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Brakiath’s annual Flight had been something of an upset for the Bronzeriders of Trine. Havenith had been unable to catch the Gold as he normally did, beaten out in a tricky move by the tenacious Jeth as the two had streaked across the sky after the large female. It had been a tight race, a lot of physical shoving in the sky as all the Bronzes – and their riders – yearned to be the first to sire the first New Age Clutch. The months following the breakthrough regarding the Myst Weed had been full of carefull feeding – giving the breeding dragons of the weyr ample amounts to hopefully boost their fertility and see more Golds and Bronzes born.

So when Bronze Jeth stepped up and left his surprised rider L’ton as Weyrleader, it was with a sort of disgruntle congratulations that N’rak had stepped down from his position to take Wingsecond in the Wingleader’s Wing. Now Trine has a new leader in town, untested in the matters of the Weyrleader and some wonder after N’rak’s state of mind. He had lead the Weyr for four years before this change… and Bronze Havenith had moped about for the span of his memory, irate and depressed that these children would not be his.

When the Clutch was finally laid, it was of medium size but the eggs were larger then average, a sure sign that the Myst Weed was working. Among the group was an obvious Gold Egg, bright and shining and regal, and it was hard to tell the difference between the possible green or blue eggs and the rest. Save for one egg that must surely be a bronze! A Bronze and a Gold was a good sign, truly, and Jeth was smug as he buggled Brakiath’s triumph to his comrades.

Left to train the new Weyrleader in a time of political instability, Abigail is often seen with the man on the Sands as she soothes the testy gold. Trine intends to maintain a positive position among the Weyrs and it will take every bit of knowledge N’rak, L’ton, and Abigail can muster to achieve.

For now, however, the Weyr is celebrating a successful clutch… and with it comes the Touching.

The Weyrlingmaster stood at the entrance to Trine’s expansive Sands, hand on a rack of spare Candidate Robes as the hopefuls lined up, milling about with nerves and excitement. When Abigail gave the nod, he turned and shouted to those gathered, voice loud and powerful and a gaze to make even the rowdiest wherry still, “Shut up and be still! The Touching’s beginning! Make your way through the eggs, touch, look but if you value your limbs, don’t fall or hurt the eggs! Bow to Brakiath first, then Abigail and be quick about it – don’t linger and for shard’s sake don’t fall! Now get out there, one by one, yes, come on…” He nudged the first individual out onto the Sands and watched as the Touching began.

His second Touching, and by the first egg there was so much less drama this time. The whole atmosphere felt different to him, just as full of excitement as the last Touching but without that undertone of tension that had surrounded the presence of Benden at their Weyr. Zerivon quickly slipped on a candidate robe and divested himself of other garments and sandals before heading out onto the sands... Ow. He'd remembered them being hot of course, but memory wasn't quite the same as experience. Rising up onto the balls of his feet so as to have as little foot as possible in contact with the heat the black-haired candidate moved towards the clutch, stopped to make his bows, and then headed onward.

The first egg he came to was the void egg, and the faint hope that had been building inside him was snuffed out like a candle as he stooped to touch its shell. He wasn't going to Impress, in fact he'd probably be mauled and die... On the other hand maybe he would Impress and then be mauled and die, thus dying in the knowledge that he was also killing his dragon. Hey, look on the bright side, at least that way he'd never have to fight the Thread. A sudden brief feeling that this egg contained more than just a bundle of gloom had no effect on Zerivon at all, he was now far too depressed to care.

Giving a heavy sigh the lithe candidate straightened up once more and started the trek towards the next egg. Why did that tiny little egg have to be so far from the others? Why couldn't they all be set a nice short neat distance apart so that everyone could just get this over quickly? Maybe it was for the benefit of the first timers, those amongst them who hadn't felt the sting of rejection yet and thought this was all fantastic were just sure that one of these eggs held their lifemate. He knew better than that. Not everyone who stood on the sands got to be a rider. Plenty of people never did no matter how many times they stood. What would he do if he was still alone when he aged out? He had no idea, none at all, he didn't want to go back to live at the Hold and do menial labor for the rest of his life but what other choice did he have?... Maybe he could find a band of Traders willing to take him in. Maybe.

Tarel was beyond excited. Even in his white robes, which were too long for him and had him stumbling every few steps--and it probably did not help that the boy had a reputation for being clumsy, he was thrilled to be on the Sands at last. Thirteen eggs. Thirteen! With so many candidates, that didn't seem like a whole lot to Tarel. He wondered if he would Impress, and what color the dragon would be briefly, before shaking his head. That didn't matter. Any dragon would be wonderful.

He made his way to one of the central eggs; the swirling egg, and found himself smiling. This large egg seemed warm and welcoming. But there was something else, too--impatience, maybe? The candidate couldn't tell. Maybe it was eager, eager and preparing to leave its shell. "I'd be excited too," he muttered to it. "First time seeing Pern, and finding yours? I can't think of a more exciting event." He kept his voice low; hoping he wouldn't be caught speaking to a currently inanimate object. "But you should grow more first. Just a bit longer!"

He ran a hand over the egg. "Be patient, okay? You'll be out soon enough."

As usual Balt was among the first candidates to arrive. For three turns the Sands disappointed him, but he always returned with a vital spirit, eager for another opportunity to find His. He paid no attention to the other candidates. Despite his ambition he loved Touching for its own sake. This was as close as he had ever come to feeling the mind of a dragon inside him. It was nothing like Impression, but he savored it nonetheless. Practically bouncing with energy he paid no attention to the Weyrlingmaster’s rant, too excited to listen to the same old speech. He only managed to contain himself because he took this event so very seriously.

After paying his respects to Queen Brakiath and her rider, he turned toward the luminous egg and gently lay his hands upon her brilliant shell. Ah, this one would make a beautiful queen! He sensed she would choose Her’s wisely. Balt tried to guess which of the girls she would pick but none of them seemed worthy, at least not in his eyes. If three failed Impressions taught him anything it was that dragons’ criteria for worthy candidates was much different from his own. ”Welcome to Trine,” he thought to the egg, pleased with himself for being one of the first to greet the unborn queen. He did not linger for long, leaving the luminous egg for the hopeful young women.

Next he touched the rocky band egg. The moment his hands brushed the surface he smiled. At his first Touching his heart leapt into his throat every time he met an egg as welcoming as this one, thinking it might be His. He was too jaded for that, now. “You want my attention? Come out here and Impress me,” he challenged. With that he stepped aside and looked around at the other eggs in indecision. He started for the swirling egg, thinking it might be another bronze, but as he reached out to touch it he shivered and looked instead at the burning egg. It was so small, yet he could not take his eyes off of it. As he touched the shell he felt as if he was holding down a wild wherry. He held on, letting the hatchling’s fiery spirit burn through him like thread.

How appropriate that he should think of thread. Ever since he was a boy he dreamed of weaving through threadfall high in the skies of Pern on the back of His, facing danger and the greatest challenge to any dragon rider all for the sake of home. He needed a dragon to stand with him. While he always fantasized about Impressing a bronze, what Balt really wanted was a dragon with spirit. ”You’re a fine dragon. I know you’ll be the first to hatch. You’ll even show up the queen, won’t you? We’ll see each other again soon.”

Forgetting about the swirling egg, Balt greeted the distant sea egg next. At every Touching he had a system of starting in the center, where the most outgoing eggs usually lay, touching the largest ones first then moving onto the medium and small. He also made a point of going out to the edges of the Sands to touch the more distant eggs, though he usually paid less attention to them. This egg didn’t seem particularly special but its warm aura still brought on a faint smile. Dragons could be so much kinder than humans.

Yet there was another side to dragon behavior, one he was reminded of when he touched the clouded egg. As the young dragon’s mind probed him his flesh prickled. He heard horror stories where newly hatched dragons mauled or even killed candidates. This one could be trouble. Making his mind calm, Balt tried to encourage the egg, ”You’ll be fine. Your’s is here somewhere, I know it.” He didn’t linger too long with this egg. Maybe all these new minds made it nervous. Thinking the egg next to it must be either brave or of a like mind, he decided to go in a different direction for the time being. He was a little relieved to find the brilliant flash egg of a much more agreeable personality. A little quirky perhaps, but inquisitive and sure of itself. ”You’re a spunky one. I bet you’re a blue.”

He touched the guiding light egg and failed to glean anything from it. He frowned, wondering if it was ignoring him. However, he noticed the orbiting egg had taken up position beside it. He went over to it curiously. Every time he caught a glimpse of the Sands this egg was in a different place – he made a note each time it moved – and he was eager to greet the young dragon. As he touched the shell he felt a warm sensation, as if the dragon was reaching out to him and trying to keep him there. He sort of liked this egg. It reminded him of his flit Shards, only friendly instead of deranged. When the egg’s attention drifted back to the guiding light egg he left it alone.

((Edit!))

Earlier, Balt noticed a female candidate wince after touching the explosive egg. Now that he had welcomed and been welcomed by the smaller eggs he returned to the explosive egg, pausing to glance again at the clouded egg. He was beginning to feel bad for that egg. It probably didn’t mean to be so angry. These eggs faced tremendous pressure to find Their’s the moment they hatched, their lives depended on it. Balt knew exactly how that felt. Every time he came to Impression he felt like his life was on the line, too. All his life he loved dragons and wanted to be a dragon rider. Nothing else could satisfy him, so in a way his life also depended on Impression. Thinking about failure, turning out like his father, made him sick. Although he rarely felt sympathy for anyone, he found himself drawn back to the cloudy egg. This time the dragon's callous judgement did not faze him, for he expected it. He even thought he understood it. Impression was life and death for every hatchling and this egg was right to take it seriously. ”I like your strength. Any candidate would be lucky to have you, if they can handle you. I can’t wait to see you on the sands.”

So then, what was next? Zerivon approached the clouded egg apprehensively and grimaced slightly as his fingers brushed the shell, this one didn't seem to like him either... It kind of made him uncomfortable actually, it felt as though it was building up to... well, he didn't know, but he did know he didn't want to be anywhere near whatever it was. Perhaps the next egg would bring him more joy... Ah, yes, the explosive egg seemed like a much nicer sort, and there was a feeling of humour coming from it that he liked. Maybe, just maybe this one would -

- abruptly bite him, apparently. Zerivon whipped his hand away, taken aback by that sudden flare up of anger. Shells, were all the dragons in the clutch like this? He remembered there being a couple of sharp feeling eggs last time but all three he'd touched so far this time had left him feeling decidedly unwanted. Well fine, no skin off his nose, he'd just go on to the next egg. Touching this one, the brilliant flash egg was a much nicer experience. It seemed to welcome him cheerfully, and to want him to stay with it. He wished he could persuade himself that this meant he'd Impress this dragon but he'd felt possessive dragons and welcoming dragons at the last Touching, the feeling meant nothing. Still, it was nice that one of them seemed to think he had better personal qualities than the average crawler.

Reluctantly moving on from the pleasant sensation Zerivon made for the rocky band egg. It was probably, no almost certainly brown or bronze so it wouldn't be for him but he'd made introductions to the big eggs last time and felt he might as well do the same today. When he laid a hand on the shell he was pleased he'd made that choice, the way it seemed so keen for his attention was kind of flattering. Lingering for only a moment to try to send it some kind of mental assurance that he wouldn't forget it, Zerivon headed over to the gold egg to greet the unhatched queen.

Eliza was absolutely beside herself with excitment - despite the fact that she'd done all of this before and had yet to be rewarded for her efforts. She just couldn't help it, oh she tried...she had spent the last few days trying to tell herself not to get her hopes up to high, reminding herself of the way she had felt a the end of all those other hatchins when she'd returned to her bunk in the candidate hall without her lifemate - but none of that really did anything in the long run. No in the long run she alway found herself just as excited and hopeful as she always was. Hatchings were infectious like that and she couldn't help but jiggle a bit in anticipation as the Weyrlingmaster gave his usual set of instructions - which of course she'd alread heard everal times before.

finally however they were released amidst the eggs and with a wave to Cetalese Eliza set of to cummune with the eggs and hopefully...her future lifemate without any hesitation whatsoever. At least she had the sense not to run right? Bowing respectully to the Queen and her Weyrwomen eliza turned her sight towards the eggs at long last.

The luminous egg was of course the firt that caught her eye - oh she was pretty sure it wouldn't be for her, what was the chance of that happening? It would be amazing of course but she wasn't going to get her hopes up - still she couldn't help but gravitate to that egg first. Running her hands across its smooth and shiny shell she was intantly caught up with the easy confidence of the gold within. Confidence is good for a queen to have she thought approvingly - even better when that confidence didn't come along with an ill temper like some overly confident riders and dragons she'd met tended to have. Mindful of the demand for them not to linger overly long Eliza sighed and moved away from the gold egg and onto the next to catch her attention.

Or rather the next two eggs as the swirling egg and the burning egg were quite close to one another. Since the swirling egg was most likely a brown or bronze by the size of it and thusly not likely to contain a dragon meant for her (though she'd certainly take the time to touch it anyways) she put her hands on the burning egg first and got the impression that this little egg though it had something better to be doing then sitting around being fussed with by a bunch of people. Well she supposed she coud relate to that in some way, there was always something better to be doing then boring chores or sitting around right? Although this egg seemed far more prideful or driven then one would expect from such a smal egg - those type of feelings ussually seemed to come from the larger and possibly metallic eggs. None the less she sent the egg some nice thoughts despite its obvious impatience at being handled before removing her hands and touching its neighbor.

The swirling egg was a sharp contrast to the little burning egg nestle up against it - why this egg seemed quite welcoming when she touched it and despite the knowledge that this egg was almost certainly meant for a boy Eliza couldn't help but send chipper greetings to the dragon inside anyways. Any dragon that welcoming and friendly was certainly worth greeting. Like the queen egg this one seemed to be filled with an inner confidence that mae eliza sure that the beast within would be an excellent leader someday. Reluctantly removing her hands from the welcoming presence she moved on to the next egg.

The Explosive egg was the next one within her sight though it was a few paces away from its narest neighbor the clouded egg. It was always intresting how the eggs grouped themselves. Laying her hands on the shell she was pleasantly suprised by the feelings radiating from the egg, it didn't seem nearly as bad as its distence from the other eggs would indicate...at least not at first, a few moments later however Eliza felt the sting of the dragons temper and snatched her hand back in surprise. Well that wasn't very nice, how could the dragone inside be so pleasant one minute and so angry the next? Clearly it would be one to watch and she moved away towards its closest neighbor.

The Clouded egg was of a smallish size and from past hatchings and the rumors she'd heard surrounding this clutch she knew that everyone thought it was likely to be a blue or a green. Placing her hands on the shell Eliza was quickly filled with a feeling of judgement, rather harsh judegment really and he got the feeling she din't quite measure up if the anger was anything to judge by - although she couldn't quite tell if the anger was directed at her precisely or something else...none the less Eliza decided that this would be another hatching to watch out for on the sands.

Having moved away from the center of the group in her explorations eliza found herself moving back towards the center now. Although the Rocky Band egg was far to large to be an egg with a dragon meant for her she none the less stopped to pay it some attention - and was glad she did because it's overwhelming sense of welcome was a nice change from the last two eggs she'd stopped to visit. Even though she knew she wouldn't impress a dragon from this egg Eliza couldn't help but pander to the little beasts desire for a little bit, ingering to lavish attention on the large egg for as long as she dared before moving on again.

Two eggs were nestled up against one another again and Eliza made her way towards them - from what all the older riders said this one egg - the Orbiting egg was quite adventurous, or at least was rarely seen in the same place twice or for very long and so Eliza went to that one first. Laying her hands on the shell Eliza had to give a bit of a laugh, don't worry she told the little dragon - I'll be your friend! Eliza thought she could really like this little beast - there was abolutely nothing wrong with being friends with everyone right? And even though it seemed to have a bit of a short attention span tha was fine with Eliza..she almost got the impression that she and the other candidates had inturrupted some sort of intense communication between this egg and its neighbor and was flattered thatit had taken the time to welcome her anyways. Patting the egg affectionately she moved her hands to the Guiding light egg.

This one was a small egg, probably a green if she was anyone to guess and while the sensations she got from the egg were certianly friendly and warm it almost seemed to be pleasantly happy being in the background of it's siblings. Still it seemed like it would be a friendy dragon so Eliza rubbed it's shell gently a few times before moving on again.

The next egg she encoountered was the Distant Sea egg who was leaning over a little bit towards the Orbiting egg in an almost protective fashion. It was a medium sort of egg but edging towards the larger scale - which eliza guess probably meant a brown and so a dragon for the boys..but it was still on the edge sizewise so she could be wrong. In any case Eliza didn't plan on skipping any of the eggs in the clutch and eagarly laid her hands on the shell to see who might be inside - and was instantly welcomed by a cheerfull and kind feelings - Eliza got the feeling that thi dragon really actually cared about everyone and thier well being. That would be a dragon anyone would be proud to have, who wouldn't abolutely love such a nice personality? And caring about others was certainly a trait that was good to have. You'll be a bnefit to the Weyr to be sure! She thought to the egg before moving off to the next in line.

Crossing back in front of the Queen egg Eliza headed to the opposite side where The Brilliant flash egg lay waiting. Placing her hands on the shell Eliza was greeted by the little dragon and couldn't help but reply back with a chipper Hi! Of her own. It was a sweet little egg and Eliza was perfectly happy to sit beside it for a few moments and lavih it with attention while she mentally chattered away with the baby dragon about the excitment of the touching and how none of them could wait for it to be born and while Eliza wasn't sure exactly how much the little dragonet really understood at this age she none the less shared with it a few details about herself as well because well...it seemed curious and Eliza could certainly relate to that. She probably would have stayed and chatted longer but she was pretty sure she'd get fussed at if she did so she reluctantly bid the little egg farewell and promised to cheer for its happy impression on hatch day before moving on.

The only eggs left seemed to be the ones on the fringes of the clutch and the closest of those seemed to be the Scattered Stars egg and approchig it first she aid her hands on the shell. This she thought to herself ..was a deep dragon, or at least thats how it came across to her a dragon who would be a think before he or she acts type of creature. It didn't seem unfriendly however, rather it just reminded her of a nice laid back sort. Eliza was sure that it would be a nice pleasant beast to impress and sent it some nice thoughts before moving on.

The next on her journey to the outide edges of the clutch was the Tailing trail egg and touching this egg revealed and instant question. A person she imdeiately thought back to the eggs question - you'll see us when you hatch it will be great! She assured the egg which seemed to be slowly warming up to her presence. Eliza got the feeling that the dragon was just a blunt sort of beast and din't really mean to be rude or cruel - it was just curious which she supposed probably explained why it was out on the sidelines - maybe it just wante to see what was out there. You'll see the world soon enough She told the little egg with a bit of a wistful tone - eliza could reate, she too wanted to explore the world someday. Patting the eggs shell in farewell she headed for the last egg in the clutch.

The Void egg was quite a bit of a trek away from the others which made Eliza just a little bit nervous - I mean i the other angry eggs in the clutch were still closer then this one then what would she find here? Still she rather hoped it was a pleasant egg, too many angry eggs always lead to someone getting hurt in the hatching and this feeling was amplified as she put her hand on the littlest eggs shell - she was right and the little dragon seemed to agree with her, not only woud someone be hurt but they would likely die. It would be awful. It took Eliza a few moments to realize that this sense of doom and despair was coming from the egg which otherwise didn't seem all that eagar to make itself known. Aww..poor beatie..whay are you so gloomy? She asked the egg though she didn't get any response, frowning slightly Eliza fet the desire to make the little egg feel better but got the sense that that was impossible. Drawing her hand away he thought she caught the sense that the dragon inside was a smart one - but it was hard to tell really with the gloomy feelings it had been surrounded with. Wishing the little egg good luck Elize turned an reluctantly made her way off the sands.