Hatchings! (New Eggs- All those With One)

What do you think it is? queried Kikith, yet again.

"I still have no idea, Kiki," Amelia murmured, somehow infinitely patient despite having been asked the very same question a thousand times. "But I do think we're about to find out." The egg had been spasmodic all morning, and in between eating and bathing and exercising while Amelia did her chores, the eager quartz had been pronouncing updates on the eggs twitchiness. The dragon was even more excited than her human.

Amelia was curious, too, of course, but part of her wondered how she was going to juggle the needs of Kikith with the needs of some unknown hatchling and her own sanity. She hadn't realized quite how exhausting it would be, being a Weyrling, and when she finally dropped herself to bed at night (on Kikith's couch more often than her own cot), it was with a feeling of blessed relief. Still, she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Her reservations were soon overcome by her dragon's and her own burgeoning excitement. She couldn't wait to find out all she could about the creature inside this egg--her legendary thirst for knowledge fanned up in an instant as the egg gave a tremendous jerk, nearly leaping from its pot of sand.

She wasn't the only one waiting, it seemed. She followed Kikith, who surged toward Irith to chirp a bright greeting, and waved at D'can. She couldn't recall the man's honorific name, but she knew his face. "How long do you think they've got?" she asked, inclining her head toward the egg the other Weyrling carried.

Quinith started as the Emerald came bouncing over, hissing and swiping at the smaller female, though that was all she did, and only because she'd been startled. Since the threat to her rider had been delivered, the Pearl had been forcing herself to open herself to interactions with her clutchmates, knowing, as her rider did, that she would HAVE to trust them to stand behind her, as a lot of those at the Weyr already found it hard to stand with a pair of Queenriders who were not Pernese born. She needed to be able to put her faith, her confidence, in those who knew, those who had also made the choice to not choose of this world. Her rider's life-depending on the seriousness of the bubblehead's threat-could very well depend on it. She then flicked her tail lightly at the Emerald's nose, not seeking to cause injury, merely teasing her kittenish sibling.

Above her, Aura smiled, proud of the strides her Queen had made. "Mine's been twitchy all day," she replied to the Emeraldrider. "And within the past thirty minutes or so it's started growling like it's annoyed." As she spoke the words, she grinned past the others and raised her hand in greeting. "Joana! Kaira! What a pleasure!" she said delightedly, incredibly surprised to see their still healing instructor limp in, leaning heavily on both Joana and the cane/staff she'd been made. She hadn't realized that Kaira had made so much progress. "Come sit, please. Join us," she urged, wanting to get the elder woman off her foot. Kaira gave her a look, but didn't argue, and Joana's was grateful as she settled the woman, then stood slightly behind her, watching over her.

Almost as soon as Kaira sat down, Aura's egg did a 360 spin, then fell off the table, causing Aura to yelp. Kaira dove for it, managing to catch it before it hit the ground in one hand. This meant that Aura and Joana had to dive for KAIRA, making sure she didn't hurt herself. They got her settled again, just as the egg broke on both ends. The oddity of this was that instead of two different body parts sticking out, two HEADS stuck out. They were neither feline nor draconian, but some strange mixture of the two that somehow managed to be quite cute. The two heads were vastly different in both coloring and size, one TINY black toned one that faced Aura and one shimmering silver one that faced Kaira and was much larger. Blinking, the two women looked at one another, then back to the babies and carefully worked together to finish breaking the shell about the little ones. When they were done, Kaira held a large, winged being of shimmering silver traced with golden strands that ran up and followed the veining in the delicate, butterfly-like wings. Aura's was tiny and black, with the same golden shimmer. They had rather chubby bodies of a feline nature, with draconian tails, and four pawed feet, and they were covered in a shimmering, velvety fur. Kaira's had a large ruff around its neck that gave it a slightly leonine appearance, but Aura's lacked this ruff.

As the two little ones settled within their new peoples' hand, the other eggs began cracking, revealing themselves. D'can's broke cleanly, revealing a pair of bright red babies, one with a blue toned gleam, the other with a green gleam. The larger of the pair, with the blue gleam, had the same ruff as Kaira's silver one. The ruffed one snuggled into D'can, but the other one, who had been looking in a different direction, bounded off the table and went chasing after something shiny, following it into the shadows, where the girl who had threatened Aura scooped it up and disappeared into the tunnels. Jena's cracked scatteringly, revealing yet ANOTHER set of twins, these two vivid tones of yellow and green, with red and orange gleams. They both remained where they were, looking up at Jena and chirping happily, even as T'bias's egg broke. This one had a single baby, but also, sadly, spilled forth a deceased form, which its twin nudged and then sang mournfully for. The others-minus the red one who had been removed from the area-also sang for the deceased, moving to gather around it and nudge it gently, revealing an incredibly close clutch mentality. Amelia's egg chose that moment to break as well, spilling forth its twins of purple and white, both gleaming with silver tones. The pair moved to mourn with their siblings, then returned to their chosen, the purple to Joana-who blinked in surprise-and the white-who also had one of those odd ruffs about its neck-to Amelia. T'bias's baby was a bright reddish orange, with a golden gleam, and the ruff about its neck as well.

"All twins," Aura murmured. "I wonder if there's a reason for it?" She then recalled the vivid tones, the placement of the clutch, and hummed softly. "I wonder if its a defense mechanism... The clutch was found on the ground, and their vivid coloration would put them in a lot of danger..."

Aura/Kaira- Black Female/ Silver Ruffed Female
D'can/Unknown Blonde- Red Ruffed Male/Red Female
Jena- Yellow Female/Green Male
T'bias/Kinna- Red Orange Ruffed Male/ Blue Male
Amelia/Joana- White Ruffed Female/Purple Female

The darting form was spotted out of the corner of a sharp eye, and Joana's head turned, just as Kinna flicked in and scooped up the baby the others mourned for. "Kinna-" she began, then sighed and bit her lower lip. The girl had to learn that sometimes, life just was not kind, she thought sadly, and watched as she began trying to get the little one's lungs to move on their own. Although horribly shy, the girl had a lot of promise, and Joana enjoyed teaching her. Her determination would stand her in good stead.

On the table still, the rest of the clutch had turned their attention to their unmoving clutchmate, and as Kinna continued her efforts, Kaira's little silver began to sing, a low, warbling sound that rose up and down with the girl's fingers. The others soon joined her, the sound becoming encouraging, hopeful, and the fire-lizards present began to join the babies as well, singing their song as if they'd always known it. Under Kinna's fingers, a weak, fluttering began, soft against her touch, BARELY there, but growing stronger. Small blue chest-toned with purple-began to expand and contract, and a weak coughing noise emitted from tiny mouth. Weakly, the little one's eyes opened and settled on Kinna, and it gave a tiny cheep, even as the hatchlings on the table exulted that their sibling had been returned to them, their song turning ecstatic and happy.