The Second Hatching

Writers: Emma, Heather
Date Posted: 26th February 2021

Characters: Saibra, K'reyel
Description: Chioneth and Erdenth's clutch hatches, and it is anything but ordinary.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 9, day 3 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Jadirah, Ashela, Kesricaur, Gienah, Rikola, Tyrael, Kadira

Saibra

K'reyel

Alone. Quiet. The calm before the storm.

Saibra sat in the front row of the stands in the Hatching Cavern, watching
as Chioneth's head swayed over her clutch, as if she were counting each egg
to make sure none had vanished overnight.

**I'm going to go change.** Saibra told Chioneth, smiling a little when the
Queen couldn't be bothered to respond.

She didn't always know when the eggs were about to hatch, but there had been
patterns that occurred before each of Chioneth's hatchings over the last
several turns - the counting of the eggs being one of them.

Saibra inhaled deeply, savoring the silence, knowing that the next time she
came into the caverns things would be quite different.

By the time Saibra reached her weyr, the vibrating hum had begun to seep
through the cliffs of Dragonsfall. She was just relieved that, unlike
Aglayath and Ashela, she and Chioneth would not have to worry about another
queen being on the Sands during the hatching.

Dressed in a form fitting, rich indigo dress that showed off the Weyrwoman's
newly trim figure, Saibra pinned her cascade of shiny black hair over one
shoulder and walked to K'reyel's weyr while putting her earrings in.

"All set?" she asked, knocking on his door and pushing the portal open.

"Just about," he called out. K'reyel was finishing shining his boots before
slipping them on. "It's that time again."

"It is. My only wish for today is that it's a perfectly _normal_ hatching."
Saibra could still easily remember the green dragonet that had died at one
of Erdenth and Chioneth's hatchings. Today, Saibra didn't care if every
dragonet in the clutch was a green, as long as they were all healthy and all
impressed to a lifemate.

"I don't think Chioneth will accept anything other than normality today."
K'reyel grinned as he fastened his boots. "A hatching, and then a feast in
her honour."

"Let's hope so," Saibra said, extending her hand to K'reyel.

--

When the Weyrleaders arrived in the Hatching Cavern it was already alive
with the noise of people in the stands and dragons humming. Applause rippled
across those gathered as K'reyel and Saibra took their places.

Chioneth, who had been quite the handful at Aglayath's hatching, seemed calm
and collected as she perched beside her bronze mate, her great golden
head swaying in time to the humming.

More applause rose from the crowd as the gates opened and Candidates floated
onto the Sands in their snowy white robes. A couple of the Candidates bore
stitches or bandages from run-ins with dragonets at Aglayath's hatching.
They didn't seem as nervous, however, having experienced another Hatching
less than a month prior.

It was with satisfaction that Saibra noted the sheer number of Candidates
that were being packed onto the Sands. There would be no dragonets lacking a
lifemate this time.

The fever pitch of the dragons' humming suddenly quit and in the deafening
silence the first crack of an egg could be heard.

The crowd gathered sucked in a breath, waiting to see what the first
dragonet would be....

"A brown!" Saibra laughed with a delighted clap of her hands as the dragonet
spilled onto the Sands, eagerly shaking his soft, round body to clear it of
egg shells.

The Candidates scrambled to get out of the heavyset dragonet's way as he
turned his umber head this way and that, trying to snake it around a nearby
group of Candidates to see if his rider was there.

}:There you are,:{ Remiath said with a huff, butting Gienah out of the way
with his head to sit down in front of Kesricaur- now K'aur.

K'aur whooped and announced his dragon. "Remiath!"

A blue dragon, and a bronze dragon were making their way over to a small
knot of boys who were eagerly spreading out in the hope that one of them
would be chosen. But it was a tiny green that they all should have been
watching, she had a definite person in mind, and nothing was going to stop
her, until she plopped herself down on the sands next to Gienah. }:I found
you,:{ she announced.

Saibra winced when Gienah was knocked out of the searching brown's way, but
her expression quickly morphed into a smile as Gienah declared her green
dragonet's name. "Esieth!"

Members of the Weyrlingstaff fluttered on the perimeter of the Sands,
helping new riders and their dragons.

A healthy sized bronze dragonet split from his shell and with surprising
agility, darted toward the white-robed figures on the other end of the
Sands. A group of girls, standing in a loose circle around a green dragonet,
had their back to the barreling bronze.

"Oh no," Saibra winced, jumping to her feet with the rest of the crowd as
the dragonet knocked a girl to the ground, laying open a deep gash down the
length of her left arm.

The green dragonet in the circle of girls trumpeted in annoyance at the
bronze.

"It's okay, Puleunth," Rikola consoled her new lifemate.

Saibra's eyes went from the newly Impressed green Weyrling, to the Candidate
who was pushing herself to her feet, blood running from her arm to drip onto
the boiling Sands. **Kadira!** She recognized her friend's daughter with a
leap in her heart.

A male Candidate stepped over to help Kadira, letting her lean against him
as they began to cross the Sands towards the Weyrlingstaff.

}:Wait! Wait!:{ a large, handsome cobalt dragonet flared his wings out as he
awkwardly hopped toward the two retreating Candidates.

Saibra recognized the male Candidate as Tyrael, bluerider T'kev's nephew.

"That blue must belong to Tyrael," she said to K'reyel.

Tyrael drew to a stop and turned with Kadira, looking at the blue that
approached them. His heart fluttered. **He's coming to me?**

"I need someone to take her!" Tyrael called to the Weyrlingstaff, who had
already made their way onto the Sands to come and help Kadira.

The Weyrlingstaff, a greenrider, put her arm around Kadira's shoulders.
"Come on, dear, we'll take you off and get that arm bandaged."

As Tyrael drew apart from Kadira, he took a step toward the blue with an
outstretched hand.

The cobalt dragonet used his wing to sweep Tyrael aside, his eyes whirling
in panic as the boy's body crumpled to the ground. }:Where are you going with my rider?:{ he demanded, following after the greenrider.

"Wait!" Kadira shoved the greenrider off, turning large eyes onto the blue
dragonet. "I can... I can hear him."

A hush fell across the Hatching Cavern.

}:You are injured.:{ Ishath crooned, stretching out his arrow-shaped head
toward Kadira's arm.

"I'm ... It's fine, Ishath." Although she spoke the words, they came out on
autopilot as her brain tried to absorb what was happening.

In the Stands, Saibra stood beside of K'reyel with her mouth open, her brow
furrowed as she watched Kadira put her good arm around the blue's neck.

"Is she..? Did he...? But that's impossible. Girls don't Impress blues."

**Chioneth?** Saibra's eyes swung to her dragon.

}:Hm? What is it?:{ Chioneth asked, seemingly undisturbed.

**Is that blue Kadira's lifemate?**

}:The dragon decides. He says his rider is Kadira. Also he is worried about
her arm and he hopes that her injury won't hinder his meal.:{ Chioneth
relayed the words with the affectionately amused tone of a mother.

The moment Ishath and Kadira left the Sands the crowd erupted in a buzz of
noise.

"Did we really just see that?" K'reyel said softly in the moment before the
crowd erupted. "Did he just choose Jadirah's daughter?"

"Chioneth says he did. We should go see them." Saibra said, even as people
in the Stands began milling about, some trickling out of the cavern to head
for the Dining Cavern while others bundled up in groups to talk about the
"female bluerider".

"After you Weyrwoman," K'reyel offered Saibra his arm. "What was it you had
said about normality?"

Saibra looped her arm through K'reyel's, glad for his solid, level-headed
presence. "Ha. Yes, normal. Apparently our clutches don't know the meaning
of the word."

Last updated on the February 5th 2024

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The Second Hatching