. The six turn old hadn’t forgotten the position he’d been in not five minutes ago.
"Do too!" Ser knocked Oloder a little harder.
"Dad doesn’t have long hair." Oloder tried putting a little more of his weight into his next shove.
"Dad used to. He just cut it short a few days ago." Shove.
"He did not!" Shove.
"He did too!" Shove.
"Did not!" Shove harder.
"Did too!" Shove harder.
Calder finally looked up just in time to hear the noise he’d dreaded. "Did not!" Oloder screeched and pushed backwards on his brother as hard as he could. Aseradric stumbled backwards a few steps, slipped on a wet splash and all Calder could hear was the splash as the boy hit the water. The fisherman, dropped his net, knowing that it hadn’t been anchored down yet and probably would float off beyond catching, but not caring. He quickly told a shocked Oloder to stay put as he sprinted across the deck of the small fishing boat and dived into the water on the other side. He forced his eyes open in the salty water to look for his child.
Aseradric couldn’t breath. He knew he was under water, but he didn’t know how to get up. The water was cold and made his body shake. It was dark, and salty. It hurt his eyes too much to open them. He struggled and struggled towards what he thought must be the boat, but the harder he tried to move, the thicker the water seemed to get. He realized as his lungs began to burn that he wasn’t only in water. He was stuck in a patch of plants...long strands of seaweed that had wrapped themselves around him as he’d struggled. His eyes stung, his lungs ached and his limbs were getting tired. The child felt like he’d been underwater for hours, not the minutes it had really been. Finally, he opened his mouth to scream. "DADDY!!"
Aseradric! Calder searched the water, not even noticing the seaweed that tried to catch him and ignoring the stinging in his eyes. Aseradric!! The nervous feeling in his stomach began to creep up on him. He felt sick, panicked, more terrified than he’d ever been in his life. Aseradric! He pleaded with whatever gods might be out there that he found his son quickly. As if in answer to his prayer, a burst of bubbles caught the fisherman’s attention. It was hard to see through the murky water, but the bubbles were obviously his best bet. With all the speed he could manage Calder swam towards what he could now see was a patch of seaweed. Aseradric was tangled within it...not moving. The moment of sheer dread as his mind jumped to conclusions nearly paralysed the father. Snapping out of it quickly, the horrible feeling in his gut claiming more and more territory by the second, he swam towards the child and with sheer strength born of terror for his child, Calder tore the seaweed. With a few powerful strokes he had the boy back in the boat...and breathing. The fisheman collapsed in relief.
"Ser!" Oloder immediately ran to his brother. Calder couldn’t have been underwater more than two or three minutes, yet it must have felt like an eternity to each of the three people.
Aseradric coughed and tried to sit up. He felt amazingly sick to his stomach and he felt like it was hard to breath. But gods, he was grateful to be breathing again. He let Oloder throw his arms around him and squeeze him gently. He even put an arm around his brother in return. He knew Oloder hadn’t meant to hurt him, and the gesture told the younger brother that all had been forgiven.
"Aseradric..." Calder breathed the name as he grabbed both his sons by the shoulder and wrapped them in a bear hug. "I told you two to be careful."
They all managed a smile as they all began to shiver. The dripping water off Calder and Aseradric had soaked Oloder and all three were beginning to freeze. Calder grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around both his sons, sat them in front of him and began to row the fishing boat back to shore. He didn’t give a damn about the net anymore.
As they were leaving, Aseradric couldn’t help noticing a horrible feeling in his stomach. Not the feeling of having swallowed too much seawater, like he knew his father would suggest if he mentioned it. Another feeling entirely...a feeling like someone was angry at him...someone was out to get him. He shivered under the blanket, and not because the wind was blowing coldly on his wet skin. He shivered because deep inside, Aseradric had come to a knew conclusion. "Oloder?"
His younger brother was tired after the day of fishing and then the near-death experience of his brother. His head was laid against Aseradric’s shoulder and the 8 turn child called his brother’s name softly, not to wake him if he was asleep. Luckily, Oloder wasn’t asleep. "Hmmf?"
"I think it did it on purpose."
"What?"
"The sea."
"Hmm?" Oloder actually opened his eyes and turned to look at his brother. "The sea did it on pupose?" They were speaking too softly for their father to possibly hear them.
"Yeah." Aseradric shivered as a surprisingly violent wave rocked the boat. "I think the sea hates me."
* * * Four turns later... "Aseradric?" The Harper turned to look at the twelve-turn boy, who was in turn, looking out the window at the fishing boats as they left. "Aseradric?"
"Mmm?" He quickly turned back to the teacher and tried to look like he’d been paying attention.
"The answer?" The Harper raised a brow and leaned against his desk. He knew the boy didn’t have a clue.
"Seven?" Aseradric smiled sweetly, a trick he’d found worked very well when it came to getting him out of trouble with the ladies around the Sea Hold. Although he hadn’t had that growth spurt he kept dreaming off, he had grown into a beautiful youth.
The Harper sighed and the girls in the class giggled. Aseradric couldn’t help gritting his teeth as the girls twittered. I may as well say the rest of the class, since they’re all girls. You’d think that as the only two males in the class the Harper wouldn’t pick on me... "I’m sorry Master Harper. My mind was elsewhere. If you would repeat the question, I’d gladly answer." He’d learned that manners were another tool that worked well when you were trying to manipulate adults. The Holdfolk thought he was a perfect angel, their kids knew better. Even though Aseradric wasn’t as muscular as any of the other teenage boys, after all, he didn’t get as much exercise as they did, but he could still hold his own in a fight...and he always seemed to get in less trouble when the time came for the adults to dish out punishment. He didn’t exactly get along well with the other kids...and he knew exactly whose fault that was. It was the same person whose fault it was that he was stuck here in class with a bunch of girls. It was the sea’s fault.
The Harper shook his head and walked around to sit in his chair. "I asked if you were listening to me."
Aseradric smiled, even though he felt like punching the man. "Then in all honesty, I must answer no...but I am now."
The man continued his lecture on the history of some song or other while Aseradric returned to staring out the window at the now rapidly vanishing fleet of fishing craft. He sighed inwardly at the same time as he shuddered inwardly. The tide seemed to always be creeping farther and farther up the beach. He cursed the waters...it was there fault he couldn’t go out fishing with his father like every other boy his age...it was there fault he wasn’t as tanned or as muscular as the rest of the boys...it was there fault he had learned to read and write and do basic arithmetic while all the other young men were learning the art of fishing. But no matter how anyone tried to tell him that it was his own fears, his own mind that were holding him back, Aseradric just ignored them. Deep inside...he knew the sea hated him.
He heard one of the girls giggle and he turned his attention away from his arch nemesis and back to the classroom. A blond whose name he couldn’t remember was smirking and trying not to giggle. Her and her friends were all blushing and gesturing towards him.
Without a second thought Aseradric stood up and left the classroom, ignoring the Harper’s questions and protests. He would sit here and listen to this idiot rant, he would put up with the girls’ constant twittering, he would live with the fact that he’d never fit in with the other boys, but he would not be made fun of. He knew they were talking about him and he couldn’t stand it. He slammed the door behind him as he headed for the rooms he shared with Oloder.
He had been right that the girls had been talking about him, but they weren’t making fun of him. He’d never know that those five girls had thought he was the cutest boy in the entire Hold.
* * * "Ser! We’re home!" Calder slammed the door louder than necessary to emphasize the point.
"I helped bring in the net!" Oloder, now ten turns, was just beginning his lessons in fishing.
Aseradric cringed and almost didn’t bother calling back to them. He hated the constant reminder that he was breaking tradition by not becoming a fisher person, they were, after all, a Sea Hold. "I’m in here."
"In the dark?" Oloder walked into the darkened room and unshuttered the glow. He smelt like seawater. "Why?"
Aseradric tried to calm himself. There was no use snapping at his brother, nobody ever understood. "No reason. Just didn’t feel like getting up to unshutter the glow."
"That’s ‘cause your lazy." Oloder had finally discovered something that he could bug his older brother about, and he was not about to let it go. The youngest child always dreams for a something that they can do better than the eldest...a something to make them feel more important. Oloder had found his something.
"Whatever." Aseradric knew not to let Oloder know how much it really bugged him. "Like I care what you think."
"Boys!" Calder called from the other room. "Play nice! Your soon-to-be-mother’s coming over tonight."
They both sighed, caught themselves, and smiled. The two had never known their real mothers...since both of them were from different women. Their father was definitely not a very responsible man, and he did like to entertain women from all walks of life. This annoying lady was apparently going to be entertained longer than the rest.
"Do you think he’ll really marry her?" Oloder flopped down on the furs beside his brother and stretched his sore muscles.
"I don’t know." Aseradric really didn’t, and it bothered him. The one perk of having spent his days inside with books instead of outside with the water was that he knew more than the other kids. Not knowing something really bugged him.
"I don’t like her." Oloder confided in his brother.
"She doesn’t like us." Aseradric spoke what they both knew. The woman, her name escaped both of them, had a deep dislike of the fact that any children she might have with their father would have two older stepbrothers.
Oloder grinned and lay back on the soft furs. "Think she’ll cook us and feed us to dad like that witch did in the story?"
"Only if we’re lucky." Aseradric leaned back so he was laying beside his brother. "I can’t imagine what living with her is going to be like."
Calder cringed as he heard that last sentence of his sons’ conversation. He loved his children dearly, and knew that they often didn’t like the women he liked just to be difficult...but he also knew that this time was different. This time he really was in love...and this time things were going to have to change. "I’ve been meaning to talk to you guys about that."
"What?" Oloder blushed as he realized they’d been overheard, but Aseradric was fine with it.
"Living with your new mother...she had an interesting idea." Calder didn’t know how he was going to break this to them. He’d talked with his intended many times though, and it was definitely the best course of action. He was sure of it...or had been sure of it until his two sons had begun staring at him.
"What?" Aseradric repeated himself, getting slightly nervous.
"We thought of taking a little trip...her family is from the Weyr you know, and well, she wanted to get married with them...and maybe stay at the Weyr for a little bit...y’know, just ‘til we get settled." Calder usually didn’t stutter, and his children knew that there was more to the story that he wasn’t telling.
"And?" Aseradric felt like he was trying to talk to the wall.
Calder sighed. "She wanted me to discuss with you the possibilities of you staying on at the Weyr, as a fosterling..."
He hadn’t specified which son was the ‘you’, but they both knew. You wouldn’t foster the son that fit in. Aseradric sighed inwardly and wished that he could just have five minutes alone with the ‘mother’. How could she suggest that? How could she think that? How could she...his angry thoughts trailed off as Oloder, misreading his brother’s silence for wonder, spoke.
"That’s great! Don’t you think Ser? You hate fishing, and the water! It’d be perfect for you, getting to be near all those dragons!! You’re so lucky!!" His brother hugged him.
Aseradric opened his mouth to contradict his brother when he saw his father sigh in relief. "Jeez...I was so worried you’d hate me, or think I didn’t love you or something." Calder rubbed Aseradric’s hair, pulling the long strands out of the loose pony-tail. "I just want you to be happy. And the sea obviously doesn’t make you happy."
Aseradric swallowed his anger, his sadness, and all his objections. He managed a weak smile. "Sounds great."
A new idea flitted in to Oloder’s head. "You could be a dragonrider!"
"I don’t want to be a dragonrider..." Aseradric muttered the last under his breath as he tried to look excited about the idea.
Nobody heard his comment. "Great!" Calder wiped his hand as if shaking off the entire stress of that conversation. "We’ll be leaving on the Shining Path two days from now."
"Wait." Aseradric’s eyes went wide as his father turned to face him. "We’re going by boat?"
"Yeah. We have plenty of boats, and we thought it’d give you boys a better chance to meet your ‘mother’." Calder grinned brightly.
"I’m not going on the water." The twelve turn boy stood up to emphasize his point.
Calder sighed. "You won’t be on the water...you’ll be on a boat. And it’s a big boat...not like the fishing skiff...you won’t fall off..."
"You don’t understand!" Aseradric actually raised his voice to his father.
"It was a terrifying experience for both of us...but you’ve really got to get over it Aseradric." Calder put his big hand on his son’s shoulder. "It will be okay...it won’t be anything like the last time...I’ll protect you."
"The sea hates me..." Aseradric whispered to himself as his father happily left to meet his bride-to-be.
* * * The Shining Path was an interesting ship, if nothing else. Large enough for a full crew plus 50 passengers, she was also carrying some cargo of dried fish and a few exotic animals for a trainer that they’d be meeting at the Weyr. Oloder spent his entire time in the belly of the ship, watching the snakes and large cats. Calder spent the entire time with his betrothed, and watching to make sure that the exotic animals really were caged safely. He’d managed to save his oldest from seaweed, but he didn’t know if he could save his youngest from feline teeth.
Aseradric spent the entire time in the room the four of them shared, trying not to notice ever single wave that hit the ship...trying to believe...as everybody was always telling him, that it was all in his mind. But the ship only rocked harder when he tried to ignore it. The sailors said how calm it was, how peaceful. But Aseradric knew the sea was angry...it had tried to take him four turns ago, and it would try to take him again. He knew it wouldn’t rest until he was drowned. Him and everyone travelling with him.
It almost succeeded.
The storm appeared quickly, out of nowhere, and the sailors barely had time to pull the sails in before the first powerful gusts of wind and rain hit the Shining Path. The four passengers on their way to a wedding at the Weyr huddled together in their room, trying to remember that the sailors knew what they were doing...that everything would be alright. Aseradric knew that everything wouldn’t be alright. He knew the ship would break. He knew the water would come in. And he was getting tired of being right.
The rushing water separated him from his family, knocked him around, tried to bash him on the rocks and on bits of the ship. The rain poured, the wind howled, the lightning flashed, and in the worst storm anyone on board had ever seen, the Shining Path sank into the dark angry water.
* * * When he first opened his eyes, Aseradric was sure that he was dead. He was sure that he’d drowned underwater and was now in the land of the dead, where he could finally live free of the sea’s anger...it had finally won...but after realizing the amount of pain he was in, he discredited that idea.
He didn’t know where he was, but he was definitely alive, and hungry, and broken in various places. His arm hurt, and was twisted at a funny angle and his stomach felt like it was turning around and around. The waves licked at his now bear feet and Aseradric took several steps back. Miraculously he’d managed to survive the sea’s best efforts to kill him twice, he was not ever going to let it touch him again.
He stood up on the sandy shore and looked around him. His tried to swallow, but his mouth was full of salt and completely dry. He tried to talk and made a faint croaking sound. Dazed, he lay in a patch of harsh grass growing a few metres from the waves’ grasp.
To his surprise, his croak was answered with a similar sound. He opened his eyes and cringed as the bright sunlight of this perfectly clear morning pierced his head. He got to his knees and tried to call out again.
Once again a faint noise answered him...it sounded more animal though. Aseradric began crawling a long the beach...looking for whatever was making the noise. After a few minutes he found a kitten, orange and black, crying...or at least trying to cry. It was very small and it’s fur was still wet. It looked amazingly pathetic. He picked it up and cradled it to him. It was a tiny thing...and obviously wanted it’s mother. Aseradric felt sorry for it and tried to comfort it, but it would not be quiet now that it knew it had a listener.
"By the Red Star there’s someone alive down there!!" A woman came rushing down a short slope from a field to the beach to gather Aseradric in her arms. "By Faranth! It’s a miracle."
A few other people appeared rapidly after her. They all crowded around him...and their nearness, added to the fact that he already felt sick and probably had a broken arm, caused Aseradric to go faint.
His initial rescuer seemed to realize this. She quickly took control of the situation with a commanding voice. "Back off! Back off! Just you J’kar. Carry him back to the Weyr." Her voice resumed it’s original softness. "Where did you come from?"
"Shining....Path" It was amazingly hard to talk and all these people were confusing. He clutched the kitten tighter and it cried louder. He loosened his hold, but refused to put it down, even when a strange man picked him up and the woman offered to take it from him. He’d rescued this kitten and he was going to take care of it.
"Let him keep the cat." The woman finally ordered after another man tried to remove it from Aseradric’s shocked grasp. "It’s probably the only other living thing that survived that wreck." The woman sighed and shook her head. "From the Shining Path eh? Do you know how lucky you are to be alive?"
Amazingly... Aseradric thought as he rested his head on the man’s chest. I beat it again...again... A wave, much larger than the rest of them crashed against the shore. He rubbed the kitten’s fur, and was gratified to here it stop crying for the first time since he’d picked it up. The sea...hates us...
* * * 8 turns later... "If you do not stay put Sarusur I’ll stuff you." The threat was empty, but the artist meant it.
The feline he had saved from the sea many turns ago yawned and lay back down on the pillows. A magnificent specimen of cat-kind, Sarusur was often the subject of Aseradric’s drawings.
To everyone, including Aseradric’s, surprise, the tiny little kitten had, in fact, been one of the rare large felines that was going to be donated to the trainer. And much to everyone’s surprise, but not Aseradric’s, it was as tame as the average house feline. It purred when pet, lazed around most of the day, and loved eating. It hated water though, and no one could figure out why. Aseradric knew why though. He understood.
Sarusur yawned again and twitched his tail angrily back and forth. Aseradric continued to sketch the large cat, trying to move faster if possible. "Just stay put for a few more minutes..."
Sarusur rolled onto his stomach and made his version of a playful meow. It sounded like a roar to everyone but his owner.
Aseradric laughed and dropped his sketchbook to go rub the tiger’s stomach. The big cat was nothing but a big suck. Sarusar used one large paw to knock the still short man off his feet and wrap him in a bear hug. The animal had never hurt him though, and Aseradric was never afraid.
"Jeez, you’ve changed so much from the little kit I almost crushed to death." He slipped out of the cat’s embrace and stood up. Sarusur quickly stood up beside him, the tiger’s head reaching Aseradric’s elbow. The young shipwreck survivor found their appearance comical as he looked at them in the mirror across his room.
"Giant Sarusur, little Aseradric." He sighed, rubbing the feline’s head. He’d never grown an inch past 5'3" and was one of the shorter men in the Weyr, especially for a 20 turn man. His hair was red, as it had always been, and still kept long, although held back more tightly by a tie these days. His eyes were a startling green and he was still easily one of the more attractive men in the Weyr. He was quickly learning why his father always used to bring home so many women, and what he did with them.
Thinking of his father reminded Aseradric of the gaping hole in his life where his family had once been. The residents of this Weyr, another Weyr and several Holds had searched the sea for any other survivors...Aseradric had been the only one. The Weyr he’d ended up at, and was still at, had not been his intended to be at, but it would do. Aseradric was really beginning to find his place at Adanuk Weyr as a tutor to some of the children and an accomplished artist. His many years of staying inside looking at book and pictures had obviously paid off.
The young man entered the Weyrbowl, followed, of course, by his Sarusur, and was immediately greeted by Mala, one of the girls he’d recently gotten to know... ‘very well’. "Ser!" She waved and smiled. Somehow the people of Adanuk had managed to catch on to Oloder’s old nickname for him. He had tried once to ask them to stop, but he just didn’t have the heart. It was good to be accepted, even if every time they called your name it felt like someone was twisting a dagger in your heart.
"Mala." He did a quick formal bow, much to her delight. "Where are you rushing off to?" He couldn’t help smiling as he noticed the girl take a step away from him as Sarusur sat down beside the two.
"The beach. Firelizard egg hunt. Wanna come?" She put her hands on his hips, obviously hinting at the fact that they could do much more then sift through sand.
Aseradric stiffened. "The beach? Couldn’t we hunt somewhere else?"
Mala raised a brow. "Not really. Flit’s lay their eggs in the sand."
Aseradric shuffled from foot to foot nervously, trying to think of a reason he could not accompany her without ruining his chances for later. Sarusur lay down on the warm rock and rolled onto his back again.
Mala laughed. She had an amazing laugh. It seemed to make the already bright summer day, brighter. "I totally get it if you’ve got something against the water." She pecked him on the cheek. "It’s cool. There’s just one thing I don’t get."
"What?" He knelt to rub Sarusur’s belly.
"How you can play with a seven foot long tiger easily and be terrified of a beach." Even though the words were mocking she said them low, so only he could hear them. She wasn’t about to embarrass him. "I’ll meet up with you later."
"Mmm." Aseradric watched as most of the other people his age filed out of the Weyr and went down to the beach with Mala. It seemed like once again he was going to be left out. He sighed and left Sarusur in the sun as he walked towards a bench in the shade. Once again, he felt useless. He knew that he was sometimes needed here, and that he was an official Weyrartist and all that other stuff, but still he felt...left out...like he was in the wrong spot.
The tiger got up and wandered over to his friend. Sarusur put his head in Aseradric’s lap and started purring. Until Sarusur, no one at Adanuk really knew if big cats purred. Aseradric smiled and rubbed the large head. "Sorry Sar, I know...I’m depressing." For a minute he made up his mind to go join Mala on the sand, but as soon as the sea came into view the feeling of dread and horror reappeared. That body of water had almost killed him twice...it had killed his family. He sighed. "And they wonder why I think it’s got something in for me."
Sarusur growled, his warning that unless Aseradric got a lot more interesting the big cat would have to make his own fun...which always ended with his master in trouble.
"I’m sorry..." Aseradric began to head back to the Weyr. "I just fell like..."
"I’m lost." Aseradric looked up to see a rather cute girl with a trio of flits standing in front of him. She had an endearing smirk on her face and the man was forced to smile back.
She can’t possibly know that she took the words right out of my mouth... "You’re just outside Adanuk Weyr." Aseradric rested a hand on Sarusur’s head. He never felt threatened by anybody with the big cat at his side, not even...he glanced at her shoulder knots...Searchriders?
The girl simply smiled as she saw Aseradric’s facial expression change as he realized who she was. "My name’s Cristroga...Cris and my brown’s just taking a quick dip in the sea...he’s Tusath." The flit’s cheeped, demanding to be acknowledged, but she just hushed them. She knew that she no longer had Aseradric’s attention.
The Weyr Artist was watching a brown dragon fly up from the waves. It was the only time he’d ever looked at the body of water without any fear in him at all... it was the first time he’d seen a dragon bathing... "Oh...." Sarusur nuzzled his hand to snap him back to reality. "Sorry." He whirled to face Cris again. "You’re looking for Weyrwoman Magika right? I can take you to her." He began walking away from the water and towards the Weyr.
"It’s okay." Cris touched her shoulder. "I don’t think I need a long talk with the Weyrwoman after all."
Aseradric turned to face her again, confused. "Pardon me?"
"I’m not lost any more. I’ve found who I’m looking for."
"Who?"
"You." Cris smiled. "Tusath thinks you stand a good chance of impressing. I know it’s not polite to Search from other Weyrs, but would you consider returning to Seiryuu Weyr with me?"
Aseradric was pretty sure that he hadn’t heard a word she’d said correctly. He was tempted to ask her to repeat herself again, but was afraid that that would make him look foolish. Instead he merely reached for Sarusur and the cat was there. He stood a moment in silence thinking.
Cris laughed. "I don’t think I’ve ever actually had anyone stop and think about this." She continued smirking. "You’re really thinking about this, aren’t you?"
Aseradric couldn’t help but think about it seriously. In a flash his life seemed to pass before his eyes and he wondered how the heck he’d gotten to this very moment in time. If he hadn’t almost drowned when he was young, he would have been a fisherman, he would have ruined his hands, he would never have been an artist, he would never have had to leave his Hold, if he had, he would be down on the beach with Mala and the others. If his father was still alive, he wouldn’t still be here...if his brother was still alive, he wouldn’t be here. In fact, if things hadn’t worked out exactly as they had, he would never be here. The amazing realization that without the hated water he’d be back home gutting fish startled Aseradric.
He looked up at her, his decision made. "Let’s go."
Cris smiled and collected her dragon and explained things to Magika, Aseradric packed, and ‘met’ with Mala one last time quickly before leaving. As the brown dragon flew over the ocean a bit before betweening, Aseradric looked down on it with absolutely no fear in his heart for the second time in his life. It had been a horrible way to travel, but it had carried him to his destiny.
Aseradric has impressed!!
* * *
Aseradric is a candidate at Seiryuu Weyr.
Aseradric's picture is from Chibi Ningyo's Adoption Center.
Sarusur's picture is from Beautiful Tigers.
Background is from Myrror Images.
