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Post by Spirithawk on Jul 15, 2009 12:28:07 GMT -5
A few days after the transfer clutch had hatched, Rhia stood, tapping her boot on the stone tier. Mneith stood next to her, his massive body easily dwarfing his petite rider.
Kaith was a few feet away, turning the Queen egg that she was babysitting until it hatched.
She had called the remainder of her Candidates. She was also waiting for Akki to arrive since the bluerider would be helping take over as Candidate Master for Rhia to concentrate on the newest batch of Weyrlings and the older ones that were behind in their lessons thanks to the Hurricane and its massive amount of damage.
Today, the girls would be allowed to touch the Queen egg. It was surprising that only girls had been left on the sands, though Belior was a Candidate, he had missed the hatching completely.
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Post by Xennai on Jul 15, 2009 13:14:12 GMT -5
Salina stood in the entrance to the Sands for a Touching for the second time in only a handful of days. The span of time, though not significant, had allowed the girl to come to terms with what had happened in this same place the first time she’d been here. She hadn’t Impressed and, quite simply put, it had been a blow. To a girl who’d never faced many tragedies or degree of hardship, realizing her worst nightmare and having it come true had been catastrophic. But she was getting through it.
In the space of time that had elapsed since one Touching to the other, she’d realized that what her best friend, Ez’ki, bonded of brown Garisath, had said was right: she hadn’t Impressed before because the dragons there just weren’t for her. He bonded, the creature she was supposed to spend the rest of her life in companionship with, simply hadn’t been there. It was not because of any inadequacy on her part, it hadn’t been because of any failing. Karma, for whatever she’d done, hadn’t caught up with her to steal away the only dream of a livelihood she’d ever had. Her dragon hadn’t been there. That was all there was to it.
She steeled herself, the nerves that were dancing through her stomach shut behind an iron door, much like those used to keep out Thread. She brushed fingers through long golden hair, settling it to adequacy, before she marched out to the Sands, a constant steam of goodwill and optimism in her head. It was just a Touching, after all, and how many times could that turn into a Hatching inside of a month? She hoped the odds were really on her side as she bowed low to Candidate Master Rhia, the greeting spilling formally from her lips.
“Candidate Salina is present, Candidate Mistress, and would like to greet you good day.” Salina stood, straight and solemn, her gray eyes determined in her pale face. She would get through this. She would remain optimistic. If it turned out the creature encased in the beautiful egg not far off wasn’t for her…well, she’d get through that too.
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Post by Akki on Jul 15, 2009 20:52:40 GMT -5
There were two bunches of Weyrlings, far too many for Rhia to handle with the candidates. Akki felt bad for her friend and decided to step up to the plate. She had asked to be the Candidate Master temporarily, until someone who had the qualifications decided to apply for the job.
That’s why she was walking on to the Sands at that moment, not because she just felt like wandering around for a bit. “Hello Rhia, lovely did isn’t it?” She asked with a lopsided grin as she approached her old friend. She was pretty excited to watch the unimpressed candidates touch the gold egg. Girls were the only ones who were leftover, with one exception, so it was nice that they got to have another opportunity to perhaps Impress. And not just Impress any old dragon, but a gold dragon. A dragon that would make one of them a Junior Weyrwoman.
There was one candidate there already, the rest would be coming soon.
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And within seconds, another one did pop up. Faine practically skipped onto the Sands, a grin on her face. She was excited about today and yet nervous all the same. The last touching ended up being the Hatching itself and Faine was pretty sure she would have a heart attack if she touched the Gold egg and it hatched underneath her fingers. She had freaked out when it happened to another candidate and really didn’t want it to happen again. Her heart couldn’t take all the excitement.
She approached the two women and bowed to them three times, “Candidate Faine, present!”. She beamed at the other candidate, Salina even though she didn’t know the other girl all that well. It didn’t matter though – they were candidates once again with each other. She peered at the egg that Kaith was currently turning, wondering what the gold would look like. Would it be big? Or small? So many questions.
She hadn’t been to upset that she hadn’t Impressed. Her friends had and she figured there were still a few hatchings for her to attend before she grew too old. Oh yes, she had it all planned out so she was in a rather good mood about everything that had gone on. Depressed? Nope, not her. She would be depressed though if she touched that egg and it was covered in dirt. Dirt was not her friend.
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Post by Sparrow on Jul 16, 2009 23:28:21 GMT -5
Belior didn’t know why he had been called sure he was a candidate but there was only a gold egg on the sands. There was no chance he’d impress that. There might’ve been some strange hatchlings from Dark Moon Weyr but he was certain that would never happen. It just seemed… wrong.
The boy entered the Hatching Sands glancing about. Only two other candidates were there but he couldn’t remember exactly who was left standing on the sands. He also noted two riders, one Rhia he knew as his Candidate Master and the other he knew as the bluerider Akki. Belior bowed to the pair, “Candidate Belior here,” he eyed the golden egg, “I guess there won’t be much for me today?”
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Post by Spirithawk on Jul 17, 2009 0:01:44 GMT -5
Rhia smiled warmly at Akki. "It will be better once this Queen egg is hatched and Christae can get full time Weyrleader to help as well as a Jr. WW. I don't envy her training a new Queen pair for the third time. We certainly don't live in dull times."
She nodded a greeting at Salina. She had warned the girl about the dangers of any kind of relationship with a young dragon so that she would know if she Impressed and so that she wouldn't risk Garisath's health. She had also talked a bit with the girl about the fact that some people stood at several hatchings before they Impressed. She wasn't sure if she had gotten through to the young woman but she had tried. Rhia wished she had had more time to prepare the Candidates for what was about to happen.
She nodded a greeting to each of the Candidates as they entered.
"Belior." She was surprised. She had forgotten to make the summons out for only female candidates. "If you wish to remain here you may but you won't be needed today. It was my mistake in neglecting to make the summons for the female Candidates only."
"Young ladies, when Kaith finishes adjusting the eggs, you will be allowed to touch the gold egg. It is the same procedure that you followed for the other touching exceept this time you need to be even more respectful to Kaith because the gold egg is a higher ranking egg than the others. Be glad that you aren't touching Kaith's own eggs this time. She is a VERY proddy Queen."
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Post by Xennai on Jul 18, 2009 15:12:44 GMT -5
Salina nodded and greeting to Faine and smiled. She didn't know the other girl personally, but thought that the other female was likeable enough and seemed to be happy and bouncy. Salina experienced a brief stab of envy wishing she could be that happy after not Impressing but then reminded herself that she was happy. She was fine. She was doing jsut fine and that was the reality of this.
Salina stood in front of Rhia, and then Akki, thoughts whirling in a tumult. The last time she'd seen Rhia face-to-face had not really been the best memory to recall. The woman had just found Salina kissing Ez—and had, rather expectedly, misunderstood. On top of the most awful day within Salina’s memory, she’d also had to go through getting yelled at by an authority figure, a woman she’d be seeing much of in Turns to come, if she Impressed or not.
But Rhia hadn’t understood…She didn’t know that Salina had never considered Ez like that. They’d been friends since childhood and to consider being with the redheaded male in that way…Ugh. In no offense to him, it made her feel literally nauseous simply because she and he weren’t like that. They were best friends. That was all.
Salina settled these thoughts, coming back to the reality she was in. She frowned when Rhia mentioned Belior’s name, turning slightly to look at the male that had entered. She turned back to the two women in front of her, inhaling deeply as the Candidate Mistress began to explain what was going to happen.
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Post by Minajerie on Jul 20, 2009 20:52:21 GMT -5
The Candidate Mistress had called all candidates to the sands for the touching of the gold egg, so there Andilay was, a candidate walking onto the sands. The slight crunch and give gave her a nostalgic feeling of the hatching from the not so distant past. A hatching where she had found herself at the mercy of a brown dragon's claws. She did not blame the creature, nor his rider or herself. The rider had no idea that the brown dragon was his, the brown had every instinct to go as quickly as possible to claim his mine. She had simply been on the line from point A to point B unknowingly. Thus she got a little scratched up and needed these shell forsaken stitches.
As she neared the small group she made out faces. Unfortunately, not names- she did not think they had been introduced. However, she remembered that one had been the girl the aqua blue had sat on, while the other always seemed friendly and good natured.
She lightly cleared her throat and gave a small bow towards the two Masters. "Candidate Andilay is present for the touching."
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Post by Sparrow on Jul 21, 2009 1:32:08 GMT -5
Belior noted that Rhia seemed surprised he was here. He rubbed the back of his head grinning a bit. “Sorry for that. I knew there was just a Gold egg but better safe than sorry, I figured better safe than sorry when you were calling for candidates.” He glanced at the other candidates and then the gold egg.
“I think I’ll stay. I don’t think I have anything else to do.” He hoped that didn’t inspire Rhia to come up with some chore to keep him busy. “The boys’ barracks are empty too. I’ll just sit on the steps of the stands… out of the way. Plus if you have any general candidate announcements I’ll be here to hear.!”
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Post by Spirithawk on Jul 21, 2009 17:48:58 GMT -5
Rhia nodded. "That is fine Belior. Glad you could make it Andilay. I hope your wounds are healing well."
She looked thoughtful as she surveyed the three young women in front of her. "I need you all to be certain that you are ready and willing to take on the responsibility that comes with a Queen dragon. This dragon will be the Junior Queen, her rider will become Jr. WW as soon as she is trained. It means a lot of work and a lot of dedication. You will seldom have a day off and you will be required to help the Weyrwoman with injured dragons, especially once thread falls. You may even become Weyrwoman if something should happen to Christae. If you have any doubts about your ability to handle that, let me know now."
She glanced behind her to see if Kaith was finished fussing over the egg. She had moved back and was just watching Rhia, her eyes whirling idly.
"You can go and touch the egg now. Just remember to bow to Kaith. If you have any questions feel free to ask me."
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Post by Akki on Jul 21, 2009 18:10:59 GMT -5
“Dull times are for dull Weyrs.” Akki replied with a crooked grin. And Dark Moon was anything but dull, everyone knew that. She agreed with Rhia though, Christae would have an easier lifestyle when there was a WeyrLeader in sight. The Weyr could only hope that whoever Impressed this gold would actually stick around – they were more or less relying on the gold’s rider. High expectations for such young people. She grinned slightly as Belior made an appearance, poor kid would just be standing around really.
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Faine shot a small smile back at Salina, another one at Andilay and a small wink to Belior. She wondered what was going through the other girl’s heads; were they excited? Nervous? Faine could only imagine the possibilities which she was doing until Rhia spoke and startled the redhead out of her revelry. She scratched her arm, thinking as the woman spoke. Wasn’t Impressing a Gold practically every girls dream? Didn’t they grow up picturing themselves perched all lady-like on top of a large, motherly gold? So why did Faine suddenly find her hand up in the air?
Her other hand picked slightly at her fingers, “Um. Excuse me Candidate Master Rhia?”. She let her hand drop and she stared at the woman with wide, innocent eyes. “If we don’t want to Impress the gold, can we just…not touch the egg?” She asked with a slight sniff, as she stared at the oval object. She didn’t want to be a goldrider, she didn’t have what it took to be all responsible and such. In her mind, the other two seemed much more appropriate so this seemed like a pretty good solution. Plus she was sort of scared of the large gold watching the egg carefully.
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