a gift from a Queen [Warden]

[Zen]

The touching had been a spectacular event that many of the candidate, prisoner or not, would not soon forget. Because she’d found a firelizard egg, Ever didn’t think she’d ever forget this touching. But the egg had her all squeamish inside. She didn’t want the egg to hatch into a Green because the Green would be culled. Shards, she didn’t want the egg to hatch anyway—Semith said she could keep the egg but Semith’s say was not final, and perhaps the Warden didn’t see things as eye to eye with the dragon than Ever thought. Thus, Ever worried about the fate of the egg and, ultimately, the small life inside the egg.

The egg in question sat in a cup full of heated sand. Still warm, the sand would keep the egg at the right temperature while Ever went to the Warden’s Office. The cup, much more of a pot than a cup, was as bland as the sand placed in it. The egg was buried almost like it had been before… only with a lot less sand. Bailey, Ever’s Bronze firelizard, kept a careful watch over the egg. He’d already snarled away a few curious prisoners and a guard, not to mention a couple firelizards. Ever had never seen Bailey as protective as he was now. In a strange sort of way, it warmed her heart.

It had been three candlemarks since the touching and for two and a half of those candlemarks, Ever had worried. Now she was working up the want to go to V’tya. Ever’s green eyes squeezed shut and she massaged her temples with her hands. Finally, Ever decided to go, to get it over with (Warden would call for her soon if she didn’t do it first), and she stood up, told Bailey to sit on her shoulders, and picked up the pot the egg sat in.

Bailey did so without much questioning and the egg had so say in where it was going. Ever told the guard on duty that she had to see the Warden. He summoned another guard, one Ever noticed was at the hatching, and the guard took her to the Warden’s Office. He nodded her onward and Ever sort of gulped and strode forward.

With the egg in her hand, Ever knocked on the Warden’s door three times.

[nozomi]

By the first sharding Gold egg, Warden's head hurt. Three candlemarks since the Touching and he'd only been in his office for half a mark, half a damned candlemark, and his head hurt because being under the influence of something not damned klah was bad when around eggs. A half an hour with his wineskin did nothing to lessen the pounding in the Warden's head or how his fingertips shook, however slightly.

His chest hurt. Dragonet mauling indeed; Yusuth sent over a wave of vague remorse at His' train of thought. He'd been young and wild, looking for His.

Only time you in your life you were enthusiastic, Yusuth.

I will make a point to never get enthusiastic on your chest again, Mine.[/i]

You do that. As if the sharding dragon would ever care so much about anything again. Warden would never admit it outloud that a small bit of him felt pride at those scars; his apathetic Yusuth loved him enough in those first few minutes to take a flying leap at His. Yusuth ceased to care about anyone once he found V'tya, simply stuck to his side, ignored the world, and every so often apologized to His for landing him in the Healer's rooms for so long and unable to receive any sort of pain numbing solutions.

-- Still.

Warden flexed his hand tight around his wineskin, tilted his head back to drink deep even when Ever and the sharding guard knocked at his door. Too far into his own headache to yell at them and their damned noise with any sort of strength to his voice, Warden instead shuffled the skin into his desk.

"Come in." There. He said it, loud enough for the guard to hear. Warden rubbed his face, small dark eyes intent on the doorway when Ever finally came in. This visit, he had a chair, and Warden gestured to it before giving the girl a chance to even step fully into the room. Maybe not plush or overly comfortable but - a chair. "Sit."

Shoulders straight as ever and with his movements sure, gaze direct, Warden studied his prisoner. His pain had nothing to do with her and he refused to let anyone, especially a prisoner, see Warden less than what he was supposed to be. The older man arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, Ever?"

[Zen]

Ever’s stomach continued to twist even as she walked into the room. It was strangely reminiscent of her first day in the Weyr when she stepped into the room. Then she had been happy, immensely happy that she’d gotten away from her father’s wrath. In a strange way, she was happy this time, too, but she felt bad sort of because of the topic they were talking about. Or going to talk about.

The room was the same as the last time she’d stood in it except perhaps a little different—older looking than what she remembered in her mind. There was a chair now, but it didn’t look exactly appetizing to sit on. Nevertheless, she scooted in front of the chair and sat on it when the Warden gestured to it and told her to sit. She blinked at him for only a second before holding up the pot that held the firelizard egg.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Warden,” Ever said, bowing her head before setting the pot on the Warden’s desk. It sat there plainly and looked like just a bunch of sand. It was quite normal-looking.

“When I unearthed this firelizard egg and Semith said I could keep it, I figured that it’d be easier to ask you first.” She said, her voice shaky and with a hint of the sad, low voice she usually spoke in. “I understand that a Queen’s rule is law, but in this Weyr you are the top. I came to ask you if I could, indeed, keep this egg.”

[nozomi]

Warden's first thought was: shards, did all inmates suppose he was going to smash them in the head with his chair when they requested to see him? His second came to as: Yes. Yes they did. He was never overly nice to any of them, as far as they saw. Even when he attempted to be kind, most tended to lean towards the idea that words they didn't like were meant as reprimands and intense dislike for each and every one of them. Yelling at the girl with the Gold hadn't helped any - guards gossiped like the nosy neighbors and Warden heard whispers of it each time he made the rounds in the barracks or in the Mess Hall. Actions held consequences.

But he'd been gentle to Ever, when they met upon her entry to Warden (at least Warden thought so but he hardly registered how it sounded to someone under his absolute power). It chafed slightly to see her so - nervous.

"Semith's words are notlaw at this Weyr. She was not sent to override my say, nor was Leshta." ... Shards. Lack of drink made him sound crankier than usual. Ugh, by the first sharding Gold egg, no wonder she sounded so - he couldn't place the tone and, frankly, didn't want to. It took effort Warden simply did not care to exert, not for a person he rarely saw and had no emotional bond to. Prisoners had no weight on his feelings (nor did anyone but his flit and dragon but that was another story). "In truth, I was going to speak with you tomorrow anyway on the matter."

Warden looked to the cup, and that narrow eyed gaze softened somewhat, just a fraction.

"Despite popular opinion - and I do hear them, no matter how quietly kept - I do not relish prisoners pain, nor do I enjoy culling firelizard eggs. In fact, I am quite fond of the creatures. If not for my insistance, no prisoners of any sort would have been allowed to have one in the first place." L'vey was not the only bleeding heart at Warden's. "As long as the dragon does not hatch out green, you may keep it. You'll be provided the food to seal the bond. If green, I will cull the beast myself, before you become attached to it." He tapped his temple gently, to indicate just what sort of attached the Warden meant. "That is one rule I will not bend on."

Finally, he broke the stare from the cup of sand, and instead his gaze went to Ever. Warden searched her face, his own impassive. "Any questions?"

[Zen]

Ever twiddled her hands together while she sat and listened to him. The Warden made perfect sense, his reasoning was valid. She could see why there were to be no female firelizards among the prisoners if only because the females were able to clutch. It would give the prisoners something to trade, especially for Dust and whatnot. She understood, and she would not trade this egg for the world. So she nodded, “I understand that Semith’s word is not law.” She said, an agreement if nothing else.

The Warden was not one who relished in pain? Ever would have laughed if she hadn’t been so nervous about this egg. So she listened to him, and nodded when he said that, as long as this wasn’t a Green in this egg, she could keep it. She heaved a sigh of relief; the egg certainly looked too large to be a Green egg. Surely she was lucky to have found a Brown or Bronze firelizard egg amongst the sand. If it was Bronze, she would be very lucky—she already had Bailey. Shards, she was still lucky to have the egg.

She nodded to the Warden and retrieved her egg from the table. She was a lot less anxious now that she knew she could keep whatever was in the egg. She heaved a sigh of relief while she ran her finger over the sand that covered the egg. It was a soft substance that gave her hope. She grinned at him while she stood. “I have no more questions, Warden. Thank you for letting me talk to you a day early.” She said, and continued, “Shall I go now?”

[nozomi]

He shook his head; if Ever was to look at him in that second, she'd be able to see the slightest grimace of pain as it crossed the Warden's face. "Not enough klah," he muttered, just in effort to keep any second look from becoming anything suspicious. Warden touched his temple again, looked up to Ever with heavy lidded eyes.It happened, often, to become dependant on the stupid drink - Ever herself asked about their allowences with klah, whether or not they'd get it.

Ugh.

Flit egg taken care of, Warden waved his hand towards the door in the universal gesture of dismissal. "No. If you have no further questions, you may go. Send word when the lizard hatches, you don't need to come back here to just tell me it hatched out male. Send it with a guard if it is a green. You can guess what will happen if I find it is a green and you failed to inform me."

Another wave of his hand. Warden said nothing until Ever opened the door, nearly out of the room. He watched her walk to the door, and sighed.

"Ever? Thank you for speaking to me before I had to summon you." Then a third hand wave. Leave. Shoo. No gratitude from Warden ever came with a smile.