Hatching 8, 9 Tripaldi Weyr - Sereath and Frinaith's Clutches
Written by Shard

***

The time had finally come. The eggs were as hard and as rocking as they got, they must have been laid at around the same time. One odd thing was, though, that when the hatching was being announced loudly by the humming of the dragons around it, it appeared one bump might have been an extra egg or two. Each time the candidates had been there, it looked as though there were different numbers of eggs. Frinaith, Xalia explained when it was brought up loudly by someone in the stands, was notorious for hiding and shifting her eggs around. Apparently the dragon liked the thought of surprising people. Xalia detected a bit of mirth that told her more was in store.

Most of the eggs had long cracks, some were bulging. True to form, the smaller (but not every small one) eggs had been the green's clutch, it was obvious now because Frinaith had separated them at last from her own precious orbs. Frinaith had stood up with a flare of her great wings, and while the gold was still overprotective like most queens she had a few clutches behind her, and obeyed when Xalia insisted she back off. This was her childrens day, not hers.

There were more candidates than eggs. But when that wasn't true, it was a tragedy. The candidates all were brought in and stood in the discomfort of white woolen robes, on sands that were baking hot. Some of the young people were right at home here, others were wishing they had an icy drink. Maybe it was the heat of the sands making them uncomfortable.

Or perhaps it was the eyes of all those people, in the stands. Or the dozens of rainbow-glimmering eyes from the dragons who stood on their balconies above. All of them were crooning their song of hatching. It slightly differed from the songs they sang when a flight was going on, and certainly different than when a dragon had died.

There would be no deaths here today. No dragon could possibly go unImpressed with this crowd present! Two eggs from Frinaith's clutch and one from the green's opened within moments of one another. A dark green, a medium-colored blue and a bright green were the first to hatch from these nests. Shaking their limbs free of the eggshell, covered in goo that had all but dried up while they grew within, they became rapidly the focus of all attention.

Cheering went up from locals and visitors alike, when the little green from Sereath's clutch stumbled upon a black-haired youth named Lorin Du, whose expression was of pure and simple adoration. "Her name's Genth," he cried out, and his friend cheered louder than the whole stands crowd.

The darker green from Frinaith's clutch took more time picking out her choice, and before she'd even had the chance to preen a little the blue clutchmate of hers blew by her and found his surprised looking bond. The teacher named Patrick Kiul still hadn't lost his surprised expression since having been Searched, and that was ... how many days ago now? He spoke one word, "Zulth," which was the name of the blue, before being led to the hatchlings feeding chambers.

Well I wanted to be first, the dark green bespoke to the healer named Kejera. I am Zoriath. The pair made their way around carefully, though Kejera was apt to take close looks at anyone that seemed in need of blister ointment for this heat.

A big egg from Frinaith's clutch shattered loudly, and a bold bronze stood from the remains of his shell. He cleared them away with a sweep of his tail, so expertly. And then he tripped on the way out of the middle of them, faceplanting and covering his dark snout with sand. People in the stands were at a complete loss - were they still cheering or did they get to laugh?

Well they cheered when Zanaeger stepped forward to help brush the sand off, "Torsyth you're going to have to work on that presentation... Otherwise you'll never impress the ladies!"

A diminuitive and deeply colored green from Sereath's clutch came from her shell a piece at a time, shaking her hind paw of the last bit of shell. It wasn't a big surprise that she went directly to the only candidate on the sands who had a cat nestled around his shoulders. Keuwan laughed, and told the records keepers that her name was Syrth.

A light colored blue and a deeply shaded green both from Frinaith's clutch broke shell after a few minutes pause. Though all the eggs on the sands exhibited life, they sure were taking their time! The blue and green exchanged a glance and started off together toward the ring of candidates. Almost racing, with their awkward gait, they met up with a young man and woman who stood nearby. The pair had only met after arriving to Tripaldi, and beyond the fact that Sahkir was friendly to Kaeia's flitter (even now the blue trilled happily from the nearest balcony) they now had one more thing in common - they'd Impressed!

Sahkir hugged the blue and called out, "he is Rasyth!"

The young woman Kaeia hardly held on to her voice when she breathed, "Casiath, she's Casiath..."

About the time that they'd cleared the sands, three more eggs, all from Frinaith's clutch gave heaving-and-hoing new meaning. Two smashed against one another - causing Frinaith to give a startled and worried bellow. Hadn't she gotten those eggs far enough apart? Well the bronze inside the larger shell nudged his nose at the green who had been in the egg beside his. The brown who came from across the clutch from them all but ignored the commotion they caused, the oohing and aahing. Singleminded, he walked with pieces of shell still upon his hide and his eyes whirling red.

"Forth, why are you so angry?" Asked Karovian, whose wife in the stands applauded happily, he finally realized what he'd said. The red eyes turned slowly to a vibrant orange, hungry yellow, and finally a contented green as the pair moved to the feeding area.

The bronze waited a bit for his smaller sibling, green Mairith, to find her own bond in a silent girl named Geni, before he himself went for the rest of the waiting candidates.

He was stately but at the same time, the bronze had a look of mischief about him. You've attained me, Forikoth bespoke to Tarquin. Are you glad I am not a pretty blue or fine brown?

For once, Maia nearby thought, her friend was speechless. She was probably as excited as he was to see him Impress a bronze!

It was perhaps a quarter hour or more before the next eggs broke open. In that time, Frinaith had paced around the eggs and shuffled things around again. "Frinaith," Xalia warned, "careful! The candidates!" The queen's tail lashed around, well above the candidates heads. Their flitters on the other hand scattered around and chirped angrily at the gold, who smugly sat down again.

Perhaps it was her attention, or maybe the cheering of the flitters, but four more eggs hatched. One of them crumbled to bits, finally having dried enough from the cracks that the whole thing tumbled to the sand. It was a brown, from Sereath's clutch, and he headed in a roundabout way toward a freckled young man whose own blue flitter he'd impressed barely a few days before right here at Tripaldi. Thomanskeer, the brown thought, how can I make your name easier to say? It's too long!

Laughing, Thoman threw his arms around the brown. "Caynsth isn't all that easy to pronounce either! We'll manage!"

A pale colored blue emerged from his shell during all this, and sought out the comforting hands of Emlis, who announced, "this is Dasanth - he... he's mine!"

The circle of candidates drew smaller and closer together when another brown (this time from Frinaith's clutch) and his pale green sister stopped to butt heads. The green was large, but would never equal a brown in size. In attitude however it was pretty clear what her goals were.

Mine! The green broadly bespoke, Mine! You cannot have her!

I do not want her! You're in my way!

No one knew quite what to do, until the dragonets all but came to blows. The candidates backed up, one or two tripping and having to pick each other up. Snarling, the green lashed her tail, while the brown gave a rumbling growl. I just want to go by you, move! He barrelled past the green finally, landing halfway on his side near Mikhali's feet. You! You are the one I want. I am Varuth, I am yours.

With a quickly beating pulse Mikhali sank to his knees - his brothers and he had not only been returned to each other - but now they all had Impressed! What kind of bad omen could have ever predicted this?

The green on the other hand snorted loudly, and pushed around the shell shards remaining from a smaller blue's egg. The blue had fortunately rushed up to a teenager named Carsile and hidden behind his legs to keep from being snapped at by the green. "It's all right, Kasuth, she's going for a girl, not you." He didn't add, 'thank goodness!'

The green's eyes had gotten so red it was a wonder that the Red Star didn't turn jealous. Finally, at the risk apparently of life and limb, one tall female candidate stepped forward. "It's me, isn't it, you're looking for me?" Eshishy asked. "Come on, you won't be nearly so cranky with some food in your belly, Vidrath. I know it always helps me."

The green still hissed at others as they passed by, almost the whole time mentally adding mine. "Yes, I know." Eshishy repeated, every time.

After that bit of excitement, people noticed there were fewer and fewer eggs left. Shards needed to be cleared out, but before anyone could get a rake to the sands, another handful of shaking eggs burst open.

It wasn't that a bunch of eggs weren't enough - but the large golden shaded egg that Frinaith had been guarding so gloatingly earlier was among them. A hush descended - even though it was normal for them to cheer when a dark blue dragonet bumped his head into Saebastyn's hand and privately bespoke his name, Basth.

The girls left on the sands would all have crowded around the gold - but for one, Malaika was all but petrified and remained rooted to the spot while Maia, Cethian, Mruna and Aniz walked a bit closer to the dark gold who now stood on the sands picking shell bits off of her hide.

Malaika trembled with memory. Please just pass me by, please just let me go home and take care of aunt Oriluna.

Why would I want to do that? Came a clear voice into her head. It wasn't one of her memories, Malaika realized. It was the little pale green dragonet who stood wetly before her. Her feet were covered in sand and shell goo, and her nose still had a piece of egg on it. Impulsively Malaika reached out to remove it, and then her hand froze right over the green's nose. Her black eyes were wide, but then... Then she realized the warmth inside her mind was coming from this dragon. Her dragon. Gareayth, the dragon added for her.

Even before the little gold on the sands had finished preening, yet another of the hatchlings on the sands had found his own bond. It was a slender, light colored bronze, and the boy who he'd chosen had heard every breath and muttering from every shell since he'd gotten here. The mind voice of Jaejir's dragon, Akitoth, blissfully blotted everyone else's dragons out for a time. He wanted to wait and see who Impressed the gold - but Akitoth had other ideas, namely finding himself something to eat.

Maia looked at Aniz, both of them worried but both also mixed with many more emotions than it seemed the sands could handle. Aniz was a master scribe - at ninteen years old. Maia was a runaway Lady Holder, attempting to keep one step ahead of her family. And here was a gold dragon - who ignored them both entirely. She also ignored the other pair, Mruna was aware that the elder girls stood a slightly better chance of Impressing a gold ... and there were only a couple eggs left!

The people in the stands were growing almost as impatient and worried with the little gold as the young women were. But then another egg broke, pushed aside by its light blue inhabitant. The last of Sereath's clutch, he approached a boy who had a tattoo of a dragon who almost matched this one in color. You, me, I think I want food, is food okay?

"Of course it is, Hanth!" Michael said, taking the blue around the entranced girls and to the bowls of meat.

While there were still the girls and the gold, one last egg trembled and broke. It distracted the foursome of girls - long enough to see that it was a brightly colored brown, almost bronze in tone. As though that didn't put any more pressure on the gold, the little queen-to-be sat there patient as could be. It looked as though Frinaith had the same expression on her own face.

The brown however didn't bother even taking a glance at the females standing there gawking at his sister. Why bother, when there was a perfectly good male standing just nearby? He stood upon his hind legs and bugled, and far from being a blat-noise or an angry sound, instead it was a beautifully pitched trumpet. Hwacheon stood with his mouth slightly open, almost in disbelief. You will speak to me, won't you?

"Of course I will, Gonyth," Hwacheon breathed.

People in the audience, flitters on the beams above, and even the other dragons attending started to get a bit nervous. The dark colored gold had not bothered to glance around at the girls since she dried her wing sails. Instead, she stood up and turned toward her dam.

Who promptly stood up herself. Revealing one... last... egg.

"That's - that's so ... Frinaith!" Xalia exclaimed, having been on her toes (along with most of the rest of the audience) she sat heavily down with an embarrassed, angry glower on her face.

The egg was slightly ... not white. More tinged with gold, in fact than the first had been. It was entirely possible she'd been switching these two gold eggs carefully enough that no one could have noticed when one was hidden and the other on display. So now there were four girls, and two ... - yes, the egg hatched shortly to reveal a lighter colored gold - golden dragonets.

"We aren't gonna have to wait for this one to dry itself off, too, are we?" Some bright glow in the audience yelled, producing a tirade of laughter and mocking back at him. Of course, lots of the people there were in agreement by now, as it was well into evening and the sun had gone down an hour before. It was going to get chilly down here and few people had thought to bring their sleeved shirts.

The dry sister dragonet nudged her sibling up, and as a pair they began looking over the four left over humans. Cethian bit her lip - she simply backed up and bowed out. There was no way either of these dragonets would go to her, once she saw their eyes, she knew. The dragons would have to make their decision without her.

Shortly though, she was joined by her friend Mruna, who had tears in her eyes. They were not of joy. Neither of them were walking away Riders this day.

But the other two... Maia had been chosen silently and swiftly by the brighter yellow-gold, Dayinth. Her family could never possibly claim her now! I am your family now, am I not?

"You are, Dayinth, you certainly are!" She cried into the soft, still-wet neck of her dragon.

Aniz held on to her own fingers tightly, even as she knew she'd be the one that this darker gold chose. You do not have to think about that big bronze you know. By the time I am old enough to fly he'll be too stiff with age to catch me!

Aniz let off a nervous chuckle at that, "But Sayaith, ..." she couldn't even finish her own sentence, instead she just committed this too to her memory and enjoyed every moment.

That moment included a rather loud bellowing from in the upper part of the domed sands. Angry, snarling not unlike that which Eshishy's green had done before. But this was on a scale that every dragon rider knew was bigger. Much bigger. They looked up and saw the glowing form of Jyotirth, young gold from the Kshau Protectorate, snapping and snarling at the local dragons.

She shot away through one of the large openings in the sands chamber, and into the night sky... Pursued by several males!

"... A flight, now?" Xalia said. She glanced around and saw the furry-girl Aynatchavay who Jyotirth was bonded to. "You planning on controlling your queen when she-"

"Yes," Aynatchavay snapped, her eyes unfocused and angry. "Yes. I'll... meet you outside if you've got help for me. I may need it..."