That’s a tree, Aeron said.
Tree. I remember trees. The color is pretty.
The leaves are that color because it is fall. Normally they are green.
Fall?
We divide the year up into four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. Fall is the time after the end of the hot summer and before the very cold winter. I guess it’s called fall because that is the time of year that leaves fall from the trees.
Two doves suddenly flew out from a tree near them, flying up and away. A sprinkling of small yellow-gold leaves fell from where the birds had burst forth.
What are those? Anaya asked Aeron, watching as the doves flew off to a tree on the other side of the copse.
I think those were doves, he replied. A dove is a kind of bird.
Bird. Birds fly.
Yes. You can fly too. Though I’m not sure when dragons start to fly.
I can fly? Anaya stood up on her haunches and tentatively spread out her wings. More doves burst forth from the same tree and flew off to join the others across the way. The sudden movement and sound surprised Anaya and she sat down, folding her wings on her back.
We can practice flying soon, Aeron said smiling.
Willem was looking around at the treetops. “Where do you suppose Caer Baronel is, in relation to us?”
“I’m not sure,” Sharrah replied, looking around.
Aeron opened his satchel and removed his map. He glanced down into the sinkhole, then rotated his map to match it. “Well, if my map is anywhere near accurate,” he began, “the Caer should be in that direction.” He pointed off to the northeast.
“It’s difficult to see past the trees, even though much of their canopies are missing,” Sharrah said and headed out of the copse.
They emerged in a partially clear area that ran between the clusters of trees.
“There it is,” Aeron said, pointing.
Off in the distance, the top of the water tower could be seen poking above the trees.
“Wow,” Sharrah said. “I didn’t realize how far we’d walked.”
“It has been about an hour and a half since we left Aeron’s room,” Willem noted.
“If not a little more,” she agreed. “Although, we did spend a large part of it hunting.”
That is where you live? Anaya asked Aeron, sitting up on her haunches.
Yes, there is a large settlement there, a Caer.
I would like to see it.
“You can’t go there now, Anaya,” Aeron said aloud. “I wish you could see it, though. One day soon, if our plan works out, you will. I promise.”
Willem looked at Anaya, sympathy in his eyes. “We’re trying Anaya, and we think our plan will work.”
“We really are trying,” Sharrah said.
Anaya let out a long breath, almost like a resigned sigh.
Aeron put his hand on Anaya’s shoulders.
A hawk soared overhead, a brown figure on a clear blue backdrop, and let out a cry.
“You know,” Sharrah said, watching the bird of prey, “I don’t see much out here at the moment, but there should be some animals that can be hunted in this area, as I mentioned before.” She looked around and then at the trees near them, scrunching her nose. “I’m just not sure how difficult it will be to find them, now that fall is here and with winter coming soon.” She looked at Aeron. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Well,” Aeron said, smiling, “at least it’s somewhere else to try hunting. The more places to hunt, the better.” He glanced up at the sun and said, “Let’s go look at the eggs, it’s almost lunchtime.”
It didn’t take long to reach Anaya’s cavern.
As he descended the rubble ramp to the lower ledge, Aeron said “Stick to the left side of the ramp as you come down, near the back wall. It’s a very long drop.”
Anaya had trotted ahead and lay down on her bed. Now she was watching them with interest.
“That’s a pretty nice bed she has,” Sharrah said, placing her satchel and lantern on the ground and walking over to Anaya. She examined the bed and gave a running commentary as she did so. “Rock and gravel bottom layer, thick enough to raise the bed several inches off the floor. Course sand and soil on top for comfort. I bet she loves it. It looks great.”
Anaya looked around at her bed, almost as if seeing it again for the first time.
“She does seem to enjoy it,” Aeron said.
It is very nice. I like it.
Aeron smiled. “She says she likes it.”
“And over here,” Sharrah said as she walked over to the eggs, “I see the inspiration, perhaps?”
Willem walked over to the eggs as well, looking them over.
“Well,” Aeron said, “there isn’t much to work with down here, and that looked like a good design to copy.”
Sharrah nodded absently as she examined the bed the eggs sat upon. “Almost identical design, though this one is larger.”
“And these,” she said, almost reverently, “these eggs are amazing.” She ran back to her satchel, which she had left near the bottom of the ramp, and retrieved her measure tape and notebook.
“Willem,” she said, “could you grab the end of this?”
Sharrah spent the next several minutes directing Willem on where to hold his end of the tape as she held the other, jotting down measurements as she went.
“This is Anaya’s egg?” Sharrah asked, indicating the one with a large hole cracked out of the front.
“Yeah,” Aeron said, nodding.
She ran her hands over the shell and examined its surface. It was mottled with various splotches of color, most in brown and tan hues. “The shell on hers is significantly thicker than the other three,” she said.
“Yes,” Aeron said moving over to Anaya. “Like I said, I had to help her break free.”
Anaya touched her nose to Aeron’s hand. He smiled and stroked her neck.
Sharrah measured the thickness of the shell and also the shell of the egg next to it, jotting things down in her notebook. She picked up a piece of Anaya’s eggshell from the ground and tucked it in her pocket. “The two shell membranes also appear to be thickened,” she said, looking inside Anaya’s egg. She made more notes.
Sharrah looked speculatively at the first egg of the other three, which was smaller, then over at Anaya. After a moment of staring at the young dragon, she walked behind the eggs. She spent a few seconds looking around and came up with a fist-sized rock. Still behind the eggs, she knocked a hole in the shell of the smaller egg and had Willem raise his lantern for her.
“This egg is empty,” Sharrah said, “which is what I suspected, it being smaller. This sometimes happens in the first clutch of eggs in young birds and apparently in dragons too.” She opened her notebook and added a note.
She proceeded to break open the next egg. “Oh,” she said, making a face that she quickly cleared. “This one didn’t seem to develop.” The last egg was the same. “This one didn’t develop either.”
She made several notes before closing her notebook. “This many eggs failing to hatch and the one egg with a malformed shell . . . Interesting.” Sharrah stared at Anaya. “You appear to have been very lucky,” she finally said.
Anaya looked at Aeron. I was, she said to him.
He squatted down and hugged her. “We both were.”
Sharrah reached over and removed a piece of eggshell from the last egg and placed it in her pocket before walking back over to Anaya and Aeron.
“What’s this here?” Willem asked, standing on a pile of debris beyond the eggs. “It’s in the middle of this cleared area?”
“You’re standing in her toilet,” Aeron said, a smile on his face.
Willem made an odd strangled noise and quickly moved back to them. “So have you tried to explore the rest of this cavern?” he asked, pointing out to the vast blackness of the cavern. He was also surreptitiously rubbing his shoes on the ground.
Aeron, very aware of Willem’s attempt to cha
nge the subject, chuckled and said, “No. I think I am done exploring caverns. I found something to keep me busy.” He looked over at Anaya.
Anaya turned her head to him and yawned, blinking in surprise.
“I think we should leave her so she can get some sleep,” Sharrah observed.
“I’m sorry we kept you awake,” Aeron said.
It was fun, she told him. But I am sleepy now.
On the way back, after they walked through the water, they had to stand around, waiting for their shorts to dry.
After several minutes, Willem, with no small amount of frustration, said, “I think I understand now why you don’t bother with even swim shorts. It takes forever for clothing to dry down here.”
Aeron sighed. “Yeah, it does.”
Sharrah, on the other hand, was making use of the time to go over her notes. “You know,” she said, flipping through her notebook, “I don’t think dragons fit in any of our existing classifications for animals.”
“Oh?” Aeron asked.
She nodded. “Anaya seems to have characteristics from a few different kinds of animal.” They were looking at her blankly, so she explained further. “For instance, dragons have wings and lay eggs, right?”
Aeron and Willem nodded.
“But,” she continued, “they do not have feathers nor do they have scales. Instead they have skin, or hide, and fur. Well,” she amended, “at least the young have fur, though very short. We won’t know about adults until later.”
Aeron and Willem were still staring at her blankly.
“Thus,” she said, “they are probably not birds or reptiles.”
They nodded in comprehension.
She was tapping her pencil on her chin as she thought. “And,” she said looking at Aeron, “Anaya ate meat from the beginning, yes?”
“Yeah,” Aeron replied. “Why?”
“That means they probably are not mammals either.”
“Why not?” Willem asked.
“Mammal young drink milk,” she answered, simply. She closed her notebook and said, “Master Canneth will love this, trying to classify dragons. They might even need their own new class!” Sharrah was grinning, clearly excited as well.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Aeron stood up. “This is taking too long. I’m going around the corner of the passage back there and taking off my shorts and putting on my pants. That’s good enough for us to get back to our rooms.” He grabbed his satchel and went into the passage.
Willem and Sharrah took turns changing as well.
“Now,” Aeron said when everyone was finished, “let’s go get changed and grab lunch. I’m starving.”
After getting to the light moss extraction room, they split up to make quick stops at their rooms to change before meeting up at the Dinning Hall. They wanted to save their money for special snacks and such at the fair rather than a whole meal, which they could get for free in the Caer.
However, once they finished their lunch, they were all yawning.
“Ugh,” Aeron said. “I am very tired, all of a sudden.”
“Me too,” Willem said.
Sharrah nodded. “Yeah.”
“How about we take a nap before we go back to the fair?” Aeron asked, loading his empty plates and glass on his tray.
“That,” Willem said, “is a great idea.”
“A nap sounds fantastic,” Sharrah agreed.
Willem got his tray together, stood up and said, “I’ll meet you guys in an hour or so.”
“See you later,” Sharrah said, also heading off.
After setting his chronometer alarm, Aeron climbed into bed. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Chapter 14
Leday, Duody 29, 1873
Afternoon
Aeron ran up the steps of the Dormitory Hall. The nap had been fantastic. He felt refreshed and ready to head to the fair again. Anaya was sleeping well and would not wake for some time, so he was free to roam the fair for several hours.
When Aeron got to the bunk room, Willem was already up and rummaging around in his footlocker. “Hey, I thought I would drop by to make sure you were up.”
Willem, sleep still in his eyes, nodded. “Thanks. I should be ready in a few minutes.”
“Alright, I’ll go see about Sharrah.” Aeron headed over to the other side of the dorm.
He stopped at the girl’s common room. There were several girls and a couple of boys inside, but he didn’t see Sharrah. He looked down the hallway that lead to the girl’s bunk room and frowned. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go down there by himself. Some of the girls were pretty defensive about being seen in their sleeping gowns. And if any of the girls happened to be changing when he looked in?
He blushed. The short-lived pleasure would end with a slap or a punch in the face for sure. If he was lucky. For, if the girls’ dormitory proctor, Proctor Elise, found out, or Proctor Jarvis? He’d be in deep trouble.
He looked back in the common room. After a few seconds, he saw a face he recognized. “Liara, can you do me a favor?”
She looked up from the book she was reading, straight black hair falling back from her face. She saw Aeron, and a small smile worked its way across her lips. “Hi Aeron. What was that?”
“I need a favor. Could you go check whether or not Sharrah is still asleep? She was going to take a nap before we went to the fair. She should be up by now, but I don’t see her.”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.” She stopped in the doorway, turned back to Aeron and smiled, revealing her dimples. He absently smiled back, and she headed down the hallway to the girls’ bunk room.
Aeron looked around the common room as he waited. He thought it quite interesting that the girls’ common room was not that much neater than the boys’. In many respects they were identical. They had the same leather chairs, couches and tables, along with sitting areas for reading or studying. The colors were different, however. This room had more pinks and reds, though not too girly or bright, whereas the boys’ room had more browns and tans. Also, the posters on the walls, bands, plays, performers and such, were different. Eloquent Gentlemen instead of Ravager and Morilyn the Maestro instead of Deathscream, for example. Though he was both surprised and pleased to see a poster for Rampage gracing their wall.
He heard girls talking in the hallway and turned back to the door. Sharrah and Liara walked in, giggling. Aeron joined them and thanked the pretty raven-haired girl.
Liara smiled at Aeron and said, “You’re welcome.” She looked at him a moment, glanced at Sharrah, and returned to the leather chair and her book.
Sharrah, smile still on her face as she watched Liara return to her reading, turned to Aeron. She eyed him a moment, an odd twinkle in her eyes, and said, “That was a great idea you had. The nap was amazing. I’m ready to tackle the fair now.”
“Me too!” Aeron replied, eager to get back to the festivities.
Sharrah followed him out of the room, shaking her head and smiling.
They headed back to the boys’ side of the dorms, and Willem met them just coming up the hallway from the bunk room. He smiled and said, “Alright! I’m rested and ready for the fair. Let’s go!”
The afternoon was clear, bright, and breezy, still a perfect autumn day. People were heading to and from the fairgrounds at South Gate.
“Is there anything in particular you want to see at the fair?” Aeron asked Willem as they passed through. “Sharrah and I pretty much monopolized the morning ourselves.”
Sharrah turned to Willem, an apologetic look on her face. “Yes, what would you like to do?”
“Well, there are some tanner merchants whose tents I wouldn’t mind visiting. They sometimes have leather dyed in colors we can’t do here. Oh, and I’d love to stop at the glassblowing tent. It’s great fun watching them form glass into such beautiful things. Some are so tiny and delicate, while others are rather large.”
“Leather and glassblowing it is,” Sharrah confirmed.
>
“But first,” Aeron said, “some drinks. My treat!”
After they got their drinks, they headed to the information booth, and when they found out where the tannery merchants were, they headed off to those tents.
When they walked in the first tent, Willem smiled. “Can you smell that?” he asked. “That’s the scent of well-tanned hides.”
“I do love the smell of leather,” Aeron said.
“Me too,” Sharrah agreed, smiling. “It reminds me of saddles and horses.”
A large man stepped forward, and after exchanging pleasantries with the trader, Willem began walking along the piles of leathers. They spent some time examining the various leathers of differing colors. Willem began to explain to them about tanning as he went along.
“You know, there are basically only two kinds of tanned leather,” he said. “For cases where you need very durable leather, say a saddle,” and he smiled at Sharrah, “or bags or satchels or anything where a strong or hard leather is needed, you would use vegetable, or bark tanned leather, like the ones here.”
Aeron and Sharrah felt the leather Willem was examining and nodded.
“The leather is not very soft and not very flexible,” Willem said, “though it is flexible enough to be worked with.”
He moved on to another pile of leathers and continued. “Bark tanned leathers can be made even harder for specific purposes, like armor, shields and such. Toward the end of the hardening process, it requires very close monitoring so as not to over-harden the leather, because leather becomes more brittle the harder it gets. But still, hardened or not, these leathers are based on bark tanning. Chemicals in bark react with the leather making it durable and somewhat waterproof. It is a fairly long process, though, compared to that used for making soft leathers.”
He moved to another pile of leathers. “These are soft leathers,” and he stroked the leather on top of the pile. Aeron and Sharrah did as well. “Along with other uses, soft leathers are used in making clothing. Because it breathes nicely, you don’t get clammy, and it is very soft and stretches for comfort. It is not waterproof at all, however.” He moved to a pile of leather dyed a very nice shade of green.
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