Hope. (Egg Touching, All Candidates Mandatory)

[LyricalBlue]

The long golden tail of the Queen swept back and forth across the sands in agitation. Her rider stood by her side, stiff backed and formal. It was taking much of the Weyrwoman's willpower to calm the broody dragon. Even with all the scrolls Iaslia could find about clutching Queens, none seemed to have the temper that Nisurath now displayed. Of course, none had the misfortune of the poisoning that had hindered the growth of the Queen in the egg. Well... maybe not... Iaslia had been wondering about the gradual decline in numbers and rather feared something far worse and far longer than they had imagined was going on.

But none of this had the young Weyrwoman mentioned, shed been spending her time getting the Weyr in the order she wanted it and her icy hard reputation had only worsened. Iaslia was not exactly the easiest person to get along with and some of the lower caverns women were less than happy with her changes. On top of that, Nisurath twitched every time as much as a dust ball blew past the opening of the Hatching Grounds. The Queen barely tolerated her mate, unless he came with food. Anyone else was greeting with fangs and claws. It was safe to say that the pale gold was downright paranoid.

Of course, broody Queen or not it was time for the Candidates to meet their potential partners. From what Iaslia had read, the tradition was vital. It seemed that in introducing the Candidates to egg before hand, the numbers of Candidates injured at the Hatching was vastly reduced. And so it was for that reason that Iaslia wrestled mentally with her dragon. She had spoken with A'rik earlier and she was confident that as long as the Candidates behaved, she could control the Queen.

As the Candidates filed in behind A'rik she let a breath she had been holding go quietly. Good, they were quiet. Behind her, Nisurath shifted, eyes whirling red. No, she was not happy, she did not want anyone near her precious eggs. But they were hard now, it was time. Nisurath could be as grumpy as she wanted, as long as the Candidates got their chance. After all, the gold wouldn't get to brood over her clutch too much longer. But, Faranth willing, there would be many more for her to slobber over.

The Weyrwoman nodded to the Candidates and Master, today she was in a simple, but formal blue gown. She knew most of these by sight if not by acquaintance, the Weyr after all was not a large place. And it was not too long ago that some of them had stood with her, hoping to Impress. As the group approached and stopped, she addressed them.
"If you have any weaponry, please leave it by the stands. When you approach, do so quietly. You may touch the eggs, but do not move too fast. Absolutely no running or rough housing. I know A'rik coached you already on this. Be gentle, and do nothing to rouse Nisurath."

Each of the eggs was sitting atop a small pile of sand and all ten were arranged carefully, each turned with care. They had hardened now and would feel much like an avian's shell, but their color remained lustrous. Nisurath was laying down a small distance from them, and moving her that far had taken Iaslia a candlemark. Now, she simply stared at the intruders, eyes whirling red and tail lashing back and forth across the sand.

Jade Egg

Tourmaline Egg

Rhyolite Egg

Moonstone Egg

Bloodstone Egg

Tiger's Eye Egg

Opal Egg

Topaz Egg

Jasper Egg

Peridot Egg

[hrsegrl]

Other days the sands felt much gentler on the feet. While eggs were on the Sands that was definately not the case. Even so, Caselo took a tentative step forward, making certain to go slowly. Iaslia's words were not lost on someone as mature as he was. Experience had taught him to listen to riders where their dragons were concerned.

The Queen looked more angry than Aliath had or Arizith. She was not liking the idea of them coming to see her eggs. The Bronze perched high on the ledge was watching too. Caselo would never have known he was there if he had not seen something catch the light above. He was not sure what egg to go to first.

As they moved closer and closer he could see the amazing and vibrant colors of the eggs. The small clutch was well cared for having been placed specifically in areas of the sand. It was evident they had been turned well. A small clutch meant more attention for each individual egg. Perhaps that meant all would be healthy. Caselo hoped so. The burning of the soles of his shoes was starting to become noticeable though he had yet to start hopping.

He was not sure he wanted to be the first one and the Queen staring at them made him even less sure. Taking a deep breath he continued slowly towards the eggs, deciding to reach out to the one nearest to him. His hand gently felt the hardened shell. A sigh escaped his lips as he smiled at the coloring of this egg. The tourmaline egg was a mixture of blue and green hues which practically took Caselo's breath away. He had lived at the Weyr his whole life and had never seen any eggs like these.

Maybe if he moved closer he could touch another? He glanced at the other nine eggs, each more beautiful than the last. Nisurath was a very special Queen, he thought suddenly.

~~~

Akriseus was not one to take orders well but coming from someone of high power and position he listened well. The Weyrwoman's instructions were as clear as the Candidate Master's. The young man had never actually touched an egg before. Not that it mattered from the looks of the people around him, they needed someone like himself to impress. Puny, midgets the lot of them and ugly to boot!

He figured he'd stay just a little behind and to the left of the young blonde man who had started towards the eggs. Although in his opinion the pace was a bit slow, he knew better than to rush anyone towards the eggs. The Queen was obviously irritated that they were there at all. Rolling his eyes at some of the nervousness the older boy was portraying he decided to move over to the left a little more. Still keeping in with the pace of Casl...Casel... err whatever. He took his time looking at the eggs, walking around them.

They were vibrantly colored, very pleasing to the eye which in turn pleased Akriseus. Beautiful things were always welcome as far as he was concerned. Each one was gorgeous and Akriseus had a hard time deciding which one deserved his attention. He decided to touch the largest first with the golden hues. The Tiger's Eye egg had a dark spot on it which seemed almost like it should not be there to the symmetry loving Candidate. It did however give the egg an extra something that seperated it from the others. Laying a large hand on the egg he made sure to use a light touch rather than heavy.

It was not long before Akriseus moved away from that egg and was looking at the others. Which one was next worthy? His thumb and forefinger caressed his chin while he thought. Not imagining that he could be in anyone else's way, standing right in front of the largest egg of the clutch.

[Rowen]

Itona found herself staring at the weyrwoman and the gold dragon, if Itona remembered correctly the name was Nisurath, though she was having problems remembering the weyrwoman's name. Her attention turned back to the other candidates as they began touching the eggs, she hesitated a moment before moving forward. She moved carefully trying not to be in anyone's way or to rush. The sands had started to bother her, at first until she noticed the colors of the eggs. Turning she reached out touching the moonstone egg, it was hard under her touch and she found herself smiling.

She ran her fingers lightly over the surface, it had beautiful coloring. She carefully stepped back she could admire it's hardness, it was as if nothing could hurt it. It was truly amazing that dragons came from these eggs. She glanced up looking at the other candidates and the other eggs. Not wanting to be in the way of others reaching the egg, she moved on to the next closest egg every egg should be admired she decided as moved carefully avoiding colliding with other candidates.

_____________________________________________________________

Vasrilin's jaw twitched as he removed his customary sword from his side and left it by the stands as instructed. Then moved casually out onto the sands ignoring the heat of the sands as he eyed the eggs. They didn't seem to be like any of the eggs Vasrilin had seen before. Glancing toward Nisurath he noted her eye color before carefully made an approach toward one of the eggs. As he passed by Akriseus he noted that the man was just standing there. He glanced at him then behind him and gave a shrug. He continued past Akriseus and touched one of the eggs gently. The dark colors of the bloodstone egg were unique.

He was content to stand aside out of the way after just one simple touch, he wasn't afraid of the hatchlings that would come from these eggs, he'd seen hatching before, and he knew what could happen, it was part of weyr life after all. As was this ritual touching of the eggs. He found himself wondering exactly what color dragons would emerge, maybe they wouldn't be as clumsy as their kin? He looked at the gold near by, and let out a silent sigh, it was very unlikely. He moved out of the way letting the others touch the egg watching the other candidates move about.

[adhoc]

Lucan stood straight and composed on the hot sands. He watched Nisurath as she twitched at the edge of wrath, and breathed in deeply, nodding just slightly in deference. He knew it made no difference, but they were invading her space.

Then he let his attention swing fully to the eggs. As before, they mesmerized him. The other candidates, the angered Queen and her rider, the vicious heat: everything faded away from his cognition but those lustrous shells nestled in the sand.

He stepped forward after Akriseus, at first uncertain which egg to move to first. How could one make that decision? And yet he was laying no claim on any of the eggs with his touch-- how could the unborn take offense? In the midst of that thought, he ceased for a moment to move in time, gripped by a sudden and wrenching doubt. It was an unfamiliar feeling for him: having so often been passed by or underestimated, he'd rarely had need to doubt himself, there was enough of that done by others. But here, standing before the dragoness and her clutch, he wondered if he was indeed unworthy. Lucky Lucan: mischief maker, scholarly fool. Would he choose himself to hold a rider's responsibilities? Because here among the eggs, it was blindingly clear that until or if the size of the clutches were to grow, each rider's work would be a grave undertaking.

Who was he, standing here? Just weeks ago he had been nobody and cared nothing for the running of things or the needs of the long-neglected holders far off somewhere.

These thoughts passed in a second as his wily, sardonic mind reasserted itself. What better reason?

He moved reverently to the egg flecked with brown, and laid a firm but gentle hand on its side, noting the crack that seemed to be spreading up out of the sand. The future was in these eggs, and a breathtaking kind of potential.

He stooped just slightly to lay a fingertip at the point where the crack tapered off. Like a tree reaching for the sun.

[E]

Somadin had found himself moving toward the stands first as well, though he carried no weapons. What he did carry, however, tucked in his large shirt was a baby blue fire lizard. Pulling the little thing carefully out of its hiding place, the blue flit gave a small squawk of fear at the sight of the golden queen and promptly demanded to be let back into his shirt. Somadin winced visibly as he tried to force himself to be firm with the little flit. He wouldn’t chance touching the eggs while holding onto a firelizard, he had heard of some dragons not liking the little things and the Queen already looked angry.

… But he had missed the last touching and he had not impressed. If he decided to sit out for this little lizard’s sake would he not impress again? No… He had to be firm with the little blue and just had to be able to partake in this part of candidacy as well. After several long moments, he finally got the little blue to stay by taking off his shirt and leaving it for the firelizard to hide in. Without the too-large shirt, the small and thin frame of Somadin seemed even further exaggerated as he finally moved closer to the eggs.

Stopping near them, he gave a deep bow to the little queen. “Thank you, Nisurath, for letting us see your eggs.” He said, hoping he spoke loud enough for the agitated queen to hear. He hoped maybe a little bit of gratitude would help before he started moving toward the Jasper Egg.

-------------------------------------

Deltontai had followed her sister and the rest of the class into the hatching grounds silently, but found herself frozen on the hot sands as soon as she seen the agitated queen. It seemed that even after a few months living among the dragons, an agitated dragon could scare the fighting bred girl. Once her eyes locked onto the queen, they didn’t move off as she watched those red eyes whirl… That queen is going to kill them when they touch the eggs…

As Caselo laid his hand on the first one however, and each candidate slowly joined him among the eggs, the queen had not yet jumped forward to eat anyone. That fact, however, did not help the holdless girl to move even a fraction of a step closer. She even watched that foolish and confusing man Vasrilin move forward out of the corner of her eye and touch and egg and still the queen did not move forward. Even so she could only shift her weight to her other foot, not moving either.

Then little Somadin moved perfectly in line between Deltontai and the Golden queen. His thin and tiny frame only shone more clearly without his shirt on, and he gave a bow to the golden queen. Deltontai watched fixated. He is so small…. And yet here he is, before a huge and golden queen who’s very eyes promise fire and death… And he presents himself, bare to the world and thanks her… How can one so small be so brave…

Still Deltontai could not bring herself to move closer to the queen or her eggs.

[starshine]

A'rik stood nervously beside the Weyrwoman. It had been gracious of her to let the candidates into the sands. He had guessed that Nisurath was none too pleased to have them as guests. He had given his students a short briefing on proper behaviors. He didn't want any of them to act out and he certainly didn't want anyone to get hurt. With an agitated queen and unfamiliar hands touching her eggs, things could get out of hand very quickly.

He bit his lip and silently held his breath as the students approached the sands. He was sure the Weyrwoman was using all of her will power to calm the queen. His green eyes hit the small boy hard as he watched Somadin approach the queen. He had made it clear not to bother the gold, “Thank you, Nisurath, for letting us see your eggs.”. The boys voice held a tone of appreciation. On one had he understood the meaning behind Somadins action on the other he hesitated to watch Nisurath.

His eyes were glued to the gold/weyrwoman. While the boy went on to touch the eggs.

[LyricalBlue]

At Rovanoth's arrival, the gold swung her head up to look at him and hissed. This was way more than she could take at the moment, when Somadin stepped forward a moment later, Nisurath stood up and snaked her head downwards to hiss at him. The nerve of that little thing!
They are trying to take my eggs!
Iaslia stepped forward in a flash and turned to face the gold, locking her will with the dragon's.
Easy! They only want to admire them!

After a long moment of tension, the gold laid back down, grumbling audibly. Iaslia turned back to Somadin, tight lipped.
"Do not bother her please, just touch the eggs and do so quietly."
Really, the last thing she needed at this point was a Candidate getting mauled before the actually Hatching. Foolish child, at least he meant well, but Nisurath's temper was nothing new. She'd been a rather... volatile Gold since the moment she was hatched. And where was Ev'os if Rovanoth was lurking? She couldn't wait till these eggs hatched and Nisurath went back to her normal temper. That was enough to deal with on a regular basis, it almost made Iaslia wish that there would be some time before the next flight. Or at least, that the rest of the Weyr would learn not to crowd the Queen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the tail end of the pack, stalked the predatory form of Alaxis. The Lord Holder's son had his typical airs about him and watched the angry Queen with a mixture of awe and amusement. That little idiot, he deserved to get squished to try and get close to a clearly angry dragon. As soon as the tension broke, Alaxis moved with liquid grace around the group and to the eggs themselves. He stopped for a moment in front of one, running his hand across its almost orangy exterior before moving on to visit several other eggs. He stopped then, dark eyes glancing back to the Weyrwoman and then Candidate Master to judge when enough really was enough.

Imagine, he, a Lord Holder's son to have the chance at Impressing a dragon. Really, it was perfect. The only Weyr in the world and he was going to be a dragonrider. A slow, smug grin touched his lips. That would show his idiotic brothers, and he could order his dragon to flame them if they so much as twitched. Ah yes, life would be good. His dark gaze slid across the other Candidates in the class. These were his rivals, well, not really. None of them had his breeding or his attitude, actually other than the riders themselves, the Weyr seemed rather a sad place. It simply did not have that air of mystery and allure he had always expected. Well, at least the dragons were still as fantastic as the stories.

[adhoc]

One did not simply ignore a raging Queen.

Lucan's muscles went rigid as the gold dragoness lunged her head toward the little candidate. Even when Iaslia spoke and it seemed the immediate danger had passed, he felt the tension keenly. Pulled out of his reflective state of mind, he moved from egg to egg, admiring them and touching them lightly, yet remaining hyper-aware of where he stood on the sands in relation to the vigilant Queen. He still tried to open his mind to the little dragons in the eggs, to share his admiration of them, but it was more difficult.

The colors passing under his fingertips were awesome: Magnetic darkness, haunting pale silver, the ethereal depth of ocean waters, rich earth toned orange, supernatural green, and on and on. After touching the final egg--whose radiant sunset hues soothed and drew him in until he was once again almost unaware of all the goings on around him-- he moved back to stand beside the candidate master. His breathing was steady, but he realized his heart was pounding. To settle himself he returned to one of his favorite pass- times: observation.

He looked at the candidates moving about the cavern, memorizing their faces and watching their movements without letting his gaze linger too long on any one person. It was incredible what you could learn of a person by watching their body language. One only needed to watch Akriseus and that new dark-featured youth walk past one another to see that their arrogance was mirrored. And yet, while the brawny guard held himself light aloft with caution both for himself and his dealings with others, the harsh tramp of the new candidate laid bare his propensity to anger.

And Deltontai, well her double seemed to be the gold dragon itself, though the queen was unlikely quite so fearful. But the arch in their necks, the roving eyes, the tensed limbs: all of these spoke to a creature prepared to spring into violent action if approached. That Deltontai seemed to *always* look like that still raised sympathy from Lucan. The queen would settle once her eggs had hatched (hopefully, anyhow) but for the holdless girl there would be no such apparent point of easing. He wondered if her jaw ever bothered her, half-clenched perpetually.

Contrast that to Caselo, who was still bearing out Lucan's first impression of him as quite simply a nice guy. He moved with care between the eggs and other people, and his expressions were unschooled and guileless. This was a guy who wore things out on his sleeve. Not simple, necessarily, just not absorbed in what others thought. Lucan found himself wishing the best for him, and he would have bet every mark he had (though that didn't cover much) that most other people felt the same way.

Another pair with some affinity to their bearing was little Somadin and the younger holdless girl. It went beyond simple innocence into something like wonder. And care, that was it. A little naive, maybe, but not a bad thing by any means. Well, unless Somadin decided to pester an angry dragon again sometime soon.

On Vasrilin he had little opinion. He moved gracefully enough, and he had pretty eyes, but there was little there to judge-- which was in itself interesting. He remembered the young man's aloofness in the classroom, but did not see it here. Pocketing that piece of information, he looked back to the eggs. The other candidates were finishing their rounds as well, and he didn't want to stare. His mind, however, kept working over what he had noticed, trying to piece together how each of his fellows might act if they became riders.

[E]

Somadin stood frozen, not fully in fear – though that was a good portion of it – but out of simple reverie and acceptance as the queen suddenly dropped her head to his level and hissed. The nearness and the force in the hiss sent Somadin’s hair sweeping backwards, but he did not move. He realized when she reacted the way she did, he had done something wrong and he would accept that. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to eat him for it, and wasn’t sure he wanted to be eaten, BUT he was not going to run from his punishment.

The little blue firelizard in his shirt, however, did not like any of it and peeked its little head out. If it had been any lesser dragon, the little thing might have come to Somadin’s resecue, but at the sight of the angry queen it quickly and just as silently hid within the folds of the shirt again. It seemed little Somadin would be on his own to face the fury of the queen.

Closing his eyes as he felt the tears well up from the pure intensity of the queen before him, Somadin stood and focused on breathing for a moment that seemed to last forever. The Weyrwoman’s voice broke through the darkness and Somadin opened his eyes again to find her between him and the gold. She looked no happier.

“I’m sorry… I just…” Biting his own tongue, he hung his head and let his hand slowly slide off the egg he had been touching. “No Ma’am. Its obvious she is not happy with me. I don’t want to distress her further. I’ll wait for my class outside…”

It tore his heart even as he said the words, but he would not jeopardize the rest of his class’s chances of impressing just because he was foolish enough to thank the Queen. Turning, he quickly moved to his shirt and scooped it up along with the little blue hiding inside and he made for the door. It wasn’t until a hand fell on his shoulder that he finally looked higher than his feet.

~~~~~

Deltontai had been immobilized from the very beginning, since stepping her feet onto the burning sands and into the sight of the queen. To watch the brave little boy give thanks to the queen and watch the gold erupt in anger… It finally shattered her immobility, though she still did not move toward the eggs. A queen who would not accept thanks – she was then obviously being forced into letting her eggs be touched. While Deltontai had no children of her own, she did not like the idea of anyone being forced into anything, even a dragon as ill tempered and deadly as the queen before her.

But what could she do? It was when she heard little Somadin’s words, said so softly across the distance, that she found the answer. She would forgo the touching as well. There was enough of the class mingled in with the eggs, she didn’t think she could get into immediate trouble by leaving. At least the Candidate master would be tied up watching the rest of the class, especially so near such an angry queen.

Watching Somadin walk closer to her, she laid a protective hand on his shoulder as she gave the queen one last look. She didn’t like the queen, she decided, but the dragon still deserved respect and fear. But even so, Deltontai found herself angry that nobody stood up for little Somadin. He had only meant the best.

Not that I can really hold that against anyone, I stood immobilized in the doorway and did nothing as well…

Looking down at the little boy and finding tears in his eyes, she tensed a little before letting a rare smile creep upon her lips. She made a fist with her hand and lightly pushed it against his cheek in a soft, playful punch that pushed the tear away.

“Let’s wait outside together, Somadin.”

[hrsegrl]

The minutes seemed to fly by as Akriseus made his way to each of the eggs. Any dragon would be happy to have him so this excercise was obviously pointless. He was going through the motions quite normally. The Gold got upset with some little boy though he deserved it. Going up to a Queen when she was already unhappy. He shook his head, not everyone could be like himself and take orders as they were given.

Shrugging he moved on to the last couple of eggs. He should have been trying to send feelings to the dragonets inside the eggs but he saw no reason or need to. Some of the others seemed to be taking this very seriously. He touched his final egg and moved away to stand near A'rik. How long would this take?

-----

The young blonde touched every egg the same as he had the first, reverant and lovingly. His heart was a big one so it was not hard for him to express his wish to see the one inside soon. Nor would it be a lie to say he was excited to see them. Caselo had dreamed his whole life of riding. He tried not to let the desperation in his soul leak out into happy and warm thoughts.

Suddenly the hair on his arms prickled and he looked up in time to see small Somadin almost get killed by the Queen. Oh that could not be good. He was going to go up to him and make sure he was fine but Delontai reached the young boy first. Better probably to not make a hugr fuss out of something simple. No doubt Somadin felt awful already. Running a hand through his hair he glanced back down at the eggs.

Other people needed a turn, he decided and moved away from the eggs reluctantly. He had touched every one of them, all ten and hoped that his day would finally come. Hope was all he had to go on and he clung to it like he always had.

[starshine]

A'rik took joy in watching his students. They had acted surprisingly well with some exceptions, but there had been no major infractions. He took close notice of Caselo making his round. This would be the boys last chance to impress. He could practically feel that the boy was meant to ride, he knew it in his bones, as Pantoth had even felt it.

Once the last of the candidates had made their way off of the sands he turned to Iaslia. She was keeping the queen subdued as much as possible and he truly appreciated it. "Weyrwoman, I believe all of the students have had sufficient time with the eggs. If you could please extend my gratitude to the queen." He did not dare face the gold directly, merely taking the moment to acknowledge her patience through her rider. He then motioned for the students to head out and leave the Weyrleader be.

[adhoc]

((Jumping in at the end! Muahaha.))

Derron tread lightly across the sands. As lightly as possible, anyhow. Even mid-bout he rarely could set down his feet without causing something like a tremor. He had been the last onto the sands, and now was the last to make his way off.

He kept looking over at Nisurath, his bold features serious. He wondered if the rumors he'd heard were true, and she'd actually attacked a person before. It was doubtful, but she wasn't doing much today to get rid of that conception. Oh well. The boy she had hissed at was sound, if frightened. Derron found himself considering what it would be like to have been in the younger kid's shoes.

A grin exploded onto his face as he imagined trying to execute a take-down on a such a huge beast. Maybe if you looped your arms just up behind that ridge and rolled to the side...He tried to contain himself, because this seemed like a serious situation, but it was difficult.

Oh and the eggs! That had been excellent, although he had the sense as he touched each with his large fingertips that he had still better not be too rough with them. He had a tendency to not know his own strength, and visions of a horrible sudden cracking came to him several times as he moved through the room. It must have looked somewhat comical to any observer: the hulking young man ever so daintily resting his hand on the eggs as though they were cobwebs he was loath to break. Better safe than sorry. They were beautiful little things, like gemstones. Not that he'd really seen gemstones. But they had all the best colors of worldly things, distilled to their essences. It was amazing to think that soon they'd release such incredible creatures into this blazing air. He flexed his large mitts, an anticipatory habit developed through years of wrestling matches: his body reacting to his energy.

He looked back at the eggs again, feeling strangely elated. A rush of excitement left him grinning again, and he looked around at his fellow candidates to see if any of them were sharing in his emotions. They all looked pretty dour. That was a shame. Maybe they were still concerned about Somadin? Well, that made sense.

As he followed the rest of the Candidates off the sands, he was already daydreaming about power and flight and flame.