Hatchings

Avearith's clouded tail curled around her clutch of eggs. They weren't due to hatch for another week or so, but it wouldn't be long now before her precious eggs hatched and bonded. She crooned and looked across at her starry blue mate, Hyioshisan, then to her bond, Sorai-Kelam, who was standing guard over her own clutch of four eggs, three times larger than any of Avearith's.
A wriggle out of the corner of her eye drew her attention back to her own precious eggs, and she blinked. Had she seen one of them move? She shook her head. I'm seeing things. She thought to herself. It must be all this heat from the sand.
Sorai chuckled in amusement. "What is the heat making you see, Avea'?" The Soulseer dragon asked her bond.
I thought for a moment my eggs were hatching. Avearith answered ruefully. But that's impossible, of course. They aren't due to hatch for another we-The rainbow dragoness gave a yelp of surprise as she saw an egg, in mottled rainbow hues, give a huge shake, crashing into its dam's side in the process.
Both dragonesses stared for a moment, then it registered in their minds what was going on, and Avearith gave a croon of delight. Hyioshisan! Our eggs are hatching! The rainbow mother then took it upon herself to announce to the human inhabitants of Darkling Dawn that her children were ready to hatch and bond.
The other dragoness on the sands, gold Alequveyth, watched in silence with her two mates, a brown and a bronze. The large bronze snorted, lifting his head from where he had been sleeping. Could you keep it down? Raiokh grumbled.
Hyioshisan snorted in reply. These are your grandchildren hatching, you know.
Raiokh didn't reply, and as far as anyone could tell, had fallen asleep again.
The humans soon came from whatever they had been doing before, and entered the hatching sands. The spectators filled the stands, talking excitedly amongst themselves and taking bets on what rare colors would appear in this clutch.
The candidates that had been found to stand for Avearith's clutch shuffled in, some watching the rocking eggs excitedly, others indifferent to the orbs that may, or may not, hold their soon-to-be bondmates.
The first rainbow-marked egg cracked, and a dark blue head emerged, studded with star-like markings. The starry hatchling fought his way out of his shell, and Hyio' looked smug at this miniature version of himself. The hatchling shook himself, then spread his wings wide, to reveal their rainbow sails.
The starry-rainbow looked around smugly at the surprised mutterings of the crowd at his appearance, then turned not to the waiting candidates, but to his mother. My name is Cireth. He said. This Shivran Aerd sounds nice. Can I go there with you, mother?
Avearith nodded in assent. If one of her children wished to live on Mythicalae, it would certainly be fine with her.
Two more eggs hatched, revealing a clouded black male, and a clouded green female with starry marks visible on her pale hide. The clouded starry green was the first to move, and rushed immediately to the three dragon candidates. Zenirth looked down at the beautiful hatchling. Sihth?
The hatchling crooned and nuzzled the larger dragoness' forepaw. Yep, that's me! C'mon, Zenirth, I'm hungry! The hatchling laughed before running off, barely stopping to let her bond catch up with her, while Zenirth's clutchmate Cetinath and yellow Islyea watched on, hoping their bonds would also join them soon.
The clouded black stood by himself off to one side, and it was plain that he was not going to bond to any of the presented candidates.
A large egg, the largest in the clutch in fact, rocked back and forth as the surface of the shell was clawed from inside. The egg didn't seem to be effected much, however, and some people began to worry that the hatchling would not be able to escape on its own. Finally, however, the rock-hard shell was ripped apart from inside, and it was obvious that only the effort of two dragons combined had managed to crack the overly hard shell.
The two clouded blue dragons fell out of their shared egg at the same time, and they shook themselves off before announcing themselves and their choices. I am Rhalth. The first dragonet said, slightly larger than his sibling. "My bond is not here, so I will go to Moire Proctectorate."
The blue surprised the spectators by speaking aloud. Nevertheless, he ignored the surprised watchers and trotted off to find his first meal.
The second blue dragon giggled aloud, and it became rather obvious that this blue was, in fact, female. "My name's Naemeth. I guess I'll go to Dragonwillow." With that simple decision, the clouded blue trotted off after her brother.
Two more eggs had hatched in the meantime, one yielding a white dragoness with rainbow markings on her face, tail, feet, and wings in a siamese pattern; the other revealed a dark green female with starry markings.
Both females trotted over to the same dragon; their brother, the unbonded clouded black. Hi! The siamese white-rainbow spoke up cheerfully. I'm Lyeth! Watcha wanna do now, Ethaerith? She asked, addressing the bemused black dragon.
Umm...?
The starry green giggled. That's not a proper answer. My name's Sevelarith, by the way. Where are we going, by the way?
Eh? Ethaerith articulated.
This sent the two dragonesses into fresh spurts of giggles. We're your bonds, silly!
Let's go to Xidaver Isle. Sevelarith added matter-of-factly. As neither of the others disagreed, it was decided to send the bonded trio to Xidaver.
They both launched themselves at their brother, and dragged him off the sands, still giggling. Ethaerith blinked, letting himself be lead away as he tried to make sense of his siblings. Girls...
He was heard to mutter as they all exited the sands.
A creamy, mottled egg was next to crack, and a clouded red tail emerged, marked with stars. The rest of the red hatchling emerged, and it looked around before running to the candidates. The hatchling ducked under Cetinath's wing, and nuzzled his bond's side. I'm Kashvtaith. He said simply. Cetinath seemed to smile as he lead his quiet bond away.
The next egg revealed a graceful, clouded purple head, though devoid of the starry markings of some of her siblings. The clouded purple fought her way out of the shell, and fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand. She shook her head dazedly, then walked to Viol, who smiled as she knelt to stroke the dragonet's head, though she said nothing, not having her flute nearby.
"I'm Sayienth, Viol." She crooned as Viol stroked the clouded head and lead her bond away.
The last egg shuddered and cracked in two. A white form stepped out. His face, feet, tail, and wings were blue; another siamese. He walked forward with wings splayed, revealing their blue membranes, and cocked his head. I think I'll just stick around here for a while. By myself. I'm Jilameth. The siamese white-blue laughed as he ran off after his siblings to feed.
Avearith and Sorai-Kelam watched the last hatchling run off, then Sorai looked down-and cried out in alarm. There was only one large egg resting between her foreclaws, the others were only shards in the sand.
A sheepish, silver form peeked out from beneath Sorai's wings, and the young hatchling grinned, dark blue eyes shining brightly. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you..." The silver male said. His chestscales were pale blue, while his claws were gold, as well as the horns on his head. His two pairs of wings were white, and feathered.
The young male, who declared his name to be Rindel-Syaess, announced that he wished to go to Nidus Abri, and his wish was quickly granted.
Two more dragons crept out from where they had been hiding, both females with two sets of batlike wings like their mother's. The first was red-scaled with golden chestscales and opal claws. She looked up at her mother with golden amber eyes. "I'm Anari-Kelam. I'd like to go to Lantessama Isle. Please?"
Her sister had scales of a golden color with silver chestscales and claws. Her eyes were bright green. The gold-silver had to be prompted to give first her name, then her destination. "Sarus-Kelam. Moire Proctecterate." She answered shortly before sauntering off. The last egg gave a sudden, mighty heave, and shattered to reveal a black hatchling who looked up at his mother with pale blue eyes. His horns and claws were pale silver, while his chestscales were dark blue, as were the feathers of his four wings.
The black-blue male shook himself off. "My name's Cyldur-Syaess. I want to go to Kanarsh."
Cyldur followed his siblings off the sands, and the hatching truly ended.