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Oh good, both golds had Impressed safe and sound. That left only the two greens out on the Sands before... well, yeah. Still, K'en didn't wish them any delay in finding Theirs. The end would come regardless, but it was better not to let any of the hatchlings be lost either. It would be too much for Yirath to lose a child in addition to Hers.

I am not shouting. Relax. I am excited. And you should be too! It is nice to meet you both. Everything will be alright. I am sure of it. She rambled on, not realizing that Zurith was settling onto something else. He needed to lighten up she decided.

Nodding her head, she reached down to scratch Malath and offer another bloody tidbit from the bowl they had been given. She turned to see the other gold Impress and cheered. "Hello Zurith. And yes, Ja'syn's my brother. We shall have to hang out together sometime. Besides lessons of course. If they don't wear us out to the bone."

Zurith shook his head. No there was already enough dragons shouting. He wondered why per say Malath was excited. Finding Hers? He let her ramble as her tone diminished some. Look, the golds have Impressed. Just two more green sisters. It would be nice to get some space around them and out of this press.

"Oh. I guess if you'd like." Why was she suddenly all friendly? What had her brother told her? The thought rather made him nervous. Then she brought up something else to worry about. Lessons? "What kind of lessons do you think we'll be getting?"

Ah! Rufet couldn’t hide the disappointment that flickered across his features as Zurith looked at him, pausing just out of reach. The boy wanted so badly to run his hands over a dragon’s hide to feel the texture of it. They were allowed to touch the eggs, so the dragons were okay to touch too right? Rufet... wasn’t sure. The young Candidate wiped his sweaty hands on the sides of his robe before twisting his fingers in the fabric, willing himself to stay still.

Rufet smothered his discomfort as more dragonets hatched, holding his breath as one of the girls stumbled over the previously hidden green and attracting Yirath’s ire. But all turned out to be well; Yirath had moved back to her eggs, her attention onto the hatching egg.

His gaze was torn between the bronze hatchling nearby and the egg on the sands, unsure of where to settle. “H-hey!” He gasped as the bronze bumped against him, nearly knocking him over. Drat! The dragonet had moved away before Rufet could reach out and touch his shoulder, but given how Yirath reacted earlier? Rufet wasn’t sure if it was still a good idea.

The unpolished azure egg hatched, and Rufet had trouble seeing. What was it? A blue? A green? No, a brown! A brown... that seemed hesitant to leave his mother. Rufet blinked quickly, touched. In his position, he wouldn’t want to leave either. And the little brown made it clear that he was still uncertain, taking a few steps before looking back to his mother, then moving forward.

Even near them, the brown seemed torn between what he should do and what he wanted to do. It wasn’t until his brother approached them did the brown move, turning to look at... him?



No amount of blinking could stop the tears that came. He couldn’t help it, nor could he stop himself from calling onto his knees and sobbing into the sleeves of his robe. It felt like he was blindly groping through a sink for one last pot to clean, only to finally one that was already clean. The sheer joy in that small moment expanded and filled him, the joy over a small mundane thing enlarging itself into a concept, an idea that Rufet would never be alone: Torsheth. They had everything they could ever want in that single moment: he had Torsheth and Torsheth had him.

It was only now that the child could finally grasp an inkling of what Yirath had. To have such happiness then to lose it... Rufet sobbed, looking up only after His nosed him gently.

the brown began, Torsheth trailed off, looking away from His towards his mother. The hungry red in his eyes whirled grey tinged with yellow, broken only when Rufet’s arms encircled his neck.

“It’s okay,” Rufet whispered, sniffing and noisily rubbing his sleeve across his face. “I think... I think I understand.” The young Candidate now Dragonrider hiccuped, standing up unsteadily. “Let’s... let’s get you something to eat, okay?” That was what they were supposed to do, right? Rufet bit his lip, unsure as the pair of them uncertainly made their way towards the tables, their pace slow as Torsheth glanced over his shoulder towards Yirath every so often.

Yirath’s attention to her eggs calmed the pair down, the two of them settling in off to one side of the sands as Rufet carefully fed piece after piece of meat to Torsheth. Both kept an eye on the proceedings, but both of their attentions were on Yirath herself.

Torsheth said after a few more of his siblings Impressed, MINE!> The young brown broke off, moving swiftly between His and his mother with whirling red-orange eyes as Yirath struck out, claiming the firelizards that dared infringed on her territory. His mottled wings were spread as far as they could go, lowering only after the bronze’s bellow.

A low, mournful croon escaped Torsheth’s throat as he pressed his back against Rufet’s legs, watching as his bronze brother found His. the brown dragonet curled his tail around his rider, cooing softly at him, the sadness only a fading trace as he moved on.

Rufet extended a shaking hand towards Torsheth’s head, having dropped the now empty bowl when the incident went down. He tried to speak, opening his mouth and closing it as the words constricted in his throat.



The boy nodded, his breath as shaky as his hand earlier. He closed his eyes as the warm, solid comfort of Torsheth steadied him, calming him down. This did not last long, however. But where sorrow would take place was instead only pure and simple joy as the twin golds hatched, causing Rufet to sob again.



“I-I-I’m not cr-crying!” Rufet retorted, using his damp sleeve to scrub at his eyes. “I-I’m happy! T-two golds! E-everyone, your si-si-siblings...”

Torsheth chuckled, nosing Rufet’s arm affectionately.

Two goldriders and one of them Weyrborn, and both greens safely Impressed as well. It had been an amazing clutch, one Benden would likely never forget, but now that all the young dragons were safe... B'nen worried not about himself or his new companion (Gneisth had already proved he wasn't one to let sadness get him down), but for his twin brother now. He had Stromath to help bolster him, but the oncoming death of the queen, a mercy though it might be...well, he knew his brother K'en would take it hard. He reached out to place a hand on his brother's shoulder, silently comforting. Gneisth focused on cooing the last of his clutchsibs off the Sands with Theirs now in tow.

When the last dragonet had Impressed, the queen at last gave a sound of triumph, of anguish, of torment unending and pride ever enduring. It was a soulful, haunting song as she lifted her head and looked to the ceiling, and the sky beyond. Her eyes were white now, no longer grey, devoid of colour, and as she drew those final breaths, her song, her eulogy drifted around the Hatching Grounds, echoing off the walls such that even after she disappeared without a sound, the impression of her weight in the sand still visible, the song echoed for several heartbeats before it began to fade.

The loss of the queen before their eyes drew a keening, humming sound as one from the dragons as they lifted their voices to mourn her passing. She was at peace now, gone with the knowledge her triumphant brood would live. The song she’d sung was taken up by a few dragons at first, their voices quiet amongst the din of mourning dragons, the loss of her rippling out through dragon kind as it always did when a gold went Between but as the keening fell away, the song swelled, joined by humans and dragons alike, although the flits were elsewhere, banished by the bronze.

Grief chased pride and triumph, a complex twist of emotion that rolled across all and for a time, the dragons shared their thoughts abroad. Bruinth stood where he was and gave a roar, one that was loud and commanding, one that promised remembrance. Promised the young would live and in her death learn the importance of life. W’lin bowed to the place Yirath had been, murmured his thanks for the brave gold and her rider, swore in his heart to find the culprit and bring him – and his Weyr – to justice. It was an oath that was echoed in the hearts of many that day.

Outside, the overcast skies opened up and rain began to pour as the remaining candidates were ushered back to their chores or their barracks, and the Weyrlings – so many of them, proud and hale – were escorted to the Weyrling Barracks.

Zurith raised his head to keen for his mother. She could finally join Hers as was only proper. C'mon F'lawmine. Let us go. The blue crooned reassuringly to His.

F'law felt a tear drip across his cheek as the queen bid her offspring their last farewell. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't, not here. Nodding to Zurith he followed the blue out and into the weyrling barracks.

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Emkin watched as the last green impressed to another girl. That was it for this hatching. Yirath's song and the response from the dragons made her heart clench. So beautiful. At last the queen was gone to her rest. The weyr would carry on, and the dragonets would grow. The candidate made to trudge back to the barracks. There was always next hatching.