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Mine. Stoloth's rider looks to you. Sit with him. Wait on the others. Let them know we do not need them. Yet. Tatath's voice snuck through her thoughts. She warbled at Stoloth who agreed with her in these thoughts. So, was the brown finally waking up. We must watch and learn. Use our advantages.

Canoake looked and there indeed was T'go. Someone she had not thought about before. But the green rider was almost positive that Tatath had spent some time with the brown and therefore his rider could prove another useful ally. "T'go! How can I see you if you slouch? Do you have a space for me to join you?"

Play nice. Smiling brightly, she headed his way whether there was a space or not. After all, such a nice and polite brown rider would make one for her.

Stoloth's eyes were bright orange. Normally calm, if slightly neurotic, it was an odd look for him. "I am always vigilant! I will share my knowledge with any dragon who wants to bring this monster to justice."

The almost unrecognizable voice in his mind caused T'go to fidget. Something seemed to have come loose in Stoloth's mind after the Queen cried out on the night of Kestril's murder, as if he finally completely lost trust in the world. T'go hoped it was only temporary. While he was lost in thought Canoake suddenly came up to him. He jumped, staring at her. Immediately realizing how rude this must have seemed, he quickly scooted over and tried to straighten his wiry hair. "Y-yes, sorry. I t-t-thought you didn't s-see me. H-how are you?"

His stutter had improved much from his days as a candidate. He rarely spoke to Canoake because he thought she was beautiful and didn't want to embarrass himself, but as long as she was sitting next to him it would be rude not to engage her.

Lukask seemed unperturbed by the recent tragedy. The cacophony of roaring dragons nearly sent him into a frenzy, but once the silence returned he settled into an uneasy mood that lasted the rest of the night. By the time the hatching started Lukask was back to his usual self. Lukah couldn't be sure whether Lukask had forgotten the incident or simply didn't care about the Queen. Still a relative newcomer, Lukah felt little allegiance to Benden. Even he was on edge. This disaster happened on his watch. There was little he could have done to prevent it, having been on the other side of the weyr at the time, but he still felt a twinge of responsibility. Although it was unlikely, if the assassin was still in the area his next target was clear. Lukah wanted to do everything in his power to help protect the new Weyrwoman and all the weyrlings under her.

He settled in next to Zhac and the other wherhandlers. “Hey,” he said, greeting his friend. “Any news?”

Winderick smiled at the rather large green. Though the strange and mournful crooning of the Queen unnerved him he tried not to pay attention to her. Standing safely amongst the crowd of boys, he would not do anything stupid this time around. He would stand still until a dragon came through the group and then he would move out of the way when it came looking for its bonded. He certainly wouldn't do anything to piss off the Queen. There were some new candidates here this time around he could only hope they wouldn't be as stupid as he once was.

More eggs were cracking now, faster than before, which was a relief. At least the waiting wouldn't go on for much longer. Yirath was unstable. It seemed repetitive to think that again, but she was very noticeably not trustworthy and the sooner she went between, the safer they would be. And even to Jordan that sounded horrible, no matter how true--

A crack. One of the eggs split almost cleanly and fell away as a hesitant Green poked her head out and finally stepped from her shell.

Jordan's heart constricted slightly at the first Green onto the Sands. She was gorgeous. Which egg had she Hatched from? He'd forgotten where that one was now, so he hoped someone from the betting pool was paying attention. That one looked like a prize and, better yet, it was one he had a chance of getting, assuming she didn't go straight for the girls like the Blue had earlier.

Did Pahlan want her, too? Or was he only looking for Blues? Jordan didn't dare look over to check as the Green crooned at the assembled masses, alone on the Sands and-- well, Jordan couldn't tell if she was enjoying the spotlight or not.

Viddle stood still watching, waiting. When an egg hatched, she'd turn her attention towards it, but for the most part she stood watching the Queen. She couldn't imagine how the great gold felt, but she still wished for a way to comfort her. It had been on her mind since that night. Her gaze was drawn away from the queen again when the little green hatched. She watched her get her bearings, after shying away from her mother. That almost made Viddle want to cry again, but she swallowed it down and looked around. She looked at the eggs yet to hatch, at the queen, at the boys, at her fellow ladies, at the crowd in the seating around the sands. Finally though her attention went back to the latest to hatch.

It was difficult for Rufet to keep still, as the young boy (possibly the youngest Candidate there) shifted from foot to foot. His movements echoed his thoughts, torn between full-on excitement Dragons! Look at the ones who’ve hatched! A blue, bronze, brown -- he had already forgotten their colors, the pride and sheer joy of seeing them overriding the small details that came with color and rank. He hoped that a dragonet would just look his way, look at him and...

And what? Rufet couldn’t help but to look up at Yirath, his movements stilled as he caught sight of her whirling eyes. Her white and blue swirling eyes with the tinge of orange was eerily beautiful, yet frightening. He remembered all too clearly the warning that the Candidatemaster delivered to them earlier.

Rufet was to stay in place and do was he was taught exactly. If he wanted to move, he allowed himself to shift from foot to foot. Moving from his spot wasn’t allowed; that was the rules of his game.

As the little green hatched, Rufet’s eyes widened. A green! He leaned forward to get a better look before jumping, straightening up with a guilty look on his face. No, he told himself, he was going to stay in one place. Did leaning count? It was just his torso that moved and -- oh! The little dragonet crooned at them! Which way would she go?