A small selection of candidates had been located for the small selection of eggs upon the warm sands. Their white and blue parents were hardly what anyone would say were nervous. They were happy - joyous even - because their eggs were now hatching! It was a clear mid-afternoon, late in spring.

When the female began to sing, her voice was shortly drowned out by the energetic crooning of her mate. Mulgoith's rider wondered under her breath but aloud, that it was a good thing they were to split up later... There was only so much of him they could take. There would be other mates, other men, this had all been such an experience!

Kira and her husband S'xon brought candidates into the sands cavern, along with the kitchen helpers who ran behind with bowls of fresh cut fish and red meats. This was one of the few Weyrs in the world, they surmised, that the hatchlings got a good dose of healthy fish with almost every meal - they were known for being smart, too... Go figure.

Mulgoith crooned to her rider, they will be beautiful, my children! I chose well, you will see!

"I believe you," Aerwyn sighed. Their time at this frigid northern Weyr was almost up. But it would end with a great party!

There were as usual quite a few more candidates than eggs. Some of the young people brought in knew that they just weren't going to pair up at this hatching. And then again, they looked at a couple of the others - and knew they would be.

S'xon watched as a crowd of locals and weyrfolk assembled. It was rare to have a lot of foreign folk at the hatchings, and certainly a good number of holders or other weyr leaders wouldn't acknowledge the presence of a white on the sands... Let alone one which was allowed to breed.

Such it was, though. And S'xon knew that this batch of candidates were as varied as they could be. One brought through time, another practicing healing techniques, others from scattered holds and weyrs. It was a good group.

The eggs shook and one bashed its way open with some amount of force. It was a stunning blue, he held his head up and shook off the muck from inside his shell. Then he walked past all the boys. He looked carefully at their feet, sniffed their hands. But he carefully avoided making eye contact with any of them until he came upon Jeren.

You - are mine. I will be with you, and I think you are wonderful.

"How do you know I'm wonderful, Trofasth, we've only just met!" J'ren said. His friend Bri'onie in the stands, a search rider, clapped her hands and cheered for him. She knew that he'd impress!

Then, two eggs trembled and both showed green on the inside. A leg here, a snout in the other... Both broke open at about the same time, sisters that could only be told apart by their size. Neither would be big, even for greens - they were a white's offspring after all. But the bigger of the pair tried to clean herself off, hindered a bit by the smaller of the two.

As she tried to dry her wings, the smaller green snuck up behind her, bowled her over, and ran - covered in wet sand and shell goo - right up to Zendrell.

Z'dre! Are you as pleased to meet me as I am to meet you?

"I'm pretty sure I am, but that was kind of mean." Z'dre said.

But you like pranks - and I think I will help you do some good ones!

"All right, Oblacith, I guess... But be careful. And, couldn't you do what your sister is doing? Maybe clean off a little? You're messy!"

As they left for the food bowls, the other larger green daintily picked herself up and shook off the sand again. She glanced over the girls, and wove around them until she found Maku.

That was really uncalled for, wasn't it? The dragonet asked.

"I think so, Kokochith, I'm pretty sure that we should stay away from them. I'm kind of glad they'll be in the boys dorm..."

There were only two eggs left, and people were beginning to wonder if the white was more common than her hide betrayed? But still... the candidates shifted around to the larger of the eggs when it started to bounce around. It wasn't much bigger than the first, the blue's size, but inside it was surely a rough and tumble hatchling! Eager enough to get out - but stuck!

Finally, though, the egg shell burst apart to reveal ...

"Wow," breathed Grugrantal. "He's beautiful."

"How do you know it's a he?" Kede asked.

The dragonet was white, pale like his mother. He rolled about on the sands a little, resting his legs from having kicked his way out. But then, he stood, and something became obvious pretty quickly. He was not just white. His wing sails were tinged with a darkish blue! A two-colored dragon! And a white mix at that!

He strutted over to where Grugrantal stood, and proudly gave a bit of a salute with his forepaw. His wings were still a bit wet, and heavy enough that he couldn't lift them all the way yet.

What's a goalie? Can I see a puck? Do they have ice here? What's ice? Why are you laughing?

"Garretth, I'm just happy is all!" Gr'ant announced. His dragon had the same icy look as a hockey rink's lines!

Up in the stands, S'xon glanced at Ar'wen, grinned, and said, "You didn't bring the rest of his team - he's been dying to play this hockey-game thing of his. We've no lack of ice, apparently."

"I'm so completely glad I didn't bring them," he said. "They'd be hooting and yelling like mad about now..."

With that done, everyone watched the sands again. There was one smaller egg left, and it was moving slowly. It hadn't sped up, nor slowed down, the whole time.

It was when two flits - large and dangerous looking - came swooping over the heads of those in the stands, that one of the candidates moved toward the egg. Endicte was her name, tortured with grief and disaster through her young life. The monsterous flitters kept all the other candidates away, as she walked onto the mound of sand.

As the shell broke away, it revealed its contents only to Endicte. Her dangerous flits snarled and flared their wings, and kept even the records keeper from making her notes properly.

Between the hatchling and the twice-widowed girl, words passed quickly. The dragonet was sure, confident.

White. Pure, blazing white. She was much smaller than her male duo-colored clutch mate, but she held herself with the strength that her impressed bond did. The blue and copper flitters calmed down in a moment, when they decided others could look.

"Her name is Shiaith," Endicte announced curtly. They walked through the rest of the unbonded candidates, who backed away at the hissing of the flitters.

"Well that was... different," L'go said to the records keeper Ilina. She nodded, and wrote the name and color in her booklet.

"Two rares, that's a proud mother for you," Kira said to Mulgoith's rider Aerwyn. "That's more than our sands have seen by half."

With congratulations for most, and a bit of fear toward the female white and her rider, the feasting began at sundown and didn't let up until midnight!

*** Congratulations!