He was late! He was so late, so late, argh why did he have to be late on this day?! Rufet stopped at the entrance to the Sands, hands on his knees as he leaned forward and greedily sucked in air. He was still breathing noisily as he straightened and looking up, nearly collapsing with relief as he realized that he wasn’t that late: he was standing at the tail end of the group, busily drying his hands on the backside of his trousers. He wouldn’t lay a wet hand on those eggs, no sir! Ma’am! Queen! How did one address a queen dragon, anyway?

Rufet completely forgot his question as the Candidates moved towards the eggs, clearing the way in front of him to gawp in awe at Yirath. She was so... so big! He continued to stand there, staring before the dragoness thumped her tail once; twice. Hurriedly he shook his head and offered her a bow as best as he could, turning his attention to the eggs.

And what eggs they were! They were amazing! He was hopping from foot to foot with excitement before he stilled, suddenly worried. What if he tripped? That wouldn’t be good! He had to be very, very careful here. More careful than he was holding a plate. No! Don’t think about plates! He always dropped those!

Nervously Rufet approached the closest egg: the Quick Sparkle Egg. It was closest to the entrance, so why not? Rufet wiped his hand on his trousers again, reassuring himself that yes, they were clean. And they would be dry too if he stopped sweating so much! He wiped them again before reaching out, placing his palm on the egg. Wow! His eyes widened, jaw hanging open as he felt the surge of emotions. So brilliant! So... so overwhelming! Was this what it was like to be a dragon rider? It was... a little scary, feeling feelings that were different and yet... It was a mixture of awe and fear that prompted him to get up and move with trepidation towards the next egg. Would they all be like this?

Rufet would find his answer with the next egg, the Considered Investigator. He laid his palm hesitantly on it, wondering if he would feel such an excitable, notable surge of hey hey look at me watch me again. He felt... nothing. Rufet stared at the small egg in surprise, running his palm over it. Really? Nothing? He felt like he was being watched, nevertheless. Nervous that he had done something wrong, Rufet moved onto the next egg.

Because of Yirath’s protectiveness of the golden egg (boy, was he glad he didn’t need to touch that like the girls did!), Rufet decided to approach the center of the clutch last. Yirath’s tail was there, after all -- even if it was around the golden egg, he didn’t want to accidentally brush the golden queen. Wasn’t that against he rules? Yes, he decided: he was allowed to touch the center eggs if and only if he made his way around the edges first, and left the middle for last.

The Resilient Warped egg was the next to be touched. Or, at least Rufet looked at it first. Why did it look different? Poor thing. Rufet reached out to reassure it, snatching his hand back at the feeling of wanted to be OUT. Rufet wrung his hands worriedly before he moved on, a knot beginning to form in his stomach.

Touching the Bursting Shard egg didn’t help his nerves. Rufet bit his lip. Was he doing everything okay? This one didn’t feel like anyth- did he break it?! Oh no, oh no, oh n- Rufet jumped as the egg moved, feeling a brief moment of cheer before he snatched his hand back.

His face now scarlet, Rufet moved on to the Honorable Champion, stopping to kneel beside it. He was so embarrassed! What was he supposed to do? Rufet felt so lost, so... warm? The boy blinked quickly, unsuccessfully holding back the tears. It was okay. It was going to be okay.

Rufet waited until he felt sure of himself, using the back of his hand to quickly scrub at his eyes. He was a Candidate. He was growing up, and grown ups don’t cry. He shot the egg a grateful grin before moving off, squaring his shoulders and moving towards the back of the clutch.

At the back, his first stop was at the Expanding Mind egg, bypassing a couple eggs to get to it. He counted them as being more towards the center, and would stop at them soon enough. Rufet was relieved to find that this egg did not startle him as much as the others, nor was it as playful as the Bursting Shard. Instead, it was... Was... Rufet didn’t know what to make of it, and moved on after giving it a hesitant pat.

He didn’t need to go far to touch the Balancing Earth egg. Upon touching it, another surge of relief made him weak in the knees, so much that he clumsily fell backwards onto his rear end. He quickly shuffled around onto his knees as he looked around -- did anyone see that?! Oh no! He was going to get kicked out, he screwed up, he --

He needed to stop and think, he realized as his hand touched the Balancing Earth egg again. Rufet was overthinking things; he needed to take a deep breath and relax, and not rush things.

Rufet lingered by the egg, standing up only when he felt steady enough to. From there, he moved onto the Ancient Strength egg as he began to move towards the center. As he placed his hand on it, Rufet held his breath. Oh! Sir! Ma’am! He wasn’t doing anything wrong, was he? He was doing things right, right? He was terribly sorry if he wasn’t and, and, he was babbling again wasn’t he? Rufet removed his hand and took a deep breath, moving away from the egg towards the next.

There was one more egg before he needed to draw towards the center of the clutch: the Unpolished Azure egg. And it was large. Rufet was hesitant to approach it, moving one tiny step at a time until he could reach out and touch it with his fingertips. It wasn’t as rough as he was expecting. He felt as confused as the dragon inside it, moving closer only after being prompted to. This... this was an egg Rufet wanted to curl up and sleep next to. The feelings were so nice, so comforting that Rufet was reluctant to leave.

And now for the center of the eggs. Rufet gulped, and tried to work his way around the eggs carefully. Some eggs were very close to the golden Yirath whose tail was wrapped protectively around the golden egg. Rufet didn’t want to touch her, no sir! It wasn’t his place!

The easiest egg to reach was the Sensuous Essence. And he was glad he did! A shaky smile crossed his lips as he gently moved his hand across it like the world’s most delicate pot (not a plate! Those broke far too easily!). It was okay to be here. He was okay to be here.

Confident for now, Rufet moved onto the Questionable Magnet egg, staring at it in confusion. Was it alright? He wasn’t doing anything wrong to it, was he? He bit his lip, confidence shaken again as he moved to the nearby Jovial Eclipse. He snatched his hand back as soon as he touched it, shaken. So loud! So big! Rufet turned, nearly stumbling over his own feet.

Not trusting himself and his unsteady footing, Rufet slowly knelt down next to the Unquestionable Love egg before touching it. He was glad that he did: the dragonet’s feelings would have made him fall to the sand. The feeling... The feeling was so nice! This had to be what dragonriders felt every day.

Carefully, Rufet hefted himself back onto his feet as he looked around. There were two left. Which one first? Luckily enough for him they were right next to each other. Rufet reached out towards the Inner Glow egg first, as it was the larger of the pair. He smiled upon touching it, barking out a laugh before using his own hands to stifle himself. Oh shards! Was it okay to laugh like that? Rufet ducked his head, reaching out towards the Bold Crystal.

His cheeks still burned, but that was to be expected. He was doing everything right as far as he knew: what was there to be worried about? Rufet’s eyes lowered towards Yirath’s tail as he chewed his lip thoughtfully. He said he was going to work his way from the outside of the clutch to the inside. He did that. But there was one last egg left to touch, wasn’t there?

Rufet glanced around before carefully leaning over Yirath’s tail, his finger tips lightly touching the Glowing Lifestone egg. He quickly drew his hand back with a squeak. He left his fingerprints on it! Rufet snatched at the rag on his belt and leaned forward again, wiping at the mark. There! All clean!

Pleased with himself, Rufet gave one last embarrassed grin and bow to Yirath before scurrying off the sands, feeling mightily pleased with himself. He beat his own game!