Egg Touching #1

Candidates touch eggs for Erith and Zyanth's clutch.

NCpern - Tuesday, January 23, 2001, 6:02 PM
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Jenna is quiet, sipping her juice. She keeps an eye on Kiryn however, apparently curious as to his answer.

Aluren has been asleep on a bench this whole time, half eaten redfruit still clutched in her hands from where she dozed off mid-snack after chores.

Kiryn does have to think about that one, for quite a while, actually. He stares down at the table, and gives a little shrug. "Hard to say. I don't like these silly little chores, really. I'd rather be... doing something. Something where I've got more to show for it at the end of the day than the headwoman not nagging. But it's nice having all the people around."

Falling off her bench with a thump, Aluren wakes up under a table. The bitten redfruit rolls away.

Galit says "Are you alright?"

Aluren crawls out from under the table and tags Kiryn's pant leg saying 'Touhcing time!' before using her crouch as a sprinter launch to take off into the bowl.

Aluren heads out the cavernous entrance to the bowl.
Aluren has left.

Galit looks around, confused. "Huh?"

Galit says "What was that?"

Kiryn glances off after the darting girl. "Is it? Wow. Ok, sorry Galit, but we have to go." He rises, and motions for the other candidates to follow. "We've got to go for an egg-touching, I think."

Jenna mms faintly, and seems ready to say something when Aluren's redfruit goes 'thump'. She starts to ask, "Have a nice..." And then blinks. "Already? Oy. Well, here goes. -- We're going out to touch the eggs, Galit. I'm sure you could watch from the galleries if you like." She snags a pair of boots from Aedevan's pile and jams them on.

Galit says "Ah.. okay, thank you all for the company, and where are the galleries?"

Jenna smiles as she rises. "Just follow us." She starts out for the bowl, waiting for the visitor to catch up.

You head outside to the bowl.

You walk out onto the sands, careful as the heat begins to make itself known.
Hatching Ground Sands
The sands here are heated by the volcano that birthed the Fort Weyr Bowl itself... still hot enough to burn through anything less than a sturdy pair of wherhide boots. It is here that the golden queens of Fort Weyr come to lay their eggs, and brood over them while they mature and harden.
Along the southern wall are the galleries for spectators, and broad steps lead up into them. The lower entrance is to the west and above it, you notice a larger entrance for the dragons. Ledges ring the upper levels of the cavern, providing perches for the hundreds of dragons of the Weyr.
Contents:
Saphan
Caralain
Ariandra
Zyanth
Erith

Aluren walks onto the sands from the Bowl entrance.
Aluren has arrived.

Kiryn walks onto the sands from the Bowl entrance.
Kiryn has arrived.

Aluren bows deeply towards Erith before scampering towards the crowd. Safety in numbers and all that.

Jenna is wearing boots that are a trifle too large for her, though at least they're tied correctly and all. She pauses at the entrance to the sands, looking up at the galleries. Chewing on her lower lip, the candidate turns a trifle white, not venturing any further in. She murmurs to Aluren, "That's an *awful* lot of seats."

Caralain nearly trips over boot laces upon entering - these are too small, and cleaner than Cara's generally are. "'m here!"

Saphan looks around him, wide-eyed and a little wary. He starts a bit when he looks at the queen.

Kiryn doesn't look quite as bothered. He walks out, a bit behind the others after his wrong-turn, and glances around to get a good view of things from down here. Then on again, after the others, with a polite nod in Erith's direction as he approaches.

The gold is quiet, lazing beside her mate, at least one pair of lids closed in a somnolent manner. The remains of a wherry have been daintily swept to one side, off by the bleached bones of some herdbeast that have been there a seemingly long time. Aria is leaning against the broad gold side, almost as drowsy looking as her dragon. "Come in. She won't bite, she's glad to see you."

Terrel walks onto the sands from the Bowl entrance.
Terrel has arrived.

Saphan murmurs "Glad to see us?" as his voice cracks again. He glances up at the gold, and smiles tenatively.

"I'm really happy to be here" Aluren giggles, kneeling to scoop up some sand and let it run through her fingers. "This isn't as hot as everyone was scaring me it was?"

Terrel scuttles out onto the sands, sort of behind everyone else, looking embarassed. He tries to be discreet about slipping in at the rear, but well..it's hard to be too subtle when you're over six foot and the rest of the candidates are a lot younger.

Erith turns her head slightly, bringing each candidate into her line of sight. She yawns, slowly, almost felinely.

Jenna looks from the galleries to Erith and Ariandra and gives a faint, soft whistle. She edges a bit further away from the door, giving Terrel a nervous smile as he enters. She gives a decidedly awkward curtsey to the Weyrwoman and queen and then stills, obviously uncertain as to what to do next.

Caralain gives the eggs one dimissing glance, then has bright glances for gold and bronze. "Look, Saphan! He's bigger'n that Indrath, an' she's bigger'n all of 'em."

Kiryn stuffs his hands away in his pockets, and remains in place, once he's at the edge of the clutch. The young man takes a few moments looking them over more closely, the eggs that is, before turning a brief smile back at the Weyrwoman and dragon with her comment. "Well, that means she won't eat us, right? Always a good thing." He's joking, of course.

Aluren inhales in shock, squeaking slightly "A dragon would never eat a person, would they? And certainly not a gold. Umm could she weyrwoman?"

Saphan nods to Caralain, looking up and up at the queen. "She's awfully big," he agrees. He looks at the eggs, then back at their dam, then at the eggs again. "They're gonna be big."

Terrel clears his throat, looking a little uncomfortable. "I don't think I'd go near them if I didn't get permission first, that's for sure." He eyes the gilded mass of the queen lurking protectively behind the clutchmound. With a wan smile, he waves at her a little.

Ariandra smiles faintly at that, though she doesn't move from where she is. "Go ahead," she suggests, "you can wander around. Touch them, if you like."

Jenna takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders lightly. She crosses the sands, and enters the clutch from the side, pausing just inside the ring of eggs, between two. Hesitantly, slowly, she drops to her knees in the sand and then reaches out to lay her hands against the Rain Shadow Egg.

Terrel seems a bit uncertain still, but well...if the Weyrwoman says it's okay, then the queen must not mind. In theory. Being cleared for contact, he scuttles carefully amongst the eggs heading for one in particular that he's evidently had his eye on previously... the crackled black and lava-red volcanic egg, sitting sullenly in the pale sand.

Caralain does wander around, tapping expectantly at an egg or two, shrugging, and nearly tripping over bootlaces again. "Hey, gold lady type?"

Taking the lack of answer and permission to wander as reassurance Aluren slips through the sand towards an austerely red one.

Saphan moves closer to the eggs and tenatively reaches out to run his fingertips lightly over one of them. His eyes widen a bit and he pokes a little bit harder. "They're harder than I thought."

Kiryn gives a little nod, and steps forward, walking toward the sea of multicolored shells. He stops on the outside of the ring, and leans down, flitting his gaze between two nearby eggs, a dark brown one, and a splotched red one. Lightly, he sweeps his fingers over the first, and then to the second, and nods. "Should be, by now."

"Yes?" Aria's mouth quirks slightly at the nonchalant query, though she doesn't move, except to put her hands in her pockets.

Terrelcrouches down to rest a hand against the bulk of the scarlet-and-black egg, fingertips brushing across the varicolored surface. He seems rather thoughtful, contemplating the texture of the egg more than just the color.

"How many of them are there? An' how'd she fit all of 'em in?" Cara's eyes draw over the gold, brows drawn together slightly. "I mean, she's big, but they're big, an' there's a lot of them."

Jenna chews her lower lip and then, lookng a trifle self-conscious, she carefully puts her ear to the curve of the blue, green and tan mottled shell she is on her knees before. She is frozen in position for a long few minutes, seemingly holding her breath in order to listen.

"I often wonder that myself," Aria murmurs, then glances up toward the gold as if looking for an answer. Nothing but a complacent shift of the gold body, enough that Aria sway slightly, as if in a boat on a lazy sea. "They were a great deal softer then, and, as she says, she was 'fat'. This is actually a smallish clutch, but then she's a small gold."

This adult dragon has a deep bronze hue to his hide. Reddish highlights darken to near-black along his neck ridges and the leading edges of his wings. His neck and belly are shadowed in the same dark hues as his neck ridges. The dark-bronze shades of his wide, bluntly tapering head contrast with his eyes which are slowly swirling a relaxed shade of blue.

"Does anyone know which two are the ones she pushed into Zyanth's claws?" Aluren asks softly but clearing over the sounds of the group moving around. Her own fingers are busy tracing the areas of the Terranes Egg.

Saphan looks over at Aria and Aluren. "She pushed eggs into Zyanth's claws?" He asks, as he rests his hand gently on a mottled brown egg.

Kiryn settles over the one that looks more like molten rock, and sweeps his fingers over it, before leaning for a brief listen as well. Hard to tell, if there's anything to hear or not, and after a moment, he moves on, to the egg indented so it looks like a volcanic cone. But the conversation does cause him to look up, as Aluren asks about the rumor.

Terrel glances over at Jenna, hrms, then leans in to listen to the black and red egg he's camped out next to. His face screws up in concentration, listening, like someone waiting to hear the rumbles of an eruption, then sits back to rub at his chin.

Ariandra shakes her head, "I don't really remember, and, she's moved them since then. I doubt he'd be bold enough to do so." A quirky smile as she says it. "Yes, she thinks that bronzes have it too 'easy'. Besides, she loves him, if dragons love, and I think they do."

Caralain snickers softly. "Fat. Hee." And turns to bounce towards Saphan, "Hey, where'd that red one get to?"

Saphan looks around him, rubbing the top of the brown mottled egg as he does so. "I don't know..."

Aluren sighs her disappointment and moves on, trailing a hand across one after the other until she gets to one the color of desert. Sitting beside it she peers at the 'crack', squinting.

Terrel finally gives the charred egg one more soft stroke, then gets up and picks his way amongst the other eggs...no, no....no...hrm. He pauses beside the brown and black caldera egg, crouching beside it. Again, a long-fingered hand extends to brush across its surface. Still... he looks back at the red and black one again.

Jenna finally sits back on her heels, and stands, knees popping lightly in protest. They were more comfortable like that. She frowns slightly down at the egg, and moves on, tracing a hand across a delicate curve, to another.

Saphan moves to another egg, and again, rubs his hand lightly over the top, pushing gently with his fingers to test the hardness of the egg before flatting his hand out, curved to the shape of the top of the egg, and rubs in a slow circle, thougtfully.

Caralain stands on tiptoes - not that that helps much - and back down. "Huh. Well. Wanna play tag instead? Or hide an' seek? There's lots of eggs to hide behind."

Kiryn moves on as well, passing by the odd sea-floor looking egg, which gets a trail of his hand, but little more, as his attention flits intstead to the Black Smoker, moving up and crouching near it, giving a light touch and leaning once more to press an ear to the shell. Then a really odd look back at Caralain. "That might not be a good idea."

"No thank you" Aluren answers Caralain, for herself at least. After a puzzled, frowning glance at the umm person she goes into the Ring of Fire egg and starts touching landmarks. "I think home is here?"

Terrel peers closely at the egg he's next to, a slight frown as his fingers trace the malformed, indented end sticking out of the sand. He smirks, shaking his head and giving the shell a gentle pat. Hey, not everyone can be perfect, eh?

Saphan grins at Caralain, but shakes his head. "I'm kinda liking this." He walks to the next egg, repeating the process.

Jenna heads towards an egg that has varying shades of grey. Fingers trace over the 'tail' that slopes across the shell. She comments quietly, perhaps not liking the echoing of the cavern, "I think running through here would be a bad idea." And this coming from the runner girl.

Ariandra is content to simply stay where she is, nestled against the side of her lifemate. There's something about the two, an easy 'oneness' that bespeaks turn upon turn of being together, and being comfortable with each other, in each other.

Caralain shrugs, looking at an egg and fidgeting. Lots. Hand creeps down towards pocket after a moment, as Cara's surreptitiously glancing at Ariandra and then ducking behind the nearest egg to sit out of view.

Terrel eventually stands again, moving away from the desolate caldera egg, and starts shambling amongst the hardening shells again.

Still kneeling in front of the geographic egg, Aluren brushes her fingers over landmarks like a little hand painting on an easle. Chewing on her lower lip she finally admits "I have no idea about these red spots."

"They're always so pretty," Kiryn comments then, an odd thing for the young man to say, perhaps, but he says it anyway. "This reminds me off last time, just seeing them all." He wanders toward the back, and the eggs closer to the big bronze, not seemingly bothered by his presence there. He touches the steam-vent looking egg, and circles around it, curious.

Saphan peers at the egg Aluren's referring to, then glances at Aria. "Can you tell the color of the dragon from the color of the egg?" He asks.

Caralain settles into the sand, pulling out a few cookies, and tentatively leans back on the egg while nibbling the cookies contentedly.

"Only with the gold egg," Aria returns, stropping herself against Erith's side like some big feline. "There are those who'll tell you they can predict what's in what. I'd say they have a 1 in 4 chance."

Jenna shifts slightly, twisting to put her ear against the Brooding Drumlin Egg, as she did with the one before. She murmurs half to herself, "I dunno what that bronzerider was talking about. I can't hear a thing." Then she goes silent, lifting her head to listen to Ariandra's answer. She nods, expression pensive, and then shifts to move along to a third egg, working her careful way in closer to the center of the clutch.

Terrel pauses by the shalescape egg, crouching again. It almost seems like he expects the sharp ridges seemingly depicted on the grey and black surface to cut his hand,,, but after a tentative stroke, he rests his palm against the shell. "There's no give at all...they must be very close to cracking." The idea seems to make him rather nervous.

Saphan nods to Aria. "So, any of these could be...any color. Except gold." He sighs softly and walks to the next egg.

Kiryn says "Not such good odds, then," comments Kiryn, with a light chuckle. "Though I swear, I picked out two of the bronzes at Ista, by the noise Isadith made when she laid them." Then a small frown crosses his lips, "But I missed the clutching, here. So I dunno." As if he could have predicted them, if he'd been there for it."

"That right. And even the size of the egg really isn't that helpful." An almost sympathetic tone to her voice, as if she's remembering clutches past, and hopeful faces, wishful tones, eager eyes.

Caralain crunches delightedly on a cookie, ensconced behind that egg. Feet stretch out in front, and the toe of one pushes the boot off the other, so Cara can wiggle toes freely for a moment.

Brushing sand from her knees Aluren leaves fire behind to study a dirty snow egg. "So if I guess this is green, half the time I'll be right?" cupping herp palm over the surface in a reflexsive 'make a snowball' motion.

Jenna pauses by one of the larger eggs, one that looks like a parched riverbed. "Really? And our touching 'em doesn't... give 'em ideas in there or anything?" She shifts down to her knees again, putting ear to shell one more time.

Saphan looks down at the egg he's touching, startled. He almost draws his hand back, but then caresses the egg again. "How do the dragons know which candidate to pick?" He wants to know.

Terrel eventually stands and beebles back to the molten lava egg, the first one he touched. Plunk, back down in the sand. "I could just sit here and look at these all day," he remarks, leaning in to listen to the scarlet and black surface. "You look and look, and find new things in the patterns. I never could tell how pretty the shells were from all the way up in the stands."

"Your touching them doesn't do anything bad," Aria responds, and then she half-smiles. "I don't know, Saphan. And Erith never could explain it. She just 'knew' she said. Though she did look at the other girls as well."

"Some sorta instinct, maybe," theorizes Kiryn, while wandering now to join the little arrangement of eggs set off to the left. He gets into the middle of the ring, near the egg placed there, and examines it first, before moving about the ones encircling it.

Saphan ponders this for a moment. "Well, herdbeasts and runnerbeasts have instincts 'cause they're not so smart. But dragons are smart." He frowns slightly. "How can they have instincts? Like that, I mean? Maybe they're just smart about it?"

Caralain pushes the other boot off and gives a soft sigh, toes wiggling in the warm sand. Cookie finished off, the Candidate leans against the egg and after a moment yawns and tugs the boots back on.

Aluren leans into the icy egg, pausing a moment with a hesitant wince before putting her cheek flush to the surface and holding her breath to listen. Warm to the touch and years of lving in snow fought there for a moment. "They have instincts about rising and searing thread I thought?" she joins in the discussion again.

Terrel mphs. "Rising's an instinct. I'm thinking threadburning is learned."

Caralain pipes up thinly, softly, "No, 'cause 'lizards'll flame, too."

Jenna looks reassured at the goldrider's comment, and finally pushes herself up to go to another egg. One with blue tones catches her eyes, and she shifts to one side, hands wandering gently across that shell. "I think you can have instincts and be smart too. After all, lots of people have 'em. Then again, lots of people aren't too terribly smart either." She flashes a wry grin before bending to look closer at the shell.

"We have instincts too, Saphan. Being smart doesn't stop you from that. And it just seems more an instinct thing than a smarts thing." Kiryn has his idea and he's sticking too it, no doubt, trailing a finger from egg to egg in the little knot of them. "How else would they just know? If there wasn't something telling them. Instincts."

Saphan giggles at Jenna's comment, then nods at Kiryn. "Maybe." He moves to another egg and begins the touching ritual.

Terrel eventually stands up again and shambles on. This time he stops by the black-smoker egg, having been putting it off since someone else has been by it. He crouches down to study it thoughtfully.

So many times she's seen this scene, either from the Sands or from the gallery, and Aria's complacent quiessence wraps around her like a light cloak on a crisp afternoon. Her eyes drift, from egg to face, from face to the rising bulk of the cavern walls.

Aluren glances from Jenna, to another candidate girl, and the next. No one she has noticed has gone near the gold egg. At least not while she was watching. Taking a deep breath she squares her shoulders and walks closer to Ariandra and Erith. "Ma'am" she softly asks "Are we allowed to touch all the eggs? Even the gold one?"

Caralain relaxes, getting more and more drowsy; finally, head falls softly towards shoulder and Cara snoozes.

Saphan murmurs something to himself and then wanders to yet another egg.

Falling asleep on the sands... that's gotta be a new one. Kiryn returns from his last exploration to see the napping candidate, and can't help but to chuckle a little. "Hey Jenna," he calls across, looking to see where the girl has gotten to, "Would you look at that!"

"I doubt anyone will sleep here long. The sands are rather hot. Like sleeping next to a fire." Aria doesn't move to wake the napper, though. Some things are better learned through experience.

Saphan grins ruefully. "I can feel the sand through my feet."

Terrel mphs. "I don't mind it. The beach at home gets hotter than this during the summer...you can't even stand on it." He leans in to listen to the smoker-egg, eyes closing. "I don't hear anything either. It's probably too early."

Jenna looks up at her name, jolted from getting up close and personal with the egg she has paused before. She grins at Kiryn, an open expression, and comments, "It's from all those sweets she ate." She cocks her head, just catching Aluren's question to the weyrwoman, curious as to the answer.

Aluren folds her hands in front of her and waits. She is patient when it comes to answers that could lead to touching the most guarded egg in the clutch. Or maybe it is that Ariandra never answered the 'getting eaten' one directly and not patience that is slowing her down.

Caralain does shift, in sleep, and a hand that fell to sand is quickly moved back to lap.

Jenna mms at Terrel and offers quietly, "Or that Telgari bronzerider was fooling us. Maybe you're not supposed to hear anything." Hands move restlessly over the shell before her, one of the larger ones in the clutch, still in the center.

Saphan frowns slightly, and crouches down near one egg, putting his ear to it.

"Oh, you do, sometimes," says Kiryn, catching on to the other thread of conversation. He wanders over closer to Jenna, and looks between the eggs. "I did, when I was at Ista. Remember it clearly." Right, and where a bronzerider would lead you astray, Kiryn never would. Honest!

"Some people say they can 'hear' things. Maybe the do, maybe they don't. Maybe it's whimsy and wishfulness, and the tense desire. I never heard anything. Erith says, that close to hatching, she hears tiny voices, but it's like babies sighing in their sleep." She then motions to the women in the group. "You can touch the gold egg, Erith won't snatch you up for a mouthful."

Jenna arches her eyebrows at Kiryn, though doesn't comment. At Ariandra's approval for the women to approach the gold egg, she hangs back, letting others get ahead of her. "Does it feel any different, ma'am? Any different from the other eggs?"

"I don't know. You tell me what you feel when you touch it." Aria's quiet amusement is cordial, nonmalicious.

Caralain shifts again, backside getting rather toasty. Cara wiggles, still in sleep, down off the egg and rolls over to belly-down in the sand, face cradled in the crook of an arm.

Milque walks onto the sands from the Bowl entrance.
Milque has arrived.

Grinning hugely Aluren goes up and hugs the gold egg. She chuckles "I can't believe I am doing this?!" her voice rising at the end. "Jenna, Milque you have to come try this. Ma won't believe when I write her."

Milque quietly and slowly walks onto the sands, whispering softly, "Sorry I'm late."

Jenna blinks at Ariandra. Evidently, she was hoping to get out of this one. Slowly, she heads towards the now long line of softly chattering girls waiting to go forward towards the gold egg. "Milque? Here, you can get in front of me." And put yet another person between her and that big egg.

Kiryn actually pauses in his own egg touching, just to turn and watch the girls as they throw themselves on the gold egg. He smiles, at some memory of his own, before turning to hunt down one of the glacial-looking eggs, which he lightly caresses.

Terrel sits next to a black and dark-blue egg, looking up as Milque walks down. He waves to her from where he's seated, then stands...his buns are getting a bit too toasty, too.

Caralain wakes rather quickly, face red fron the heat that close. Scrambling upward, Cara looks around to see if anyone had noticed, then calls towards the weyrwoman, "Can I go use the necessary?"

A light lift of her hand in greeting. Aria doesn't seem to mind Milque's late arrival. She simply lazes back against the big gold body again, shifting slightly, lifting her arm to wipe the sheen of perspiration from her face.

Milque smiles at Jenna, "Sure you don't mind?" she asks quietly, but doesn't turn down the offer to go on ahead. after Aluren, waiting till she's moved on before she approaches.

Lunan walks onto the sands from the Bowl entrance.
Lunan has arrived.

Aluren squeaks and jumps, glancing around. You could guess someone in the line of girls waiting to touch the gold egg pinched her. With a flip of her braid and her chin up, after all she was first, Aluren wanders back out towards the bulk of the eggs giving Jenna a wink along the way.

Lunan creeps at the tail end of a small crowd of late candidates, shuffling as quietly as possible over towards Aluren. "Hey," he murmurs. "Did I miss anything good?" He gawks around at the eggs, careful not to trip over his feet here.

Saphan lifts his head from the side of the egg, looking a little disappointed. "I don't hear anything." He pats the egg gently, and moves on to another, glancing over at the girl lined up at the gold egg.

"Well, they didn't hatch while you were gone, nor did any of us go and make omlets, so no," quips Kiryn, at Lunan's question. "You didn't miss much."

Milque bites her lip for a moment, then it's her turn, so she walks over to lightly rest both hands on the large gold egg, smiling a bit excitedly and looking up at the large watching dragons for a quick glance.

Jenna nods to Milque as the girl takes a spot ahead of her, and then grins wryly at Aluren. Among the chattering girls, she is quiet, instead looking up at the galleries, or out at the other eggs as the line starts to slowly get shorter.

Ariandra smiles faintly, and makes a slow swirling motion with her hand, indicating to Lunan that he should just join in with the rest of the crew.

Caralain skitters out to use the necessaries, not having heard an answer from Ariandra but, apparently, needing to go fairly badly.

Caralain walks out of the Hatching Grounds, to the Bowl.
Caralain has left.

Lunan ducks his head and grins at Ariandra, then peers around, seeming to search for something. Finally, he heads for a brownish, muddy looking egg, and he stands just a few feet from it, hesitating.

Terrel waves to Lunan, then spends a moment trying to get sand out of his boot.

Milque slides her hands over the surface of the egg for one moment, then with a little sigh she thinks she's taken long enough. She steps back and flashes a smile to the next girl in the line to touch the gold egg, as she then walks around to look at all the other eggs.

Saphan grins encouragingly at Lunan. "Go ahead. touch it."

Aluren rests her back on the Alluvium egg, watching Milque's turn with a smile. Pressed back against the shell as she props herself against it, her fingers stroke back and forth absentmindedly like one would smooth a favorite blanket or cuddly from when you were little.

Lunan gives Saphan a little grin, then reaches out to do as the other boy suggests. He grins when his hand splays against the Rolling Mudslide egg, and soon both his hands are sliding across the egg. "Coooool," he breathes.

Kiryn finishes his tour around the cross-like shape the eggs make up, returning to the front spire, where the two volcanic eggs are sitting together. He returns to them and sits, cross-legged, leaning his head to the shell. "Odd... I haven't heard anything from any of them, this time. That's weird."

Dasil walks onto the sands from the Bowl entrance.
Dasil has arrived.

Ludmilla wanders saucily up to the gold egg, and brazenly places hands on it. "Erith is a trifle small for a gold, weyrwoman. Will this gold be small as well?" Something in her tone is just not quite right. She looks down at the egg, as if already regarding it her own.

Milque spends a little more time at some of the smaller eggs, stopping and leaving a hand on the warm, hardish surface. She looks across the sands a bit to take the whole clutch in, and flash a smile towards a few other candidates taking the moment to look up. Then she steps over to another egg, admiring the subtle colors of it.

"Perhaps." Aria's composure is unruffled, as it so often is. A languid smile, and her eyes drift over the girl's form, then she says, gently, "Regardless, compared to her -rider- the gold in that shell will be vast and imposing."

Terrel slows by the fertile-atoll egg and crouches by it... likely pulled there by its color. Well, evidently, if it's black, or brightly colored, Terrel will like it.

Dasil shimmers out onto the sands, excitment oozing from every pore. A deep breath and goes calm to give a bow to the dragons and then moves to stand near the closest egg.

Saphan sighs and comes to a stop next to one of the eggs, looking a little droopy. "The eggs are nice," he murmurs.

Milque drifts into the thick of the clutch of eggs, taking her time and not going in any particular direction, moving to eggs that catch her attention with slow careful steps, even though her eyes are bubbling with excitement.

Ludmilla sniffs haughtily. "Perhaps, weyrwoman. Only if she impresses to a rider that is not herself, imposing." That she considers herself to be is obvious, and a trifle comical, to judge from some of the girls still waiting in line and hiding smiles. As a titter rises from one, she gives a crisp nod to Ariandra, "My thanks," and strides off the sands, not bothering with any of the other eggs.

Lunan's attention moves from the brownish egg, reluctantly, to see Dasil's entrance. With a mortified look, he looks up at the dragons and groans a little. He makes a quick bow, then turns back to look at the eggs, shoulders hunched. Won't forget *that* again.

Sovalin walks onto the sands from the Bowl entrance.
Sovalin has arrived.

Terrel looks over as Ludmilla flounces off the sands. He just shakes his head, rolling his eyes.

Kiryn looks a little disappointed now, as he hovers over a few of his favorites, in turn, trying to catch any sound from them, but fails. "Maybe... this is earlier, than the touching we did at Ista, and they're not as far along." Sounds like an excuse he's making, for them.

A slow drift of a chuckle, the sound like fine sisal being drawn over some polished surface. Aria watches Ludmilla flounce off, and then turns her head to look at Erith. Much silent communion there, and though dragons don't laugh, her sound is amused as well, a purry sort of croon.

Jenna rolls her eyes faintly at Ludmilla's departure and is pushed forward by the rest of the waiting girls. Resolutely, she kneels down next to the gold egg, an odd, slight figure considering its bulk, and puts her ear to the egg and hands to the shell, just as she has with all the others.

Sovalin doesn't run, but he isn't just strolling onto the Sands either. He's gotten a pair of sturdy looking boots. As he comes closer to both eggs, candidates and Erith he stops. He bows.

Saphan watches Ludmilla exit, and sighs with relief.

After spending what he thinks is a respectable amount of time merely looking at the first egg Dasil slides slowly over the sands and towards a greyish hued clutch member.

A faint wuffle from the gold. Aria smiles at Sovalin, and makes her stirring swirling hand motion again. "Dive in," she suggests, with soft amusement.

Lunan moves to poke at a different egg here, then races - respectfully - across the sands to another one, taking a few moments to circle and touch each of the eggs. He seems to have no favorite, excited by the possibility of dragons inside these small shells. After awhile, he stands to watch the girls on the gold egg, seeming faintly amused. A fellow candidate then starts to cry- the tired bawl of a youngster. Lunan resignedly helps him off the sands, casting disappointed looks over his shoulder.

Lunan walks out of the Hatching Grounds, to the Bowl.
Lunan has left.

Terrel shambles around from egg to egg...and ends up back near the molten lava egg again. He stops, and just looks down at it for a long moment.

Sovalin seems hesitant untill Ariandra urges him on. With one more sidelong glance he moves to a the cluster of eggs on the right side.

Jenna starts at the whuffle - it was too near - and darts a confused look at the gold egg. Then she looks up, and nearly sags in relief. The whuffle came form the dam, not the clutched. She rises to leave it and says quietly to Ariandra, "It doesn't feel that much different. Just bigger."

Saphan fondles one last egg before turning to the weyrwoman and the gold. "I thank you for letting me touch the eggs," he says shyly.

"Indeed," Aria says to Jenna's observation. "I remember being half wild with anxiety when they told me to touch Erith's egg. But, once I did, I wondered why the fuss? It's not like there really is metal in it."

"You're quite welcome, Saphan. We'll try to do this again soon." Aria responds warmly, watching the Candidate, approving, perhaps, of his manners.

Terrel crouches down to listen to the black-and-scarlet egg once more, perhaps in one last ditch attempt to hear some stirring or flutter beneath its brooding shell, his oversized hands pressed against it.

Saphan smiles at the gold dragon, nods his head to her, and retreats.

Saphan walks out of the Hatching Grounds, to the Bowl.
Saphan has left.

Sovalin stops before the smallest egg, one that looks like a mass of molten lava scooped up to resemble an odd shaped ball. For the moment he doesn't notice too much else. Squating down he gets up right next to the egg, first laying one hand on it then both hands. "Oh wow." he exhales softly. "There's a tiny being in here." he is quiet and sufficiently awed.

Dasil is almost all the way to the grey egg when he finds himself slightly distracted by a rich vein of yellow running along the surface of a half buried egg. He lightly traces a fingertip over it for a moment but soon finds his gaze wandering back to the egg he really wants to spend time with.

Jenna grins a bit, relaxing as the weyrwoman's words get to the heart of the matter. "It'd be hard for the little queen to break if it was, wouldn't it. Thank you," she says a trifle softer. Though thank you for being allowed on the sands, or maneuvered into touching the gold one, is anyone's guess. She heads back to the rest of the clutch, roaming with a bit more security.

Milque stops by one of the smallest eggs sitting up close to one of the largest, tilting her head just a little as she compares the differences in size. Then she slowly croutches down to rest a hand on the small molten lava looking little egg.

Terrel looks up as people start to congregate around him and the egg he's been staring at. Looking kind of embarassed, he stands and backs off so there's room for others to look at it besides him.

There is a spot of color in all this grey, ice, black, stone, mud, eewwwww. And so Aluren crosses to the thermal pool egg, tracing its ring of orange.

Sovalin offers Milque a lopesided smile before standing fully and moving on. For a few moments he simply walks around the eggs, pausing to let a finger trail along one or another.

Finally, after sitting at the fertile atoll egg for quite some time, trying to hear something from it, Kiryn gives up, rising with a slightly disappointed look on his face. It fades, but still, it's obvious that he was really looking forward to hearing something. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, last time. "Oh well, guess not." He ambles nearer to where the girls have lined up, watching them take turns.

Milque returns the smile towards Sovalin, then stands up again to move around to touch another egg composed of shades of grey. She stops for a moment before touching the egg, looking around to look at all of the candidates out on the sands, taking in just how many there are for the number of eggs out on the sands, giving herself a little bit of perspective.

Aluren walks out of the Hatching Grounds, to the Bowl.
Aluren has left.

Sovalin finally stops near the Silent Avalanche Egg, once again getting down next to it and really looking closely at it. "Hello." he whispers. "Anyone awake in there?" he puts his head to it, taking on a listening pose.

Terrel looks around at all the eggs. "I wonder why they're all so....mmmm." He really doesn't want to use the words 'dirt colored'. "I don't know. Subdued. THere are a few bright ones, but this clutch is very brown and grey, overall."

Jenna grins at Milque, "That one's one of my favourite ones, I think." She gives a nod towards the grey egg. Then she asks, resting a hand on the Frost Polygons Egg, "They will all hatch, right? Not like 'lizard eggs that sometimes don't?" Finger trace over the unusual geometric shapes and glittery whiteness.

"Blame it on Erith's heritage, Terrel," Aria murmurs softly. "We're from the far north."

Dasil steps past a blue creation and around a shimmering one, half turning like a guest adrift at an elaborate dance to finally find himself face to shell with the egg that reminds him of a high mountain. The same look that comes over his face when talks of taverns drifts over his features now as he lightly brushes his hand over the trail of faint blue and white.

"I think so," says Kiryn to Jenna, trying to give the weyrwoman a leg up by answering questions, or maybe just eager to contribute some. Then a little nod, hearing the color explanation. "They had really wild colors at Ista, I think."

Milque smiles and gives a shrug at Jenna's question, even though it wasn't directed towards her. She moves over to another egg and softly places both hands on it.