*Stadus* *Bond* *Hatching&Sr.Caulf* *Adult*
*Nara watched as her baby daughter slept. Vrana was so small, when she was born the doctor had thought she wouldn't live more than a few weeks. But little Vrana was a fighter and now approached her fifteenth month of life.
"She still asleep?" Nara heard her husband, Waton, ask in a low whisper. Nara nodded then stood, leaving the sleeping Vrana in her cradle.
"She should sleep for another two or three hours, more if we're lucky," Nara said with a smile. She silently closed the bedroom door. "I'm going to head down to the dock. Captain Senar wanted me to check out a reef on the south side of the bay."
"Do you want me to go instead?" Waton asked.
"Waton, love, you've been going instead of me ever since you found out I was pregnant. I need to get out some time!" She smiled up at him. "I'll be gone for less then two hours. I think you can handle Vrana until I get back."
Waton knew he couldn't keep her locked up inside forever, so she left and he stayed to watch the baby.
*Waton nervously glanced out the window. The rain was pouring now and the sky was getting darker. Waton resumed his pacing. Nara should have been back by now. He would have gone out and looked for her, but Vrana had awakened and he couldn't leave her alone. Thinking of his daughter he glanced over to where she played happily in her pen. He walked over and picked her up. Vrana gurgled with pleasure and smiled up at her father. She had her mother's eyes.
With that thought he walked back over to the window and peered out again.
*Two hours later Waton could stand waiting no longer. Vrana had settled down for a another nap, this was his chance.
Waton opened the door, the wind rushed in pushing against him. Pulling the door shut he began to run towards the dock. The wind threatened to push him off the side of the cliff and the rain felt like needles against his face. The wind howled in his ears as he ran, the mournful sound broken by crashes of thunder. He struggled down the path. He could see the light from the port house. Just a little ways further.
He stumbled up to the door banging as hard as he could on the wooden boards. The latch turned and before he knew it he was in side. The door closed behind him.
"I told you he'd come." Waton heard a woman say as he was guided to a chair. His peered up into Frama's long thin face, deep scowl and dark brown eyes. Her black hair was pulled back into a high pony tail.
"Nara? Where is she?" he gasped. Frama's scowl deepened. Suddenly the woman was pushed out of his line of sight and Captain Senar appeared in her place. The gray haired man gave Waton a sympathetic look.
"The storm came up with no warning. Nara was still under when it hit us..."
"Did you get her out?! Where is she?" Waton was about to get up and go looking for her but Senar stopped him.
"We were able to get her out...but it took a long time with the seas so rough."
"Where is she then!?"
Caption Senar lead him over to another room. Waton glanced around, the room was small and smelled slightly of fish, probably one of the old storage rooms. To his right a long cot had been set up, to his horror and great relief, Nara lay sleeping upon it. She looked so frail, he never seen her so thin before. Her skin was as pail as the white sheet that covered her. He had to look closely to even see her breathing.
"She has a high fever. If it does not start coming down soon...." Senar left the sentence hanging. Waton fell into the stool by her bed. He searched for her hand under the covers and finding it held it gently. Suddenly a realization came over him.
"Vrana! She's still sleeping in our room in the house."
"Don't worry Frama's already left. She'll watch the babe until the storm dies down then she'll bring her here."
Accepting this Waton turned back to his ailing wife.
A week went by and Nara's fever didn't relent. One day while Waton was feeding Vrana, Naras eyes flew open.
"Waton," she called in a hoarse voice. The man rushed to her side.
"I'm here, Nara. So is Vrana."
"Vrana? Let me hold her." Waton propped her up in the bed and placed the little girl in her thin arms. Nara looked lovingly down at her child. The woman barely had enough strength to raise her hand towards her husband.
"Promise me you'll never keep Vrana from the water because of what happened," Nara pleaded her voice now down to a weak whisper.
"Nara, I,"
"Promise me!" she said squeezing his hand as hard as she could.
"I promise," Waton said finally. Nara smiled, but didn't have the strength to say anything. She used the last of her strength to squeeze her husband's hand and to glance down at her daughter.
Nara gave a last sigh, pall lids closing over deeply sunken eyes. Then the heart that had beaten so strongly with love for her husband and daughter, slowed and finally stopped.
*Waton paused at the head of the trail leading to the docks. He pushed back a lock of dark blond hair and looked out over the ocean. It was a fine clear day. A salty breeze filled the air. The sun was just coming up over the horizon, causing the jade waters to shine brilliantly. He glanced up at the flocks of sea birds flying over head. Their wings were stretched to the fullest to catch the morning breeze.
Down on the beach his daughter, Vrana, was pacing nervously. Waton smiled as he began down the path. Even though she was only twelve, Vrana looked very much like her mother: hair, eyes, she even had her mothers spirit.
Vrana spotted him, and ran up the path.
"You're late," she accused pointing a graceful finger at him. Waton glanced down at his watch.
"By three minutes!" He said with a laugh. Waton had promised to teach his daughter how to dive with an air tank. The girl was more at home in the water than land anyway, another characteristic she shared with her mother.
"All right, set up the equipment," Waton said motioning to the pile of things on the beach. Vrana scurried over to the pile, which was really more organized than it seemed, and collected her things.
He showed her how to check her valves and gauges, how to wear the tank and adjust the straps so it wouldn't bump around while she swam. Vrana already knew most of the breathing technigues and could hold her breath far longer than all the other children.
"Always double check your gauges," he warned. "It only takes one mistake."
She nodded and checked all of her many gauges. After she had done that they both walked the short distance over to the dock. Vrana plopped down on the weathered old planks and slipped on her long fins. Waton did the same, but stopped Vrana before she could jump in.
"This is for you," he said handing her a small earing. She glanced down at the shiny piece of metal in her hand. It was a small silver sea dragon, smaller than she'd ever seen before. It's head was turned almost touching its tail, one tiny sapphire eye peered out from the side of its head.
"That was your mother's, she would want you to have it," Waton said with a smile." It'll bring you luck."
"Thank you, daddy!" Vrana threw her arms around his waist, which was the only thing she could reach, and hugged him tightly.
"All right lets get diving."
*Vrana leaned back on the dock's high rail. Her elbows resting behind her in a rather awkward position.
"I'm here! I'm here!" a boy yelled running up the dock. His progress was hindered by a large air tank and long tubes dangling about his feet. He was slightly taller than Vrana, though he was only thirteen. Short sun bleached, blond hair stuck out in all directions. He had already changed into a black wet suit and a pair of long fins were hanging from one arm.
Vrana didn't move until the boy had clattered up to stand in front of her. Then she straightened up, glancing down at her watch.
"Oh, only twenty minutes late."
"I know, I know!"
"Erak, how many times have I told you to be here on time," Vrana scolded.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again, I promise." Erak said making a cross sign over his heart, which was fairly awkward with his arms full of stuff.
Vrana sighed. "All right, let's get to work then."
Vrana bent down and scooped up her air tank, slinging it to her back in one fluid movement. She watch Erak out of the corner of her eye to make sure he was setting his equipment right. The teen was bold and forgetful, a bad combination when diving.
"You need to check your gauges," Vrana told him as she double checked hers.
"I checked them before I came," he said about to jump in.
Vrana caught his arm. "Check them again." She taped the air gauge hanging from his shoulder.
"All right," he said with a heavy sigh.
*Vrana tread water as she told Erak how to scrape tough shelled barnacles from the hull. Normally she would use a snorkel for scraping. But the ship was huge and it would be quicker if she could just stay under instead of surfacing every few minuets. After her demonstration Vrana handed Erak a long tool to scrape with.
They both dived and Vrana was relieved to finally be under the water. It was so quiet, so calm. No shrieking of sea birds or yelling of fishing men. Only muffled sounds of voices or the echo of waves on the dock.
Returning her attention to her student, Vrana watched Erak begin his work. At first he was awkward, dropping his tool and having to fetch it, but he slowly improved.
After they had almost finished one side of the gigantic ship, Vrana glanced over at Erak and saw he was tiring. She motioned for them to surface.
"You've done enough. Head on in," Vrana ordered. The tired teen didn't complain, swimming to the shore. Vrana dove again returning to her work.
*Almost an hour went by and Vrana was almost done. She paused for a moment hearing the echos of a splash. She glanced over her shoulder and saw, to her surprise, a man swimming through the water twenty yards or so from her. Now almost all the men in the small fishing town swam, but Vrana didn't recognize this one. No new ships had come in, she would have noticed that! So who was this new swimmer and how did he get here?
The man suddenly jetted to the surface and began to tread water. Vrana was about to go up and see what was going on when she felt rather than saw something very large in the water behind her. She turned slowly and found herself looking into an enormous eye. Only her years of practice kept her breathing steady as she held her position in front of the enormous creature. Her scraping tool suddenly slipped from her grasp and began to sink to the bottom. In the blink of an eye the creature dove for the shiny tool, it's green colored body gliding gracefully through the water. Vrana's eye widened. It must be at least fifty feet long!
I am a 'he' not an it, if you don't mind. A voice in Vrana's mind said. The green rose right in front of her, the lost tool dangling from 'his' mouth.
Here, the voice said again. I caught your scrapper thingy.
The head leaned forward and Vrana reached out and retrieved the tool. Then the sea dragon, for that was the only thing that he could be, swiveled his head as a man swam up to him.
The man waved cheerfully at her with a smile. His jet black hair floated haphazardly around his head and his deep blue eyes sparkled slyly. He made a motion for them to surface and Vrana obeyed.
"So you're who was interesting Domarss," he said upon reaching the surface. "I'm Menkar, and of course you've met my sea dragon, Domarss." Menkar slapped the green sea dragons rubbery hid, then returned his gaze to Vrana. "What's your name?"
"I'm Vrana," she answered after taking her mouth piece out. They both swam back over to the dock. Vrana smelled a strong odor of fish and saw that the fishermen had set up a long table and were gutting their latest catch. She glanced up at the clear blue sky, more time had passed than she thought. The sun was almost directly above her. Menkar climbed out first, then turned to help Vrana. She was glad for the help, her muscles were sore from repeated scraping.
She shed her air tank and long fins, stretching her arms above her head. Her shoulders felt much looser without the straps. Then she noticed the look the rider was giving her.
"What?" she asked frowning up at him.
"You're...ah...rather short," he stuttered, stepping back so he wouldn't have to look down at her.
Vrana tried to hold it in but she couldn't help but laugh at the look on the man's face. "I may be short, sir, but I've out dived every man in this town and could probably out dive you!" She pointed a thin finger at him.
"I'd listen to her, if I were you. My daughter doee not make idle threats!" Waton said as he walked down the dock to meet Vrana and the new arrival.
Vrana glanced over at her approaching father. He stood tall and confident, his broad shoulders held high. His once dark blond hair was mostly gray, deep grooves had formed over time around his eyes and mouth. But he hadn't lost any of his cheer or any love for his daughter.
Domarss made a low rumbling noise from the water.
"All right, all right. I'll ask," Menkar said addressing his dragon. He turned back to Vrana. "I'm a search rider and while I'm based at Algol Cove, I search for other coves as well. Right now there's a clutch on the beaches at Lathis Cove that Domarss thinks you would be perfect for."
Vrana just stood there, her jaw on the floor staring wide eyed at him. Her!? She'd never even seen a sea dragon up close until a few minutes ago! Suddenly she was very aware of the crowd that had gathered to see the dragon and his rider. Vrana glanced over at her father for an answer.
"This is your decision, Vra," he told her, but she could see he had a proud smile on his face. She glanced back towards the rider. Everything was happening so quickly! But to have the chance to bond one of the beautiful sea dragons.... She glanced down to the green in the water. His long sleek body shown brightly in the noonday sun. Glistening eyes peered up at her.
"I'll go," she finally answered turning back to the rider.
Menkar smiled at her decision. "The eggs will be hatching soon. So why don't you go pack and I'll take you there right now?"
Vrana nodded, then turned to her father. She didn't know what to say.
"Well, go on! Get your stuff!" Waton said with a laugh. Then he gave her a loving push toward the shore. "Wouldn't want you to get there and all you find is egg shells!"