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Ignobly, Ghilani had been basking in the summer rays with Tada on his bare chest when the call came.

All at once he found himself on his feet, uncertain of how he had gotten to them so fast, until his sunbaked mind finally caught up with the rest of him as he sprinted to the candidate quarters. Florian would know, he was a Healer and had Stood before after all, so Ghilani wasted no time trying to locate his missing friend after he had thrown on the white robe passed down from candidates before him. Florian had wisely taken his robe with him when he reported to the Healer quarters for duty that morning, and had left Roco here in their room. Tada, for her part, had taken to the air at the first sign of movement from him, and had followed him doggedly all the way to his cot. Now Ghilani took a moment to look her square in the eyes. "Stay here Tada, with Roco. " Then he turned to the brown who had been asleep on Florian's pillow. "Both of you STAY here!" He emphasized the command that both knew, and was gratified when Tada promptly sat, folding her wings neatly along her spine. Smiling down at her, he scratched her along her eye ridges once, then turned and swiftly skate out the door.

Florian almost missed the call, since he was neck deep in pharmaceuticals in the Weyr's stillroom. The thick stone walls and comforting coolness was a soothing balm on the temper that often flared within him when the air grew hot. Blessedly, one of the apprentices came rushing in to tell him the news, and without so much as a second glance, he hurried after her, grabbing his white robe off the back of a chair as he did. Without modesty, he stripped off his outer tunic and undershirt, leaving on only his trousers and pulling on the robe as he ran to the Hatching Sands. Vaguely he wondered if Ghilani knew, but he figured that the cheerful starsmith would likely be one of the first to know, given how in sync his green firelizard was with emotions on smaller scale.



As with the candidate lessons, the pair arrived almost simultaneously, though Florian did move off a ways rather then crowd in close with the young starsmith. Ghilani found that he didn't mind, especially not with the great Queen hovering above and a squat looking egg breaking shell. It was a green, and Ghilani found himself smiling faintly at the color comparison between the newly hatched female and his own green firelizard...

... But the comparison stopped there when the green dragonet promptly mauled one of the young women in her way and proceeded through the girls as if she didn't see any of them. Frozen, he could only watch as the green finally did stop, only to demand something of her new rider. Ghilani noticed with a start that the chosen of the little killer was Tseka, the girl he had met outside the kitchens that one day. Understandably, he wasn't certain if he was happy for her...

Forcing himself to look away, Ghilani made a quiet, solemn vow to get out of the way of any approaching dragonets if they did not look interested... a vow that was aided by his current position at the back of the group of male candidates. He saw Florian start towards the wounded girl, he was Healer afterall, but stopped when one of the attending Healer's waved him off. Turning away when it appeared the situation was well in hand, Ghilani couldn't see the eggs very clearly, so he missed the actually breaking shell of his future dragon...

..As it was, the little brown had to force his way to the back before he could get to Ghilani.

Gh'lan, your Khunoth is so hungry. But don't feed him the bad bits of meat. Just the good parts. I'll know. But I'm hungry. Feed me now!

Blinking, Gh'lan just stared down at the brown stupidly, until the speckled creature took a warning snap at his hand.

Feed me now!

Instantly Gh'lan's brown eyes hardened and he frowned down at the dragonet... a rarity in and of itself. "I'll have have none of those teeth showing Khunoth, you need only ask me nicely." He said, placing his hands on his hips. The brown looked up at him belligerently for a moment, but Gh'lan kept staring him down until the hatchling finally gave a little in his body posture.

..Please?

That was enough for a start, and a bright smile radiated down at the hatchling from his rider. "Of course! You'll have the pick of the bunch!"




Florian watched his roommate Impress with mixed sympathy and pleasure. In a way he could appreciate what good Ghilani's good nature would do for the grumpy brown, but he felt that the dragon would temper the rider and perhaps instill a bit of competitive spirit into the boy. Smiling to himself, he turned back to watch the rest of the hatching. "Time will tell." he mumbled to no one in particular.

Rayale watched the Impressions, one by one, with wide eyes, though the image of the young woman with her white gown torn open lodged in his memory like a sharp edged fish bone.
It wasn't as though he'd never seen blood before, people gutting the catch, men getting their hands ripped open by net barbs, knives, fins, escaping rope. The sea was a dangerous place but it was dangerous in an impersonal way, and there was something about the way the dragon had been so intent on it's final destination that it was willing to literally maul someone to get there...
I was like it couldn't see anyone but them, or maybe it did see them, but it hated them for being in the way. That was the option that frightened him on a primal level, that suddenly made the entire experience much less romanticized, although the tight in the shoulders and chest robe, and the sandals that didn't do much to keep the sand from making his feet feel scorched, and him overheated, didn't help either.
Maybe that was the real reason for the white robes, they were anonymous, and easy to remove for treating wounds...
Or for burying someone in....Shards.

When the deep call rang out Riyinn was fast to get up, throwing on her cloths she was outta bed, the time was here.

When she reached the area it was already packed with others. She watched with amazement as the first egg hatched then another. Even if there was no impressing the hatching was something to see.

deep down she wished she could hold Kir over her jitters but tried to stay still in the grounds.

With her total attention snapped up by the newest hatched dragon, Kella seemed like she was zoning out. Her eyes were wide, and glued to a single object- in this case, the brown hatchling. She pursed her lips, frowning only slightly as he tumbled from the hippo egg. She'd pegged that one as blue, for sure! The young girl sighed and shrugged, there was no way to accurately predict them all (but Kella had been so very confident in her guesses, telling anyone and everyone she could!) and she had certainly tried her best. The little girl lost interest in the brown when he made his choice clear. He headed straight for the boys, not even giving the girls a second thought. With another shrug, Kella turned her head and began to watch the eggs again. Which one would hatch next? She shifted her weight uncomfortably back and forth between her two feet. The sandals on her feet did little, if anything, to block out the heat rising from the heated sands. She began to fidget impatiently, twiddling her fingers, looking all over the grounds, scrutinizing the rows of spectators, and just generally act like a young girl with a busy mind, but nothing to do. Finally, she settled on watching the eggs. "C'mon," she whispered, her impatience nearly tangible! "Hatch!"

Two hatchlings emerged, far too many others to go. La watched the brown stride up to his boy (she was fairly certain he was named Ghilani) and then turned her attention back toward the eggs. Where others might have been working to calm hearts racing faster than ever, now that the Hatching itself had started, La found herself strangely quiet. She knew what she was doing and how to do it, and if all she had to do was stand still or quickly get out of the way, then she would be fine. She was comfortable where she was standing, though a quick glance over the sands gave her the position of a good handful of the Candidates she liked the best. And there was the newcomer Hesen, obviously in the middle of the boys who had trooped out of the Brown's way...she smiled.

But she was curious about the rest of the eggs. What would come of the wildly patterned one she had touched first? And the brightly spotted eggs? .....And the vivid pink one. Though La was fairly certain whatever emerged from that, or any other, egg wouldn't Impress her, she did want to know what would come of it.

---

When no blood was shed by the brown, Hanya breathed a sigh of relief and let herself look over the eggs. As long as none of the other dragonets were so violent as the first one, she wnated to see what would come from them. She had very few acquaintances amongst the Candidates, so she didn't bother to look for them. As the heat from the Sands rose around her, she realized that she was sweating and that her feet were burning...she hated it. Picking up one foot, she balanced briefly, then put it down and did the same with the other.

At this point, she didn't care if she looked foolish.

Maranan was shoved to the side by the brown. He grunted at being shoved so. He was struck by how strong the little dragonet was. He righted himself and watched as the brown impressed. Everyone seemed on edge now. Waiting with baited breath for the next one to hatch.

A'kor sat high in the sands alongside his beast, up near the ceiling. Lucieth was watching intently, his eyes swirling, his throat vibrating as he hummed to welcome each new dragonet. The redheaded brownrider leaned far forward to peer down at the candidates, watching as first a green, then a brown dragonet Impressed. He could pick out some familiar Weyrbrats down on the Sands among the Holder kids, remembering the bets he'd made with some of his wingmates on which of them would Impress. For a long moment he just stared at the recently-Impressed, recalling fondly his own first moments with Lucieth. As another green broke free onto the sands, he turned his attention to her, as did the brown beside him.

What do you think, Lucieth?

She's uncertain, the dragon answered him. But she will find Hers soon enough.

A'kor certainly hoped so. It was always so heart-wrenching when a dragonet went between...