The weather had been dreary seemingly ever since Dweezel had arrived. "How ironic." he mused silently to just himself and his new firelizard, Ord. She glowered at the surroundings along with him as he stood just inside the entrance to the sands. The green-blue had grown increasingly broody over her eggs, and now only allowed her rider, her mate and the rider of her mate near them. They were several days overdue to hatch and most of the weyr suspected that the fatal gene that had killed all of the dam's siblings had been passed onto her children and they were dead or dying as well.

"How perfect . . . my first standing at a clutch and all the eggs are duds. This doesn't bode well. But what has in my life?" Warmth on his back signaled the first glimpse of sun the weyr had seen in a long time, and he turned to face it, grimacing. After the hot, stagnant air of the Southern Continent, Dweezel had come to actually enjoy this cool climate. The abrupt and loud bugle of the brown sire startled Dweezel and he whipped around to see the eggs all rocking hard, for the first time ever. Hannah came running up behind him, Oeldu close in tow. "Oeldu started to hum, and I remembered that means that the clutch was going to hatch!" she panted. "I thought I'd warn you, but I see it's too late. " Ord snapped at the bronze and growled menacingly. "Well, hurry! The eggs are hatching!" Hannah urged, shoving a white candidate robe into his hands.

"But I.." he started. It had seemed this day would never come so he wasn't prepared for the flurry of actual excitement and fear that filled him. With Hannah's help he jerked on the robe and dashed out onto the hot Sands just in time to see the eggs fierce rocking stop, calming to a gentle tremble. "No . . . they can't be.." he breathed. As these words exited his mouth, cracks began to form in each of the eggs, and the more eager candidates stepped forward, only to be snapped at by the mother of the clutch. Her mate pulled her back and spoke aloud "Ecanirith, calm yourself! You must let our children Impress!" It had often crossed his mind how odd it was that this dragon spoke aloud rather than through thoughts. He wasn't sure if this was a normal thing, or if it was as rare as the green-blue dragon. "It would be interesting to Impress a speaking dragon . . . but then it would yak at me all the time." he sighed.

The first dragon to hatch was a small white-blue that spoke like its father. It soothed its mother and walked away to find his bond. Dweezel caught himself holding his breath that this might be his, but of course the little white-blue approached a boy to his right and left with him. "What was I thinking." he murmured. No dragon would want such a withdrawn man. A speaking blue hatched next and chose another boy to bond, Dweezel was beginning to expect them to walk away, even though it was only the second egg. Hannah waved encouragingly from the stands, and Dweezel nodded back as the third and fourth egg burst. It was astonishing how alike the two hatchlings were. Had he not seen the separate eggs breaking, Dweezel would have believed the two were twins.

Both headed straight for their mother before even glancing at the candidates. The larger of the pair gave his parents a small bow of respect before turning away to gaze forlornly into the distance, lost in thought. His sister snuggled her mother as the largest egg cracked, revealing a brown. The other male black-blue returned his higher-ranked brothers questioning chirp with a cold, indifferent glare. After this, the black-blue looked to his parents and nodded at his sister. She dislodged herself from her mother's loving grasp and went to bond, carefully choosing a girl and leaving with her. As the black-blue female left, her brother seemed reassured that his sister would be all right without his attention. He silently advanced toward his chosen with hardly a glance at the other candidates who crowded him. He was already at Dweezel's feet before he abruptly sat on the sand and caught his chosen''s dark eyes in a cold stare. A few of the remaining candidates looked warily at the two, unsure how either would react and not certain they wanted to know.

Dweezel had scarcely hoped that this dragon could possibly be his when he heard the gentle but firm voice enter his thoughts.

So where shall we start, D'zel? Kill your tormentor, seek out what happened to your family, or find some weyr that's truly worthy of your friend?

For the first time in a long time, an actual smile spread slowly across D'zel's face. It was an uncomfortable expression, but one that greatly relieved all the hatred in his heart . . . even though it was for a brief moment that came and went all too quickly. "We'll start by getting you fed, Cherubith." he said shakily. The little black-blue grinned and said this for both D'zel and Hannah to hear.

Agreed. We'll later go to the Southern Continent, then talk with those dolphins, and finally scour all of Pern for the best weyr for Hannah. I'll settle for nothing less than perfect. I'm here to watch over all of you.

Ord actually crooned at the little dragonet as D'zel led him off the Sands, Hannah rushing to meet them where the others were feeding their new lifemates. "I knew you'd Impress." she said, her voice a constricted whisper. All the dragonets exchanged knowing glances as they ate, a wisdom beyond their years hid behind their eyes. This clutch was truly going to grow into a spectacular group of dragons.