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It was the morning after the eventful Hatching of gold Banshidheth's clutch. The strange, foggy weather of the night had lifted, letting the sun shine down on Benden Weyr. Lucayr awoke and lay still on his cot, frowning at the unfamiliar room and the warm body pressed against his. Then he remembered. He had been assigned a shared room in the weyrling barracks, and beside him, draped half on the couch and half on the harper's cot, lay his dragon, black Tikth. Small, frail Tikth.

Marvelous Tikth.

Lucayr remembered what had passed on the sands of the hatching ground only hours ago. His first sight of the little black creature, crying and shivering when its shell fell away, had engendered a sense of pity from the harper. He'd felt sorry for it, and for whoever it would Impress to. Then, when the dragon's eyes met his with a rainbow swirl and its weak voice penetrated his mind with urgent cries for help, his heart nearly broke.

He could feel the little dragon's presence in his mind, reaching for him with feelings of joy, fear, love, and dreadful hunger all mingled together and so powerfully that for a few moments he had thought those feelings were his own. Even later, after the creeling baby had been stuffed silly with meat, Tikth's personality was hard to separate from his own. It was much easier now that the dragon was sleeping, his head resting on Lucayr's stomach. Too easy, he thought, wilting inside.

Without the dragon's constant dispensation of loving thoughts to buoy him up, the harper's reality began to sink in in a most inconvenient manner. He had already been taking many risks before the the hatch, but he was in a precarious place now that he had Impressed this particular dragon. He would stand out like a sore thumb with an atypical, and one with such a memorable marking on its face. He hadn't counted on such a distinction when he made the choice to Stand. There would be no more hiding in plain sight, as harpers were wont to do.

With that acknowledged, Lucayr also knew that he could never regret Impressing Tikth for any reason, and would have signed on as a Candidate sooner, had he known what it would be like. He was much loved by many people and for just as many reasons, but that love was pale in comparison. Even having known Tikth for only moments, the love poured out of the dragon's heart was the most palpable - authentic - real feeling he had ever known. It was impossible not to love the marvelous creature just as much in return.

With a smile much softer than he had ever thought himself capable of, Lucayr stroked his sleeping dragon's face.