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The bronze looked at him.

And... that was all. Nothing in his head. No sudden connections between one soul and another. No flashes of knowledge, reaches of empathy. The little bronze was just... curious. As unknowing of him as he was the dragon, maybe. But not....

The intelligent thing to do would be to put the matter aside. To acknowledge he was powerless. That if a dragon looked at him, it had surely noticed him - and if it looked away after, as it was doing now, examining the world around it with surprisingly little interest toward the people (though if that were the case, at least it had looked at him! Right? Right?), then it had likely had the opportunity to pick him out, and had decided....

Shards, but he wanted it. He really did. He knew he did. He couldn't just give up hope. He couldn't rationalize it away. Maybe there'd be other dragons. That didn't make the one in front of him any easier to overlook.

He should say something, he thought; but his throat was already tensed up. Okassis tried clearing it quietly, but it was still louder than he'd meant. Shards, he shouldn't be so fardling nervous - what was this? Gather still chasing him around, plaguing him with doubts?

He was made of sterner stuff than that, and he knew it. But if he couldn't talk - surely some fluke, the thick air around here screwing with his windpipe - then he'd do something else.

Barely realizing that he'd stopped breathing, Okassis took a slow, deep breath. In the ultimate expression of futility, he did what he knew he shouldn't, knew couldn't have any effect, and took a single gentle step forward. The bronze was already looking away by then, though, making it even less useful than usual.

Having reluctantly torn herself away from a sleepy Fuxith, Zara slid onto one of the benches--without a certain green flit this time. No, she was currently being kept under watch by her bonded, whose ego was properly inflated from being trusted with such a responsible task even as he fretted at Beryl each time she so much as twitched an eyelid. She will not embarass you this time, he stated firmly to His, even though his only knowledge that there'd been a 'last time' came from Zara. Nope, that didn't matter. Keeping her reputation--and his--clean was what mattered.

Leaning forward to peer at the sands, the slim Weyrling noted that a bronze--oh, and now a blue!--had already hatched. They seemed to be taking their time about choosing...of course, that wasn't neccessarily a bad thing. Better to take their time and choose a rider perfectly suited without a bunch of fuss than to rush about and hurt someone.

---

As the second egg cracked open, Rinfala drew in her breath at a glimpse of blue hide. Distracted from her admiration of the healthy bronze that had first hatched, she grinned crookedly as the stripey little blue hissed and spat. "Boy, you're a firey one," she murmured warmly, her mind inadvertently making a comparison to a small yet spirited stallion that had belonged to her mother. Size was no indication of spunk, that was for sure!

Of all the sharding worst timing! Granted, Gh'lan knew he shouldn't use any type of expletive other then sheer happiness at the prospect of a Hatching, but there was supposed to be a rare line up among the planets around Pern that would appear to a keen watching eye as a row of meatrolls in the sky! Beneath him, Khunoth rumbled moodily, half irritated to be out on the edge of the Star Stones at night when he should be in his weyr, and half in instinctual response to the reverberating hum shaking the very bedrock of the Weyr.

Thumping the brown on the side of the neck, the former starsmith grinned. "Oh Ho! So you do sing a tune other then growling about wherries?" He quipped, shouldering his pack of drawing materials and closing the lid of the small glowbasket he had brought with him. That headache from earlier had gotten a little worse, but he wasn't too bothered by it, though the tickling in his chest was a little more worrisome, but he'd figure a good dose of fellis and wine after the feast would settle it. Much sadder was that after all that digging just to find his drafting instruments, he was going to have to put them up again before using them! Still, he couldn't keep the usual grin from crossing his features ear to ear. Hatchings were a great event! Better then cosmic meatrolls by far!

I am a better singer then you will ever be. Let's go, Khunoth replied dryly, pulling himself to his feet as Gh'lan finished his packing and held on tight. "Hey, don't forget you don't have straps o--"

The wind of Khunoth's descent pulled the words right out of Gh'lans mouth, and despite the fact that they were barely old enough to do this (and likely would be told not too despite that...) the brownrider abruptly remembered that he never had to fear flying Khunoth. The brown was strong, and quite capable for an overgrown wherry.

I am offended.

You are what you eat Khunoth.

Then you are a meatroll.

Laughter followed the pair into the Hatching Ground, where the brown left his rider to sit with some of his friends from the kitchens before heading up towards the top ledges. He'd be able to see fine, and hopefully no other dragon would try and land too close.




Allende's memory of how she came to be standing in thin sandals among a throng of other girls on the steaming hot sands was a bit of a blur. Last time her brain had checked in, she'd been doing laundry a little later then usual, but that could hardly account for this! How had she even gotten into her robes!

The mere thought of having done things without knowing she had done them was enough to distract the efficient holdergirl enough so she forgot to be nervous as the group carried her with them towards the eggs. Vaguely, she registered hearing a few talking, and one or two coughing, but in her rush to reactivate her usual mental cataloging of events, she finally realized that she had missed the first two dragnets breaking shell entirely!

The dark blue dragon relaxed a bit as it felt a little warmth from the Candidates, looking around at both the boys and girls, a little curious now, but obviously still quite unsure of the situation. Everythying was so confusing, so... overwhelming! There were too many of them, too many eyes watching him, and wanting him. Scrambling up from his sitting position, the striped blue went still after a moment, craning his neck just slightly, his eyes focusing on one boy in particular.


UroruMine....

The blue's eyes whirled a little more as he moved forward, obviously hesitant, hissing in worry and irritation at the rest of the Candidates and pulling his head back down, obviously wanting to go to His, but certainly not wanting to move through the group. His multifaceted eyes met Uroru's, filling his mind with the distress of a young dragon, his tail lashing a little as he stood there beside the other eggs, his wings curled close to his body.

Mine, come get your Atosith! He wants to get away, they're all looking too closely. Please, let us go to some place away?

Even to one unexperienced in the ways of the Weyr, the humming could not be ignored. When it began, Fenferari was taking a walk along the halls of his new home, thoughts drifting through his mind like leaves down a stream. The stoney walls began to vibrate with sound. The young man lifted his head- he could feel that they were buzzing even if he had no contact. A solid, melodious note in his mind, he felt as if he were being called along to something greater. That or the walls were about to collapse. It was truly... beautiful.

Luckily, he hadn't been far from the boys' barracks, and he hurried along quickly. He didn't pay any mind as he entered his shared quarters, stripping down as he went. He knew exactly where his robes were, folded again and again on the days he had the whim to turn the fabric in his hands, resting at the foot of his bed. He pulled them on, the material loose around his shoulders and slightly scratchy against his skin. Despite the rushing in the halls, he took his time now, quieted as he soothed the wrinkles free of the fabric. So simple, this garment, but yet so much honor was imbued in donning it. He allowed himself to tremble.

Then he was still, the excitement pushing through his lips in a slow sigh. The calm within the whipping fury of excitement that slowed everything down for him, keeping him from tumbling over, focusing him. He took the final step and pulled his shoes free. It was time. His first Hatching.


The sands were searing the soles of his feet, but he calculated nothing beyond a first degree burn, if even that. It was just uncomfortable, which he supposed was the point, the rite for admittance. Always the humble one, he had only dared a spot somewhere near the center of the males, if slightly more to the back. He didn't need to be head of the line, he just wanted to be able to see. And he did. Those gray-blue eyes watched the first dragonet, a bronze, peel its way out onto the sand. Even if his mind felt calm, he felt his breath hitch. His eyes followed as it moved about, judging the lot of them. Even though it looked a little silly stumbling about as it did, it was still a vision of excellence.

His vision was drawn as he heard the hissing of the next dragonet, a blue on the sands. This was happening quite quickly, wasn't it? And then he saw its eyes center, tried to follow its vision to a boy he did not know by name. Was this...?

Uroru had been listening to the quiet on the sands, the collectively held breath of the candidates. He pondered if he listened hard enough could he hear their hearts. His eyes widened as a voice entered his head.

UroruMine...

His own heart was hammering in his ears as it sank in. He huffed softly to keep himself breathing, his brows furrowing at his Atosith's distress. He quickly wormed his way from the crowd of male candidates and met the dark blue dragonet, reaching out to touch him, to offer comfort.

Of course, Atosith! We can get away from all these people and get you fed and taken care of.

Uroru ran his hands along Atosith's neck and led him off of the sands to tend to His.

Mo had just settled down on her cot to whittle when without warning a stampede in the direction of the candidate quarters broke her concentration. She was sorely tempted to glare at her roommate when she arrived, but the girl seemed so anxious to get her white robe that she probably wouldn't notice the dirty look. Only when she was gone did Gamoira finally haul herself off the bed to go and get her candidate robes. Sharding dragons, Hatching whenever they pleased. This would probably go into the middle of the night, which meant neither H'dek nor herself would be getting a good night's rest. How unpleasant.

Her face set in her usual scowl, she stalked off to join the rest of the group filing into the Hatching Sands. They say that third time's the charm but Mo had never believed in luck, especially not when it came to overgrown whers. As usual, however, H'dek would pout later if he didn't see her standing with the rest of the girls, and so she shoved her way into the crowd until she reached the wall. This here would do just fine. She squinted up into the Stands, however she couldn't spot her bronzerider friend from this angle. Perhaps he wasn't here yet.

The Sand was still unbelievably hot considering how dark it was, and Mo shifted her weight from foot to foot unhappily. Sharding overgrown whers and their sharding hot sand. She folded her arms over her chest to watch as the a blue and a bronze made their way over to the boys, no doubt choosing the one they were meant for. It was not too bad to watch now that she didn't have to worry about protecting H'dek. That blue seemed to know where he was going, but had the bronze Impressed?