Calling the Candidates - Dragon Egg Touching

[Sparrow]

((OoooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOO))

Easy-going about her eggs as Nayarath usually was, she didn’t particularly like the idea of the Weyr’s Candidates coming to fondle them. So far, Kora, Lilac, Y’xem, and Alduth were the only ones she had allowed near her clutch and a flock of teenagers simply made her nervous. What would they do to her eggs? Get their grimy fingers all over their perfect surfaces? Turn them when they weren’t supposed to be? What if someone tripped and fell onto one of the eggs and cracked it open prematurely?

Kora gently explained that this was merely an egg touching. The Candidates would come in and touch the eggs, then leave again. There would be no running around (hopefully) and no danger. Getting acquainted with the eggs could hopefully make Candidates not as nervous when they hatched, and this would give them a chance to see the queen who guarded them too, which was probably a good idea. Both Candidates and Gold would probably need to get used to the others presence.

Nayarath was quite shocked by the idea of her precious eggs hatching and Impressing to the young people she had seen running about the Weyr recently. Would her young really abandon her for them? It seemed very hard to believe. From what she had observed, which had been very little, all of those Candidates seemed very stupid. ((No offense… xP))

Despite that, she drew away from the majority of her eggs easily enough, she would survive this presumably short encounter. Her little queen egg though, Nayarath kept safely between her paws. Any girl who wanted to meet that one would need to have the courage to approach a queen- for if they couldn’t do that, how could they become a queenrider? Nayarath was full of doubts.

“You can call them all then, dear heart.” Kora stood beside Nayarath and gave the dragon’s shoulder a comforting pat.

Candidates, would you like to come meet my pretty eggs? They are all waiting on the Sands for you…. She rumbled softly to herself and turned her head towards the main entrance to the Hatching Grounds to wait.

((Ooooh, eggs... *eats them*))

Gilt Egg: The Gilt egg is a soft golden color, it’s shade a little browner than the average gold though and sometimes looks more like the color of sand. It is touched with vertical streaks of brighter gold in regular intervals along its shell. The Gilt egg is probably a queen egg, but is very small for queen egg and could not be.
Clash Egg: The Clash egg is very colorful, bright greens, blues, and purples fighting for dominance on its rough surface. It is a larger egg, almost bigger than the Gilt egg.
Mercury Egg: The Mercury egg is very small, although not the smallest in the clutch. Its shell is covered with many shades of silver, some whiter and some grayer. In no place is its shade totally solid.
Leaf Egg: The Leaf egg is a large egg and a very dark shade of green, spider-webbed with veins of brighter green.
Stream Egg: The Stream egg is a very light silvery-blue and its round base is a darker, mossy shade. Rivulets of darker and lighter blues run across its surface, very much giving the egg the appearance of water.
Ocean Egg: The Ocean egg is very similar to its neighbor, the Stream egg, but with darker shades of blue and its base is not green but more brown. Green and white freckle the top of the egg.
Pale Egg: The Pale egg is a very light shade of peach, touched with shades that seem similar to bronze or copper on its sides.
Swirl Egg: The Swirl egg is splashed with all the colors of the rainbow. Its colors are brightest at the slightly pointed tip of the egg and seem to mix more into muddier shades closer to the base.
Glow Egg: The Glow egg’s shell is a creamy yellow shade, although streaked with bright greens and very light browns and tans in random places.
Olive Egg: The Olive egg’s shell is a deep shade of brown-green and hatched with streaks of dark brown.
Copper Egg: The Copper egg is just that: copper. Its base, though, is nearly black and its tip seems more bronze.
Night Egg: The Night egg is a dark navy color, speckled with white, yellow, and faint reds as though the stars decided to reside on its shell. It is one of the smaller eggs.
Talc Egg: The Talc egg is a powdery white color, like Talcum. Its surface is smoother than most eggs and sometimes feels as though it could just rub away.
Leopard Egg: The Leopard egg is a tawny brown and splotched with yellow-tan spots that are lined with black. Other than the Gilt and Clash egg, it is probably the largest egg in the clutch.
Grass Egg: The Grass egg is dark green at its base, but this fades to a more yellow-green at its tip like partly dried grass.
Pebble Egg: The Pebble egg has a slightly silver sheen, but is overall more gray and specked with black and tan.
Glass Egg: The Glass egg has a silvery-white sheen, almost like that of metal. It looks delicate because of its very smooth shell and smaller size, but is as strong as any other dragon egg.
Steel Egg: The Steel egg is a light, steely blue-gray shade. There are a few spots of brown-red smudging its surface, but otherwise its color is very pure.
Shadow Egg: The Shadow egg is a very dark brown-green shade and looks like a large, round spot of darkness among the eggs. It is near the center of the clutch, making its appearance stand out a bit more even.
Morning Egg: The Morning egg has a lavender tinge to it and is overall a dusky blue-purple. The very tip of the egg is touched with a pink-yellow.
Spark Egg: The Spark egg is a smoky gray color and flecked with bright oranges and yellows.
Spray Egg: The Spray egg has a dark green-blue base but is covered with flecks of foam white, green, black, and tan.
Satin Egg: The Satin egg is a dark navy blue with a sheen of silver too it that makes it look smooth and shiny.
Moss Egg: The Moss egg is a dark green with streaks of other shades of green all over it.
Honey Egg: The Honey egg is a dark gold-bronze-brown color, although much, much too small to be even considered a queen egg. It is, in fact, one of the smallest in the clutch. Its color has a liquid sheen to it.
Oak Egg: The Oak egg has a dark brown color to it, touched with coppery shades near its base and tip.

[Nick]

[glow=red,2,300]Zuris[/glow]

Zuris nearly jumped out of his little chair when he heard the Gold Nayarath speak. Whim gave a quizzical chirp, then disappeared...probably to go and swim in the salty ocean.

Zuris shrugged and regained his composure, striding out of the Candidate Barracks and to the Hatching Grounds. He gasped as he saw the eggs. They were all beautiful!

He turned to see the Queen and shakingly bowed to her. He had never seen such an anxious dragon! Oh, well...he forgot about her as he walked up to the eggs. He smiled at the warmth of the shell under his hand, slowly he walked around the little gathering of eggs and touched every one of them...feeling the different warmths from the different eggs. As he finished he turned back the way he came and bowed again to the Queen, then walked out to go sit by the lake to think about these eggs.

[glow=red,2,300]Vorire[/glow]

Though Vorire really wasn't used to dragons speaking to him, he didn't visibly jump when Nayarath told him that it was time to go touch the eggs. He walked in as a younger boy was leaving...if memory served him right the boy's name was Zuris...ah well. The marginally tall man walked into the Grounds and stopped to face the Golden Queen.

" Thank you for allowing me to Touch these beautiful eggs dear Gold Queen Nayarath." He said to her pleasantly as he bowed. He gave the Weyrwoman a quick nod and a smile as he walked over to the eggs.

He caressed the eggs with his finger-tips, being very careful not to hurt their shiny surfaces. As he was walking around though, he tripped.

Rather than fall onto one of the eggs he managed to push himself away and onto the Sand...however hot it was. He quickly got up...his right arm slightly burned from the Sand, but other than that unharmed. He leaned agained one of the eggs with his left hand, feeling that more satisfying warmth and smiled despite the small pain.

He walked to the Stands to sit down and catch his breath. When he came in here today, he hadn't expected to get burned by sand.

[Jenth]

[glow=red,2,300]Dramas[/glow]

It seemed the young man was as surprised as the other's to her the beautiful voice of the queen in his mind. Oh how long he had wanted to her a similar voice, that of his own dragon though. The queen was simply perfect, don't get him wrong, but it just wasn't the same feeling or scenario. The handsome man held his head high he bowed in recognition to the might mother of dragons as he followed the other candidates onto the sands and amongst the eggs.

Oh how thankful he was to be here! It was almost like a dream to see the molten eggs, touch their smooth shells under the watchful eggs of the golden queen. He almost couldn't wait till the day creeling from the shells to change these young lives forever.

Which one contained his perfect match? Was that dragon even here? Dramas was running out of time. Nearly 20 turns old, he would soon be considered too old to stand for Impression. As much as he didn't want to give up on the childhood dream and continue into adulthood, if a hatchling didn't choose him it was back to runners and herdbeasts for him...

[glow=red,2,300]Inolyn[/glow]
This girl had a bit of an absent air about her, long hair tied back between her shoulder blades. Unlike the others she seemed to want to hang back in the group, only speaking to the others when spoken to. It wasn't that she was unsocial-able, she stricken with awe. Never had anyone thought she would be here, the young harper with nearly no talent but in her beautiful voice. Did she have little to no future her too?

Most of these eggs would contain greens with the next majority being blues, if records and romour was to be believed. From time to time she would run her hands over en interesting pattern, feeling that this was some sort of portrayal of the growing creature inside. She wasn't too upset knowing that there was always the chance that these creatures wouldn't like her, walk on past her for another, but that was half the adventure and experience of Hatchings.

After having circled all the eggs loosely only two eggs remained; the golden queen egg and the equally large one of a brilliant colorful patterns. Everyone suspected that this egg would hatch another unusual violet queen, beautiful and mighty in her own right. She gave yet another bow, or should she curtsy? Would the great queen be bothered either way? The last thing she wanted to do was give offense!

"May I have permission to approach your queen egg, Nayarath?"

[Sparrow]

[glow=blue,2,300]Aleyi[/glow]
Although rather surprised at suddenly hearing a dragon's voice in her head, especially the powerful one of a Gold, Aleyi grinned rather than jumped at its presence. She could come touch the eggs? The girl had not even seen them yet, and now she got to go... touch them?

It seemed an anticlimatical sort of excitement. But Aleyi rushed over anyways, skipping cheerfully onto the Sands where she paused long enough to bow quickly to Nayarath before continuing on to the eggs. The sand beneath her feet was hot, convincing her to not linger to long at any of the eggs, no matter how pretty they were. Standing still would be murder to her feet.

By no means did Aleyi want to Impress a queen, so she left Nayarath and that egg be. It didn't take long to give each one a quick pat or stroke, the prettier ones she stayed longer by, admiring them, and then she was done. Aleyi's feet were quite relieved to be getting away from the heat... but hopefully they would be back before too long but for something more exciting...

[glow=green,2,300]Neviren[/glow]

Neviren had heard the voice of a queen before but doubted he would get used to such a sound in his head. Maybe if he Impressed his own he would... but Gold's all seemed to have such.... big voices. He hurried over to the Sands with his fire-lizards tagging along behind him.

"Hello Weyrwoman, Nayarath." He nodded to Kora and bowed to Nayarath before approaching her clutch. Carefully he reached out to touch each one, lingering a little by a few of them. They were all so pretty, and what would they all hold? The golden egg between Nayarath's paws would be a queen, of course, but the rest of them? There was no knowing. Their mystery was one of the things Nev liked best about dragons.

And would there be a hatchling within one of those eggs for him?

[glow=purple,2,300]Kora/Nayarath[/glow]

Nayarath's eyes flickered yellow as one of the Candidates tripped- it was just what she thought they would do! At least he didn't land on her eggs, that would have been very bad. She might just have eaten him. Kora placed a calming hand on her friend's shoulder and Nayarath arched her head back over the queen egg... but kept an eye on the clumsy boy.

Another Candidate distracted her attention, this one a girl. She wanted to touch her egg? The precious little thing still rested between her paws, Nayarath wasn't about to relinquish her grip on it. But she would allow the girl to come forward and touch it.

Tell her I say yes, Nayarath told Kora. She didn't want to force her voice into the minds of more humans than she needed to.

"Nayarath says it will be fine." Kora smiled faintly. Nayarath only resisted the temptation to dip her head closer to her egg; she wanted to frighten the Candidates for her queen a little, but Kora probably wouldn't agree with that.

[Jenth]

Inolyn bowed again before approaching slowly, her heart pounding away in her chest. She knew dragons wouldn't hurt her unless she did something really wrong, but to collosal queen was unfamiliur to her and brooding over her eggs as it was. Well, she wouldn't spend more time with this egg then needed, it being the oh so special one. Hands reaching out to touch it she stopped just befor ehte shell, hesitant at first but then carressed it's hard surface.

"Are you the one for me little one? I'm sure all the other girls are just as egar to meet you as I am." She spoke softly to the egg, sure she wasn't the only one to speak to the as of yet still forms. After a few moments she walked back, bowing and thanking the queen as she went the the last egg and preformed tha same little ritual. Each egg was as Important as the next and none should be neglected. After that she left to the side to watch the others, happy to finally be off the hot sands. It was uncomfortable to walk, if she hadn't been wearing shoes she was sure she would have burt the soles of her feet raw

[franny]

Amarna smiled as she walked in. It was amazing that she was at a real hatching and she was standing. It was also a new experience and new experiences were always fun. She quickly bowed to the queen and started touching the eggs gently. She started at the Clash egg, gently reaching down and stroking the big egg before moving on carefully so as not to trip andd hurt an egg to the next egg, the Mercury egg, even though she didn't truly care for a small dragon. All the while she had her eyes on that Gilt egg, that beautiful golden egg. She then moved on toward the leaf egg, once again liking it's big sized, witch promised much. She then moved on to the stream and ocean egg, with there interesting water patterns. Slowly and carefully she moved on to the pale egg. She supposed that it held a bronze or tan, but it might hold a violet, and she really wanted a violet or gold dragon. She then reached over to the swirl egg, gently touching the muddy mix of colors that made the egg very interesting. The glow egg, the next egg she reached out to touch, was also interesting in its strange patterns. Olive egg also had an interesting, if not muddy looking color. She then moved onto the Copper egg, witch probably held a male dragon but it could hold anything so she touched it anyway.

She couldn't stand the thought of that golden gilt egg any longer and so she walked carefully over toward the queen. Bowing she said, "Please great golden queen, may touch your lovely egg?" I smile of excitement showed on her features at the thought of touching an egg that was as beautiful as the gilt egg.

[Missa]

Candidates, would you like to come meet my pretty eggs? They are all waiting on the Sands for you….

What the-? Beka's eyes went wide at the voice, that poowerful tone that held no anger, but a firmness, who would be talking to her? Why did that voice echo not aloud in her ears, but tumble around in her mind? It didn't feel right. It felt... Strange, but it wasn't in a bad way, it just didn't feel like it belonged there either.

Hurrying to the sands with the other candidates, Beka paused there, watching them all move forward with a slightly confused look. They were meeting the eggs apparently, and that apparently meant touching them, but what did one do at a touching? Obviously you greeted the queen but after that, after... biting down on her lip uncertainly, Beka fought down the fear that threatened to choke her as she came forward slightly, eyes unmoving from the brilliant gold.

Many might say there was no way, absolutely no way they'd be frightened of a dragon, but Beka didn't care what others thought, people couldn't see her thoughts, and that was what mattered. The truth was, she was terrified of Nayarath. Yet, she wasn't going to let that stop her, ever, she'd just have to... Bear it, like she always had her beatings. Drawing in a deep, if shakey breath, Beka slowly walked closer to the dragon.

Yes she was scared, and Nayarath could make what she wanted of that, but she wasn't going to appear any less than these other girls. Tilting her chin up so she could look the golden beauty in the eyes, whirling and jewelled, Beka bit her lip slightly before bowing deeply to both gold and rider.
"Greetings to you both-" A pause, the former holdless obviously floundering in her search for words. She looked worried that she would say something wrong, mixed with a deep fear that she'd be thrown out. Other girls were asking about the golden egg, Beka was no where near good enough for a queen, she didn't deserve the love or comfirt dragins provided - apparently. Yet she didn't want to offend the gold. Swallowing her fear, Beka looked at the gold again.
"Perhaps... not now, asotherrs are surrounding your golden child, but later... Could I meet her?" Sounding unsure of her words, Beka fully expected the queen to laugh at her.

(would write more but bro wants to type..XD)

[Sparrow]

Nayarath rumbled softly as the next girl approached; the first one had been very kind to her egg and this one seemed like she would be too. You can tell them yes, Nayarath told her rider.

Kora nodded to the Candidate. "Nayarath says yes." Having the dragon feel slightly less protective of her golden egg was quite a relief for the Weyrwoman.

Now another girl approached and Nayarath swung her head to face her. This one seemed frightened, or at least very worried. At an egg touching? Well, maybe the Gold liked the idea that she was striking fear into the hearts of the Candidates.

"You can," Kora nodded and smiled at this newest arrival to the Sands. "Whenever you like I suppose." It was probably better to not have a lot of girls around the egg anyways, Nayarath was likely to grow nervous about it again.

[kandykat]

Mieran

Mieran was oiling Mika when he heard a voice. In his head. His hands froze over the green's hide and she chirped, snapping at him to continue. Realizing what the voice was, Mieran smiled and quickly rubbed in the glob of oil he had been working on. "Sorry, Mika, you'll have to wait until later to finish." Mika, irritated, vanished between to sulk, and Mieran rubbed his hands together to make the excess oil soak in. Nice and soft for the ickle eggsies. He smiled, a dreamy look coming over his face as he headed out to the Hatching Grounds. Oh, soon there would be little baby dragons!

A passing drudge gave him an odd look, and he blushed, clearing his throat and forcing himself to adopt a stoic expression. He strode into the Hatching Grounds with what he hoped passed for confident coolness and bowed to the Gold dragon. "It is an honor and pleasure to be able to spend time with your children, Queen Nayarath," he said sincerely before moving off to the eggs.

They were all so colorful and different! He had no idea where to start.

((Finish later, sorry.))

[Jenth]

When Dramas had finally finished his visit to every single egg minus the heavily protected gold nestled close to the queen, he too retreated to the stands. He had no business touching that one precious egg and he was sure the queen was happier that at least half of them wouldn't bother her for the chance to. He smiled as he saw the boy who had tripped earlier, had he been any closer at the time he would have helped him up.

"Hey, are you alright? I could have sworn everyone turned to look at when you fell." he said sitting down next the the boy, dusting a bit a sand off his shoulder.

[Missa]

Beka could have fainted with relief, her eyes going wide as she gazed at the weyrwoman.
"I-I didn't offend you?" This was said to both dragon and rider through dry lips as she forced herself to breathe. What if she tripped? What if something bad happened? What if the eggs didn't like her? Or the dragons inside didn't? What if the golden beauty before her didn't trust her if she made a tiny stuff up in manners? What if-

No. She had to stop thinking like that. That part of her life was over, completely over she didn't need to wonder about her future anymore... For now she was safe. A shaking breath was expelled, before Beka toook a firm hold of her fear, pushing it down to show a determined mask. She was not going to give into her fear anymore. She had said tot the gold that she would touch later, when the others ad left, for now.. Eyes caught on the smaller Night Egg and Beka was drawn to the colour of the shell. Like the night sky, a sky she'd seen so often through tears. Swallowing hard, Beka placed her hand gently on the shell in a little carress, her palm stilling.

What did one do? Looking around at the others, Beka finally placed her other hand on the egg, running her fingers over the shell curiously.
"Um, hello?" She mumbled, just because the egg wasn't hatched didn't mean the baby inside couldn't hear her. "Your shell is pretty... I like it, not that my opinion really matters all that much, but it is. Are you looking forward to hatching?" A pause before she smiled, whispering a goodbye and slowly drawing her hands back to her side.

The next egg to hold her attention was the Glow Egg, and it was with slightly more confidence that she rested her palms and whispered her greeting to this egg. She told it the same as the other, smiling slightly as she tilted her head to one side as thugh listening to a response. She hadn't heard one, but there was no reason why should treat the eggs as though they were any less than she was, they would be great dragons, defenders of Pern, she'd always be Beka, just Beka.

The there was the Glass egg, it's apparant fragility drawing her closer, it would be as strong as any other egg, she'd bet the dragon inside would even be sdtrong if for a delicate appearance. She told the egg that too, sighing softly as she told it she wished she could be strong like she thought the egg would be. She'd be ery scared inside the egg. Leaving the egg with a murmured goodbye, Beka's next attatchment was to the Morning Egg, wetting dry lips before she spoke to teh egg. It's colours reminded her of the dawn, dawn's had always meant a new day, wasn't that good? She'd survived another day. Sighing softly, she allwed her fingers to stroke the sides of the egg a moment before leaving that one too. None of the others truely called to her, not now.

Slowly walking back towards Nayarath, she bit her lip slowly, chewing it as though that would hide her uncertaincy. She was not going to be afraid, she could do this.
"Might I approach your daughter Nayarath?"

[Sparrow]

Nayarath had been watching as another boy approached the one who tripped, maybe a little irritated that he was trying to comfort a Candidate who could have killed one of her young. Kora said a boy falling on an egg probably wouldn't crack the shell, they were strong, but how did she know? But now the nervous girl returned, although she didn't seem quite as frightened this time.

Nayarath dipped her head playfully over the egg, she liked this girl but still wanted to look protective, and then drew it back again as though inviting the Candidate closer. Kora rolled her eyes but nodded to the girl. "Like I said before, it's fine."

[glow=green,2,300]Neviren[/glow]

Nev was nearly finished visiting all the eggs; he left the Gilt egg alone as there was no reason for a boy to approach a queen egg, but the rest of them demanded his attention. The Glow egg, its odd patterns of greens and browns against the creamy surface was the next one he came to and he laid a palm on its rough surface and spoke softly to it, all the while wondering what could be inside. He guessed a Gold for the queen egg, of course, maybe another Violet for the large Clash egg? He didn't spend much time with that brightly colored one either.

Finally he laid a hand on the Pebble egg, whispering questions. A little gray one, so speckled with browns and blacks, it really could pass for a rock if it was perhaps in a different setting and maybe a different shape. Finally he left that last one and headed over to the stands to join a couple other boys.

[Amejisuto]

Meagen was deposited on the sands by a search rider, without even a goodbye. She was still shaking from her small trip between. But invigorated by the trip none the less. She looked around, glad she was in her semi-formal clothing. A loose fitting wher hide vest, and leggings, and a loose fitting tunic. Her bag of supplies and clothes was handed over to someone she didn't know, as she was pushed towards the eggs. She frowned faintly as she looked around herself. Lupine eyes took in the appearance of those all around her, and the eggs.

Her fair appeared from /between/ , she whistled a soft command, and all but Hope took up ledges elsewhere. Hope landed and wrapped herself tightly around Meagen's neck and arms, her wings spreading down over one shoulder, and down the girls back. She gave a soft trill of welcome and acknowledgment to Nayarath, as she settled down into her favorite spot. She buried her claws in Meagen's hair, and just held on, making the Fire-Lizard equivalent of a happy sound.

Meagen turned her attention to the WeyrWoman, and the Golden Dragoness. Feeling her mouth going dry as she walked slowly over to the golden queen and her bonded. She stopped at a respectable distance and bowed slowly. "I apologize for my Entrance, Weyrwoman, Great golden Queen. The Searchrider only just found me amongst the traders. I do hope I am still welcome to the touching?" She asked softly. A respectful young woman, but her energy was all around her, fierce and slightly wary of this new place.

She turned to notice Jareth looking at the large golden queen, and chuckled as the bronze literally fell off of his perch. His confusion was rolling through her mind and she laughed softly. Whistling a twisted melody, the male's head perked up and he popped between before her, creeling in confusion. "It's alright Jareth... that is a Golden Queen Dragon, a big big cousin of you guys..." she said lightly. The words seemed to dawn on the bronze as he cheered up and creeled almost flirtatiously to the large gold, before he took a perch on a weyr ledge above her head. "I must apologize, he is a flirt." She said with a weak smile.

[Sparrow]

Nayarath gave a snort of surprise as a Searchdragon plunged into her cavern and glowered at him until he left, not liking this intrusion. All the turmoil her poor eggs were being put through! Candidates touching them, dragons landing around them, fire-lizards everywhere... and now even more?! Her attention was again distracted as a loud pop announced the arrival of quite a fair.

At least they went and landed elsewhere, she wouldn't have liked them buzzing all over her eggs like insects. Nayarath turned to gaze at Kora with a look that called faintly for comfort. Maybe she didn't want to be a Gold anymore, caring for eggs was horendous.

"Yes, go ahead." Kora nodded in a distracted manner and scratched Nayarath's shoulder. You silly thing, there's nothing wrong here.

A fire-lizard has never tried to flirt with me before, Nayarath pointed out as the Bronze suddenly flicked over and creeled to her. The Gold rumbled softly, entertained by this newest experience.

No... Kora grinned. "It's fine, I think Nayarath likes him."

[Amejisuto]

Meagen gave a soft but weak laugh, as she bowed, Hope holding on tightly still. "I am sorry if my fair seems a bit of a nuisance great Nayarath. I assure you, should you give them an order, they would follow it. They all know that a queen holds more power over them then anyone. Even Hope..." She said motioning to her gold. "Whom is one of the oldest in my fair, will listen to you. " She said lightly. She laughed softly at the response she received on Jareth's flirting. "It is a hopeless love... not to be reciprocated. Don't worry as soon as he sees a queen or green of his size, he will be off flirting with her." She said with a soft laugh.


She bowed again and then turned towards the eggs. "I will be back shortly..." She said in a cheerful manner. Chuckling as Jareth continued his harmless flirting. Leave it to her flitter to flirt with the Queen of a Weyr. She turned her attention to the eggs now, making her circuit of them. She started with the Clash Egg and ran her hand along the smooth shell. She gave a soft laugh as Hope's head perked up and she looked with interest at the egg. "I know...its so much bigger then your eggs. You couldn't even lay one of these..." She siad with a soft laugh.

She got an acknowledging mental image, as a shudder passed down Hopes frame. She turned to walk amongst the eggs then, passing a few, and stopping to crouch before the Copper Egg. She liked it's coloration, most definitely. It was definitely odd, and she liked its mixtures. It actually reminded her in a way of some eggs she had seen in Hope's clutches, in the past.

She pulled back and chuckled, as she walked towards the Mercury Egg . She ran her hand over its smooth shell, rather surprised at its coloration, it was nice, and it was definitely interesting to see. She chuckled softly to herself, and tilted her head as she whispered a few words of encouragement to the egg.

She walked from that egg towards the Pale Egg, repeating her past experiences there, and then moving unto the Glow Egg. Once again the egg got the same attentions as the others. She moved unto the Spark Egg and then the Oak egg. Eventually she had touched all the eggs, and liked promised she returned slowly to the great queen.

She bowed once more, and smiled softly, "I do hope my dear Jareth has not caused you any problems great Nayarath. Weyrwoman, would you beseech your dragons permissions for me to approach her golden egg. I swear upon my whole fair, and life, I will not bring harm to her egg." she said softly.

[Sparrow]

Lilac had popped from between at Nayarath's call and was now chirping cheerfully to Jareth; the Violet's hide was shining and she seemed much more anxious to flirt than the dragon. Nayarath paused in her watching the fire-lizards to glance at the newest Candidate as she returned. All these girls coming with requests to touch my egg is getting repetitive, Nayarath murmured to Kora.

"You have her permission," Kora told the girl. "And he hasn't." She smiled slightly.

[franny]

Amarna reached down and touched the gilt egg. It was such a beautiful egg. She turned to the queen dragon and said, "Thank you for letting me touch your eggs, they are very beautiful." She then moved on and carefully touched the rest of the eggs.

(OOC: I had a really long post but then it was gone, so I wrote a short one in its place. I wrote this just so that you would know that she had touched all the eggs...)

[kandykat]

Mieran

Finally deciding to start with the silvery Pebble Egg, Mieran went over to it and cautiously brushed his fingers over the shell. He was surprised to find that it felt warm and leathery, not cool and smooth like a bird's egg. Next he went to the rainbow colored Swirl Egg. He liked how all of the colors were mixed together, and he traced the progression from bright to dull. He had no idea what could be inside that one, with all of the different colors on the shell.

He visited the tiny Honey Egg next. It was almost the color of a Gold egg, but it was one of the smallest in the clutch. He almost expected it to feel wet, but of course it was dry, like all of the other eggs.

The Copper Egg seemed almost like a metal sculpture that someone had placed among the eggs as a prank. He wondered as he touched it if it would be a Bronze, like its shell, or if the dragon inside was going to surprise everyone.

He brushed his fingers over the rest of the eggs, spending a little bit of time with each of them. Then he bowed again to the Gold before joining some other candidates in the Stands.

[franny]

Jokyl cautiously went down to the sands and and bowed to the queen dragon. He wasn't super happy not to be digging into his records, but he did need to attend the hatching. As careful as ever he touched the clash egg and then the Copper egg and then the Leopard egg. He continued touching the eggs, just hoping that he might impress tan. He thought that the tan dragons were the coolest dragons. After that it was bronze, and then brown. Blue and green were just there. He couldn't decide where the big queens fell on that list, they just seemed out there to him. He finished touching the eggs and bowed once more to the queen. After that he left the sweltering hot sands and was greeted by his ever faithful and hyper Kifer.

[Zen]

Zenniel[/color]

The girl was sitting there, in her favorite spot, watching the other candidates hurry with their chores. She had already finished hers that morning. She preferred to finish her chores earlier than most, and so woke up before the light of Rukbat lit the sky. She also went to bed later than most candidates, preferring to watch the skies light up with multi-colored stars, and try to pick out which stars she knew from which stars she did not know. It was the middle of the day, and she knew this because the sky was awash with wonderful glows from Rukbat as it coursed through the clouds that hung overhead.

Mura twittered slightly, and focused his multifaceted eyes on the Hatching Cavern’s entrance. Other candidates were converging on the entrance, as if drawn by some irresistible pull. She had of course heard Nayarath’s call to the candidates, but would rather have the first candidates get the brunt of the Gold’s anger or grumpiness than herself. This, she thought, was a nice plan. But she mustn’t overdo it, or else she would get anger and grumpiness together.

“Come on, then.” She spoke aloud, rubbing her hand on Mura’s small eye ridges. “Let us go meet the little eggs.” She was never so shy around just Mura, and instead she loved to spend her time with him.

First she hurried to the kitchens, the closest place to her secret hideaway, and washed her hands. She never liked her hands to be dirty when doing something that required them to be clean. This, she thought, was a time to be clean. Cleaning the latrines or mucking out runnerbeast stalls were considered unclean, though she always washed her hands afterwards. When she was finished, the girl walked to the Hatching Sands, a smile adorning her face. How could she be shy when there were eggs to touch?

The first thing she noticed when she entered the sands was the looming gold figure that was Nayarath. She, giggling slightly, thought Nayarath was large, but could not say she didn’t like large. In fact, she thought she’d rather have a large dragon than a small one, since, even though there were downfalls—such as washing and oiling—she would be more respected, she thought. She was wrong, she knew, since every color was well-respected in itself, from the smallest white to the largest gold. She blushed slightly, but bowed, and then waved respectfully to the Weyrwoman. “M-may I?” She asked, her stutter only barely pushing through.

She thought she saw the Weyrwoman nod, so, as to not feel such a dork just standing there, she nodded again to both dragon and rider, and hurried to an egg that had caught her eye. What egg was this? It was one of the smallest, and the colors made it look like it had once had in its mind that it was a queen egg. But the Honey Egg was too small to be a queen egg. It was, though, extremely pretty. She touched most of the eggs but three: the Gilt Egg, the Shadow Egg, and the Pale Egg. She did not feel like touching an egg that could be a queen egg for fear of it breaking at her touch, even if she knew it would not. And the dark egg was an egg that was not inviting to her. The pale egg was the last egg, and she, grinning, walked daintily over to touch her hand to the whitish shell, reveling, once again, in its smoothness.

That done, Zenniel glanced at the Queen egg—still presumably between Nayarath’s legs—and sighed with longing. She didn’t have enough courage…or did she? She would try to find out if she had enough courage to ask… well, too late to stop now: she walked gingerly up to the golden queen and looked at her politely, not exactly in the eye. “M-may I touch t-this egg?”
Noeln[/font][/size]

Noeln had known it was about time to touch the eggs. They had been on the sands for a long time, several sevendays in fact. Now the eggs were ripe enough to touch. But Noeln didn’t want to touch the eggs. In fact, he didn’t want anything to do with the eggs. He would rather stay in a Hold than be a candidate, but the dragons had searched him. Who the dragons searched were either happy or… like Noeln… not happy. But who could turn down the chance to get a dragon?

Except Noeln had already had a dragon. He stood in the candidate barracks, looking into a cracked mirror that he kept in his drawers. He felt his neck gingerly, as if those burns and cuts had just been made and were newly healed over. Those wounds had been made before…before Pandorath. Pandorath had made everything better. He had healed any of the wounds Noeln—then No’ln—had felt, whether physically or emotionally. And then Pandorath had ceased to exist.

Pandorath was gone.

Now Noeln never wanted another dragon. Just looking at a blue that looked like Pandorath made his heart clench. He never wanted another blue in his life, ever. Having another blue, Noeln thought, would break his heart even more. Now a green, or maybe a brown or bronze… But no, Noeln could not Impress himself to any dragon anymore. And furthermore, Noeln didn’t think he could cope with another dragon—he would probably always think that his dragon would die when he wasn’t watching.

But Noeln still wanted a dragon. He knew that a dragon would complete the yearning and gaping hole in his chest. So, when the golden queen announced that the egg-touching was nigh he put the mirror back into his clothes chest and donned his sandals. He was getting ready for the Hatching, but he was also being stubborn. He hurried to the sands and touched only the largest eggs, mingling on one in particular, the Clash Egg. When he was done, he bowed to the queen and her rider and then left. He didn’t like staying around long enough to get attached to any one egg.