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Impression?

...Bereck abruptly felt remarkably stupid. Given one of his favorite apprentices had just found her bondmate however he was less cross about that than he would usually be. Smiling faintly, and faintly ruefully, Bereck stuck the end of his cane into the sand and lent on it. "Well then, congratulations to you both. You'd better take him off and feed him."

When Becka did just that Bereck gave a small nod of approval and turned back to watch the rest of the hatching, firmly ignoring the throbbing pain in his side. It was his own sharding fault for reacting like that.

Up on her perch Berth rumbled deep in her chest and raised a wing to 'wave' back at Becka.



C'tis was fond of the affection and playfulness but he drew the line at having his cheek pinched and lent back out of range with a small scowl. Before he could say anything however there was a very very loud screech from the Sands. C'tis' head snapped around, dark eyes focusing on the Sand, expecting to see blood and guts.

What he actually saw was....

Rochelle collapsed into giggles and C'tis snorted, shaking his head slightly. "Hey, at least she didn't get a gold or a silver." Despite his words he was kind of happy for the girl, in a slightly distant sort of a way. She was wet, yes, and she had slapped Rochelle but having lived through those awful couple of weeks with her and having had his face stitched up by her he was a little pleased that the skinny little thing got to be happy.



And there, at last, was a brown. Kleos relaxed a little at the sight and did another mental tally of the eggs and dragons. Twelve eggs, four greens (one unbonded as yet), three blues, one unbonded brown, four eggs as yet unhatched. One of those eggs was large, brown or bronze, the others small. Another green or two was to be expected, maybe a blue, and maybe an atype. Perhaps they had all just become accustomed to clutches with large numbers of large dragons after the initial re-introduction of mystweed fed bests into the golds' diets? Sunnath had been born from a clutch of two golds, a couple of bronzes and several browns she believed so perhaps the fecundity had carried through the bloodline. That was an interesting possibility, but she didn't have the knowledge to judge whether or not her speculation might have any basis in fact. Perhaps if there was time later she would find a healer and ask their opinion.

Moriath agreed, speaking to the same dragons as before. Eggs were perhaps more resilient than they were given credit for, the ones that had been stolen from Sunnath and Hyweth and the heat of the Sands altogether had hatched perfectly well after all.

Kindra was so relieved when a Brown Hatched, she knew Narisa would have been very worried if all Cepheith had clutched was Greens and Blues. Kindra was worried too, Narisa was her friend, Ceph was Suunath's friend. Despite what happened to Suunath's eggs they'd hatched well and only one Runt too. She wondered if any of the remaining unhatched eggs would be runt colors, she'd never say as much to Narisa though. She looked down from her perch near Suuanth and gave Narisa a reassuring smile, whether the woman saw it or not was another matter.

Suunath was pleased to see a Brown in Cepheith's Clutch. She may not be as devoutly Benden as Kindra was and she never really had been, she was as pleased with her Crimson Daughter as she was with her Gold daughter, as long as they were healthy she still couldn't help but pick up off Kindra's mindset too. Unlike Kindra she didn't wonder about the colors of the unhatched eggs, just that they hatched and Impressed, she'd feel bad for her fellow Gold should anything happen to any of Cepheith's babies. "The storm was unfortunate but your swift thinking kept them dry sister Cepheith" she said to the same dragons as before. "Thank you Cepheith, I did not have a storm like that to contend with though, you did wonderfully" she said to Cepheith alone.

Kaeyne saw the reason behind the Revolution. Every time he thought of the color inequality, the unfairness of riders versus non riders, of hide to hide, it brought a distasteful tinge to his mouth and stuck in his throat. They had a point, those Wherholders. Even the blood made sense, if you thought about it, save for the innocents. He just happened to be doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, with little understanding of the issues. Never the less... they had their reasons. Ildresaak merely pointed them out.

"They're like that because of the bigots," Kaeyne continued his staring at the brown, more irritated than encouraging it - him - to Impress to any of his wonderful heterosexual fellow Candidates. Arms crossed over his chest, tighter than before, and from the very side of his gaze, he saw another shift by the eggs. "But it's life. This is probably the bitter sneering of someone that can't Impress a ranking dragon, take it with a grain of salt. Any preferences on color?" If he weren't completely turned off dragons, that was. "Something else hatched, didn't it."

And Kaeyne was speaking in harsh, low tones, and Ildresaak wondered if his father had had a point, in siding with the revolutionaries. There were...there were reasons, he realized idly. There were things that made it the case. And then Kaeyne said something that made Ildresaak flinch and glance over at him - and he rubbed the back of his neck suddenly. Being unable to Impress...Faranth, that was what it was, wasn't it? It limited people based on their very being, on something they couldn't control.

"I don't have much choice, either," he confessed quietly. Ildresaak had no illusions as to his own preferences, nor to the fact that as far as he and Kaeyne knew, the world was limited for anyone who didn't fancy women. He watched the Discreet egg with an expression of quiet confusion, frowning as he finally processed the fact that brown or bronze, it didn't matter. What color dragon a person rode could tell you more about them than should be possible - and yet not at all. "I don't...I don't know about color. I don't know if it matters," he said quietly, looking from Watchful to Discreet to Kind and Keen.

He wondered briefly, idly, if any of the eggs in this clutch would hatch an atypical color, one of the mutants. He didn't know how someone told, unless the eggs simply didn't hatch. Those didn't choose the way browns and bronzes did. He wondered idly what kind of tension there must be for those boys who did fancy women, and women only. To know that the whole of Pern was spread out for you, to be able to wonder if each dragon you saw was possibly yours, rather than to immediately be able to rule out half of those who hatched.

The tension must have been exhausting. "I think I'd rather have a green than a blue," he said suddenly, looking over to the feeding tables where Corloss and his blue were standing. Stupid, spur-of-the-moment thinking, but somehow, the greens he had seen today seemed...more like the kind of dragon he'd want to have. The blues had been loud, or serious, or nasty. The greens hadn't.

Kind and Keen's change of direction caught Ildresaak's attention quickly, and he looked up as the green moved in a gallop in the boys' direction. The egg that had been his favorite, the sweet little thing that had been dancing in front of the girls - and she was coming this way? She was moving quickly, skidding to a stop in front of the boys.

Ildresaak, there you are! I am Ellibreth, and I'd rather have you than anyone!

And she surged forward, straight toward Ildresaak, hitting him but not hard enough to knock him over, just the delighted excitement of hatchling finding Hers. And then Ildresaak was on his knees, with his arms wrapped around a gangly hatchling green, pressing his cheek to her shoulder while she crooned and clambered half-into his lap, spreading sand and sticky, half-dried albumen all over his robes and face and hair.

"You - Faranth, Ellibreth!" He laughed, grinning, giddy, unable to contain his own delight at the beautiful green in his lap. "You're beautiful" he said quietly.

You were being ridiculous, brooding over here, she answered, nibbling at his hair and then looking over his shoulder at Kaeyne. I don't know if His is out here somewhere or not, but he should be happier, she remarked. And then, without really thinking, she snorted and trilled at Kaeyne. Cheer up! she called brightly. Or you'll scare them all off. It was cheeky, and she knew it was cheeky, and Ildresaak - I'saak? I'dre? Faranth, who knew! - scooped her up and stood up abruptly, blushing over the dragonet's wings at Kaeyne.

"Sorry!" he said. "Sorry - she's - thanks." He trailed off, shrugged awkwardly, but he couldn't stop smiling. "See you on the other side," he said quietly, hopefully. "Thanks for standing with me."

And then he was off, moving quickly, still carrying Ellibreth - his Ellibreth! - as he all but ran to catch up with Corloss.