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| "Why
does this hatching have to happen so early in the morning? God, I barely got any
sleep last night!" Lian was complaining as he walked to the Deep Cavern with the
candidates.
Beside him, Kortrvan made a snorting sound. "Maybe you ssshould
ssstop ssstaying all night working, then." He laughed, causing Lian to scowl.
Lian had been woken up from a deep sleep to learn that Elanal had announced
her clutch's hatching and that he would have to be there to record who Paired
with who. He had been somewhat less than excited.
The three aspirants who
had assembled for the clutch were standing outside the entrance to the deep
cavern where Elanal waited with her children. They all looked excited, and maybe
a little nervous. Lian scarcely took any notice of the two draconic aspirants,
Semorikath and Devinth; by now, he was used to dragons coming to Drockh-Tallahn
to Pair. He barely paid more attention to the human, Corilyn, who had
arrived a few days ago from another of Icarus's castles. He frowned, though,
when he realized there were only three candidates and six eggs.
Elanal
snaked her head through the entrance, saw that they were all ready, then nodded
to herself and stepped out. Two draklings only hours old clung on her back,
gazing around them wide-eyed. The other four draklings trotted out behind their
mother, looking every bit as excited as the aspirants.
"They actually
hatched during the night," Elanal explained, "But Devlanth and I didn't want to
wake you, sssso we decided to wait until morning."
The two draklings on her
back, one fire-colored, the other water, jumped down to the ground and then
raced to the aspirants, obviously impatient to pair. "Semorikath! My
name isss Akalan." The little fire stated, cuddling up against the
larger dragon's side.
His sister, meanwhile, was sitting in front of
Devinth. "I'm Nalianal." She
stated, much calmer than Akalan, but she had a telling twinkle in her eye as
they left to eat.
Two other draklings appeared completely uninterested in
Pairing, and instead walked over to Lian, who eyed them warily, memories of
Kortrvan's Pairing running through his head. "We've decsssided we're not going
to Pair anyone quite yet." The slightly larger plant told him, while the mud
watched silently. "I'm Decalan, and
he'sss Varalan," The plant continued. "Do you have a list of placesss
we can go? Momma sssaid you'd have a list for usss."
Lian's face was blank
for a moment, then he looked down at the pens and book in his lap for recording
the hatching. No list. He turned to Kortrvan, who gave a drakish shrug. "I think
sssomeone forgot to send out for ssssponsorships." The earth said.
"Ugh."
Lian sighed in aggravation before addressing the draklings. "Look, I guess you
all will just have to stick around here for now. We'll sort this out later."
"Okay." The plant said, quite content to leave it at that, and he and his
brother walked off to be fed.
Corilyn approached him next, a dainty rain drakling at her side.
"Umm, excuse me," She said, and Lian looked up at her, puzzled and a little
irritated at being interrupted. "I thought you'd want to know what I Paired."
She explained.
Lian blinked. "Oh. Yeah, okay." He said, dragging his mind
back to his job.
"Well, I'm Corilyn, and this is my drak, Meyanal." She
said, gesturing to the rain drakling with pride evident in her voice.
"Pleasssed to meet you." Meyanal piped up cheerfully.
Lian nodded idly
as he wrote it down, and they decided not to bother him anymore. That left the
last drakling, a bright female day. Lian looked down at her, at his feet. "I
suppose you'll have to go unPaired, then." He said.
"Yep!" The drakling
said, improbably cheerful at the prospect. "My name is Nuiranal. Momma
said I had to give you my name, and now I have, so I'm gonna go eat, 'kay? Bye
bye!" Lian stared after the day drakling, sure that any prolonged conversation
with her would leave him with a massive headache, and made a note to avoid her
in the future.
Kortrvan rumbled happily. "Well, that'sss the end of the
Pairings, then. You want to go get ssssome breakfast?"
"Mmm." Lian grunted.
Actually what he wanted to do was sleep, but he guessed it was too late for
that. He just hoped they had plenty of coffee in the
kitchens... | | |
Draklings
Semorikath and Fire Akalan (Trainers: Melani and Amiladu-Taykah)
Devinth and Water Nalianal (Trainers: Maile and Wind Kimechash)
Corilyn and
Rain Meyanal (Trainers: Ariso and Desert Namesy)
Unpaired
(Cyan's) Plant Decalan (Trainer: Desert Talan)
Unpaired
(Cyan's) Mud Varalan (Trainers: Kaydda and Plant Athtlna)
Unpaired
(Kayla's) Female Day Nuiranal (Trainer: Wind Shuenrv)
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