Welcome to Gaia! ::

Crimson Symphony - who had been sitting quietly on her rider's shoulder - gave a cry of horror as the golden dragons killed two of her kin. She had just moved to cling onto her rider when the bronze roared, and giving another shriek she vanished between. For a few moments A'nos stood dazed by her fear, but quickly recovered himself with a few rapid blinks and peered down at the sands once more. What idiot had let his pets get out of control like that? Well, nevermind, he'd paid for his mistake; he couldn't imagine having a firelizard die was a pleasant experience.

Jordan closed his eyes when he saw the Queen lunge for the firelizards, but it was a second too late. He swallowed and then took the risk of peeking, just in time to see her bear her teeth at her former mate. Someone was a Sharding fool. Most people were smart enough not to bring any firelizards near the Sands, let alone allow them to be there for the Hatching. Who believed their flit could be smart enough to stay out of the Queen's line of sight? More than that, the smart ones would likely have not been in the Sands in the first place.

Jordan looked back at the eggs, teeth clenched. Impressions or not, this Hatching was a disaster. He didn't think even an Impression of his own could soothe that belief. Why hadn't the Queen gone between before the Clutch had begun hatching? It would have been much easier on everyone-- humans and dragons-- involved in the process. The beautiful tri-colored Green toddling around the shells of her already-Bonded siblings and the few yet unhatched eggs remaining drew his eye as Jordan attempted to stop his quick mind from thinking any further about the negatives of the Hatching. There were enough of those that he obviously didn't need to try to find any.

The brown paused just at the front of the ranks, looking up at the stand-off between Gold and Bronze above. Tension so thick it could be cut with a knife arced between them, their gazes locked. It seemed so far away, those two mighty adults, grappling with each other's minds. He knew Yirath's was broken - shattered by despair, by loneliness, by losing half her soul and her reason for living. Knew she wanted them all Impressed, wanted the end to come at last and yet was riven by the emotional extremes of mothering a clutch of eggs.

All this he'd learned when he'd touched her mind and she'd ordered him to find his. Quietly, he called to his mother, a plaintive sound, questioning and hopeful.

Her attention snapped back to him, eyes whirling red and green and that every present, frightening grey. She'd been in pain this entire time, excruciating pain... and yet she wanted to see him well off. His call had reminded her of this and she watched as he pushed his way into the candidates.

He seemed to know where he was going and all eyes found their way to him as he padded along, looking up now and again to make sure his mother was watching him. See mama? See? He seemed to go, his efforts distracting her enough where the bronze's bravado had enflamed.

At length, he shouldered past a pair of boys to stand before one special boy and cooed at him, standing on hind legs, wings flaring a little. He leaned forward a little and his weight pressed forward as well as he braced his claws on the boy's shoulders and looked at him in the eye, Kaharmine, your Heth is with you now.



He glanced up one last time at his mother and she bowed her head, a mother seeing her child to safety, and the ghost of a draconic smile played across her lips. The fight seemed to leave her then as her wings folded and she tossed her head as she padded back to her place before, laying down on the sands just behind the clutch.

The end was close now. She could feel it.

The green hadn't stopped her stumbling about and had taken to wandering the girls, her zen-like calming efforts to soothe the girls sometimes working sometimes not. She gave a great draconic sigh of relief as the brown seemed to pull his mother back to them and turned her attention to the girls once more.

F'law could only watch the drama resulting from the entrance of the flits. The gold and bronze looked ready to go to war. That could really be bad for them and the remaining eggs. The brown on the sands did his best to defuse the situation, and it seemed to help. He breathed a sigh of relief and patted Zurith's neck. Hopefully no one else would be stupid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emkin still slightly green had to smile at the attention drawing baby. Trust the young to know when he wasn't the center of attention. Whatever he did, did appear to help. She breathed a soft sigh. The brown went on to Impress and the remaining green wandered among the girls. Was she trying to calm them? Emkin wasn't completely sure.

Her eyes were torn between the green among them and the rocking queen egg. She watched them both as best she could. And spared a few glances toward Yirath. How many eggs were left?

Eliaza had just settled against Halifanth's shoulder again when the firelizards appeared, one popping into sight after the other. They'd been warned against bringing the little lizards to the sands with them, when she'd Stood, and she was sure these Candidates had been told the same, particularly given Yirath's state, so they likely didn't belong to one of the boys and girls in robes. Still, someone had let their control slip, and from the moment they appeared, she knew. The sudden plunge in her stomach was justified by Yirath's fierce reaction and the horrible final sounds the little creatures made.

And then the bronze in her head. Used though she was to Hali's constant chatter, she couldn't have been prepared for the force of that command. Literally cringing against her green's side, a movement echoed by the flinch-and-crouch of the dragon herself, she watched Yiranth on the sands with wide eyes, not daring to look away, half afraid that if she did the Queen would really fly at the bronze above them and the Hatching would take on a whole new level of tragedy.

----

Orthoth finished his mouthful without more spraying, thankfully, and swung his head toward Stromath with a whuffled rumble of curious sound. I AM NOT SHOUTING, he answered, spirits high. I ONLY WANTED TO KNOW. YOU ARE RIGHT. THE MEAT WAS VERY GOOD. I WILL HAVE MORE.

As C'mric shoved more meat into his open mouth, Orthoth's gaze rolled on to Gneisth and amusement spread from him. Food muffled yet another attempt at a rumble, and made it sound more like a gargle instead. THERE IS MEAT IN MY BELLY, GNEISTH. MORE IS COMING. HELLO! HELLO RHODONTH, he added without missing a beat as he sank into his haunches and chewed. HAVE SOME MEAT.

C'mric cleared his throat to point out, "You are b-being too loud, Orthoth. They're a-all right here. You could speak a-a little quieter and they'd still hear you." Again his gaze went around the table and he mouthed a 'sorry' toward K'en.

The firelizards appeared before Orthoth had time to defend himself again. Yirath's screech made him temporarily forget the food and his wings flared open, wide, blocking his lifemate's view of the sands before he stepped forward, trying to get between the sands and whatever might come from them and the table that hosted his siblings and -their- mates. C'mric fumbled for his tail and tugged. "Orthoth!"

Then both of them flinched and ducked their heads when the bronze bellowed over everyone. C'mric ducked his head; Orthoth hunkered to the ground, waiting until things had settled to reclaim his feet again.

Oh, oh, good. Disaster averted for the moment, Rhodonth loosened her grip on Hers and breathed a sigh of relief. Still, feeling compelled by the close call, she let all her nearby brothers and sisters know, I love you.

Orthoth, Orthoth, be careful! If you make sounds and eat at the same time, you will choke.

She did want some meat now that things had settled some, though, and gently nudged Lilah to feed her. This didn't go so well, as, true to her words to her clutchates, it was possible to choke, even on small pieces, and she did just that. The meat caught in her throat, and the green hacked and hacked and wailed wordlessly into Lilah's mind until Hers calmly reached in and pulled it out.

The girl simply frowned at the half-chewed chunk of meat she now held, as if slightly put off by having had to do that. It was a little gross, after all. "You still want it?" she inquired matter-of-factly, "Or you want another one?"

betweens.> With this gloomy prediction Brumath hunched forward, peering at the little brown who tried to distract her.

Not answer to a gold? It was a very strange idea to get his head around, but perhaps it would have to be so.... Yet surely they could trust their old allies? What about Fort? Could they perhaps spare a queen? Not easily, nobody had golds to spare, that was the whole reason for the mess with the mystweed and the vanished ancientcrafter and.... Too many things were changing. Sighing wearily F'tiz ran his fingers through his grey hair and wondered when the world hard started to morph into a strange place that he hardly recognised anymore. Nothing like this had happened in his youth.

Brumath replied with surprising vehemence.

At that F'tiz gave a very small smile, feeling a surge of pride in his dragon and a slight lump in his throat. Through intrigue and murder and suspicion and everything else, they were dragon and dragonman just as they had been all these passed turns. They would not be crushed by the changes of the world.

K'en was very much relieved when the young brown took the initiative to draw Yirath's attention back away from the clutch father. He'd been rather worried himself with the way that she had been posturing and eyeing him. As the hatchings and Impressions continued on, however, Yirath's time drew closer to an end. With as much pain as she was in, perhaps this was good. Not any less tragic, no, but her being trapped in such a state was tragic enough in of itself. They'd just... need to go find someplace quite after this was over.

I will still be here once she has gone, Stromath reminded him, crooning softly as he gave His a nudge.

He couldn't help a smile in return. Yes, and I couldn't have ever asked for anything better. They were far more than just 'partners'-- they really were connected. Now that he had experienced this bond for himself, he could never imagine how painful it would be for it to be broken. It was no wonder that riders often went with suicide if anything happened to Theirs.

Stromath was very near to continuing his speech to Orthoth, but the spectacle on the Sands along with their father's shout to everyone was enough to put his sibling's inappropriate volume out of mind. The fools-- he couldn't have guessed why the firelizards had chosen to venture so near to their mother, but it was a costly mistake. Unfortunate though it was, perhaps the others of their kind would learn from their mistake.