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Rilli watched her egg shake with a trembling stomach, on one hand she wanted this so much. On the other, it felt like a betrayal of Rillsk. There was no turning back now though even if she'd been given the option. Until that egg hatched she'd be here waiting on it. Many of the others who'd received an egg were already come and gone over the last day or two. Today she'd finally been called in only to see two eggs and the appropriate requirements. She'd took a seat beside hers, noticeably larger than the other egg, and waited, dwelling on the memories of the past month and wondering what her future path would be.

As the older man entered she gave him a smile in return of his nod. "You lost your wher too?" She asked as soon as he'd made himself comfortable. A man of that age must have been bonded for a long time. What she felt could be nothing compared to his loss. Rilli pulled her long ratted mess of hair off her neck, fanning skin damp from the heat of the fire. "It was surprising to see that Gold run right through the middle of the fighting. Rillsk and I were up above though and he couldn't get down in time to chase her himself." She gave a sour laugh. "He wasn't too happy about that."

"Ah" Rilli nodded. Odd yes but not unheard of. "Yeah no, A lot of crafters have been switching to the Whers recently. Master Handler Keller's been recruitin like crazy. I was born to it, my whole family's wher handlers." She dropped her hair and began to pick at the healing scar on her cheek. Her face twisted as she pressed her tongue on it from the inside. "See now that's why I didn't want t'be a shardin' rider. Wher's are nice, well...maybe not NICE but I like them. Sure dragons can fly but I've seen whers do it too! Ain't that big of a deal, and you'll never see a dragon pullin a sled full of ore or stone, much as they love to chew the stuff. Not even good at watching their own weyrs either!" There was a satisfactory glee to that. The initial invasion had gone off spotlessly, repelling and making a complete mess of the first wave of riders to straggle back from the demonstration and attack.

She took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Rilli. I'm sure you'll like being a Handler. Any wher is dead useful. They're all strong and don't have none of the restrictions that plague their larger cousins." She glanced back at her egg as it made a rather violent shake before growing still again.

"Fishers? Well I don't know if a wher would be any good there. Might spend more time scarin the fish than catching them. An kids aren't really allowed to spend much time around whers. They're not always the friendliest sorts." Rilli leaned back, tucking her skirt around her legs and resting her hands in the warm sand. "But my mom's seemed to like me. It's better if they're blooded, they can sense if someone's a blood relation to their bonded. They tend to act more favorably towards them then."

Rilli turned her head to the side, glancing at Serom's egg. "Sure, that's the great thing about whers. Y'don't need to worry about their size or color for most jobs. Sure a bronze or brown is going to be better at hauling full carts but greens can get into smaller tunnels and chase out anything that might harm the miners. Wher's can also hunt for game and any wher can be a watchwher. Really the only one that puts a restriction on you is a Gold but then you're a Master handler and help with the population and running of the Whers."

She scratched her head and also added as an after thought. "I suppose they'll all be needed to fight Thread now too if it falls again."

Rilli jumped as her egg rocked, sitting up and leaning forward to place a hand on it experimentally. She could feel movement from inside the egg. "I think this one'll be soon now." She stood and retrieved one of the buckets of blood porridge.

Her mind returned to his questions. "I didn't see the lights myself but I heard they worked and I heard someone say once that wher's ate Thread... I never saw Rillsk do it though... but we've not had a Fall at night either..." Now that she thought about it she'd never heard of fall happening at night. Didn't wher's fight Thread too? If they only had the few dragonlights and those where at Benden...what was Malvren supposed to do. Her face fell into a frown as she contemplated this new problem in silence. Eventually she threw her hands up in the air. "Scorch It I don't know. Keller wouldn't've left us sharding unprotected now would he? I figure if it Falls again the wher'll know what to do and if not those dragons better pull their weight. If they want a piece of our pie then they'd better help bake it!" Her outburst seemed to set her egg rocking at a more rapid pace, and a faint tapping echoed in the cavern. No cracks split the tough shell yet.

"It'd better. I sure as shells don't want to be on the receiving end of Thread." She gave him a big grin and leaned towards him, slapping his knee. "It'll hatch and if it doesn't then it was a shardin atypical and y'wouldn't want it anyways."

Rilli didn't have to think about her answer this time. She watched the eggs rocking slow as the tapping became more pronounced. She couldn't find herself getting quite as excited as she'd had her first time around. "I'll probably train it up as another guard wher. I don't care for the mines myself and I've been doing my job long enough I know what I'm about. If it's as big as it looks to be all's the better. No one likes messing with a caravan at night when there's a big nasty looking beastie lookin at you. Op!"

The shell of the egg had developed a small bulge where the hatchling's egg tooth had finally broken through, the thin membrane could be seen as well as the shadows of movement between the small shards. "Here we go..." She gave the bucket a swirl, watching the contents within. The split along the top of the egg cracked a little further, goo spilling out as the membrane was finally breached. She could see no sign of the hide though the wher was obviously moving about inside. No further progress was made on the outer shell though.

Just as Serom had said, this pale egg was ready to go. It wasn't as explosive as dragon hatchings tended to be but the wher inside certainly made his intentions known. With one final heave, a head thrust it's way free of the whole, the body soon following through the hole it had made. Strings of goo trailed in the sand, hanging from the wher's stumpy wings back to the near whole shell it had left behind. It shook itself and opened red hungry eyes, sniffing out the bucket of porridge and wasting no time in it's rush for food.

A wince of pain crossed Rilli's face as the hatchlings hide became visible. Brown, just as Rillsk had been. Would he bear the same name? She didn't have time to dwell on it as the hatchling lunged for the bucket. "Oh no you don't!" She thrust her way between the brown and his quarry, eliciting an angry hiss from the startled beast. "You'll eat when I give it to you!" With one warm restraining the wher, she reached behind her for the bucket and carefully lifted it, watching the wher's red eyes tracking it's movement. "Back you!" She shoved the wher back and position the bucket between the two of them, holding it in both hands and tilting it forward just enough for the hatchling to get his nose in.

She grunted and spoke once again to Serom even has she fed her wher. "Did they tell you what to expect with wher hatchlings?" Her voice was strained though she passed it off as her struggle with controlling the hatchlings gorging. When the brown tried to yank the bucket from her hands Rilli even resorted to using a foot on his chest to hold him back, forcing him to eat at her pace.

The brown's struggles and fighting slowed as his focus shifted instead to just the consumption of the porridge, leaving Rilli a chance to relax herself. Her eyes traveled a little sadly over his hide, memories objecting to the difference in shade and marking. Rilli fought the urge to reject this new bonding. Still she caught Serom's response. "You have? Do you have flits?" He didn't strike her as a former rider, he was far to 'there' to have lost a dragon and he'd already said he was new to Handling. She couldn't imagine a dragonrider turning to whers after losing their partner anyways. Riders always looked down on whers, even the few that had joined their Revolution.

She returned his smile. "See now! I told ya. Yours'll make quick work of that shell once it gets going I bet." She felt a jar at the bucket and looked back down to find the brown's front claws grasping it's rim and tiling it further himself. She kept her grip firm but didn't dissuade him.