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Firyal's gaze didn't follow the queen after Rinfala led her to be fed. That was not her dragon, and the brown clearly had not been her dragon. If the clutch was improbably comprised of all greens she had a dozen more chances to Impress. With sixty-something Candidates on the sands, the odds were still not good. And the clutch was not made up of nothing but greens. She had to make this Hatching count. Not that there was really a way to go about doing that, as far as she knew, but she had to try.

She maneuvered through the other girls as they regained their composure and worked herself into the straggledy line of girls nearest the eggs so that she could see what was going on. She was not one of the tall, slim creatures that seemed to populate Ista, and so if she wanted to see what was going on, she had to position her short, heavy self near the front. A part of her mind pointed out that she had already been mauled once, and that dragonets were not lightning, to be barred from striking the same place twice by their very nature, but she ignored that. Another egg was rocking.

Food. Yes, yes, food was a good idea. She was starving. Or was that Arioth? Shard, she couldn't tell. In any case, Arioth would get food first. One hand releasing Kess' robe, she stumbled towards the gold, becoming more sure of herself with each step.

Snarling with impatience, Arioth deigned to take ONE step towards Hers. Hurry or Varth will get it all! I will be angry if he gets it first! I GET FIRST! Flaring her wings, she favored her brother with a contemptuous hiss before starting to stumble towards the tantalizing smell of raw meat. If Hers wouldn't bring her to the meat, she would bring Hers to the meat!

The sight of Arioth's tail galvanizing her into action, Rinfala ran to catch up, reaching out to cautiously steady her bonded. "He won't get it first. I won't let him." It was a small miracle that they made it to the table without any further ear-piercing shrieks. "Over here?" Please, Faranth, let her be happy with the far end. Please.

What are you waiting for? Hissss. Make it good for me!

"... Crazy... ?"

The blonde had allowed Uuni to tug her for a short while, until she realized the direction they were going. The strong girl froze, stubbornly, and shook her head, eyes across the sands as she watched the brown impress, both new riders taking their unruly dragonets from the sands.

"No, that's further away from the eggs. I'm staying here." This was her fifth stand, she wasn't going to leave it early. Only two eggs had hatched! And one had gone to Rin! Kess had been sure she would. The two were perfectly vicious. "I'm well enough!"

The arm hurt very, very badly, sure, but it wasn't an emergency. She wasn't even bleeding. The adrenaline from the hatching was keeping a large portion of the pain away.

"Look, Uuni...! Another!"

The eggs were hatching.

He'd missed two -- the gold couldn't be his, obviously, due to his gender... and that brown had seemed a bit terrifying. Not that Selachii was scared, really! Surreptitiously, he pulled the damp robe loose from his wet skin and fidgeted, edging closer to the front with eager curiosity. If he got mauled, so be it! He wanted to see, to be right up front in case one would look for him... Excitedly, and with feet half-baked already through the calluses, Sela hopped back and forth a bit between the balls of his feet, as he scanned across the massive eggs, apprehensive and hopeful.

If he was honest, Selachii was less nervous than probably he should be.

Ah, good. Things had begun to settle as well as they could. Velrun had known the two who had impressed in passing if not much more. Strong personalities for strong dragons, though it'd be hard. He could see the two were still ready to go at each other.

He glanced up at the bellowing F'sey. Of course the two would have to be kept apart, even such newly bonded weyrlings would know that. With luck now things would resume as normal. The slight movements of the Arabian egg drew his focus back to the shells...with so much violence and tension so son into the clutch you could almost forget there even were other eggs. This one seemed much calmer, better mannered. Of course who could tell before it broke shell.

An amused thought curled his lips. I marked my bet that that brown would be a bronze, didn't I? Well I suppose that means I won't be getting a fire lizard after all. Heh... To think something like that at a time like this...he almost imperceptibly shook his head.

Back in the stands, Merase breathed a sigh of relief. Someone had stepped up and claimed them. That had been scary, and not what she'd been ready for. At her side, her father too seemed relieved. She knew he was more concerned that the dragonets had been kept alive than the safety of the candidates. To lose a queen would have been a real tragedy...Still, she thought it was good that no one had been really hurt in the end.

Fighting dragons. Canceling the touching wasn’t the only factor playing out in the violent start of this hatching. She wondered what the other eggs would reveal, more hungry monsters? In all honesty, she was slightly relieved to see the baby queen being attended to by her bonded. At the same time the brown finally found his lifemate as well. She liked to think this could be a touching moment, watching two beings form a life-long bond and all but after the maimings and near brawl between dragonets, it wasn’t. Sure, the little queen and her human would have a great relationship but what about the rest of the Weyr around the pair? She shook her head.

Her eyes drifted over the American Paint egg once more, man she just wanted to clean those spots- as pretty as the egg was it seemed to need a good washing. Then she spied the Quarter Horse egg, how had she missed it before? It looked like bottled deliciousness. When the next egg decided to start moving her eyes narrowed. Back to business.

Fascinating.

W'ten watched the hatchings with a completely neutral expression on his face, documenting everything for later study. Though many dragonriders believed that Touchings were no longer a necessity, this Hatching seemed to make that a moot point. Of course, further study would be needed to confirm this as an acceptable truth, but the brownrider believed that once was enough to convince any of the nonbelievers. Ill-tempered golds had produced fine offspring before, but a combination of an ill-tempered mother and no human contact until the Hatching proved to be quite dangerous. They were lucky none of the candidates had died yet.

"Your reflexes are improving, Healer Cordel. You spotted the injured candidates no less than two blinks earlier than usual. There may be hope for you yet," he remarked idly when the Healer returned. Cordel certainly had been quick to get down there and help the wounded. Both the queen and the brown had little concern for the humans that stood in the way of what they wanted, a trait that would no doubt make their weyrling days difficult. For a moment he was privately thankful for his well-mannered Kaieth. The brown responded with an amused rumble.

The Arabian egg started to rock, the motion drawing Vaythel's eyes to it. That was a pretty egg, and he hoped that the dragonet inside would be a lot less vicious than its older siblings were--if it wasn't then things were bound to start unraveling. Maybe the third hatched would be better? Vaythel really did hope so...as well as hoping that it would find its chosen a lot faster.

Here we go again.

Vaythel took his place at the edge of the male line at the front once more and waited, gulping as the egg began to shake a little more.