Bond Story of Riaghan He found his attention was drawn to one of the mounds of eggs. Riaghan, over the initial shock of having to bond, was finally starting to enjoy the idea. Especially considering the eggs had finally decided to hatch. Soon, everyone looked – and the dragons above started their song in full force. As if they’d never been stopped, the huge noise deafened many and startled a number of the bonders. Then, when they were at their peak, several eggs from all over the sands erupted open. The dragons shook shells off of their wet hide, and then paced toward the awed bonders. Everyone held their breath. There were five, radically different looking dragons. A red-skinned and white-wing-sailed one, a stone-and-striped one, a deep blue with vivid wings, and two dark greens of wildly different looks. Next to choose was brown, for the record, but he was really dappled with rust shade and his solid-backed wings were grey on the outside and deeper rust on the inside. But what made this dragon extra odd was that at regular spaces down his whole spine, where each of the small triangular ridges were, a darker rusty colored streak-stripe dripped down. The dragon looked as though he had rusted nails along his back...and he strode carefully up to a strange creature. Riaghan had the oddest feeling that the two couldn't have suited each other better. The darkly colored blue, with small horn-buds on his head which matched those ivory tines coming off his wing-wrists, stood onto his back legs and began fumbling about looking for his bond. With a reddish gleam in his whirling eyes, the blue suddenly bellowed, startling several candidates and making one or two back away. They left room for him to walk along and find his choice. The handsome Caiseal, whom Riaghan had become friends with, who glanced with a grin at his twin sister who still remained near the back of the sands, near Riaghan. She smiled at him, then Riaghan, and Riaghan moved closer to her. It was nice to have a friend to stand with with so many strangers around. When the lighter of the two dark greens approached the bonders, many of them backed away at her snapping jaws. She already had a full mouth of teeth, and her grey-green wingsails snapped open when she wanted through. Caissene tsked at the antics and turned her attention to the other green. Riaghan followed her lead when he made sure she bonded and wasn't coming their way. The darker green, with the high Ryslen neck ridge and strong curved wings, shook sand off her feet before carefully examining the throng of bonders. All the bonders in the world seemed to be here. She shook her head, and then sat down beside a young man and bonded. While the pairs took their time choosing whether to remain or seek food, another four eggs broke open. The mother's cheered on their children, and Riaghan leaned forward to speak with Caissene on which she thought pretty. "All of them." She said with a grin. Riaghan smiled and shook his head. Women. The brown-red dragon had a spectacular speckling of white dots along his whole body, with tiny ones on his limbs. White candy-striped wingsails completed the image, and the slender-legged long-tailed dragon went directly to the theater group, where he found his bond. Another deeply colored dark-green hatched, a prize hatchling for any clutch. Sharp spines ran down her neck, while her black hindquarters nearly disappeared into shadow. The elegant looking dragon slipped through the crowd, and found Shaeya hovering toward the back. Caissene smiled and touched Riaghan's arm. Riaghan didn't personally know the girl, as she avoided males, but Caissene had become quite close with her obviously. He was glad she bonded to such a beauty in any case. They went well together. A yellowy-green hatchling bonded a surprised looking brown, and a dark teal-speckled black dragon was greeted by her mother’s cheerful cry. The hatchling fluttered her stiff narrow wings, and Riaghan saw she had her mother’s outline, but that was about it. Her keel chest bone was strong, she would be able to move those wings quickly, perhaps like a hummingbird! But for the moment, she searched for her bond, and found her amoung the masses. There was a bit of a pause, while everyone congratulated the new bonds, shared stories of their own bonding, or bet on who would bond to what. While those who were waiting to bond stood around, they were treated to chilled water and a towel to dry up if they were hot from the sands. Most of them were. Riaghan certainly was, and Caissene's face was flushed. He quickly drank his water and wished the eggs would hurry it up. As if readhing his thoughts, another big batch of eggs started wobbling, and their mothers urged their children on. Almost all of them were in the larger right-hand side of the sands, though the first to truly break his shell was a tan and buckskin shaded brown closer to the middle. He had droopy ears, and his two-toned wings seemed hard to raise up very far. A black and brown-tan mottled dragon came next. This brown had a long, flattened face, and sharp small spines spaced widely down his neck and back. His wing sails were semi-transparent, and shimmered many colors of brown and dark, when he held them up. He carried himself to a nervous looking boy, and Riaghan quickly found his attention drawn to other things. . Near where the brown had hatched, a green with several shades of color on her body and wings, camoflage yet bold, opened up her wings. She was clearly Ryslen descended, with the forward swept neck crest and the curved wings. The underside of her wings was a brighter yellow-green color, while the outside was a deep forest color. She made her way quickly toward the bonders, and Riaghan was quite certain she knew exactly where she was going, though he himself couldn't see. A stunning violet-purple two-toned dragon came bolting out of her egg, grabbing Riaghan's attention. She had deeply colored wing sails, and a paler pinker body, with horns and a broad dragon grin spread across her face. Her forelegs barely touched the ground, when she trundled toward the group of four sisters-of-different-blood. The dragon looked each one of them up and down, and decided that the red-haired was the right bond for her. A light colored green hatched, about as opposite as she could be from her darker sister who hatched earlier. No neck ridge, little head knobs, and brilliantly mint-colored wings. She sat and waited for her bond to come to her, and Riaghan found his attention wandering. He wouldn't last much longer. A medium colored blue dragon walked away from his nest area, his drying wings almost pitch black underneath, like his neck ridge. The rest of him was a paler shade, with the wing sails above being a brilliant color. He strode to his bond, and Riaghan let out a sigh of frustration. He couldn't help but wonder who's bright idea it had been to have so many dragonesses lay at once. Four more eggs broke open while Riaghan was lost in thought. One from the far back of the chamber, another from a different clutch, yet a third from one nest, and one from the far left hand side. A pale and bright-winged red dragon sprang from her area, snarling and growling, snapping at the others who might be in her way. Bonders backed up from her, staying away from her long, quick wings. Caissene and Riaghan included. Several of the other dragons hatched got out of her way as the red and her shapeshifting companion moved out. From that bunch, a sunset-winged brown with long horns on his head walked with purpose toward a slightly distressed looking young man, where he sat and waited until he nodded. The two were quickly gone. In dark contrast to the other dragon hatchlings of this batch, a black one unfurled his very slightly brown wings and sighed. He walked slowly up to Nuadha and pawed at the white-haired boy’s leg. Caissene and Riaghan exchanged smiled, knowing Nuadha had hoped not to bond. The two-colored dragon, yellow below and a tan-brown above, waddled happily toward a boy and his flit. Two more eggs broke open quickly after. From the far left side, a graphite and grey colored spine-backed one. From the center stage, a richly black and very Ryslen dragon came from it, one with faintly yellow tips to her midnight wings. The first raised his head proudly, and walked mostly on his hind legs, lashing his spaded tail back and forth. He went to the area near the main entrance of the dunes. There he found his bond, and Riaghan rubbed his eyes in irritation, shifting from foot to foot. At mounds of eggs scattered all across the sands, hatchlings began poking their noses out. From everywhere they seemed to come, and Riaghan felt dizzy from trying to watch them all. A deeply blue bodied male, with bold green-aqua wings strode quickly to his bond. He had no back or neck spines, but two large knobs protruding from the back of his skull. He reared up on his strong hind legs, and bowed with a flourish. Riaghan felt his eyebrows lift in surprise. A sharp violet-black dragon stood up from the shards of his shell quickly after the bonding. No dragons stood as tall as his did! He gazed around, clever eyes peering around looking for his right partner. He found him, walking carefully if a bit inexpertly toward him. The cat-human caught the violet’s eye and they bonded quietly. Another swimmer, this time one obviously designed to be in the water as well as the air, came boldly out of her shell. A good sized dragoness, she had a dramatic dappling of sunlight under her wings and deep antique blackened color on her body. Her feet were webbed, wings solid. This dark golden beauty shook herself off and shouldered past the other dragons who were vying for looks at the bonders. She bonded, and Riaghan heard someone mutter "you don't deserve a gold. I did. I do deserve a gold. I swear. I lose my knight in this crown and now I lose the gold to some old...." Riaghan turned in time to see the girl bond a minty-cloud green. He smirked and nodded sharply. She got what she deserved. A hatchling shook out wings which were red at the tips and paler pink toward the body, the same as her feet and nose were. The tip of her tail was red, as well. A siamese-marked dragon. She looked around, ears flicking sand away from her head. Then she seemed to find a likely person to bond with. A small girl, with a grey-colored fox tail. Riaghan swallowed hard and forced his eyes elsewhere. The sooner this was done, the better! When the tiniest violet colored dragon came from his nest, practically no one even noticed. Except for one or two. And fortunately, one of them was much closer to the violet tidbit on the sands than Riaghan. Riaghan had the oddest picture of him bonding the little thing and shook his head. Refreshments were shared when it looked like there would be a lull in the action. All the bonders were getting tired of standing around, but no one could really get them to sit down long enough since the eggs were all continually shaking. If they weren’t up and about, they might miss something! In this case, two eggs were the ones attracting the attention, from opposite sides of the sands. The one who broke shell from one nest was a buckskin shaded brown, a very handsome dragon indeed. The other was a darker forest green, who lifted her head up and crooned loudly. A girl ran to her to soothe her cries, and Riaghan couldn't help but be happy. He was getting a bit of a headache. The brown dragon had dried his wings off, and was glancing around. He seemed to spot something, and then bolted toward it. Even fresh out of the egg like this, he was quite fast, and very sure in his step. His wings were swept forward a bit, and his hind legs were quite strong looking. He glanced around, and then sped toward the side of the sands. Riaghan suddenly realized that he was glancing directly at him. And, he was waiting. To race? Of course! So Riaghan found his legs and bolted out of the clump of bonderss near him and to the dragon’s side. “You’re ready to race already, Rotuth? Let’s go!” They scampered away from the sands, both scattering sand in their wake. Riaghan heard people applauding, and another making a jest about placing bets, but he ignored them. He had bonded. I win. Rotuth said proudly, and Riaghan could only laugh. Riaghan bonded at the Healing Den