“What about your talk with Master Canneth?” Aeron asked, more concerned with their plan for Anaya than dating news.
“Anyway,” Sharrah continued, shaking her head at his impatience, “after breakfast this morning, Master Canneth called me in to his office so I could give him the summary report. He leafed through it and told me he would read it in more detail later, but he was glad to see I had completed it in a timely manner.”
Sharrah shifted on the bench and smiled at Aeron. “I told him that I had a great time working on the report, but that my friends were getting tired of hearing me go on and on about it.”
Aeron smiled and Willem chuckled.
“I said ‘They’d much rather talk about boy stuff. One of my friends has this thing about dragons. That’s all he talks about.’”
Aeron raised his eyebrows.
“Master Canneth apparently also had an interest in dragons when he was younger. He talked about how he used to dream about dragons all the time as well.” Sharrah smiled. “That was all the opening I needed. I mentioned that I had come across some information about dragons as I was working on the summary report, but that it was all mostly estimates because no one had ever been able to get very close to dragons for a true study.”
“That’s somewhat the same tack I took as well,” Aeron said.
Sharrah nodded. “Exactly. I mentioned how it would be interesting to learn more about dragons, if it were only possible to get close to some.” Sharrah leaned closer and said, “And he agreed!”
“Excellent!” Aeron whispered, fiercely. “All we need to do is to continue to drop hints every now and then.”
“It seems to be working out perfectly,” Willem said.
Aeron smiled and, having finished the rest of his meal, dug into his cake.
“You know,” Sharrah began, “I was thinking. Maybe we should start keeping track of Anaya’s growth.” She lowered her voice and whispered, “She was hatched a week ago, yes?”
Aeron nodded. “Yeah, to the day. But that means she’s had six whole days of growth on her that we missed.”
“That’s fine, the record will be mostly complete. Certainly more than we have now! And who knows? Maybe we’ll eventually find more ‘friends’ to study that we can fill in those missing days with.” She crooked her mouth in a half frown. “I should have thought of this earlier, but now is as good a time as any, I suppose.”
“Sure,” Aeron agreed. “Want to start in, say, half an hour?”
Sharrah nodded. “That’ll be perfect. I should be able to gather everything I will need by then.”
Aeron looked at Willem and asked, “You’re coming too, right?”
“Absolutely. I don’t ever want to miss any time with Anaya if I can help it.” He had a large smile on his face.
It didn’t take very long for them to get to the cavern with the rope ramp. And Anaya was more than happy to meet them there. She loved the water.
Water is so much fun! she said, as she splashed through it.
Aeron laughed and said, “She’s almost here.”
“Yes,” said Willem, smiling. “It’s hard to miss her splashing. She does make a racket, doesn’t she?”
“She absolutely loves the water,” Aeron said, chuckling.
“It certainly sounds like it,” Sharrah agreed.
Aeron unshielded the last of the extra lanterns they had brought. They had placed them on the ground in a rough circle in an area covered with course sand. It seemed like a perfect place to do an examination of Anaya. Sharrah was removing the last of the things she had brought when Anaya came romping in from the passage.
I am here! she said to Aeron and ran up to him, again nearly knocking him to the ground. She was happily humming her odd purr.
Hello, dear heart, he replied, laughing and hugging her.
“Are you ready to have Sharrah look you over?” Aeron asked Anaya aloud for the benefit of his friends. “If you are, we set up this spot over here.” Aeron walked over to their makeshift examination area.
Anaya followed Aeron, full of curiosity. When she got to the edge of the circle of lanterns she raised her wings and carefully stepped between two of them and then walked to the center and sat on her haunches next to Sharrah. She looked up at Sharrah expectantly.
“She certainly is a beauty,” Sharrah said before grabbing a coiled up measure tape. “Aeron, would you grab the end of this?” she asked.
Aeron quickly walked over and took the end of the tape.
“And Willem, if you could get the other end?” she asked.
Willem ran over, happy to be able to assist.
“Now,” Sharrah began, grabbing her pencil and notebook, “Anaya, if you would be so kind as to stand and stretch out your tail and your head so we can see how long you are from nose to tail-tip?”
Anaya happily did so, apparently just as curious to find out herself. Aeron took his end of the measure tape and held it against her nose. Willem took the other end, stretching it over the top of Anaya, and held it against her tail. He called out the length and Sharrah wrote it down in her notebook.
Willem, apparently unable to resist anymore, walked closer to Anaya and reached out to tentatively and gently stroke her back. His eyes lit up. “She feels so soft,” he almost whispered in awe. He leaned in for a closer look. “She has very, very short and sparse fur. And her skin? Hide? Whatever you want to call it, it’s ripply! But the ripples are so small that you really can’t see them unless you look close. They’re almost like . . . fingerprints?”
Anaya turned her head and looked at her hide, examining it closely.
Sharrah also stroked Anaya’s hide. “Lovely,” she murmured. And then, looking closer, she said, “She does have very short fur. And she’s so very soft, like a horse’s mouth, but firm. She has good muscle tone. And I notice that she has an egg tooth.” She gently rubbed the small odd ridge Aeron had seen on Anaya’s upper lip and then began writing down several more notes.
“Egg tooth?” Aeron asked.
“What’s an egg tooth?” Willem echoed.
“An egg tooth,” Sharrah began, “is present on most egg-layer young. It is used to assist in breaking out of their egg when they are hatching. The tooth usually is lost within a short time after hatching. In reptiles a month or so, in birds a few weeks.”
“Well, Anaya’s might be defective,” Aeron said.
I am defective? Anaya asked in shock.
“No, sweetie,” Aeron quickly said, “you’re not defective.” He gave her a reassuring hug.
“What do you mean?” asked Sharrah.
“Well,” Aeron replied, “she had a very hard time breaking out of her egg. That tapping sound I mentioned I heard in my weird dream, the one that woke me up, was her trying to break out of her egg. I ended up having to help her. Although, now that I think about it, the shell of her egg was very thick and tough, almost three inches thick. The other eggs weren’t like that.”
“Other eggs?” Willem asked. “There are more dragons down here?”
“No,” Aeron said. “There are no more dragons. The others,” he looked at Anaya, placed his hand on her neck, and looked back at Willem, “didn’t make it.”
“I’d like to see those eggs at some point,” Sharrah said. “But for now, Anaya, if you would be so kind as to stretch your wings straight out to the sides?”
Anaya dutifully did so, looking over at Aeron and Willem as they took many different measurements of her wings.
Throughout it all Aeron had been quite happy to find out more about his beloved dragon. He hadn’t really spent the time to examine her. If he was going to take proper care of her, he was going to need to know everything he could about her.
Anaya sat back on her haunches, resting, after they were done with her wings.
“You know,” Aeron said as he stood next to her, “you’re definitely bigger than when you hatched, Anaya.”
I am?
“Yep. You’ve definitely grown,” he said loo
king up at her. “I’d say you’re nearly half a foot taller than you were. I hadn’t really noticed it before. I guess seeing you every day, the daily changes weren’t very noticeable.”
They moved on to taking various measurements of Anaya’s body: the thickness of her neck by her chest and by her head, the length of her neck, of her head, of her torso and tail, her height at her dock and shoulders, the lengths and thickness of her legs, the size of her paws and claws, and on and on. The measuring went on for some time.
All this standing around and measuring has made me hungry, Anaya eventually told Aeron.
“Oh,” Aeron said, “Anaya is hungry.”
“Perfect timing.” Sharrah jotted some last notes in her notebook and then closed it. “That’s about all we can do here. I’d love to be able to weigh her, but we have nothing to use for that.”
“What do you feed her?” Willem asked.
“We’ve been hunting cave rats mostly,” Aeron replied. “They’re getting scarce, though. She eats two or three, twice a day. And then she falls asleep,” he said, humorously.
I get tired after I eat, Anaya said, a little defensively.
I know, love. I’m just teasing you. He patted her neck.
“That’s normal for young,” Sharrah said. “Eating, sleeping and growing. I imagine she will grow a great deal fairly quickly and then her growth will taper off. I would bet that her appetite will diminish then as well. Her body won’t need quite as much food once her major growth is complete.”
“If she’s going to be growing a lot quickly, that’s all the more reason to get our plan in motion,” Aeron said, looking at Anaya.
“Can we go hunting with you?” Willem asked.
“Sure,” Aeron said. “It may take us some time, though, to find enough for her. Like I said, the cave rats have been getting scarce. I’m not sure whether it’s because we’ve found all the ones in this part of the caverns, or because they’re getting wary of us.”
Eventually they were able to find enough food for Anaya in the cavern and passages toward the Magic Craft Hall, though it did take nearly half an hour
“I told you they were getting scarce,” Aeron said.
“Maybe we could persuade Mallory to give us some scraps for her?” Sharrah asked.
“Now that is a great idea,” Willem said.
“Yes it is,” Aeron agreed. “Of course, we won’t mention that Anaya is a dragon.”
Willem and Sharrah laughed.
“Of course not,” Willem said, smiling at Anaya.
Dellia wiped sweat from her brow. Everyone helped when setting up for a trade fair. Even the wife of the caravan owner, she thought to herself and lifted the corner of her mouth in a half-smile.
Lord Baronel had already prepared the fair grounds in anticipation of their arrival. Earlier when they had pulled into the grounds, located about one hundred yards south of the Caer, they had seen that the booths for the Caer crafters as well as all the large tents for the caravan were set up and waiting. The tents occupied the area just off the road, and the booths were farther east, just beyond a central clearing for dining, performances and dancing.
The caravan’s late afternoon arrival left just enough time to get all the merchant’s wagons positioned so they could set up their tables and wares in the tents before nightfall. The tents were placed such that each merchant had room for three wagons next to their tent. A large fire pit was also provided beside each tent, in front of where the wagons would be parked. Seating was also provided, in the form of sturdy wooden benches around the fire pits, and temporary street lamps were positioned to provide lighting along the walking paths among the tents and booths at night.
Dellia saw Altheron (she couldn’t bring herself to call him Sorcerer Altheron; he was still her precious baby, no matter that he was nineteen years old and quite good at magic) walking back to their wagons. He was returning from helping Lillith and her family set up tables, no doubt. She waved a welcome to him. He could help her and Methon with setting up the last of their tables as well as the rest of the work getting the tent ready.
Methon emerged from the back of their storage wagon struggling down the stairs with a table. Altheron quickly moved to assist. She smiled and watched them for a moment, made one more swipe with the cleaning cloth on the table she was preparing, and headed back into the storage wagon for the table coverings.
Once all the tables were cleaned, moved into their tent, and their covers placed, they began retrieving the chairs and various display cases as well as the items Dellia used to create what she called ‘the right atmosphere.’ Decorations, throws, architectural items like columns and pedestals, and more, were brought out. Dellia directed her husband and son in what she considered the proper placement of each and every item. In the morning they would remove their wares from the secure wagon and move them to the various tables and display cases or, in the case of large items, place them conveniently out of the way on the floor.
It took a few hours and a lot of sweat, but when they were done, they were all quite happy with the results. The gentle soreness of muscles from hard, well-done work made Dellia even more proud of what they had accomplished this evening with their tent.
There were twenty tents in all, in rows of five tents each. The two middle rows of tents faced away from each other, a narrow alley running between them, and the outer rows of tents faced the two inner rows. Because Methon was the caravan owner, their tent was the first of one of the tents in the central rows, just off the main southern cobbled road from the Caer. Four footpaths lead from the road. One path was behind the north row of tents, between it and the Caer, one lead between that row of tents and the second, one between the third row of tents and the fourth, and one behind, south of, the fourth row.
Methon started stacking kindling, small branches and wood to get their fire going in the fire pit, and Altheron brought more wood from one of several wood piles, each stacked along the walking paths for the trader’s use. All around them, fires sprang up in the fire pits as other merchants began preparations for their evening meals.
Dinner was very pleasant for Dellia. She had her two most precious things with her: her husband and her son. They ate, laughed and talked, passing the hours in warm company, despite the fall chill in the air. Afterward, Dellia prepared a pot of hot tea, which they all enjoyed. She had made a nice soothing tea to loosen their tired muscles and make it easier for them to get some sleep, for the trade fair would begin bright and early the next day.
She drifted off to sleep later that night, smiling.
Chapter 13
Leday, Duody 29, 1873
Morning
Aeron had set his alarm early. He wanted to be up, showered (he was really getting to like those showers!) and ready to get breakfast in plenty of time to head over to the fair early. He was right on schedule so far.
He selected his breakfast and made his way to the lower tables. Not seeing his friends there yet, he found a place with room for them, sat down and began eating.
Bacon. Delicious, smoky, food of the gods, bacon. He ate one strip right from the start, then dug into his eggs. As he swallowed his first forkful of those, he slathered butter on the biscuit and took a bite from that. He smiled, took a drink of his juice and ate another bite of food.
“Whoa, there, champ,” Willem said as he sat next to Aeron. “Where’s the fire? If you don’t slow down you’ll choke!”
Aeron swallowed, chuckled, and said, “First off, it’s sooo delicious. Breakfast, as you well know, is my favorite meal of the day. And second,” Aeron grabbed another strip of bacon and proceeded to destroy it, “I want to get to the fair early, so I have time to look at everything.” He licked his fingers after—the bacon having been eaten in record time.
Willem laughed. “Yes, yes. But even so, take care. If you choke to death, you’ll definitely miss the first day of the fair.”
“I see I’m not the only one who wants to get an early start!” Sharrah said excitedly
as she sat with them.
Aeron and Willem laughed.
After several minutes of silence as they ate, Aeron said, “You know, I’ve been wondering. How are we going to explain to Mallory about how much scraps we’re going to need for Anaya if we run out of cave rats? Three rats twice a day is a lot of meat.”
“That’s two heaping bowls of scraps a day,” Sharrah said. “At least bowls the size that she gave us for Smoke.”
“And Anaya’s still very young, she’ll need bones too,” Aeron pointed out.
“Yes, that’s right,” Sharrah said. “Anaya’s growing so much she definitely needs the calcium for her own bones.”
“Do you think Mallory would believe that two of us have pets?” Willem asked. “And if she did, do you think she’d let two more people have scraps, aside from Martin?”
“Hmm,” Aeron said. “Those are good questions.”
“I think we could convince her,” Sharrah said, eating the last of her biscuit.
“I hope so,” Aeron said. “But I suppose we don’t have to worry about it quite yet. At least not until we start running out of cave rats.”
“Have you ever tried to climb out of that sinkhole you mentioned?” Willem asked.
“No. Why?”
“I was just wondering. Say Mallory doesn’t work out, do you think you and Anaya could climb out of the sinkhole and hunt for her outside?”
“That’s genius!” Aeron said, a large smile on his face. His expression turned thoughtful. “But I’m not sure there is a way out. I know there is a ramp in the sinkhole that leads up, but I never paid much attention to see whether it would be possible to actually climb out. I suppose if it could be done, that would be an option too.”
“Definitely,” Sharrah said. “There are all kinds of animals in this area you could hunt. Deer, squirrels, moles, foxes, boars, rabbits and more. All kinds of things. And if you think you can, birds too.”
Aeron nodded, thinking over the possibilities. “Yeah, I suppose that might work.”
“Certainly something to think about,” Willem said taking another bite of his eggs.
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