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Ah, there they were! They had arrived later than he had; that explained it all. Glowering at the other occupants of the stands, he edged around a few of what he assumed were either dragonmen or families of Candidates who lacked the sense to keep their children where they belonged and headed straight for Xeran and Vera. "You know," he called out, long before he was near enough to them for a legitimate conversation in the noisy place, "this is all going to end in tears."

The second half of the comment was delivered in a lower voice as Marko gently parted a pair of what must be someone's sisters and drew up nearer to the other pair of Harpers. "You haven't seen Hayara yet, have you?" he asked, sounding only slightly worried. She was a big girl and could take care of herself, as long as she wasn't going to end up doing something stupid. But still, shardit, where was she? He cast around the stands, but seeing nobody, shook his head and frowned, sparing a glance to the Sands instead.

Some overeager idiot female was jumping around and waving, doubtless trying to draw attention to herself in some sort of stupid "watch me Impress the queen!" ploy. Marko snorted and went to turn away, but something kept him from doing so. Frowning, he moved closer to the edge of the stands and cast his eye down on the young woman once more. There was something about her that looked...

Marko drew back, his face paling momentarily before blood rushed to his cheeks. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then glared down at the Sands once more.

"HAYARA, SHARDIT, WHAT ARE YOU....oh, Faranth," he cut his bellow short and turned away to put a hand over his face for a moment. No. He couldn't run away from this. She was. She....she was going to get herself killed. There was a Queen on the sands, didn't she remember any of the old songs? She was going to...he turned back to stare at her again.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU FARDLING IDIOT? YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!" he shouted, before turning and storming over to Vera and Xeran.

"I need to go down there," he said, his fury quickly degenerating into panic. "Hayara's down there!" Not like they couldn't have guessed that, but at the same time...no, this was going to end horribly and Hayara was down there, and... "What was she thinking? She's going to get herself killed and she's down there and what is she doing down...I need to get down there and drag her sharding idiot rump out of here. This is the end of this; she is going home after this. I need to go down there!" The last sentence was fairly decisive for a Marko panic-attack, and without another word to the two, he turned to start his descent.

By the Egg, Hayara would not die on his watch!

Ceanandin was always amazed at the weyr's ability to not only find work for the large influx of Candidates, but to find enough work to suitably exhaust them all every single day. He was also amazed at his own inability to sleep after enduring the workload for the day. The crowded quarters were beginning to wear at him; while his roommates got ready for bed, he sat on his bunk, legs folded, whittling at a hunk of firestone with his beltknife. It was slow work. Firestone was no soft material. But it kept him occupied, and it gave him something to focus on for the time. Eventually his mind would tire and he could sleep.

However, this night he hadn't been at it for long. His hunk of firestone was hardly touched before the humming reached him. Dropping it to the floor, he scooped up his pillow and tossed it at one of his roommates, in the same movement sliding off the bed and scrambling for his white robes. "That's the Hatching, get up." He dressed rapidly and slid on his sandles, and was out of the room and down the hall after the other Candidates hurrying to the Sands.

He was towards the end of the group as he entered the Sands, and he cursed himself for that. He couldn't be late, not this time! But no, he had made it in time--none of the eggs had hatched yet, that he could see, though the humming was near deafening. He offered a low bow to the Queen, then, straightening, weaved his way through the crowd of Candidates positioning themselves on the sands to an open space between two boys, hardly bothering to glance at the Candidates around him as he double-checked each egg to be sure he had missed nothing. Soon, however, satisfied that his chances were still sound, he glanced about for a familiar face.

He recognized several other Candidates, and was able to pick out his roommates positioning themselves among the group. Briefly his eyes found Nimwae, farther towards the front than him, and he smiled before moving on. Certainly one of them would Impress this day! His eyes soon settled once more on the eggs, and he unconsciously shifted from foot to foot as the heat of the Sands seemed through his thin sandles. Now it was just a waiting game.

Jessmet was just on her way back to her quarters from a late evening meal when brown Trundlebug popped out from between over her head. Chittering loudly and refusing to settle on her arm, the normally well-trained firelizard made quite a fuss in the corridor. Several of the Weyr's residents gave Jessmet sour looks at such antics.

Finally, after several moments of strict mental and verbal orders Jessmet understood the little creature's excitement. The rising thrum in the lowest range of her hearing also clued her in. "The Hatching!" she exclaimed, earning another round of glares. Most of those she passed were headed in the opposite direction-- toward the Hatching Grounds.

The slim brunette wove her way through the crowd toward the Candidates' quarter. She threw on her robe and belted it, quite forgetting to put on more than customary sandals. "You have to stay here," she instructed the little brown, patting him firmly. He cheeped in protest but obeyed.

With the stream of other white-robed adolescents, Jessmet headed for the enormous space housing the brooding queen and her clutch. She spared a moment to bow at the great gold. Since there was a queen to Impressed in this clutch, Jessmet positioned herself with the other girls, sort of between the glistening gold egg and the rest of them. It was not until she paused to breathe and look around for her friends that she realized she had not put on her boots. "Shards," she muttered, shifting from one foot to the other. Jessmet hadn't made that particular mistake very often in Turns of presenting herself on the Sands.

If Xeran noticed Vera’s recalcitrance to go to the Hatching, he didn’t notice it. He was probably too busy hauling her around. The coughing concerned him, but she had just woken up practically. People always felt poorly when they just woke up. Besides, he knew she was looking forward to the Hatching in some way. She probably had some friends out on the Sands, people she had known from Harper Hall. After all, it felt like most of them were here now.

“You say that about everything, Marko. You said that about my first performance too.” Xeran paused for a while before adding, “Although, you were right about that. It did end in tears. But that wasn’t really my fault. I was clumsier back then. And stupider.” He snorted at the sight of the girl----Kyllae, that was her name---waving her arms around like a moron. “Although I’m pretty certain I wasn’t that dim.”

Say… that girl over there looked familiar. Xeran squinted and just had time to recognize her before Marko went into one of his little panic attacks. Actually, it was more like a panic war, considering the width and breath of Marko’s flailing.

“Marko!” Xeran attempted to grab the flailing limbs before someone got hurt and discovered this was a rather difficult task. After all, Marko was very tall---a few inches taller than Xeran, even----and had long arms. There was a lot to flail. “You’re going to get her hurt, man! You’ll attract attention to Hayara!” Not that he liked the idea of watching Hayara just let herself get killed out there, but panicking was not the right reaction.

The eggs were hatching now. It was too late.

Hah! As expected, the first of the Adder boys was a bronze!

Okassis's attention was wholly on the new Hatchling now, and all else didn't matter. His breath caught, tripping for a bare moment, and his heart hammered. His mind was thinking in a million directions at once, all of them needlessly complicated, none of them fully comprehendable.

Where was this little one to go? Which boy was supposed to attract it? Just as surely as every girl must look to that Queen egg with hope and envy, every boy must be looking to this one now.

It had a certain flair, Okassis could say that much for it - if not the grace to carry it off just yet. But the tiny thump on its brother's egg certainly wouldn't do any damage, and might even help the other Adder boy along. Better the bigger egg than the smaller one that the ex-Trader remembered to be hiding behind them, for certain!

Calm, he reminded himself, exhaling. He couldn't suppress his excitement, but he could control it. He couldn't say if this were his chance or not. He could hope - and he did, oh he did - but he couldn't know. And until he did, he had to be ready for anything. Faith was what he'd had the last time, and it wasn't enough... not until it was, at least.

Following T'ka, and impressed that her room mate had managed to dress so quickly, Kallista followed behind and towards the Sands. It seemed like the whole of Ista was reverberating with the sound of humming dragons. Even the local fire lizard fair had started their own song, though they stayed clear of the actual grounds.

"Do you know anyone standing? Your cousin, right?"
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It wasn't the calls of Hatching or the humming that woke Zhaylan. Instead, it was the stirrings of his room mate and then his sudden departure. Amber eyes came into focus and he sat straight up.

Eggs hatching. Little dragons would break free. Bonding. So many colors and shades. Must stand. Not much time. Zhay's brain managed to register these thought quickly. Looking around, he looked for the robes he knew that he was supposed to wear. White. Must be white. Grabbing the robes, he barely paid attention as he changed attire. Not that the nights in Ista allowed for much clothing to be worn during sleep.

Moving slowly but surely, Zhaylan filed into the corridors and then headed towards the Hatching Sands. So many people. Movement. Anxious. Stomach upset. Shaking his head, Zhaylan tried really hard to stay focused. He had to stay focused. He was not the first person there but neither was he the last. He didn't wave or smile to those he knew... Instead, he let his gaze start and stop on the eggs.