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A'ras.... "Well damn that's how its done then." He stood back up and clapped for Janga. Much better than going between but...what a mess for the poor candidates. Really, he wondered if there was a better way to handle dragons like that but he couldn't be sure. Every situation was different unfortunately. Havocath pulled him in closer away from the ledge and the man knew that his dragon was done for the day. There wasn't much he could do down there for the kids that were injured so he looked up at his bronze So...flying, Havocath? Once around the Weyr then let me get some dinner and drink? At this point he could use a drink but he knew that Hav had sat long enough and needed the Me time. Soon they were flying up out of the bowl...A'ras much happier to be flying trying to get the last few moments out of his head.

Finally, finally. It was all over, the dragonet had finally impressed (to a girl Leicha wouldn't mind getting to know), and things could settle down and get back in order.

The healers would soon be coming for Panata and the other corpses, though the little blond boy was still hanging on to living by some manner of willpower. The older candidate, cut up and bleeding all over himself, wondered how it was that someone so small had been so stupid all at the same time, yet still wanted to keep on living?

He stood at Panata's side as the healers finally did come for him, and Leicha followed them out at their instance of looking over his wounds and quickly tending to him.

It was time for the hatching feast, Avery knew that, yet she stood still amidst the chaos. The gold and bronze wasn't Hers, the violent blue certainly wasn't... And that left nobody. Hazel eyes remained on the shards of eggs still scattering the sand, along with blood, and found that she felt no happiness that the last dragonet hadn't Betweened. Sure, later on she would consider it fortunate, but for now there were simply too many broken hearts and too many left on the sands, never to stand again.

She didn't dare raise her gaze to the stands, where she knew her family was beginning to move, to head toward the feast, nor to the edges of the sands where those newly Impressed would be shoveling a few final morsels into the mouths of Theirs before going to be celebrated.

She would go, of course, and smile and charm, but she felt hollow inside. Even that damned Kyllae had Impressed, though Avery knew that any dragon that would be a match to the blonde would not be a match for her. Where was Hers, and why had they kept her waiting?

The usually confident girl found herself in doubt, and it was a horrible feeling. She was alone in a new Weyr, and both of her friends now had someone much more important in their lives, and they had that thing in common.

Where did that leave her?

The clutch was winding down to a close, it seemed. Dragons and Theirs were pairing off, and while these last few were far from uneventful, Kamihan was glad to see that this lot didn't seem to be inclined to the violence they'd seen earlier. That last egg, though... Even the steadfast bronze who had patiently waited to see all his siblings safely Impressed seemed to, at last, accept that perhaps this final egg would not hatch.

It could have been worse, far worse. Kamihan watched the dragonets and Theirs pair off and leave one by one, torn between pleasure at the new arrivals, relief that it was over -- or nearly -- and concern for those who had been wounded or lost.

And then a steady voice rang out in his mind.

When I first arrived, I knew there was no one here for me. But after watching things, seeing things, I know now that I was wrong. Roheth is yours, Kamihan. Let us protect them all together.

Kamihan... no, K'han, now... was stunned into speechlessness. No way. Seriously?! Not just a bronze, but this bronze, the bright-shining Sunrise who had defended his queen like a champion. Overcome with a mixture of awe and affection, he dropped to one knee to wrap his arms around Roheth, hugging his new bonded tightly.

A real man, after all, isn't afraid to show a little emotion when the moment demands it.

Mine, I am hungry. Can we go to join the others now?

"Of course! Faranth knows you've been waiting long enough, Roheth." Turning, the two headed off towards where the food was, and the other new hatchlings. K'han, absorbed in the strange new feeling of having another mind connected to him, barely noticed that the last egg was stirring. "Let's --"

The terrible cry rang out, and Roheth moved swiftly, wings mantling as he stepped between K'han and the source of the terrible sound. K'han, for his part, was stunned. This wasn't like the rage of the bronze and the brown before, or the screech of the wrathful green... This was a sound as much of terror as violence.

Oh, Panata -- That boy just couldn't catch a break! K'han had stepped away from him to attend to Roheth's hunger, and now that blue was trampling him like he was a hide rug! K'han moved to turn back, but Roheth stopped him, standing firm. Wait! My brother must find His, he must! Mine, you cannot interfere now, I will not let you get hurt too! Still, the anguish in the mindvoice was apparent; Roheth wished as badly as K'han that he could simply reach out and make everything right for the blue. At least the healers were doing their job; he could see that Panata was attended to.

Janga's Impression, while unorthodox, was like the breaking of a taut string that permitted both dragon and rider to relax at last. All the dragons had found their riders. It was over. While it had not been a Hatching without casualties, now was a time for celebration of new riders. With the warm presence of Roheth at his side, K'han held his head high. There was a feast to get to.

He'd be stopping briefly by the infirmary first, though. There was someone he had to see.