It was a big place, this Ryslen. Everyone had heard of it, of course, especially at the Healing Den. Baeris' favorite dragons - and people - tended to be there, more often than not. Of course they also spread out to Vella Crean, Cy and the rest, but from the way that Baeris always reacted to the big pawed, high-crested dragons, Cryten thought that she'd like what happened here.

When Cryten got there, he was greeted by several human-folk, and a host of others. Escorted to the dorms for the waiting candidates, he marvelled at the beauty of this still-being-carved site.

But what he really marvelled at were the dragons sitting on the sands. Their clutches of eggs were separate, and the mothers seemed to guard them casually but firmly. There were four, but only the one seemed agitated about having people near her nest.

She paced around, and sat again, then got up and moved her eggs.

"She's the last on the sands," Cryten said to someone, and they nodded.

"Yes, her eggs are freshly lain, so when the others hatch she'll probably feel a little more comfortable."

"When the others hatch, she'll be in a tizzy." Cryten said. His guide furrowed his brows and glanced at the half-cheetah.

"Why do you say that? She'll be happy to have those others out of her way."

"Of course she will," Cryten pointed out. "But in the mean time, there will be a hoard of people here every time one of the eggs so much as twitches.

"... that's a good point," he said, and they went away on their tour.

Eventually, over the course of only a week or so, one of the smaller clutches was announced as hatching. It was clear that everyone had an interest in this nest - they were Hathian dragons coming from Ryslen's sands, a very rare occasion indeed. However, he'd also heard of the big Azon hatching that had a couple too. This was good - it meant new blood for Hath's Warren. But honestly, Cryten knew that he wouldn't be bonding at that nest. He and the other candidates, all save a few night-dwelling vampires, came down and waited. He was right, too, there were only a half dozen eggs, and none of their hatchlings came to Cryten, even though there was one unbonded of them.

Little more than ten days later, however, the next - slightly larger - nest was trembling. The mother was a pretty pastel-rainbow, and the sire was a gorgeous Ryslen Flurry copper. Cryten could only guess what kinds of colors would come from this nest.

And he didn't have to wait long to find out, either. Because the very first egg of this nest broke open to reveal a large-brown sized hatchling, male. He had silver wings, and his hide shone brightly in pinks, oranges and yellows. He looked as though he were going to head toward the candidates, but then suddenly turned to look at one egg.

There was an odd blackness, a shadow, crossing the egg.

Cryten! The dragon bespoke to him, nothing more. There was such intimacy in the sending, so strong an idea, that Cryten didn't even need to ask any more.

"I see, Kaalerith," and Cryten moved to the other egg. He swept the dark thing away from the bright egg, and the moment that he did so, the egg snapped open. She'd be a beautiful dragoness herself, but she wasn't meant for Cryten.

He already had his bond. Proudly, Cryten and Kaalerith strode out of the red sands into the kitchens. "You did the right thing, showing me that. She'd never have been able to break through, if he'd been sitting there all day."

Indeed, Kaalerith nodded, as he dug into his first meal hungrily. Cryten's mouth was watering at the sight of the meat, too... He would have to decide whether he'd be civilized, or Kin.

At the moment, of course, since his instincts and his dragon were so strong and new, he dug into his own bowl of cut meat, surprising many at the kitchens.

"What about the feast?!" Someone whined, and Cryten lifted his head out of the bowl with bloody chin.

"I can eat then too!" he laughed.

***

It was while Cryten and Kaalerith were practicing their flight readiness, that the Kin-type had a strange feeling in his head. Almost like bonding again - but not. He and his dragon both looked to the sky, and saw an arrival of a blue dragon to the caldera.

"That's a familiar dragon," Cryten said.

"WATCH YOUR WINGS!" Yelled the fledge master, and Cryten narrowly ducked down as Kaalerith folded his wings to avoid crashing into another dragon pair.

That was close, he bespoke, why did you distract me like that? What is wrong?

"Nothing's wrong, Kaalerith, it's a visitor."

Not just any visitor, it looked as though Wildstorm had been brought by Vanya, another Zekiran. When they landed (and were thoroughly chastised for being all head-in-the-clouds instead of eyes-on-the-dragons) Cryten rushed down to the landing area. Kaalerith landed near him, still breathless from their flight and near crash.

So this is she.... you have dwelled upon her image for days at a time. Sometimes I wonder if you like her more than you like me...

"Kaalerith," sighed Cryten, "this is Wildstorm, and no I do not, you big lump. I could never. Sorry -" he spoke to the tailed Zekiran immortal, "he thinks that you might be competition for my attention."

Wildstorm grew a naughty grin, "I might be."

"We're not allowed, not until the dragons are older," Cryten warned. But his own grin was pretty big too. "So you're here to visit?"

"I'm here to pair with a dragon," Wildstorm said, "I just couldn't get it out of my mind. What's it like? Father's dragon is different from these Ryslen ones, aren't they?"

Cryten laughed at all her questions, and eventually brought her down to Jeyann's office for official paperwork.

.