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Hunger won out over protectiveness. And at any rate, the newly Impressed were supposed to keep themselves out of the way by the feeding tables so that the sands didn’t turn into a hopeless jam of confusion, he knew that. Blyth needed meat in her belly, and that would be his job for the next little while.

Still, he couldn’t help revising his opinion of Roar somewhat. She’d seemed so – so noble and fierce, somehow, in the egg, and now in the light of day she was… petty. Cruel. Her fierceness was being directed against targets who couldn’t fight back. That was what made him recoil from it, Bakarn realized: the Candidates had no way of defending themselves, there was nothing you could do when a baby dragon was bearing you to the ground and tearing you up, because if you fought back and it went between it was a crime beyond comprehension. He couldn’t respect a dragon that heedless, and he was glad that the Commander blue didn’t seem to have the sharding patience for it either.

My brother? Blyth blinked up at Bakarn, then looked out at the chaos on the sands, and bobbed her head in cheerful acknowledgement – Bakarn remembered, even before hatching, her egg had been angled towards the blue’s. He could use someone to cheer him up. But he takes his job very seriously! I’m sure he’ll handle things just fine.

But when Yevalee lay bleeding, when Seytev put himself in harm’s way, when things got worse and worse and worse Bakarn couldn’t help it, his feet were moving without his conscious mind actually getting involved, he had to, he had to –

There was a solid green weight, pressing against him. Blyth reared up onto her hindlegs and braced her forelegs on her rider, crooning softly, leaning into him with her wings curving around him gently. Across the bond came nothing more than a wave of wordless assurance and affection. Reluctantly he sat back down, let Blyth climb into his lap and keep him there, keep him from running heedlessly into a situation he would likely only make worse. Still, his arms stayed wrapped tight around her body, the tension evident in the lines of his shoulders and back as he clung to Blyth, willing them all to be all right. More dragons hatched, and the longer he watched, the more clear it became that Hiraeth’s clutch was not all right, not at all. Peth’s fits, an atrophied foreleg, strange feet –

Poor Venk. Poor Hiraeth. Bakarn’s heart ached for what they must be feeling right now. He ran a hand gently over Blyth’s body in between feeding her bites of meat – just touching her, reassuring himself that his girl was whole and strong and healthy and here. His good girl.

Seytev was still out there on the sands, still trying to get Yevalee off to safety, and no healers seemed to be responding. “Hey,” Bakarn called out to his fellow new weyrlings at the feeding tables, “does anyone know if dragons can bespeak other dragons they haven’t met before?” From what he’d seen briefly of Bereck, the Masterhealer seemed like the type who’d be willing to kick a few asses (verbally, not literally) to get his underlings in gear. And he did owe Seytev one for the assist at the Touching. Bakarn wasn’t about to go wandering off into the Stands in search of healers, but if he could get a message to Berath…

“I think that is a problem” Aeglentine managed, the skinny candidate finally looking up. If it were possible for her eyes to get bigger… they just had. Clearly he was here for one of them… but who? After a moment, she raised a now-free hand and managed a little wave in response to the trill.

“okaywhatdowedo?" she hissed to her companion.

Oh shaff, this was bad. He was looking right at them. At least he didn't have the red angry eyes. He was sat there calmly so maybe if they just smiled and said 'hello' he'd get back to whatever it was he was doing. He looked to be taking a rest and she could imagine all those stairs would be tricky, especially for one that seemed to have the issues with moving around he did. Stairs were hard.

"He doesn't seem angry. Maybe we should just leave him to it?" She sounded doubtful to her own ears. Brilliant taking charge there, Vanavia. Great job. Still, Aeglentine seemed to have the right idea and Vanavia also lifted her hand in a wave, even managing a little smile. Thank Faranth for all those turns of learning to fake it.

Smith did not share this apprehension. Not even a little bit. The blue gave his own baby warble at the larger blue. He was fun! Come play with Smith, his girl and this other girl! They were nice! They petted Smith, he bet they would pet him to. Come over here! The blue trilled his invitation and eagerly wiggled back and forth. None of the bigger ones ever wanted to play, but this one did! Oh they would have so much fun and play so many games!

Kialynka had found herself drafted to help butcher the meat for the baby dragons. Not as tedious as cleaning so she set to with a will. The meat piled up quickly beside her, was scooped into a bucket and carried off. Several full buckets later and Kia stopped to wipe her brow. Thankfully with a damp cloth and not her bloody hands.

She found buckets of meat thrust into her hands as a kitchen worker ordered her to take it to the Sands. Eh. It'd be a break from cutting it up. Kia set a brisk walk out of the kitchens and headed toward the humming. It had been going on for awhile now, but she hadn't really been interested in going to see. Now she was going to get a close up view of the new dragons. She got to the entrance of the Sands and identified the meat table immediately.

"Who needs more?" as she approached the newly hatched dragons and their partners she asked and glanced around at them. If no one was going to claim it from her right away she'd simply leave it on the table in easy reach and go back to the kitchens.

((If I erred in some way please let me know and I'll correct it. Assuming meat is chopped in the kitchens and brought to the Sands.))

The blue trilled again and waved back with one of his huge forefeet. he replied in tones that danced an odd beat and whispered of old stories. he continued,

Things were moving quickly – green for Kidder, green for Alcine, green for Deru, blue wandering off towards the healers and another off into the stands – was that why the healers were distracted, had one of them just Impressed? Both blues to non-Candidates? And the entire rest of the clutch was greens. Five greens, two blues, and a brown who’d hatched a good sevenday early, thanks to Zarike’s little stunt. The weyr always needed greens, that was true, but – Bakarn had seen enough clutches to know the usual range of variance, and this wasn’t it.

A green approached Seytev and Yevalee, and Bakarn brightened immediately, eyes alight, thinking – she was leaning on Yevalee. Which was good. The poor fella’d been mauled up something awful, he deserved to walk away with a bonded to look after him.

He’d made a promise and he wouldn’t go back on it. Everything was still gonna be just fine.

Right…?

When she'd asked her question, it was a human she expected a response. Kia looked slowly around the table though she was still a bit away. No one spoke up to claim the meat she carried, but someone did. She stopped as a large winged blue charged up to her from the sands. Since no one spoke for it, she made no move to get around him. Kia eyeballed the dragon and then looked up as a boy, his rider she assumed, spoke.

"Aye," that was clearly obvious. She pushed the first bucket toward him. "Better get it into him then." Kia had no desire to feed the dragonet, though he didn't look like he was going to grab the meat from the buckets himself. She held onto the second bucket. The blue was still between her and the table, which is where she would have rested it, and she didn't want to set it where it might get sand in it or tipped over.