Reizlyn groaned and shifted her weight in bed. She’d fallen asleep on her arm and it in turn had fallen asleep as well. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the tingling sensation as the blood and feeling returned to her arm and found that she couldn’t keep her eyes shut. She opened them, blinking rapidly to clear the sleep from them and looked up at the ceiling. Judging by the light filtering into the weyr it was not yet time to get up, but morning was definitely on its way. She lay there until her arm felt normal again then rolled out of bed, pulling on her clothing and moving to sit at her table. She pondered calling down for breakfast and decided that nothing sounded appetizing enough to put forth the effort of eating.

Ashiyeth stirred and was suddenly wide awake, her opalescent eyes blinking in the pre-dawn light. She rumbled and swung her head in to regard her rider. The eggs hatch... she said just as Reizlyn heard the sound of footsteps on her stairs. Kiria burst into her weyr with no sense of decorum. She was breathing hard, from excitement or the mad dash up the stairs Reizlyn couldn’t tell but her eyes held conflicting emotions. She looked both elated and worried beyond belief and Reizlyn was on her feet mere moments after seeing her.

“The eggs!” Kiria gasped, unable to say more.

“Ashiyeth just told me...” she trailed off as the weyr began to vibrate with the humming of the resident dragons and grinned. “And now the rest of the TSCZ knows as well.”

She grabbed her tunic, having been wearing only her shirt before that, and buckled it on as she rushed for the ledge, grabbing Kiria’s arm and dragging her along. Reizlyn practically flung Kiria onto Ashiyeth’s back, vaulted up behind her even as Ashiyeth leapt skyward, and they circled down to the weyrbowl. Unlike the TSCZ hatching grounds, the FGPC sands could not be accessed by air, but Ashiyeth would not miss the hatching so they had widened the tunnels to the sands so even the large crystal gold could, barely, fit through and join the rest of the weyr.

Ashiyeth squeezed her way through behind Reizlyn and Kiria then moved to the side to find a place to settle. Reizlyn and Kiria headed for the platform on which the other geneticists sat to view the proceedings. The FGPC had gained a great deal of support staff and the geneticists were free to observe while other staff members made the rounds of the eggs to be certain they were all rocking nicely. Parsa flashed Reizlyn a polite smile as she climbed the stairs and Jorpal grinned brightly as he handed her a notebook containing the clutch and candidate information. Litor just nodded, looking like he might throw up his nerves were so tight. As well they would be; he had tried the most daring genetic engineering projects of them all.

The candidates began to file in though the eleven candidates did not all come in together as they were interrupted by Frinaith and Xalia’s arrival. Once the gold had settled herself Xalia made her way to the geneticists stand and though Master Golorb arched an eyebrow at her presence no one commented on it and she grinned in excitement to everyone before taking a seat without saying a word.

Finally all the candidates were gathered and hopeful sponsors were filing in. The eggs began to rock at a fever pitch and Reizlyn realized as Xalia turned to look at her expectantly that she would be expected to give a short speech before the eggs hatched. She stood, clearing her throat and trying to smile warmly though her heart fluttered at this unexpected speech.

“Welcome, everyone, to the TSCZ’s first FGPC hatching. As you all know our geneticists have worked very hard to bring us new and interesting deviations from the norm and we all sincerely hope we do not disappoint. As you can see our initial egg count was a little off. We actually ended up with twenty-two eggs as the geneticists it seems were a little more eager than we thought,” she smiled at her friends and Kiria had the grace to blush, Litor just nodded, looking more sick by the moment, Parsa allowed a small smile to crack her lips and Jorpal grinned like a fool. At that moment an egg cracked, the noise echoing about the cavern with satisfying reverberations. Reizlyn grinned, “Best of luck to the candidates and if the sponsors will see me after the hatching we’ll see to the distribution of any hatchlings that chose not to bond.”

With that she regained her seat, opened her notebook, pulling up the small table attached to the side of her chair and resting the book on it, pen in hand ready to record what happened.

That first egg to crack was in the very center of the room and as the hatchling struggled free of the shell the room fell silent in anxious anticipation. Finally a bright red wing sail broke through the top of the shell, which crumbled away to reveal a beautiful bronze-sized ruby male. He bugled, his young high pitched voice echoing around the room and making those with sensitive hearing wince in response. Beside her Reizlyn heard Kiria’s sigh of relief as the hatchling showed every sign of being perfectly formed and quite robust. He turned a raptor-sharp gaze on the candidates and lunged across the sands, toppling a young man in his eagerness to bond him. The young man, Rashin, one of the most recent candidates searched, grinned as he tried uselessly to get up.

Pinned down by the dragonet who was now sitting on his chest he laughed and finally exclaimed, “I can’t feed you if you don’t let me up, Jorath!”

Jorath, realizing his blunder finally hopped to the side, provoking a groan from his chosen as he did so and together the first pair left the sands.

The next egg to hatch burst suddenly and forcefully to reveal...the strangest looking hatchling anyone present had ever seen. Her hide was mottled in purple and blue with a hint of green and it had a sheen like glass, but that was not what was so strange about her. She lay sprawled on the ground, back legs splayed behind her, wings unfurled and raised slightly. She raised her head, her three tiny horns glinting in the light. She had one horn on her muzzle, two just between her eye ridges and a fan of bone that seemed to protect the back of her head when she raised it. She lay there; calm and unconcerned by the state of shock almost everyone seemed to be in at her arrival.

Finally, Ashiyeth shook off her surprise enough to query the hatchling. The hatchling looked up and slowly blinked at the large crystal gold and tossed her head as if in reply. Ashiyeth looked and sounded concerned as she spoke to Reizlyn. She does not mind speak well, in fact she speaks more in images like a highly intelligent fire lizard. She will be hard to deal with as an adult as she is not very bright, she reminds me of a herdbeast in a way...

Reizlyn blinked and made several notes, perplexed by her dragon’s puzzled tone and even more puzzling information. Her name is Trilith and... Oh... At that moment a girl hopped out of the stands and dashed across the hot sand to Trilith’s side. The strange dragon looked up at her and blinked lazily then dragged herself to her feet and lumbered off the sands with her. Reizlyn noted that and turned to Litor who was looking a little less sick and quite smug. She whispered, as she didn’t want to draw too much attention to the geneticists as more eggs were hatching as they conferred. “What do you want to call her color and type?”

Litor looked surprised for only a moment and then flashed a smug grin that she found so repulsive she had to clench her teeth to keep from slapping him for his insolence. “A glassy purple-blue tri.”

“That’s the best you could come up with?” she said derisively and returned to her notes jotting down the name, as she had nothing better to call the dragon. She then sent a page to find out the girl’s name and information. It was not odd for a dragon to choose from the sands though it meant someone else might go home disappointed so Reizlyn thought nothing of it and jotted down the girl’s name, Caatera Louise next to Trilith’s.

Several more eggs had hatched now and an amethyst, a sapphire and two marbled hatchlings were wandering the sands. The youngest girl present, and one who caused Reizlyn a great deal of concern as the chances of her maturing by the time her dragon did were slim, moved unwavering to the amethyst but the amethyst merely blinked at her as if wondering why she was there. Tiiea’s young face fell and she turned away, only to have the amethyst butt her in the back of the legs as she turned to go. She whirled back around an expression of immense joy on her face as the dragonet had obviously decided she was the one she was looking for after all.

Reizlyn watched impatiently, awaiting the announcement of the amethyst’s name but it never came and eventually Ashiyeth queried her, causing the poor hatchling to jump in surprise. Anoryth. Reizlyn jotted it down and returned her attention to the other hatchlings who were still wandering the sands. Relieved she had not missed anything Reizlyn watched as one of the marbles, a Black marble of all things, blundered into the oddest candidate in the bunch. Zas was some sort of alien and quite disdainful of human companionship. If he’d not been stranded here, Reizlyn wondered if he’d have stayed. But stay he did and he was now bonded to a beautiful black marble hatchling named Porunth.

The other marble was more a rosy colored marble and she had searched the sands in vain. She turned big lucid eyes on Ashiyeth and the crystal gold offered a sheltering wing. It was obvious that the Rose marble was not going to bond here.

As the Rose was cuddling up to Ashiyeth however the Sapphire had finally made her choice. Vaanara was leading the hatchling from the sands and a page whispered in Reizlyn’s ear that he had heard the girl call the dragon Iansphyth.

Nearby Parsa’s brow began to knit in worry and Reizlyn gave her a sympathetic look. Healthy dragons had hatched from all three of the other circles and Parsa’s eggs were still rocking lightly. Reizlyn could spare no more concern for her friend though as another of Litor’s eggs burst. This dragon was much more normal the only variation the young man had tried here being the two horns on the top of the dragon’s head and his mottled red color. The hatchling opened his mouth in a big grin and ran forward, tripping on his wing sails and tumbling forward to land on his back at Mazh’s feet. The hatchling trilled sheepishly and Mazh bent to help him up. Together the two walked off the sands and Mazh stopped momentarily to call the dragon’s name across to Reizlyn. “Horned Mottled Red Ronyath.”

“Thank you!” called Reizlyn, pleased that he had not forced her to send a page after them.

As Mazh left the sands a huge CRACK reverberated around the sands, causing everyone to jump or wince at the forcefulness of the sound. Everyone turned to Parsa’s circle, from whence the noise had come to see a tiny hatchling struggling from the remains of a very thick eggshell. Parsa gasped and began writing notes furiously in her notebook, all the while muttering curses and berating herself. Reizlyn reached out a hand to steady her, “You couldn’t have known the eggs would be so thick. At least that one made it out and we can assist the others.”

The tiny hatchling finally managed to struggle free and lay gasping on the sands, her cloudy cream colored hide now visible. She did not even look at the candidates but soon struggled to her feet and stumbled out of the sands to where the food waited. Ashiyeth informed her rider that the hatchling’s name was Kyath and she was too weary to even consider bonding now. Reizlyn shook her head and instructed Ashiyeth to begin trying to help scratch open the remaining eggs in Parsa’s circle, as she knew Parsa had engineered them all to be smaller than normal.

As Ashiyeth, with the help of Frinaith, set to scratching open the other eggs several more eggs across the sands broke open. Reizlyn groaned as she saw eight hatchlings struggling to their feet. She would not be able to focus on individual impressions now. The first to move was a white granite hatchling from Jorpal’s circle. He quickly darted for Myyltal who led the hatchling, Wigranth Ashiyeth informed her, from the sands quickly to avoid the milling confusion of the other hatchlings. Four of the hatchlings showed no desire to bond and Ashiyeth quickly fed her rider their names and colors as Reizlyn did not have the chance to look up and see them for herself.

When she did Ashiyeth was forced to give her more names as the other three hatchlings had chosen while she was recording the four unbonded. Pink Tourmaline Tourpath had chosen Tokaki, Glassy blue-green Tri Trionth had chosen Uinetho, and Blue Granite Grouith had chosen Rolvaag. One egg remained to hatch and it burst to reveal another Tri, this one a Glassy Orange who moved unerringly to Kiah. The first looked so bewildered by her luck in impressing the hatchling that she could barely mouth the dragon’s name but word traveled to Reizlyn that the dragon’s name was Trialth. The last two Tris showed no indication of being as simple-minded as their sister and Reizlyn breathed a sigh of relief.

Ashiyeth and Frinaith had finally managed to scrape enough of a crack in each of the shells in Parsa’s circle that the hatchlings were now able to break free and five hatchlings now lay in the sand blinking in the light and looking quite exhausted, though not nearly as bad as that first hatchling had. Four of the hatchlings struggled to their feet in unison and headed of the sands, but the last hatchling lingered and watched the only remaining candidate as she lay in the sand with her sides heaving. Finally Avali moved forward to lay a comforting hand on the shimmery golden hide of the tiny hatchling. Impression was made and Ashiyeth bugled in triumph as the last hatchling impressed and she announced the Gold shimmer’s name to her rider with pride in her mind voice, Her name is Goyryth. Can you believe they all hatched?

“Yes, my dear, I can believe it,” she said aloud then turned to her colleagues with a big grin. “Congratulations are in order. That was a spectacular clutch! Go join the celebration; we’ll discuss the next batch in a few days. You guys deserve a couple days off after all this nerve-racking waiting we’ve been doing.”

Reizlyn watched her friends file away then took a deep breath as the prospective sponsors began crowding up the stairs to her. Her friends could escape but she still had to assign sponsors to the many unbonded hatchlings. The work was never done, was it?

Kiria's Circle

Tiiea's Amethyst Anoryth (f)
Vaanara's Sapphire Iansphyth (f)
Rashin's Ruby Jorath (m)
Tokaki's Pink Tourmaline Tourpath (f)
Darkling Dawn's Emerald Emrith (f)

Parsa's Circle

Avali's Small Gold Shimmer Goyryth (f)
Fire Ridge's Small Cloudy Cream Kyath (f)
Darkling Dawn's Small Cloudy Blue Cluith (m)
The Obelisk's Small Fire Roshyth (m)
Abri's Small Cloudy Purple Frouth (f)
Enzan Shi's Small Lime Shimmer Liminth (m)

Litor's Circle

Kiah's Glassy Orange Tri Trialth (f)
Mazh's Horned Mottled Red Ronyath (m)
Uinetho's Glassy Blue-Green Tri Trionth (m)
Caatera Louise's Glassy Purple-Blue Tri Trilith (f)
The Obelisk's Horned Mottled Purple Printh (f)

Jorpal's Circle

Myyltal's White Granite Wigranth (m)
Rølvaag's Blue Granite Grouith (m)
Zas's Black Marble Porunth (m)
Vella Crean's Rose Marble Ramiith (f)
Enzan Shi's Brown-Gray Marble Brogith (m)
Dragonwillow's Dark Gray Marble Horyanth (f)