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Terisa, who had only recently been transported to the Weyr, hadn't been expecting such a rude awakening this morning, and, in her half-awakened state, she was relieved that she had been able to get clothes on successfully. She hadn't, however, remembered to get her long, dark hair anywhere near under control, so as she slipped into the Hatching Grounds with the other candidates, she did her best to keep her eyes down and hope that no one recognized the girl with the out of control black hair. Despite her embarrassment, as soon as Terisa's eyes lifted to the clutch hardening on the sands, a small smile appeared to light her face. Shuffling towards the Queen dragon guarding the eggs, Terisa glanced up, her eyes going wide at the size of the dragon, before connecting to the floor as she took the traditional respectful bow. Though the Queen dragon was obviously distracted with all the many candidates around her eggs, Terisa almost thought she saw the Queen nod in approval, but perhaps she was nodding at some other candidate. The only way to know for sure was to approach the eggs.

Gulping down her nerves, Terisa skirted along the edge of the candidate bunches as well as she could before approaching the Queen egg. Biting her lip and waiting for an opening in the cluster of girls around the egg, Terisa slipped into the group as nondescriptly as she could and lightly brushed the egg, glancing up at the Queen, and being reassured that she wasn't the subject of a dragon's rage yet. While the Queen egg truly was beautiful, the crowd around it was not to Terisa's liking, and she quickly slipped away from the group to walk around the edge of the clutch by herself.

As she was walking, a small egg situated between two larger ones caught her eye, and she dared to walk away from the edge of the sands, and brave the presence of her fellow candidates, to take a closer look at the mottled golden shell. Holding her hand out towards the egg, Terisa delighted at the warmth under the brown and black spotted shell. The patterns on its surface intrigued her, and she thought briefly that it would make a wonderful pattern for a decorative tapestry or rug. Smiling to herself, she looked about and felt her tolerance for embarrassment draining. Making her way back towards the entrance of the Hatching grounds, Terisa paused once at a deep brown egg with white marks, caressing it briefly before giving the Queen another bow and moving to the entrance of the Hatching grounds. Even if she didn't impress, the opportunity to see such beautiful things inspired the quiet weaver girl. Her fingers itched to sketch out the scenes she had seen, and she doubted she would get much sleep the next few nights, as her creative impulses rarely let her rest if there was a sketch in her head....

Hesendek was not unused to waking up when told, but the harsh yells were a little more than was necessary, the apprentice vintner though. Or, make that candidate. He was a candidate now, and that was why he was being harassed in the first place. The lad got up with little complaint, bumbling around until his clothes on. He might be used to the crack of dawn (or at least, he’d like to tell himself he was), but it didn’t make his mind any less foggy when the time actually came.

Once he arrived at the Sands, Hesendek bowed deeply to each of the Queens, wondering briefly if he should say anything to the pair. Fortunately, the young man realized no one else had said a word, and he retreated into the crowd of candidates, content to putter around and mingle with all the other hopefuls. Hesendek was Searched very recently, no more than a few sevendays ago, the boy hadn’t been given much of an opportunity to socialize. There were always chores to be done around the Weyr and when the day was over, Hesendek often found himself collapsing against his bed in relief.

The candidate was shaken out of his thoughts as some of the girls were herded off, rather unfairly, in Hesendek’s humble opinion, to go and pat the Queen egg. Shouldn’t all the girls be given the same opportunity? But perhaps he shouldn’t really worry about it, the apprentice thought, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair. The dragonriders didn’t tell his folks how to make wine, so he probably shouldn’t judge how they ran their Weyr. Hesendek didn’t considered himself Weyrfolk, not by a long shot. While he was honored, and perhaps even excited, to have been Searched and taken to Ista, Hesendek couldn’t help but think this was just like a little break. A vacation. He’d stand and then he’d go home again. That’s what everyone said, anyways. You can always go home if you don’t Impress.

Hesendek frowned. What was his father say, if he heard him think like that!

The apprentice frowned and shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck as he surveyed the eggs. Everyone else was going out to touch them. He should. He should! Hesendek stepped forward, sparing the Queens another look as he tried keep up his courage. The largest egg caught his eye first; the loudly colored egg seemed to be getting quite a lot of attention. Not surprising, really. If he were stripped black and white, Hesendek imagined he’d get a lot of attention too.

Instead, Hesendek found himself going to largest egg’s brother (or sister, who’s to judge). It was grey and black and white and all angles. Sharp and intriguing, the youth made his way over, careful to avoid the other candidates stopped at other eggs. He reached out, a little shy, and touched the egg. Once he realized nothing terrible was going to happen, he grinned and gave the egg a few more strokes. It wasn’t exactly what he expected, well, he wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was nothing like ever touched before.

Once he decided that was enough, Hesendek straightened so he could head back to the group. But where were his manners! Facing the egg, he gave a nod. "Thank y'all kindly," he said, smiling as he started to return to the group. Couldn't be greedy, after all. Other candidates had touch the eggs too.

Gamoira did not like being awoken by loud voices, especially when they were not yelling something important. If the Weyr wasn't on fire or somebody wasn't trying to murder the Queens in their bed then she saw no point in raising ones voice like that. It was a pointless waste of energy, not to mention it put her in a very unpleasant mood (well, more unpleasant than usual). Despite being in the candidate barracks, she only intended to Impress if Hesen did, and even then she didn't have to Impress if he did. It was only a precautionary measure so that she could stay with him no matter what happened. She was not going to be sent back to the Hold to pick grapes while he stayed here and became a dragon rider. They would have to drag her dead body back.

With that thought in mind she finally hauled herself to her feet, dressing and putting her hair up in her usual slow manner. Hesendek was not a runner; he wouldn't be throwing everything on to try and be at the Sands first. She had time. Besides, Mo never rushed anything, not even for a bunch of eggs. Perhaps it was because she felt no obligation to Impress, or perhaps she didn't think she would, but for whatever reason the nerves had yet to hit the young woman. Nervousness was not a feeling she was familiar with, simply because she set very low standards for herself. Her parents had set their standards at kitchen drudge, which meant that if she did better than that she was exceeding expectations. Why try to do something you'd already done?

She joined Hesendek as they made their way towards the Hatching Sands, neatly avoiding the line to touch the Queen egg in order to shadow him. This was his moment. He would have fun here, she reckoned, since touching dragon eggs was something few non-dragonriders could claim. It would make a great story for the apprentices, should they return home. As he bowed she bowed behind him, her squinty eyes scrutinizing the Queens. They were bigger than she had expected, but more importantly, she realized that she had not quite captured their elegance in her carvings. She would have to redo that one for Hesendek. The one thing she didn't tolerate with herself was shoddy craftsmanship.

Mo continued along after her friend, taking her eyes off the queens and letting them wander. She hadn't expected there to be so many colours. It was a pity that she didn't have access to any dyes, because they would make remarkable miniatures. Perhaps maybe she'd do just a queen with her gold egg cradled close. Yes, she liked the sound of that. With the picture in her mind, the young woman turned her attention back to guarding Hesendek as he stroked his chosen egg. Anyone who got to close to the pair earned themselves everything short of Mo cracking her knuckles. Nobody could touch her friend's egg while he was touching it. They would have their turn.

She grunted in amusement as his parting words to the egg but said nothing more, following him as he went back to the group. As she passes through the eggs, she accidentally touches one, and she pauses at the strange texture. Did all eggs feel like that? Distracted, she lets her fingers trace the brown egg as though memorizing how it feels. How very peculiar. With an expression of curiousity, she reaches out and touches a neighbouring egg, surprised at how different they feel. How very peculiar indeed.

The sound of other candidates moving breaks her interest and Mo instantly pulls her hand away from the egg. Bad. Bad Mo. She wasn't supposed to be touching them. Face set back in its usual scowl, the young woman stalked off after Hesendek. If he was leaving then her time here was finished.

HELLO, I R CLOSED NOW. <3