Despite the fact that so many were interested in witnessing a history-making moment like this, it appeared that few were willing to step forward and stand for the eggs that were to hatch any day now. Of the few that did, the majority were also arriving from other worlds.

"This is great... this is just great." Siche stood with her hands clasped tightly against the smooth, cold metal of the front-row railing. Her long, lightly furred tail lashed behind her, and her lumiglo back-tubes frothing an angry turqoiuse colour, the Minister of Flights and Hatchings made quite the scene. She glared at Vesadmorth, though certainly her attention was not on the dragon itself. Rather, she was thinking of the hatching bay at the opposite end of the ring, where at this moment Linaeas (she was sure) was coaching on those hideous monstrosities... "'Dragons'. Pah. They look like overgrown tumors with wings, to me." But enough of that.

This clutch was to hatch any time now... in fact, a couple of the eggs had been going through mild tremors for the last day. All candidates were put on high alert, and Siche wouldn't be surprised if any of them hadn't slept a wink. If it weren't for her dragon, Carci', nagging at her to stop stressing, she probably wouldn't have, either. Where was that Archivist, anyways? Right, with the bug-dragon-things. Normally he would have been here, waiting patiently as he always did, recording each hatching and listing the bondings that occurred... but in his absence, he had left no one, not even a mere apprentice, to watch for him. "Go figure," she mumbled, tearing her glare off of the blindingly bright dragoness, and gluing it onto the pentet of eggs. "Dogs... looks like I'll have to oversee this one. I'm going to tan that mutts hide with his brains when I get ahold of him..."

At that moment the dragoness-mother stirred, and all who were currently within the hatching chamber looked up. Vesadmorth, always the show-off, spread her wings slightly and trilled loudly, her voice like a liquid rainbow as it ran up and down the octaves. Her rider, the light-haired human, emerged from her temporary housing in the corner of the chamber, and hurried down off of the elevated pad over to the Raug-green's side.

"Well, this is it..." Siche heaved a sigh. She turned away from the main-bay and realized that, already, there were more people streaming in. Gods and demons, gossip flew in this city! She snagged one of her own ministries apprentices--little more then a child, this biped, lizard-like female stared up, startled but still unblinking, at the cat-woman. "You, go to the candidates and alert them that they'd better get their asses out here in a hurry!" The girl was already gone. Siche nodded shortly. Good.

She turned her gaze back down onto the semi-malleable, moss-like hatching grounds. Two of the eggs were shaking violently, now, and not a candidate in site! At least there were those preparing the food that the dragonets would surely need, just below her perch, along the wall. So the hatchlings wouldn't starve to death...

The Minister felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled, ready to smack who-ever dared to touch her, but it was only another of her rank, Jordan S'aller, "Minister of Communications and Trade" (usually referred to as ComTrade). "You look like you're the one having kids, Four. Everything all right?"

"Hmph."

"I have a feeling this is going to be interesting. It's unfortunate that I couldn't get ahold of any offworld leaders... I tried to contact Driolo, but they're in the midst of a pretty bad sand-storm right now..."

"And I care about this how?"

Jordan chuckled and patted her shoulder. "Tsk, Four. You should keep a more 'public' face at an event like this! You don't want to leave that kind of impression on the people!" And then his grin turned a particular shade of evil, "of course, I'm sure you have your own ways to keep the people satisfied."

Siche snarled at him and smacked his hand. "Go sit in the sands before I claw your eyes out! Go!" The impertinent human chuckled again and left her in relative peace.

And now the candidates were filing in, coming out one at a time through the entrance beneath the stand. There were four in all--four?! But there were five eggs! Siche twitched a metal-laden ear in shock, and forced herself to calm down. Perhaps these offworld dragons were different, perhaps, hopefully, there would be no premature deaths, here. The candidates stood hesitantly before the rocking eggs, some more bold then others, of course, while the rainbow-mother looked on with disgust and despair. Even Siche could tell that from the creature.

A hush fell over the audience as one egg shook so hard it rolled a short ways. The other eggs were in similar states of aggravation, but the first, which was certainly rocking the hardest, burst into several pieces, revealing the sopping wet purple mass that had been held inside. The dragonet squalled at her sudden freedom, tried to get her footing, and slipped. Vesadmorth nudged her gently with her long snout, helping the dragonet get to shaky, still soft-clawed feet.

The hatchling was gangly, larger then most Star-City types (but that was to be expected... after all, Vesa' was the largest green Siche had ever seen!), and when she spread her overly large, first set of wings for balance, a murmur swept the entire crowd. While her body was generally a bright shade of purple--spotted along her neck and upper limbs with speckles of all colours, it was her wings that were really impressive. They were solidly coloured, and a soft, rainbow hue that was neither hard on the eyes, nor too pale to notice. The dragonet paused at the sudden attention she was getting, and swung her head up to the crowd. Her ice-blue eyes widened in fear, and she turned back towards her mother. Vesa' lowered her head, and the two exchanged thoughts.

With that, the little one appeared to gain a bit of confidence and, turning back towards the hopeful candidates, she made a bee-line towards them... and past them, towards the bowls of food at the back.

Siche watched all of this in astonishment. So she wasn't going to choose a bond, here? Amazing! But her attention was drawn away again as two more eggs cracked, one immediately after the other. The first of these spilled an incredibly shiny looking copper, his markings much like that of a tiger (albeit multi-coloured), and his wings and tail-fin nearly transparent. He shook himself out, and then posed almost regally.

The second dragon, smaller then this one, scrambled to his feet with much less sophistication. His hide was a dark, cobalt blue in colour, his wings and dappled markings incredibly bright against his otherwise featureless hide. The copper spread his main pair of wings and lowered his still wet head at his hatch-mate, eyeing the smaller dragon with disdain. The blue, looking incredibly ruffled for all that he was only a few minutes old, lashed his short, stubby tail and mewled at his brother. Vesadmorth rumbled low in her throat, causing both to look up.

A quiet chuckle rose throughout the crowd. Sibling rivalry at such an early age? Perhaps. The copper turned away from his mother, and, shell-beaked snout held high, all but pranced past his brother and towards the candidates. More wary this time of another 'independent' dragon, one candidate stepped forward.

Kalin literally blocked the copper's path, causing the dragonet to look up. For a second it looked as if the little one was going to dart away, or perhaps try to rend his new 'opponent' limb from limb, but then something changed, and his grey-gold eyes softened. Kalin laughed, and, laying a hand on the dragonet's (as yet) hornless head, led him towards the food dishes. "What's his name!" Someone shouted from the crowd. One always announced their dragon's names, it was tradition.

A little startled, the semi-human looked up at all of the expectant faces. "Oyceth," was all the young man said, though he still received a round of applause. The dragonet puffed out his little chest and gloated, even as he was being fed.

Meanwhile, the bue dragonet had sat, stock still, staring at the remaining three candidates. He raked his eyes over each of them, expecting a challenge of his own... but he got none. Dejectedly, he made his way to the feeding dishes.

The last two eggs were shaking, one much more vigorously then the other. Now that the audiences attention was on them again, the one appeared to shake a little harder, and suddenly the shell parted in a small explosion of shell, leaving an incredibly bright blue sprawling in the shells remains. He dragged himself forward a little, eyes still tightly closed, wings not fully open (though from what was visible, they, too, were nearly transparent), as if afraid to face his world. Finally he opened one small eye and, as if amazed, froze in place. He blinked wide eyes as he swept his gaze from the audience to the shiny metal of the walls and ceiling, only glancing a moment at the candidates before continuing his visual journey of the hatching bay. By the time he'd reached his mother, his neck appeared to be craned at an unnatural angle. The rainbow-green turned worried eyes on him, for he was now getting to his own feet, still staring. Vesadmorth finally let out a short, semi-grunt-like noise, and the little bright blue seemed to snap out of it. He steered clear of the candidates, also, instead trotting towards the waiting dishes of meat.

Siche shook her head. Three dragons unbonded... this was just... bizarre!

The last egg was still shaking, though not as strongly as before. It didn't look as if it would be shaking much longer... until a candidate came forward, herself. Vesa' made a disapproving noise, but Cybertiger ignored it, instead concentrating on the shell. She kicked at it, the dragonet inside seemed heartened and renewed its own efforts--and suddenly a rainbow-muzzle appeared through one crack in the shell. Quickly after that another copper emerged, though this one was so entirely marked that it was difficult to tell what colour he was. He made a gurgling noise, something not a cough and not a mewl. The candidate, kneeling now, brushed away the goo from the dragonet's nose. The hatchling gave her a grateful look, and had no sooner done this then heaved a mighty sneeze. Slime sluiced across the cyborware-like enhanced human, who shook her head and was torn between laughing or being entirely disgusted.

Another crowd member called out for a name, but the candidate shook her head. "I don't know!" How... Siche raised an eyebrow. Yet the dragonet had clearly bonded to her... it now butted against her leg, urging her towards the food it could already smell. Only after it had butted at her did she turn back towards it, and the two, somewhat more clumsily then the last pair, made their own ways to the meat.

"Well. That was something." Siche murmured, staring down at the now gobbling hatchlings. The sands were empty, the crowd was beginning to disperse--(there would of course be a celebration later tonight...)--and Siche was left wondering if all of what she'd seen could be true. Whatever the case, she would have to go down and congratulate the two who had bonded, and console the two who had not. And then she would have to approach Iroke, and hopefully that dragon of hers, and ask what the hell was going on.

Templates created and coloured by Dracothrope, Coloured by Phoenix