Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lukah's cheeks warmed as he watched Eliza stumble out to greet her new partner. What a sight. It did his heart good to witness such an event as this. It gave him hope. The world could be such a cruel place at times, it was easy to forget that love exists. Only the size of the clutch was disappointing. As Eliza retired with her dragon Lukah's eyes drifted over the assembled candidates.

There was Sileny. She couldn't see him yet, but he imagined she felt annoyed that she hadn't been the first to Impress. It would be a shame if she failed. She had strong will and a cunning mind that would be appreciated among the riders.

"I bet." Lukah smiled at Zhac and started to lead him to the lower stands. Most of the good seats were taken by weyrfolk and after some clumsy searching they were left with an empty spot under the rider's stands, just enough space for the two of them. The view was decent but Lukah would have liked a spot closer to the Sands.

He wondered if Sileny would see him. She was the other reason he wanted to be here. If she Impressed he wanted to be here to congratulate her and if she failed he would be here to console her. It was the right thing to do and he knew it would win him points.

"That one reminds me of Lukask," Lukah scoffed, gesturing to the aggressive green. "I almost feel sorry for the candidate who Impresses her. It's too bad this clutch is so small. How big was the last one?" He would tell Zhac about Sileny later. Right now he wanted to enjoy the hatching.

While many candidates reacted to the summons with fear or worry, Talisan reacted with his usual exuberance. He dashed to his quarters and didn't dress so much as he threw himself into the clothes. He straightened them as he went running, hopping into his boots. How the boy managed to dress and run at the same time without breaking anything likely was a cause of wonder and curiosity to the Healers of the Weyr.

The sands were hot under his feet, but Talisan didn't care. There were eggs there, and there would be dragons soon! Again, the boy wondered about the tiny dragons, what they would look like, how they would act. He knew there was a very high chance he wouldn't Impress; a first turn candidate on the sand with so many others? He was content to watch the dragons and learn about them and the hatching.

Any questions he had would soon be laid to rest, because the first of the dragons were hatching! The first was the silly feeling egg, and she proved to be equally fun to watch. What a strange little beast! He happily watched her struggle with her eggshell and start to head towards the girls.

...Was she digging? Was that usual hatchling behavior? Was there something under the sand that she could smell? Maybe it was food! Hatchling dragons were hungry, weren't they? Perhaps she smelled something good!

And while she dug, another egg hatched! This one had been the first one he'd ever laid hands on, the one that didn't seem to like him. She moved towards the boys, and Talisan shifted and tried to get a better look at her. She was getting so close! She was so small compared to the big dragons he'd seen, but she was very pretty! Such a nice pattern! He wondered who she'd choose! She moved through them, looking about in a rather calm fashion. He'd assumed they'd be so frantic! He'd been told many times about how a dragon would need to be fed, how they'd be starving after their long imprisonment in their eggs. She did made a little noise that tugged at his heart. Would she go Between?

And then she sat, seemingly defeated, and she made another one of those little mewing noises that broke his heart. And something... Something felt different. It was a strange feeling, that he couldn't explain. Just a sort of feeling that nothing would ever be the same again.

"Oh, Talisanmine, won't you tell your Danath where you are? She keeps losing you."

...Oh! Oh, no, this couldn't be? She... She was wanting him? This Danath, she wanted him? Danath was calling for him! "I'm here, I'm right here!" He said, ignoring any who would watch, any who would judge. Nothing could be more important than Danath right now. Nothing would ever be as important ever again. He could feel it, this change, this amazing feeling. Never again would he be alone, never again would he be able to just think about himself. Now he had someone who needed him to be alive. It was a humbling and a very scary thought for him.

"I thought you didn't like me!" He blurted out, tears in his eyes. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be! It was too amazing to be real! But she was real, and she was right under his hands as he reverently touched her hide. She was warm. Warm and soft.

Danath gave him a good, long look. She wouldn't lose him again! "You are mine." She said firmly, as if that alone was enough to end any arguments. After all, if she hadn't liked him, if he hadn't been made for her, then he wouldn't be Hers, now would he? It wasn't a matter of discussion. She sighed as she was touched, looking up at him with whirling, happy blue eyes. "You are Mine, and I am yours, and I am hungry."

This, he understood. Benden trained it's candidates well. "Come on, lovey. Come on, Danath. We'll get you food." Talisan gently caressed her nose as he lead her off the sands. "We'll get you food. Don't worry. You don't ever have to worry about anything again. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you."

Again, those beautiful whirling eyes turned to look up at him. "I know." She told him. Why else would you be Hers?

Erie smiled as the first hatchlings were all Greens, like her Erisk, she admired each and every Dragon but she'd always known that it wasn't for her, she looked down at Tsubari and wondered if HE would Impress, he certainly seemed to have a lot of confidence, maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't either way she would likely tease Him about it.

She gasped involuntarily each time Impression seemed to be made, the joy on the candidates faces was something wonderful to see, not that she would admit it made her happy to observe.

It didn't take long for the Eel Egg green to continue her pacing about the rest of the clutch, her eyes still the dangerous orange they had been from the moment she cracked from her shell. Every now and then she would cast a glance out and over at the Candidates, as though she were looking past them, but mostly her movements were spent on picking through the eggs that remained firm on the sand. A few times she actually nosed at one or two of the eggs, her eyes seeming to mellow for a moment, but there was a rumble of agitation in her actions as she paused in her process.

But then! There-! Another egg had started to crack, the Clownfish egg, and the Green managed a hiss at the dark foot that shot itself through the shell. It was hard to tell the color, it could have been a dark blue or even a brown or green, but whatever was inside simply laid there for a few more moments. The Green's eyes whirled unhappily at the interruption, as if she took it as a sign that someone was trying to encroach on her special time on the sands, and with a huff she started off towards the Candidates. Her steps were unsure and uneasy, sending her wobbling on the sands, and any Candidate who dared laugh at her movements as she seemed to glide about was quickly met with a hiss and a rumble.

Winderick's attention returned to the sands. It took him a moment to match the egg the hot tempered green came with the greedy personality he met during Touching. He remembered thinking that the Eel Egg needed some love.

Suddenly another egg started to crack. The foot that emerged was quite dark - an atypical? at Benden? - no, maybe just a darkly colored blue or brown. At least he hoped so. Atypicals normally had trouble getting out of their shells, that was why they were known as duds, but this little dragon was already part way out. Of course if it was an atypical whoever Impressed it would be unlucky. He generally agreed that atypicals were inferior to the old breeds, though the depth of this controversy was a little beyond him. He certainly didn't want to Impress a dud. He already did his time as an outcast.

"Behold. New life. How long shall these dragons be the new ones? How long before another clutch? Shall there be another? Perhaps but three eggs, or two, or one alone. Candidates all around it, waiting, hoping. Choose me, little one, last child of Benden. The last weyrling. The dying hope."

F'itz sighed internally and shook his head very slightly; Brumath really was on good form today, had been for the last several days actually. At least he was keeping his gloomy predictions private. They had been caught up in the flurry of activity of course, they'd even been out on a few sorties in the hope of finding the elusive herb but... Well, Brumath had always been a pessimist. "Things will get better," he assured his dragon as he watched the angry green wobble across the sands. "We've got great minds on this research Brumath, our queens will be cured. One day, you'll hardly believe me when I tell you we once had a clutch of only nine."

"When I see that day I shall believe," the brown replied, his dull blue eyes wandering listlessly over the unhatched eggs, "but until then, I shall not pin my heart on a bright dawn. Thread scored. Numbers thinned. The last of the herb gone, and then what? The end of dragons. The end of man. The end of all things, save the tunnel snakes and the wherries."

Cheerful. F'itz sighed, glancing over at his lifemate. Some things would never change. He hoped that the presence of dragons on Pern would be one of those things, but he said no more about it to Brumath; once the brown had decided that the world was coming to an end it was better to let him be until another idea popped into that busy head of his.

There's a good girl, go find Your's, Lukah thought. He watched her wobble toward the candidates with a slight frown. Hopefully the Eel Egg green would Impress and not cause a scene. Lukah knew first hand just how dangerous dragons could be. Lukask had been smaller than these little ones when he was born yet even he could have killed a man at that age. It took a lot of care to get him socialized enough to work in the mines. He could tell this dragon would also require a kind and patient hand.

It didn’t seem sensible to dread a dragon, but ever since the Eel egg had first split, Galeia had hoped rather fervently that it would avoid the girls. Let the boys have the green, even Winderick. She hadn’t enjoyed that clingy feeling through the shell during Touching. She hadn’t liked that feeling of being… possessed. She frowned at the eggs, watching intently as another egg cracked and a dark foot hung out.

Shards, she hoped Winderick would Impress. She had already failed at Standing once. Doing so again wouldn’t kill her, but she wanted more for her friend. “Get moving you silly beasts,” she muttered, hoping the dragons would stop putting around amid the eggs like two greens had already done.