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Lorend tried to contain her excitement. They were finally getting the chance to Touch the eggs. This would bring them that much closer to the Hatching. Touching was much more interesting than chores anyhow. The young girl bounced on the balls of her feet, trying to see over some of the taller candidates. She only caught glimpses of some of the eggs. There were about thirty of them if she'd heard right. And a Queen Egg! Good news for the Weyr.

A deep breath soothed her nerves as she stood on the hot stands, listening to the candidatemaster. It was about the same as she'd heard at Fort. Finally he seemed to be done and got out of their way. She grinned as she pass the candidatemaster. Lorend moved forward confidently. Let the others linger if they wanted. She was eager to start Touching. At about the right distance, she stopped and bowed low to gold Amarath. It was because of her they had this chance. Next came Ash, then a bow, slightly less deep, for Acriculeth and A'nos.

Formalities done with, Lorend felt she could move among the eggs. She made bee line for the queen egg. They respected the gold dragon right? There shouldn't be any reason to disrespect the gold before she hatched. She'd greet the queen then could wander among the other eggs at her leisure. As much as they allowed anyhow. Maybe it was silly, but Lorend gave a small bow to the queen egg before touching it. Her hand lightly caressed the curve of the shell.

Though Iarodan didn't seem phased, Iaman swallowed hard at the candidatemaster's stern words. He couldn't be thrown out, he just couldn't! Would they refuse to let him stand if he spent too much time with one egg? He clenched his fists, tension hardening his frame until he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder. Glancing over at his twin, he sighed in relief; seeing Iarodan at ease always seemed to relax him.

Removing his hand from Iaman's shoulder, Iarodan strode out onto the sands before his brother could, bowing deeply and with only a slight flourish to the great queen dragon. As he turned his gaze on Ash and bowed again, respect, almost worship, glittered in his eyes. Another bow, and another, for the bronze and his rider, and he straightened, walking boldly out among the eggs.

Iaman followed suit shortly, his bow less showy, but no less adoring, and his steps toward the eggs significantly more hesitant. Why was he so nervous, he wondered, why couldn't he manage to take a breath quite deep enough? He forced himself still, and calm, and his lungs expanded with greater ease.

He stepped into the clutch proper, wonder filling every inch of him. He knelt near a smaller egg, a quiet, awed smile on his rather delicate features. He reached out to touch it, but pulled his hand away at the last moment, unsure.

For his part, Iarodan had no such compunctions. He strode right up to the biggest egg he could find - a bronze, he was sure, and put his hand solidly but gently against the shell. It was warm, and somehow hard and soft at the same time. He stroked it, his bravado, for the moment, dissipated. He couldn't keep the ridiculous grin from his face.

The teen grinned as she petted the queen egg a couple times. Mindful of the candidatemaster's words, she moved off. Now that her duties to the queen egg were paid, Lorend meandered her way among the rest of the eggs. It was a big clutch. Softly she touched her fingers to a couple of the eggs resting near the queen. What do you hold? she thought to them.

Lorend didn't pick any direction specifically. She did notice the other candidates walking among the eggs. Stepping up to another pair of eggs she laid her hands on them. The heat seeped in to her hands from the shells. Were they nice? Or fussy? With a pat she moved on. Being so close to the eggs was making her excited for the Hatching.

In all honesty, Tasryn could be seen as the excitable sort. And she was, the fact that they were standing there moments from touching those eggs proved that. The girl was practically vibrating in her excitement. However, hidden underneath that was a bundle of nervousness tying into knots. Eyes darted from the candidatemaster to her fellow candidates and then out in the direction of the eggs. What would they be like? What would happen? What if one of those eggs held inside them a dragon just for her? So many questions, it was starting to make her confused. Giving a quick shake of her head, the girl reached up and lightly tugged on a lock of her hair. Calm down, that's what she needed to do.

One deep breath. Inhale...exhale...

Better.

A part of her wished she'd made more friends before this, so at least she could be excited with someone else. But oh well, for now she just needed to focus on this one event. With that, they were released to go and begin mingling with the eggs. Amber eyes blinked before she began to head out towards the sands. Oh..the sand was hot, so hot! She could feel the heat through her boots! They were supposed to wear sandals out on this? Her nose wrinkled slightly before her gaze turned over and caught sight of the golden hide of the clutch's mother. The girl dipped down into a low bow for dragon and rider before turning to do the same to the bronze pair.

Now, with that out of the way, Tas turned in the direction of the eggs and began walking towards the closest one. She wasn't picky as one or two of the other candidates seemed to be. Her feet stopped in front of a medium sized egg and she blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected them to be that big, then again she'd only ever seen fire lizard eggs so it wasn't much of a comparison. A hand slowly reached out until she just barely brushed against the shell with her fingertips. Oh! It was warm to the touch, from the sands most likely. How interesting, that there was a dragon in there growing, waiting for it's time to come out and meet it's partner.

It was almost romantic in a sense, hm? A small smile tugged at her lips and with one last stroke, she moved on to visit another egg.

Kelstar slid past the candidate master when it was his turn. He bowed to the queen and the weyrleaders and approached the gold egg first. He figured he might as well start out with a bang and at least have the new head honcho know who he was. He stroked the lovely golden shell and smiled despite himself. As a male he would never impress to a gold but simply being in her presence was exhilarating. He moved on to the other eggs after, some large some small and everyone held a potential partner, a potential lifemate, a potential life. After the first few eggs, he couldn't hide the glow of excitement that radiated from his face. He had never felt quite like this before. A touching was a meeting of souls in a way and once you touched a shell you touched another being. Those beings, hidden behind a vale of hard organic solid, had an odd and intriguing intelligence that was rivaled by nothing else he had yet experienced.

Morbad was focused on the egg in front of him. His hand had almost touched it, when movement caught the corner of his eye. The gemcrafter jumped. That egg had moved! They weren't suppose to move! At least, he didn't think they were, until hatching day. "Shardlin', " he muttered under his breath. It was a moment before his heart slowed down.

Warily he eyed the egg in question. Did he really want to touch one that moved? Morbad decided to wait, just a bit. In case any other eggs wanted to jump at him. When nothing happened, he reached down to touch the one he had been about to. Hot shell patted and nothing happened. All right, good so far. Dubiously he moved over to the one that moved. Now or never. His hand grazed the edge of the shell.

Quindrife felt her chest pounding and the deep set flush clinging to her cheeks and ears, she had actually managed to make it to the touching! If she just behaved long enough she would be able to stand come hatching day. She just had to watch herself and her actions.

And her mouth.

Especially her mouth. Straightening her broad shoulders the lanky figured brunette pushed the thoughts aside, she needed to focus on this moment. This precious moment. Steely gray eyes scanned the sands, there were so many eggs, so very many beautiful eggs! A swell of pride filled her chest for just a moment before it faded into a sense of shame. The lump in her throat tightened like a white hot vice, what if she did something wrong? What if the clutch mother wouldn’t let her near the eggs? It wasn’t a pleasant thought by any means. Lifting her hand to her face Quindrife snubbed the side of her nose roughly, she wished so very dearly that her flit was there to comfort her, she always was so much more sound and calm when she had her brown beast nuzzling against her chest.

No, she didn’t need to think like that, right now she needed to concentrate on the Touching, taking in a deep lungful of air the lean figured tomboy proceeded to walk onto the burning sands, letting her mind wander the girl couldn’t help but recall the last time she had stood upon the hot birthing grit. When was the last time? Blinking back the stupid expression that had crawled up onto her face and settled in her eyes and mouth Quindrife strode forward then bowed deeply, with a flourish towards the dragons and their riders in proper status order. Mentally the girl muttered congratulations towards the gold and the bronze, before she straightened to her full height and walked further onto the sands seeking out a starting point; she didn’t want to miss any of the eggs.

Popping her neck some the lanky, awkwardly built tomboy found herself standing in front of a sizeable egg, its shell was painted with drab muted colours. Lifting her calloused hands to the unhatched dragonet Quindrife pressed her thumbs along the warmth of the protective shell then eased the rest of her digits upon the shell. The life teeming within caused a wide, toothy grin to calm her pale face. Glancing up her cool gaze instantly locked on that of Iaman whom was only a few meters away, she was curious how the other--- candidate--- was handling his first Touching.

Stroking the egg a moment more, she ripped her vision away from the tidy haired lad and focused on the emotions of the resident within the shell. ‘Hello there little one, I can’t wait to meet you. I hope that you find Yours very quickly.’ Mentally addressed the tall lass sweetly towards the unborn dragonet.