PernMUSH Moments

Hatching Sands, High Reaches Weyr

The sands are stiflingly hot beneath your feet, nearly burning through your footwear and keeping even this large high cavern quite warm. A mound of sand has been gathered up in the center of the cavern, and this is where the queen has laid her eggs and watches lovingly over them as they harden. The sands have been neatly arranged around the many mottled eggs, though the queen is never quite satisfied and frequently turns and repositions each egg.

Bordering the sands to the south and west are the tiered benches of the galleries. Ledges for spectating dragons jut out from the cavern walls in every direction high above. A dark passageway leads off the sand towards the senior queen's weyr.

Contents:

Hanif

Eostarra

Nabrimeth

Sandy Mound

Kalorith

Obvious exits:

Passageway Galleries

It is a calm evening at High Reaches, the weyr in general offering a feeling of ease for some reason -- the calm before the storm perhaps. Tavrie, seeming to have found a bit of free time, is wandering out onto the sands once more with a well-practiced group of Candidates in toe. She doesn’t bother to turn and watch if they bow to the dam and sire, she just plain expects that they will. Nabrimeth, somewhat used to the group but still taking no chances, rises and moves closer to the eggs. The queen seems about ready to guard away the sunny yellow one when Tavrie clears her throat and wanders over. “You need to be ready to let them -all- go,” she chides her lifemate. Nabrimeth exhales hotly and backs up a pace or two, lowering her head onto her forearms somewhat dejectedly. Kalorith is curled up on the edge sound asleep. Tavrie, moving more slowly now that her belly has gotten the best of her, leans against the rosy hide of her lifemate and turns to watch the Candidates explore.

Hanif has a smile on his face, but looks a little nervous when the gold moves towards the eggs in that motherly, protective fashion. Before he goes too far, he bows to both dragons, even though one is asleep, and then very carefully makes his way onto the sands. The boy doesn't go much farther, and ends up just waiting for some more candidates to pass him by.

Hanif

   This young man is tall and dark. He stands just under six feet tall, and he possesses a lean build and toned muscles. His narrow, mahogany eyes are a nice compliment to the sun-kissed copper tone of his skin. His face is long, cheekbones high and well-defined, nose angular, and lips thin. The only thing marring his face is a thin, red scar stretching from the right side of his nose, across the bridge, and across his left cheekbone. His charcoal black hair is cropped somewhat short at the sides and back, naturally parted in the middle to let bangs fall on either side of his forehead. He looks to be about 18 Turns, 1 months, and 13 days old.

   Today he is wearing a cream-colored tunic and tan trousers. His tunic is untied at the top, and slightly wrinkled, while his pants have a couple of patches on the knees. He's also wearing a chocolate brown belt and matching boots.

Eostarra pads out onto the sands, offering a bow to mother and father, the heads over towards the Weyrwoman at a casual pace. She's much more relaxed than the first time Tavrie brought them out here. "Weyrwoman," she greets, nodding her head.

Eostarra

   Big, pale green eyes the color of winter mint, caged in with thick 'lashes and crowned by thin, arching 'brows are the most striking feature of the girl's rounded face. Cherubic cheeks and a small but strong chin form her soft jawline, while bee-stung lips and a hawkish nose finish off her features. Her inky black hair compliments her tan skin and is currently left to flow freely in wavy curls past her waist.

   One might think her still very young based on height alone, but her diminutive stature is at odds with the womanly curves she carries - she is padded but not heavy - beneath her Igenite wraps. Over these, a warm, heavy black caftan helps her combat the cold. Sturdy working boots cover her feet, and her wrists are adorned with several woven bracelets that accent her small but work-worn hands. A simple High Reaches Weyr knot is affixed to her shoulder, proclaiming her a candidate.

Tavrie and Nabrimeth shift at the same time, both turning their heads to focus on Eostarra as she approaches. Tavrie pushes off from her lifemate’s side a little and wanders to meet the butcher turned Candidate. “Something troubling you?” the Weyrwoman wonders amiably, offering the young woman a friendly smile.

Eostarra's thick lips curl in a smile, the small Igenite shaking her head. "No, Ma'am," she replies breezily. "Nothing at all. I just wanted to thank you - and your lifemate," here, she looks up, smiling at the Gold, "For having us."

Hanif watches Eostarra and Tavrie for a moment, and then approaches the egg that is closest to him. He licks his lips, and then slowly reaches a hand forward to brush against the shell. For some reason, he still feels funny about touching the eggs. "Tavrie, ma'am?" he asks. "Why do you suppose that dragons are so protective of their clutches when the candidates come to do a touching? Is it just instinct? It seems to me as though they wouldn't mind, seeing as how we're...well...candidates. But I guess I can understand the fact that we're strangers, still."

Tavrie laughs softly and nods. “You’re welcome,” she says, “from both of us.” Tavrie move back to lean against Nabrimeth’s side again now that there doesn’t seem to be cause for concern. She laces her hands around her stomach and gives a great yawn. “It shouldn’t be long now, Nabrimeth says,” she passes along to the Candidates that are milling close enough to hear her. At Hanif’s question, she turns to look at him and shrugs slightly. “I suppose because they love their eggs, really. And then there is the fact that people are people. Just because you’re a Candidate doesn’t mean you’re a good person. There are some pretty horrible people that have Impressed. So, the dragons don’t know if you are the sort that would hurt the eggs or not,” she notes.

Hanif nods his head. "I see. Thank you," he adds, glancing over at the rider and her lifemate. He keeps one hand on the surface of the incredibly dark and gloomy egg before him, and slowly drags it across the surface. Another hand is placed on it, carefully, and then he moves forward to rest his ear against it. "We won't be able to hear anyting, will we?"

Eostarra nods and smiles a bit more. She seems content to just watch again, this time, but it's a more casual, relaxed watching. No signs of her trying to avoid the eggs or suggestions that she may bolt.

Tavrie looks thoughtful and then wanders his way, leaning down to put her own ear to the egg. “I don’t know, really,” she says as she’s leaning. Then, she remains quiet, listening for a moment before turning her eyes to Hanif to see what he thinks. The Weyrwoman doesn’t say a word, just straightens and smiles mysteriously.

Hanif smiles a bit when the goldrider gives a listen, too, and then straightens with his hands still on the egg. "Well...I don't think I heard anything. It was hard to tell, because I could hear my own heartbeat." He runs a hand through his hair. "Did you hear something?" He looks at Tavrie curiously and lightly traces the patterns on the egg shell with a finger. Then, to Eostarra, "You aren't going to come touch any of them?"

"I did just yesterday," Eostarra answers with a small shrug and a smile. "I visited the one I wanted to, and gave the others the proper respects. You go ahead."

Tavrie wrinkles her nose playfully at Hanif and just shrugs mysteriously. “You know, when I sit out here with Nabrimeth and watch the eggs, I get this image in my head of lots of little dragonets, curled up and sleeping. I wonder what they dream about,” the blonde muses. Turning to Eostarra, Tavrie arches a brow. “Which one do you like best then, hrm?” she wants to know.

Hanif smirks, and shakes his head. "I don't know...it would be an interesting thing to know. Do you think that they remember, when they hatch?" When Tavrie looks over at Eostarra, he does, too. "Yeah, which one is your favorite?" he echoes, cheerily. He lingers at the dark egg for a little while longer, and then moves on to the egg with thick, yellow swirls. "This one looks interesting..."

Eostarra blinks at the Weyrwoman, then at Hanif. Her expression goes a bit neutral, a mask, perhaps, to conceal anything she may be feeling. "The withered one," she answers simply, gesturing to the wrinkled, crumpled dark egg. She offers no further explanation.

The Weyrwoman looks at Eostarra thoughtfully and smiles. “That’s odd, most of the girls that bounce out onto the Sands pine after the yellow eggs,” she notes. “People always whisper that they are the ones that contain golds, but really, I’ve never seen that to be true,” she murmurs. Tavrie smirks and glances at Nabrimeth from over her shoulder. “They barely remember what they did the day before, I doubt they remember anything at all from before their shell splits and dumps them into life.

Hanif's cheeks redden a little and he only replies with, "Oh, of course," before placing a hand on the peanut brittle egg. The smoothness of it startles him. Such an egg made him think that it would be rough, but it isn't. "They feel so strange," he says. "Not really what I expect them to feel like." Then he looks over his shoulder at his fellow candidate again. "I like that one, too. It's interesting, isn't it?"

"I'm not most girls, Ma'am," Eostarra answers softly. She nods once to Hanif, but doesn't give her thoughts on the egg or why she's drawn to it.

Tavrie smiles and nods at Eostarra. “No, I guess not,” she muses. Then she grins in Hanif’s direction. “I thought the same thing when I first came down on the Sands,” she admits. Tavrie wanders back over to her lifemate, leaning once more against the dragon and looking pink in the cheeks. “I’m no as good at staying out here for long periods of time. How about we finish up and then get something to drink?” she asks everyone, loudly but without yelling. Here and there Candidates nod and hurry to see any of the eggs that they haven’t had a chance to yet.

Hanif grins at Eostarra's response to the Weyrwoman's question. "That's true, you aren't most girls." He feels the egg for a little while longer, and then takes his time to wander over near Eostarra. "Something to drink sounds good. It's warm!" Smiling, he stretches and looks up at the gold. "Thank you!"

Eostarra nods and pads along with the others, offering a parting bow to the two dragons before she goes.

Tavrie smiles and nods, patting her lifemate and then wandering toward the exit. “A drink sounds very good,” she muses. Nabrimeth rises and stretches. For his thank you, she offers a trilled warble and then moves to remound the eggs and check each one over carefully.