Just As Much A Miracle... (Virisk's Clutch/Hatch)

[FaizahPandora]

Green Virisk, heavy with her clutch, found herself unable to relax. It wasn’t unlike the other nights she had been awake with VirikaHers, yet it was. Virisk couldn’t put her claw on it, but she knew something was off that night.

Virika noticed Virisk pacing a little more than usual tonight. She arched a perfect brow at the green wher, wondering what was the problem. Virika vaguely remembered that Virisk would be clutching soon, but that was beside the point. She certainly didn’t think it would be so soon.

Virisk had other ideas though. She suddenly knew that her time to clutch had come. Without a conscious thought to Virika, Virisk turned and left. She was heading with single-minded determination to the hatching grounds. Virika, completely confused as to what was happening, quickly got to her feet to follow her beast. After a few turns, Virika immediately knew where Virisk was going.

Rannoch came from between at the call of Virika. The young brown landed on her shoulder, chirped at her in curiosity, and curled his tail around Virika’s neck. Virika smiled at him, scratching his eye ridges.

“Find Faizah, Rannoch. Tell Faizah that Virisk is clutching.” Virika told the flit.

Rannoch nodded in understanding before he betweened again. Virika followed Virisk into the hatching sands…

---

Faizah was sleeping, quite soundly for once, when Rannoch popped in from between. Reyna chirped sleepily at the brown before dozing back off to sleep. Rannoch noticed Faizah and landed on her shoulder. He jumped up and down for a moment, but still she didn’t wake. Grumbling to himself, Rannoch leaned close to her ear and nibbled on it.

Rannoch would later remember never to do this again…

Faizah leapt up, her hand immediately going to her ear as she sent Rannoch flying backward. Faizah looked around for the perpetrator, only to find Reyna looking at her tiredly and Rannoch on her floor. Faizah sat back down, her hand over her heart, as she tried to settle her racing pulse.

“Rannoch… Don’t you ever do that again…” She growled at the brown flit.

Rannoch growled back at her as he alighted on her knee. He sent her the sound of Virika’s voice, telling Faizah exactly what His had told him. When he was done, Rannoch went between before Faizah could yell at him again. Faizah groaned.

“Finally get to sleep, and my cousin’s wher has to clutch…” Faizah entertained the idea of sending Kain out to deal with it.

You had better go, mineFaizah. You complain that Kain loses your paperwork… Surth told her sleepily.

Faizah groaned louder in complaint. But she knew Surth had a point. Kain either never did the paperwork or made a point to lose it. She couldn’t risk that again, not with the government breathing down her neck now more than ever. So she sighed as she got to her feet to find presentable clothes.

After getting dressed Faizah went downstairs and to the hatching grounds. There she found Virika and Virisk huddled around some piles in the sands. Faizah approached, her paperwork in hand. As she approached, Faizah saw the five individual mounds that were obviously eggs. Faizah began writing down the details she saw.

“Five eggs. That’s really good.” Faizah grinned at her cousin, who still seemed to be worried.

Virika nodded as Virisk curled around her eggs protectively. “I know…” She smiled.

Green Virisk - Blue Trinsk
5 eggs
1 dud
Blue Llonatansk Impresses Llonatan
Blue/Green Nurisk of Nuriko
Green Shannask Impresses Shannara
White Reyask Impresses Reya

[FaizahPandora]

IC Date: November 9th, 2011
IC Time: 2:57 a.m.

Virika was up, on her way to the Hatching Grounds with breakfast for herself and Virisk in her hands, when she received an image of rocking eggs from the green wher. Virika was confused for a moment, but she then realized what must be happening. Her brown flit, Rannoch, alighted upon her shoulder.

Virika smiled from ear to ear. She hurried to the Hatching Sands, moving so fast that Rannoch shrieked at her as he clung desperately to her shirt. She ignored the flirtatious brown and continued, breaking into a run the last twenty feet from the Sands.

Virisk lay around her clutch, watching proudly as the eggs began rocking. As soon as they had started to shake, she had sent the image to VirikaHers. Her children would soon come into the world, and she wanted Hers there when they did...

Virika reached the Hatching Sands just as the egg marked number four began to crack. She tossed the things she had brought with her onto one of the benches, and grabbed Rannoch from her shoulder. She made him look her in the eye.

"Go to Faizah. Show her the shaking eggs. Then go to Llonatan. Show him the shaking eggs. Let both of them know it's urgent." She pointed the brown towards the shaking eggs before letting him go.

Rannoch went between with a screeched at Virika. He was not happy about being treated in such a way. But he did as His had asked. First he appeared in Faizah's room, creening at Reyna. She was curled up on Faizah's stomach, egg heavy, and sleeping soundly. Rannoch knew he was going to get a flitter scolding, but he would rather take that than the abuse of waking Faizah again...

Reyna opened one angrily swirling eye at the brown. He chirped at her, giving Reyna the image and sense of urgency. She could wake up the Weyrwoman!

Rannoch left between as soon as Reyna shook the sleep from her head and climbed up Faizah's stomach. Reyna crooned at Hers to wake up, sending her the image of the shaking wher eggs. Faizah woke slowly, looking at Reyna with confusion. What was going on? What was with the shaking eggs?

Reyna chirped, sending an image of Virisk sitting before five eggs. Then she repeated the image of the shaking eggs. Faizah sighed, sitting up and scratching the gold's eyeridges. "Virisk's eggs are hatching?" She asked the gold. With another chirp, Faizah had her answer. Faizah nodded, getting out of bed. She grabbed some clothes and changed quickly, then grabbed some papers from her desk. "Time to deal with the whers again..." She sighed, leaving her room.

Rannoch appeared in Llonatan's room, looking around for the boy. He was up, sitting at his computer, and feeding his brown Nathan bits of bologna. He seemed to be concentrating on something that was on the screen. Rannoch chirped, obviously startling Llonatan from the way the boy jumped. He sent the wher candidate the image of the shaking eggs before alighting on the desk. Llonatan took a moment to ponder what this meant, before he remembered that his sister's wher had clutched a while ago. Those eggs must obviously be Virisk's eggs. He grinned.

Llonatan looked down at Nathan. "Thanks, Rannoch. Nathan, it's time to go Impress a wher." He set the brown down on the desk before getting up and heading for his dresser. He dressed in the white robe for Candidates, and then ran out of his room. The two browns followed.

Faizah was now in the kitchens, getting a few of the workers to chop meat for the whers. As soon as they were doing enough, she headed out. She needed to wake the other Candidates. She saw Llonatan already dressed and heading for the Sands, so she knew that was one less person she had to worry about. But she still had to get Reya, Theody, Nuriko and Shannara up. With any luck, they would be out of Wher Candidates by the morning...

Faizah woke Theody first, knowing her weyr to be the closest. The Japanese Geisha child was still awake, having adjusted a while ago to the wher schedule. Faizah smiled at her. "The wher clutch is hatching. You should get ready and get over there as fast as you can." She warned. Theody nodded and began to look for the white robe she would need.

Faizah left the room, heading for the other three candidates that she needed to wake. She hoped the others would be this easy to get up...

Theody hurried to get dressed in the white robe. Only after she was dressed, and wearing the sandals to go along with it, she left her room. She immediately turned towards the hatchings sands, wondering if this was going to be anything like Samarsk's hatching. If all else failed, she knew how to approach the mother wher...

Llonatan had arrived, Rannoch and Nathan not far behind him. He immediately noticed his sister standing next to the mother green. He hadn't been there for Samarsk's clutch, but he had taken the class about wher hatchings. He knew that he should greet the mother first, and ask permission to get near her clutch. So he decided to do just that.

He approached slowly. When he was just out of striking distance from the green, he bowed. "Greetings, Green Virisk. I hope you find me worthy enough to Impress one of your children." He said.

Virisk looked him up and down, measuring him. Then she nodded her head, as she noticed another candidate enter the sands. Brother of Virikamine, you may stand for my clutch. She growled to him.

Theody noticed the boy ahead of her move aside, obviously having been allowed to stand since he moved closer to the clutch. Theody knew that she had to ask permission as well, and moved up to do so. She froze, however, just a few feet from the green and her clutch.

[Stormy]

Reya had just woken up from one of her little catnaps, as she rarely ever truly slept, and was leaving her weyr for some food. She saw Faizah down the hall and quirked an eyebrow, wondering what the Weyrwoman was doing in this part of the Weyr. Though maybe that meant the wher clutch that was on the Sands was hatching. Then she saw one of the girls farther up the corridor, the one who was clearly Japanese, rush out of her room with the white candidate's robe. Reya looked to Faizah, met her partway, and asked, "What is it? Wher hatching?"

-----

Shannara, still traumatized by her recent...experience at Fort, hadn't been able to sleep since then. While she was exhausted, she took comfort from the overwhelming heat of the Hatching Sands, tucked away in some small corner. She was finally about to start dozing when a commotion in the Sands drew her attention over. Groggily, her gaze went to the source, and she saw people starting to come rushing in. Then she saw the green wher and her handler, and saw the mounds that were revealing themselves to be eggs, and figured the people coming in where possible candidates for the wher hatchlings stirring in the eggs. With a small, inward groan she climbed to her feet, but kept her back to the wall.

The second person to rush to the Sands was a man...boy, and she flinched. Some buried corner of her consciousness admitted that she needed something to get her out of this funk, and, hoping the Wherlingmaster was a woman, bade her to start moving.

Not entirely sure why she was heading toward the wher's clutch, Shannara marveled more at the feeling of not being in control of her feet rather than paying any attention to the boy near the eggs. Keeping her eyes down and her white hair in front of her golden eyes, she bowed deeply to the green wher. "May I ask this green if I may stay on the Sands? The heat is...most comforting, and I'm sure your children will be most appreciative of another admirer," she muttered, keeping her eyes on the sand at Virisk's feet.

-----

Nuriko had discovered not only Rocky Weyr, but the library and the lake outside. And he found the place to be absolutely to his liking. At the time the eggs started moving, unbeknownst to him, he was pouring over various books and scrolls, thanks to Weyrwoman Faizah's allowance, over the existence of the marvelous creatures that filled the Weyr.

He paused for a moment. What an odd thing to name a place of dragons. Weyr...and not only was the Weyr the whole place in general, but an individual's room. He took a sip of his coffee, glad for the caffeine. He had barely slept in the...two? days he had been at the Weyr.

Then he heard movement outside his door, and while curiosity beckoned him to look, his reading material was much too interesting to be drawn away from. Had he looked, he wouldn't have been able to identify Faizah from the other woman who had stopped to talk to her, so much did they look alike.

[FaizahPandora]

Faizah nodded at Reya. "Yeah. The wher eggs are hatching. Hurry and get over there, and if you would, take a few bowls of meat over there. I have to find Nuriko and get him over to the hatching..." Faizah said her peace, and moved off to find Nuriko, the only other wher candidate at Rocky.

She knew his room was near here, but she would be damned if she could find it. Kain had been the one to show him to his room, which was a problem Faizah didn't often have. Usually she was taking care of everything to do with the Weyr, with the exception of food and the Infirmiry. She must have been preoccupied with something else two days ago...

Finally she found the room she was looking for. She knocked politely, waiting for the answer she knew would come.

Meanwhile...

Virisk watched closely as the newest woman show up, bowed deeply, and spoke to her. She was polite, which was a good thing, and she knew her place well. Virisk nodded. You may stay. She told the girl.

Virika watched Theody carefully. They had stood together at Samarsk's clutch, but the Japanese girl had failed to Impress. Even though one of the hatchlings had gone wild. Virika almost felt bad for the girl, but not enough. She smiled at Theody, waving her forward to talk to Virisk.

"If you don't ask permission, you might not get to Impress..." She called to Theody.

[Stormy]

"Thank you, gracious green mother," Shannara mumbled, and went to go stand by the eggs before remembering the boy there. She unconsciously cringed away from him, staying fairly close to Virika and Virisk. The thought occured to her that she might be pushing herself too quickly, it had only been a couple days...but what else would get her out of her funk other than doing that which she knew to do?

She had stood at several Hatchings, though they had all been dragons Hatchings. But at this point, she knew she no longer wanted a chance to Impress a dragon. The whers looked very little like their larger cousins, and she would be able to, in time, forget what had happened to her. Or at least put it behind her.

Or so she hoped.

-----

Reya nodded once before starting off toward the Sands, taking a brief detour to the kitchens to grab the bowls of meat as Faizah requested. The done, she then hurried to the Sands, handing a bowl to each of the candidates there. She vaguely recognized the boy standing, noting that he was likely a Pandora, though he was lacking the typical green eyes. The white haired girl was an oddity, the fear radiating off of her skin like heat rolls off of a vat of steaming water.

Whers weren't that scary. Though Reya was an oddity in that sense. She didn't think whers ugly at all, or deformed in the slightest. It just added to their fearsome appearance, and usually the only creature that wanted to cross a wher was another wher.

She was left with two bowls, one for her, and one for the other candidate that Faizah still had to retrieve. He was an odd one as well. He had purple hair...and was clearly gay. He likely crossdressed too. And Reya had been around that enough to recognize it, as her brother had been much the same way. Maybe not the dying of the hair, but...

She shook her head and looked at Virisk. "Good morning, lovely Virisk. May I Stand and try my hand at Impressing one of your equally lovely children?" she asked, keeping her head low, eyes averted.

-----

Nuriko frowned when he heard the knock on his door, but turned from his reading to answer it. He opened the door, not expecting it to be Faizah who was standing on the other side of the door. "Oh! Weyrwoman Faizah! I'm sorry, did you want the scrolls back? I'm almost done with them if you wouldn't mind waiting another hour or so? Or is that taking them for too long?" he querried, uncertain of why she was there.

He had no idea the wher clutch was hatching. Or any inkling that the clutch was truly why she was there.

[FaizahPandora]

Faizah shook her head. "No. You can keep the scrolls for a little longer. That's not why I'm here." She smiled at Nuriko, trying to ease the man's uncertainty. She continued. "It's the wher clutch. It's hatching, and you should get to the Sands before they all Impress." She said. She waited for a moment, in case Nuriko had any questions.

The words Virika called out to Theody seemed to knock her out of her stupor. She hurried forward the last few feet and came to stand next to the red head that looked so much like Faizah. Theody waited for the other girl to finish, then she bowed and spoke.

"Gorgeous Virisk. This humble girl asks to Stand for one of your children." Theody said.

Virisk watched both of them. They had good manners, and they flattered her. She liked them. Virisk nodded. Both may Stand. She said curtly.

Virika nodded with a smile at Reya and Theody. She counted four people, which was good. But there were five eggs... Virika wondered if there would be more candidates coming, or if this was it...

((Sorry for the cruddy post. My muse failed.))

[Stormy]

Nuriko looked confused when Faizah said that the scrolls weren't the reason she was there and started to say, "If not the scrolls...Oh..." He trailed off when he heard the real reason she was there, then looked mildly panicked. "Oh!" Leaving the door open, he rushed back into his room, fluttering his hands in a panic.

When he mostly regained himself a couple moments later, he quickly grabbed his Swiss knife, recalling that wher hatchlings needed the blood of their bonded for the bond to become stronger. And he didn't know if knives were inherently provided or not...

He looked to Faizah, who was still waiting at his door, then asked, "Is this good enough? What should I do?" He was obviously still flustered.

-----

Shannara and Reya watched as the eggs continued to rock as the whers inside moved and looked for an escape from their shelters, from their prisons. Shannara remained more to the side, further away from the eggs. It was largely due to Llonatan being there, but her shy nature was revealing itself at the moment.

Reya watched the white haired girl, analyzing her movements, the invisble mood currents rising off of her. What she caught a hint of caused a small spark of sympathy in Reya's normally cold mind. The girl obviously went through some traumatic experience within the past couple months at the most, within the week at the least. However, she did have to laud the girl. Whatever it was that was causing her distress, she was already trying to put it behind her, where most people would sit in a comatose state.

As Reya looked closer, she could see that it wasn't the wher eggs the girl was cringing away from. She was actually leaning slightly toward them. What she was leaning away from, or more accurately who, was the boy that was likely one of the Pandoras. She sighed slightly. Whatever was causing this girl distress was obviously due to a man...

[FaizahPandora]

Faizah shook her head. "The white candidate robe. You need that too." She told him. She started to back up. "Hurry though. I have to get over there and keep the records straight." With that Faizah excused herself.

She arrived at the Hatching Sands a few moments later. Virika was standing near Virisk, Llonatan not far from her. Reya was standing to one side and a white haired girl, Shannara if she remembered correctly, was standing close to the clutch. She also seemed to be watching and avoiding Llonatan. Faizah wondered what that was about...

The first egg cracked, a hole appearing in the shell. It was a large enough hole that everyone could see the hide beneath it, a gorgeous blue color. There seemed to be variations of the blue color on the hide as well. Which just added to the mysterious allure of the hatchling within the egg.

As everyone was watching that one, another egg hatched with a scary shattering of the shell. Before them stood a green wher hatchling in all her glory. As if without thought, she headed for one of the female candidates, standing off to the side. She pranced over to Shannara, reaching up to paw the young girl. Her claws ended up making gouges in the girl's leg, which immediately welled blood. The green, with odd and random patches of another green, licked the gouges as she broadcast to Shannara.

Shannask sorry, mine... The little green obviously did not know that she had broadcast it to everyone assembled there.

Green Shannask
Main Color: 3FEF7C
Marks: 0F5D2A
Affectionate, Energetic, Faithful, Jealous

[Stormy]

Nuriko wasn't far behind Faizah, but stopped and did a double take when he entered the Sands. Was he seeing double of Faizah? Then he took a close look and noticed that one of them was in the white candidate robes and her hair was a slightly different shade of red.

Then he saw a green wobbling up to another candidate, scratching at the girl's leg. The blood was immediate, and Nuriko felt a twinge of concern. Were all whers like that? Were all whers willing to maim and mangle their bonded?

Reya watched the blue crack his shell, but then she saw the green. The white haired girl was injured in the bonding process, and those gouges would have to be taken care of, but she had seen worse injuries in the past and knew it wouldn't be life threatening. Immediately, anyhow.

Shannara flinched when she felt the claws run down her leg, but then a voice rang in her head.

Shannask sorry, mine...

Shannara felt her heart melt in that instant, kneeling down despite her injured leg, taking some of the meat from the bowl she had been given and set it in front of Shannask's nose. "It's fine, dear, it was only an accident. Here, you've got to be hungry," she said softly.

The green was now faced with the gnawing hunger of the newly hatched, and grabbed some of the meat from the slender hand in front of her. There was still blood on her lips and tongue, tinging the meat with an intruiging flavor. But she would never intentionally harm ShannaraHers.

[FaizahPandora]

Virika smiled. A green just as beautiful as her mother! And the little green, so strangely marked, had hatched with Hers already in mind. There was nothing better, in Virika's opinion. Virisk was just as proud as Hers, as she watched her daughter with her bonded. They looked good together, she had to admit, and she knew they would make a wonderful team.

Another egg began to crack, while a fourth still wobbled. The fifth egg hadn't moved at all, but everyone seemed to be ignoring it. The egg with the blue hatchling cracked a little more, but no baby wher emmerged.

Faizah moved over to take pictures, without flash, of the green wherling. She knew she needed more details, measurements and such, but she could get them after the wher had been fed a little more. Records were so tedious, Faizah thought to herself. She smiled when she noticed Nuriko at the sands. She waved him forward, towards Virika and Virisk.

[Stormy]

Shannara rather ignored Faizah as she moved about taking pictures. Not because she wanted to be rude, she was just more concerned about the little green wher in front of her. While the wher was eating her fill of meat, Shannara watched her, then sighed, "You're a darling, Shannask."

Shannask was not as oblivious to Faizah's movements as her bonded, though. She watched Faizah while she ate, asking, What doing? She also gave Hers an image of the, to the wher, strange red headed woman, and Shannara couldn't help but laugh a little. "Updating her records, I'm sure."

Nuriko noticed Faizah wave him forward toward the mother wher and her bonded, but he froze for a moment. What would become of the girl's injury? There didn't seem to be any doctors or healers, as the Pernese called them. And surely she must feel some sort of pain from it, as he had seen her wince when the green in front of her clawed at her leg.

Overriding his fear and concern, though, the feminine man stepped toward Virisk and took a courteous, sweeping bow. "Greeting, O Glorious Mother! I know not your name, but may I humbly ask permission to remain and observe?" he askled.

[FaizahPandora]

The egg with the bright red '5' on it, holding the blue wher hatchling, finally hatched. The blue, an almost dark blue green color with patches of three other colors, shook the egg shards from his gooey body. His head spun around, looking at all the people amassed at the hatching. He began to wonder through them until he came to stand by one specific woman.

She smelled fierce to him. He liked her. But there was something missing... So the little blue waited, looking up at the red haired woman that was not snapping something in her hands.

Virisk, curled up comfortably with VirikaHers standing behind her, nodded at the last candidate. A male, she knew. You Stand, though you late.[/color] She told him, giving him a small growl to emphasis her point.

Faizah finished taking the photos, and placed the camera back in her pocket. She then spoke to Shannara, low enough so no one else could hear. "Do you want me to call a Healer in here? Those cuts look bad..."

Llonatan watched first the green Impress to the white haired girl, then the blue go stand next to Reya. He hadn't been upset when the green went past him; he didn't want a green anyway. But the blue... He would be sad to see that one not choose him. It was a handsome blue, even if the colors were a bit much.

Theody was thinking much the same thing. But she kept in mind that there were three more eggs yet to hatch. She didn't need to worry so much. Even if she did rather like the little blue that had chosen the other woman...

[Stormy]

Nuriko bowed once more to Virisk, saying, "I thank you, O Gracious Mother." He then moved closer to the clutch, standing a respectful distance.

Reya looked at the blue wher staring up at her, then recalled that whers needed the blood of their bonded to solidify the bond. She paused, then reached up and pulled out her pocket knife, and slowly sliced her hand, kneeling down and offering the bleeding hand to the wher that was watching her.

Shannara looked up somewhat dazedly, looking at Faizah. "No, I'm fine. I'll be okay, they're just scratches..." she said, her voice just as low as Faizah's. She didn't want to be pulled away from the green, ever. Not even for a few moments. And she feared they would pull her away from her beloved, newly Impressed green.

((Fail muse.))

[FaizahPandora]

Faizah's brow furrowed. "Are you sure? The Healer can come right to you. We don't even have to leave the Sands, or your wher..."

The little blue wher sniffed the hand that was offered to him. Something just didn't smell right. He shook his head and pranced off to another candidate. This boy... Smelled not fierce, but smelled right...

Llonatan looked at the little blue wher before him. Without a thought he cut his hand, wincing at the momentary burn, and offered the bleeding palm to the wher. The little blue smelled his hand, then gently lapped up the blood welling from the wound. Llonatan smiled, knowing that was all it took for Impression to a wher. The little blue was his now.

Llonatansk hungry, mine... The blue whined, a distinctly male voice in Llonatan's mind.

Llonatan nodded, shooting his sister a broad grin, before grabbing chunks of meat from the bowl Reya had handed him. "Eat this carefully, Llonatansk." The new wherling spoke softly to the blue.

Virika smiled back at her brother. She noticed Faizah, still seemingly worried about the girl who had gotten the green, move over towards Llonatan. She had her camera and paperwork in hand. Virika didn't care much. She was just glad that her brother had Impressed!

Blue Llonatansk
Main Color: 0E6760
Marks: Spots of 344762, 634D94 and B404E0
Quarrelsome, Tenacious, Sensitive, Whimsical

[/center]

[Stormy]

Reya watched the blue reject her and turn away from her, feeling her eyes narrow slightly. Well damn...the blue Impressed the boy who had been seemingly causing the white haired girl such distress. Then she shrugged, pulling her hand closer to her, though she held it away from the white robes, not wanting to smear the blood all over the clean swatch of cloth.

Apparently she just wasn't what the blue was looking for. Oh well.

Shannara shook her head at Faizah's continued concern, not feeling the bleeding was enough of a concern to draw her attention away from Shannask. She would eventually get it taken care of...

Mine get better? Shannask asked, turning away from the meat Shannara was feeding her, looking up at Hers with whirling yellow eyes. She nudged the hand toward the red haired woman who was walking away, making the same snapping noises with Llonatansk. For Shannask?

Shannara sighed, unable to resist the waves of concern radiating across the link with the little green. "Alright, Shannask. Because you asked me." She looked over to Faizah, waiting for a moment when she was looking over toward her and her green. When the Weyrwoman did, she waved her free hand slightly to catch Faizah's attention, gestured to her leg, and shrugged in acceptance.

Nuriko watched as the blue sniffed at the offered palm of one of the female candidates, then shook his head and moved away, standing in front of the other male candidate. Apparently the bond was then made, as the wher licked the blood from the cut palm, and then the boy he bonded to started to feed him.

He looked over to the white haired girl and frowned with concern. She really should get that leg taken care of before she goes into shock or it gets infected... he thought.

[FaizahPandora]

Reyna appeared from between a moment before a Healer came into the sands. Faizah pointed the Healer to Shannara, then started to record what she could about the little blue her brother had Impressed.

At the same time another egg started to wobble. The little hatchling inside was fighting valiantly to get out of the egg, but to no effect. The egg was easily the smallest egg, and it had a slightly misshapen side. But it had hardened properly, and it was shaking. So it must be okay...

Virika watched the egg shake. It was reminding her of something... Something she had been told about in wherling and candidate lessons... She looked over at Faizah.

Before Virika could say a word, a small voice called out to those in attendence. Help me, mine! The voice was slightly feminine, and completely alarmed.

Llonatan glanced around, wondering where that voice had come from. There was no unImpressed hatchling on the sands, even though two of the remaining three eggs were shaking violently. Faizah glanced around as well, wondering the same thing. Virika glanced back at the slightly misshapen egg.

About a foot from the egg that was not moving, the fourth egg began to crack. Chunks of egg shell fell away until a very strange wherling stood where the egg had been, panting. It's front half was green while the back half was blue. There were rings of blue and green around the wherlings neck and tail.

[Stormy]

Reya was just as confused about the little voice, looking around to take stock of where the voice could be coming from. And surely, as no unbonded wherlets were on the Sands, the voice had to have come from the eggs. And the only rocking egg, once the bicolored wher emerged, was the slightly misshapen one. In a moment of intuition, she bolted forward from her spot on the sands, skidding to a stop right in front of the egg. She quickly tapped at a few various points on the egg before finding a suitable spot, and worked on cracking it open from that spot.

Determined to get the egg open, the only thing that would stop her was Virisk lunging forward and dragging her away from the egg forcibly. She knew the weak spots on humans and could fight her way out of their grip, but a wher...not exactly something she had been around for long.

Nuriko watched the other redheaded woman, who had obviously heard the voice as well, as she charged toward the egg. He was curious about why she was so clearly disregarding respect for the mother, and for the normal process of events. One should not interfere with the hatching process...it might interrupt a forming bond and rob someone of the chance to Impress. And no one else seemed to be doing anything...

[FaizahPandora]

Faizah glanced over at Reya, who was trying to break open the shaking egg. Looking at it, and having heard the voice, Faizah wondered. Did white whers have the same problem hatching that white dragons and flits did? It was possible...

Faizah hurried over to Reya, handing her a knife. "You'll need this. I think it's a white..." faizah explained to her.

The bicolored wherling stumbled forward, no even bothering to look at Reya. It was stumbling along the sands, looking for one who was worthy of it, when it noticed someone just off to the side. A male, it knew. A male that looked very interesting.

With a small cry of happiness the bicolored wherling lurched towards the male candidate. Once there, the wher looked up at Nuriko with whirling eyes, waiting for something that he knew was missing...

[Stormy]

Nuriko looked down at the multicolored wherlet staring up at him and felt as though he were looking through the eyes of someone else. There was no way that wher was interested in Impressing him, right?

But he knew he was looking through his own eyes at the same time. And it was entirely possible the little green-blue creature wanted to bond with him, as he had read that no one truly ever knew what dragons and whers looked for when looking for Theirs.

Knowing it was proper to do, he hesitantly sliced open his palm, grimacing at the rush of pain it brought. He knelt down gently, offering the bleeding hand to the little wher. "Is this what you want?" he asked under his breath.

Reya didn't even look at Faizah before grabbing the offered knife, stabbing the egg at a careful angle, dragging the seeping wound wide enough to get her hand into it before dropping the knife and pulling at the fracture. Once she got the hole in the shell a little wider, she shoved her other hand into the crack, prying the shell apart forcefully.

She didn't even notice the bits of egg shell piercing her hand as she worked at splitting the egg enough for the wher inside to escape its prison and sanctuary. The pain was overriden by the determination to help the wherlet.

[FaizahPandora]

The bicolored wherling sniffed Nuriko's hand, cocking his head to the side at the metalic scent. Tentatively the wherling licked Nuriko's hand, looking up at Nuriko with rainbow swirling eyes. Impression had been made, and the bicolored wherling would have been grinning if it could. Nurisk is glad he has found you, mine. The wherling said to Nuriko.

Blue/Green Nurisk
502c79 - 77fe02
Marks of 08d2cf and 8ffac5
Candid, Dependable, Imaginative, Mysterious

With the assistance offered it by Reya cracking the shell open, the wherling inside the egg finally was able to hatch. It practically crawled into Reya's lap, licking her injured hands as it did so. The wherling, white with shades of color along it, looked up at Reya with rainbow whirling eyes.

Reyask sorry. Mine hurt? The wherling asked as it continued to lick the blood from Reya's hand.

White Reyask
Main Color: FFFFFF
Markings: Points of E1F7DC, Horizontal stripes of EBEBF6, Vertical stripes of F7F2CC
Babyish, Diligent, Gentle, Jovial

[Stormy]

Reya smiled at the little wher who had all but fallen into her lap, catching it before it fell completely. She let it lick her hands, waiting until the little white was done before moving one hand and scratching the ridge above the eye closest to her. "No, I'm not hurt. Not with anything that won't heal in time, anyhow. But you, you need something to eat. Here," she said, reaching over and grabbing the bowl of meat, setting the bowl in front of Reyask.

Nuriko grinned down at the bicolored wher, hesitantly reaching out and rubbing his head. "I'm glad you found me, too, Nurisk. Now we should probably get you something to eat, no? Or are you not that hungry?" he asked.

No, Nurisk wants food. Where food, mine?

Nuriko didn't remember when exactly he had been handed a bowl of meat, but he was glad he had. "Right here. Just remember to chew it. You don't want to choke," he said, setting the bowl down so the little wher could eat.

((My muse has died...x.x))

[FaizahPandora]

Llonatan, sitting on the sands with Llonatansk asleep on his lap, watched his fellow wherlings with their baby whers. He couldn't help but smile. The bond with him and Llonatansk was strong, and something he had never felt before. But it felt completely right at the same time. He noticed his sister's smile, and he smiled back.

Theody felt depressed. A second time, the whers had found her to be undesirable. She almost felt that she should give up on Impressing. None of the whers seemed to like her... She shook her head. She needed to stop thinking like that. The whers hadn't chosen her because they were not meant for her. She and one of these whers would not have made a good match. And a good match was all that mattered when it came to Impressing.

Theody just needed to keep her head up. That was all. And she would keep that in mind...

[Stormy]

Reya looked up from Reyask as the white was eating, her attention drawn to the desolate looking Theody. In a show of comraderie, she stood and walked over to Theody, making sure to stay in sight of Reyask. She set a hand on the girl's shoulder, then gave her a small smile.

"Cheer up. Just think, the longer you wait for a wher, the better the bond is, possibly." She patted Theody's shoulder, then added, "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. Things have a way of working out at a Weyr."

[FaizahPandora]

Theody nodded. "I know." She said. She watched the last egg. It hadn't moved the entire hatching. She thought it might be a dud, but she wasn't sure. She hoped it would hatch...

Virika was watching the last egg as well, her mind on the same thing. The egg hadn't moved at all. There wasn't a single crack on it's smooth surface. And Virisk was completely ignoring it, watching her children with their bonded. Even Faizah seemed to be paying the egg no attention.

Virisk looked up at Virika, cocking her head to the side. No more hatch. Was all she said to Hers.

Virika nodded. "It's a dud egg..." She said aloud, but quietly. A dud egg was a sad thing indeed, and she didn't want to upset the young whers.