Slightly before normal lunchtime, the Candidates were ushered into the kitchens for a quick, small lunch. Before being given food, they had to clean up at the communal sinks in the corner. After cleaning up, each one was given a precise amount of food, "To keep you from getting sick during or after the Hatching," Headwoman Nataly explained: a couple thin slices of each meat and cheese, two slices of bread or a dozen crackers, and a small serving of each fruit and vegetables; a healthy meal, but hardly filling to Candidates who had been working all morning, and no doubt working up an appetite. But they had a choice of meals: they were allow to choose a meat, cheese, bread or cracker, fruit, and vegetable for their plate.

Meat	Cheese	Fruit	Bread/Crackers	Vegetable
Ham Pastrami Beef Spicy sausage (pepperoni) Wherry	Nut cheese (Swiss) Smoked cheese (provolone) Yellow cheese (cheddar) Soft white cheese (mozzarella) Smoked yellow cheese	Tart apple (Granny Smith) Orange Tomato Peach Dried grapes (raisins)	Plain crackers (Ritz) Rye bread Whole wheat crackers (Triscuit) Plain bread Egg bread (Challah)	Whiteroots (green onions) Celery sticks Fingerroots Olives Mashed potatoes

They were also given a large tumbler of water to drink and instructed to finish every drop to help prevent dehydration on the Sands. Once they all had their plates and were seated at the long table normally used by the kitchen staff, the Headwoman addressed them. "You've got about an hour until the Hatching starts. Eat up, drink up, and then go to your bunks and pack your personal belongings. Place your packs at the front of your bunks; if you Impress, your things will be moved to your barracks while you're feeding your Hatchling. Once you're done packing or you start hearing humming, whichever comes first, report to the bathing rooms to get ready to go onto the Sands."

Artemis
It had been interesting working at cutting up the meat, and highly disgusting. Lucky for Artemis, she had only puked once before getting into things and after a few moments she’d actually managed to not find it quite as horrifyingly gross. When she had finished with the task, she went about cleaning up and glancing down before shuddering. At least they’d given her an apron to use… cause she had somehow gotten wherry guts on the front of it. Thus, she was happy to wash her hands and take the nasty thing off, although she was soon washing her hands a second time. “Ugh! Just think we could be having to do that all the time until the hatchlings are old enough to hunt for themselves,” she commented to her twin (and Kerso if he was nearby).

When she had finished cleaning up she easily got into line and started picking out her meal. Since she knew she could only choose one of each, she took a moment to decide at each step. In the end she made a sandwich that involved rye bread, pastrami, soft white cheese (mozzarella), and tomato. On the side she had a few cut up celery sticks and then off she went to sit down and enjoy her meal… and really tall glass of water. It was a good meal, and she enjoyed eating it. With ease she finished the small lunch, hungry for more but knowing that they would have to wait until after the hatching before they could stuff themselves like pigs… after stuffing their dragons, of course.

While she had been eating, she listened to the head woman and finished her water in between bites… with the majority of it going after she’d finished her meal. With that done she put her plate away and headed off to her room, pausing long enough to wish Kerso and Apollo good luck with a bright smile. They would be fairly busy, and she knew that she would be standing separate from the boys. Thus, she headed off to complete her task of packing up her belongings. This was the longer part, taking a good portion of that hour before she was finally satisfied she placed the belongings at the foot of her bed before darting from the room to go take her bath. She needed one, she still felt kind of gross from all that meat she and the boys had cut up. At least they would be ahead of the game should they impress!

Once she got to the bathing chambers, she was happy to see she was the first to arrive, and easily stripped herself of the clothes she’d been wearing in favor of slipping into the warm water. She gave a soft sigh as the heat spread over her body and then she grabbed the sweet sands and began cleaning herself, hoping to wash off all the meat smell that she could swear had buried itself into her skin…

Fayble had been working hard outside to help prepare for the Gather, and was extremely happy to be allowed in to wash and eat. She scrubbed away grime and dirt frowning about a few bug bites she had recevied for her hard work as she did so. After she tied her hair, she quickly fell behind Artemis to gather her food. The girl would make a ham sandwhich, out of yellow (cheddar) cheese, a slice of tomato, and some white roots on rye bread. She would sit beside Artemis silent for the most part, and eat her sandwhich lost in though. Of course drinking all the water wasn't an issue, as she had been thirsty from her labour and guzzled it down greedily, wishing she could serve herself more than just a sandwhich.

After having finished her lunch she would follow Artemis' lead and pack her belongings up, scared and nervous that she would have to return home, but excited at the prospect of what could come. Of course she had thurst a few things under the bed this morning in a hurry and groaned as she fished them out her bottom high in the air as her fingers wrapped around a stray pair of socks and pushing them into the bottom recesses of her bags. She'd line up her packed items properly and then scamper off to the bathing chambers, there was Artemis soaking, and claiming her own spot Fayble did much the same giving a sigh.

"How were your chores?" She would ask the other girl after a long moment of silence.

--

Derrick had been sweating his...well nevermind that. It was HOT in those rooms, and no amount of circulating air seemed to help. Perhaps it was the fact that he was making beds and trying to keep up with everyone else (who seemed to make up the beds far neater, and faster than he could ever imagine), or perhaps it was sheer nerves, knowing that today he would be possibly chosen.

Having been told to wash he watched that girl Artemis, and chose to grab just some random food. Something to stop that pit of gnawing anger in his gut. That was easy enough with some spice sausage, nut cheese, he made the most of it by stacking it on the few crackers he had taken (Ritz), munching on his raisins while still admiring the beauty. He almost forgot to eat his celery, and only when he accidentally bit down on his finger did he snap out of it. "Focus," he muttered to himself.

Thankfully he hadn't been here for too long, and most of his belongings hadn't been unpacked, when he arrived it took him only a few minutes to throw everything in his bags and get on to the bathing chambers, happy to have that extra time to soak in the warm waters.

He had folded his clothing neatly in a pile and slunk in at first just resting with his head against the ledge closing his eyes, enjoying the water as it rippled against his frame, before vigorously scrubbing, wanting to get the dust and cobwebs out of his hair and off his skin.

Apollo

He had found himself rather disgusted by the work, but he did it all the same. At least he had managed not to vomit! He really did feel rather proud of himself for that. Of course, this could be in part because both his "friend" Kerso and his sister were in his group. And well, he couldn't let his sister down, and well... he had a bit of a friendly "competition" with Kerso. It wasn't anything that was really verbalized, just a sort of rivalry that had started when they became roommates and Kerso's attitude about the various colors of dragons became apparent. Most of the time, Apollo found that he liked working with his fellow candidate and he most certainly had fun learning vinterning. It was fun... although he did have a tendency to get into trouble with it because of the whole idea of them drinking while doing their lessons. Definitely not their fault if the tests involved that!

When they were finally called away from working with the wherry meat, Apollo was more than pleased to wash up and go get something to eat. After all, who wanted to continue cutting meat into little cubes while getting covered in blood and guts? In fact, he had to wash his hands a couple times while getting rid of the apron he wore and picking any spare guts off his arms and shirt that had managed to sneak past the apron. Once all was said and done, he felt better and set about working on finding his food.

In the end he put beef, yellow cheese (cheddar), tomato and mashed potatos on plain bread and ate it all together. It made for an interesting sandwich, but he didn't really mind the idea and actually found it rather yummy. Especially with the excess water to wash it all down (which was needed considering the potato managed to help dry out his mouth.

When done, he thought back on what Nataly had said before rising from his spot and trailing after Derrick until he could duck into the room he shared with Kerso and a couple others... it was there that he started packing up his belongings. He knew he would have to try and be punctual about it, as he needed everything prepared should he impress... and if he didn't succeed then he knew his father would want to pull him back to the hold so he could continue his lessons in case it was he who succeeded instead of his brother.

When finished, he made his way to the bathing room and stripped from his clothes before joining Derrick in the water. "Hey" he greeted off handedly to the new kid before he began to scrub himself clean.

Kerso
Kerso was pleased with the way he was chopping up wherries. He inwardly hoped his bronze would LIKE wherry meat. Then he had a thought: what if bronzes HAD to eat herdbeast because they were so much bigger? Before he could voice the question, though, a drudge came running up to H'lee and said the Candidates were supposed to get cleaned up and meet the Headwoman in one of the small dining halls off the kitchens.

He was glad to get cleaned up, even a little bit, and quite frankly, "I wish I could climb in this and really get clean," he complained to Apollo as they washed up. "I want a real bath."

When he got to the lunch, he couldn't believe the tiny amount they were going to be fed - until he actually looked at the meats. He normally didn't eat ham, the fact that pigs would eat practically anything made him leery of their meat. However, he couldn't stand the idea of eating wherry or herdbeast meat right now, so he selected ham, smoked yellow cheese, egg bread, a peach, and olives. He also wished for fruit juice instead of water.

Nonetheless, he lingered over the food, grateful to be sitting down. It wasn't until he realized all the other Candidates had left that he dashed off to his room. Apollo and his other bunkmates had already finished and gone off to the bathing chambers. Unable to coordinate packing the way he would have liked, he started shoving clothes and items into bags haphazardly. Fortunately, he didn't own anything breakable, so it wasn't a big deal, but he wasn't looking forward to unpacking in his new barrack.

---

After the Candidates selected their lunches, the Headwoman went off to attend to other duties. She was, in fact, in the middle of rescuing the bread sculpture that would be the centerpiece of the Hatching Feast: a giant fort made of black bread with dragons of different colors perched or lounging about on it - each new weyrling rider would be given one of the bread dragons of the color that they Impressed. Some idiot had set two third-level staff to carry it out! She turned to yell at said idiot and assign four first-level staff to carry it out when a vibration thrummed against her feet. "SHARDIT!" she swore. No time to yell at anyone, she just pointed, "You, you, you, and you, get this out there CAREFULLY. Or you'll go without pay for a fortnight!"

Leaving that threat hanging over them, she dashed off to make sure all the Candidates were bathed and in their robes, ready to go onto the Sands. On the way, she grabbed a brownrider and gave him a list of the male Candidates, then shoved him into the boys' bathing chamber while she swept into the girls' and started counting noses.

Katarina was missing, but the Headwoman had heard the girl had skipped out on her chores that morning, too, and she hadn't been seen at lunch. Well, if she didn't show up, she wouldn't Impress, although it wasn't unheard of for a hatchling to wander out of the Sands to find its bondmate.

"Alright, alright, enough soaking! Up, up, UP!" She shoved towels at each Candidate and then shoved them in the direction of the robes and boots that were hanging on the wall. Once the dragons started humming, it was only a matter of minutes until the eggs started cracking. "You have less than five minutes! Remember: bow to the queen and her rider when you step out. Project welcoming, happy thoughts. Stay put until you're chosen or all the hatchlings have Impressed - DON'T try to help the hatchlings or you'll get trampled or even killed! Come line up in the corridor as soon as you're ready!" and she strode out of the room.

Meanwhile, the brownrider in the other room was giving the boys much the same advice. Unlike her, however, he was grinning as he did it, remembering his own Impression. He was young and still remembered vividly what it was like to be a Candidate. Instead of leading them out into the corridor, though, he herded them out to where the Headwoman was waiting.

When all the Candidates who were present were lined up and waiting, the Headwoman started shooing them out onto the Sands, reminding them in a harsh whisper to stay 15 feet from the eggs, and 10 feet from each other.

By this time, the Stands were full, seemingly to overflowing, with guests and residents eagerly awaiting the Hatching. The dragons' humming which was muffled by the stone in the rest of the Weyr, was unbelievably loud in the chamber itself. In fact, if one watched closely, one could see the vibrations from the humming affecting the heat waves coming off the hot Sands, making the very air appear to be joining the dragons in welcoming the new hatchlings. The Candidates couldn't have heard each other speak even if they'd wanted to.

It was hard to believe anything could be heard over the rumble of happy dragons, but the first loud CRACK of an egg rang out clearly as the Candidates filed onto the Sands...

ARTEMIS

Artemis had been enjoying her bath, and did little more than smile a greeting at Fayble when she appeared. Although she was soon focusing on enjoying the feel of the water around her body. She barely did little more than that as others filed in as well. When she heard Fayble's question, she lifted her gaze and looked to the other candidate. "Disgusting, but helpful should I impress. Apollo, Kerso and myself were cutting up meat for the hatchlings," she informed easily enough, although she had recovered from finding the whole ordeal nasty.

Before too long, she found herself with a towel thrust at her and swiflty she started cleaning up. She had gotten some time to soak and so she was prepared to get out and finish getting dressed for the hatching. Once dressed she lined up and nodded to the headwoman at the directions. Before long she had turned and started walking onto the sands, pausing momentarily to bow to both the queen and her rider. All the while she thought about the happiest and most welcoming thoughts she could think of!

When she got into place, she had paused to watch the others file in when she heard the loud crack of an egg and instantly her eyes darted back towards the eggs. Instantly she started feeling anxious and nervous, waiting for the hatchling to come into the world.

Derrick grunted in return, "Hey." He groaned and rotated a shoulder, "Ex..." He got cut off shortly as a brown rider appeared and began to tell them what was to come. Pulling himself from the warm waters he quickly dried off before changing and filing in. As he walked out he could feel the heat creeping towards him and it took his breath away to feel the heat and the hum of the dragons. Bowing respectfully to the queen and her chosen he waited on the sands trying to remember all his happy moments, dwelling on his new siblings (which gave him much joy to play with and be a part of).

Nerves ate at his stomach once again with the resonating sound of the crack and he gasped softly. This is it, happy thoughts Derrick HAPPY THOUGHTS! he demanded of himself actually closing his eyes to try and better picture them.

--

Fayble winced at the thought of the meats, "Ew, glad I didn't get that job I kind of enjoyed breakfast!" She wrinkled her nosed and wrung out her hair before the Headwoman interupted their bathing expirance. Quickly following orders she chose not to dawdle and was dressed and ready just behind Artemis. Outside the heat had caused her fair to get away from her, and stray wisps could be glimpsed at sticking up strangely.

Her bow was respectful and quick to both the queen and her rider, thinking about the joy it had caused her to come to this place, to be here. She smiled inwardly and concentrated on that, almost jumping in surprise at the sound of the egg. Her heart beat faster, and she whispered softly "happy thoughts" over and over again under her breath, trying to contain her nervous excitement.

Apollo had nodded his agreement with Kerso when his friend made the comment. He had felt utterly disgusting at the time and was even more grateful when he got into the bath because of it. However, before long he found himself glancing at the brownrider who had interrupted Derrick in his response. A soft groan left the young man, he wanted to scrub himself clean better!!!

Swiftly he jumped out of the water and began drying himself off before slipping into the candidate robe that was his, and turning to head onto the sands once all ways said and done. He easily followed after Derrick as the other male candidate bowed to the queen and her rider, Apollo doing the same himself. Once in line, he forced himself to think happy thoughts before his eyes shifted to the source of the cracking egg.

"I'm glad it's starting fast," he managed to whisper to Derrick, truly thankful that they didn't have to wait for very long for things to start.

((Let's see if my brain cooperates long enough for some decent posting eh? Also, cleared Kat's absence with Kes so we're all good. =3))

Katarina
Kat had not intentionally skipped out on her chores or lunch or anything of the sort. But starting immediately after breakfast, she had suddenly felt very ill and ducked into an empty room away from most of the hustle and bustle of hatching preparations. Her intentions had been to just lie down for a bit and rejoin her fellow candidates when she had rid herself of whatever had hit her (she was assuming it was a bad case of nerves). Of course, as with all best laid plans, there's always an unexpected something that happens and she fell asleep, dozing away the morning and lunch time as well.

It wasn't until a vibration went through the Weyr that she became fully aware of how much time had passed and, though her stomach protested at the movements, she rolled from the cot she'd claimed and rushed to her room, shoving items into a haphazard pile and stuffing her bags as quickly as she could. Though she was sure she hadn't gotten everything, she headed for the batching chambers, bypassing the pools and grabbing a robe.

Pale and shaking from both lack of food for the better part of the day and a severe case of nerves, the wayward candidate did a quick check of things and approached Nataly well after the others had taken their places on the sands. "Headwoman Nataly...I....Sorry I missed chores. I wasn't feeling well and I just wanted to lie down for a moment but I fell asleep and I missed everything. But I still want to stand if you'll let me." Her normally boisterous attitude and the most annoying confidence she usually projected were gone in the face of potentially being told she wouldn't be allowed to stand and her rather severe case of nerves. She'd stay right where she was if the Headwoman told her to as long as she got to stay and at least watch the eggs hatch she'd be happy enough.

---

K'then
While H'lee and other had been tending to the cutting of meat, K'then had attached himself to the group helping the healers set up what they needed, bantering good naturedly with the other healers and eventually taking up a place about halfway between where the newly impressed would go to feed their dragonlings and the healers so he could aid either group should they need him when the hatching itself got going. H'lee had plenty of hands to help him with the weyrlings that managed to get through things without any injuries, he figured his job would be to tend those that ended up hurt by bandaging or stitching as needed while Baroleth helped keep their hatchlings calm if he was needed.

A'dam had never liked hatchings. They were too loud with too many voices, both dragon and human, all around and inside his head. If not for the fact his gift was useful in tending injured dragons, he wouldn't have even gone to the hatching at all. But H'lee had asked nicely and A'dam was always reluctant to really say no, especially since Dragonhealers were somewhat rarer than other Healers. So he'd joined up with Fort's Dragonhealer to make sure they had everything they would need to tend injured hatchlings.

Prior to the humming, A'dam had kept his mind closed off to all but Dranith but when the candidates made their way onto the sands and the first egg started cracking, he opened his senses and was suddenly assaulted by draconic voices as the dragons of the weyr chatted amongst themselves or with their riders. He made a face and ran a hand through his hair. He was definitely sneaking off with a skin of wine and some fellis after all was said and done. A good night's rest would hopefully alleviate the headache he knew he would end up with by the end of the day. Too bad for Erin if she wanted him to attend the Hatching Feast with her. There was no way he was going to feel up to it at all.

Erin had mulled over various things, but in the end she couldn't deny that it would be fun to take the kids with them to the weyr. After all, she was curious to see if that Fayble girl would impress, and she had an inkling that it would simply be something fun for her adopted children. Thus she had brought Saelit and Selisa with her to Fort, only to find herself having quite a bit of fun pointing out all the dragons for the two kids and explaining their questions as best she could. Of course, since they were sitting in the sands away from A'dam, that included one very important question from Selisa (that had already been answered a couple times).

"How come we can't sit with Daddy?" the little girl questioned, noting that he was with the rest of the healers.

"Because, sweetie, he's working and has to stay down there in case one of the dragons gets hurt," the woman explained softly, chuckling.

"But don't you heal dragons too?"

"Yeah, but I'm not as good at it as he is, and I've only started learning," she responded, kissing the girl's head.

Saelit just rolled his eyes at the interaction. Despite his sister's desire to call their adoptive parents "mom" and "dad"... he preferred to just call them Erin and A'dam... it made things far easier since he already had parents... they were just dead...

Kerso

Kerso darted into the bathing rooms only a few minutes ahead of the brownrider who was in charge of them - surprising, NOT H'lee. He practically leaped into one of the tubs and started scrubbing like mad. He muttered something in Apollo's general direction about not wanting to be mistaken for a hatchling's first meal because he smelled like butchered wherries.

He had ducked his head under the water when the brownrider came in, so he missed the first few words, but he got the gist of it quickly enough. He finished scrubbing down and was one of the last ones out the door and onto the Sands. He scrunched his face and cringed as the heat slammed into his scrubbed skin. Happy thoughts...right. He'd just taken his first step onto the sands when a loud crack split the air - the eggs were hatching! He scurried out with a perfunctory bow to the queen and her eggs, eager to see what the first hatchling would be.

---

H'lee
Some might have argued that the Weyrlingmaster, who was also a Dragonhealer, should have been helping the Healers and other Dragonhealers set up. But that's why he'd brought A'dam, of course - the young man was much better equipped to identify injured hatchlings before they got off the Sands, and H'lee spent his time, instead, setting up the tables with their accoutrements: a basket of meat, two baskets of water (one with a moderately stiff-bristled brush hanging on the side), and a bowl of oil with a couple of cloths.

In truth, no rider wanted to miss the Hatching and Impressions of the youngsters, not even H'lee. However, he would only be able to witness the first few, until the first one reached his station, then he would be too busy getting the newly-bonded pairs straightened out and their first meal and bath started. However, he'd done this plenty of times before; the only difference was that this was the first time he'd been in Fort Weyr doing it, and that was minor enough. He had plenty of time to limp partway from his station to the Sands with his other Assistant Weyrlingmasters to watch the beginning of the Hatching; hearing the first egg's cracking echo up the tunnel, the group scurried around the last corner to where they could see the eggs and their attendant hopefuls.

---

Hatching


Not all of the Candidates were on the Sands when the first egg cracked, and Nataly practically shoved the last handful out the doorway. "Get out there, out, out, out!" she shooed them. Then, her job done until the Impressions were over - at which point she would escort those who had been rejected back to the bathing chambers to change and would then preside over the Feast - she leaned against the wall with her assistant brownrider and watched.

A second crack followed the first and a shard of eggshell went flying outward toward the curve of Candidates from the center egg in the front row, closest to the Candidates (egg k). A moment later, the rest of the shell crumbled away from its contents: a bronze!

There was a long moment of relative silence as the bronze - whose back was to the Candidates initially - peered around the Sands, seeming to nod to himself before turning around to regard the Candidates with a critical eye. Again, he seemed to nod to himself before moving toward one of the boys on his right - the end farthest from the door where the Candidates had come in from. With an amazed, high-pitched cry, the boy flung his arms around the young dragon's head, shouting, "His name's Zhlucarth!"

With that, it was as though all the other eggs decided they'd given their clutchbrother enough time in the spotlight and that they'd hatch all at once. Crackling filled the arena: egg b split in half to reveal a brown; egg d bounced around for a bit before the bottom broke out, revealing the bottom half of a green, with the upper portion of the shell still stuck over the hatchling's head and neck; egg h also spilled out green contents; egg f revealed a blue. These looked around at the assembled Candidates (except for the one green who was still trying to back out of her egg and was comically turning in circles), but seemed content to just sit for the moment and their siblings continued to punch out of their confinement.

Artemis focused on the eggs, thankful that they had something else to think about. Especially as she spotted the bronze that appeared from the first egg to break. Her eyes widened and she gave a smile, wondering if it would go to Derrick. She was certain that he would impress well, although she smiled as the bronze chose it's candidate. Regardless of whether or not it picked Derrick, she was happy to see that a bronze was the first hatchling. That was a good sign, right?

With that she focused her attention back on the other eggs and easily looked over each of the hatchlings. Although a soft chuckle left her as she watched the half-revealed green. It was cute to see and it took her a second before she put back on the proper little candidate face and looked over the rest of the newly revealed hatchlings.

Daria had left her three babies with the headwoman at Telgar Weyr, demanding that R'alras and D'rk go to watch the hatching that her son was standing at. Although, they had been forced to stop by Snowy Hold in order to pick up her mother and uncle. Naturally, Sakura refused to ride her daughter's gold, unable to picture anything other than how own dead gold. Thus, she had ridden to the weyr on D'rk's bronze.

Now the two women sat in the stands and watched as the bronze hatched first before keeping an eye on other thing. Sakura sat between Tray and D'rk, while her daughter sat between D'rk and R'alras.

Fayble had squealed slightly at the sight of a bronze and was surprised it went to a boy that she barely remembered seeing in classes with them. None-the-less the girl puffed out her chest a bit more and smiled inwardly as she watched the little green with its head stuck in its shell still. She desperately wanted to help but stayed rooted firmly to the ground not daring to disobey. "Poor thing." She muttered softly.

--

Derrick was shocked as the bronze lumbered by him and Kerso and went for the boy. But he was glad. After all it was a cute hatchling but clearly it wasn't his. He stole a look at Artemis before looking back at the eggs. -Keep cool and happy thoughts-. Of course he ended up thinking about how they had been sneaking around and it made a smile form in his head. Hopefully no one would notice much.

--

D'rk had been happy to give his family member a ride, and R'alras had let Dertray ride with him (though it caused great pain, but Dertray refused to ride a queen.). R'alras had been holding his breath and let out a sigh softly as his boy was over looked.

"He's a proud dragon, but I'm sure he'll impress well. He's got his mother's genes in him." D'rk commented and R'alras nodded with an agreement.

Dertray had been squeezing Sakura's hand and his heart almost lept from his throat when the boy was over looked. He couldn't muster to say anything but merely squirmed a bit in his seat trying to keep his anticipation at bay.