Welcome to Gaia! ::

Troiseth turned and stared at his loud brother. After a short moment, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. Pieces of meat still clung to him as he flicked the food out. Mine...food fight?

A'in stared at his and laughed. "Here we are, needing to be somewhat serious and you want that?" He looked around them and smiled. I would, but that is a waste of food. If you want though, be my guest.

I'm not sure I want any at all, the green debated. What if it happens again?

Lilah rolled her eyes at her charge. Then I'll pull it out again. You can't not eat, Rho, so just eat. And chew more this time.

Rhodonth eyed the meat with some amount of trepidation, but was forced to concede to Lilah's logic. If she didn't eat enough, she would certainly be unwell, whereas if she ate, she only might choke. Fine, give me that one again. It is halfway there already anyway. This time, she managed to down the food without incident.

The Sands were clear once more… and the smaller eggs were still now as the Gold Egg hatched. All eyes settle upon it as the metallic, shining shell grew covered in spiderweb cracks. Then, at last, a foot poked through on one side, and a wing quickly followed suit on the other but It was at an odd angle to the foot. Fear washed through the Weyr. Had the gold within grown up with mangled limbs? How was it she was hatching then?

Hundreds of people sat forward as a hush fell over the Sands and even Yirath, lifting her head to watch intently, seemed to keep her breath. A heartbeat later, she crooned softly to the gold, an almost private sound that floated up off the Sands.

Another wing emerged, this time at odds to the first one and the Weyrleader sighed. It was a mangled hatchling if this was any indication. They would have to slay the poor creature before it Impressed, to save the Rider’s life and put the newborn out of its misery.

Then the egg split further and a tail flicked out, it motion echoed by a second tail and W’lin quirked his head to the side. What?

A bleat that half sounded like a laugh and a protest issued from one throat and an anwered, echoing call from a second voice carried up.

Two voices?
Two tails?

No…. W’lin leaned forward, a motion echoed by his bronze, who leaned so far forward on his perch he was bracing part of his weight with an arm against the flat face of the clif. Around them dragons and people leaned forward, necks stretched as if to see better.

A mass of golden hide tumbled onto the Sands then, all entangled limbs and laughter that writhed and wiggled and slowly drew apart.

W’lin gasped. Apart. Yes, apart. Two whole dragons, perfectly formed – if small – were gaining their feet on the Sands below. Two.

Two!

Twin Golds! He could hardly believe his eyes. Had there ever been twin Golds? Not in recent memory, though he’d heard of twin greens before… but not twin golds. Never twin golds.

And Benden had them. Yirath, in all her glory, had been guarding twins. Her ferocity was explained now and he shook his head as his bronze bugled a greeting to the pair and praise for the queen. A few people were applauding and it swept around the Sands like wildfire. Whoops and calls and excitement flashed into existence, echoed by Yirath’s sound of humming as she arched her neck proudly, welcoming her daughters into the world she would soon leave to them.

The political implications of such an event, however, were not lost on W’lin and he shook his head. Count on Kestril and Yirath to ensure Benden’s future even at the cost their own lives. Pride swelled in his breast and he stood tall, chest out.

There was hope yet.

The two little ones hiccupped and played with each other, tumbling over one another and calling out in a friendly rivalry that was even now, moments after birth, evident. They were beautiful, each echoing the other’s hide and with eyes whirling bright, beautiful colours shot through with the red of hunger, the Weyr breathed a sigh of relief. They would Impress.

They had to Impress. Too much rode on those new shoulders.

F'law heard the calls and had to look back at the eggs. Two golds?!?!?! There was going to be two very happy girls soon he guessed. It was also good they got along, sharing one shell and not could have been bad. He grinned at the antics. Benden must be proud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emkin gasped in dismay. Everything seemed about to go wrong. All the other dragons didn't have limbs like that. But everything was more than alright. The shell split and reveled its beautiful contents. Twin Golds. Oh how Yirath must be so proud! She felt her eyes go moist and shuffled. They were so cute! Emkin smiled as they played on the sands.

Gneisth half-danced at the hatching of the twin golds, nudging first His and then His' own twin, eyes whirling in mirth. It was a pity there were not girl-twins to Impress to the twin golds, but the brown was sure they would find acceptable women to choose in spite of that.

B'nen grinned, looking to his brother. "As if there was any doubt--it'll be hard to outdo this Benden clutch!" It was hard to resist the infectious hope amongst the onlookers at the revelation, so B'nen didn't even try. Two golds, to replace the tragic loss of their mother...even if the Hatching did end on a sour note with Yirath's leaving, there would be plenty to celebrate afterwards.

A squeal of surprise and laughter escaped Nyosh. She couldn't help it. She watched as the twin golds played together. Twins! Yirath had done them proud. Now as long as they Impressed alright. Nyosh thought they would. This clutch had been very easy on the Impressions. She leaned forward to watch eagerly.

The twin golds, equal in size and bearing touseled and jostled, play-fighting as they made their way towards the girls by sheer instinct. The whoops and the claps up above only distracted them for a moment or two as the pair drank in the attention. One even dipped a bow that turned into a leap as she pounced on her sister.

They'd grown in the egg together and it was obvious that regardless of rider they would always be bound - for better or worse - as they grew. Rolling through the front line of girls, they knocked over a few but didn't pause to consider the poor souls as they scrambled and separated, using the crowd of girls as a playground rather then potential lifemates.

One darted towards the other and her twin ducked behind a girl, hip-checked her off balance, causing her to stumble across the gold's path.

Beyond, Yirath growled, loud enough for the loose rocks to shudder and jump.

Brynja's jaw hung open for a moment. This right here? This was a story that didn't need any embellishment or extra tricks - they were gorgeous. Telling people that twin golds had hatched would be in future just about enough to make their jaws drop in turn, which would be awesome fun.

Larth asked slyly, swallowing the gobbet of meat he'd just been fed, and very very blatantly fishing for compliments. Brynja smacked him on the nose with a giggle (of course he was gorgeous), paying more attention to the other new weyrlings around them now - especially the loud ones - at least, until Yirath growled, which... well, it kind of spoilt the happy feeling, remembering that the poor mad murderous thing was still there. A feeling of reassurance from Larth soothed her a little, although he was now watching the two golds with more then a little glee, as opposed to demanding more food.