Hatching of Clutch 15
Snow had wrapped Jerdan Weyr in white, and weyrfolk were bundled up in furs and wherhides. Riders had made it a habit to wear their riding jacket when going outside, as it was warm enough to protect them from the cold of the winter. The dragons took every advantage of the occasional sunny days and on those occasions, the ledges were filled with sunbathing dragons of all colors. This morning wasn't exactly sunny, as the sky was mostly covered with clouds, but the sun still shined every now and then. No dragons could be found on the ledges today, though. They were all huddled in the warm of the hatching grounds, where green Cardath had finally let them come after huddling protectively over her clutch for the last month. Cardath's mate, brown Oketh, could be seen proudly surveying the grounds with a draconic grin planted on his face. It was the day of a hatching, and the benches were filled with people. Candidates in their white robes - with fur lining to prevent freezing - where shifting from foot to foot on the uncomfortably hot sands. They had been herded to a semi-circle a third of a dragonlenght from the ten eggs. On the stands, Liora, the rider of Cardath, and N'mrix, the rider of Oketh, were sitting side by side with the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader of Jerdan right behind them. N'mrix leaned to whisper something to Liora, and the usually grim green rider chuckled at it. At that moment, however, they were hushed to silence by a loud crack. A middle-sized egg was rocking from side to side, and a crack had developed on one side of it. It was slowly growing in size, and soon the slimy head of a brown hatchling popped through. It didn't take long for the hatchling to break totally free from the shell, and he soon headed determinately for the candidates. The hatchling took only a moment to decide and headed for a pale man with short jet black hair. With some uncertainty in his movements, which became from having hatched only a couple seconds before, the hatchling stood on his hind legs and put his forepaws on the man's shoulders. The man took a step back to steady himself while looking straight to the hatchling's bright blue eyes. "His name is Etatoth!" Dazren shouted out to the audiance, and the cavern filled with cheering for the new brown rider and his mate. With some help from one of the blue riders, Dazren lead Etatoth out of the sands. The next to hatch was a green, who was a lot quicker to make her way through the shell than her brown brother. However, the second she got out of the shell, her determinance died down. Her whirling eyes glanced at the candidates, going from one to another, and then back to the beginning. She took a step towards the boys but stopped to glance over her shoulder towards the girls, huddled together in the other direction. Another step towards the boys, and then a sprint towards the girls. Although she was a fairly small green, that still sent some of the first-timers to screaming. With sorrow in her eyes, the hatchling glanced from one candidate to another, begging for one of them to step forward and help her make her decision. "Shards, somebody, do something!" Liora cried from the stands, Cardath's bugle emphasizing her anger at the candidates. Immediately a tall, tanned blondhaired girl, Shara, stepped forward towards the green. The green layed her eyes to Shara and started to jog towards the candidate... and right past her. Shara looked first stunned, then disappointed, as the green made towards a small girl who looked like the complete opposite of Shara, with pale skin and a long brown braid. Arianne gasped as the green hatchling started tugging her white robe. Her eyes glazed over for a second, and then she bent down to hug the hatchling. Her eyes were stained with joyful tears as she lifted her head to look at the audiance. "Her name is Cadath!" she shouted out and waved to somebody in the audiance. A cheer came back towards her and she exited the sands with Cadath on her side, both of their heads held high. Two eggs were developing cracks at the same time, and the weyrfolk in the stands were quietly betting with eachother about which one would hatch first. The larger egg cracked loudly as a bronze hatchling made his way through, with a green hatchling soon followed from another egg. The cries of dismay from the people who had betted for the smaller egg were drowned in the gasps at the first bronze of the hatchling. The bronze headed for two boys, both with medium-length dark hair. The one with slightly darker hair, Ardon, looked to be the older of the two, while Sartal looked younger. They both advanced towards the bronze, and the hatchling stopped on front of them. "His name is Naboth!" The shout rang around in the cavern, and most of the audiance tried to figure out which one of the boys had said it. Sartal then put his hand on top of the bronze's head and lead his newly impressed hatchling out of the cavern, while Ardon turned away. The green hatchling had already made her way towards the remaining three girls and was eagerly tugging one's white gown. The candidate - or now green rider - finally bent down and started rubbing the green's left eye ridge. Her long blond hair was tied with a green hairbow, which the green hatchling eagerly tried to touch with her foreclaw. Finally remembering where she was, Rhoswen stood up and announced, "Her name is Lavith!" When the audiance started cheering for her, her face broke out into a grin and she bowed. The cavern quieted down for a couple of minutes, as the remaining candidates nervously waited for a new crack to announce the hatching of yet another dragon. One of the eggs suddenly rolled to its side and broke apart, revealing a surprised bronze hatchling, who looked like he hadn't expected to hatch at all. The hatchling shook his small head to clear it, turned his sparkling eyes towards the girls and started advancing towards them. The girls stared at the hatchling as he approached them, but at the last couple of fire-lizard lenghts, he turned around and towards the boys. It looked as he had hit his head in the breaking of the egg, as he couldn't manage to walk a straight line. As the hatchling's legs gave away under him, Ardon started running toward him with a concerned look on his face. The dolphineer touched the bronze's head with his fingers and glanced over the hatchling, making sure it didn't have any cuts or scrapes. He never finished the task at hand, as his eyes caught the bronze's and stayed there, gazing at the blue whirls. "Olinath!" he shouted out without looking away from the hatchling's eyes. The new bronze rider and his mate exited the sands with Ardon's eyes still locked with Olinath's. The sixth egg to hatch was a blue. Some people were surprised of the late appearance of the blue, but they were even more surprised when the blue, who had broken his shell neatly, followed Olinath's footsteps - towards the girls. Unlike Olinath, the blue seemed very determined and made his way towards Shara without hesitation. Shara, whose confidence had been momentarily broken by Cadath, the green who chose Arianne instead of her, extended her hand to the blue, who put his right foreclaw in hers and shook it. "His name is Kimath!" Shara shouted out delightedly and hugged the blue. "I love you, Kimath. You're the best," she then whispered to the blue. Another blue hatched shortly after Kimath, but this one ran straight towards the boys. He slowed down on front of two of them, looking from one to another in an undecided way. Both of the candidates had short blond hair, but Boron was a lot smaller in size than Levan. When Levan backed away from the blue, Boron determinately stepped forward and started scratching the hatchling's eyeridge. "His name is Heath!" he shouted out excitedly, although a little surprised that the same trick that had gotten him searched had worked with the impression, too. The crowd failed to notice the surprise as they cheered for him. Three eggs were left, as were three candidates. The two male candidates glanced unsurely at eachother, while the one female candidate had eyes only for the egg that had now started violently rocking. The egg cracked loudly to reveal a smallish brown. He looked curiously toward the world that would from now on be his home. His eyes soon found the two male candidates, and he started a sprint towards them. The decision didn't seem to be very hard, and soon the brown was crooning to Levan, completely fascinated by the boy. Levan's attitude didn't differ much from the brown's, and he gaped at his new mate. His eyes glazed over, and after a while of talking with the brown, he suddenly snatched back to the present. "Oh, right Potuth," he muttered to the brown, then turned around to face the stands and the Weyrleaders. "His name is Potuth!" he bellowed out and blushed when the audiance broke into fearce applauds. The applauds were soon replaced with gaps of amazement and bewildered shouts as a pale golden claw broke through a normal - if very small - egg. Soon the rest of the body followed, and the bewildered shouts grew louder. The dragon was very small, the size of a white, but had a clear golden tint to her skin. In fact, she looked sort of cream, and hungry. Instead of running towards one of the two remaining candidates, the white gold hatchling just looked meaningfully at the girl with long black hair. Demire quickly reached the hatchling, who was small enough to be picked up, and that was obviously what the hatchling wanted. A transport to the nearest basket of meat. With great care, Demire picked the cream hatchling up and clutched her close to her chest. Before she left the sands, she shouted out, her voice filled with pride for her very special hatchling, "Her name is Likenath!" The cavern boomed with the cheering of the audiance and the bugling of the dragons to welcome a whole new color of a dragon to the world. When everybody else had concentrated on Likenath, the last hatchling had broke her shell. A very plain green hatchling - normal size, normal shape, even normal attitude you could call it that - emerged and headed towards the last candidate left on the sands. The boy, who did look more like a girl at first glance with his long blond hair, femine lips, and an overall girlish profile, met the green halfway and crouched down to her. Neither of them didn't seem to be bothered by the lack of attention they were getting, and Caine was soon leading his hatchling out of the sands with a loving look on his face. "Wait, Caine!" N'mrix suddenly shouted over the softening applauds. "What's the beautie's name?" Liora also straightened in her chair. "Erath!" Caine cried back happily. The applauds grew again loud and the dragons, Cardath and Oketh in the lead, bugled at the end of the hatching. Ten hatchlings had found loving mates, and ten candidates had found a new life as dragonriders.
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