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There seemed to be a noticeable sigh of relief sweep through the cavern as the gold hatchling impressed. Well, at least that was her dealt with. That left only the bronze; and his pride, the blue; who had so far only sat and watched, and the one remaining egg that had not seen fit to move all hatching. It was now, in this late stage that worry for the intricately patterned, round, egg began to emerge. It had been a long while since the last egg to hatch had done so, yet this one did not even seem to shake with the efforts of the dragon to escape. Dud eggs were never a pleasant way to end a hatching, but it was known that there were times that these things happened. It could not be avoided and no gold managed to escape them being in her clutches.

The gold's impression however was not met with as much relief by some as by others. Serval gave a slightly distasteful grunt as he looked at the pair. Let them have each other, he had no interest in either girl anyway, a pig-headed dragon and a silly human. With a dismissive snort for good measure the bronze turned sharply away, it was then that something caught his eyes. Something that made the bronze dragon bristle with irritation. Despite his injuries the hatchling dragon darted forward, his progression hindered only once as he wobbled drastically, his leg threatening that it would not take his weight if he continued this dash.

Luckily it was not long before the dragon arrived where he wanted to be. Swinging his head and knocking a reaching hand away as an aggravated huff made his disapproval vocal. The dragon drove himself between the two candidates, wings flared and beating toward the girl. Still he did not growl, nor snarl, this time. This was an irritated shepherding, not a rage-fuel attack or a mean-spirited game. Back, back away now. Just as Serval did not need their help, his doesn't need yours either. His was strong, like he was. They did not need help.

Once the girl had been shooed back what Serval considered an acceptable distance he looked back over his shoulder at the male candidate who had now managed to pick himself up and was casting wary glances at the hatchling. Why are you looking at me that way, Mine? We do not need her help, we have each other. The dragon sounded thoroughly unimpressed that his helpful behaviour was not being appreciated. I knew you did not want her so close, of course your Taivalth would know, so I moved her. Are you not happy with me, my Fitcher? I did not even use my claws, though it would have been much faster to do it that way. The dragon turned his body and stared expectantly at the boy. He had not hurt the girl, not even done anything that really would have scared her (Even though that would have been fun) because he could tell that his did not want her seriously harmed or upset. So why was his chosen simply staring at him like some silly herdbeast?

Hennory

Okay, he'd admit it.. the bronze shooing away Nilah brought a grin to his face, even as he was still digging sand out of his eyes, and spitting grit out of his mouth. The bronze had done so without so much as hamstringing anyone, which was rather surprising in and of itself.. though perhaps a nice surprise considering he figured not even Fitcher would want to see the flustered Nilah get attacked.

The queen had Impressed, and now the badly injured bronze. The tightness in Hennory's chest eased, feeling confident that Fitcher would manage to keep the dragon alive by sheer willpower alone.

Blinking away the last of the irritating grains, Hennory questioned whether he should get up or not. Maybe he should just.. stay seated till the entire thing was over, but that was becoming less feasible as the sands beneath him began to go from burning to scorching on his hind end. With a grunt, he stood, glancing around to stare curiously towards the remaining blue and the last egg. He frowned slightly, wondering if it would hatch.

There were not very many candidates leftover, and the two groups really weren't groups any more. In fact, with only three of them left and Hennory being the last of the males unimpressed, standing on the 'boy' side seemed silly. And lonely. He groaned and got to his feet, looking around to find a sandal that had went flying when he fell and shoving it back on his foot. Now that the two injured dragons were now Impressed, perhaps the blue would not keep them waiting, and hopefully the Pangolin egg would hatch. Dud eggs did happen, he'd heard, but he certainly hoped that wouldn't be the case here, both for the sake of his own odds of Impressing, and because the Weyr would no doubt need every available dragon to fight thread.

That thought made his throat tighten a bit. He was no doubt nervous about the thought of risking his life, but he assured himself that it would be worth it. Dying early with purpose seemed better than living a long and useless life.

Perhaps he'd just make sure him and his dragon would learn to duck well, assuming he Impressed. He certainly hoped so.

Discreetly, Hennory began to shuffle towards the small group of remaining candidates, feeling safer in numbers. He nodded toward the girls in acknowledgement, giving the two of them a cool smile before turning to face the remaining dragonet and egg to wait for their next move.

Mairin

Mairin breathed a sigh of relief when the bronze finally found his partner, it was good that he had chosen although the young woman was admittedly a bit sad he'd stuck to the rules and picked a boy. Then again with all the trouble he'd already caused anymore chaos from the bronze might have set half the Weyr against him before he'd even finished his first meal.

Before she'd had too much of a chance to be disappointed Mairin's attention was drawn back to the last egg in the clutch and it's nearby blue sibling. The small egg that had held a timid presence before was unsurprisingly the last one to hatch. What was surprising , at least to Mairin, was that a brown had appeared from it . Now the two males lay together on the sand, so close they were practically touching. She wondered if the two liked each other already, she had heard that some dragons were hatched with a predisposition towards or against some of their siblings. It was another thing about dragons that Mairin found odd but sort of interesting.

With things having calmed down the young woman made her way back towards where the remaining candidates were mingling, waiting to see who would become the Weyr's last two weyrlings. "I wonder how soon dragons can learn to swim," Mairin murmured to no one in particular." Dragonets grew fast and left their awkward first hours behind quicky but not every creature or person took to swimming easily. The dark haired girl fiddled with the end of her braid and hoped she'd get the chance to see at least one of the babies have their first swim before she went back to the sea.

Pangolin stared at Fur Seal and Fur Seal stared at Pangolin. The two brothers lay nose to nose and looked deep into each others for eyes for what seemed the longest time. How would these two newborn creatures see each other? As friend and brother or enemy and rival? It was the blue that broke their gaze, blinking slowly and causing the brown to shoot up into a sit, pulling his head back away from him. Fur Seal whurred lazily at the others sudden motion. Pangolin gave a questioning chirrup and seemed to relax as his blue brother nuzzled his nose further into the warm sand. Climbing to his feet the brown happily nosed under the other's jaw before turning and happily shuffling away.

And it seemed for a moment that it was all perfect, until the dragon seemed to become increasingly nervous as he moved away from his companion. A too loudly spoken word from the stands sends his head whipping around, before a rumble from a dragon above steals his attention. The little dragon stares up at the older dragons perched high above him, stepping backward and craning his neck to see them better. They were so loud and so big against him. Would they hurt him?

A frightened yelp erupts from Pangolin as he backs straight into a candidate. Not even pausing to look at the girl he quickly trundled away, keeping his head and body low to the ground and looking anxiously back and forth. The brown raised his wings slightly as though to form a shield over himself. Given the candidates a wide birth the dragon passes them all without so much as a glance. This hatchling already knows where he is going.

Mine, where do you go? Quickening his pace Pangolin near breaks into a run as he approaches the exit to the cavern. Slowing to a shuffling trot the brown looks up at the tall candidate beside him, his eyes in a slow whirling rainbow. Sorry I took so long, mine, I did not want to come out while it was so loud and so frightening. Were they going now? Was it time for them to leave? That would be nice, then he and his Rissa could spend time together without all these busy people around. Your Niskith is very hungry, mine. Will there be things to eat where we go? Even if there was not, Niskith would follow Rissa. He did love her dearly and knew that she knew what was best in the end. He need only follow.

Reserved for Fitch