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Veyes gasped as the blue disappeared, "NO!" he exclaimed and suddenly the devastating reality hit hard. It was gone...He couldn't help but start to cry wondering if that one...could have been...someone's but...it couldn't find it's life mate. He closed his eyes even as the brown found someone else. It seemed like they always found someone else.

Veyes looked down at the sands feeling terrible inside. What a horrible loss. What Bad luck again... He sighed and the only think he could think of was how he would have rather seen that sharding idiot girl have impressed than to see that...

One moment, Eponath was chewing happily, asking Hers about the new friend that they were so desperately trying to get attention from. The next, the newborn green sat up on her haunches, and keened. The sound was unearthly, a horror-filled, desperate sound of loss and mourning for a clutch-mate that had not Impressed any standing on the Sands. The blond could only clutch her head for a moment, hearing the awful sadness in her dragon's mind before she collapsed around the green, sobbing. "How awful, awful, awful! Oh, this shouldn't happen what happened! Was it that girl? Oh that poor thing..."

Inaari clutched Eponath as tightly as she could, praying so hard that the sounds would stop soon. For though she mourned the blue, the idea that this turbulence could affect hers was too much to bear!

In another part of Pern, another green was bemoaning the loss of the hatchling, as it felt the newborn soul go between. Briariath had warned her rider that something was terribly wrong on the sands at Ista, but the pair had not made it back in time to personally witness this new horror. What had happened to make things go so absolutely wrong? All the quiet greenrider could do was soothe his dragon with is presence, softly murmuring mentally to the distraught female.

It was not right, R'lus! Something has happened at Ista. Cheoth is going to be beside herself. We go back now! Not at all in the mood to argue with his Briar, he made his excuses, though little were needed. ALL dragons mourned the loss of one who had barely lived, and he would be needed in his Weyr.

The strangled screech.. N'tos refused to acknowledge what happened in that single moment. It took a few more minutes to sink in.. his hands were shaking. N'tos looked away, unable to stand the sigh of the hatching grounds. Shards.. if that wasn't heart-breaking, nothing else was. The unfortunate blue... A hand went up to his face, covering his eyes. He took a deep intake of breath, before exhaling a deep sigh. He didn't even have to ask, to know how people felt on the matter.

Asceth let out a mourning keen, before closing his eyes. He looked defeated somehow, and tired. His eyes had grown to a dull grey, tinged with yellow. Asceth was slightly fearful, but not nearly fear as he was pained by the loss of a dragonic brother. After Ianquith left him, he went to N'tos, gently nudging him.

N'tos reached down, to hug Asceth's neck. It hurts, very much. Asceth confided to his rider. I know... N'tos tired to soothe, knowing that no words could make this moment any better. What if one day.. N'tos shook his head. He refused to finish that thought. But that shout? What was this about Kyllae? N'tos couldn't bring himself to care though. Casting more blame, and anger at this moment would only make it worse. Wasn't there enough of that?

Keening, Varth shoved closer to A'bri, making entirely pitiful sounds. A'bri, for his part, clutched Varth as close as he could, his expression utterly blank. Utterly blank, anyway, aside from the tears rolling down his cheeks. He didn't want to believe it, wanted the poor little thing to pop back in as quickly as it had popped out, but...

:It is bad, it is bad, it is bad!: Varth was keening more loudly, his wings trembling as he tried to huddle under His. It didn't work terribly well, big as he was, but he tried, his sounds getting more and more distressed. :Why is he not? He was, why is he not?:

A'bri shook his head, not able to give an explanation. Why, indeed? He should not have been lost. If that stupid, useless, pathetic excuse for a semi-sentient being hadn't gone and-

He forced his thoughts away from that, though he couldn't help but agree with the new Queenrider's shouting. He was half-tempted to join her. Varth, too upset to remember he didn't like Arioth one bit, made another pathetic sound as the young Gold keened, and he turned, taking a half-step toward his crying siblings. Needing, now, to see that the others had not simply vanished, had not ceased to be when they had been before. A'bri moved with him, letting him get closer to the others, grief tempered only slightly with relief at the sight of the other little Brown still on the sands. Only one had vanished, but even one was too many. Too much of a cost to pay for someone else's-

He cuddled Varth close, his blank expression crumpling to one less shocked, and more weary. Grieving with his dragon for the sibling that had been lost.

:Want him back, should be here, why is he not?? BAD, WANT BACK, BAD!!: Eyes a pathetic shade of grey-orange, Varth tilted his head back and screamed, bellowing and keening his upset at the loss.

The horrified silence was only last a moment, suddenly shattered by the wailing of every dragon in the entire Weyr. No one was louder than Cheoth, however, who was on her feet and screaming. Her bellows did not cease, and despite Favan's best efforts otherwise, she could not support the weight of her dragon's grief. Already emotionally and physically worn from early events, the Jr. Weyrwoman allowed tears to trickle down her face, too busy trying to soothe her Queen as the young Gold lamented the loss of the baby blue.

~*~

Meanwhile, F'sey and Ialluth might have been the only pair in the entire Weyr not completely overcome with grief. The small green still let out her cry of despair when the hatchling leapt, her eyes were still whirling that terrible grey, but she had to help Hers do his job. It's alright, little ones! she called to the newly Impressed, doing her best to gauge the situation. You have Yours, you will always have Yours, take comfort in them! she urged.

Her steely-faced rider was barking commands, ordering all the newly-made riders close in. "Shards," he hissed, spotting Xanthoth as he fell. "B'LIN GET HIM UP AND OVER HERE." They could not loose more dragons in this chaos, no. They couldn't let these weyrlings between as well, the day was already tragic enough.

Xanthoth, get up, Ialluth called in her best motherly voice. Nothing can be done. Come here and take comfort with Yours.

C’ren winced as Ceylith’s sorrow tore through his brain, rampaging all over everything else. Darling, please… calm down, he pleaded with the sweet Green. The grief she felt threatened to overcome everything else, including C’ren’s own nature. It wasn’t a good combination. He looked down at the Sands towards F’sey, wondering how he was taking this.

But, of course, F’sey would be busy with the Weyrlings for now. They would be taking it far harsher than anyone else… except, perhaps, for Ceylith herself.

The Green wailed again, voicing a sadness that could have no words. No words could fully capture the feelings; all she could do was try to explain a grief that was older than words, predating the birth of dragons.

~.~

Redhath stared at the place where his brother had vanished, trying to figure out where he had gone. This… He… He’ll come back, right Mine? he said slowly, his mental voice shaky with emotion. He has to come back. He’s not supposed to go away! He has to find his Mine! MINE! We must find his Mine for him, so he’ll be there when he gets back! The little Blue made no movement away from Arioth though, continuing to huddle under her wing instead.

He didn’t like this… he didn’t like the fact that his clutchbrother had left them. It wasn’t right! A soft noise escaped the Blue’s mouth and he hid once more, this time squirming away to cuddle against M’al. You won’t leave, right? You can’t do that? Please don’t do that!

M’al could only hug the dragonet, trying to understand what had gone wrong. “Sh… it’s ok, Redhath. I’m going to be here with you.” Oh, Faranth, that was… he’d never forget the screams of the dragons. Not ever. He could only hug Redhath and try not to cry.

~.~

And neither would Xeran, who could only stare numbly at the scene before him. He was dimly aware that the Brown had found someone, but that Blue… he was gone. Forever. Xeran didn’t even know anything about dragons, but the feelings still hit him hard and, if that wasn’t enough, Vera certainly was. “I’m so sorry, Vera,” he said, wrapping his arms around her so she could cry in private.

And Marko too, he realized. They really were all in this together. Xeran swallowed his own tears and hugged the other Harpers, unwilling to let them go, unwilling to let his family go. He looked over at Marko and hugged him as well. Everyone needed someone to hold at a time like this.

It was like someone shut off a light switch and then immediately turned it back on.

There were piercing sounds in every far reaching corners of her ears, but, like everyone else, she wasn't sure what to do. She didn't scream, she didn't shift, move, or even utter the faintest of pained murmurs at first.

There were accusations flying in one direction, and heartbreak in another.

She realized she'd forgotten how to breathe and sucked in a deep breath as she clutched her arms in the sudden feeling of chill that had worked its way through the sands. Now was the time to leave and never come back. It would be so easy to request to go back home tomorrow and give up on this.

It was then that the dragons went off. Shards.

She covered her ears and waited for it to stop; if it would ever stop. Her eyes closed then, too. Perhaps she could have dealt with the sight of a blue going between, but the dragons' calls rattled her bones and froze her resolve.

From there, she moved her way back through the crowds and left Kess where she was. A cowards move? Most certainly, but she was tired of this and she wanted to be as far away from the people as possible. The very back of the crowd was where she wanted to be. The farthest from the stands, the farthest from the eggs, and the farthest from the dragons.