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Kindra turned her head when she heard eggs moving, the Brown was still wandering, she hoped he was just taking his time to find His. Two eggs were trying to hatch but one seemed more ready than the other. Her gaze flickered to the Brown again, the poor creature was a pitiful sight, torn between the need to find His and his concern over his mother. One egg hatched and it was a striking Blue, he emulated his Brown brother but less morosely and with better humor trotted towards the boys, she was pleased when it seemed to spur the Brown into his task of finding His... ah there... a boy Impressed, One more dragon in the sands to find His and still others unhatched. Kindra was getting nervous now and kept smoothing her robes and hair, still determined to look good out there.

It was one thing to watch his fellow Candidates find their matches and lead them off the sands. He was happy for all of them. Thrilled as a matter of fact. But it was entirely different to suddenly have another voice in his head and feel another soul bump up against his, his heart even more in danger of leaping out of his chest while his lungs forgot how to work for a moment. An eternity.

Cormeric Mine! Your Orthoth will help you keep them safe!

It was a wonder the big lad didn't kiss the sand with his knees. No, no wonder, since they'd locked him in place, staring at the bronze dragonet who'd chosen him--him of all people--from all the rest.

Frozen moment ended, Cormeric sucked in a deep gout of hot air and laughed, a short, sharp burst of sound that he muffled a second too late, but nothing could tamp down his grin. It stretched ear to ear and he held himself even taller and straighter than usual.

"Together," he agreed, as the dragonet dropped back to four feet and the two of them headed for the tables. "You and me, Orthoth. Y-you and me!"

The striking blue waited a few moments for his brown brother to move off with his new lifemate, humming happily at the back of his throat. Hardly a hint of grey remained in his eyes now, clearly whatever else this young one was he was impossible to depress for very long at all. After stretching out his wings and glancing briefly over at the girls, he quickly proved that he wasn't the sort to spend long agonising over anything at all. Giving a trill, he trotted confidently over to Alain and reared up on his hind legs, placing his forefeet on the youth's chest.

“Yeah, looks like she’s letting them though,” Zhac agreed, watching a few more hatchlings clamber over to the lines of candidates. Not for the first time, he was glad he had never been searched as a boy, when he would have thought it was an incredible honor. The brown keening over his mother disturbed him somewhat, and he eyed the queen with a set mouth. “Yeah, it would likely have been better if she went just after the weyrwoman. It’s good to have so many of the larger colors – after all those green-laden clutches before, the wings will need the stamina. But see how the hatchlings are paying her attention still? When she goes every dragon in the weyr is going to lose it. Hopefully the little ones aren’t too shaken. They’re pretty sensitive – we could lose a few…”

He could tell the little dragon was starting to slow down now. That gave him a chance to breathe and look around. The number of dragonettes standing by the table was steadily increasing while the number of unhatched eggs decreased. Falaw..... no F'law wondered how many more were left. The sounds the bronze and brown made touched his heart, though at first he didn't realize why. Then he felt the bond between him and Zurith and had a better idea. That love would be something to explore for the rest of their lives. He also realized, that he would never be alone now. F'law silently thanked his father for insisting he go to the weyr.

His attention was drawn by the flash of a lighter blue. All the beasts to hatch so far had been handsome. The light blue found his when he put his paws up on some boy's chest. There was only a few eggs left. At a meep from Zurith, F'law went back to feeding his charge.

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Emkin resigned herself to waiting as the dragons headed for the boys. It was their choice. She did her best not to fidget on the hot sands. Her eyes locked onto the hulk of the golden queen protecting her eggs. Sweet and sad all at the same time, and the reaction of some of the babies to her. They knew. Emkin looked toward the girls to see how they were doing. There was still the queen egg to consider. When would she hatch and reveal her glorious self?

The clutch was hatching much more quickly now and all things taken equally, it had been rather straight forward - the young had Impressed swiftly and surely, none had gone Between... and three bronzes and browns now graced the Sands. Whatever the Ancientcrafter had done to foster health and potency in the plants had worked, and well.

The Weyrleader, however, was scowling as he watched the proceedings from the usual perch. The ancientcrafter was gone and they didn't know the ingredients or methods the ancientcrafter had used.... and he was not going to trust another Ancientcrafter to step into the other's place. They'd received many a flit regarding the employment of the not-entirely-sane individuals as of late, most wishing to cash in on the fame working for a Weyr apparently gave them.

Below, with Yirath curled around her eggs, nosing them gently as they rocked and legs and wings and heads began to emerge, he sighed. Not that it would matter anyway. The new Goldrider would be at least two, maybe three, turns off of taking up the mantle - it would be suicidal to put a child in the rank of Weyrwoman while her bond was fresh. But, he was reminded by his dragon, they were thinking too far into the future right now. The eggs needed to hatch, to make it past the dead gold, and Impress.

Not an easy feat, all things considered.

The gold crooned encouragingly, having retreated in her to focus only on the eggs and the one duty left to her. In her embrace, two eggs had hatched - a bright and striking blue and spilled from the honourable champion egg and a coo from the unquestionable love egg revealed the green within. Lifting her tail to unblock the path, the dragonets warbled at one another, nuzzling briefly, cooing, and started off; the green headed towards the girls and the blue to the boys.

Watching the eggs, two more cracked and revealed two more dragonets. A blue and a green! They seemed to be quite even tempered, even laid back compared to some of the other hatchlings that had burst from their eggs. The blue seemed to have his sights set on the boys. The green though, was coming their way. Dezima hoped they didn't have a repeat of the last green that came to them. Her eyes briefly flickered towards the Queen, but she seemed more content to encourage her eggs to hatch instead of coming after female candidates.