“For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today

While Cadmuth grumbled about not being able to make a spectacular entrance and Revenaulth tolerated his quiet rant atop the ledges above the Sands, Roman and D'lor walked into the Hatching Grounds, both laughing amiably. Roman's joking nature fit in with D'lor's outgoing personality, and the two were well acquainted, having eaten an early dinner together. Rella, though, was not happy about having to share attention with Roman's bronze Zane, and as such the white-gold firelizard was sulking, and if she'd been removed one would see the red lines she was pressing into D'lor's neck.

As they took their places amidst the rest of the residents of the Caldera on the Sands, another egg began to shake, this one the Snow Leopard Egg. It moved slowly at first, but then gradually increased its movements, as if the creature within was getting agitated. A crack finally appeared, then another... and then the egg seemed to give out, falling out from itself as a hatchling fell to the floor. Upon first glance it was obvious the baby was a blue, and after a few seconds without movement Galateath snaked her neck out to gently prod the baby, her breath rushing over it as she snorted slightly. Immediately the hatchling perked up, looking back at his mother with plaintive peep before getting to his feet. He wobbled a bit at first, but eventually he seemed to get the hang of his long limbs and moved more confidently forward, surveying the gathered candidates as he went.

He stopped once he'd moved closer to the candidates, sitting back on his haunches as he looked over those gathered, his eyes whirling. He was in no hurry to impress, that was for sure, and once again it took a prodding from his mother to spur him into action, and within a second he'd made clear his choice. For him, it was never a question of who would be his; she was the obvious choice, of course. The prettiest, the smartest...

Hello there, love. The voice, though soft, was distinct in Tabitha's mind, and before waiting on her response the blue stepped towards her, sliding around the other candidates before coming to a stop before her. You are mine as Sivenith is yours, Tabitha-love. His voice clearly displayed all of the emotions, his questions and everything else without having to say it aloud. Bumping his head gently into her chest, he crooned, awaiting the rub he knew was coming.

Tabitha watched as another of the eggs began to rock. The obvious little blue sort of fell from the egg and just laid there motionless. At first she was afraid the dragon wasn't living, but she realized that if that was the case Galateath would have probably been creeling. The gold then snaked her head over it and prodded him into some form of action.

The little thing seemed lazy she thought for even though he got up and started towards the candidates, he immediately just sat down again. 'What a silly little creature.' She thought to herself. It took Galateath prodding him again before he finally made some sort of effort into impressing.

'Hello there, love.' Tabitha heard in her mind and for a second thought that maybe D'karon was behind her. She turned to look, but of course no one was there. 'You are mine as Sivenith is yours, Tabitha-love.' Said the voice again, only this time this was a very slender blue bumping into her with his head.

Instinctively her hands went to his bright blue head and began rubbing it. She wasn't sure if it was real or not, so she simply stared at him. 'Um, love, I know I'm quite a sight to look at, but I am also very hungry and wouldn't mind you saying something.' Sivenith stated.

Tabitha jerked out of it. It was real, she had impressed. This wonderful little blue in front of her was hers and she his. It was the most amazing thing ever. 'I'm sorry. I just couldn't believe you had picked me.' She stated to him, hugging him tightly to her.

'Well of course I would pick you. You are the best. Now I'm hungry. Could you feed me please?' Sivenith asked with a bit of a whine. Tabitha nodded and led him to where there was food.

Max

Max watched as the dragons hatched. So far Five beautiful dragons had hatched from the eggs. Three Blues, a Green and a Goldish Bronze. Max set to work sketching the hatchlings and the remaining eggs. He hoped that he would get a dragon, But deep down he knew it was impossible. What dragon would want a goofy clutz that could hardly stand on his own too feet. His ever present Smile started to fade, But he continued to draw.

Tobias

Tobias fetched some meat and begin to feed his little bronze. He ate the whole bowl greedily and then feel asleep right afterwards.
Tobias Rubbed Sevvanths head and smiled to himself. He looked around and saw the kid who had fallen drawing. He also noticed that the kid was no longer smiling and looked rather gloomy. He shugged and resumed petting his new Bronze hatchling.

Kaimry

She hurried down to the hatching. She didn't have to go, But she wanted to see the baby dragons. She always got a thrill watching them hatch and impress.

" Oh boy, I wonder what has hatched already? Hmm...lets go and see~"

Her three firelizards, Emmy, marley and Iggy followed her aas hse ran onto the stands to watch. She cast her gaze on the sand below. She noticed that three Blues, a Green and a Bronze had hatched. She also noticed that a lot of the candidates this time around were quite young, especially that kid with the Bronze. She sighed petted Iggy, without really noticing. She wonder what would hatch next?

Trent had been sleeping very deeply and Demath really didn't want to disturb him any. Both of them were still a bit shaken up by the death of Airliath and the maiming of Delanth. Not that Airliath was a good gold or anything, but the death of a queen was a hard thing none the less. So the bronze had let him sleep even though he knew the hatching was happening.

'Hm? What's that sound? Is that humming? Shards, the hatching! Why didn't you wake me?!' Trent exclaimed as he threw on clothes and yelled at Demath.

'Because you looked so cute just sleeping there. Besides it's not like we haven't seen a hatching before. You needed the sleep. But now that you are up, let's check it out.' Demath said, lowering down for Trent to mount.

They got to the hatching sands just as a blue was impressing to a female candidate, Tabitha he thought it was. 'Well, at least we haven't missed too much.' Trent said as he left Demath with the other dragons and found a seat in the sands.
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Ashur watched as yet another blue hatched and just laid there. At first he thought something was wrong, but then Galateath got the little blue to move into action and he relaxed. The little blue wasn't in any hurry to impress but he did know who he wanted fairly quickly. It wasn't him, no of course not. That was fine...there were still eleven eggs left.

Adam's brows shot up towards his hairline as he caressed Spring's hide, situating her on his shoulder. Twin golds, really? How interesting! "Twin golds, really? That's interesting...I didn't think twins in the same egg would be too common in dragon kin." And a bronze impressing a girl...dragons certainly didn't choose that way. Or so it seemed so far. Perhaps these Whers were less discriminatory since there were clearly several gender bending pairs among them. Adam remembered Sobi vaguely; he thought she had been a Candidate at one point, but then disappeared from day time for the most part. I guess I know why now, he mused silently.

Then Ayana seemed to nearly tear up and Adam immediately pulled her into a hug, not for the first time in his life forgetting a danger in lieu of necessity. If the young man was lucky, Raimu wouldn't rip out his throat. Adam had never loved anyone the way Ayana had, but he knew what it was to lose someone dear. After all, he'd lost both his parents to the silver Thread those first few times it fell on Pern's surface. And that had been a hard blow for him when he'd been so young, especially when one after the other died like that, eaten up by some alien thing.

Kassa watched as more dragons Impressed their chosen Candidates. The little seed of disappointment grew a bit in her chest, but strong-willed as she was the young woman squashed it as soon as she noticed. Instead, she sidled away from her sister and Aluna towards one of the two boys with whom she'd previously restocked the medicine cabinets. Nudging him in the arm, she smiled at him, brown eyes bright. "Having a good time so far, Ashur?" Kassa didn't know much about him, but as far as men folk went he seemed a decent fellow. She'd seen one too many men grouse about her mother behind her back after her father had died back on Earth. Of course she'd been a very young child, but that didn't stop her from kicking them in the shins and spitting in their breakfast cereal when they weren't looking. No body was good enough for her mother except her daddy.

Tiaholt was proud to have a new baby. Arikyu bounding and chirpping excitedly. She nuzzled the newcomer and licked her snout. Arienyth crooned.

The little one likes me.

"Yes, I know. She likes everyone." she told her green. She chuckled. She wanted to know everything about her. She was absolutely amazing, not to mention beautiful. Boop had licked her neck and gruffed and whimpered. Arienyth put her head down to her left shoulder and giggled. She was very glad she was getting so much attention. Tia smiled and caressed her head knots. She was purring her fool head off!

Arieynth yawned a toothy yawn and stretched and laid down and went to sleep with Arieynth's head one her left and Arikyu's on the right leg. Boop had settled down as well. Tia stroked both dragons on their head knobs. She sighed in contentment. Then she thought of Max. What color was he getting she wondered. She smiled at Arienyth and still stroked her head knobs. She caught take her hands of of her. She -has- come a long way. Her bad habit has went away completely thanks to several her friends, the confident boost and a lot of consoling. She laughed on how she got here. It appeared to be another life but a life that she would leave in a heartbeat.

"Yeah twin golds, and the only similarity between a wher and a dragon as far as I can tell is the colors and that they both can talk mentally I think. The whers have a small vocabulary though." Ayana was good at listening to gossip, or just other conversations across the room. When Adam pulled her into a hug she was starled slightly but her body did not show it. A fighter never shows her moves before they are even made.

"Thanks." Ayana said as she wiped the few tears that had formed, why was it that guys always made her feel better? To her suprise Raimu had not hissed at Adam yet again. Ayana took a closer look and she had fallen asleep.

"Now that is odd." Ayana had to laugh at that. Spring let out another chirp as the attenion she was getting stopped. She then rubbed her head against his neck.

D'karon

D'karon had been eagerly sitting in the stands. Given Avoneth would never under any circumstances miss a hatching, this meant he never would either. Part of him suspected her dedication to viewing them was the fact that for all she rose every few months, she rarely laid on those sands herself and was more than slightly jealous.

Even so, she at least was quite cheerful, murmuring in her chosen's head all the different hatchings, and when he did not look fast enough she would hiss in his mind.

The rider's eyes drifted to Tabitha. She had been quite a good friend since they had gotten to know each other, and with a smile he saw her approached by a blue. He held his breath, but with Avoneth's croon, D'karon knew... and the way they held each other, the smile on her face, he knew impression occurred.

"Congratulations, Tabitha! What is his name?" He called out to her.

Ulysses

Ahh, hatchings. A wonderful time to get together, at least Ulysses thought. And a good chance to show off one of his new guitars. He had made this one completely out of local materials, and it sounded just as fine as the ones made from old Earth supplies. But that was not the point now, he thought to himself.

His dragonets had managed to get out of his workshop as well. Quite the task for Thud, honestly... the lunk rarely moved. But they were both here, in the stands around the hatching sands, tails wagging and looking quite pleased. Especially Melody, whom was humming with well, her namesake. Ulysses smiled at this, and continued watching the impressions occuring all across the sands.

Jen

A notebook in one hand and a pen in the other, Jen sat off to one side taking copious notes. These hatchings presented a lot more for her in the way of learning capabilities towards what these dragons could do, and gave her ideas on working with her own flock.

Jen let out a snort. Her own flock had done just that, and flocked right down to the edge where they could see. Her spot off on the side did not have the best view available but it was one she liked, and it was private enough that she could reasonably be left in peace as she took the notes.

Another egg hatched and she smiled. She kept on writing.

Alicia

Alicia kept her eyes peeled for any bronzes. It was unfortunate that most of the riders of the bronzes she liked were taken. Mikhael, for instance. Well, if there were any new bronzes here she might just have a chance at snagging one of them when her Lisbeth rose. None of them seemed all that... interested in her at the moment.

She let out her breath at the one bronze already hatched, glancing to it. Maybe, she thought, but at Lisbeth's croon in her mind she thought against it. No, would not do. Well, there were still eggs hatching.

Adele

Hatchings were wonderful, Adele thought. She of course had wormed her way right up to the front, with Flop and Bahn seated on her shoulders. She leaned out as far as she could, the young curly haired girl taking in every moment.

She remembered when her daddy had impressed, and she was now getting to the age where her mind was filled with thoughts of flying dragons and fighting Thread. It became a dream of hers. It would be wonderful to fly, she thought! Bahn and Flop agreed, chirping amongst their humming.

Oh how Adele loved hatchings. She squealed as another egg broke and a blue tumbled out. Oh, it was so cute! And there, a green! Oh what she would give to impress, but she was nowhere near old enough. Well, she could dream!

Ashur smiled at Kassa as she came up to him to say, 'Having a good time so far?'

"Well of course. It's a hatching. Plus it's a hatching where I could potentially impress one of these wonderful creatures. How about yourself?" He answered her, of course he kept an eye on the eggs. Didn't want to miss one hatching because he was talking to a pretty girl.
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Tabitha directed her new little charge towards D'karon when she heard him yell at her. "His name is Sivenith. Isn't he just perfect?" She answered him, still not quite believing that she had impressed. 'This is my good friend, D'karon.' She said to her bright blue.

'He seems nice. Hi D'karon. I chose well, didn't I? Tabitha is the best, isn't she? I'm still hungry though. May I have more of that meat?' Sivenith said to both of them. Tabitha bent down gave him another piece of the meat she had been given to feed him.

It was the Black Antelope Egg that had shattered open in that brief quiet since Sivenith had hatched. The form that had fallen from the shells was a rather peculiar shade of lime green with a distinctive yellow hint to it that left her a rather odd shade for what was eventually realised to be a green. Rolling up onto her feet she squealed with outrage; how dare her egg just dump her out like that; it was not fair.

In her anger she stalked off towards the candidates; leaping up onto Ayana who just happened to be in her path knocking the girl to the ground; her claws albiet soft but still rather sharp raked at her Ayana's stomach leaving several long; but not entirely superficial gashes. Her strong tail whipping out to crack Adam in the chest; there was an audible crack of at least one of them breaking before she moved on; satisfied her path had been cleared... but where was her; oh this was making her very angry. Her anger so visible now that the candidates remaining scattered the moment she neared them..





In about the same time that the yellow green had hatched from her egg; another egg. The Indian Lagur Egg had begun splitting; the shell giving way to another green form; a hunter green form this time who rolled over. Getting up with a more upbeat attitude than her yellow green sister had she pranced; yes that's right, pranced around the sands for a bit weaving her way though candidates; stopping at Ayana to lick at the blood on her she made a funny face before she turned and pranced her way over to Aluna; looking up at the girl with big bright now whirling blue eyes.

'Aluna; can you get something sweeter for your Drianyth. The stuff that girl has on her is too salty for me; it's icky.'




Juggling her now 17 month old daughter in her arms Kita had come into the sands with D'lor and Roman. For the past 21 months since she had told Roman about her being pregnant and then birthing little Eira a month early she had managed to keep the fact that he was her father from him. However today she was in high spirits with them; she had left the candidate program since the birth of Eira and instead turned towards learning about dragon healing from Cy'shen as she had been the Caldera's resident vet for sometime. She was laughing with them and watched Eira's amazed expressions with much delight; however she was not expecting to see a green on the sands staring intently at her.

It was during the time that Kita had been laughing and enjoying herself that the Macaque Egg had split or more rightly burst open in a great amount of flying shards. A most grand of entrances from what soon appeared to be a rather teal shaded green; she was dark in colour but the blue tint to her green hide was most obvious. Swinging her head about the sands for a bit as she watched the other candidate; she snorted. Her's was definitely not among them and it was in that moment of hushed silence; barely broken by the urgent whispers of the candidates who dodged out of the way of the still rampaging yellow green; that the bell like laughter of Kita at something Eira had just done made her swing her head towards the woman.

She stared at her intently and Kita stared back before the green finally spoke; 'Kita you surely don't intend to sit there all day and leave your Phaerynth here to waste away into a waif do you?' Kita was stunned; and not even looking away handed Eira to Roman; the little girl eagerly clinging to the man with bright adoring eyes. As she moved forwards; she had never thought this day would come and jumping the barrier she moved towards Phaerynth and collapsed into the sands pulling the green into a hug.. Tears leaking from her eyes with happiness.

'Come now Kita; I know you're happy but tears won't feed me.'

Kita laughed softly; wiping away her tears. Phaerynth was right; tears wouldn't feed her. Getting up she smiled at her beloved green and leading her past the barrier where Roman; Eira and D'lor were she grinned up at them "Her name is Phaerynth," her words still left with them she moved towards the side cavern where she knew she could feed Phaerynth.




Rocking in a motion that seemed all it's own the Rhinoceros Egg began to crack; it was methodical in the way it broke open into two halves; neatly falling apart to reveal a very handsome brown of an almost mustard shade. He flicked from him some large bits of egg goop that clung to his hide and well in all honesty made him itch like well itch profusely. Rolling in the sand only made sands cling to him but at least it calmed the itch enough for him to focus on the task ahead. Well now there wasn't much of a choice but he knew his was there the moment his head swung to the girls. Pushing himself up he moved quietly towards the young girl who had not so long ago been mauled by the still rampaging yellow green. The green who's rage was only seeming to grow the longer hers was taking to get there.

Sniffing at Ayana he swung his head up to Adam and knew he had found who he wanted. 'Oh deary me. We'll have to get someone to help her now won't we Adam; it won't be right to just leave her there.' He paused for a good long moment inspecting Adam before finally he spoke again.

'We'll have to get you looked at too. I don't want you getting sick because you didn't look after your injuries. I am Dalluth and it's okay we can wait till someone comes to help her.' He reassured Adam kindly as he sat down by his side to wait with him.

Ayana

Ayana was looking at Adam but then as she went too look back at the eggs a green attacked. All she saw was lime green, rather similair to Raimu. Ayana then felt a peircing sensation on her stomach and realized what was happening. Ayana let out a scream at the sudden pain, and there was a crack. Something broke, Ayana knew that but she did not know what or who. She was to busy biting her lip. Her arms instantly curled around her stomach once the green was off of her. Then a another green came and licked, prancing away with a funny look on her face. Ayana pulled her hands away and saw the blood.

"Shit! Shit!" Ayana swore once, and then it just caught on and she continued cussing. She stopped long enough to see that now a brown was sniffing at her. When the brown turned his head Ayana did the same. "Adam are you alright?" Ayana managed to say without cussing. It hurt her stomach to breathe.

Aluna

Aluna stared at the lime green as it attacked a poor girl and a guy. She instantly stepped back to make sure that she was not in the dragon's path.

"That had to hurt." She said silently. She looked as another green went up to the girl and licked at the blood, then with a funny face she walked away from the girl and walked towards her.

'Aluna; can you get something sweeter for your Drianyth. The stuff that girl has on her is too salty for me; it's icky.'

Aluna was then startled again by the voice that entered her mind. She then knew that now she was a dragonrider.

"I could find something very sweet for you Drianyth." Aluna assured her green.

The sweeter the better. Drianyth said.

"You are going to have to eat something healthy first so you can grow." Aluna said.

The Indian Camel Egg sat dutifully by it's mother's side until the occupant inside decided it wanted out; there was a stubborn kick and then another and another. Finally a large crack appeared and a leg burst free; from the top. Well now the poor little hatchling was obviously upside down as the tail smashed through next defiantly. With a wiggle the other leg came free and the whole egg toppled over smashing open leaving a mildly bewildered hatchling on it's back in it's wake. After some moments of wiggling and rolling the thing got to it's feet; now that it was free everyone was able to get a good look at this... it took a few moments but yes he was blue; a grape shade no doubt but he was blue.

Rolling onto his feet he made a careless dash towards a small group of men; taking a flying leap he landed all his weight on one of the men. Crashing into the ground together there was another audible crack as it was the collarbone that was broken on this man; rather than the rib the green had broken on Adam.

'He was in my way Zakur and I couldn't get to you. You didn't want you Wheth not getting to you did you?'

The grape blue whined; it was clear that there was not a shred of common sense in his mind; and nor did he seem to care much for the consequences of his actions; but none the less Zakur accepted him. Accepted him unconditionally; in a way he never though he would be able to accept anyone.



There was a boom and a rumble and a crack; everything about the Elephant Egg seemed to shudder as the occupant fought to make it out. Out and away from the confines it's mother had on him. However much she smothered him though the egg shook harder and eventually a bronze shape or was it more of an olive shape flopped out onto her forepaw. It lay there for a moment giving everyone a good look of his olive bronze shade and long lanky limbs. He looked a little on the skinny side for a bronze; especially with his limbs and it was clear that despite the size of his egg he was smaller than his bronze brother. But after a moment of pondering he got up from his mother's forepaw and inclining his head to her made his way towards the young man that Wheth had just landed on.

'You are alright aren't you Ryker?'

The sentiment in the bronze's voice touched Ryker who had managed to make it to a knee; his right hand clutch at the left side of his collarbone where it was clear the break would be. With a hiss of pain he managed a smile for the dragon in from of him; surprised that without telling him that he already knew his name.

"I will be alright Zetarith, but first we should get you fed"

Zetarith pushed himself against Ryker's good side with a soft croon and refused to move; speaking once again to his chosen after some deep thought.

'No, Ryker. We shall get you tended to first and then I shall feed.'

Ryker was not going to argue and sat back into the sand; ignoring the sudden pain from his collarbone and the burning heat that was assaulting his rear in the sand.




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Alright now we know you all are wondering about these two.. We want to introduce you to the Weyrs newest two Manwhores. We are lacking in them and well.. need some more. These two however will be Admin played NPCs; with the future possibility of people being able to adopt them after an interview and such.

This arose from the fact that we have had some people disappear on hatching day; and have not heard word from in a while. Fear not if you do not impress for we have another hatching next month in January.. This has been an announcement from your friendly Admins; we hope you enjoy the rest of the hatching.

Adam had been about to reply to Ayana when several things happened at once. The first was that a yellow green dragonet hatched and rampaged towards them. She scored Ayana's belly and Adam could feel some of his friend's blood spray warmly onto his arm. On the dragon's turn about to continue searching for her bonded, the powerful tail cracked Adam in the chest and he felt a burning pain radiating out from the impact. Sure he'd broken bones before, but none had felt this painful. Blinking back tears, the young man breathed in shallowly and knelt carefully to check on Ayana.

Then the next green to hatch, a more true green than the one that had attacked, pranced over and licked at Ayana's blood after surveying both of them. When she pranced off towards one of the other girls, Adam took a closer look at his friend's stomach. Grimacing at the site of her blood, Adam knew he had to stop it some how; he lifted off his shirt, hissing as the movements twisted his ribs, and pressed the wadded up cloth to her stomach. Ignoring her cursing, Adam shook his head at Ayana, telling her not to worry about him despite the purple-ish black bruise forming on his ribcage.

The third baby dragon that came up to the two of them sniffed at Ayana with concern, and then looked up at Adam. The minute his eyes met the brown's whirling gaze, he knew life wouldn't be the same after this. Oh deary me. We'll have to get someone to help her now won't we Adam; it won't be right to just leave her there, said the voice in his mind which was not his own. "Of course I'm not just going to leave her here," Adam said, completely serious. He'd crack a joke later, but at the moment Ayana's life seemed to be bleeding onto the Sands.

Adam winced as he readjusted his hold on the cloth he'd pressed to Ayana's belly, the act of even moving his left arm causing his pain to spike. "Oh, I'm alright, Ayana," he replied casually. "Must've been thinking of such a good joke I just cracked myself up. Literally." He tried to smile for her, to make light of his injuries in deference to her own, but even for a red head his face was pale and his skin was a bit clammy. We'll have to get you looked at too. I don't want you getting sick because you didn't look after your injuries. I am Dalluth and it's okay we can wait till someone comes to help her.

Stretching out his good hand Adam caressed his dragon's cheek, his breathing still shallow and slightly irregular. "I'm glad you're mine, Dalluth." The name rolled off his tongue easily, as though it were his own. "And you're right about my ribs; whoever comes to help Ayana will likely need to help me." And all around the trio, the Hatching and subsequent Impressions continued.

~~~~~

Kassa gave Ashur a small half-smile. "Yeah, Hatchings are fun. And this time we get to be on the Sands instead of in the Stands." She too was keeping her gaze on the eggs and dragonets that continued to hatch. She witnessed that crazed yellow green attack two Candidates and she winced in sympathy for the pair, hoping she wouldn't get hurt too badly. She didn't want to die her first time standing for Impression.

Two more greens, a brown, a blue, and a bronze hatched and clearly none of the five were for her or Ashur. And still that spit fire of a green couldn't find her own Candidate. Kassa felt some sympathy for the youngling, who was clearly upset by not finding who she was looking for; the young woman had some familiarity with feeling out of place and having no one understand when she was angry. Of course, the green had injured two humans. And the other girl was still bleeding on the Sands. "That looks terrible," Kassa said, glancing over to the two injured, mildly taking note that the red headed boy had Impressed the brown.

Ayana eyes were closed but she could still tell that Adam was there. Somehow she sensed it. Ayana then opened her eyes to see what the heck he was doing. She was about to try and sit up but she felt something press against her belly, where she was wounded. She let out another scream, she had to. It hurt and he was only making the pain worse even though Ayana knew he was only trying to help.

"You should." Ayana muttered trying to breath as little as possible. "after all now you have a dragon to feed." Ayana could tell by the what Adam said that the brown that was beside him was now his. When he readjusted his shirt Ayana whimpered. Why did everything have to hurt so much now? She had been hurt before and it was nothing like this. This was by far the worst injury she had gotten.

"That is not funny Adam, you need to get to a medic." Ayana said and she actually sounded a bit mad. Right now nothing was funny, she hurt to much to laugh. "And now I am being talked about like I am not here." Ayana said as she loosened Adam's hold on his shirt as she held it in place. Now that she was holding it she knew the amount of pressure she could take right now. Thento make it easier she tried to sit up yet again. She felt so low and weak laying on the sand like that. She barely managed to sit herself up. She silently cursed, trying to make it so that Adam and Dalluth could not hear her. Raimu was by her side hissing and being all protective. Spring was no were in sight. "Dragons do not seem to like me." Ayana could not help but comment. She could not help but look at the sands and saw all the blood. Her blood in fact. It was even splattered on Adam's arm. Ayana curled over then, trying to supress the feeling that she was going to puke. Her face turned pale and sickly though, that was something she could not control.

Spring had went to the only person that she knew for sure. Malcolm. She found him and started chirrping like crazy. She sounded hurt and she flashed a picture into his mind. The picture was of what had just happened. The lime green dragon attacking Ayana, using Ayana as a feline would use a litter box. The last part was of all the blood. Spring's vision started to turn watery as if she herself was crying. Spring then cuddled herself into the man, begging him to help.

Malcolm watched in horror as the yellow-green dragonet went about like a crazy thing, running people over. Mainly Ayana and Adam. He didn't need to wait for Spring for him to get down to the sands and try and help Ayana out. Adam had impressed and was no where near as bad off as she way.

He got down to the sands as two more babies hatched, an almost purple like blue and a bronze. He ignored them and got to Ayana. "Let's get you to a medic shall we? Don't worry, you'll be alright. It looks worse than it is." He told her, picking her up in his arms carefully.
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Ashur nodded, "Exactly. A much better view if you ask me." About that time a yellow-green hatchling began a small rampage that ended with two people being pretty hurt. He made sure he got out of the way of the little green along with Kassa. "Hopefully she finds hers soon, before she ends up killing the rest of us candidates." He commented to Kassa.

After that two more greens, a brown, a blue, and a bronze hatched. They all found their mates, the brown going to the man the yellow-green had hurt. Ashur really hoped those people would be okay.

Jase had leapt full clear of the barrier that held him back from the sands; bag slung over his shoulder as befitting of a doctor like him. He hit the sands; skidding in it as it kicked up about him. Righting himself he didn't run but moved very quickly towards Malcolm who had Ayana in his arms. There was a stretcher not to far away they could lay her on and he motioned for Malcolm to follow him.

"Bring her over here on the stretcher, I'll need to get a good look at her." He was precise and to the point; it was here his serious doctor side came out; from his shoulder Acetyline squeaked softly in concern for the young girl; but didn't move just yet.

Adam sat back as Malcolm came over and picked up Ayana, followed by Jase leaping over the barrier between the stands and the sands. He felt completely useless, just sitting there with his now bloody shirt in his limp hands. His brown dragon, not even two feet long, pressed close to his side, trying to gently twine himself beneath the young man's good arm. My Adam, you must rise and get yourself seen to after they have finished with your friend. The new rider looked his lifemate in the eye and sighed softly. "I suppose you're right, Dalluth."

Heaving himself to his feet, Adam groaned at the pull on his injured ribs. Peeking down at his chest, he finally noticed the rather ugly, purple and blackish bruise about the size of one and a half of his hands. When he went to touch it lightly he noticed another rather bad thing about his injury; there was a small dribble of blood creeping down his skin and it would easily get infected if anything happened to it. Like more sand and egg goo getting in it; more than was already in there, of course.

"Alright, ready to make our way to the medics?" Adam said lightly despite the sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach about his ribs. Dalluth rumbled, in so much as a new born dragon could rumble, his agreement and made to move ahead of His. The red head walked after his dragon slowly, careful of his ribs and keeping one hand hovering over the bleeding wound. Stopping next to the stretcher where they placed Ayana, Adam offered her a small smile and squeezed her hand.

~~~~~

Kassa smiled at Ashur and stood next to him in comfortable silence as the dragons continued to hatch. She really hoped she found her dragon in this Clutch. It would be incredible to find the one meant for her on her first try, but there was a part of the young woman that told her to be more pragmatic. It had taken plenty of the Candidates multiple times to find theirs and they had had much more time trying than she; more experience too, she figured. Tugging at her shirt, Kassa sighed a tad wistfully and looked over to where Teleza and Aluna stood with their dragons. Still, she was happy for her twin and eagerly squashed her growing doubts forcefully.

Ayana gasped as Malcolm lifted her up, her wound was being pressed some more. A wound touching something that was not clean was not very good. It stung. Alot.

"The how come I feel like poo?" Ayana just had to ask. She had to keep talking, or at least have little short bursts of pain. "It really hurts Malcolm." Ayana yet again could not help herself and looked down at the ground. There was a big patch of red where she had just been. "If it looks worse than it is then take care of Adam first." Ayana wanted to make sure that he was taken care off, after all he now has Dalluth.

A warm sensation started to wash over Ayana, it was nice and warm and made her sleepy. Ayana had to smile at Adam though. Why did everything have to look so big right now? "Congrats on the impression by the way." Ayana said to Adam. Raimu was hissing up a storm, she was hissing at Adam again, Malcolm and Jase all at once. Spring was still on Malcolm's shoulder, her eyes a worried purple.

Slowly everything started to get blurry. Raimu started hissing more and moved herself to Ayana's chest and hissed at everything that moved. Now everything was getting farther away, getting even more blurred and all the sounds sounded far away.

"You guys don't have to whisper." Ayana commented as her eyes slowly shut, then she was out like a light. One that would not be turning back on anytime soon.

Acetyline from Jase's shoulder hissed back heavily and protectively as leaped from Jase's shoulder to herd the Green off Ayana. There were advantages to being a gold and she wouldn't let Jase be injured because of some silly green. Jase swore as he saw Ayana drift in to unconsciousness; it wasn't a good thing but as he got closer to view her wounds. He knew it was going to be one hell of a trip to the infirmary for her and he didn't want her bleeding out on the way. Even though it wasn't the deepest of gashes there were four of them and they still bled fairly easily.

Whipping out the jar of numbweed they had been taught to make by Lerato he slathered an even layer over the wound and bandaged it tightly. The numbweed was proving to be an effective quick fix method at least till they made it to the infirmary as not only did it numb the pain it managed to help ease the bleeding too. It was also found to work well on burns as well. Laying a thick blanket over the top of her to help prevent shock from setting in he turned to Malcolm.

"Malcolm I'll need a hand getting her to the infirmary. Do you think you can manage the other side of the stretcher?" He asked as he knelt down to pick up one side.

Malcolm took Ayana over to Jase and had laid her on the stretcher. He watched the doctor work on her. Ayana was telling them to take care of Adam first, but Malcolm knew that she was way worse off. "No, love. He'll be okay, you need looked after first."

After that she passed out, which was probably the best thing. "Of course I'll help you." Malcolm said as he went to the other side of the stretcher. He gave Ayana a quick caress across the forehead as he walked around to the get the other side of the stretcher. "Ready when you are Jase."

The Indian Lion Egg had rocked silently along; as if this time it was trying not to draw attention to itself. Cracking open in a slow and rhythmic motion the chestnut brown broke free of his egg. Stalking along the edge of the sands trying not to draw any attention to himself he made his way to one particular boy. With a playful leap and a nudge he caught the boy; his glee filled croon enough to tell them all that it was all playful and well meant. Even if he managed to send both himself and the boy careening into the ground as he pounced on him from behind.

'I caught you Max; Jerriuth caught you. Can I hunt you again soon? It was fun.'

As the brown slid off his chosen's back he stared intently at his new found partner waiting for him to get back up and reply to him. Oh that hunt was fun; never mind how shy he really was, because in hunting for Max he had completely forgotten about it.



As if the sleeping bear had finally awoken there was movement from the Black Bear Egg; rocking slowly at first before it sped up into a rather rapid and urgent movement that ended in a green tail smashing through the glossy black shell with such energy and exuberance one found hard to believe could be contained in the curvy green figure that gracefully backed her way out after smashing her egg open. She had the textbook green colouring and as she turned it was clear she was the most feminine green out of all the green which was soon proved as the Clouded Leopard Egg cracked open to reveal another standard green in both colour and appearance.

Together they both stared at each other for a good long moment as if conversing for sometime between them. Then in a dash together they ran for a pair of candidate; both seemed to be as cheerful; exuberant and optimistic as each other; loping along awkwardly on their hatchling limbs. They both managed a short spray of sand as they came to a halt in front of those they had chosen without any hesitation. Eleith pausing to scratch though for a moment before they spoke together.

'Eleith is so very happy to see you....' 'And Dezeraith is happy to see you too....' 'I am soo itchy....' 'And I am soo hungry....'

'Won't you fix it Ashur?'

'Won't you feed me Kassa?' The pair said in almost completely unison; Eleith once again scratching in the process as if to punctuate her point.

D'karon smiled down at the little blue. "Well certainly she is, and you are very lucky to impress to her. She'll take good care of you." He gave a pat to Tabby's back as Talon chirped from his shoulder.

He smiled to Tabitha. "So, how do you feel now that you have impressed? And such a fine blue fellow he is too!" The rider was very proud for her, he knew how much impressing had meant to her and was so very happy she finally had.

"I feel amazing. I never imagined it would be so awesome." She stated to him. Tabitha was still in perfect awe over her little blue. "This is one of the happiest days of my life." She said looking down at her blue Sivenith.

'Am I really that awesome? Thanks, my love. More feed now please, before I die of hunger.' Sivenith said.
______________________________________________________________

"Well it looks like things are calming down a bit. I think that girl will be okay. That guy, Jase I think, he's a doctor he'll take good care of her." Ashur said as he watched the two men take the injured woman off the sands on a stretcher.

After that it seemed like everything seemed to happen all at once three eggs hatched. A brown and two greens. The brown seemed to hunt down his bonded. The two greens sort of looked at each other for awhile as if talking to each other before they both bounded off in his and Kassa's direction.

''Eleith is so very happy to see you.... I am soo itchy....Won't you fix it Ashur?' One of the little green's said.

Ashur watched as Kassa impressed to the other little green. They were so much alike they could have been twins almost, he thought. He'd impressed, he couldn't believe it and to such a wonderful little green darling. 'Well, you poor dear. Let's get you food and something for your hide.' Ashur said to his Eleith.

"Congrats Kassa. What's her name? Mine is Eleith. Aren't they perfect?" Ashur asked his friend.

Claire was late; she had never been this late in her entire life. Being strict with her time and organisation she had never been late; this time though she was and it had her most flustered. Finally making her way onto the sands after an impromptu search a few days earlier had her suddenly thrust into the position of Candidate. Not that she was disappointed at all, oh no she was most excited about it all; though she kept the excitement to herself. Entering the sands she didn't expect to see someone being taken off and two people being tended to by the Doctors and Nurses on the side lines.. Nor did she expect to see a still rampaging green who had reared up and was about to strike another candidate. Stepping forward as if pulled by some invisible force her strong voice; clear and resonating resounded across the sands.

"Kalleirith; Don't you even dare touch them."

She didn't know where that named had come from or even how she had known it but she did, and the green swung her head to face her dropping suddenly from her reared position to move hurriedly towards her.

'Why? YOU weren't here; you left me all alone. I thought you would never come for me!' The green shot back stiffly; she was not going to submit to this girl; though admittedly she had done just that when she had been yelled at.

"It doesn't matter what I did Kalleirith. I'm here now. But just because you were angry with me does not give you the right to hurt people."

There was a willful grumble from Kalleirith though whether it was in disgruntled defiance or just the rumble of her belly Claire couldn't be entire certain; however one thing was. Kalleirith was hers; and nothing could change that.

"Come now Kalleirith, we'll feed you and then we can go and appologise to everyone you hurt." Claire's voice was stern and clear; she wasn't giving an inch and Kalleirith soon realised this and just gave a begruding huff; which if given words would sound much like an 'oh fine'.






[Another Admin played NPC... with possible adoption.. and with that all babies have hatched.. and the last two eggs are dead.. Feel free to keep posting and I hope you all enjoyed the hatching... If you have any issues with anything I have done PM and I'll be more than happy to explain. On another note; keep your eyes peeled. Delanth's clutch is due to hatch in January.. So for those who didn't impress, there is still hope. ^.^ Can't wait to see how your characters develop before then..]