::Take any egg but this,:: she'd rumbled when one of the Journeymen had come too close, ::or take your head wrapped in a blanket beside it!:: They didn't attempt to move that egg again.

Now a deep, joy-filled thrumming filled the entire deck. Slowly at first, Qutteth had started the whole thing with a deep toned hum, which had been picked up by the father, Isoshath. Other dragons had filtered into the bay to see what the hubbub was about, and they too picked up the hatching-thrum theme when they realized what it was. Unlike the previous clutch, the Minister of Hatchings had had plenty of time to round up candidates. She'd even been able to gather a few females at Mandragora's request to stand specifically for the untouched egg at the huge gold's feet... not as many as Qutteth would have liked, but enough at least to pacify the great queen.

The Minister, like usual, was perched over the feeding bowls, against the railing in the open stands. She flicked an ear back over the noises of the crowd that had filtered in, for once in a good mood. Footsteps approached her directly, and another set of dark-skinned arms leaned over the stainless steel railing. Without looking over, Siche asked, "so, are you nervous?"

"Just a little." Venus leaned forward a little, inspecting the eggs from afar for one last time. Two flits perched on either of her shoulders, trilling with shameless cuteness, while the rest of the small swarm had taken up vantage points around the bay. When Siche finally cast a glance in her direction, Venus appeared to be at ease, though there were signs that, under the laid-back facade, she was at least a little tense. "I'd be more worried," she said with a rueful grin, "about my two boys. You'd think it was they who laid the eggs, not Qutteth, by the way they're acting."

Siche chuckled. "Figures." Then she and the human moved on to other topics.

Down in the bay-proper, all of the preperations--food setup, candidate call-outs, archivist call-outs, and last-minute changes, were finally coming to an end. Linaeas sat at the edge of the bay, face grim and replacement eyes glowing a faint red. He really was a sight to be seen--from far away--the size of a large pony, and the shape of a wolverine or perhaps some kind of mutant wolf, not to mention the semi-melted looking, acid-burned flesh that showed prominently across his face and forequarters... he looked more like a demon's steed then the Master Archivist. Yet there he sat, a few holographic tools and files hovering just below muzzle-level, overseeing the final touches. Keum Orst and her pup were present, as were a couple of other, lower ranking Archivists. All of them had their duties set before them, and all of them were more then ready to get everything on the road.

Keum padded over to him, and the two sat together, watching the candidates as they shifted excitedly a little further into the bay. "Why the grim face?" she asked, her muzzle pulled back into a dry grin. "You look like you've just swallowed something that's better left to the scavengers."

Linaeas flicked his tail, and let himself grin a little back to her. With his half-melted face, it looked more like a grimace then before. "I'm just worried," he rumbled, his voice only slightly more gravelly then her own, "we've never done a public 'ware hatching, and never one of this size. Suppose there's a mixup in the recordings... not only are their dragonets and new riders to consider, there's the fact that each dragonet's 'ware must be traced to its creator."

"Pfft." Keum flattened her ears and fluffed her synthetic wings. "Here you're worried about a few hatchlings, when you've objectively marked down the events of war first hand, and fought without fear to advance the downfall of the thousand year rule? And here I thought that you were proud and strong and fearless... at least, that's what the stories say." Her grin deepened into an amused smile.

Linaeas simply harumphed. Stories... hmph. It was the facts of life that were important, not stories and rumors.

Suddenly, almost eerily, the thrumming that had been building steadily dropped away, and there was utter silence in the hatching bay. The people in the stands had quieted as soon as they realized that the noise had disappeared, and all eyes filed expectantly to the eggs, which were swaying and shaking with a life of their own.

The first of the eggs to hatch had been hardly moving at all, but then, as if by chance, it rolled over and struck a second egg, and splintered open. Out tumbled a rich, deep, purple coloured dragonet, her hide gleaming with more then just albumen. Delicate golden whorls marked her head, her neck her limbs--murmering went up amongst the people in the stands as she pushed herself to her feet. There was something clearly wrong with this hatchling: one of her forelimbs and wings was nothing but a shrivelled stump, and patches of darkened, scar-like skin marked her body almost as prominently as her elegant cyborware. Qutteth rumbled deeply, angrily, while the murmering grew louder in the crowd. Against the rail, Venus put one hand to her mouth, while Siche stared in blank horror. One of the journeymen--the creator of the deforming 'ware, let out a small wail. From the lower bay, Linaeas watched objectively, while Keum let out a small sound of distaste. The candidates watched the tiny purple struggle to her feet with varying levels of sympathy, disgust, or fear.

The hatchling finally made her way to her feet, stumbled for a moment, and then moved forward. Her steps were painfully slow, her gait was unusual due to her missing limb. A number of candidates backed away, glad to focus on two new shattering shells. A couple approached the odd dragonet, but she kept moving, on her own, towards the Archivists and the food bowls.

Keum made a low growling noise when her apprentice, Lao Altadeva, dropped his light-pen. "Pay attention, boy!" He was, after all, supposed to be making notes. But the boy and his familiar paid no heed to their master. Altadeva, Lao's inseperable friend, hopped from the boy's shoulder, flit-shaped, and into the air over the purple. The hatchling made a chirping noise, and moved more purposefully towards the boy, who was half-standing, not sure whether or not to approach her. Keum growled more darkly. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked, her voice ominously low.

"Now now," Linaeas said, watching the two meet one another a short distance away. "You know bondings."

"But he's my apprentice! He can't bond yet! He's not even old enough to take care of that thing!" Keum's hackles went up as the group of three moved back towards them.

"You can't stop a bonding," the Master Archivist said flatly, as Lao and his new bond paused before the two of them, nervous and giddy and afraid and everything else at once. "What's her name, boy?"

"Gicuceth," the apprentice said, his voice faint but proud. Keum growled again, and the purple shrank behind her bond. Altadeva, from her perch on Lao's head, squawked back at the wolf. Keum gave them both a hard stare, and finally backed down. The group of three beat a hasty retreat to the food dishes, glad to be out from beneath the wolf's baleful glare.

Meanwhile, a number of other dragonets had hatched, and were making their rounds through the candidates. A pale brown with glowing purple, luminescant pads, was alternately staring with disconcerting, clear green eyes at one candidate or another, and then literally swaggering like a drunk towards the food. The few that he'd stopped before looked vaguely disconcerted, as if they'd tried to speak with him, but had failed. Finally, the brown made it to the food bowls, where he promptly pounced one and started gobbling down food. He paid no one else any attention.

Linaeas sighed, and called on his own dragon to get a name out of the bondless.

~Eugh... he said something that sounded like Faceth.~ a voice came into the Archivist's mind. Linaeas snorted, as his bond continued, ~But I'm not sure. It's hard to tell with all of the cackling.~.

"Right. Well, Faceth it is, then." Linaeas made a note with the flick of his claw.

Keum had been watching the other hatchlings, but cast a glance sideways. "A whole lot of strange beasts from this load, eh?"

The Master Archivist shook his head resignedly. "I figure it's the offworld blood."

Back on the sands, a teal-blue coloured dragonet wandered, her silky, synthetic hair still plastered to her body. She had searched through most of the regular candidates, and found herself disappointed. Now she approached the small ring of girls who'd surrounded the single, larger egg.

Qutteth rumbled gently at the blue, a warning to her child. The blue squawked back, but didn't move away. Finally, one of the candidates who'd been watching the interchange moved towards the hatchling, and laid her hand on the small blue's shoulder. A sheepish grin spread over her face, and Portia marched her new bond back towards the two Archivists. "She says her name is Delith," the young woman explained, her voice sounding relieved and delighted. Keum nodded and let the pair pass.

Another blue was on the sands, his hide an almost ultra-marine colour, and his arms and tail decked out with glowing lumi-wire. This one was cowering behind a rocking egg,staring at it, as if it were the only thing in the world. And then another dragonet, this one an olive green colour, with an extra three spikes atop his head, came slinking towards the blue. There was a short, almost comical interchange as the green tackled the blue, who squawked and rolled over, not making any move to defend himself. Then the two moved off of the sands, clearly bonded. The green walked a step behind the blue, forcing the slightly larger dragonet foreward.

~Byjoth,~ Linaeas heard his bond murmer, indicating the blue, ~and Kadicath.~

Thank you, Tax.

~No problem.~ The voice of Linaeas' dragon sounded plainly amused.

Finally, out amongst the quickly dwindeling eggs, one of the larger ones split neatly in half, and a deep, almost copper-coloured bronze stumbled onto the mossy ground. He made a snorting noise, preened, and then stood as elegantly as was possible for a new-born to do, his metal-plated hide reflecting the lights of the bay brightly. Just behind him, another shell broke, and another purple spilled out gracelessly onto the ground. This one, too, had shrivelled limbs and scarred skin, though instead of metallic wire, faintly glowing cables twisted around its forelimbs and wing. The bronze paid it no attention, heading straight for the candidates. He paused before one candidate, and then another, and finally settled at the feet of Tobias Nalyran. The huge bouncer (whose arms and hands were plated in a similar fashion), stared down at the dragonet, and then burst out chuckling. The bronze raised his still-sopping wings, chest puffed up with pride, and the two retreated from the dwindling group of candidates. The purple trailed behind them, uninterested in finding a bond.

"Themerith," Tobias told Linaeas and Keum as he passed, and the bronze cast a cocky look at them both.

~Domoth.~, Taxoness echoed as the purple limped by, completely oblivious towards them.

Linaeas watched as the newest pair began feeding, and then as the purple interrupted them. Tobias had been staring at the creature as it came up beside Themerith, and finally, the purple made a vulgur sounding creeling noise at him. Tobias blinked, the purple snorted. Themerith paused from his gorging and and literally growled at his clutch-mate. The Master Archivist watched all of this, ears pricked foreward, wishing for once that he was able to hear what conversation was going on. Back at the feeding tables, Tobias had been shaking his head, and finally burst out into another round of chuckles. "Did you make a new bond?" Keum called out, half-watching the side-show.

"No," Tobias called back, shaking his head and grinning, "but he says he doesn't want to get carted off-world. He says his name's Domoth."

"Well then, I take it you're going to take care of him?" The female wolf asked, her tone dryly amused.

Tobias shook his head again, more out of faint disbelief then negation. "Looks like it, yeah."

Keum looked back at Linaeas and shrugged one wing-shoulder. "Strange beasts," Keum repeated. And the hatching went on.

Another bronze had hatched, this one with a metallic tail that appeared to be a replacement, rather then simple plating. Along with him, a cream had tumbled out of her shell, as well. She appeared to have no cyborware whatsoever... the first of the clutch to be as such. The bronze--this one as dark as a brown, defineable only by the faint metallic sheen that appeared where the light hit him properly--moved slowly, carefully towards the candidates. He paused, as if listening to something, and then moved straight towards one of the most peculiar candidates on the sands. The bronze stopped before I-57v4n, looked up at the robot, and crooned. There was another pause as the two of them stared at each other, and then the bronze led his new bond towards the feeding bowls. The robot looked as dazed as an artificial intelligence without moving facial parts could, and Keum had to raise a hand-like paw at him. "Name, please?"

"0-c1y--I mean Odypyth." I-57v4n replied immediately. Keum looked at Linaeas. Linaeas looked at Keum. They both shrugged, and went back tot he hatching.

The afore-mentioned cream had already made her choice, and was causing quite a ruckus on the 'sands'. Qutteth was growling more loudly now as the cream stood defiantly within the ring of female bonders. Not only was the great queen rumbling, but two little fire-lizards, one crimson red and one milk white, were both shrieking at the defiant hatchling, their voices a counterpoint to the bass warning of the golden mother. The owner of the flits, however, turned from the violently rocking large egg and kneeled before the cream. Her long, flowing hair was only a shade darker, framing her alabaster face as she raised one hand, and gently placed it on the hatchlings snout. The cream crooned, delighted, while the flits continued to squawk and make an occasional, understandable word of protest. Aien guided her new bond away from the ring of female candidates, a euphoric look on her face.

"I... she... we..." She stopped before the pair of Archivists, trembling happily.

"Take your time," Keum spoke gently, while Linaeas watched silently.

Aien nodded, and tried again. "She's Jahevath." And without another word, she, the dragonet, and the two flits moved away towards the food.

Linaeas forced himself not to grin at the emotional outburst, focusing instead on the eggs that were yet to hatch. A large, pale and 'ware-less green had already hatched without notice, slinking towards the candidates. He looked absolutely evil, or Linaeas thought he did, and it was no surprise that he stopped immediately before the questionable M'fiv. The newly bonded pair approached the Archivists, M'fiv with a look that sat between blank and insane. The dragonet glared at the both of them, baring his little fangs. "Name please?" Linaeas gave them both a blank stare of his own, made easier by his emotionless red eyes.

"Mmm... Malinteth." M'fiv said, mumbling so that the both of them had to strain to hear him. Linaeas nodded, and let the two of them pass. The more quickly the both of them were out of the hatching bay, and preferably off of the station, the better.

Suddenly the volume of the audience increased, and attention was drawn towards the ring surrounding Qutteth's favored egg. It had been shuddering violently, and now, with a crack that was lost in the noises of the bay, it began to split. Hairline cracks spread over the entire egg, and with one more shudder, the shell shattered. A large, golden dragonet flopped unceremoniously in the left-overs of her encasing shell, untouched, of course, by cyborware. The candidates surrounding her closed in a little, each of them eager to form a bond. The dragonet lay sprawled for a moment, craning her neck up to look over her choices, and then she rolled over onto her feet, and pushed herself up rather weakly. She took a moment to hang her slightly lighter wings out to dry, and then took a step towards the candidates. With one more appraising look over the lot of them, she approached the dark skinned, dark eyed Jacquelyne. The young woman laughed aloud when the gold put a possessive paw over her foot, and the two backed out the disappointed ring of girls.

"Now that's a lovely pair," Keum grinned as the pair came near.

"Thanks," Jackie grinned a little shyly, "Ah... and her name's Quelymerith."

"Well enough." Keum nodded her massive head, and the pair moved on.

"It could be worse," Linaeas said, his tone mocking, "It could have been your apprentice who bonded the gold."

Keum made as if to knock him in the side of the head with a wing, but stopped short, sighing. "What the hells am I going to do about that?"

The Master Archivist shrugged, a motion that seemed odd on a quadruped like him. "We can sort it out after the hatching."

The hatching continued on: a 'wareless purple and a deep brown with metallic ears had approached their chosen ones. The purple had caught Sally on her way from the rejected gold-candidates, while the dark brown had literally run into his bond, Matthew. The group of four met up half-way to the feeding tables and walked together... apparently they were friends.

The female of the pair of... not-quite-humans, stopped breathlessly before the Archivists. "My bond's Bioleth, isn't she beautiful? And that's Parabolath..." she hiked a thumb at the dark brown with the droopy ears. Keum and Linaeas nodded in unison, both of them wearing pleasant expression. The girl hurried past them, while the boy shrugged and followed.

Out on the sands, another green had emerged from her shell: she was a rich, dark green in colour, and her entire left arm had been replaced with a fancy, glow-striped metal arm. She was more cocky then any green had the right to be, and made a show of pausing to stare up at each bond, before continuing on with a flick of her tail. She'd reached nearly the end of the semi-circle when she came to a full stop just in front of the frizzy, aubern haired Aeyateou. With a rustling of her slightly lighter wings, she butted her head against his thigh, demanding him to move with body-language and probably with a sharp mental prod as well. On his way towards the feeding bowls, he tossed her name over his shoulder. "Vetheth," he said, and the pair were past.

"How many dragonets has it been, yet?" Siche asked from the stands.

Venus, who'd been standing beside her and analyzing each of the newly bonded dragonets, took a moment to count. "Fourteen, I think."

"By hells and demons, I don't think any mutt has had that many offspring in one go in years!" Siche lashed her tail, counting over the remaining eggs, coming up with six more yet.

Venus gave a quiet chuckle. "Qutteth isn't a mutt, Siche..."

"I know, I know. I just wish I knew more about her kind of dragons!" the Minister flattened her grey ears against her skull, grimacing. "I hope we don't have too many more of her kind, anyways. They'd run us out of food and shelter!"

The cyborware installer simply laughed.

A pale brown had hatched, one who creeped along the ground as if by doing so, he could go unseen. He had a pair of antennae that bobbed with every motion, the glowing tips dancing over his face like little faeries. The brown creeped past one candidate, froze a few feet from Butexodubohi, and then leapt at him! The weight of the hatchling, combined with the surprise 'attack', sent Bute' bowling backwards, onto the soft ground. The hatchling chirped and gave his new a blatantly disgusting slurp across the face before backing off of him. The pair made their way towards the feeding bowls, showered with good-natured laughter by the audience.

When Keum paused the both of them, an expectant look on her face, Butexodubohi simply blinked at her. His bond nudged his knee, and he started. With a voice that sounded like a frog's croak, he blurted, "Dihoxeth," and then shuffled off with the dragonet, confused looking.

"Strange beasts?" Linaeas asked, "Strange candidates." Keum made a noise at the back of her throat.

When they turned their attention back to the eggs--there was only a fraction of what there had been--a sky blue dragonet had emerged, though when he spread his wings, they were revealed as a stormy grey colour. His cyborware consisted of a war-steed like, head to tail-base set of chrome armor, which glistened brightly under the hatching bay's lights. He had already mastered the art of walking and was prancing towards the shrunken selection of candidates. With a tilt of the head, and a small squawk for emphasis, the hatchling sat himself down before Altair Baclig. Probably the oldest candidate--maturity-wise, anyways--of the lot, Linaeas had been surprised that he'd signed up at all. But here he was, coming towards them with a blue-grey bond, smiling to himself as if he'd heard something amusingly ironic. "This one is Buhyth," Altair said, and the dragonet nodded agreement. Linaeas grinned and let them pass.

One of the candidates made a loud noise--a high-pitched laugh. Linaeas whipped his head around, and found that she was already on one knee, a large brown dragonet with faintly metallic filigree butting her head with his muzzle. Zher, for that was who had laughed, ran one hand over the metallic cyborware that encrusted her bond's right arm, and then got back to her feet. "Xiurazandeekeith," she said with a perfectly straight face when she got to the Archivists. Linaeas stared at her blankly for a moment, amazed that she hadn't even slowed to prounounce each syllable. She looked back at him for a moment, and then cleared her throat, "or... just 'Zandee, if that's okay." The wolf slowly nodded his head, and let the two of them pass. He jotted the name down in his records through vocal copy and pasting, afraid to try to spell it out for himself. The names that off-world dragonets chose for themselves... he supposed that he was glad that the native dragonets were given their names by sensible people.

The last three eggs had hatched one after the other: two browns and one green each struggled to their feet, their wide wings flapping unsteadily to help them gain their balance. The first of pair of browns--a chocolatey coloured little thing with a dark, licorice black mane--stumbled away from the candidates, towards the father. He paused there, tiny compared to the cream's massive bulk, and craned his head up... and up, until he fell backwards onto the sands. Isoshath tilted his head, and then gave the brown a gentle butt to the side to help him get back to his feet. The brown crooned thanks... and then trotted a little more steadily back towards the candidates. Isoshat sighed, then gave a little shrug. Probably better that he didn't bond a child, anyways.

The last pair of dragonets were just approaching their chosen bonds when the first brown reappeared before the ragged half-circle of candidates. All three of them paused, looking from one to another. Then, moving together, they forged their bonds. The 'ware-less green perched at the feet of Elmenorae, while the second brown sat with a good natured grin at Ilathin's side. The first brown, the one with the mane, paused with much more modesty at the foot of Talon Morningstar. All three newly bonded humans greeted their dragonets with varying degrees of delight, while the rest of the candidates that had gathered slowly began to filter away.

The three new riders marched towards Linaeas and Keum. One after another, they announced their bonded's names: "Gytiath," Elmenorae proudly announced, while her brother giggled and stroked his brown's head. "Linelith," the boy said, while his bond crooned. The last to speak was Talon, and he stood with a quiet dignity... as if he hadn't expected any of this to happen, but was supremely happy that it had. "Gifanith," he said, simply, and the brown behind him gave a tiny dip of his head. The Archivists let them by, marking down names as they passed.

"Well, that was interesting, hmm?" Linaeas remarked, but Keum was already heading towards her Apprentice and his new, crippled bond. She was settling things immediately, of course.

From the stands, Siche had braced for the usual barrage of want-to-be sponsors, so she didn't feel as harried as previously. "Now look," she bellowed as they converged on her, "There are three dragonets up for sponsorship: a bondless, and a pair. I want them to go to good homes, people!"

A deep black draconic creature--he wasn't a dragon in the sense that people knew dragons--muscled his way to the front. He was a lot smaller then the last time the Minister had seen him, so she assumed he must have some ability of size-shifting or something equally as useful. "You know me," he said, his voice sensible, "I've brought home a dragonet or two before..."

"And I trust they're doing well?" She gave him a hard stare.

"They are," he nodded his dark head. "They've grown up quickly, and are probably ready for a flight or two..."

Siche snorted. "They do grow up fast." With a sigh she continued, "Alright, fine. You take home..." she accessed the file that Linaeas had sent her, and looked up again, "brown Faceth. But after this, I don't want to see your hide again! I can't have you hording all of our hatchlings, lest I see some inbred little monster come back to fly here in the future!"

The black creature snorted and rolled his eyes. "As if I'd let something like that happen," he said, though his voice was nothing but amused. Siche grinned, and consulted her notes again. The other sponsors had begun speaking up again, but a gentle arm on her wrist caused the Minister to tune them out for a moment.

"If you don't mind," Venus said, her voice quiet, yet still carrying over the noise, "I'd like to keep those two here, for observation. Gods and Demons know if we'll ever see any of those dragons again," she pointed to the swarm of hatchlings below, "and I'd like to keep an eye on a couple of them." Siche flicked her tail, and didn't mention that a good four of them weren't likely to be leaving any time soon. Venus hesitated, and then continued, "besides, I think that there are some people I know who would be interested to see how that pair maintains a steady bond. You know how our mutts are..."

The Minister nodded slowly, considering. "All right." In a louder voice, she announced to the others, "Sorry, folks, that's it! No more from this clutch! Come back in a few weeks... there's bound to be one or two of those little tye-dye monsters for you to snatch up!"

Nearly everyone surrounding her made some kind of dejected noise before filtering away. Siche only relaxed when the last of them turned to leave. Grinning hugely, she cast a gold-eyed glance to the Cyborware Installer. "And this is why I get paid buckets-full of money." The two of them shared a laugh, before heading down to check on the newest additions to Star City's ranks.