Hameskeneth had
grown considerably. He was twice as big as Avarya's
natural size, but there ways around such things. Avarya had a hidden ace
up her sleeve and she fully planned to use it to seduce her sappy,
good-natured bond. He'd come into her life like the ray of hope she
aspired to be, wonderful, bright and trusting. They had played, she'd
taught him all she knew and she was certain of the rightness of their
bond. They were mates. Alas Hameskeneth seemed to see her more as
something precious to protect than as a partner.
"Hameskeneth?" Avarya called.
"What's the matter Avarya?"
Hameskeneth called back immediately, rushing to her side.
"Let me show you something good." she
said.
She tapped into the magic that was her birthright though she'd never had
need to use it before and let her body grow until it was just the right
size. She flicked her tail, flapped her wings and
threw her head back. She felt very powerful. And very ready. Slowly she
made her way to a baffled Hameskeneth and said:
"It's good to see I can still surprise you."
"You're big."
"Hey, that's kind of rude." Avarya
retorted, "I'm just as big as you now."
She made a suggestive tickle with her longer tail and launched herself in
the air, goading her bond to come after her. To finally act on their bond.
Hameskeneth waited a bit longer to make up his mind. This was the most
precious entity in his existence. The one who'd been there for him from
the day he'd been hatched. The world-wise, playful and kind Avarya who
brought hope to others. Could he chase her?
Could he not?
Hameskeneth decided that he did not want any other dragon
to catch his bond. She was his. His protective streak flared up but
in a different way then usual, jealousy and possessiveness warred inside
him and he launched himself after his lingering hope.
Avarya was no fool. She knew that although she was now bigger, she would
not outfly her bond. She still needed to get used to her larger dimensions
but it didn't matter for she fully intended to be caught by Hameskeneth
anyway. Just not right away.
She gave it all she had, dicing, twirling, spinning through the air. But
in the end, he was right behind her. And then they were one.
Avarya twitched her wings. She tensed and
held her breath. The seven eggs in front of her had moved. She was certain of it
but didn't want to alert people and dragons before she was absolutely certain.
Yet inside of her mind, she was already jumping and bouncing and celebrating.
Her children were going to hatch today! This thought was loud and got picked up
quickly by the dragons around the isle. Within minutes dragons had gathered
around the hatching sands, singing and crooning. People rushed toward the sands
and were greeted by the tiniest of tremor in the eggs. Politely those gathered
waited. Candidates and locals got together to mingle and the food meant for the
post-hatching buffet was handed out to tide people over.
The better part of an hour went by before the hatching started in earnest.
Evening was definitely falling now and most people had moved from food to
dessert. The dragons intensified their singing and Avarya let out a relieved
sigh. She'd watched the candidates and had been satisfied with those that she
saw. There was the rainbow-winged brown dragon 'Smithy', who would be a good
match to any hatchling with his sunny personality. There were three fae folk:
The pale Emros who'd resided on Lantessama for some years and worked as a
blacksmith though few people actually knew him, Zelphar, an autumn court fairy
who'd just shown up and Saelihn, a Kynnese shadow elf who had been searched
while sightseeing with her family. The remaining three candidates were human:
Delin, a Pernese beastcrafter, Anajane, the runaway candlemaker and Lua, a
relaxed beauty from Khylar. Seven candidates for seven eggs. Seven was supposed
to be a good number. Avarya enjoyed the symbolism and felt more than knew that
something good would happen today.
The first egg shattered and a bright red-pink hatchling rolled right up to
Goibniusmitanth. His wings seemed to sparkle, an indication that he had
inherited his mother's genes.
"Whoa!" the hatchling sent, his mind still
spinning from his entry into the world, "I did want to
make an entrance but this was a bit too much."
Unhurt and unfazed, the little male jumped to his feet and preceded to twirl
around Smithy's legs, "Can you keep up with me?"
"You'll tire soon enough and then I'll get you,
Ronyuugith." the dragon replied, already planning an appropriate
prank.
Two more eggs cracked and a bright blue and dark purple female stepped away from
the shards of their eggs. The charoite female was definitely the most active of
the two. She bypassed her more sedate aquamarine-coloured sister and sped toward
her chosen bond. The optimistic, future-oriented dragoness stepped in front of
Anajane and compared her dark hide to the dark skin and golden brown braid.
Looking up into her eyes wasn't hard as the human was compact and that made a
lot of difference in the hatchling's current form.
"I'm Keyvogeth and we match." she told
Anajane, "And I'm better than any bird!"
Anajane smiled and decided not to correct her new bond.
The aquamarine female meanwhile, had leisurely made her way toward Zelphar. Her
hide seemed to sparkle as she moved in the light. The fairy was leaning against
a tree and seemed not to have a care in the world. And that was very appealing.
"Might I join you?" she asked,
"My name is Pheadrath."
"Of course." Zelphar said with a gesture to the place beside him.
A yellow topaz male hatched next. He held his head proudly and gave the
remaining candidates a once over. He knew what he was looking for. A steady
mind, someone without airs and most of all, someone who would be able to help
others. His eyes stuck to Delin, the beastcrafter from pern. A laid-back young
man, not prone to chatter but likeable. Trisorth knew he could work with that.
"Nice to meet you." he said introducing
himself, "I'll be going with you."
The remaining three eggs hatched in close succession, spilling a pale pink, a
dark blue and a reddish brown hatchling on the sands. The jasper male yawned and
watched as the rose quartz female sauntered toward Lua, the last female
candidate left. With eyes that seemed to sparkle as bright as any of her
mica-patterned siblings, she gazed into the young woman's mind and liked what
she saw.
"I'd like to dream with you." she sighed
happily.
"Any time Raqueis." Lua responded with a girly grin.
The jasper male remained seated on the sand and noticed the tendrils of shadow
that seemed to hug his dark blue iolite brother and obscured some of the
mica-glistenings on his wings. Some of the people present tensed, unsure about
how to act. But the shadow seemed to vanish quickly and the iolite male made his
way toward the Kynnese elemental elf, Saelihn, who possessed shadow powers.
People relaxed, believing the effect to have been her powers. Indeed something
resonated within the elf, below her sepia-coloured skin and black hair. Shadow
met her when she looked into her bond's eyes and she knew he was more than the
other people around her saw.
"Charmed." he said politely,
"My name is Fakrobuz."
Finally the jasper male got up and went to where his bond was acting like he
didn't belong. Emros had stood a bit behind the other candidates. He was just
about transmitting his wish to be far away. But that didn't matter. Voutdrei
wasn't particularly attached to this place. He was however feeling very drawn to
the half dark elf, half vampire and wished to join him.
"How about you get me some food and I'll follow you?"
Voutdrei suggested.
He was rewarded with a grunt and a retreating back, but Voutdrei calmly followed
his bond to somewhere quieter.
Goibniusmitanth
(m) and Spinel Mica
Ronyuugith (m)
Emros
(m) and Jasper Voutdrei (m)
Delin (m) and
Topaz Trisorth (m)
Zelphar
(m) and Aquamarine Mica Pheadrath (f)
Saelihn (f) and Iolite
Mica Fakrobuz (m)
Anajane (f) and Charoite
Keyvogeth (f)
Lua
(f) and Rose Quartz Raqueis (f)