[Hatching] Happily Ever After

[Spiffy]

Jarethir watched the progress of the Poison Apple egg with interest. Its movements seemes... very controlled, precise. What had he got from that egg again? Scorn, he remembered. The egg had pusde him away with a pretty arrogant flair. Doubt you'll go for me, then, he thought, as the egg split into two to reveal a dark green dragonet. He expected her to start flopping baout randomly like baby flitters did, but no, again this hatchling seemed very well in control of itself. Hmm, strange for a baby. Neither did she seem particularly interested in the candidates, settling down to lick herself clean, by the looks of it. Ah, so vain as well as arrogant, he thought with mild approval.

Then another egg hatched, spilling yet another green, the paranoid little egg that had shied away from him at the touching. Nope, not mine either, he thought again. Surely neither of these greens would want him. Just as well, he thought, if what I've heard about male greenriders is true, I want nothing to do with that. The green seemed as scared of them as it was in the egg, shying away from both the candidates and her sister green on the sands, who was pretty much ignoring her. But nor for long, as the darker green began to approach her sibling, crooning and then, without warning lashing out at her shoulder, leaving a long gash as the younger screamed in pain. Why you littel backstabber, he thought. She'd be one to watch out for, and no doubt her rider too. His thoughts briefly wandered to Tiael. Maybe the two would make a good pair. It appeared the dragonet had been having similar thoughts for, with slow deliberate movements, the green began to move toward Tiael. He felt some smug satisfaction at that. With Tiael out of the way, he was sure to get the blue egg's hatchling. But the girl was backing away, fear in her normally carefully controlled features. Odd, didn't she want the green?

Then the green took a swipe, and lost interest, now heading after one of the other candidates, Tiael falling back, apparently struck. A flash of concern hit Jarethir, followed by confusion and mild disbelief. Why was he concerned for Tiael? From what he knew of her she was nothing but a danger to him, and though she'd made no such moves, yet, he was sure she could if she wanted and if he were somehow in her way. But that didn't lessen the feeling. Did he actually like her? He considered this as he stepped back from the dragonet, who was heading his way, then began slowly circling around the green's path toward Tiael. He paused when a gasp went up, the green having bitten off a blonde's fingers. Ouch. When Ith said about maulings I didn't think he meant that the dragonets went looking for trouble. He also noted that the other green was enfolded in the arms of another boy, the paranoid candidate with the odd colouring. Two of a kind, then, that could be disasterous. He reached Tiael as the dark green trotted over to her apparent chosen and deposited the severed fingers at her feet.

"Someone didn't get out of the way quick enough, eh?" he said jokingly, noting the tear in her robe. "You alright?" he asked, doing his utmost to sound only vaguely concerned, as if her injury was nothing but an interest. Any who knew him well would just assume the vague concern in his eyes to be an act as usual. Jarethir never showed his emotions. Never.

He looked back to the sands as he caught the creeling. He glanced around, expecting to find another dragonet having hatched, but he could see none. Strange. He looked up at Semith, wondering if he could get a hint at what was going on from her. She was holding her wing out oddly. What was she doing, hiding something? He glanced around again. Ah, the shiny. Maybe the golden egg had hatched and Semith was protecting it, probably from the malicious little green, who seemed to have finished her tirade. Well, whatever was hidden behind there didn't seem to happy about whatever as going on, as the noises intensified. Then the wing lifted, revealing a pale hatchling behind.

"That, is not a gold," he stated obviously, quietly to Tiael. Not that he thought she couldn't see that for herself, but because that was the one egg that people seemed fairly sure would hatch a gold, despite its size. But this hatchling seemed to echo its elder sibling's reluctance to approach the candidates, its every movements fearful, like that of a cornered and near-exhausted animal.

But... hang on. If it wasn't a gold, and he highly doubted it was a green, blue, brown or bronze either, then what on Pern was it???

[nozomi]

Two greens successfully bonded and T'di all but popping in his pride. From Mordanth, simply cheer at the two Impressing with no betweening but T'di? His Mordanth proved the worth of blues, of how they could still breed fine children with a Gold, even if they were the smaller colors. They could hatch and think and Impress. They were, after all, normal eggs.

He hadn't expected the curve of Semith's wing or the quiet and frantic cries of the dragonet hidden behind it. Was she a green? Or, worse, male? Surely the little thing assumed it was a Gold, they all had, but - poor thing. Mordanth crooned towards his child as well, pitch rising when the sparkling, multi-colored creature revealed itself.

"Oh, wow," he said, murmuring the words. Eyes wide, T'di clutched at his dragon, lips prted in shock. "Shards and shells, it's beautiful."

----

Like all the others, Warden expected a Gold. Sort of. Mordanth had blue pigmentation, did not shine at all, not even a little. Handsome, yes. Metallic, no. He'd hoped for a Gold. He could not find it in him to be overly surprised when the desperate thing panicked behind its mothers wing. He looked to T'di and Leshta instead.

Moronic bluerider appeared pleased. (Yusuth added him too to Warden's list) And Leshta... He only glanced at Leshta when the shining infant slunk out into the rain, looking evry inch a frail, beaten canine. She began to gesture at him, frantic, and the dragonets eyes started the bad twist into the grays.

For all his grump and dislike for the Goldrider, Warden hurried over to the pair. A hurried bow to Semith, yes, a dip of a hand to his pocket, and he turned his attention to Leshta before speaking to bthe clutchmother.

"Leshta," said Warden, shoulders tensed. "We must do something. The girl is upset."

What could be done? Some hatchlings were destined between. Warden liked dragons, most of then, and it cramped his stomach to think of the distressed little female dying due to lack of Candidates.

... maybe he should have allowed the violent --

No.

No, no, no. Warden fell quiet, thin lips tightening.

[Lesa]

The sound caught her attention first, Gwynell's head turning rapidly to where the green dragonet had just bit off a girl's fingers. Ouch. Her hands went to the pouch at the small of her back, but she stopped her initial march - more of a step forward, weight on the front leg and back leg still hovering precariously an inch above the sand - as one of the true Healers, or what she assumed was a true Healer, went over to help the prisoner. Poor thing, that had to have hurt, she thought as she eased her weight back onto her back foot and slipped back in line.

Not that she probably could've helped much anyway - all her healing pouch contained was gauze, (which admittedly would be useful, but too late now), a little vial of redwort, a little vial of numbweed and then her Harpering things, pen nubs, her notebook, chalk. Numbweed would stop the pain of the skin, not the agony that came with bone-marrow open to the air, and redwort would be of the same little use, no need to sterlize something when the bandages wrapping it weren't sterile to begin with. Still the Harper fidgeted with the steel clasp of the leather pouch. Felt odd, doing nothing.

All eyes, hers included, went over to Semith and the rocking, twitching egg as the gold pulled her wing around it. What was that about? She'd heard of golds doing that, but very rarely, hmm. The sounds coming from behind the wing only added to the intrigue, like how in plays many times deaths were left to happen off stage, as the sounds were more effective that way, with people just using their imaginations to figure out what was going on. That was how Gwynell felt now, her mind awhirl at the pained, frightened sounds that escaped from behind the great golden wing. Her leather-bracelet gift for Semith gleamed in the pale light as the gold moved her arm to better sweep her wing away.

Oh, what a little beauty that wing revealed. Touched with colors reminiscent of sunrise or sunset, the pale rising when clouds covered the sky, yet color still leaked through to assure the sleeping that they should wake. Even with all her timidity, that was how this little girl felt to the Harper, like the start of something great, the start of something new, a new day. The little one didn't seem to feel the same way, eyes yellow and going gray in agitation. Sweet creature had no need to fear, yes, new days could be scary, but they should always be welcomed for the opportunity they brought. Just because the dragonet herself was a new day didn't mean bad things were to happen, and it certainly didn't mean she should be ashamed of her color, that she should be ashamed she isn't a gold. She was as beautiful, no, more beautiful, than all golds but her mother. Semith had a beauty in her own right, her personality wonderful for all who met her. This adorable creature was just as her mother was, beautiful outside and like as not beautiful inside. She just had to believe it for herself.

Gwynell looked away from the hiding dragonet, not stopping her thoughts from being warm and sunny and trying to coax the little dear out to greet all of them, but those same thoughts going slightly curious at what Warden was doing on the sand. Hmm, oh. Her thoughts and eyes quickly returned to the hiding rainbow shaded female, determined for the dragonet, even if the dragonet wasn't certain, that she would live. No death on these sands, not if anyone could prevent it.[/size]

[lithle]

"What is it?" the Weyrwoman hissed through clenched teeth watching the pathetic, beaten creature as it slunk behind one of the eggs and cowered there. Oh, she too, felt pity for the strange little hatchling, but Leshta had braced herself for some to go between, had known it would be inevitable, with such a small collection of candidates. She'd even braced herself for the possibility of some of the hatchlings being... odd. But odd like Semith was odd. This was something entirely different. "That's no white."

Whites happened, from time to time. Rare but not unheard of. This was, well, Leshta didn't know what this was. She looked at T'di, almost beseechingly. "What do we do?"

Frantic conversations between the Weyr leadership could not prevent the eggs from continuing to hatch, and as they spoke, the Jam Sandwich Egg gave another jump, coming down with a crack on a nearby egg. The shell shattered, revealing a handsome, stripped blue hide. The Seven In One Blow Hatchling jumped up, out of the shells and went galloping off toward the candidates.

He didn't seem interested in finding his, only in stretching his legs after being cooped up too long. His excited gallop sent him bumping into a few of the white robed watchers, a few might stumble back but none were injured. He stopped, just for a moment, in front of Julian, head butting the boy with enough force to knock him over, before moving on.

The Miller's Daughter Hatchling gave another helpless little cry, and the sound seemed to draw the Seven In One Blow Hatchling's attention. He stopped bounding about, skidding to a stop in the sand and falling over on still clumsy legs. He stood, shaking the sand off, and made his way over to the strangely colored hatchling. It cowered away from him and this didn't seem to please him, he crooned a question and nudged it, but it only whimpered.

[Wren]

Despite his fascination with the strangely coloured, shimmering creature, Sheraz couldn’t help but notice that it seemed very, well, timid. It cowered away from everything and walked as though it didn’t want to be noticed. He almost felt sorry for it, especially with everyone muttering and pointing at it, but then it moved again and its hide caught the light, Sheraz went back to his covetous staring. Wow, that thing was a beauty.

But the whitish hatchling was not the only thing moving on the Sands, the sandy egg with the bright stripe was moving a great deal too, more than the others, and with a great crack its shell gave way against that of another. From it the first blue came, a handsome striped individual that wrested Sheraz’s attention away, if only for a short time. It seemed exuberant and happy, its behaviour stark against that of its pale sister (for some reason he assumed it was female).

Sheraz followed the blue’s progress, and he flinched as he saw it near the other hatchling; was this one going to be violent, like that dark-coloured green had been? But no, apparently he just wanted to say hello. He made an odd croaky noise, a noise which had the tone of a question, and nudged it as if waiting for a response. Sheraz wondered if he was interpreting the proceedings correctly, or if the two babies were just acting and reacting according to instinct and he was reading human emotion into it.

Regardless, the pale creature did not seem to like the blue’s attentions, and it cowered away in fright. Sheraz found himself rather wishing the blue would leave it alone; the… white? Was clearly scared, and yet things continued to bother it.

[S'yal]

Julian was in shock. First, first a prisoner had impressed- The very prisoner who he had worried about being heartbroken over this business- and then... then what the thread was that!?

Julian gaped at the rainbow dragonet, his mask of boredom finally shifted as he stared at her. Outright STARED. What... what was that? It was beautiful, yes, but at the same time it's actions repelled him. He did not want a dragon that cowered and whimpered, he decided. His mouth was pressed into a thin line, before the baby's behavior managed to crack to the inner softy. "C'mon, kiddo." He whispered, biting the inside of his cheek. "You can do this. Go and find yours." He encouraged quietly, not even sure if the dragonet would hear him.

Then, suddenly, he found himself in the sand. He squeaked in surprise, eyes widening as they focused on the dragonet that knocked him over. Haha, very funny. The man grumbled as he stood and brushed himself off, eyebrow twitching.

[Mikki]

Like everybody else the healer lass had been anxious to see what was hiding behind Semith's wing. Well, after she patched up Ever to the best of her ability she had. At first she hadn't even noticed that there was some commotion going on. Tending to bleeding fingers and making sure someone didn't bleed to death kind of had a distracting quality. Still, when she was finally able to focus back on the eggs her curiosity had spiked.

What ended up coming from behind that golden shield had her eyes widening. She sucked in a breath and stared. Never in all of her years had she even heard of a dragon like that, let alone seen one. The little one certainly wasn't a white, that was for sure. Its coloring was too bold, too solid to be the teasing flashes of rainbow seen on a sports hide. That meant it had to be a new color, right? Disbelief turned to admiration. Like its dam, the hatchling was unique. But it was still a dragon. It was still worthy of love. Who were they to say anything else?

So when its eyes began to whirl in tinges of gray, Milune frowned. It was scared, that was obvious. To be born into a new world with everybody looking at it like it was a freak must of been horrible. But why give up so easily? Wasn't life worth fighting for in some regard. So many bad things had already happened at this particular hatching. Seeing a hatchling die out of sheer fright due to the ignorance of others was just down right horrible. Perhaps all it needed was a nudge in the right direction, or someone to give it hope?

Yet to be mauled again was not on the womans to do list. Sure, she took a step or two forward closer to the retreating hatchling but stopped well away from it or the eggs. Instead she called to it, coaxing it, trying to give it something to distract it from its fear. "Hey little beauty! Yes, you, with the pretty rainbow hide. Don't give up! Don't be scared! Look at all the people who are around who can love you.", gesturing in a wide arc to the other candidates the lass didn't care if she was making a fool of herself. She just wanted to help the poor thing. "Come on, be strong and proud. You're your mama's shining jewel. Everybody is waiting for you, little one." Crooning the last words softly, Milune tried to reassure the creature with an all consuming wave of loving acceptance. She was in no way shape or form trying to force an impression, just tantalize the dragonet out with a small snippet of what it could have with someone if it staid. Going between would be such a waste. Surly there was someone there for it. She was currently so focused trying to help this one hatchling that she didn't even see the Jam Sammich Egg hatch.

[lithle]

The Weyrwoman, Leshta, had never really made herself much at home at Warden's. She looked after Semith, she kept to herself, and she was known to be as taciturn and unapproachable as her gold was sunny and sweet. Still, there were those watching in the stands (and certainly, the Warden standing by her side) who knew about her impression. Semith, new hatched, had been a weak, pathetic little thing, doomed to between from the moment she hatched. Until young Leshta had run across the sands and picked her up, and, in attempting to carry her to the candidates, impressed.

If more of the candidates and watchers knew about this, they might have been more prepared for what happened next.

"Enough of this," Leshta snapped, and, with an apologetic glance at T'di she was marching across the sands, making her way through the eggs and finally, she was at the hatchling's side.

The Seven In One Blow Hatchlings seemed confused by her approach, but not threatened, jumping like a playful puppy at her feet as she scooped the Miller's Daughter Hatchling up. The poor creature was frantic, flailing and crying in Leshta's arms. By the time she'd got the little thing to the line of candidate, she was covered in cuts and soaked in blood.

Hissing at the pain, she set the hatchling down as gently as possible, and took a step back, watching it with arms crossed.

The Miller's Daughter Hatchling lay cowering and shaking, but seemed more afraid of Leshta than the candidates. It slunk along the line, whimpering before finally stopping in front of one in particular.

Sherazmine, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mine. I'll be better. I know they don't like me but, please, I'll be better. I can. I can turn gold. I will. I can figure out a way. Just tell them not to hate me. Please?

And then she slunk behind the man, her eyes whirling to rainbow, but a rainbow heavy with the yellow of fear.

Name: Iiateth

Fairytale: Rumpelstiltskin

Color: Opal

Color Code:FFCCBB (change it or make it rainbow and color changing if you wish)

Desc:

Iiateth is a delicate thing in appearance, slender and sleek with an unusually long neck and tail. Her wingspan is a bit wider than average as well, she's a dragon with a lot of stamina, capable of staying up in the air for an impressive amount of time. She's not very speedy, but she does have an elegance about her in the air. In size, she's average, which puts her at about thirty feet, the size of a small brown or large blue.

Personality:
Iiateth is a let down. She knows this. Oh, how she knows this. All the Weyr hoping against hope for a gold and instead, Iiateth. It's not like she can help her hide, but that doesn't matter. Her very existence is a betrayal. And no matter what she does, no matter how hard she tries, she'll never be a gold. Never be as big, as shiny, as important.

So, perhaps it's not surprising that this particular dragon suffers from chronically low self-esteem. No one is as disappointed in Iiateth as Iiateth herself, and she'll never shake the feeling that she's just not good enough.

There are plenty of ways to cope with such emotions. Bitterness. Rebellion. And then there's Iiateth, who lies.

It's not that she means to lie. She has a puppy dog's eagerness to please and be liked. So, when she overhears another dragon be praised for something, she wants to do the same. Someone compliments a blue on their speed? Iiateth will say she flies fast too. No, faster. No, she's the fastest dragon ever. Honest. A gold lay a nice clutch? She can clutch too! Even more eggs though! And all of them metallics. She will have a clutch and it will have thirty golds! And when she says these things, she means them. Almost, she believes them, or at least, she believes that she'll find some way to make them true. This makes her rather easy pray for dragons like Djith, or anyone who offers to help her make her promises reality.

With other dragons, Iiateth struggles to make friends, mostly because, deep down, she doesn't trust that anyone really likes her. Oh, they can say nice things, they can promise they think she's great, but Iiateth suspects they're only saying such things to be kind. How could they really mean it, when she's such a disappointment? The exceptions to this, to start, are her rider, who she trusts implicitly, and Semith, whose undemanding affection is like balm on Iiateth's fragile nerves.

Despite what she thinks of herself, and despite her habit of... exaggeration, Iiateth has the potential to do well. She's not the smartest in her clutch, but she's determained, she'll practice things until she gets them right. And, while, yes, she lies like a man trying to sell life insurance to zombies, she's a good girl. She'd never shirk lessons, she doesn't get into fights, and, she never, ever, says hurtful things. She's so easily hurt herself, she'd never deliberately do the same to another.

Why Me?

What Iiateth needed was someone to protect her. Sheraz's desire to be responsible for something, and his gentleness when dealing with the fragile, certainly drew her. In addition, his confidence will help counterbalance her insecurities. He's quick on his feet and comfortable around people, traits Iiateth lacks. She will rely on him as a emissary to the world at large, a world that often scares her. She, in turn, offers a softness, and a kindness that may bring out similar traits in the man.

[nozomi]

Warden:
Stares
Goes, "WOMAN, what are you DOING?!"
Attemptds to follow, T'di grabs him back.

T'di:
Grabs warden
Prays he isn't going to be thrown in jail
Mentally bitches at Leshta
Cheers for Iiateth. LOUDLY, all of you could possibly hear it.

[S'yal]

F'ox was distracted from the hatching by the pain and misery his poor Snowth was feeling. She... she was his special snowflake! She wasn't supposed to hurt! Never, ever ever ever! The healer murmured something about how Snowth would need to go to the infirmary later, but backed away from the pair of new weyrlings. Snowth was now laying on F'ox's lap as he hand fed her pieces of meat. Her eyes were still whirling yellow, though now it wasn't fear of her sister. It was worry as she saw the reactions of her opal sister, and Snowth crooned encouragement. She could do it, so could her sister!

The pair both relaxed with the Opal hatched, and F'ox took the time to glance over the candidates and other weyrlings. His eyes, unbidden, fell over Reeva and her horrible dragon. Now, F'ox was not a spiteful creature. He was not someone to hate without it being truly deserved... but the pain his dragon felt inspired something dark inside F'ox. He wished that Green had gone Between, suddenly. Then she would have never hurt his Snowth. The ex-prostitute, now Weyrling, grit his teeth.

Mine, please... don't be angry over me... Snowth spoke weakly, nudging his stomach. His grip on her uninjured hide tightened. F'ox was still like a child in many ways, and he had just as much potential for hate as any kid. He was going to get back at that Green for hurting his Snowth. It had never occurred to him to get revenge before, but now the sudden darkness in his thoughts frightened him. He hide his face against the soft hide of his newborn dragonet, trying to banish it. You aren't bad for being upset, F'ox... it's perfectly normal... Snowth tried to reassure him.

F'ox felt horrible for being so angry during a Hatching.

[Zen]

Truth be told, Tanyrion wasn’t really looking at Milune. He hadn’t even really been paying attention to Milune at all; rather, he was looking the other way. He had seen what the Green had done to her sibling after she’d circled her lighter-colored sibling, and as soon as the Green started to circle the blond prisoner (she’d been here for so long that Tany was confused as to why he didn’t know her name), he turned away. He was still pretty close to the girl, so when the Green did finally stop and take her fingers, he heard the crunch even through the background noise. Now Tany was a man, but even some sounds had him on end—the sound of bones breaking was definitely one of them.

The smell of blood, the smell of human, copper-tinted blood, filled the air, and when Tanyrion swallowed he could swear he tasted the blood as if he’d licked it. When he looked back at the girl standing beside him, she’d just finished with Ever, and she winked at him. Slightly confused at that look, Tanyrion just smiled back at her. The smile was not devoid of warmth, but it also held confusion in its core. Then he saw her.

The blond woman Milune had helped looked nearly helpless. If this hadn’t been a Hatching, Tanyrion would have moved closer to the girl and he could have hugged her to comfort her. She had blood all over her body. Her robe was no longer just red on the hems. There was a huge stain down her front and on the robe’s left sleeve. Smaller blood drops stained her right sleeve. One side of her face was painted with the blood and some of her hair was slicked with it. Numerous droplets had splattered onto her well-worn boots and clumped up the sand around her feet. She swayed on her feet and looked a great deal paler than when Tany had seen her when she arrived. He had to give her props though—she was still here and still standing, even if she seemed out of it.

A blue came rambling by. The girl was knocked off of her feet but Tanyrion was duly noted and backed off before the beast reached him. This brought his attention back to the hatching, where he noticed the WEyrwoman pick up the new color. Wait, what?! New color? How much had he missed? If there had been cotton candy on Pern, Tanyrion’s mind would have instantly associated the dragon’s color with that sweet treat. When it was set on the ground, the cotton candy colored dragon pushed her slow way down the candidate lines. Finally, the colors of the rainbow spread across her eyes, much more brilliant than her hide, and she settled before a man Tany didn’t know but felt that he should have.

Tany’s eyes skipped back to the blue, the only hatching so far, and wondered what would happen.

---

Ever tried not to look at her hand. Shards, it was beginning to throb. Its throbs took up the same regular beating as her heart, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum. She tried to look past her hand to the hatching. It is a proven fact, however, that red catches the eye more than any other color because of its warmth and brightness. No matter how hard she tried to look away, her eyes were drawn back to her hand, which she still held out in front of her. When she looked at it, the throbbing got worse. The longer she looked at her hand the more her heartbeat pulsed through it. She blinked slowly and knew the only reason why it didn’t hurt more was because of the adrenaline running through her veins. She was very happy for her body’s natural pain-blocking system at this moment in time.

She was just starting to lower her hand when the most unlikely thing happened to her. The blue had pranced along the candidate lines and knocked a few people. Well, because she was so unsteady on her feet, when the blue knocked into her, it sent her sprawling to the ground. Instinctually, she used her left hand to brace herself, as her left hand was her dominant one. This turned out to be the most horrid thing she’d ever experienced, for as soon as she put pressure on her hand, pain shot through her body with more intensity than anything she’d ever experienced before in her life, and if she hadn’t bitten her mouth, she probably would have screamed to the world.

She quickly sat forward and cradled her broken hand in her other arm, and tears streaked down her face. Oh wherryshit, oh shards, oh freaking Faranth’s first egg, the pain Ever felt made her sick to her stomach. She felt her body compulsively rock back and forth, and her hair fell in front of her face. The pain was excruciating, and she could feel the throbbing in her hand even more now. It took all she could do to not to make more of a scene for herself. As it was, the scene had already unfolded; she’d just try to make it less so.

[nemix]

Tiael was surprised, though not enough to jump as another familiar voice hit her ears. Romethia gone to see if she could help the other girl, leaving Tiael to wonder just what was making such a noise behind Semith's wing. Quietly she flicked her gaze to Jareth, arms folding across her chest as she drew herself up. "I'm fine thank you." She said, narrowing her gaze at him. Why on Pern was he worried? Was there some other motive behind it or was he actually trying to be nice? That was the problem with Jareth, you could never tell. They both danced about each other, seemed to know about each other but never voiced anything outright. It was unsettling at times, but also kept her on her toes. "You're not worried about me are you?" She teased him lightly, curving her lips slightly and wondering just whether he'd get flustered. Jareth? Probably not, but it was worth a try.

He however had become distracted, and it took Tiael a minute to piece together his next words and where he was looking. Not a Gold? No, there'd been only Greens so far....swiftly her head turned, looking at the clutch and finally seeing what Semith had been hiding. "N-no that's....that's very much not a Gold. Though it is pretty." She finally managed as her shock wore off, she felt a stab of defensiveness on the dragon's part. It hadn't asked to be born different, it seemed, right, to defend it somehow. Maybe the heat of the sands was getting to her.

The dragon in question seemed almost terrified, cringing almost in an embarrassed fashion rather than trying to find its bonded. In the meantime, another shell had split and a Blue tumbled out. A quiet noise the other side of her made her blink and she realised Romethia was talking to the unusual coloured hatchling. Glancing down the line, she didn't seem to be the only one. Tiael remained tight lipped, but she had to admit, the worry everyone expressed certainly added to the tense atmosphere that was building.

Finally though, the dragon began to move, with whining and pitiful noises it slunk along the line till it finally stopped by a boy and tried to hide from the rest of the world behind him. That would be interesting to see in a few months Tiael mused. Still, everyone else seemed relieved that the pair had bonded.

For her part, Tiael merely flicked her gaze back out to the clutch. The Blue seemed energetic, but in no rush to find its lifemate, the number of remaining eggs was growing smaller; all in all, the hatching was progressing but Tiael did wonder what would happen if the eggs ran out and she had no dragon. That could really put a stopper in things. Hopefully though, it wouldn't come to that. Still, she held her composure, watching the clutch, the hatchling and glancing now and then between Romethia and Jareth.

[Wren]

The sight of a human figure marching out across the sands caught Sheraz’s eye, and he watched with slightly narrowed eyes as he saw Leshta approaching the two hatchlings. How many times had he and the other candidates been lectured about not approaching a hatchling no matter what? Why, L’vey had even reminded them before the hatching had started. Why then, was Leshta doing so? He glared harder when the woman actually picked up the thrashing pale thing and brought it to the candidates; for Faranth’s sake, couldn’t things just leave her alone? She was clearly terrified.

But apparently Leshta was insensitive to Sheraz’s annoyed glare, and put the pale creature down without much fuss. The hatchling seemed more interested in getting away from the woman than anything else. It slunk along the line of the candidates, and Sheraz thought that, if it were a dog, it would have its tail wedged permanently between its legs. It didn’t seem right to compare the creature to a dog though, even for such a brief observation, and the man put the thought from his mind. What he concentrated on instead was the fact that the creature was coming nearer. Oh, she was so beautiful, so perfect, and Sheraz wanted her, wanted her for his own. He felt his heart rate increase, and waited with baited breath.

And then there was a voice, clear and perfect, but sadly leaden with fear, doubt and self-disappointment. It made Sheraz freeze, his mind strangely empty as it tried to deal with this new presence, this new thing, and then realisation slowly dawned, and he felt such love bubble up through him that he fell to his knees. He twisted, reaching out with one hand. “Iiateth…” He whispered, reaching her hide. The feel of her hide, even slick and sticky with egg goo, sent a shiver through him. “N-no one will hate you.” He told her, stumbling over his words as he very rarely did. “They won’t hate you ‘cause you’re… beautiful.” He hooked an arm around the base of her neck and pulled her into an embrace. She lay in his arms, weak, but seemingly relieved to be with him.

Then Sheraz became aware of another sensation coming from his new lifemate, and he looked down into her swirling eyes. “You’re hungry.” He said simply, a statement, not a question.

The dragonet squirmed uncomfortably, I can be not hungry, I don't have to eat. She looked up at him to see if he would prefer that, trying to please, but Sheraz just blinked in confusion.

No, it’s okay, He replied, testing out his mindvoice. We will get you food. And with that he stood, picking Iiateth up in his arms, and carried her away in the direction he had seen the other new weyrlings taking their charges.

---

Yippee! *does delighted backflip* Thank you so much she is beautiful *snuggles* I can't express my gratitude enough.

[twisting]

Kuriel didn’t gasp as the frightened little off color dragon was carried bodily to the candidates. She didn’t care what color it was, though she did wonder if it was healthy enough t to live. Kuriel didn’t want any part of it though, such a timid creature would become annoying. She watched coldly as it seemed to find it’s lifemate among those standing. Kuriel took this time to ponder just what kind of dragon she would like to have. The aggressive green had been too hot, the timid opal too cold. Would there be a dragonet that was just right for her?

Kuriel wasn’t certain, she didn’t even know what kind of dragon would be just right for her. What kind of dragon would fit a girl who didn’t even fit herself. Dismissing the already impressed dragonets she watched the blue scurry around the sands. This was silly, what was he waiting for. He should choose his lifemate already. Kuriel thought this whole mess was a bit disorganized for her liking. They should just hatch and go straight to their lifemates, none of this snipping off fingers or cowering in the corner. It was just messy, the whole thing.

[Spiffy]

Need sleep, post after college

Jareth:
Lopsided grin to Tiael, no reply
Watches Leshta and hatchling
Impression, blah blah blah...