Dragonhope Hatchings

K'roohan returned from Dragonhope Weyr with a few other searchriders to fetch the six candidates he'd picked up in the storm. Not all of them had been all that eager at first but something must have changed since in the end all of them had agreed to join him. 
The two young men, Lester and Kantin were unattached and without steady jobs. They hadn't needed much convincing. K'roohan thought that of the two, Kantin was the one who was most mature. But that didn't mean that Lester was without merit. Just that he might need to grow up a bit more. The last of the young men, Waver, had not been as stoked with the prospect of becoming a candidate at first. He was a smith's apprentice and liked the job well enough. But maybe the excitement of the other two had brought him along for the ride. It was hard to say.
Looking at the girls, K'roohan noticed immediately that Diete felt his eyes upon her. Almost naturally she shifted away so one of the others obstructed his view. There was a story there but it wasn't in his nature to pry. Clearly the girl had a high level of empathy which would get her a dragon for sure. Averna, who Diete was hiding behind, was most definitely the most grounded of the three girls. She was bright and cheerful and always seemed to be busy. But a high level of energy was a good thing when looking after a hatchling. K'roohan hadn't known if the two girls would show up to be taken to the Weyr. After all women often had other duties in the household and weren't as free to leave as excess sons. 
And lastly there was Zulma. She could be trouble. But life wasn't meant to be boring anyway and sometimes the world needed daredevils to get things done. K'roohan knew he'd be watching all the candidates he'd searched in the coming years. He might even make a little wager with Takanth to see if he could guess what they would impress. 

Not long after they'd been searched, Diete and the others were attending the hatching of Light Gold Nariath and White Fath. It was unusual for a white to have caught a queen, but maybe because of his size, all the eggs were said to be smaller than average. Diete wouldn't know to compare either way. 
Over 50 candidates were gathered since more clutches were coming. Diete knew she would impress at one eventually. Straightening the white robe she was wearing, she tried to look strong and not like she was nervous and didn't have a clue what was going to happen.
As the eggs hatched and people around her started impressing, Diete's mind wandered to the letter she'd received from Lester. He hadn't been able to tell her much about the man he'd received it from, but apparently he was her real father. He'd vanished when she'd only been a baby so she didn't even have memories of him. The letter also didn't leave her any way to contact him, just that he wished her well.
"What an annoying thing to do!" a voice bright as day and sounding like a carillon of bells suddenly said inside her head. Diete looked up and stared into the deep blue eyes of a small golden dragon. When had she even hatched? 
"About five minutes ago." the little hatchling supplied.
"I'm sorry for not noticing you,... Esmeth." Diete said, finding the name in her mind.
"That likely won't happen again."
"I'm sure it won't." Diete smiled and sighed, she had an ally now. 

A little bit later in that same year, the candidates returned to stand for the clutch of Gold Ykauth and Bronze Shyveth. Lester looked around and for once was happy to not look his years because over the past months he'd noticed he was one of the oldest people among the candidates. Most of them were in their late teens and here he was, nearing his 26th birthday. Maybe he'd wasted his opportunity and should have tried his luck at the Weyr sooner. But who would have thought he even stood a chance? Not even in his wildest dreams had he thought of being a dragonrider. 
Looking intently at the eggs, Lester tried to determine which one would hatch next. Holding his breath and focusing as if he could draw the little dragonets to him with just his willpower. 
Finally a blue dragon hatched. Everything about the dragon looked cool, from the blue of his hide to the lighter sky-blue of his wingsails. Even his green eyes seemed to gaze coldly into the world... only the presence that bloomed in his heart was warm and comforting.
"I'm certain we could discover something when we fly." the hatchling spoke to him.
"You're mine?" Lester asked to be certain.
"You know I am. My name is Qoggrekth."

Waver returned to stand for his third clutch. Realistically speaking not too much time had passed since he'd been searched. The master smith at Remyndal Hall had assured him that taking time off to impress a dragon was something quite common and wouldn't interfere with his studies. But the amount of time it was taking did leave Waver a bit uncomfortable. He'd been practicing of course, but his days had been packed with chores. Even with the huge amount of candidates present, there was always work to be done. To be fair, the trainers and stewards did know of his background and Waver often found himself with maintenance duties that came close to what he should be learning. 
The clutch of White Camdnith and Royal Blue Kindanenth was smaller than the previous two, but with the parents being oddly coloured, a lot of people were still present to witness the hatching. While eggs hatched and people impressed, Waver couldn't help but feel his eyes being drawn to one particular egg. He couldn't help but feel that the dragon inside was his. 
Still, Waver had to wait until the very end before his egg hatched. A white-grey hatching fell to the sands and when he stood up and flexed his wings, it became apparent that they were the colour of tea or mud.
"I'd prefer tea to mud." a jolly, bright presence sounded in his mind.
"I'll make sure to use that one, Pfilhadgth." Waver nodded, dead-serious.
"You can call me Pfil for short too." the dragon said as he crossed the small distance and nuzzled Waver's hand.
"Much appreciated." Waver nodded.
"You humans lack some organs to pronounce it correctly anyway." the dragon shrugged and gave a playful tug. 

Zulma returned to the hatching sands for the first time in half a year, standing for the clutch of Green Lerhinath and Cream Dentath. She'd been at Dragonhope for nearly 2years now. The pleas from her parents to return home were becoming ever more persistent. Realistically speaking they didn't actually needed her at home since her two younger brothers could keep the family business going. Instead she had to come to terms with the fact that her parents genuinely cared about. 
Life at the Weyr hadn't been all that different from life at her home. There were still chores and expectations. Things she could do and things she wasn't allowed to. In fact, all things considered she was now probably less free than she'd been at home since sneaking out of the Weyr was all the more difficult. 
Which had finalised Zulma's decision that this would be her last trial. If she didn't impress today she'd return home and start studying to become a forester. She would be suited for the job.
"Please don't." a small greenish voice asked her.
At first belieiving it might have been Averna, Zulma asked: "Why not?"
"You're the only here who will understand me. I don't need others, just you." the voice continued.
Zulma looked around and saw the small green hatchling across the sands which eyes were burning a hole into her soul. The dragonet was small and didn't look all that powerful, but she was there and she was hers.
"Sifgirth." Zulma whispered.
"Yours." the dragonet replied.

Returning to the sands once more, Averna hoped this time her dragon would hatch. She'd watched as her friends had found their bonds and had started training. Because of their different schedules, they'd grown apart. Not that their friendship had been that strong to begin with. They'd hardly known each other before they'd come to dragonhope. Averna didn't know how long one could wait before a candidate was told to leave the Weyr. She would be 26 this year. She was getting up in age to be a candidate. 
Looking around, she only recognised Kantin among the candidates. When you'd been here as long as they'd been, you had trouble making new friends among other candidates. Still, she was social enough to not have too hard a time. 
Kantin noticed Averna looking at him. He'd tried to bait her once but she hadn't given in. And that was fine, there were plenty of fish in the sea. Kantin had seen the insides of many a weyr. Especially during those mating flights. All those excited feelings flying around sure got the juices flowing and the invites coming. Never mind if he impressed or not, he felt quite happy with his life. He had found a place where he could belong.
Attention returned to the eggs as the clutch of Bronze-speckled Gold Memelinath and Bronze Jiioth started to break. Kantin wondered if he should keep an eye on the blue-tinged egg as K'roohan had told him too. Every now and then he still saw the searchrider and just a few nights before today he'd told Kantin that he and Takanth were certain both he and Averna would impress today. They'd even made a wager out of which egg would be theirs. Kantin hadn't told Averna but apparently K'roohan believed the green-speckled egg would be hers while Takanth favoured the red-tinged egg for the woman.
Averna looked around nervously until her eyes fell upon a pale blue egg with a white swirl. It broke neatly in half, revealing a forest green dragonet with bright blue eyes. Within seconds Averna knew that was her bond.
"Sraknelth!" she called and the dragonet turned her head.
"There you are." she said as she elegantly made her way to Averna, "Nice to meet you."
Kantin grinned and broadened his field of view to include other eggs than the blue-tinged one K'roohan had picked for him. Apparently the searchrider wasn't very good at predicting impressions. But then the blue-tinged egg hatched a bronze who made his way straight toward Kantin.
"I'm Leedlenth." the hatchling said, stroking his side to Kantin's body.
"So you really were mine, right?"
"I made sure everyone knew." Leedlenth replied.

STORY: Roads Entwined - Dragonhope Hatchings - Weyrling Training - Flights
STATS: Averna, Diete, Lester, Kantin, Waver, Zulma



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