Hatchings

A little over a week after Opoysith's children had hatched, Varnith's clutch of eggs began to rock in their sandy nest. The golden queen lifted her head at the first signs of wriggling among the orbs, the glowing queen egg nestled in between her talons possessively.
Early morning sunlight seeped into the cavern from the large entryway, making the queen's eyes glitter in rainbow colors. Several eggs had begun to rock slowly back and forth now, and Varnith let out a low, deep bugle to alert her rider before beginning to hum. Her bronze mate Zokroth took up the call as Aisling appeared on the Hatching Sands. "Hatching?" She asked, and her gold dragon nodded her head in assent, her throat still vibrating in a hum.
The goldrider ran off to inform the Weyrleaders, but was stopped at the entrance as Teah walked into the Hatching Cavern. "The clutch is hatching, isn't it?" She asked.
"Yes." Aisling answered with a sigh. Teah smiled and took her seat in the front row of the stands as spectators and candidates alike began to fill the cavern. the eight candidates gathered in a loose circle around the eggs, the two females, Cais and Mariel, stepping forward slightly towards the queen egg hopefully.
Varnith's eyes whirled red, and she hissed at the girls. "Varnith!" Aisling snapped at her dragon. "Quit it! The eggs are going to hatch whether you like it or not, including that queen egg." The queen dragoness spread her wings and hissed again in protest, but settled back from the clutch reluctantly, eyeing the female candidates warily.
The first egg cracked open with a shudder, and a light bronze snout appeared at the top of the shell. Teah and Aisling watched hopefully at the sight of the firstborn; bronzes were always a traditional good sign. The large bronze hatchling climbed his way out of the shell, finally dropping clumsily to the ground. He seemed uninterested in bonding at first, instead opting to poke around the sands, exploring, as two more eggs hatched.
From the smaller of these two eggs, a pair of dark green wings appeared, followed by a long, green tail. The egg seemed to shudder, then it exploded apart all at once as the dragonet inside shook her body free. The green hatchling tumbled to the ground dizzily and shook her head before climbing back to her feet. She crooned and craned her neck behind her to look back at her dam, then turned to the stands. I'm not going to bond. Can I go to someplace else in the meantime?
Teah nodded. "How about Nidus Otykaii?" The Weyrwoman suggested.
The dark green crooned again. That sounds like fun! My name is Amelith. The green trotted off to the kitchens to be fed.
At the same time that Amelith had decided not to bond, another scene was going on on the far side of the sands, where a bright green dragoness stood in front of one of the boys. The very large green butted her head against Apax's side, nearly bowling him over. She crooned worriedly as Apax stumbled and caught his balance. Ohmygosh! P'ax, are you okay? I didn't you, did I? I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to-
"Nydith, it's alright! I'm fine, no harm done, see?" He reassured his dragon, who sighed in relief before bounding out of the hatching sands. "Nydith! The kitchens are that way!" P'ax said with a grin, pointing in the opposite direction that Nydith was headed.
The green hatchling squawked sheepishly and whirled around, this time waiting long enough for her future rider to walk with her.
Rayos found himself looking down at the hindquarters of the light bronze; the rest of his body from the belly upwards was buried underneath sand. "Maeduth?" He said, hesitantly, to the bronze.
There was a snort from somewhere underneath the sand, and dust, grit, and sand flew in all directions as a massive sneeze soon followed. The dragon's dirty muzzle and face could be seen at the bottom of the hole as the dragon wriggled. Umm...I seem to be stuck. The bronze's mind-voice was tinged with embarrassment. Rayos didn't seem to mind, however, and he tried to help the hatchling pull himself out of the sand by tugging on his tail and hind legs.
Maeduth came free with a pop! and both dragon and rider tumbled backwards. The light bronze sat cleaning the sand and dirt from his hide, unaware that he was sitting on Rayos, who lay on his back in the sand. A pointed cough from the young man caught his attention, and he jumped off, pausing only for a moment for his rider to climb to his feet before he was off to the kitchens.
A dark cream egg wriggled a series of cracks started at the top of the egg and worked their way down the sides, spreading out and making the the shell look like a delicate spider's web. Then the entire top part of the shell came off all together, as a bright blue head raised it up from below. The blue shook the hat-like peice of shell off of its head, splitting the rest of the shell completely apart at the same time. He sat in the sand, looking around at the candidates. He studied all of them closely, but didn't seem impressed by any of them.
He stood up and stretched, cat-like, before turning to his dam and sire. My name is Brith. My bond is not present. I believe I'll go to Starburst Weyr. The blue said in a serious voice, which somehow made him seem older than he really was. He strode off gracefully to the kitchens, paying no attention to the humans and other dragons around him.
The next egg hatched to reveal a smallish sized orangeish bronze dragonet. Instead of walking towards the candidates, however, he dashed behind Varnith and stood peeking out from behind his dam's tail. The gold's eyes whirled in confusion for a minute, then she craned her neck backwards and tried to persuade the bronze to come out to bond. Are you sure? Well...alright then. Yeah, I guess so.
Only one of the candidates heard the bronze's answers, and when he realized none of the others had seemed to hear what the bronze had said, as was often the case with unbonded dragonets, he stepped forward hesitantly.
Varnith gently nudged the bronzes attention towards the boy, and the hatchling's eyes lit up as they met his bond's. The bronze walked slowly towards Drakon, studying him intently, and the dragonet stopped in front of him. Well, Mother says you're not going to eat me after all, so I guess I could bond to you...But, I'm watching you. The bronze said with a hint of suspicion in his voice. My name is Alaukath, and I just realized I'm rather hungry. Let's go get something to eat. Ehh...you go first. He said, stopping suddenly, and waited for Dr'kon to pass him before following his rider to the kitchens.
The first brown of the clutch appeared, cleaning sand from his dark hide. He utterly ignored the candidates, and seemed to enjoy making them squirm, wondering whether he was going to bond to one of them. He finished his hide and began flapping his wings to shake the sand off of them before picking sand out from between his cat-like paws.
Varnith rumbled impatiently, and finally the dark brown looked up, and began to study the candidates. His gaze flicked boredly over each of them quickly before he turned to his parents and the Weyrwoman. I don't plan on bonding. He said, elicting several groans and sighs of disappointment from the candidates. He threw a mischeivous draconic grin over his shoulder at them before continuing. I choose Star City Dragonry as my future home. The name's Stutasenth. The brown said cheekily, and with a flick of his tail, he headed off to the kitchens to eat.
Two medium-hued dragons climbed from their neighboring shells, a blue and a green. The smaller green dragon giggled before throwing sand at her brother. The blue plopped down in the sand with a snort, pawing at his face with his paws. He growled at his sister, who squeeked and ran away towards one of the candidates-another male.
Ceroh found himself standing between two arguing dragons, and even as he watched, the green poked her head out from behind his legs and blew a raspberry at her brother. No fair! I don't have a bond to help me out, how come you get to use yours? That's cheating, it's two against one!
The green only laughed and nudged Ceroh. Come on, Ce'ro, let's go eat now. Vaodeth said, leading her rider away from her brother before he could retaliate.
The blue huffed and kicked at the sand with his feet morosely. He looked over to his dam, who was pressing him for information. Oh, my name is Rynenth. I guess I'll go to Nidus Otykaii. I sure wish I had a bond, though... Rynenth strolled off sadly to the kitchens, but he soon got into a food fight with his sister Vaodeth, and his bad mood was forgotten.
At last, Varnith's gold-tinged queen egg began to rock more violently, and the queen bugled, bringing everyone's attention to the quivering queen egg. A spiderweb of cracks appeared in the delicate shell, until it hardly looked as though the egg could hold itself together any longer. Finally, the egg shards fell away, revealing a perfect little golden hatchling. She blinked as her mother's head hung over her protectively, and her gaze moved instinctively to the female candidates. They both shifted nervously under the gold's gaze, but the hatchling finally creeled and turned back to her mother. There was a short, hidden exchange between the two, and Varnith curled her body around her golden daughter protectively.
This one says she will not bond. She will come back to Dragonwillow Weyr with us. Her name will be Ousth. Oblivious to her rider's protests, the golden queen nuzzled her daughter fondly before allowing her to go off to join her siblings in feeding, and finally Aisling gave up and decided to go along with it.
The two female candidates were both disappointed and watched the last egg hopefully, along with the remaining two male candidates. Four candidates and only one egg left, so three people would leave unbonded. And that was assuming the dragon chose to bond at all.
The egg wriggled and jerked as cracks spread over its surface. A rich, mahagony-shaded head broke through the shell, followed by ivory-clawed paws. The brown dropped to the ground and sat up, craning its head daintily. It took a second for everyone to realize that the brown hatchling was a female, and the Weyrwoman looked to Aisling questioningly. "Well, Varnith's mother was a female brown..." The goldrider explained.
The brown hatchling stood up and strode straight to one of the female candidates. She looked lovingly up at Mariel, and crooned. Mariel, bondmine. My name is Aath. The hatchling said calmly. Mariel reached out and stroked the brown's head as she smiled, and she turned and lead her dragon to the kitchens.
Teah stood up and stretched as the stands began to empty of spectators, now that the hatching was over. Seeing the dejected remaining candidates, she hurried over to them to reassure them that they would still be welcome as candidates for the next clutch. She pointed out the green dragoness marked with red and white stripes guarding a larger clutch on the far end of the sands, her rainbow eyes glittering in the sunlight as she lay curled around her clutch of marbled eggs.