Aryth's clutch began to hatch right on time: late in the morning, an hour or so before lunch, in the late spring. The weather was pleasantly warm and the skies were mostly clear, though there was still a little bit of fog hanging around the mountains. Overall, everything was nice.
Of course--as if anyone could expect anything less from my children. They are perfect. Aryth crooned to herself as she preened, looking over her clutch proudly. She gave one last nudge to the gleaming queen egg, and then gave a bugle to alert the rest of the Weyr and took up the humming.
The eggs! They're hatching! I'll be there, my love! Bronze Epeth crowed happily, rushing in to join his mate. He had been very attentive ever since the flight (this was the first one he'd won) and Aryth had been very appreciative of the interest.
Vareyn was significantly more skeptical when it came to romance, and she just rolled her eyes at her dragon's behavior. L'ko was nice enough and not a bad weyrmate, but she wasn't interested in a long-term relationship. She took her seat among the stands, confident that Aryth had things under control down on the sands. She had been in a particularly good mood ever since the clutching, more likely to show off and brag about her gold egg than brooding protectively over it. The queen watched calmly as the candidates walked onto the sands.
The eggs were rocking furiously, but they had to wait a few minutes more before the first of them began to crack. It was a smallish egg, and before long, a deep green snout was poking through the shell. The head of the dragonet emerged next, and the egg rolled onto its side while the green continued breaking out of it. While she was climbing to her feet, another egg was also cracking open at a faster rate. The first-hatched green craned her head to watch her sibling emerge--the second egg hatched to reveal a second green, cheeping happily as she looked around her. The second green turned her friendly gaze toward the candidates immediately, and her sister was content to follow her. They both went to the girls, searching eagerly.
The first green stopped in front of one girl, and she crooned happily. Finnlie looked shocked at her good fortune. "Pleneth! You really want me?"
As Pleneth reassured her new rider, her sister continued her own search among the girls. She passed by about half of the waiting girls before coming to Lenzay, when it became clear she had found the one she was looking for. Lenzay was overjoyed with her new dragon, and introduced the green as Bidieth.
Aryth let out a croon, and Vareyn stared at her dragon. The golden egg sitting between the queen's claws was rocking earnestly and showing every sign of hatching at any moment. Well, that was a bit early. "They're not wasting any time, are they?" she said.
As she watched, the golden shell cracked open and the young queen began to make her way out. The female candidates were particularly intent as they watched her. After a couple of minutes of struggling, the gold got to her feet and looked around. She gave a hiss as she got to the candidates. As if any of them are deserving of me! the young queen shouted suddenly.
Aryth gave a snort of amusement at this, pleased at her daughter's judgement, but nudged her toward them nonetheless. Right you are, my dear, but you still have to Impress.
The young gold snorted derisively, but walked towards the candidates anyway. The candidates all stood straighter as she approached; the gold was not gentle, knocking over a few of the girls when she was unsatisfied with them. Then she came to a young woman and stopped. The gold eyed her speculatively, and then accepted her with a croon. You, Aenkina. I suspect you won't care what I am. I like that. I am Eacsacceth.
With all the drama surrounding the gold hatchling, nobody had noticed that another egg had hatched. A sturdy blue hatchling was now wandering across the sands, and now a few of the boys were beginning to pay attention to him. He spotted Vorim immediately, though, and Impressed at once. Hi! M'name's Rogarth!
Three more eggs all cracked open at once, spilling their contents onto the sands. The dragons that emerged were a green and a pair of blues; all three banded together and approached the candidates as one. The green only broke away from her siblings when she spotted Tiasera. There you are! My name is Wiefeth, and you should really be getting some food in my belly, don't you think?
The blues, meanwhile, were both stalking among the male candidates. One of the blues hissed defiantly, but it soon became clear that he was only playing. He dashed up to Hatheryn and excitedly introduced himself as Adabath.
The other blue looked as cheerful and playful as his brother had been, and he bounced and twitched excitedly. If he knocked anyone over, it was only by accident. He passed by several boys, stopped thoughtfully at one or two, but eventually it was Crayen who managed to get him to calm down. "If you stop bouncing around, I'll get you some food, Brihnth!" The young man laughed.
The next egg to hatch revealed yet another blue. This one was quieter but no more malicious than his siblings had been. There was a determined look in his eye as he inspected each of the candidates. At last, he made his choice, though. He sat down in front of Lerech. You could use someone like me, the blue told him. And I could use some food. I'm Rivonth.
As Rivonth was searching for his rider, another egg was cracking open. A green tail appeared, and soon the rest of the hatchling crawled out of the shell as well. She spread her wings slowly and calmly, not hurrying towards the candidates. She picked out Asiale from the crowd and crooned. "Her name is Corfith!" Asiale exclaimed.
A somewhat large egg was cracking open, and a dark hole appeared in its side. A few more pokes from the dragonet inside, and a green head began to emerge. Once the green was on her feet, Aryth urged her toward the candidates, and it didn't take long for Sudicuth to pick Ismeda out of the crowd.
Aryth had turned her attention to a different egg, one of the larger ones, and with the way she was studying it, Vareyn wasn't surprised to see it was a bronze. The large male climbed out of his shell and eyed the candidates curiously. A few of the boys approached him hopefully, but he hung back until he saw Horwyn. He crooned happily, burying his head in the young boy's arms. "Imynth!" the new rider said happily.
A pair of greens were stalking across the sands, momentarily distracted by the Impression of the bronze. They didn't stop for long, though. They weren't interested in the boys, anyway; it was the female candidates they were heading for. One of them picked out Jeyna immediately. "She says her name is Drogoth!" Jeyna hugged the dragon to her and promised they'd get food soon.
The second green took a little longer to decide, but before long, green Thelth was dragging Finlean toward the kitchens as well.
A deep emerald green hatchling was the next to appear. She crooned gently, approaching the candidates slowly as if not to scare them. She ignored the boys entirely, stopping when she came to Arli, at which point she firmly introduced herself as Frideth and said that she was very hungry.
The next egg hatched into a burly, medium-sized brown, the first of the clutch. There was polite clapping as the brown found Banris, who introduced his new dragon as Silanelth.
That left only two eggs still unhatched. Aryth eyed them warily, concerned that they might not hatch after all. After a long pause, however, the larger of the two cracked open, and the gold helped a second brown hatchling climb out of the shell. No sooner had the brown emerged than he went over to the other egg and helped it hatch as well. With the brown's help, the dragon that emerged was a slightly small green.
With his sister safely free, the brown turned his attention to the candidates. He sped past a couple and nearly ran into Hibert's legs. He laughed as he tried to reassure the brown. "Easy there, Guarth! You'll get to the food soon enough!" Then, realizing that he had Impressed, H'bert went to help him do just that.
With just the green left on the sands, all the attention was suddenly focused on her, and she hated it. The green hunched down, desperate for something to hide behind, and with the closest things being candidates, it was little surprise she chose to go that way. She eventually chose Eliss's legs to hide behind. "Come on, Gerturth, you can't hide forever." Eliss tried to reassure her bond.
Now that the hatching was over, Aryth was getting up to stretch her legs, and so did Vareyn. Wasn't that a perfectly wonderful hatching? Aryth asked proudly, and Vareyn of course had to agree. We won't be having another one that wonderful for a while. The gold preened.
"Not as large, at least. The next few clutchmothers are greens," Vareyn replied. "Then there's either Yuneth or Jhajerth who will rise next. They might give you a run for your money." Admittedly, there were times when Vareyn couldn't resist poking fun at her dragon.
Aryth wasn't bothered; in fact, she scoffed. Not Jhajerth, at least. She has told me that she and her rider are already planning to transfer someplace else. Too many queens, I think she said. That just means I'm one step closer to being the leader! Aryth crowed.
Huh. That was news to Vareyn. But that was something for them to discuss later; for now, there were hatchlings to feed and a Feast to prepare.