With two golds wandering the sands, and one being rather overprotective of "her space", the clutching grounds of Dragonhope were a bit stressed. Anyath hissed at Daekith every time she walked by, but this time it was extra intense.

Because Daekith hissed right back.

I must clutch some time! Get yourself and those eggs over to the hatching circle! That's where they belong, look, they're shaking! Daekith growled and swept her tail over the trembling orbs.

Anyath was at first shocked but then suddenly her mind turned to her own babies - They're hatching! Sakabatouth! Call the candidates and the weyrleaders!

Oh, now you're all ready to move them, grumbled Daekith. She waited just long enough for Anyath to roll her eight eggs over to the front area of the hatching sands, and then began moving the fine grain sands around to her liking. She would alternately watch the hatching, and bring her rider in for help while she clutched.

While the bronze lifted his head and bellowed to the weyr, Gemtia showed up with one or two candidates herself. They hurried down to the front of the sands, where the stone of the mountain cradled the sands. The sand was thinner there, and easier to stand upon. But everyone knew that the candidates and dragons would pair up in the deeper drifts where it was almost blistering hot.

S'xon and Kira came down shortly, both with big smiles on their faces. Perhaps they had placed bets on this clutch, like everyone else. There was the pale color on that one egg, and certainly that had to mean a gold. However there were always folks who decided that it might mean a big bronze, or even twins. Weirder things had happened on other sands, so ...

T'lcin arrived on the back of his bronze - who was still trumpeting, deafening the trio of candidates he brought down with him. The kids were confused, where to put their hands - on the dragon to stay clinging to his back? Or over their ears, to prevent them from going deaf!

The group of candidates, nearly double the number of eggs, knew that some would have to wait for the next clutch. Of course, Daekith's clutch was being deposited as they watched the eggs shake - that made all of them happy.

As everyone got settled, everyone save the drudges and cooks and hunters, who had their hands full planning the feast and the prepared bowls of meat for the hatchlings, the dragons of Dragonhope Weyr hummed loudly. Their voices combined and provoked the first egg to hatch!

A brilliantly colored green stuck her head out of her shell, smacking it back and forth and finally using her wings to push herself out of the small opening. She slid onto the sands, but then continued to slide down, almost looking legless in the process. Her strong legs were already able to carry her smoothly off to Nacime, where she halted. Still coated in the wet egg-stuff, she raised her glimmering head.

Nacime, you are mine. I am Opheodrith.

"Let's get you clean, I bet you're hungry!" The gang member said, and looked at her friend Limeda, who bounced in spite of herself with eagerness.

While a green starting off a clutch wasn't heralded as much of a surprise, the fact that the next egg that broke was a bronze did make some people gasp. He swaggered up to a dark haired young man, and up in the stands S'xon could be seen nudging his wife and muttering something to her. Her eyes grew wide, and as Krume looked into the swirling blue-red eyes of his bronze dragonet, Kira threatened to leave her seat and do something rash. S'xon, laughing, sat her down again and watched as Krume announced his dragonet.

"He is Saidainoth," Krume said with a big grin, "I guess I'll be staying for a while, huh?"

S'xon laughed loudly, and the rest of the audience applauded.

A few moments later, two blues hatched at the same time, bumping into one another in and out of the egg. One sat down and began to dry his wings, while the other looked out with foggy faceted eyes at the candidates. He'd have started walking toward someone, but a ashy-brown flitter suddenly swept over his head and landed on his shoulders. Chittering loudly the firelizard made the blue comedically walk backwards and try to see, craning his neck around.

An exasperated sigh from the girls later, Jöisann came striding from the group of girls. She swatted at the flitter, and apologized. "I'm so sorry Bizuth, he's always doing things like that."

Then she gasped and put her hands over her mouth - realizing that she was impressed to the blue!

Laughing and applauding, the onlookers saw that the other blue was done preening and was now looking over the male candidates. They were attentive to him, but as their training taught they were not allowed to crowd the hatchling. Their white robes were enough to intrigue the blue, but their faces were what he was looking at.

Not you, not him, not that one either. You! I can help you. We should learn everything. That way we can be prepared for anything! The blue told Kede, who smiled and laughed himself.

"Finally, and you're right, but I've already learned a lot Keszitenith - I've been waiting a long time for you!" It was true, his half sister Deladien had already paired up long before, and watched in the upper area of the stands with her own blue.

By the time everyone noticed that the colored egg was swinging around, a brown dragonet had burst from his egg with some amount of fury. He spun and turned on the egg shell, patting at the sand around it and nudging the shards of it into a heap with his nose. Then, with sand coating the end of his muzzle and his forepaws all the way up to his elbows, he started walking around.

He was a bit confused, and his eyes spun red. Why do they laugh at me!? Humans are mean! I was only trying to keep the egg from hurting anyone else - it is sharp!

"I know, Ovatosanth, but it's hard to get anyone to understand why we do some of the things we do," Said Aterrie. Now A'rie, he embraced the brown and began to brush some of the sand off from his nose.

Of the three eggs left, two were dwarfed by the third. And it was moving the most. Though the other two showed signs of imminent bursting, the biggest one did crack open loudly. There were creels of anger and hunger coming from inside, a demanding voice.

The girls all moved in a little, but R'vfen gave a cough and they backed away a bit. There was indeed a golden hide within that egg. Her rump and wing ends were visible by now, and finally she tumbled out back end first onto the hot sand. Angrily she turned over, coating herself in the fine yellow-white sand and then flinging it everywhere with an energetic dog-shake. Everyone, especially the girls nearest, threw their arms up to avoid being blinded by the flying sand.

All except for one. Grezka approached and even the weyrling master did not intervene. The time-lost girl from Seiryuu gulped and blinked at the slowly moving gold. Suddenly the dragonet snapped her wings up, splashing more sand everywhere, and she assumed a strange position on the sand. As though her wings were mantling something, and her head was down, switching back and forth and glaring at everyone.

None shall pass, except you Grezka! I am Kesshotenth, I want to be your heart and soul - can you let me do that? I'll guard it like a goalie... Though it was clear that she didn't quite understand what 'goalie' meant.

Grezka exclaimed "SCORE!!" And then practically dove down into the sand by her dragon. They tussled, a rather un-gold-like move, but then they both came up with shining eyes. Grezka announced, "this is Kesshotenth, the guys are gonna be soooo jealous!"

With much excitement on the stands, it sounded more like a hockey game than a hatching. Back in the rear portion of the sands, Daekith and Talenth and their riders muttered about all the noise, but who could blame everyone?

Especially when the last two eggs hatched - a brown and a blue! It was about the time that Tiodon stopped cheering for the gold rider, that he noticed the smallish blue hatchling sitting patiently by his side.

What's everyone cheering about? The blue asked him.

"There's a new queen - your sister. Everyone cheers when there's a queen dragon."

Why not cheer when I'm here? I'm your dragon.

"I know Hylath, I'm sure that everyone will cheer us too." He looked up and yelled, "This is HYLATH!" Startling some of the nearby candidates, who laughed and congratulated him.

The brown, last on the sands and clearly now the focus of everyone's attention, paced around quite a while before abandoning the boy's side of the circle, and heading toward the girls. This was not unusual around here, but clearly to some visitors a brown impressing a girl was out of the ordinary. He approached Aysa.

I will help you protect your things, and we will protect a weyr when we are trained.

"That's right, Kadambath, we will! I bet you'll be able to help dig with the gardeners before you're too big, too."

I will like doing that! I had to dig out of my shell!

Laughing, Aysa and her brown left the sands and left everyone cheering. The hatching was over, there were still a handfull of people left to pair, but the eggs in the back of the sands were now halfway dropped and hardening.

"How many so far, Daekith?" Asked her rider.

Six so far, and more on the way, the queen asserted. She growled at Anyath as the other queen pranced by to gloat.

Gold, and bronze and only one green, the queen said, practically taunting the other gold. Beat that.

I will certainly do better than you! I have more on the way! And more is better! Daekith bellowed and gave an angry trumpet as her seventh egg was deposited in the shallow nest.

*** Congratulations to the new riders!***