Dam: Hassaleah's Sentinel of the Sands Gold Mhiyath
Sire: Dune's Brown Jerubbesheth
Egg Name: Tarnished Diadem Egg
Egg Desc: One of the smaller eggs in the clutch, this one, inconsequential next to larger and brighter peers. A darkness has settled over the shell, black and charcoal muddling over the crown like a clouded night and descending in inevitable march down the sides. Brassy yellow rises from the base against the shadow, spikes ascending like the famed Seven Spindles, but they are marred--grayed lichen-green blotches and streaks over the light, dulling it and turning the points into twisted thorns.
Hatching Message: The Tarnished Diadem Egg shudders one final time from its precarious perch on a mound of sand. Down it rolls, catching at the bottom and cracking into an irreparable twain. The Storm-Tossed Loyalist Brown Hatchling emerges from the shards of the spindled crown.
Hatchling Name: Storm-Tossed Loyalist Brown
Hatchling Desc: Built sturdily but small, this dragonet's shoulders are too broad and legs too short for the rest of his body, angled unevenly as rocky soil. Raging tempest sweeps the steppes of his hide, darkness and shadow over the back and wings washing into muddy earth below. There is a mossy hint, there, to the brown that clings to his sides, a brush of sage enduring against the murk. His head is more block than wedge, squared-off jawline and broad muzzle all russet clay; as though rain-smeared it streaks in runny lines down his darker neck. Beneath, traversing the underside of his chin all the way down to the tail, runs yellow-tan like parched grass after the long-awaited rain.
Galidath's first months will be a period of adjusting to his own shortcomings, trying to make his gawky body do what his surprisingly adult mind wants it to. His protectiveness will mean disregarding his own safety and comfort--he'll be out in the bowl, in the snow and sleet and ice, just waiting for you to come back from meals, if not actually attempting to follow you into the living cavern. He will want desperately to run, fly, go ::between:: before he should, not for his own purposes, but so he can take you wherever you want to go.
Where many young dragons are curious about their surroundings and plague their riders with questions, Galidath seems to take things as they appear with surprising ease. As long as you're sure of something, he will accept it to be the gospel truth. Anything you question, though, is sure to be absolutely wrong, and he seems to pick up on your doubts even before you can put them to words. This will be helpful, at times... and sometimes less so, especially if he's chafing under the restrictions of Weyrling rules.
As he grows into his adult body and learns all those important lessons, Galidath will also gain a bit more grown-up good sense, learning to be confident in your abilities as well as his own. Sometimes, though, his believe in his own wisdom will win over again, and there will always be that voice at the back of your mind: << Asly, I'm only trying to do what's best for you! >> And usually, he is.
Galidath's is a heart of iron, steadfast and reliable above all. He cannot be said to be the brightest of dragons, or the most eloquent, but what he says is genuine and heartfelt. His devotion to you never wavers, even during those first early days where your absence pains him.
Gentle is his encouragement, if insistent. He doesn't push, per se, but nudge you in the direction he feels you should go--and nudge again if you didn't get it the first time. << Asly, it's dreadfully cold out. A trip to the beach would be very nice on a day like this. >> Later, then, << Ista is supposed to be lovely at this time of year. >> It's only on the very important things that he'll come right out and tell you off if he thinks you're going the wrong way--even if it means upsetting you, he'd rather upset you than see you miss an important opportunity. He may not have much of a memory, but he does happen to be perceptive.
Galidath's sense of 'fun' is sometimes not the same as a human's--he likes warm sun as much as any dragon, and the weather at High Reaches will sometimes plague him. He does, however, have a very strong idea of the importance of personal relationships. You have him and he has you, of course, but it's also important to him that you have friends... and, as he grows up, it'll become progressively more important for him to find an occasional companion, too.
With other dragons, especially the females, he is not nearly so attentive as he is to you, but he is unfailingly polite and respectful, even in the midst of disagreements (or mating flights). His nature is not to compete with others, but to develop the skills himself. Losing won't upset him too much, or so he'd prefer everyone to think; his sulking, such as it is, will always be a very private thing.