Hatching 18
Blinding Hope Naderenya and Quartz Planet Klierth

Taylor woke up from his blissful slumber when eager thoughts of Klierth reached his mind. The dragonrider of the white Quartz Planet felt Naderenya's bond, Sekally, stir beside him. The two of them had grown closer over the past months while the eggs their dragons had produced had been hardening on the sands of Lantessama Isle. 
It seemed that it were those same eggs that were worrying Klierth and Naderenya now. No, not worrying, Klierth corrected his rider, "They are hatching."
"I'll alert the officials." Taylor shouted out, jumping up to run out of the cavern, but he was stopped by Klierth who shook his head.
"They have already been alerted, the candidates are on their way."
"So we just have to wait?"
Both dragons nodded as the first inhabitants of the dragon adoption agency started to file in, seeking a good place on the nearby tribunes, or just lingering around the sands to watch the hatching from a closer vantage point. 
Taylor helped Sekally up and whispered, "I don't like to just wait."
"Enjoy the spectacle." Naderenya answered in stead of her bond, "You'll like it."
"Is this a woman's thing?" Taylor asked Klierth.
"It's a parent thing." Klierth said with a look that would not allow disobedience."
Taylor shrugged, "Watch from where?"
"Here is fine." Sekally said, "I want to be really close when these eggs hatch, I kind of missed it when Naderenya found me." Sekally had been one of those candidates mysteriously transferred right into the middle of the hatching by unknown forces. Though the phenomenon was kind of disturbing for the people involved, it also made you feel warm and fuzzy that there might be a force out there that guided people. Or so Taylor thought even when he had never been a religious person, just sometimes he felt philosophical.
"When you feel remorse for the amount of liquor you drank the night before..." the faintest wisp of a thought reached him, Klierth sometimes felt the need to scold him by stating things as a fact. Taylor shrugged, he hadn't gotten drunk for quite a while now, not since the women had taken over the cafeteria with their espresso machine. 
Sekally nudged his side, pulling him away from his train of thought, "It's starting."
The first two eggs broke open almost simultaneously followed by loud cheers from the audience. The two hatchlings, both males, were both duo-coloured dragons, though their hues differed considerately. One was a bright flame dragon, with blood-tipped wings and tail. The other was a faint silver colour with blue wings that seemed like the colour of an overcast sky above a lake or sea. The colour was dark and rather grey as well, but too blue to be called anything else.
It was the Rainy Moon dragonet that made the first move. He stepped forward hesitantly and took the first steps toward the candidates. It was the somewhat oversized fairy Iekk that caught his attention. The pudgy fairy, almost unable to fly because of his tattered wing and abundant waistline, at first could not believe the two bright blue eyes, strangely bright on the faded colours of the hatchling, were looking straight at him.
"Hello." he said, "Do you need anything?"
"Just some food if it isn't too much trouble." the hatchling said in a distinguished manner.
The fairy started mumbling something about respect and the fact that no food was placed on fairy or sprite-convenient height when a bowl 'conveniently' fell down.
"Ahh, that will do nicely."
Iekk stopped in the middle of grumbling and looked surprised, what had just happened?
The blood-tipped flame, unwilling to let his brother steal the spotlight, then dashed forward, immediately making a salto midair, wings extended slightly when he landed to show off his red markings, after all, they looked dashing in the morning light that shone brightly outside. In the mood to proclaim his magnificence, the hatchling started:
"In this morning sun, shining strongly, I am born... It will shine much longer..."
"It's going to rain." Iekk stated for everyone to hear.
"No it's not. Now hush, I am talking here, and I'm bigger than you so you should listen." the dragonet continued, "I Earyon will bask..."
A thunderstroke sounded and a downpour of truly automnous proportions -cold, abundant and dark-inducing- started. Earyon glared at Iekk and the fairy retreated as fast as he could, this dragon did not seem as tolerant to small flighty creatures as some of the others. 
"That's enough, Earyon." a voice sounded, "You've had your fun."
Earyon turned toward the human-shaped cat Thumao, "Party Pooper, I wasn't done yet."
While that flame was still busy explaining to his literature-loving bond that he had wanted to quote some great poets while showing of his superiority by doing some more intricate flips and jumps, another egg hatched on the sands. 
The third hatchling, again a male, was deep red in colour with dark green wings and a calm demeanour, though unlike his silver brother, he did not seem mysterious, but rather cautious and alert to his surroundings. With a calm, yet swift rhythmic pace, this dragonet made his way toward Kimr.
"My name is Caimren." he said.
"Uhm, you don't mind red-pink coloured butterflies do you?" Kimr, who had been forced to stay in the same room as his imp-companion Ha, asked.
"Not particularly." Caimren answered, "Though it depends on what she does to me."
The way it was said, not really a threat, but also not uttered as a joke, was somewhat disturbing to Kimr, but he doubted that Ha would let anythign happen to her Rosetta and seeing that she could shrink things down to the size of peas, Kimr trusted his dragon to be smart enough not to irk or anger her.
"Who is this Ha person? she seems very strong. I am intrigued."
"You'll meet her soon enough."
A mostly white hatchling hatched next, all over his body, barely-visible pink and yellow veins dubbed him to be at least part Dawn and more than a bit Opal. This hatchling, rather small and lightly built, agilely made his way through the remaining eggs, past the shards and into the bunch of candidates until he stopped into this clutch' furriest candidate. 
Gezze, a fox-like humanoid with wings looked expectantly at the little hatchling. If he had come to him, did that mean they had bonded. That was what the dragonriders had told him, and it had been the same with the previous hatchings of his party.
"We haven't yet." the dragon said.
"Oh." Gezze answered, a bit disappointed.
"But we will. Look deep into my eyes."
For a moment Gezze felt a deep loneliness that was so much like his own hurt that he felt like crying, the next moment the sensation was gone and he knew that his dragon's name was Desol'ace and that his colour was called Bleak Hope.
An egg shattered on the sands, drawing away the attention from the pale hatchling and his bond. Another male, the fifth in the clutch already was standing on the sands. His boy was shining foliage, as foliages often tend to shine when either of the parents carries bright genes. In this case both parents were rather unusual, but the shining hue seemed to come more from Klierth's side of the gene pool then from Naderenya's. Aside from his shining body, the dragonet's wings were the gold of the sun, seemingly extending from the faintly visible rays in his green hide.
The Shining Sun-Foliage let everybody admire him for a moment, but then quickly got tired of the attention of everyone but the bond he had in mind. His desired, a dragoness from Cy by the name of Guin'galla, was busy cleaning her wings.
"You're supposed to look at me." the hatchling whimpered.
"Hmmm? Oh, well, I am looking now, Kiaryen, I just wanted to look clean for you."
"Yeah right." the hatchling sulked, "You didn't even feel me!"
Guin'galla blinked: "We hadn't bonded yet, I feel every dragon here, how was I supposed to feel you?"
"Meanie!" the sun-foliage exclaimed.
"Say Kiaryen, you feel hungry and sleepy... yes very sleepy, want me to read you a story?"
"A story?" the tears in his eyes dried suspiciously quick as he nodded for his bond to get on with the sleeping ritual. Guin'galla surely did have the skills to lead others into doing what she wanted...
Two more eggs broke in rapid succession. One yielded a brightly-coloured sun, the other a more orange-hued flame with yellow-sun wings. Both of them were female and both seemed to take their time to reach their respective bonds. 
The first to actually bond was the Sun-Flame female that looked up at Karina who had come from Starburst Weyr. The girl was mute, but she had been chosen as a candidate many years ago, when more than one dragon had spotted her potential.
"My name is Rerenya. Have I made you wait?"
"Just a short while, Rerenya. Knowing I'd meet you one day was more than enough to keep me excited."
"That's good then." the hatchling said with the air of a smile, "I really did my best to come as soon as I could."
"You must have raced since you are so hungry." Karina smiled, "Let's go to the food so you don't feel like you're going to faint anymore."
The second female did not seem in the mood to wait anymore after her sister had bonded. She looked down to Uakoi, the female sprite that had been working as a babysitter and had dealt with her share of near-escapes and doom-scenarios.
"I hope you can take on one more charge." she said, "My name is Kinness."
"The more the merrier," Uakoi smiled, "You don't intend to light matches, do you? You seem like a gentle spirit, but looks aren't always what they seem."
"I don't really need matches," the dragoness said, "See?" bright orange fire escaped from the dragoness' mouth. Uakoi lunged back and told herself: "Discipline... just needs discipline."
"Oh, of course I wouldn't do this in a forest." Kinness exclaimed, reading her bond's thoughts, "I'm not stupid."
"Thank heavens."
Two eggs were left and the only candidate that was still standing for this clutch was Yisi, the second of a trio of cat people from Caramba High. He looked closely at the eggs, letting his eyes wander from one to the other. Finally, one of them hatched and the dragonet, a shining rain female, dropped to the floor.
Yisi immediately knew that this hatchling was his, he did not doubt it. he knew, so he did not want to wait anymore, he walked toward the hatchling and tapped the hatchling, who was struggling to get her feet under her body and her but in the air, on the shoulder.
"Let me help." he suggested, "What is your name?"
"Yozuren." the hatchling replied gratefully, "Is up and down always this hard to figure out?"
"Wait till you learn to swim..."
The last egg exploded, throwing up sand that obscured the sight for a few moments until it setteled down again. From behind the curtain of sand, the silhouette of a small female dragoness became visible. The hatchling was almost completely black, with just a tad of silver woven into her wings. Even though she was dark, her hide shone with countless little flecks of light, as if she was mimicking the night sky. Yet she did not have the air of a midnight, she seemed much more fragile, almost too fragile to be here.
the hatchling coughed with a high voice. The spectators arched closer, trying to decide what they were seeing. Waiting for the hatchling to speak again. There were no candidates left on the sands. Bets were being made if the hatchling would remain on Lantessama or if she would disappear just as she seemed to be fated to.
"My name is Avarya." the hatchling suddenly said, "I'd like to stay for a while."
Muted curses rose from the audience, alongside soft cheers depending on whether the person belonged to the winning or losing side of the bets made. When still no-one moved, Naderenya, beckoned for her daughter to come closer, "I shall take care of you, Avarya. Oh, do you have a name for your colour?"
"Star sky, maybe?" Klierth suggested.
Avarya blinked and shook her head, "My colour is lingering hope."
Taylor smirked, "Figured she'd take on the naming classes of her mother who was also born here, but good try."
Klierth tried to redeem his figure, "Well I'm her parent too, and anyways, the name suits her, she certainly is as pretty as her mother."
"Whatever you say."

Uakoi and Rising Hope Kinness (f) (Shining Sun)
Iekk and Rainy Moon* Zerk (m)
Karina and Sun-Flame Rerenya (f)
Thumao and Bloodtipped Flame Earyon (m)
Kimr Foliage-Blood Caimren (m)
Gezze and Bleak Hope* Desol'ace (m) (Opal-Dawn)
Yisi and Shining Rain Yozuren (f)
Guin'galla and Shining Sun-Foliage Kiaryen (m)
Lingering Hope* Avarya (f) (Dawn-touched Moon-Obsydian)