[7.2.2707] A Time For Everything (CANDIDATES)

[Jazzeh]

Toniel knew this day had been on many people's minds for a long time. Ever since the eggs were laid, in fact. Aylinth had finally gotten comfortable with the idea of having people around her clutch. Toniel was able to fully touch each and every shell without the gold creating a fuss, and she had been able to convince her to allow the Weyrwoman, Q'del, and Arktos the same privilege. With that step out of the way, it was time to bring in the Candidates.

The Weyrwoman's Second was a bit nervous, hoping the queen wouldn't get too worked up. It was one thing to have two or three riders touching her eggs, quite another to have a whole horde of energetic teenagers who had been anticipating this day for many sevendays now. Relax, Toniel,[/color] the gold said. It was ironic that Toniel was worried about her and here she was more tense than her dragon!

Tell me if you feel uncomfortable, Aylinth. I will get them out! she reassured the gold, but really she said it to reassure herself. The gold rumbled quietly and curled herself around her eggs, gently nuzzling one of the larger ones. She watched Toniel with a pair of softly whirling green eyes. Tiny Leifa appeared from between, twittering at Aylinth before flying to her pet. "Leifa!" the woman exclaimed in surprise. The red firelizard had been absent quite frequently of late, so it was almost strange to see the young female around again. Toniel stroked her eyeridges and the flitter crooned appreciatively.

"Leifa, can you do me a favor?" she asked. The red cocked her head at the Weyrwoman's Second and she knew she had her full attention. "I want you to go to Cybele and Argent. Tell Argent Aylinth is ready for the Candidates," she said gently. "Then go to Arktos' Forge and tell him the same thing." She made sure to speak slowly and accompany it with strong mental images of Candidates touching eggs. Aylinth, call Demnoth so he can help you guard them. That elicited a snort from the queen, who muttered that she didn't need some bronze to help her defend her eggs. But she called him anyways. Demnoth! My rider says you and your rider should be here when the white-robed things are touching my eggs![/color]

[Kit]

Demnoth stood up on his ledge as he received the message from the golden skin. His eyes whirled blue with excitement and happiness.

Mine! Aylinth's says we should come and protect the eggs..from some..white things? But she invited us! Clearly Demnoth felt this was a high honor indeed.

Q'del smiled fondly at the bronze as he walked out onto the ledge and scratched his eyeridges thoroughly. Though he might not feel the same delighted abandon that his dragon did, he was pleased to be invited by Toniel to watch the Candidates touch the Eggs. Maybe she was warming up to him after all.

"Well, we'd best get going then. Wouldn't want to keep those lovely ladies waiting now, would we?" He vautled up the straps to sits astride his bronze and they were soon winging their way through the opening to the Hatching Grounds, a forbidding looking crack in the ceiling only accessible by dragons. Demnoth came to as delicate of a landing as possible and as soon as his rider was dismounted he sidled over to his mate, crooning happily.

Beautiful Aylinth! I will protect the Eggs from anyone who would harm them, including the white things! he said bravely, despite not exactly knowing what the white things were.

Q'del walked up to Toniel and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Arktos will keep them in line. You know he will."

Cybele was visiting the creche when Leifa appeared to consult with Argent. This was mildly unusual, so she watched them for a moment. The little red disappeared almost immediately, but Argent came to her shoulder and submitted the image of Candidates touching the eggs. "Oh!" Cybele exclaimed. Well, this was exciting. She said goodbye to her daughter and made her way to the Hatching Grounds, arriving just after Q'del and waving a greeting.

Arktos received the message from Forge just as morning class was beginning. He put on an even more serious face then usual to the assembled Candidates.

"Aylinth has graciously invited you all to come and touch her Eggs. Now, you will all follow me in an orderly fashion to the door. Once inside, there will be no running, pushing, shouting, or rough-housing of any kind." He glared at Keravon especially. "Anyone who does will be ejected from the Hatching Grounds...if I can save you from Aylinth and Demnoth, that is. Please remember thzat inside these eggs are your future lifemates. If you find one you like especially, you may touch it..gently. Be sure to be thinking loving and welcoming thoughts. Now, please follow me."

He led them to the door to the Hatching Grounds that was almost always kept locked and unlocked it with a key from his belt. He glanced over them one more time stonily and then pushed open the door, letting them all pass before him so that he could account for all. Once all the Candidates were inside, he stepped onto the hot Sands and closed the door, watching everything warily.

[sorra]

Sertex and Calyssa stood quietly and waited for their morning classes to start. They had made a few friends since coming to the Weyr, but Sertex still felt protective of his sister and the two stayed together when they could. At least for now.

They looked at each other when Arktos seemed to become even more serious. Neither were sure what Forge had just told him to make his act that way. Their eggs lit up though whenever he told all the candidates they were going to see the eggs.

"We actually get to touch the eggs?" she whispered to her brother.

"It sounds that way," Sertex answered as he got in line soon followed by Calyssa.

They followed behind quietly. The twins looked around the Hatching Grounds in awe. Their eyes widened when they saw the gold and bronze that were watching the eggs.

[Kendrall]

Jaysen had only been a Candidate for about two or three days, but once he heard there would be an Egg-touching that morning he was practically beside himself. This would be the first time he'd ever participated in anything like this. He dressed in his white robe but kept his boots on; he'd heard he wouldn't be allowed to wear them when it was time for the actual Hatching. He supposed it would be an exercise in concentration, and he wanted to prove he would make it through the rough patch of seas when it was time. Misty chittered a question at him, and Jaysen had to think for a moment before answering. "I don't know if you'll be able to come in with me on the actual Hatching, Misty. I'll have to ask the Candidate Master."

The young sailor hadn't had much time to get himself settled in, so he really didn't know anyone save for Kiyoni - whom he hadn't seen much of lately - and his gold firelizard. He followed the rest of the white-robed Candidates onto the Hatching Sands, paying close attention to Arktos' instructions, and he nearly gasped in awe at the sight. Twenty-one eggs? Jaysen had never seen anything quite like this, but bowed in respect at the Gold and Bronze dragons. Misty trilled a greeting at her larger queen cousin and her Bronze mate.

As he looked around, there were at least two eggs that caught his eye. One of them looked almost black in color with a crossed-blade pattern, and the other reminded him of the waves he'd sailed back at Azure Isle. He carefully approached the first one - he supposed it looked like a guardian - and gently touched it, thinking only welcoming thoughts and directing them at the developing dragonet inside. Jaysen lingered for a moment, then walked over to the wave egg. Only this time he lingered a bit longer, since the pattern was soothing to him. Misty quietly chittered. She seemed to like this one over the other, and Jaysen nodded. "I like this one better as well, Misty," he said quietly. He knew he wasn't able to sit down on the Sands, and had to do his best to keep the heat from fully penetrating his boots. Still, the young man was fascinated by the wave egg in front of him, and he really didn't want to leave. Hello, little one, he directed his thought to the dragonet inside. I don't know if you're meant for me, but your shell reminds me of home.

[Jazzeh]

Toniel was so distracted that she nearly jumped at hearing Q'del's voice. Her brown eyes were quite wide as she looked at him, her body tense as it prepared to fight or fly. But when she saw who it was and his words penetrated her worry for Aylinth's clutch, she visibly relaxed, even to the point where she let down some of that stony wall she always had constructed around her, keeping her in a rigid stoicism. She allowed herself to smile back at him, still not your average wide-lipped, toothy smile, but even this was unusual.

"I hope so," she said, doubt inching it's way into her tone. The last thing she wanted was for Aylinth to get angry and scare off a Candidate or even hurt them.

Aylinth crooned as Demnoth arrived, extending her golden neck so as to nuzzle him briefly. Thank you, Demnoth. My rider is more worried about them than I am,[/color] she said, puffing up proudly that she was being a good gold and letting the Candidates see her eggs.

Ferahar could not believe his ears when Arktos told them that Aylinth was ready to let them see her clutch. Despite the fact that he was not nearly as excited as either of his brothers, he felt an anxious energy building in him. He fidgeted with his leather bracelet as Arktos spoke to them, telling them the rules of the Touching. They all seemed so obvious. A dragon would never intentionally hurt a human, but golds with eggs were hormonal, not in their right mind, you could say. They might just intend to scare you and instead rake you head to toe with one claw.

He couldn't speak as the Candidatemaster led them into the Hatching Cavern, his fingers tapping on his legs to keep himself from showing any other sign of his nervousness. He was pleased to see Aylinth's eyes were whirling a soft green, instead of an anxious yellow or angry red. Demnoth seemed equally relaxed, though he thought he could feel the bronze's gaze boring into him as he very slowly approached the clutch. So many eggs!

He wasn't sure which one drew him in the most, so Ferahar chose the one closest to him that caught his eye. The egg resembled a terrible storm, with lightning streaking across the shell. He was tentative in touching it, wondering idly if the electricity would jump from the egg to his arm. But upon touching the shell, there was no reaction, so he breathed a soft sigh of relief. Very close to this egg was a green and blue splashed shell that seemed to tinkle with the mirthful spirit of the forest. He was mesmerized by the intricate patterns and his hand rubbed the shell appreciatively. Hearing the sounds of other Candidates nearby, he jumped slightly and realized he'd dawdled perhaps too long.

So Ferahar made himself move away from the foresty egg and found himself looking at an egg with a mind-blowing pattern. There was a pair of eyes staring at him amidst the oily colors. They were intense, but he didn't get any sort of unpleasant feelings from the eggs. It actually reminded him of Keravon, almost mischevious with the way the colors seemed to dance in front of his eyes. He then thought of Terahar, who's health was steadily declining. He hoped fervently that the final triplet would be able to stand with them, but secretly he knew that he wouldn't be there.

[lithle]

Roni was not what one would call accustom to her new home. Well, alright, since coming out of quarantine she'd spent the most of her time exploring the various ways in which one could say 'eek'! The variety was wider than even her unhappy time at the Craft Complex had revealed. Dragons were scary. Dragonriders were scary. Whers were scary. The Candidate Master was scary. Firelizards... well firelizards were actually pretty alright.

Eggs, however, were very, very, scary. Because people were scary in a 'they might yell at me' way but eggs were scary in a 'the future of humans on Pern depends on the dragons in these eggs which you are expected to touch without breaking' way. In other words, the Candidate Master, in leading them to the sands and inviting them to touch the eggs was making Roni personally responsible for the continued existence of every person on the planet.

Which, well, felt like more responsibility than she was exactly ready for. Still, orders were orders and she shuffled reluctantly onto the sands with the other candidates, trying her very best to to bow to the clutch-parents in a way that said 'I am harmless, please do not maul me'. And, itsy-bitsy skittish thing that she was, she did look rather on the harmless side as she sidled up to an egg she felt confident would not crumble at her fingertips.

The eggs patterning made it appear to have crossed swords on it's shell and just looking at it she felt confident (as confident as she ever felt) that it was not a thing of fragility. Still, her touch was less than a feather's brush her fingers hovering close to the surface of the shell without quite closing the distance into contact. One thing to be said for the girl, jumpy as she seemed, she had very steady hands.

[sorra]

Sertex and Calyssa actually parted ways when they reached the Hatching Grounds. Sertex bowed respectfully to the gold and bronze. "Thank you kindly, Gold Aylinth for allowing us to see your eggs," he said politely before moving to gently caress one of the eggs.

Calyssa had already moved over to the egg with what appeared to be a runner on the shell. She grinned and gently ran her fingers over the shells. It was so different to be touching a dragon egg. She just hoped that they couldn't hurt the eggs. She wouldn't want that to happen.

[Kit]

Q'del smiled back at Toniel, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "See, they're all being very careful, and Aylinth looks pretty relaxed. Don't worry so. It is a good clutch, the eggs are nearly hard, everything will be fine." Her worry over what basically amounted to her surrogate children had made a crack in the stony facade she normally carried. Q'del hoped she would accept his comfort, and maybe as a consequence come to accept him just a little more. In the several months since Aylinth's Flight, he had come to greatly admire her strength. Maybe he was crazy for trying, but for right now, she was the only woman he wanted.

He waved as the Weyrwoman walked up. "Its a good bunch of Candidates," she said. "Aylinth and Demnoth look relaxed."

Demnoth returned his mate's nuzzle happily. You are a good mother to the Eggs. he agreed. I think all the eggs will hatch into dragons as lovely as you. Well, except for the boys...they will be handsome. Q'del had managed to explain to his clueless bronze that the eggs would hatch into baby dragons.

Quindara wandered among the eggs, gazing at many, looking for one that called to her. There was one, a small red and white one, that appealed to her more temperamental side. But the one she eventually stopped at and touched was a large silver one, with a design like the crescent moon. It looked like liquid moonlight. She touched its smooth shell, and wondered what color was inside...it was a very large egg.

Keravon stood completely still for a moment, trying to take in all the eggs at once. They were all beautiful and different, variously sized and colored. He eventually walked over to an egg his brother was looking at, with dancing colors and staring eyes. "Oooh, I like this one too," he whispered. "I feel like its looking at me." Then another caught his eye, a large buttery yellow one with flames on it. He touched it lightly. "Its so warm," he said, more to himself than to anyone.

Arktos stood on the opposite side from the clutchparents, carefully observing. A memory came unbidden to him, of his touching Bjornth's egg, though he hadn't known the brown that emerged would be his. A tear escaped onto his cheek and he dashed it away quickly.

[fellis]

Edilon calmly followed the other onto the sand. It was not his first time touching dragon eggs, and he had to smile at the younger candidates, who were trying it for the first time. Not that he wasn't excited, too. Touching a dragon egg was a privilege, and one he wanted to relish every time.

Still, though, I hope it is the last time, he thought ruefully as he bowed to Aylinth and approached the eggs. He had his sketchpad and drawing stick in a bag over his shoulder, and he planned to draw some of the clutch in the Stands after the touching, if Aylinth allowed it.

He went up to the egg called Howling Winter. Edilon had heard tell of this "snow" from Northerners, but he had never seen it himself. He brushed his fingers over the white surface. It seemed cold, which worried him. Cold eggs were usually duds. But Edilon could also feel a sense of peace coming from the egg, so he hoped it was still healthy.

[Jazzeh]

Toniel did not think she would have liked the way Q'del placed a hand on her shoulder. She was not a touchy-feely person, seeing as she was generally just not a feely person, so she usually disliked it when people tried to touch her for any reason. It made getting close to the queenrider quite difficult, but then Q'del would know all about that, wouldn't he? She found instead that his hand resting on her shoulder was quite reassuring indeed, though she gave little outward sign to the fact, as was her manner. Still, she could hardly disagree with his assessment of the Candidate's cautious actions. If it was possible, she fully expected them to all watch Aylinth with one eye and the egg with the other.

"I suppose I shouldn't worry so much," she admitted in her soft, whispery voice. Her gold did not appear to be threatened at all by any of the Candidates and seemed perfectly fine with them smoothing their grimy hands all over her flawless eggs. Then again, it was easy to be assured when you or your mate could make a snack of any unfortunate idiot here who decided to overstep his or her boundaries. Not that she actually expected her gold to eat anyone...but the possibility was there. She nodded respectfully to Weyrwoman Cybele as she approached, but was still too nervous about the whole thing to make much for conversation. Q'del was doing a good job at it, so she'd hate to muddle up his work, right?

The queen preened at his compliment, leaning into his touch. Oh Faranth her ego was growing even larger! Yes, they will be very lovely. And handsome.[/color] She didn't know that half of them would likely be greens, and therefore females, but her statement made it clear that she fully expected mostly females like herself. Males were an afterthought as she saw it, though if they turned out like Demnoth, she would welcome them gladly.

Ferahar grinned when he heard his brother's voice at his elbow. He was right about it feeling like it was looking at them. "It kinda reminds me of you, brother!" he said light-heartedly. But his distracted twin was already headed off to another egg. So the slightly older boy gave the egg one last lingering gaze before casting about for another one. The one that beckoned to him now was brown, almost resembling wood, with some sort of shape on it that looked like an ancient heirloom of sorts. He peered at it curiously before tracing a finger along the edge of the emblem. Something about the egg seemed off and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, an odd sensation tickling at him until he finally shivered and moved away.

[lithle]

Alright. Deep breath. She couldn't exactly cling to one egg for the whole touching, as comforting as the presence of that egg might be. Think of how disappointed her father would be, if she admitted that she'd been flown all the way to the Weyr, attended a touching, and only touched (or almost touched) one egg. That wouldn't do at all.

Scanning the clutch carefully, she spotted an egg of black and blue, and something about those dark, unassuming colors was comforting. Walking perhaps more carefully than was absolutely necessary, she made her way over to the egg, one tiny, foot burning step at a time. Close to the egg now, she almost imagined there was a woman in the shell's pattern, certainly, the swirls seemed to form a shape of sorts.

Like the previous egg, there was comfort in standing near this one, if not so much comfort that Roni was actually calmed. She circled it once before reaching out her hand, and finally traced her finger just above the shell, a hairsbreadth away but still not quite touching. So pretty, though. More beautiful even than anything she'd ever seen carved at the Crafthall.

[syn]

((this is one of the few times you will see laranes. I only play him as crazy; he's boring otherwise :/.))

Ah, another round of egg-stroking. Minette had played that game before. Arktos called them all together and went over the rules again. Like always, Minette came onto the sands with her brother at her side and a skip in her step. Her future companion might be here! But she kept herself under control, dark eyes focused straight ahead as she kept close to her very tall, very strong younger brother.

She bowed with utmost respect, then began to move among the eggs, always keeping an eye on the dragons. As per the usual, she felt obliged to keep tabs on her younger brother. Laranes was taller and stronger than most men, despite his nickname "Little Ging". She knew that he was harmless and almost shy, but her simple-natured brother could be seen as a threat if he moved the wrong way. She certainly didn't want to see her baby brother torn open.

("Not much of a loss," Laravan had grumbled when Midian once mentioned the fear of losing either older sibling. "Social Darwinism, my friend. Just because they're both bigger'n me doesn't mean they're worth more.")

The heat of the sands caused her to sweat, and the darker curls nearest her skull stuck to the skin. Yet despite her discomfort she would not leave. These eggs... they were the most interesting things she had ever seen. She stepped close to the Bloodfeather egg. Whispers of this one had reached her ears, and she touched it with a bit of excitement. Whatever dragon lied inside deserved to be seen, and she would enjoy the day they broke open.

Minette moved on, curls bouncing as she stopped before the Dark of the Moon egg. This one made her gut wrench just a bit. There could be ominous things within that shell. She stroked the ankh with a tentative hand, biting the insides of her cheeks as she did so. Then onto the Possessing Raindrops egg. This one was small, but when she set her hand on it, only her common sense told her that the surge of power she felt running up her arm was only superstition.

Well then came the Guardian egg. She seemed to approve of this one. A protector. She smiled at the shell and grabbed her brother by the arm. "This one'll be a blessing to the lucky candidate to Impress it," she laughed. "A regular protector."

"Like the oldest sibling," Laranes joked, then pulled his arm away and moved on. And so Minette followed, stroking eggshells with solemn wonder.

[Kit]

Q'del removed his hand after a moment, feeling a small bit of happy amazement that Toniel had allowed him such a familiarity. "Well, its understandable. They are a bit like your children." He almost said 'our children' but bit it back. He didn't want to spoil his gains with a careless remark, and he somehow thought that she didn't like being reminded of the Flight. "But none of them would dare try anything with Aylinth and Demnoth here," he said reassuringly.

After a moment, he nodded to the Weyrwoman. "Yes, they do seem so. Not too rambunctious, and very respectful." Of course, some of them seemed downright timid...which was no bad thing for this exercise, but it was hoped that they would grow out of it. Dragonriders could not be timid, not with Thread falling.

Demnoth nuzzled his mated happily, making sure to keep one of his jeweled eyes fixed on their clutch. These little ones didn't seem very scary, but His had assured him that Aylinth wanted him here to protect the eggs, so protect them he would.

After looking at the flame egg, Keravon meandered back to his brother just as he was leaving a brown, almost wooden looking egg. He stopped to stare at it, feeling drawn in.. but also slightly repelled. He shivered. There was another egg nearby that looked like an ocean wave. He'd only seen the ocean a few times, but the egg was rather fascinating. "There's so many of them," he said to Ferahar quietly. "There's gotta be ones for us."

[sorra]

Sertex and Calyssa met back up a few moments later. Both were grinning from ear to ear. They had never expected to be this close to a dragon egg. It was amazing.

"I don't know what one to look at next," Calyssa said as she looked around at the eggs.

Sertex shook his head. "There is so many. I hope there will be enough candidates to give the little dragons a good choice," he said as he moved toward another one of the eggs.

[Jazzeh]

Toniel couldn't have imagined his triumph at not being beat down for touching her. She didn't get close to people. She didn't really like to do. It wasn't so much that she had had bad experiences with people as she just preferred to keep her own company. She might be willing to admit, though, that it was a big step for her to allow even a simple gesture like that one Q'del had give her. She considered his words. Was that why she was so worried? She had never figured herself for the mothering type, but she supposed it might be true. But mostly she wanted Aylinth to be okay. And she wanted to the do the Weyr proud, which wouldn't happen if a Candidate harmed an egg or if Aylinth got so upset that she harmed one accidentally herself.

"Yeah, I suppose so," she said. The tone of her voice was normally a breathy one, so when she had distractedly responded to him, the tone might have only come off as being slightly more whispery than usual, slightly more distant-sounding. Her next words were more solid. "No, they wouldn't." Aylinth and Demnoth would make good guardians for this clutch. She knew her gold wouldn't allow any kind of mischief around her eggs. And Demnoth seemed so smitten with the gold that he'd not allow any either. That brought an interesting thought to her mind, one which she readily answered. Q'del, too, was likely smitten with her, though it was hard to imagine the hardened man to be nearly the overenthusiastic mate that his bronze was to Aylinth. She wished she could find it within herself to care for him back, but perhaps it was better this way. If she weren't blinded by love or some silliness like that, she could think with a clear head.

Ferahar was broken out of his intense stare at one of the eggs by his brother's quiet voice. He looked up at him almost wistfully for a moment before his expression hardened. "Yeah, there has to be!" he agreed fervently. The thought came unbidden to his mind that there was one here for Terahar, too, but he tried valiantly to push that aside. Terahar was not looking good in the infirmary and secretly he feared the worst. With a mental shake, the oldest triplet moved on, looking at a silvery shell with a moon-shape on it. There was a certain attraction to it, as if it held secrets and knowledge that none of the others could boast and his eyes lingered on the shell before flicking away to examine other eggs.