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Thirty minutes later, pretty much the whole Weyr was sitting on the rim. Visitors from other Weyrs also graced the heights, everyone intent on watching this rather extraordinary hatching. The goldriders and their mates were all in a box seat together, watching the events twenty feet below them on the sands. The sands, thankfully, were large enough to keep all sixty candidates, with room to spare! Not much room, but surely enough.
The eggs were definitely rocking. And rocking. And more rocking.
The Weyrleaders shoot a discrete gaze towards Zach. The young man looks a little frightened that no hatchlings were emerging. Maybe they'd waited too long? Zach nods to the Weyrleaders, the Weyrwoman especially. Falora nods back, leaning back comfortably in her chair. Naomith, go ahead and break one. Tell the queens the same.
The large golden queen eyes her rider, wondering if she could hurt her children. Apparently the other queens were as apprehensive as the senior, for the golds' tails merely swish as they eye the eggs that had worked their way to the top of the sand and pile of siblings. Alright.. Naomith finally replies.
Extending a sharp talon towards her egg, the senior queen starts scratching the shell away while the other queens look on. Gently at first, then rougher, the senior queen works on the shell of one of her children. The sound is horrible; the noise made when weapons were sharpened against a grinding stone. But the egg beneath her golden hand never failed to rock. It wanted out, and any help was appreciated.
As instructed, a couple of the bolder candidates move forward. Naomith was a force to deal with, considering her attitude towards humanity. But at this time, the queen was more interested in freeing her children from the eggs which encompassed them, than keeping potential dragonriders away.
A part of the egg suddenly gave way to the dark inside which was hollow, save the struggling dragonet. The first breath of the Hatching is taken as the bronze shoves his nose into the air through the hole. Naomith seems to beam with pride. The first child to hatch of all the clutches was hers. And a bronze, at that! This called for a trumpet. Tossing back her head into a graceful serpentine position the senior queen roars jubilantly. Most other dragons echo her cry, especially the six other queens on the sand.
The young man you walks forward turns out to be Malerin. The lad, who during the first few days of clutching, had snuck onto the sand and caused an uproar. Naomith, of course, remembered this, and snakes her head down from it's graceful serpentine position, to a guarding position of the hatching little bronze, forcing his way out of his rock-hard prison. With so many people around, Malerin wasn't intent on running like before. But that didn't stop him from being fairly afraid. The little bronze's egg suddenly opens with a loud crack that reverberates around the cavern, and the wet bronze finds himself on the warm sand. Looking up at the boy, the bronze chirps. Malerin's face bursts into a wide grin, "So I touched your egg that day?! Absolutely amazing, Achanoth."
With the queens helping along their children, the next few eggs are suddenly broken apart, the hatchlings sprawled across the sands, gaining their feet beneath them as they toddle towards the candidates.
Another bronze, much like the first, swings his head around, looking at the boys and young men. Pah! There weren't any good enough for him. He marches over to Churana, giving her a rather flirty croon. Churana looks down at the bronze and raises an eyebrow. She flares her wings, only to be imitated by the bronze. While having not been very pleased to be there in the first place, Churana manages a smirking sort of smile, "Fine, Raiokh, we can go get food." implying that she had mentally told him in choice words to 'fly a kite' moments before.
Two golds had also hatched, along with a green. The green is the first to Impress to young Jealnik. The young man grins hugging her tightly, "Yes, Mezenth, of course I'll introduce you to M'len and Jesioth!" The Lasimeer, Kyohaku, formerly known to her friends as Fryskygoa, is approached by one of the golds. The young woman had her wings folded behind her, while her pearly white tail swings back and forth slowly. A smile appears on Kyohaku's face, "I'm glad I landed on this planet, too, Senshith!" The other gold follows her sister's path in moving towards the girls, until she stops in front of Kalisa. The girl begins crying tears of joy, embracing the freshly hatched dragonet as she exclaims her new lifemate's name, "Mialyth!"
During these Impressions, seven more hatchlings had fought their way through the eggs, with and without the help of others. Two white walk together towards the candidates, leaving all others behind. They break off then, finding their own way through the mass of candidates. In the center, and slightly behind everyone else, one white finds his lifemate. Simon. He seems to simply stare at his rider for the longest time, until Simon nods with a small smile, "I'm sure you can, Kemroth." Their conversation was theirs alone. Not even the dragons listened in. The other white moves off to search through the females. "Esarith!" Orana suddenly cries out from nearly across the sands. The white turns her head at the sound of her name, and snakes her way through the candidate's legs until she finds her new rider. Orana laughs and kneels, hugging the snow-white creature.
On the other side, the blue has just Impressed. Dyfed looks across the sand, seeing Orana, and smiles broadly. He then looks down at the blue and chuckles, "Yes, I'm very happy, Rinlunith!" Two browns and yet another gold also find their way to their riders. The gold races her siblings until she's crashed into Kinneret's legs. The young woman laughs, "Daraciath! No need to race, I'll always be here." The first of the two browns ignores the males and trots up to Coqueta. The teenager grins, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Nothing more needed to be said. Except of course, for her brown lifemate's name; "Koikelarth!" The other brown, meanwhile, marches straight up to his chosen. Morellihn smiles, looking down at the dragonling, "Spartanth, I knew you'd be here."
As the sounds of those Impressions fade away more come. Five eggs are broken apart, while one merely rocks. Having gotten the hang of this whole hatching business by watching, Audax unsheathes his sword and steps forward towards the egg. Naomith eyes the sword and human, the jubilant blue whirling in her eyes melting away to fiery red-orange. Keeping one eye on Naomith, Audax deftly slices through the air, letting the blade make contact with the shell. The shell splits under the impact, enough so the struggling hatchling inside pushes the neatly chopped pieces of egg apart. The bronze the egg once contained shakes himself off and looks up at the knight. "You're welcome." Audax replies courteously to the hatchling. A moment later, the bronze seemingly explaining some things to Audax, "Well then.. Ciysiniath, is it? Come along."
Of the five eggs that didn't need any assistance, two greens, two bronzes and another gold, one stood apart from the rest. The little bronze streaks across the sand towards the women. One in particular catches his attention, Sron. The young person smiles at the bronze. Apparently, this secret between this candidate and the dragons now extends to hatchling and candidate-turned-rider. "Lets get going, Hesidoth." A gold and green Impress at the same time, to people not far from each other. Katerila smiles at the little queen, exclaiming that one name that meant almost everything, "Oraenuth!" Now that she'd Impressed, there wasn't a doubt that she couldn't return. The green nabs Caos, hopping excitedly around his legs. "Aleasth, calm down!" The small bronze then Impresses to Kalarian, who after warding off his flitters, smiles, "I'll get you some food, Tlentith, don't worry." The green who had been watching the other dragonets, and desperately trying to gain their attention, decides at that moment to find Silvae. The somewhat dejected little green looks up at Silvae and croons questioningly, to which Silvae replies, shrugging, "Who knows, Alliciath, some just don't know how good what they're looking at is!"
More eggs split leaving ten little hatchlings to the warmth of the sand. The Weyrharper Ela, while watching the Impressions around her, is surprised by one little golden body who comes up behind her, the first hatchling to walk being one of the three golds. Ela grins broadly as she turns to face the hatchling, "Of course I'm glad I came, Mykialyth!" Sirriol is the next to be found. The medium sized golden dragonet trumpets at the young woman. Grinning, Sirriol walks across the sands, "Alright, Lasaraiv, I'll come to you!" The white of this batch stumbles over to the short firecracker, Domiziano. The young man smiles, "I guess M'sin was right, Ombruth." A little brown trots his way over to Bakan, who chuckles at the dragonling's spunk. "Come on, Zarth, you can show off later!"
Some unknown man suddenly walks right onto the sands, startling everyone. "They shouldn't be allowed to make people fall in love with them. They shouldn't be so loving." he was saying as he glares at the new hatchlings. D'ten, not one to enjoy intrusions, orders some of the drudges to remove him before Falora can object. However, the attempt fails; this man was taller than the drudges, and strong enough to resist. His eyes suddenly fill with tears, "They shouldn't be so perfect..." A little blue had, by then, made his way over to him, and nuzzles his hand. Vasyoz blinks, trying to rid himself of the tears. He jerks his hand away the from hatchling, glaring through moistened eyes as if the blue was something distasteful. However, the hatchling shows nothing but love. "Ipsiranth.." he whispers. The blue croons.
Falora elbows D'ten rather roughly, raising an eyebrow at him. Silent speech between the pair resumes. 'See?' Not shamed, but a little put off by his Weyrwoman's ticked off expression, he nods to the drudges, who then release the Impressed rider.
Two bronzes run up to their chosen lifemates, the situation of Vasyoz ignored. Aeden smiles at the bronze, "Didn't I tell her I'd Impress, Zroiath?" The other bronze finds Biakar. The weyrbrat grins at his bronze, "Kieseth, I was glad to get here even before I hopped on Reth's back!" Two blues also pair up. With so many hatchlings, even if they weren't from the same clutch, they walk together to get to the mass of candidates waiting not too far off. Irynar turns his head while looking around himself and his gaze meets with one of the blue hatchlings. Slightly startled, but quickly recovering with a laugh, Irynar rubs the blue's chin, "Good to see you, too, Loth!" Lautian, another young Harper in the candidate crowd, is nearly tackled by one of the blues. The teenager laughs at his hyper dragonet, "Don't do that, Mosth!" The third gold of the trio in the ten finds her way to Farida as the blue and his new rider leave. The young woman smiles at the gold, "You're right, Releth, this has been quite an adventure!" And the last of the ten, a little green. She sits off on her own, staring at the candidates, and looking apprehensive. Until Jaiver walks up to her, smiling. "Aaskath, are you ready to get away from everyone?"
The number of hatchlings that find themselves free of their eggs seems to increase with every batch. Instead of ten, now a mass sixteen wander there way towards the candidates.
Two whites, who apparently come from Kyradith's clutch, looks at each other for a moment, before backtracking together and weaving about their mother's legs. Sarahia and Thazin begin walking forward, and seeing they're going in the same direction, exchange glances and smiles, before continuing towards the whites. "Quianth," Sarahia begins. "Ipsiirnth!" Thazin calls. The white turns their heads hearing their names called, and bound across the sand to each of their respective riders. Several golds then choose to make their entrance; at least one from each respective clutch. The geneticists certainly did their jobs well!
Two golds from Naomith's, the first ones to make their move, waddle towards the girls. Eden is the first to Impress one of the golds. She smiles at her young queen after a moment of conversation, "Yes, Alasyth, sometimes things are just meant to be." Ensis is the next. She was stammering slightly, as if she couldn't believe what was happening. "I.. Xankioth, you can't possibly want me.. I'm.. I'm.." the gold merely stands her ground, she wouldn't let the girl she wanted back out of anything, particularly this life-long commitment!
The next Impressions go to a fairly abnormal brother and sister pair.. siamese twins.. or at least, they used to be something of that sort. Having long been fully separated, the sister runs up to and kneels before one gold, while the brother grins proudly at the bronze before him. Aurami was crying tears of joy, "We'll always be together, Vixanith!" she glances back at her brother, as Xallorran rubs his bronze's eyeridges, "That feel better, Nirlupeth?"
Five Impressions happened at the same time, many assured it would be giving the records keeper quite a headache later on.
A little green finds her love in Nemari, the assumed oldest candidate of the lot, and a dragonhealer as well. "Come on, Dhelinath, we'll fix up that hungry belly of yours in no time!" Philaea and golden Illebrath find each other in the riot, "Who would have thought.. Arienth and the rest were right..!" An anthropomorphic creature, resembling a human and tawny colored gryphon cross, Talina looks down upon a little white you had found her way towards her destined rider. "Alright Lamarith, I'm ready to go, too." During which, Setia was shouting, "Lymianth! Don't dare try to eat Lorin!" setting the aggravated gold flitter to air while realizing what she had just said to the green hatchling. And while all that was going on; Alabern laughs at his new bronze, "With you I'll never be a runner again, Toulth!"
Eleven of the sixteen had made their way to their bonds, and now the final five find their way, as the newly bonded are escorted out by drudges and family members. A little golden flitter, Juria as she is called, swoops around the head of a little white. As if a guiding beacon for the hatchling, the fire-lizard leads the dragonet to Keeman, who after a moment with his mouth slightly gaping, he embraces his bond. "Mixuith.." Ralveen looks over his shoulder as a blue snout touches his back, "I was looking for you, Nidrith!" Another little blue happened to be wandering around, watching the greens quite interestedly. Bivius raises an eyebrow as he looks at the hatchling, "Mraynuth, you'll have plenty of time for greens later in life. Trust me."
Jakran chuckles, apparently at something his bronze had just told him. "That's right, Kilonth, no more meeting girls!" The young woman Kiona, on the other hand, was busy chatting up a gold. "Morjarth, I'm very glad you don't care how I look."
Another few hatchlings manage to wiggle their eggs to the surface, and then to break them open, with and without assistance. The first to break free was yet another gold, followed by a brown. Only this gold, instead of going right to the girls, sat there a moment, staring. Picking herself up, she wanders over to the boys. The brown, too, follows behind her for a moment, before veering off towards the girls. The gold suddenly stops in front of one young man. Airh, former jockey, stands there, looking at the golden beauty. "Shouldn't you be over.. there?" he asks. The gold blinks slowly, staring up at him. "Cahlieth, is it?" In the mean time, the brown had found one particular girl. Another jockey, Searched the same time Airh was. "Hexinth.." Laban breathes, looking upon the little brown in awe.
Four whites also came in the batch with the gold and brown. Two of them make it towards the candidates before the others, stopping in front of Kamatayis and Tyscri. The young man smiles down at his white, "That's a runner. ... Sure, I'll show you Splash, Arucarth!" Tyscri grins at her white, "Ezisath, don't worry about a thing."
The third white stumbles across the sand, nearly sounding like it was mewing. Looking for something. Or rather, someone. The white runs around, looking nearly everyone in the eyes, but finding no one. It pauses, then turns towards the darker corners, away from where the candidates waited. Kaie was hiding in the corner, most likely trying to keep herself hidden. However, you can't hide yourself from a determined hatchling. "No.. no.. go away.." Kaie mumbles, staring at the hatchling standing nearly on top of her. Nearly a minute goes by, their silent conversing filling up the seconds. Reaching out a tentative hand, Kaie strokes the hatchling's nose, and smiles weakly, whispering in a nearly broken voice "...Jinaath."
A brown, blue and yet another gold make their way from the place they emerged from their eggs. Young mischief maker Eorenli is practically attacked by the equally mischievous brown. He laughs, "We'll have a lot of fun, Morsuraoth!" The blue looks up at Iunnrais, and croons, slightly off-key. The young Journeyman smiles, proudly, "I think we'll understand each other just fine, Soateth." The little queen seemed a bit more polite than a lot of the golds. This certain politeness could only come from Galamoth, who with her rider who could understand every dragon, was kind and considerate, even during that last mating flight. Tai was the one this little queen had honed in on, and as the young woman deciphers the voice and just which dragon spoke it, the queen is tightly embraced. "Azrentoth!"
Four more, one with help from queen Kyradith, struggle successfully to their feet and begin the journey of finding their lifemates. The gold that needed assistance to hatch waves her sculpted head around, searching the crowd before moving. Yiya was the one she was looking for, and with a little bellow, the gold made that wish heartily apparent. Yiya jogs across the sand, stopping in front of the hatchling, "I heard you, Tiyath!" Javiquin was meanwhile busy with a bronze, while his twin was bespeaking a white. "You're right, Jehiath," Javiquin smiles, "Now my sister isn't the only one I can talk to mentally!" Javia laughs at the little white, "Good, maybe now I can get some peace and quiet from his very loud thoughts, Esonieth!" A little brown shortly followed the rest in Impressing upon young Ayveran. "Now I know what Impressions' like, Yendrith!"
Directly following their leave, six hatchlings broke shell. Zendyn didn't hesitate as she ran forward to meet a still struggling gold. Of all the voices Zendyn tuned in to listen, this little one was most persistent. "My father will be so proud of us, Vermayth!" The young woman watches only the hatchling, not having the will to look away from the whirling eyes of her lifemate. A gold and bronze run past the newest gold pair to make their riders the next, but not last, metallic riders. Tidrin laughs, hugging the bronze's head while stroking his neck, "Of course I wouldn't have left, Marcharth! Nobody can be rid of me, not even this long hatching can make me lose attention!" The young woman to whom the gold ran to was busy humming to herself, eyes closed. A moment later of the gold staring lovingly at Dunari's face, she opens her eyes, "Very nice! I'll have to remember to write those words down, Yashmith." Three whites made up the remaining half of the six. Emalia didn't have to be spoken to twice when her white approached her, "You're beautiful, Biandyth!" Rinoa laughs at her own white hatchling, "I can sure try to teach you to dance, Phaedrath!" The young lady who had escaped political marriage was the third to be found. Indira smiles at the white, "Come on, Leighlith, I'll take care of you."
A gold and green hatch, their eggs having once been beside one another. Working together, the gold, with what limbs she had free, scraped against the green's shell, and likewise with the green to the gold's shell. In no time the two had helped each other from their shells and were standing. Kiyma and Smaragaid were the two girls who stood out of the crowd this time, mainly because the two young woman were already heading in the dragonet's direction. And as this clutch had progressed, they'd realized, that candidates moving to dragons or vice versa meant Impression. "Good job, Xiylandith." Kiyma grins, proud of her generous queen. Smaragaid beams with pride as well, "Sineith, that was very nice of you!"
Seven eggs followed at that moment, breaking shell like their siblings and other clutches before them. A bronze and blue are off before the rest, Ronarian and Dolor being their obvious choices. Like his twin Caos who had Impressed early in the Hatching, Dolor has to calm his blue down, for in his excitement, the blue dragonet has mowed down his new rider, and stands above the new bluerider, straddling him. Dolor laughs, "Cianth! Get off of me, you lug! I can't very well feed you while I'm pinned to the sand!" Ronarian smiles at his fairly large bronze, "You're perfect, Xinleoath." Following this, the first of two golds slides up to Jessnie, "Oh, Anastath, Lieeana will love you just as much as I do!"
The second gold searches out one young woman. Looking a bit withdrawn, and understandably so. Having escaped being the target of sibling murder, Tayeko wasn't exactly ecstatic, but happiness could still be seen on her features as she looks into her dragon's eyes. "I know you'll protect me, Branweth, I know." she speaks to the gold who was standing aggressively before her. This gold had an attitude to match her mother's, and wasn't afraid to use it. A green comes barreling past, only to slide to a stop fit for an aerobatic wonder of the future. Rivianna laughs, "I doubt I'll ever get rest with you around, Kasarith!"
Vaero, the extremely dark skinned young man, also a non-native of Pern as many before, Vaero is approached by a bronze. Vaero's skin color seems to lighten to a medium-shade of purple with from bronze's presence, and apparently, speech. The bronze's eyes whirl as he watches his new rider's skin change. To which Vaero replies, smirking, "Very nice of you to say so, Thineziv." And the last of the seven, the little white, chooses the copper-eyed Lani. "This place is very strange, Faith.. but you make all the difference."
The last remaining eggs all seemed to crack at that moment, giving way to seven more hatchlings. Tessrabia, who had watched the geneticists work on the eggs with all their gadjets and large machinery hidden away in a room not far from the sands, and always left guarded, looks towards the empty shell that had once contained a dragonet. A gold at that. The queen-to-be creels her hunger and presence to the world, being one of the loudest hatchlings that had graced the sands that day. The golden dragonet stares at Tess for a moment, when the young woman replies, smiling, "That's right, Yliath.. I watched them work on your egg.. and your sibling's eggs.. and all the others, too!"
Rialy had her attention distracted by a glittering little white while Tess was Impressing. "You're the best type of oddity, Arancath, and that's the truth!" the young woman smiles. Across the sand, Tayalia was also busy. The green in front of her was chatting up, or at very least trying to talk to, Tayalia's green flitter, both of whom being nearly the same color. "Avsiruth, you've made all my dreams come true!" The quiet Analine had her own hatchling to deal with. The young woman who lacked self confidence smiles brightly at the hatchling. What she, the rider, lacked, her dragon would make up for. "You're beautiful, Kireith."
"Sombramadeth? Great Faranth, that's a mouthful!" Jenin exclaims with a good-natured smile. The queen she'd just Impressed snorts daintily in reply. The last little green turns to Kieia, leaving the last candidate on the sand. "Meriayth!"
The blue-skinned and even darker blue-haired Shiva stares across the sand, directly at the little bronze that had waited so long, watching his siblings Impress while he was content to sit. "Well. Are you coming, or not, Asmodoth?" Shiva asks evenly. The bronze leaps to his feet and dashes across the sand to her. It seems fitting for the first and last hatchling of this clutch to be a bronze. The Hatching won out on the whole Pernese 'luck' fable of a bronze hatching first. Who knows what it meant for one to hatch last, as well, and really, with all the celebrating, no one cared!
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Gold Naomith & Bronze Treyath's Part Kaie & White Jinaath Gold Gilith & Bronze Gredenth's Part Orana & White Esarith Gold Galamoth & Brown Janioth's Part Javia & White Esonieth |
Gold Kyradith & Bronze Reniteth's Part Sarahia & White Quianth Gold Lazireth & Bronze Aharuth's Part Domiziano (D'zian) &
White Ombruth Gold Soranth & Bronze Urionth's Part Keeman (K'man) & White
Mixuith Gold Isabeth & Bronze Selith's Part Rialy & White Arancath |