From Death to Life ( AKETH'S HATCHING!- Complete )

.: Serenity :.

One moment, all was well. The next, everything had gone wrong. There was a flash of light, a bright snow white form leaping through the clutch. The high cry which came from it, filled with rage, echoed in Serenity's ears as the dragon leaped upon it's black pearl sibling, tearing into her. Serenity's heart felt as though it had stopped when the queen's screams abruptly died out in a bubbling wheeze. "No, Goddess, please, no" The words fell from her lips as she watched the pair, that moment of stillness revealing a diamond king tearing at the queen's throat. The queen hooked her babyish claws into him, using her final moments of life to ensure that her killer went with her into the black of death between.

Serenity's knees buckled, sending her to the ground as she stared at the blood soaked sand where a moment ago had been a gleaning beautiful queen. She didn't see the other queen scrambling into the stands, choosing one of the other earth-born as her rider. The young woman's mind was reeling, struggling to process what had just happened.

..:Amelia:.. Tag: Theodore/Red

The breath that Amelia had been holding forcefully expelled itself in a choked gasp. One moment, there were two young queens gracing the Sands, and the next…

She clapped her hands over her ears, squeezed her eyes shut, and moaned, but nothing could block out the horrific keening of the dragons or the sudden ache in her heart. She didn’t even know the lost pearl—none of them did—but the sense of overwhelming despair was tangible. Amelia’s body gave a violent shudder, but she forced her eyes open. The scene before her was blurred by tears, for which she would later be grateful.

Splatters of ichor and a shattered shell were all that remained of the dark pearl and her diamond attacker. Kaira lay bleeding on the hot sand, surrounded by a knot of attending healers. The light-colored queen, at least, seemed unharmed, though she cowered in the stands behind Aura.

”What…” Amelia began, plaintive and feeling abruptly dull-witted. The world tilted dangerously around her, and she lurched to one side before righting herself. She shook her head in attempt to clear the fog that had settled upon her shoulders and tried to ease her rapid, shallow breaths into deeper, gentler ones.

Ignoring Pernese convention—and, by the determined set of her mouth, daring someone to comment on it—she swayed across the sands to the boys, finding Teddy and latching on to his hand as though it were a lifesaver. ”Oh, Teddy,” she whispered, leaning heavily into his shoulder. She could hardly bear to look toward the hatchlings now. Some deep part of her was still reeling with instinctive horror while the rest of her mind attempted to process what she’d just witnessed. ”Oh, God.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her baby sister fall to her knees, and her free arm stretched out toward Serenity.

..:Navelon:..

The sound the diamond made is what alerted Nav to trouble. He’d been so focused on calming, hopeful thoughts that he might of missed it, but after turns of hearing the many and varied vocalizations of dragons, that particular one caught at him immediately. He’d never, in all his turns at the Weyr, heard a dragon make a sound like that.

His eyes snapped over to the barreling form of the diamond, his mouth forming a silent outcry as the rogue hatchling lunged at its sister. He had witnessed the tragic loss of dragon life more than once at Hatchings, but never something so malicious, so intentional as this. Dragons simply did not behave in such a manner. He was utterly flabbergasted.

The keen struck him to his core, and although many chaotic events were unfolding around him, all he could do was stare mutely at the spot where the pearl and diamond no longer were. His mouth closed, opened, and closed again, as did his fingers as they curled reflexively into fists. No. This…this wasn’t right. Was there something wrong with this clutch?

Sudden fear gripped him. He looked in silent askance at Aketh. She should have known, should have felt that something was amiss with that diamond. Would there be others? Who else would be imperiled today? He felt a surge of irrational anger—Hatchings were dangerous, true, but it was only due to accidental blunders or Candidate’s idiocy. There wasn’t supposed to be such wickedness, not from dragons!

His head swiveled around, gaze seeking the knowledgeable riders. What would they make of this?

It took her a moment, the voice didn't break through the darkness right away. The voice didn't, but the name did. Eternity turned to see the back of the other Candidates, then, not even bothering to wipe her face, she darted around them and to the front. "Cvath, he's gone!" she attempted to call, but her voice was muffled. Cvath, he's gone. He... He's not going to come back. But... Where are you? I can't see you... She looked around the Sands desperately. There was a flurry of activity, as three more baby dragons burst out of their shells, and it distracted Eternity just a little. But she could feel it. There was a light, fighting off the darkness. It had to be the voice in her head, her dragon, but she couldn't find her!

She took the moment to wipe her face with the sleeve of her robe, which had somehow come out of the whole experience in one piece. Then, she looked over and saw a piece of eggshell moving about, almost on its own. She couldn't quite make out the shape behind it, her vision was still blurred by her tears. But something was there. "Cvath, is that you?" she asked aloud. "I'm here Cvath, over here!"

Gavin watched as the first hatched of the clutch found who she was looking for. The emerald Impressed Jena, who, in something the books got right, announced the dragonet’s name, Tinkth, and headed off to get her food. Of the two dragonets remaining on the Sands, the topaz didn’t seem very interested in Impressing; he was still sitting there as if he expected his rider to come find him. On the other hand, the sapphire was searching through the boys with intention, if not a clear destination. Gavin didn’t have long to watch them; two more eggs hatched one after the other, producing not two but three dragonets. The singleton was a pale, lilac-toned amethyst with a distinct rainbow sheen to her hide, but what fascinated Gavin was the twin emeralds. Eggtwins were supposed to be very rare and to have both survive in such a small egg was amazing. He would have been sure that at least one would die due to lack of resources in the egg.

The emerald twins were so beautiful yet different. One was a pale sap green that was nearly white with a spot of nearly black forest green on her forehead, the other just the opposite, mostly the deep forest green with a nearly white spot. They both agreed on a direction though and headed into the boys. The dark green didn’t seem to know where she wanted to go yet, but the light green pranced purposefully through the boys, coming closer and closer to Gavin. Was she coming for him? She stopped at his feet with a happy warble and stared adoringly upward, into his eyes.

G'vin! I'm so glad I found you! Can we get some food now? Your Ashath is very hungry. Breaking out of that egg with Amyth was HARD.

For a moment he could only stare at the tiny, perfect emerald, his breath taken away.

“Of course, Ashath. I’m sure Amyth will find her rider fine without us. You’re the most wonderful dragon I’ve ever heard of.” G’vin turned towards the feeding stations and called her name again, still enthralled by his lifemate. Eternity’s congratulations barely got through to him, but he did respond.
“Thank you, and good luck. I have to go feed her now, she’s so hungry and worn out.” He and Ashath headed to one of the feeding stations. When they reached the meat, G’vin picked through the pieces, setting aside any that he thought were too large for Ashath and posed a risk of her choking. Even though he could tell how ravenous she was, G’vin didn’t let her gobble the meat bits that passed his inspection.

“Chew Ashath, I mean it. I can’t have you choking.” He patted the emerald on the head, softening his reprimand and felt the tackiness of drying egg fluid on her hide.

“Weyrlingmistress , is there any way I can give Ashath a quick bath after she eats? She’s covered in egg fluid and that’s going to be hard to get off if it dries on her.” The Impressions of the amethyst, sapphire, and topaz out on the Sands didn’t get much of G’vin’s attention; he was too focused on feeding Ashath and not letting her impatience get the better of them. Even so, the hatching of the two queen eggs was enough to make him look up for a moment at the pearls. Like Ashath and Amyth, those two were almost opposites, the larger one black and the smaller a sandy, near white tan.

A screech broke the peace of the Hatching Sands and from the third largest egg, a pure white form dashed toward the black pearl. G’vin couldn’t figure out what it was for too long, until it bowled over the queen and she screamed. The scream gave way to a bubbling sound that made G’vin’s stomach lurch. The diamond, for that was what it had to be, had torn out the black pearl’s throat. Had he thought she was an onyx? Why else would he attack? The mortally wounded pearl disappeared Between dragging the attacking diamond with her and G’vin heard dragons, including his own Ashath keen. She shouldn’t have to mourn for her siblings, not new-hatched like this. The tawny pearl darted for the Stands and didn’t emerge, but there was no more keening, so she must have Impressed.

The rest of the eggs had paused in their shaking as the dragons mourned, but resumed their shaking after and three eggs released their contents. Another sapphire, this one more navy in tone, another amethyst, royal instead of lilac, but with the same sheen as her sister, and the clutch’s first quartz all headed toward the candidates. Two went toward the girls and one to the boys, though the rosy quartz turned around and went back to the boy’s side, stopping at Amelia, who had walked over there at some point. G’vin felt his hand butted hard by Ashath and he went back to feeding her.

Serenity? Why do you just Stand there? Berylth is hungry... The gentle complaint and query came from behind the young girl, but quickly resolved itself into the second Amethyst, who slid around her rider's legs and moved to look up at her, her head cocked ever so faintly in confusion.

I'm coming, Eternity. Please don't leave... Cvath could not stand it if you left... Her voice remained small and shaky, and the egg continued its slow, burdensome trek towards where Cvath could now sense her rider to be. As she reached her, her lack of sight caused her to bump the egg into her, and as if that was all the stress the delicate shell could take, it spiderwebbed, then cracked cleanly in half, revealing a TINY little thing, pale gray in tone with a shimmering, almost faceted looking hide. Looking at her, it was obvious her twin had taken up most of the resources in the egg, for she was at least half the size Demonth had been, and beautifully built, with the classic, rather bulky tone that female Diamonds-for that's what she was-possessed. But the tone of her hide was new, the Weyr used to seeing only the brilliant whites in the Diamonds. However, it was obvious she was healthy, for all of her lack of size, and severely traumatized by sharing an egg with the aggressive Diamond. He thought her an Onyx... He wouldn't LISTEN to me... Maybe if he had they would both still be alive, the little Queen said mournfully as she pressed to Eternity's legs.

The largest remaining egg shifted, then cracked, and revealed the clutch's OTHER King, the Onyx that Demonth had thought poor Sirieth to be. He stood calmly, coolly studying his siblings remaining, the Candidates, the other dragons above him. He took it all in, then strode forwards with all the regality and calm that SHOULD have been shown by his battered Queen sisters. His first stop was towards the Stands to check on Quinith and make sure she was okay, then, as Aura removed her Pearl to the Feeding Stations finally, he nodded approval then turned and headed over to check on Cvath, reassuring himself his sisters were okay. He briefly stopped by the navy Sapphire, who chirped happily at him and recieved an affectionate head butt in return to his side that was gentle so as not to knock him over, before the dark King strode unerringly to Theo, standing calmly before him. T'dore. You shall be the Weyr's next Kingrider. I am Nekoeth. Now come. Food calls to us and we must check on my Clutchmates there.

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Despite her protests, Kaira had been removed to the sidelines, though was still close in case she had a dragon among those babies remaining. Wyrek was working furiously to try and get her leg to stop bleeding, and finally she looked down at him. "Remove it," she said simply. "It won't stop. She got me too badly." The Master looked up at her in shock, then towards the Sands. "Yes, I know. But this is the better path. If you keep stalling, I'll die!" Kaira snapped, and he started, then reluctantly nodded his agreement with her.

"We can't do it here," he said quietly, and she sighed, knowing what he was telling her. If her dragon was here, she was condemning them to death if they absolutely did this NOW. "Almost all of them are Hatched and Impressed," Wyrek added. "We can keep you stable a little longer, until it ends." Nodding, she closed her eyes and tried to hold consciousness, focusing on the voices of the baby dragons to help her. Oh GOOD. Eternity had Impressed. Thank God. The girl needed it so much, especially after today's events... And Amelia, Serenity, Theodore. All Kaira's babies were being chosen, including, much to her surprise, Aura. Even if Kaira didn't make it, they'd be taken care of...

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Aura was shaky as she led her young one across the Sands, taking note of the respectful bows given to her by the riders and blushing, although the heat of the Sands hid the heat in her cheeks. She was just a runaway from New York... What is New York? The question startled her, and she looked down at Quinith, who was looking at her curiously. "It's where I'm from. No concern of your's, for we shall never see it," Aura said quietly, and the Pearl considered this as they joined her clutchmates, though she showed a distinct uneasiness until they'd put some distance between them and the others. Seeing her sister murdered before her eyes by one of them had made Quinith scared of ALL of them, and Aura knew it would take time before she would allow herself to trust them again.

Tobias was still reeling a bit from not being able to save the two hatchlings. Sure he knew he probably would have gotten seriously mauled but it was not in him to just watch it happen. He was the sort to protect even at if it meant danger for himself. That he had failed was hard to take. Weren't hatchings suppose to be magical, amazing events like no other? Sure they were but... He was left more sober than before.

Watching as more hatched and more impressed. He glanced at the one the Onyx impressed to and felt a small tinge of jealousy. But it faded quickly and he gave the person a respectful nod of his head. He also bowed his head to the one that impressed to the dark Diamond. He had remembered his lessons and which ones were queens and kings. He wanted to show them the respect they now deserved. But what of the others that had impressed? They deserved respect too. They were experiencing something he wasn't entirely sure he wanted anymore. Let them have their soul mates. He'd be just fine on his own. He didn't need anyone else. He just wanted to be left alone. Sure he'd come to their aid if needed but friends? He was better off alone.

Clenching his jaw briefly he continued to stand there obediently until it would all be over. When it was over, he'd leave quietly and go visit his fox hole, the crash site again.