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As Auri scoot past the Ovate Egg she came to another plain looking egg, a Glowering Egg But as soon as her hand made contact with it's shell it was clear that this was was nothing like the last egg.

It was immediatly clear that this egg did not wan't her there. She let out a little yelp of fear and pulled her hand back quickly. "S-Sorry!" she stutted to the egg apologetically. She moved past the egg on her toes for fear of what could jump out of it at any second.

She let out a sigh as she made her way safely around to the other group.

The situation was a little bit odd, wasn’t it? An Igen queen, clutching at Fort? Sure, it was only seven eggs, none of which looked particularly shiny - much to the disappointment of the ladies. But it still seemed like a recipe for some wounded feelings over at Igen, if you asked Zenikal…

Of course, no one was asking Zenikal. Which was frankly disappointing, because he had all sorts of scintillating speculation on the subject, which unfortunately went unheard by anyone but the pastries and a couple of friendly kitchen drudges who were willing to tolerate his ramblings. What a shame, what a shame.

He was late to the Touching for a number of very valid reasons, primarily amongst which was the fact that he was entirely too absorbed in his work. He was going to go as soon as he took this batch out of the oven. No, then he needed to dust them with a bit of crystallized syrup to get that nice sparkle. No, then there was an enormous lump of bread dough that he needed to set out to rise so that it would be done by the time he got back from the Touching. No, then there was… six other things. A kitchen never ran out of tasks, especially when Zenikal was involved and everything had to be right.

Finally, it took one of the older bakers literally shooing him out the door with a broom to get him to stop sharding touching things and hit the sands. He bowed courteously to the queen, then hastily set out catching up. Right. Touching eggs. He just had to visit all of them once, right? Introduce himself, sort of thing?

He would start with the Tropical Egg. Its color reminded him pleasantly of the rich tropical fruits you got sometimes from Ista, when they were in season and available. He stroked a friendly hand down its richly colored side, smiling as he did so. But the smile faded a little as it seemed… disappointed, almost? He got the impression that he was supposed to have offered it something, and the fact that he did not was rude. Oh dear. He didn’t have anything that was suitable to offer an egg, so with mental apologies he hastily backed off. The Ovate Egg, leaning on its sibling, was likewise greeted, but… no response. No response at all. Was being completely ignored better or worse than being rebuffed? Worse, Zenikal decided. He would just have to move on swiftly.

The Glowering Egg was approached with the same optimism Zenikal always approached eggs with, but it sent him retreating even quicker than the Tropical Egg. That one was mean! He didn’t want a mean dragon! No thank you! Someone else could deal with that hot mess. It wasn’t until halfway through the clutch, at the Regal Egg, that the baker finally felt like he’d hit his stride. Oh yes. Now this was an acceptable egg. This was an egg that knew how to feel good. Oh, he could hang out with this big guy all sharding day. Zenikal lingered near the Regal Egg for a good bit longer than was probably strictly necessary before moving on.

The Murky and the Shiny eggs, being nestled together like birds of an oddly colored feather, each got a hand at the same time… which produced an absolutely bizarre duet that Zenikal quietly resolved not to try again. Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope.

Okay. Six out of seven in the clutch, and he’d more or less struck out with all but one. His chances? They weren’t looking so great. So optimism or not, there was a little trepidation when he reached out to the last egg, the Effervescent Egg, just in case this turned out to be another like the Glowering jerk over there. If necessary, he was prepared to back off in a hurry… but no, the Effervescent Egg, like the Regal Egg, was full of pleasant surprises. In this case, it was full of confidence. Yes. Zenikal WAS touching the best egg. He was entirely willing to agree on it there (although the Regal Egg did have its own charms). And hey, maybe the egg was right: maybe it could do tricks. Zenikal was entirely prepared to stick around long enough to find out.

And indeed, he would have stayed there and been a polite audience to Effervescent’s trick, except for an unfortunate interruption. When the lovely queen mother started getting restless, however, Zenikal took that as his cue to exit. He swept another courtly bow in her direction, and rattled off a fairly decent impression of a salute to her rider. “I’ll get out of your way, ma’am.” Even if her distress had nothing to do with the Candidates, it seemed as though most of the crowd had already dissipated, and Zenikal was one of the few remaining. Perhaps it would be best to leave Serith and her rider to have a little privacy.

Dagner watched her expression eagerly.

"Problem, sis?" He touched the Murky Egg expecting...

Well, not that. Such reservation! He moved on, picking out the ones left. He touched the Shiny Egg next, and didn't find any comfort there. Strange eggs, or maybe, some part of him sullenly offered, he wasn't good enough to be here after all.

It was almost as an afterthought that he brushed his fingertips against the Effervescent Egg in the forefront before leaving the hatching ground. He grinned in spite of himself, his sour mood slightly improved by it's energy and optimism.

"Try not to break anything, dear," he called back, before taking his leave.

While the last few candidates did their thing the sound of running footfalls echoed down the corridor leading to the sands. The sound caused the fretting gold's head to whip around and she stared fixedly at the entrance until Junior Weyrwoman Ailinsy burst onto the sands, ran past the eggs and the candidates without pause, and threw herself at Serith, who lowered her head to greet her rider.

"I'm here," Lin murmured over softly as Serith's eye color returned to a contented blue with a few streaks of worry.

The gold settled into a crouch and neither dragon nor rider seemed inclined to move, so the Fort weyrwoman Alaia cleared her throat and informed the remaining candidates that the Touching was over. So much for keeping everything low-key and unobtrusive, Alaia thought. Lin was not accustomed to making scenes, but she seemed to have a great deal of natural talent for it.

"Everybody out," she told the candidates as she made shooing motions toward the corridor. She and Lin and L'ki would have to discuss this later, in private. Something had clearly gone very, very wrong.