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The green, seeming to regain her balance, moved forward towards the candidates again, eying them curiously. Merely glancing at the females, it was clear early on that this green preferred the male Candidates, moving towards the group with a determined, but obviously unrushed, mind. The green was much more well behaved than the previous dragonets, moving almost gracefully through the crowd of boys, moving through them as if she was walking on air, rather than the hot sands. She did bump into a few boys by accident or when the group was too close together, but for the most part her tiny body moved easily through them as she searched for her Bonded.

The green examined the boys one by one, peering at some and not at others, but never for more than a moment, her path a little curved, as if she were a little lost, stopping before a certain dark-haired male. This one male in particular seemed to pique her interest, her head lifting a bit higher, as if trying to peer at him better.

'Laflan?' the green inquired a little airheadishly, as if she really needed to ask, 'Your Alcherath is hungry also. Very hungry. But... not as hungry as a bronze maybe...'

After the imperious initial arrivals the sunset egg's little green was a breath of fresh air. If only a breeze could come through this place, Pendra thought starting to feel the heat past the excitement. She held back a blush at the thought of how the thin white candidates robe must be clinging to her and some of the other older female candidates she didn't look though. Pend's eyes were on the lovely hatchling with her graduated shades of green and she sighed a bit when the it seemed she was more interested in the boys. But she grinned as impression was made before turning her attention to the sands... was her dragon out there within one of those eggs or would she be left standing yet again?

Both boys watched as the brown Impressed to one of the boys in back. Greloren had, of course, pushed his way to the front of the group of boys while Riordan was closer to the back and to one side, where he could see the group of girls as well as several of the eggs.

And the eggs were what both boys were watching now. Which was going to hatch next. What was going to hatch out of it? Riordan glanced over towards the girls, noticing that they were just as nervous as the boys. Probably more so, after that first green.

The cracking of the sunrise egg drew their attention, even more so when it spilled a green who, after a moment's hesitation, headed towards the boys. Once again, Greloren just watched, sure she wasn't going to pick him. Not greenrider material! But he kept his thoughts happy as she meandered through the group before choosing one of the boys.

Riordan gave a bit of a sigh as the little green Impressed, flashing the lucky boy a smile that he probably didn't see. That little green was so pretty.... The guy was lucky. Plus, she seemed much more mild tempered than the first two hatchlings.

Ennrik remembered the morning of the Touching, when he'd ended up on the sands barefoot, and so hat taken care in dressing when he was summoned to the Hatching. Not that it made much difference. The sandals were about as effective as paper when it came to protecting the soles of his feet from the heat of the sands. It occurred to him that he probably should compose his mind to more noble thoughts, ones which might attract the attention of a dragon, but the burning in his feet was actually very distracting.

His discomfort was not sufficient, however to prevent Ennrik from noticing when the first dragon emerged, a stocky green. He had been standing near the girl who had been shoved aside - Astrisabe - and his instinct had been to go to her aid, but in the time it took him to overcome his shock at the green's careless brutality Weyr Healers had already usurped his prerogative. Which was just as well, since he knew very little about Healercraft. But he might have offered reassurance. For once the uncharitable thought didn't occur immediately to him that she should have moved herself out of the dragonet's way.

And Impression. He looked at the newly bound pair, and despite the depth of emotion they were obviously feeling, he was unaffected. He was happy for the Smith, of course, but not much beyond that. He noticed instead that the pitch of the dragons' humming had altered slightly. Of course he would notice that, he thought with some amusement. Even standing on the Hatching Sands, his mind was on music. He wondered if the tone would vary depending on what color would hatch, and regretted that he hadn't paid more attention before, when green Haanyath made her bloody entrance. He would listen more closely when the next egg cracked.

And he did, but there was not much discernible difference in tone. Intensity, yes, but not tone. And then he lost track of his thought processes as a brown emerged from a larger egg. If he was going to Impress, he knew it would not be to a green - unless he had some thus far undiscovered attraction to men - but a brown was a possibility. He watched as a brown nearly as ferocious looking as Haanyath emerged. At once, he knew that this dragon was not destined for him, and watched as Khunoth Impressed to Ghilani. At least Ghilani need no longer fear that his sexuality would be brought into question by his dragon.

It would be amusing, though, if someone who hadn't come to terms with their sexual preferences was exposed by the dragon that chose them. Ennrik wouldn't be too pleased if he was the one it happened to, but he didn't think he could reject a dragon on that basis. Not if they were anything like the firelizards he so envied. Just as he was thinking this, the sunset-colored egg began to rock. This one's occupant took so long to emerge that Ennrik began to wonder if the dragon within was damaged in some way. It was a relief when the green broke free, and impossible for Ennrik to hide his smile at the irony of his thoughts coinciding with happenstance as Alcherath Impressed to Laflan.

Throughout all of this, and part of the reason Ennrik had been making himself notice smaller things, was that his heart had started pounding the moment he stepped onto the Sands, making him very aware of the scores, possibly hundreds of people who had gathered to witness this event. It wasn't nerves about the Hatching which made his stomach roil, either, but the pressure of the audience's regard. He could feel their stares burning into him as surely as the sand burned his feet. The only respite came whenever there was an Impression, and then he knew that he was not the focus of anyone's attention.

With the pause between hatchings, Ennrik could feel his body beginning to react once more to the crowds, and closed his eyes against the visual overstimulation of the Hatching. He wished he could close his ears similarly, so that he would not have to hear the audience or the other candidates, or even the humming dragons - though he could almost feel the latter though his feet. He just knew it was only a matter of time before he was going to be sick.

The dragons' humming reached another crescendo as the rocking of the eggs increased, the efforts of the dragonets inside taking on a fevered pitch. Only one egg, the Lion Egg seemed less inclined to such activity, and it leaned with increasing weight on the Zebra Egg, whose occupant was a bit more energetic, cracks spidering across the surface, making a mosaic pattern at the point where the dragonet was pushing through with its nose. For a moment a slick, shiny bit of dragonet appeared, but before its color could be identified, the tawny Lion Egg knocked it over, falling onto its side. The sand cushioned its fall but a crack still split its upper surface, widening as the dragonet turned over inside the egg to right itself.

Finally the contents of the Lion Egg spilled onto the sands with a squawk, and the new blue dragonet struggled to his feet, wobbling unsteadily on the sands as he blinked owlishly in the light. He stretched his wings and limbs catlike, yawning and looking a little irate that he had to be moving about now, as if he much preferred to be lazing about in the egg for a while longer.

But the bright flecks of red that appeared in the dragonet's swirling eyes betrayed his hunger, and he stumbled forward as he looked for something to eat, or perhaps a candidate to do all the work and feed him. He began heading a little grudgingly for the boys, dragging his feet a little bit.

Gar had again felt his hopes rise when the newest hatchling, a beautiful green who had taken a bit more time in hatching than most he'd seen, came towards the boys. He would have been sated with a green, he'd decided long ago. Of course this one too overlooked him, but with two of three dragons gone to the male half of the crowd he had to think perhaps they would continue to do so. He had a good sporting chance. He applauded the boy the green went to, who he'd long assumed to...well not be the sort to pair with a green. Then again, if such a pair as that could happen then surely there'd be something for him.

Faranie too had thought the green quite a sight. Graceful and gorgeous, what more could anyone want from a green. She heard grumbles from many of the other girls when the green offered them no more than a glance. She too was irked. Something so lovely had chosen a boy...and oh! It was one of those late boys, he hadn't even been to the touching! She huffed and sharply turned back to the eggs. What sort of justice did this world have, anyways?!

Of everyone who'd seen the impression, Laflan was perhaps the least surprised. Certainly the fact that the dragon was a green was a bit different than he'd been planning, but all in all it didn't really matter. As soon as he'd seen her come tumbling out of her egg he'd felt an itching in his mind. Almost like he knew. Of course he really had no way to tell for sure. Until the green stopped and spoke to him, of course. At her first word, he realized that her being green didn't matter. What his family would think didn't matter. Nothing mattered, because he'd found Alcherath. She was his, and in an instant he knew he'd never have to fear being alone ever again. Beaming for all to see, he cried, "Her name is Alcherath!" and wrapped his arms around her neck. Still grinning, he led the green off to eat.

The blue dragonet walked among the boys, making idle little crooning noises to himself as he lazily looked for the one that he wanted. He peered into the faces of some, completely ignored others. There were only a few boys left, and he looked with displeasure upon them. His wasn't here among them at all!

With a snort, he meandered off towards the girls, yawning again.

Before the blue that had emerged from the Lion Egg even had a chance to Impress, the zebra egg began to tremble, suddenly cracking almost evenly in the middle, spilling out its contents on the sands. The contents mewled indignantly, trying to get to its feet. It was hard to distinguish the egg from its contents- both were striped, and pieces of the shell still clung to the little dragon.

Shaking himself all over, the suddenly bronze dragon mewled again, rather pitifully. He glanced up at his mother, as if he was hoping she could make the decision for him. Instead, she rumbled deep in her chest, mildly amused, but not so much so that she did not hesitate to push her son towards the boys.

Still making little indignant noises, the bronze stood. He wasn't angry though, just confused. And rather pitiful. It wasn't very dignified for a bronze dragon, but maybe he would grow out of it as he grew older?

Again, his little body stood trembling before the males. He wasn't a bad looking bronze, though his pattern was certainly strange. But then, this hatching was full of surprises, wasn't it? At least he wasn't looking at the females, right?

Instead, the bronze took another few hesitant steps towards the males, still making little noises.