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Most of Luci's concentration was eaten alive trying to keep Dorath in one place, in one piece. Instincts were still at war with logic, and they were still winning. She could spare just enough to register what was going on around her. She heard what Camryn said, but couldn't pay her enough attention to recognize who she was. "Of course," was her instant answer. There was no pause because there was nothing to think about. What else would she say? "Go right ahead."

The request, for the briefest of times, sent a soothing message to the gold that things were okay; things were safe. But luck was not on their side that day, and a clumsy female candidate gawking at the queen egg walked just a little too fast. She stumbled, and although the egg barely moved an inch, Dorath roared as if the crowd was armed with hammers, positioned to attack.

D'astel hated himself for jumping, but how could he not? That noise may have shaken all of Pern! As soon as his hearing was back, he again assured the candidates, "Everything is alright! Please be more careful not to fall!" It was amazing how Dorath, of all golds, was giving them this much trouble so far. Something to do with who her rider was, he suspected. Kentoth, come here and see if you can settle her down.

Not six fast-paced beats of the candidate's hearts later, the large bronze trotted in like he owned the place.

--Then he slunk back out after Dorath snapped warningly at him.

"Nice," Luci snickered quietly, earning an unusually harsh look from the Weyrleader. Hurriedly, she cleared her throat. "--way to set a very, very bad example." Just watch the candidates and ignore him, she told herself, and watch she did.

Anale jumped at the roar from Dorath, jerking her hands back from the sweeheart and springflower eggs, her eyes darting towards where the queen hunched protectively, her eyes a flicker of colors and emotions. For a moment, the young woman had to press a hand to her heart to still its fluttering, taking deep, calming breaths. Animals responded negatively to nervousness, no reason why a dragon would act differently. She needed to be calm, not just for the queen, but for the eggs and unborn dragonets as well.

Green eyes widened as the bronze strutted in and was just as quickly sent back out, unable to hold back a twitch of her lips at the way the queen put him in his place. Maybe... it was just mother's nervousness that prompted the gold to act so fierce. Surely the weyrwoman wouldn't let her own dragon hurt the candidates, so what did she have to be afraid off? Still... Anale moved slowly and carefully as she stepped into the center of the egg pile, reaching now for the cluster of four there. There wasn't too great a chance of her impressing one of these, since their size hinted at bronzes and brown, but it would only be polite to offer them a greeting, since if she impressed, she would own a sibling of their's. A stroke and a little pat for the largest egg, admiring its warm colors, before she offered a press of her palm to the two leaning on each other with a strange feeling of tension. Troublemakers, maybe, or just brothers who like to compete?

Before she turned away, a splash of red caught her eye and she smiled as she looked down at the small egg tucked up against the two large ones. A green by its size, surely, but such a bright, bold one... She gave it a soothing stroke and a murmur of appreciation. That one would surely stand out in this group when it was born, as much as it's shell stood out now.

The longer Anale moved among the eggs, the more she felt a little seed of hope taking root inside of her. Surely, with a clutch this size and all these different eggs to impress, one of them would choose her. She didn't dare hope it would be anything as impressive as the queen, but maybe a little green or blue was in her future. A beautiful dragon that would carry her into the skies... Her healer dreams seemed dulled when placed next to this new dream of open skies and rocky weyrs. How could she ever go back to that mundane life, after something as magical as this?

What an idiot.

Honestly, who would go rushing blindly around the sands on Touching day? Who tripped on sand? Of all days to take it slow and thoughtful, it would be today. Still, Doremy satisfied himself with an eyeroll and a sigh. If only it were possible to apologize to the Queen on behalf of the candidates as a whole. Tromping around the unborn dragonets, overeager... It was little wonder that she was uneasy.

From the Arctic Waters egg he moved away from the louder eggs towards the middle of the clutch, resolving to come back to them later. Instead, his attention was attracted by a particular pair, the Spring Flowers and the Sweetheart egg. He laid a hand on the Spring Flowers egg first, then removed it. A gossip? Among eggs? There was that same odd sensation that he'd felt before. It would take him a while to get used to something that couldn't really interact with its environment, yet still giving off such a distinct personality. Still, while the Spring Flowers egg seemed over-eager to share its secrets, it would be useful to have a partner with plenty of information to offer.

He next turned his attention to the Sweetheart egg. Despite its pretty shell, he got the impression from the way it was leaning on its side, away from the rest of the clutch, that this was no vapid beauty. Seemed more like it was trying to leave, really. If the dragonets really could hear thoughts of their potential companions (it seemed unlikely, but better safe than sorry) he sent silent reassurance in the direction of this one. It'll be over soon.

///

Ouch. That gold sounded really angry. Despite how pleased he'd been to find the Noisy Rainforest egg, Kamihan was glad that he hadn't still be over there by the gold egg when Dorath roared. Not that he was scared or anything! Just that, y'know, he might have been startled and accidentally bumped someone. Or an egg. That would have been really bad.

Kamihan paused long enough to run a hand over the Green Paradise egg, enjoying how laid-back this egg seemed. Lots of strong personalities here: scared, gossipy, mischievous, aggressive, nice to see one who was willing to just kick back and relax a bit. Nice colors, too. This would be one handsome dragon, if the shell was any indicator. Still, it didn't pay to be too laid-back, or the spotlight would slide right off you...

...like it had to the poor Cinnamon egg. Which Kamihan had walked right past. Damn, how'd he miss that one? Especially an egg big enough to hold a bronze, he ought to be all over that! Quick to rectify his mistake, he backtracked, and muttered a quiet "Sorry," under his breath. Hey, no harm done, right? Nothing wrong with brown as a color, either, but... he wasn't getting anything from this egg. Like it was just... sitting there. No real emotion, there. Stoic, or just dull? Kamihan had never, ever heard of a dull dragon, that couldn't possibly be the case. This egg must be hiding something absolutely brilliant.

Another clutch, another Touching. As he'd been standing since he was 12, Belram was used to how these things worked, but it was never any less exciting than the very first time he'd attended one. Not only was there the possibility that within one of the eggs was a dragon who would later emerge to call him His, it was a lot like meeting new people! Even as eggs, they hinted at the character of the dragon within, and it was impossible to think of them as anything less. Though they couldn't truly respond, and he might never actually speak with any of them, he considered Touching to be very like introductions. As such, the social Candidate took it very seriously, and paid the same amount of attention to every egg, regardless of appearance.

Respectfully, the first egg he moved acknowledge was the queen egg - with no intention of touching her, however - but he didn't quite get there. The female Candidate who went to touch it stumbled, and Dorath roared her anger. It was very different from her initial roar, and made Belram jump...and then wince in sympathy. He'd never met her before, so she was undoubtedly not a Weyrbrat like many of them, and at her first Touching to boot. Who could blame the poor thing for a nervous fumble?

Used to touchings, Bashir was far from jittery with nervous anticipation. Actually, considering how rarely he felt nervous about anything, that would have been extremely unusual for him. But his heart did beat a little faster with anticipation. There was a gold egg on the sands in this clutch! He wasn't going to Impress the dragon within, naturally, but it boded well for the rest of the clutch that the egg was there at all. Particularly since Dorath had not yet laid a queen egg. It would have been a catastrophe if their senior queen was incapable of laying queen eggs. And now, it seemed, that catastrophe had been averted. There remained some chance, of course, that the egg wouldn't hatch or wouldn't Impress to any of the girls brought before it, but Bashir had high hopes.

He had been standing near the back of the cluster of candidates entering the cavern. For some it would be their first sight of the magnificent gold. Bashir had seen her before, but the sight of her never failed to impress. She was beautiful, even when she was in a temper, as she seemed to be now. He continued to hang back, unconsciously making sure that the shyer candidates made it onto the sands and touched at least one egg, though there didn't seem to be any problem with that in this hatching. Once a third of the candidates came in, Bashir stepped onto the hot sands. His desert blood sang when he did so. It was the closest he would ever get to Igen - a place he'd never seen, but which intrigued him.

His natural inclination to look out for people and creatures in need drew him first to a brown egg which was so clearly separated from the rest of the clutch that it practically seemed to be cowering. The brown swirl egg's position probably didn't mean anything, though there were those who swore the positions of the eggs were portents of the dragonets within. Bashir had never observed that. He just got the feeling from this egg that whomever its occupant Impressed to would spend a lot of his time reassuring it that it was loved and wanted. He ran his hands over the surface of the brown egg, marveling at how no angle seemed to make the egg look good.

From there he moved on to the pink raptor and green paradise eggs because they were next in his line of sight. Indeed, the green egg would have probably managed to be in everyone's line of sight as long as they were even glancing at the clutch. It was quite vibrantly colored. The pair of eggs was small, but he didn't make the obvious guess that they contained blues or greens. Not usually superstitious, Bashir had developed a sort of thing where he wouldn't speculate as to the color of the dragons until he'd touched them all. It was ridiculous, perhaps, but everyone should be allowed a bit of whimsy once in a while, no matter what his father and grandfather said.

He touched both eggs at once, but then was startled and jumped back, away from the eggs, at a roar from Dorath. He'd never heard her make sounds like that before, and he hoped he never did again. He'd grown up in the Weyr and knew for a fact that no dragon would ever intentionally hurt a human being, but when they made sounds like that the primitive part of his mind said that Dorath was a predator and he might make decent prey. He recovered quickly, and just in time to see Kentoth utterly fail to soothe his mate. Well, that was interesting.

Ayi cringed immediately upon hearing the roar and stepped back from the gold egg, certain she had only a moment before she was to be mauled, but was relieved to see that the gold dragon hadn't moved from her spot. Whew. In her haste to leave the egg, she ignored anyone nearby for a quick escape, unsure if she was being spoken to or not about being clumsy.

Sliding carefully away from the gold egg after a final gentle caress and a silent wish of a good Impression for the gold hatchling imprisoned, she moved towards the largely ignored Cinnamon egg.

"Poor thing...hard to compete with such flashy siblings isn't it?" she asked it, daring to squat down to be more eye-level with the egg. "It's ok, I understand. Too many eggs and not enough time for lots of attention." She admired the understated egg for a bit, letting her fingers trace the faint patterns she could spy in it's shell before moving on to check out the more flashy eggs.

Jaylin scowled and rocked back on his heels before leaning forward, boosting himself onto his tip-toes to try and see from his position. Man! He hated being short. He glanced at the older hopeful Candidates around him, scowling. Superiors, adults, call them what you will -- he was quite annoyed that they were between him and the sands, and not likely to let him through any time soon. Could he push his way through? Maybe, but from the sounds of the Weyrwoman somewhere up ahead, it wasn't a good idea. Especially concerning Dorath. Even though dragons didn't eat humans, Jaylin was painfully aware that we was bite-sized... "Dragon-bait" isn't exactly an inspiring nickname.

But now -- ah! They were moving! Jaylin eagerly joined the shuffle forward, keeping in mind to "accidentally" nudge another Candidate with his elbow when they were getting too close for comfort. The last thing he wanted was to be trampled! Nuh-uh, he was determined to make it both onto and off the sands more than once in one piece, thank you!

He sucked in a breath when he stepped onto the sand, quickly gulping it and squaring his shoulders. It was hot! But he could take it. He was Jaylin! He's been through worse, right? Sorta. He grit his teeth and ignored his feet, focusing his attention ahead. At last, they were far enough into the sands that the tightly clustered group could break off, allowing not only breathing room but -

The boy stopped, his jaw dropping at the sight of the eggs in the sand before him. He was speechless, caught in the amazement at the bright colors and sizes of the eggs, even if more than one Candidate blocked his view. He took a step forward than paused, looking from the eggs to the Queen. Now she was glorious! He looked from her to the eggs and smiled at her, giving her a bow of respect before examining her clutch.

The first egg he examined was the Spring Flowers egg. Perhaps it was because it was closest, or perhaps the bright colors attracted him. He froze as his hand touched the egg, his eyes dancing from one egg to the next to the next-- Ah! He raised his hand and rubbed it, before grinning and shaking his head at himself. He turned his attention to the Sweetheart egg, tracing its pattern. "Yeah, I hear you," he whispered, taking in her fallen form with a smirk. Considering the shock he got from the egg next to it, it's not surpri-

He snatched his hand back quickly as the Queen's first anxious roar cried out, prompting him to turn in her direction with a guilty look upon his face. Did he do something wrong? No, no he didn't -- he breathed a sigh of relief and carefully inches his way to the next pair of eggs, pointedly ignoring the other Candidates.

Jaylin laid a hand onto the Arctic Waters egg, running his hand against it lightly before bestowing a sympathetic pat. The Imposter Gold egg next to it was also caressed lightly. A feeling of focused intent -- what was going on here?

As he took a step towards the middle of the clutch, the Queen roared again. This time he didn't hesitate to crouch down, hand flung out to land upon the Sunset Egg. It's okay! It's okay! It's... okay? Jaylin blinked in surprise at the feeling of... What was this? A will to fight? To defend? He looked up as D'astel assured them, then watched with amusement as Dorath chased the bronze out. He sighed with relief, patting the Sunset egg. "Thanks," he whispered. Would he have waited until the Queen's roar had finished echoing before standing again? That was scary!

With shaking legs he pushed himself up, rubbing the Sunset egg as if for luck before moving onto the Blinding Red egg. He couldn't help but grin at the sensation. This one was a brave egg, small and calm next to the bold Sunset and...? Curious, he reached out to the Seaside egg. He snickered, removing his hand and shaking his head. There was a disagreement going on here that amused him, reminding him drastically of how the weyrbrats often spat amongst themselves. But... it was a little too familiar for his comfort. He moved away from them, stepping out of the way of another Candidate to try and decide which egg to touch next.

This was the first time Dashias had ever seen dragon eggs. He had no idea that they came in so many sizes and colors. He was towards the middle of their large candidate group; this merely caused him to become a part of the crowd as there was nothing particularly stand out about him. His plain brown eyes and dark honey brown hair blended in with those who either matched his height or overshot it.

As they entered the Sands, there was brief pause as the Candidate Master and Weyrwoman explained how to act around the gold and her brood. How many eggs were there? Dashias tried to count but with the dazzling array of colors, he decided he would wait until they were released and then try to get close to each one. Barring the gold egg. Everyone could tell which egg that was... Especially by the way that Dorath huddled and guarding it. He had yet to start his touching when Dorath started to act very moody. He wasn't sure exactly what mood she was in but one thing was certain-her eyes were not the calm blue-green of most others of her kind. Dashias would have to remember to make a report for his parents and try to find either a runner or a willing rider to take his message. He was sure he would see them within the next sevenday or so. Judging by how hard the eggs were, they were due to hatch soon. As as his hold's harper, Shandarin would be sure to be at the Impression.

Dashias moved forward and reached out to handle one of the green marked eggs. It was warm on the outside and he could almost feel the pulse of new life within. At least, there was life within-he had heard through the Harper rumor mill that Telgar's last clutch faired poorly indeed with one little dragonet going between. With all the candidates here, Dashias could only hope on the First Egg that each little creature would find its mate.