"Alfero!" Elsbeth called, "Get back here!"
But no matter how hard she yelled, no matter how sure she was that her brother could her, Alfero did not slow. The two of them were running over the soft grass fields around Remyndall Hall. Alfero was still carrying the bag with meat rolls he'd swiped from the kitchen right after Elsbeth had made them. No doubt he'd be sharing them with his friends when he got away from her. Elsbeth wasn't intending to have her work go to waste like that. if he wanted meatrolls he could make them himself or buy them since Alfero couldn't cook a mark's worth.
"Give up, You're never going to catch me!" Alfero called out, looking back and smiling.
His smile vanished from his face when the ground gave way below him though. Alfero shrieked and fell down. Elsbeth stopped and then ran with the last of her strength to the cliff.
"Alfero?!" she called, "Are you alright?"
Alfero shook his head and then called, "Yeah... The ground was rather soft..."
"Get off." another voice grumbled.
"Wha...?" Alfero asked.
"You're heavy." The young man, just a few turns older than Alfero, scrambled to get up, dropping Alfero to the ground for real this time.
"Can't you look where you're going?"
"Eh... ah..."
"Are you alright?" Elsbeth called.
"I'll live." the young man answered, "But you better hope you didn't disturb the eggs."
"Eggs?" Alfero asked.
Elsbeth had clambered down and was now standing beside her brother. The two of them, with the same brown hair, the same light eyes and the same complexion watched as the young man took a step to the side. He was taller than them and although he wasn't that broad in the shoulders, his frame had been wide enough to hide the little opening in the cliff wall.
"Firelizards!" Alfero shouted and his eyes sparkled in anticipation.
"Where you keeping this nest a secret?" Elsbeth asked.
"It's nobody's business that they're here." the young man shrugged, his eyes glaring a bit angrily as he blushed. Elsbeth looked closer and saw that what she had considered to be dirt, was actually a short-cropped beard. She laughed and had to quickly stop herself when his angry look turned to her.
"I'm sorry." she said, "My name is Elsbeth by the way. And that dimwit is my brother Alfero."
"Wemar." the young man said.
The more she looked at him, the more Elsbeth got convinced of the fact that he wasn't that much older than her and her brother. Maybe it was the way he acted, but he just didn't seem all that grown up.
"You've got something here..." Wemar said and reached for her hair.
Startled Elsbeth brought her hands to her head and felt her hairdo, the work of several hours, come apart.
"No." she whined, "It took so long..."
"Hey guys." Alfero said, "These eggs are moving..."
Two pairs of eyes turned to Alfero and the eggs that were indeed rocking. Firelizards came flying from everywhere and the meatrolls Elsbeth had slaved to make were brought to good use when one by one the little firelizards crawled out of their eggs. Soon Elsbeth found herself carrying a small blue male in her arms. Wemar had taken hold of a bronze and Alfero had his hands full with two young green females that both tried to make the most noise to get fed first.

"Wemar!" Elsbeth called when she spotted the pony-tailed student.
Wemar turned around as if he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to and then started walking away with those long-legged steps that made it hard for her to keep up. She managed to gain this time though and asked, "Why did you go away? Class was still going."
"I'm not in that class." he grumbled.
"Husbandry? I thought you loved animals."
"I do."
"Then why not enrol in it? It's not like they'd deny you access even if you're not."
"My father can't know ok."
"What does that have anything to do with?"
"He wants me to be a miner."
Elsbeth stopped talking for a moment and thought. Wemar, deep underground, covered in dirt. It might be hot so he'd be shirtless... wait stop there. Wemar on a field surrounded by animals was an image that she could imagine equally vivid.
"What does it matter what hold you're from? I'm from Turin and I'm studying to become a scribe."
"So what. that just means your parents are great."
"They have their moments." Elsbeth remarked dryly, "Still they saddled me with Alfero too."
Wemar couldn't help but grin at that statement, but he quickly recovered his stone-faced expression.
"My father does not want me to do anything but digging in the earth."
"And you, what would you like to do?"
"I don't know... someday, I'd think it would feel great to touch the sky."
Elsbeth smiled but did not speak. Some things were better left unsaid, this was one of them.
Their moment of solitude and silence was broken though by a loud cry. Elsbeth winced when she recognised Alfero's voice.
"Dragon! There's a dragon coming!"
"Maybe your dream will sooner come to pass then you'd think." Elsbeth whispered and turned around, following the sounds of the cries and turmoil of the crowd awaiting the landing of the dragon and her rider. Elsbeth looked up and saw the dragon's green hide. She knew this pair. Maira and Foliage Dresynith. They had come before and she knew that they would listen to a small request of hers...

Lantessama Isle