Welcome to Gaia! ::

Yulu was heading away... but that was fine, she still had several more eggs to touch from what she'd seen. It wasn't as if anything was going to eat her or even nibble on her mildly here anyway. Worst case scenario, she fell on her face and looked like a fool... or maybe fell face first onto and egg and either broke it, or broke her face. Probably her face by the feel of those shells.

Still, though she hardly 'moved with the powerful grace of a feline' or anything like that, Layla was no klutz, and she made it to the grey speckled egg without incident. Last one, she'd guessed a blue here and saw no reason to revise her bet by the look of it alone. Stooping, she laid her hands on the shell to see if that altered her outlook...

Well, she got not strong male or female vibes from it; all she got was an almost overpowering urge to yawn. This egg seemed very sleepy, not too interested in what all the other eggs might be up to. Another yawn tried to ambush her, but Layla fought against her jaw muscles with determination; last thing she wanted to do was start yawing on the sands!

Still, she felt more relaxed again after touching the grey egg; she couldn't imagine this one leaving a trail of carnage behind it for sure. Giving the shell as last pat, Layla straightened up and moved away from the clutch to the edge of the sands; she'd just stay here out of the way until Yulu aught up.

Layla watched as Yulu touched the pink charcoal egg with a slight smile, remembering the feeling she'd got from it. It had seemed... friendly? Like it would turn into a nice sort of dragon anyway. The streaked sky hadn't been quite so nice; it hadn't seemed to like her touching it in the least... She still hoped that it wasn't her it hate disliked. The three spots egg had made her smile, she thought it was going to turn out to be a quirky sort, the sort to see the fun in life.

The blue earth egg had seemed like another friendly one, pleased to be touched, it probably wouldn't have got bored of her any time soon if she'd been able to linger... That feeling of being accepted had been chased away by the impatience of the spicy red egg; for all she knew touching that one had just made it cross enough with her that it would seek her out to give her a good trampling when it came out of its shell. Perhaps, however, it would be restrained by the dragon inside the golden stag egg. She got the feeling that the little queen wouldn't let harm befall anyone if she could help it.

She hadn't been too sure what to make of the new grass egg, still wasn't. Did it want comfort from the queen, or attention from everyone else? Had her feelings from it been vague because it wasn't meant for her, or because it just wasn't a very extroverted egg? She had no idea at all... but she did know that she'd be careful of the orange stripe egg; that was not going to hatch out into a very happy dragonet, she'd lay good marks on that. Finally, there had been the grey speckled; she was still fighting a feeling of weariness from touching that one, and had to wonder if it was actually lazy, or just very very laid back or something...

Still, there would be plenty to time to speculate later; Yulu was coming towards her now. Offering the other girl a smile, Layla turned and walked off the sands. Glancing back before they were out of sight of the eggs, she even managed a little grin. She might be nervous, she might not know what to expect, but she was still excited too. She might just have met her lifemate for the first time. Hope. That was the thing. She just had to hope.

This was the end of them. This was the reason she had been Searched in the first place, and the object of a dream she'd coveted as a little girl, until she grew up. When people got a little older, dreams changed.

Her mother had told her that as a very little girl she had wanted to be a Hearer. Jadamirei couldn't remember those days, but the thought of it made her laugh. She didn't have the stomach for such things as her mother dealt with; growing up in Healer Hall she'd been good for nothing but delivering bandages and messages, tottering around aimlessly. having her father discover her musical potential had been a fabulous stroke of luck. It was at Harper Hall that she'd thought to have found the place she belonged.

It was at Harper Hall that she thought she had found a dream. It was a simple dream, really. Or so she'd thought. Oh, it was a dream that would take decades to achieve, but over the four and a half turns she'd been at the Hall, she'd found a niche for herself. She'd planned to rise through the ranks, becoming a journeyman, a senior journeyman, and someday a Master Singer. She'd thought her goal firm. Thought herself on the path her life would take.

The day the Weyr had come Searching had proved otherwise, and here she was, at the standing in front of the egg that was the entire reason the Weyr had bothered looking outside. It was more than mildly intimidating. During her time here, she had come to the conclusion that she would be just as happy with a green as a gold dragon; she still couldn't hold back the tight feeling in her chest that said, 'what if?'

Reaching out, her palms came to rest on the Golden Stag Egg. It felt so secure. Comfortable. It knew what it was, what it was going to be. So unlike a person; there were not so many different options for a dragon. As a Queen egg, the dragonet within had a place in life that was predetermined by nature itself. Jada smiled, the twist of her lips something wry. Lucky little creature. She remained there for a few moments, basking in the feeling of calm that almost oozed from the egg before stepping away.

One last bow to Gold Kaveth, a polite one to Weyrwoman Malkai and Weyrleader I'dan, and she moved off of the sands.

From his position against the wall Tofir continued to observe the other candidates as they made their first acquaintances with the eggs. His note taking was not as methodical as he would have liked, but that's because he couldn't decide whether he wanted to take notes by egg or by person. In the end, he decided to do a little of both, which meant that he was writing furiously, trying to watching and record everything at once. He was extremely happy to be here, doing this, in spite of the frown that drew his thick eyebrows together. It was a frown of concentration.

And then the worst thing imaginable happened: his piece of chalk broke. The larger part of it went flying into the distance, though fortunately not toward the eggs. In his hand he was left with a piece barely half the length of his littlest finger. With hands the size his were, it would be impossible to write legibly with such a piece of chalk, which meant that his Touching experience was basically over. There was nothing more he could do unless there were any eggs he wanted to touch again, and the researcher in him told him that if he touched one again he'd have to touch them all again, and he didn't think there'd be time for that.

He swore fiercely under his breath and moved to the door, bowing to the enormous gold before stepping off the sands. Well. At least he'd managed to memorize everything he'd written. That would just have to do. He'd probably be up all night transcribing his notes anyway. It was for the best, he told himself.