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favorite on; and when a curly-haired, skinny lad passed by, with a grin for
their cheering, she saw that he had done rather well, Impressing a brown. When
the exultant miners turned to her to share their triumph, she managed to
respond properly, but she was relieved when they scrambled down the tiers to
follow the pair out of the Hatching Ground.
She sat there, glowing over the resurgence of Brekke, the determination and
fierceness of bronze Berd, his courage in braving Ramoth's ire at such a
moment Now, why, Menolly wondered, didn't Berd want Brekke to Impress the new
queen? At all events, the experiment had successfully roused Brekke from her
lethargy.
The dragons were returning, landing in the Hatching Ground so that their
riders could help the weyrlings, or to escort guests outside. The tiers were
emptying. Soon there was only a man in holder colors on the first tier with
two boys. The man looked as tired as she felt. Then one of the boys rose,
pointing to the little egg on the sand that wasn't even rocking.
Idly Menolly thought that it might not hatch, re-
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membering the uncracked egg left in the fire lizard's sand nest the morning
after her fire lizards had hatched. She'd shaken it and something hard had
rattled within. Sometimes hold babies were bom dead, so she'd supposed that it
could happen to other creatures, too.
TTie boy was running along the tier now. To Me-noll/s astonishment, he jumped
to the Hatching Ground and began kicking at the little egg. His cries and his
actions attracted the notice of the Weyrleader and the small knot of
candidates who had not Impressed. The Holder halfrose, one hand extended in a
cautionary gesture. The other boy was shouting at his friend.
"Jaxom, what are you doing?" shouted the Weyrleader.
The egg fractured then, and the boy began tearing at the shell, ripping out
sections and kicking until Me-nolly could see the small body pushing at the
thick inner membrane.
Jaxom cut at the membrane with his belt knife, and a small white body, not
much larger than the boy's torso, fell from the sac. The boy reached out to
help the creature to his feet
Menolly saw the little white dragon lift his head, his eyes, brilliant with
greens and yellows, fastened on the boy's face.
"He says his name is Ruthl" the boy cried in amazed delight
With a strangled exclamation, the older man sank back to the stone seat, his
face a mask of grief. Hie Weyrleader and the others who had rushed to prevent
what had just occurred halted. To Menolly it was all too obvious that Jaxom's
Impression of the little white dragon was unprecedented and unwelcome. And she
couldn't imagine why: the boy and the dragon looked so radiant, who could deny
them their joyous union?
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Chapter 13
r, your song has a sorrowful sound, Though the tune was written as gay. "Your
voice is sad and your hands are slow And your eye meeting mine turns away.
When it became obvious to Menolly that Tgellan had forgotten his promise to
return, she slowly climbed down from the tiers and made her way out of the
deserted Hatching Ground, over the hot sand.
Beauty met her at the entrance, demanding caresses and reassurance. She was
swiftly followed by the others, all cluttering nervously and with many anxious
dartings to the entrance to see if Ramoth was about
Although Menolly had not had far to walk on the sands, the heat had quickly
penetrated the soles of her slippers. Her discomfort was acute by the time she
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stepped onto the cooler earth of the Bowl. She edged to one side of the
entrance and sank down, her fire lizards grouping themselves about her while
she waited for the pain to subside.
As everyone was on the kitchen cavern side of the Bowl, no one noticed her,
for which she was grateful since she felt useless and foolish. It would be a
long walk across the Bowl to the kitchens. Well, she'd just take it in small
sections.
She heard the faint cries of the herdbeasts at the farthest end of the Bowl
valley and saw Ramoth hover-
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