Salamander Lantern

I've been meaning to post this picture for a while now. This is my new salamander, a gift from Lady Xeredile, straight from the palace furnaces. Isn't it adorable? It sits on top of its lantern all day, draped through the carrying ring to soak up sunlight, then crawls inside and lights up at night. It's brighter than a torch and much better behaved. I don't know how I did without it for so many years. I seem to remember walking into things a lot.

The lamp's a bit large for the salamander now, but it'll grow into it soon enough. Salamanders never stop growing. Other than that, it's a perfect lantern for a salamander. It's got windows made of the special insulated glass found in the Earthmover, a nice wide chimney for air (lit salamanders need lots of oxygen), and space for lots of coal or wood shavings in case it gets hungry. Salamanders only eat every few weeks, but their food needs to be good and flammable when they do. Mine seems very fond of pencil shavings and smoked squid. Fortunately, I have lots of both.

I still haven't come up with a name for it yet; salamanders are pretty much all the same at this age. It's later that they start developing patterns and spines and personalities. I'll name it when it gets a bit bigger.

(Oh, yes - NaBloPoMo is officially over, as is November, but I'm still making up for the first week that I missed. Just five more posts to go...)