7a. The Flurry Hatching
The past days had been icy cold with a clear sky in a white-blue colour. The IceLanders knew the weather, it was the cold of deepest winter, when the air was so frozen that not even snow managed to stay in the clouds. The air outside was hardly breathable and even the warmth of a fire did not reach far.
That night however, the weather changed, and a blizzard blew in from the North as though a winter goddess had taken an interest in the imminent hatching. Snow began to fall in large feathery flakes, and by morning everything was covered in a soft blanket of white. It would continue to snow the whole day through, and the sun would not break through the clouds even once. 
With the snow came the hatching, eggs started wobbling and the female dragonesses, yesterday ready to be at each other's throats, were now only concerned with their eggs and the easing of their coming into the world.
Anyka, Yannick and the other novos as prospective bonders were called on Ryslen were summoned to the flurry hearts. Yannick and Anyka stayed close together, walking into the crowded hatching area.
"So this is where it happens." Yannick answered, "Suddenly IceLand seems so small." 
With a look on the spectator benches Anyka nodded, "They all came for this hatching. I think they're more here than all IceLanders combined. But they're just people. We will succeed, they're waiting for us back at Lantessama."
"There's someone waiting for you, you mean, I've seen you read those letters from Sveryk."
"You've been spying on me?"
"Watching out for you, this is a big place."
"Do I need to remind you that I'm older than you?"
"No, but you can trust me and tell me these things. I am still your brother."
"I thought you were having fun."
"You thought wrong, I think about them as much as you do, maybe more. And I don't have a Sveryk to go back to. All I have is you."
"I'm sorry, Yannick." Anyka said, "Maybe I have been walking on clouds with the news from Sveryk. It's strange that I never noticed he was a man of my age. But you must know that I'll always be here for you. Why did you think I came with you?"
At this point the first egg shattered and Anyka tensed. Beside her Yannick stretched his neck to see the hatchling better over the heads of the other novos. They spoke little during the hatching, each of them enjoying the sights, feeling the emotions too strongly to speak to each other. These were private moments.
Still early in the hatching several eggs broke open at once, as they were apt to do, revealing a large silver, a svelte lavender, and a spotted blue. They were all different. The spotted blue showed his Talor descent, and the silver had natural armour that shone in pastel rainbow hues like his wingsails. The lavender was the most stunning, naturally. Her build was more sinuous than the average Ryslen dragon, and she bore rainbow markings on her limbs, a combination of Tebriniath's Siamese 'points' and Sedorian's spectral hide. She was the first of them to head for the novos - and she went without hesitation to a young woman who had lost everything but her brother. 
"Anyka, I am Ystorianth." The Icelander nearly shone with her joy of having bonded such a wonderful creature.
"Are you mine?" she asked.
"We are each others." The beautiful pastel dragoness replied. 
Feeling a gentle probe in her mind the dragoness asked, "Who is this Sveryk? And what is a blood court? I do not know that kind of dragon."
"The only kind of dragon I know is you." Anyka said, "We will have to go back to find out."

Halfway through the hatching, Yannick came very close to bonding a twin image of the dragon his sister Anyka had impressed, when a male blue rainbow-marked dragon walked past him. But the dragon did not stop searching when he reached Yannick, he searched on and ended up bonding a person in the audience.
The disappointment was great, but only a dozen eggs later, when the egg count was running low, a large and almost armoured-looking blue hatched. He bore the pastel rainbow of his mother quite proudly. Yannick was oddly pleased to see the dragon coming towards him. To see Myreinyth coming towards him. What a pleasant surprise to find that he knew his hatchling's name before they had even looked into each other's eyes.
"Why would we need to look into each other's eyes when I've looked into your soul? Did you not feel that we were the same, Yannick?"
"Yes, from the moment you started walking toward me. You and I were the only ones in this cave. There was no other you would look at. So different from the first dragon."
"Do you realise you are no longer alone?"
Waiting a second, Yannick looked at his sister before he answered, "I was never alone in the first place."

Continue to Adult & Flight:
[Anyka] - [Yannick]

Lantessama Isle
Anyka and Yannick are novos at the Ryslen Flurry 2004
Sveryk is a Candidate for the Vella Crean Blood Court