Egg Touching, Take Two

Jinieth and Aisheth's eggs, Spring 2002

Jenna - Wednesday, April 24, 2002, 4:43 PM
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Spectators' Gallery in the Hatching Ground(#958RIJa$)
The galleries in the Hatching Grounds stretch the length of the southern wall of the cavern. Broad sweeps of stone benches provide ample seating for spectators. Above and across from here are ledges where the dragons perch to welcome new eggs and hatchlings. From your vantage point, you can see everything that happens on the sands.
Stairs to the northwest, at the end of the galleries, lead back down to the entrance to the hatching grounds. The Hatching Ground sands spread out before you to the northeast, and are accessible by another set of stairs to the north.
Contents:
Leah
Rytran
Mirrari
Sefaniah

Rytran leans over Sefaniah's shoulder, peering at the Wild Child egg. "Hm......" He peers. He ponders. He shakes his head. "Close...I think it will hatch a bronze. A /BIG/ bronze."

Xiang walks up the stairs from the Bowl.
Xiang has arrived.

Leah peers out across the Sands, "Oh, I don't know. That one looks like a green to me." She considers the eggs for a long moment, then turns to the Candidates, "Would you like to get a closer look at them? Maybe you can decide what's going to come out if you feel the egg."

Carianna walks up the stairs from the Bowl.
Carianna has arrived.

Mirrari grins and offers her opinion on the Wild Child Egg, "I think perhaps a green or a blue.." She smiles and nods, "Aye, I know I'd like to get another look at them."

"Go... out?" Sef's having trouble comprehending simple sentences this evening - maybe he's got mud in his ears. "On the Sands? With the /queen/?"

Jenna is late joining, having detoured to get citron juice, from the smell of it. It doesn't appear to have had any affect on the bootblack on her hands though. She eyes Sefaniah, hearing his comment and says, "What, you think she was just going to leave when they started rocking?"

Carianna joins up with the group feeling refreshed and energized then ohs and dips a curtsey as she spots Leah. "Evening Ma'am."

Rytran grins over at Sefaniah. "Well, unless you'd like perhaps a thirty-meter pole to touch the eggs with, Sef." He winks.

Leah chuckles at Sefaniah, "Sure. And all the other dragons out there that are still inside their shells. I believe there are thirty three of them." She heads to the stairs, pausing to turn back and look at the Candidates expectantly, "Well? Are you coming?" She grins and bounds down the stairs and onto the sands.

On the sands, Leah comes down from the galleries.
On the sands, Rytran comes down from the galleries.

Jonas walks up the stairs from the Bowl.
Jonas has arrived.

Xiang trails in, patiently picking small leaves out of her hair. Bad leaves. "Hello." is murmured to the other Candidates as she stares after Leah with some dismay. "Now?" And she'd expected a chance to sit down for a few minutes.

Sefaniah swallows hard and waits for Jenna to proceed him. He's being chivalrous, really. Nothing to do with letting Jinieth eat her first at all.

Jenna snickers softly at Sef and says, "She only eats the candidates with mud on their faces." Is she being serious? She proceeds sedately down the steps and onto the sands.

You walk down the stairs to the sands.
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:
Rytran
Leah
Jinieth

Rytran swivels about toward his fellow candidates and, without making a noise that would disturb the queen, waves them down. He seems relieved to see Jenna at his side.

Carianna comes down from the galleries.
Carianna has arrived.

Carianna follows the others down the stairs and smiles as she dips another curtsey to Jinieth then glances around to view the eggs quietly. "Lets see, I think I'll go visit that one tonight.

From the gallery, Mirrari heads down to the sands, "Heyla Jonas!"

Sefaniah comes down from the galleries.
Sefaniah has arrived.

Xiang comes down from the galleries.
Xiang has arrived.

Mirrari comes down from the galleries.
Mirrari has arrived.

Jenna gives Rytran a reassuring grin, though she does give a bow towards Jinieth before setting off, looking for her favorite egg. "Just don't go near any Jinieth's curled around. Redus did last time and wooo! I didn't know dragons could *growl*."

Leah turns to make sure the Candidates are following, nodding with satisfaction and some amusement at their reactions to the eggs. Jinieth is laying comfortably on the far side of the Sands, but she opens one eye to watch the Candidates warily. Her rider joins her there, finding a comfortable spot in the crook of the gold's arm.

Jonas comes down from the galleries.
Jonas has arrived.

From the gallery, Redus walks up the stairs from the Bowl.

Rytran follows Jenna around the sands, giving Jinieth a deep, reverent bow as he passes her. Then, in an abrupt change of demeanor, he rejoins the line of candidates, the hot sand burning through the soles of his boots.

Sefaniah rubs surreptitiously at his jaw, sending bits of mud flaking off, then bobs a half-bow in Jinieth's general direction before trailing after Jenna. "I won't," he promises, studying the eggs with wide eyes. "Nuh-/unh/." Firmly his hands grasp opposite wrists, trapping his arms behind him. See? All nice and not-touching. Don't eat him!

From the gallery, Redus trots up into the gallery and looks down at the sand. "Oh, sure... I got to tuck Uncle Hasta into bed and y'all.." he chuckles as he leans over the rail. "Ma'am?

Mirrari curtsies to Jinieth before heading off among the eggs, meeting up with a candidate that was also grinding klah bark today.

Leah waves from her spot across the Sands with Jinieth, "Yes Redus?" she calls out.

From the gallery, Redus continues. "May i come down tonight or was last time bad?"

Xiang hastily sweeps a few more tiny leaves -- they're fragrant and dried -- out of her short hair and bows gracefully to Jinieth. She hangs back, however, chewing a fingernail as she considers which one to investigate today.

Leah laughs, gesturing to the other Candidates, "Of course! Just remember what you did wrong and don't do it again, alright?"

Jonas frowns as he eyes Sefaniah's flaking face. "What in Faranth's name is on your face, lad? Did you trip on your way over here?"

From the gallery, Redus smiles and nods. "Yes, ma'am." he says, leaving the rail and heading for the steps.

Carianna heads over to one of the eggs and runs her fingers along its shell carefully before whispering to it. She glances up and over to the others as their voices drift over to her and smiles as she too takes in Sefaniah's face.

Redus comes down from the galleries.
Redus has arrived.

Redus clomps down the steps -- it'll be quieter when he has sandals on and steps onto the sands. He smiles at the Jinieth and bows, noting the one eye that's open, before wading over to join the others and the eggs.

Jenna hisses to Sefaniah, "You're *supposed* to touch them." She heads right up to the I can Fly Egg and puts her hands to the shell, tracing the colors on it. She looks back to Rytran - whoops, lost him. "Just not any that she's got right in front of her." At Jonas's question to Sefaniah, she smirks faintly.

Rytran sinks downward toward a small, dark egg of a hue that shift with each hour of the day. Tonight it is deep indigo, and as Rytran presses his cheek against it, he smiles with delight, apparently hearing something swishing about inside. Finally rising from his crouch, he places both hands on his hips, apparently satisfied. He makes his way to the next egg.

Xiang skirts round several eggs, fingertips brushing across the shells warily until she halts by that dark wig'-like egg, all covered in swirls and curls of shadowy colors. There she stops, tracing patterns you can't see until you get up close.

"I know that!" Sef hisses right back, undoubtedly blushing under his cover of mud. He sniffs at Jenna and marches past, angling for a different chunk of Sand, one not so girl-infested. Jonas' question is either not heard or deliberately ignored as he ends up leaning over the Curly Black egg. "Hard to see down here..."

Rytran kneels next beside an egg with the warm, grainy-brown coloration of a fine wood. He rests his ear against this long egg's narrower tip, closing his eyes in silent reflection as he listens to the life churning about within.

Mirrari grins, pointing her fellow candidate to where she last saw the Fluffy Mop Egg and goes to investigate the Hand Sewn Egg. "Pretty!"

Redus looks the eggs over as he passes a couple other Candidates then remembers there was an egg he wanted to get closer to the last time out so, altering his path he goes in search of that egg. Once there, he smiles at Mirrari, nodding. "It is, isn't it? Go ahead, touch it. You were here first."

A pair of holder girls from Keroon start quietly squabbling over the Colorful Map egg, arguing as to what color it will hatch. One says green, the other brown.

Jonas moves slowly through the clutch after bowing to Jinieth. He kneels beside the clock-like egg and runs his hands down opposite sides of the egg. His eyes lock onto the golden circle as if looking through the shell through that point.

Rytran glances over his shoulder at Mirrari, opening his eyes to cast a sweetly ecstatic smile on his Telgari friend. He then closes his eyes again, lingering on the Pirate Ship egg, before tearing himself away at last, stepping carefully through the precious parcels on the sands.

Carianna pauses in her chattering to the hardening shell before her as she takes another look around then calls out Redus, "So what one has your fancy?" She straightens then heads over in his direction.

Mirrari smiles at Redus, "Nay nay, please go ahead...this is the one you wanted to see last time, am I right?" she says with a smile.

Jenna pushes away from the I Can Fly egg, and wanders, brushing sand from each shell she passes, obviously hunting for - "Ah, there you are," she murmurs, as she kneels next to the Imaginary Feast egg, heedless of the hot sand. She puts her ear to the shell, chewing on her lower lip.

Sefaniah spies Xiang on the opposite side of the egg he's chosen, grins at her, and moves on. Ambling footsteps take him near quarter of a dozen eggs, but his path leads him inexorably toward the egg with a hook, the one that looks like it's about to be dragged off somewhere. He casts Jinieth another wary glance, then releases one hand to lay delicate fingertips at the very tip of the silver hook.

Rytran comes upon an egg that appears to be drawn away from him by a silver hook. He touches it lightly with his palm, not yet crouching beside it, before slowly pressing his hand with infinite gentleness against the smooth, wet-looking expanse of the shell. He listens to this egg for a long time, one arm stretching round it as it otherwise might about a lower-caverns-girl's waist.

Redus chuckles a bit and nods to Mirr. "It was..but you still got to it before I did. Go ahead." Then he grins. "Besides, ladies first." Turning to answer Carianna then he shrugs. "I dunno. I like the ones with lots of colors the most. How 'bout you?"

Mirrari grins gratefully and runs her hands lightly over the Hand Sewn Egg, tracing color paths, "Oh! Now here's a color I'd die to have a dye in.." she murmers at a rich purple hue.

Riallan, a smith lad, makes an utter fool of himself, talking in low baby talk to the Children's Nursery egg. He even makes cooing noises at it. Maybe it's some odd theory he thinks will help.

Xiang smiles at Sef before moving on herself, just drifting, not lingering by any one egg. None seem to hold her attention.

Carianna casts a look back at the stolen kiss egg then giggles softly. "Oh you know me, I'm just a romantic at heart." She comes to a stop next to Redus then smiles over at Mirr. "Go ahead, you never know there may be a hatchling in there wanting to get to know you better." Her gaze taking in the purple hue.

Jonas is drawn to one of the smaller eggs, its shell resembling in the night sky. He lowers himself so that he is eye level with the little diamonds. His finger traces imaginary lines, as if finding constellations on the egg. After a minute of two of caressing the egg, Jonas places his ear against the shell. His hands linger on the hard shell, fingers spread for more coverage.

Jenna looks up from where she kneels next to the Imaginary Feast egg and tells Redus with a hint of amusement, "Yeah, but did blue Jennath hatch from a colorful one? We never said." She pitches her voice a trifle louder and asks, "Weyrwoman? We were talking earlier, trying to guess how many of each color and all - does Jinieth even know?"

Sefaniah backs away hurriedly as he discovers that his egg too has another Candidate admirer. Two steps, three, and he turns, finding himself face to face with the Captain's Quarters, hands going out automatically to save himself and thumping against the shell. Frightened, he peers over at Jinieth, then ducks down below the egg's shell, kneeling against the crimson flames.

Leah shakes her head and shrugs, "I don't know, Jenna. If the dragons know, they sure don't tell us. I'm not sure they even care about the heirarchy of dragonhood. They know we care about it, though. I guarantee that."

Mirrari chuckles lightly, "I don't think, though, that Jinieth would be happy to find a Candidate corpse on her sands.." she says with a wink.

"Oh, I know ya alright, Petite." Redus says with a nod and a smile. He looks down at the egg that Mirrari is studying, raising a brow. "That is an interesting shade. See? I like the colors...and they aren't even painted. Funny how something natural produces such..well..images."

Rytran nearly trips over an egg that is almost buried in the sand, looking rather like a shadow of one of the others. Silently shrieking in chagrin, he sinks toward the egg, laying hands on it. He murmurs quietly, "I'm so sorry, dearest. I didn't mean to disturb you." He half-prostrates himself against the sand, resting his cheek on the visible end of the curious black-and-white swirled egg.

Rytran casts a glance toward Leah. "Yes, Ma'am - and I imagine they /don't/ approve." He smiles a little as he closes his eyes again, communing with the Curly Black Wig egg.

Mirrari grins and steps back from the eggs and waves for Redus to take her place. "Here have a look Redus, it's nice. I'm heading to see this one egg I remember seeing earlier."

Sefaniah ventures to stroke his egg, sice Jinieth hasn't eaten him yet, fingers tracing the flickering flames up to the encircling band of gold. "/Is/ there any way to tell what color'll come from which egg?" comes his abstracted voice. "Or are the people making bets just throwing away their marks?"

The heat of the sands finally becomes too much for Jen's knees and she pushes up, giving the Imaginary Feast egg a final pat. She says with a hint of humor, "Be a nice way to make a few marks though. Could you imagine Raeche's face if someone hit the exact numbers of each color hatched?" She rather enjoys this thought, to judge from her expression, as she moves on to the Teddy Bear egg.

Rytran grins rather wickedly up at Jenna, pullin himself to a sitting position on the sands. "I would pay good money to see it, Jen...and perhaps I already /have/." He winks.

Carianna chuckles as she hears Jenna and finds herself nodding. "I wonder how fast she can run from the stands and find a place to hide?" She peeks around Redus and finds another egg that claims her attention so heads in that direction.

Leah shrugs again, "Well, likely the larger eggs hold the larger dragons... bronzes and browns. Smaller eggs surely can't hold something that large, so likely those hold the blues and greens. The gold is usually pretty obvious... but I haven't been able to decide if we have one out here or not this time around. And she's protecting not one, but three eggs, so who knows what we'll have?"

Mirrari is meandering around the eggs and nearly misses a really small egg, nearly hidden by its neighbors, "Well well, what do we have here.." she murmers, kneeling to get a closer look at the small pale looking egg.

Rytran peers over at Leah, looking a bit nonplussed. All of a sudden he grin, then pulls a piece of wherhide from his pocket and scratches something on it with a stylus. "Ten....on..../two/ ...golds....." he is heard to mutter. A fool and his money are soon parted.

Jenna rather immaturely sticks her tongue out at Rytran. "Like you need any more marks." She gently raps the shell of the Teddy Bear egg murmuring, "You awake in there?" Carianna's comment produces a laugh. "Faster than I could, I bet, to protect her marks. She's Bitran after all." She tells Leah, "I've told Kate four bronzes - counting on Aisheth's Igen blood. I've heard they have a lot of bronzes, good stock and all. Think you could talk her into protecting another one to give me a bit of hope there, Weyrwoman?" Her tone is amused.

Leah laughs at Jenna and Rytran, "Hey, for all I know, she could be hiding two greens and a blue!"

Sef's head pops up from behind the egg, followed shortly by more of him as he stands. "Why is she guarding those three, ma'am? Have you asked her?" No, of course not. Why didn't Leah think to ask her? What a remarkable idea! "You have lovely eggs," he adds earnestly to the queen, rubbing his nose again as he glances over at Jen, then turns to head toward the eggs away from the Runner.

Rytran glances balefully at Leah, then at the great golden forelimb that appears to be cradling at least one egg. He quickly whips out the wherhide and scribbles furiously, heaving a sigh as he replaces it in his pocket. He smiles with relief.

Leah grins at Sefaniah, "I've asked and she's given me the basic, 'Because they need protecting' line. Golds are very elusive and secretive when they're guarding their eggs."

Redus listens to the others as he kneels beside the Hand Sewn egg, following the patterns of blue for the moment until he can't without having to move the egg. He switches to the whites. he has a smile on his face, whether it's because of what he feels with his fingers or what he's hearing would be hard to tell.

Carianna remembers something she heard long ago and glances over to ask aloud as she stands and moves on to another egg. "Is it true riders forget the color of eggs their hatchlings come from?"

Mirrari touches the small egg gently, fingers running over the slate hues and the greenish tints. "Oh dear.. it looks like you won't be a very big dragon, will you.. but that's okay." she says with a smile. Nananthia, her cousin, is enraptures as always with the golden hues of the Fairydust Egg.

Jenna grins at Leah and brushes a bit more sand off the Teddy Bear egg, before moving in Sefaniah's wake. Might as well devil the mud-wearing candidate while he's out here. She asks, "What do you think about that one, Sef?" She nods towards the Got to Crow egg.

Leah shakes her head at Carianna, holding up a hand with a single ring on it, "At Fort, we never forget." She winks.

Jonas reluctantly stands from his current egg and heads off the sands grumbling something about cleaning ashes.

Jonas leaves the sands, walking up the stairs to the galleries.
Jonas has left.

From the gallery, Jonas goes down the stairs to the Bowl.

Sefaniah scowls over his shoulder at Jenna, but angles toward the garish egg anyway. "This one? Pink /and/ green? Eugh." He settles one palm over a slash of orange and shakes his head sadly. "Raeche thinks there's a gold in here. /I/ think Raeche is a wherry. No gold'd come out of an egg that looks like this."

Jenna pointedly puts her hands behind her back. "Really? Well, you never know. Is it big enough? I've only seen one gold hatch, and that was Elynth. Her egg was /huge/." She moves instead to a neighbor and examines that shell.

Carianna ohs as she hears Leah then nods and goes back to admiring the egg before her. An ear is pressed to it and she smiles thinking she heard something. Arms reach around but fail to encompass the large shell.

Mirrari leans in closer to the little slateroofed egg and presses an ear to it, her hands stroking around the shell. "Hello, are you in here?" she murmers.

Rytran chuckles as he glances down at the Wild Child egg, crouching beside it and tracing its riot of colors lightly with an index finger. He sits this way for a long time, smiling at the squiggles of yellow, the splotches of orange, the swirls of green. He looks up at Jinieth and grins, "Nice work, lass!" before leaning in to press his ear against the egg.

Redus rises from his knees, brushes the sand from his trous and leaves the Hand Sewn egg. He begins weaving slowly through the clutch, touching this egg or that, maybe stopping to study the 'designs' the colors make on another. As he goes he counts quietly.

Jinieth yawns widely and lifts her head, both eyes actually open and looking at the Candidates now.

A rather noisy little fight breaks out between a couple of younger candidates, one choking back tears as he's teased by the others about his favorite egg.

Carianna catches Jinieth's movements from the corner of her eye then glances up at Leah again with questioning eyes. "Does she want us to continue Ma'am?"

Leah looks up at her dragon, then around at the Candidates, "Alright, I think that's enough for today. Jinieth's awake and she's wanting to tend to her children." She slids off the golden arm as the dragon rises to a sitting position and stretches a bit.

Jenna sneaks up behind the two squabbling youngsters and flicks each one of them on the ear, before continuing on for a quiet word with the upset one, walking him off the sands.

Carianna ohs reluctantly as she stands then dusts some sands off her skirt before making her way to the large gold then dips another curtsey. "Thank you for letting us get to know your young Jinieth." Quietly she turns and makes her way back towards the stairs.

You walk off the sands, escaping to the cooler floor of the Bowl.