Let the Stories Unfold {Touching}

[Elessar]

Iromineelmris blinked, but soon his eyes were closed, his brow furrowed in concentration as the Lion seemed to pull him in. A whispered voice seemed to echo in his mind... Praise me... Iromineelmris clenched his teeth.

He would praise any dragon, and if any dragon chose him of all people, too old, not a Candidate... he would praise that dragon above all dragons! That dragon would be his... his Bonded... his Lifemate. The dragon that chose him for that would know praise unbound.

He could feel that the Lion didn't want him to go... it wanted to continue to press and probe into his mind... his insane, fellis-consumed, still-harboring-dreams-of-Impression mind...

It brought back the fears, the doubt. What dragon would ever want him? None, that was what. Dragons chose good men like J'degar, not fellis-addicted fools like himself. He had never been Searched for Candidacy, and it was obvious why... he wasn't good enough for a dragon. No dragon would want him!

And yet... the Lion wanted to explore his mind. Wanted him to stay. Confusion exploded in Iromineelmris' mind, but he stayed crouched by the egg, between Izanycorth's giant talons... Okay, beautiful little one. If you want me to stay... I will.

[Ensign]

Nai rolled her neck, stretching her arms behind her. It had been a quite a morning work-out, she knew she'd feel the burn in her muscles later. Which was as it should be. No pain, no gain was the stupid cliche she'd heard countless times. It did hold some wisdom, she supposed. The burning of muscles was like a forest fire. It brought pain, even ashes, but out of it grew the richest of new life, new growth. New growth meant more strength, and more speed. It was in the process of more cool-down stretches that she heard the call of the dragonesses. "A Touching..." she muttered, wrinkling her nose, slightly disgruntled.

It wasn't as if she wasn't excited but... she wasn't a giggling candidate running off the the Sands at the slightest sound. Nai reached over, grabbing her sword, and stood. She didn't think there was any fancy dress requirements for a Touching, so it wasn't as if she had to go running back to her quarters. She set her sword, a wakizashi was the fancy term, at the base of her spine, and proceeded towards the Sands. Her arms were crossed, lost in thought. Things had certainly changed these past few weeks. She'd been found by a Search pair. She'd sold all but her clothes, not that she had owned much; purchased a blade with it. Then she'd ended up at this Weyr, with the possibility of Riderhood looming, so many people and interactions. It was a complicated beehive in nature. Decorums, customs, manners, even traditions. Ingrained in to the very nature of the place. This was such a tradition, one she had little knowledge of. Some, but not as much as those who seemed to study dragon-dom every single day.

After a bit of a walk, she'd made it to the entrance of the Sands. Thats when she realized she had no clue if weapons were permitted. She stopped right at the edge, mouth set grimly; trying to decide. She certainly didn't want to be banished by an angry dragoness, but she didn't want to leave her prized possession laying about. Nai shrugged, coming to a decision. If weapons were banned, they'd have to take her arms and her legs too, so there was no point in removing the sword. If anything, she was still rather clumsy with it, so it wasn't that dangerous.

Nai took two more steps forward, and then gave a hopping motion. She'd forgotten to wear sandals or boots! She always trained and stretched with bare feet, and these Sands were warm! Giving a chuckle at her own forgetfulness, she began to give rapid little hops across the sands until she reached the stands. She jumped up into them and sighed. The stone was warm, but much more tolerable underneath her bare feet. She laughed at herself again, and then turned her attention to the dragonesses and the eggs.

Nai didn't know if there was a special greeting or thing you did. If there was, she'd already missed out and wouldn't know anyways. That just left the ultimate act of the Touching which was... touching. She watched measuredly as other Candidates moved amongst the eggs, running their hands along them. You could tell, if you looked carefully, which eggs had been touched the most. They shined a little brighter from human sweat and oil, a little less Sand coated than their peers. Some eggs seemed to be favored, others not.

Nai wasn't sure what to do. She knew tradition was entrenched in Rider culture, but she wasn't sure whether she actually liked this one or not. From what little she knew, Touching was like a pre-Bonding experience. It introduced you to the dragonet, but could also influence their emotions. Their feelings. Who they might attach to. It seemed a little... underhanded. Manipulative. It was like taking a child, one who's actions and individuality weren't fully developed, and telling them exactly what they should do. Sure, that could be part of the development process through learning, but for such a major decision as a dragon's choice of Bonded... It seemed a bit... much. They weren't fully intelligent yet, not able to make full decisions. Some might just quip 'Its just a dragon' but she'd dare them to say that to an adult dragon. The argument didn't hold.

Leaning back in the stands, she watched quietly, not sure what to do. Her heart and mind said one thing. Society another. And one of the two was wrong. The question was which?

[Wish]

Miyaka scowled slightly, her eyes narrowing as she felt the repercussions the egg gave back. So it was so quick to dismiss her? She snorted and tore her gaze away from the shell, it was unworthy as well then. The candidate wasn't about to get bothered by some half pint egg that decided it didn't like her without even really seeing her first. After all, for all she knew that dragonet could just be all confused with the emotions in the sands. Yes, that was probably it. There was nothing wrong with Miyaka as a candidate; there was no reason why she should irrationally fear standing due to her...technically lack of candidate status.

Sure she had been "searched", but that was more of a "Oh we need healers and you're good enough to bring along, need an incentive too, well why not this one?" sort of thing. Shaking the feeling off and dismissing it coolly, Miyaka let her gaze drift to The Ball of String Egg before placing her hand on it at the same moment Tikrin ended up doing so as well. "Hello Miya." "Tik..." They observed one another, Tikrin amusingly watching for Miyaka's reaction as well as one from the egg, just as she was watching one from him but in a more malicious sense and less of a curious one. Neither moved though, and both had their hands on the tiny egg.

[Zero]

Traylor blinked as the very large dragon began talking to him and giggled when the large snout moved in to nudge him. Sure he played with his fathers dragon but Aphath was tiny compared to Izy! Her head alone was bigger then him! As the gold continued to speak though he found his attention span wandering and he looked off at the eggs spread out around him. "I'll have my own awesome dragon and be a Rider someday! Just like my dad!" He grinned and puffed out his little chest when she gave him the compliment.

Hold on...wait...did she say he could touch more eggs? Touch all the little eggies? Well, you didn't need to tell him twice. Eagerly he looked around, clasping his hands together in front of him as he picked out the first egg he would go and play with. "Thank you!" Throwing a frantic wave back at the large Queen, the young boy quickly turned and ran off to insert himself amongst all the eggs.

Theault cast a wary glance over his shoulder and watched as his nephew waved and took off for the largest egg he could find. "That boy..." He muttered under his breath with a gentle shake of his head. Before he could dwell on the childs antics too long though the Death egg was invading and probing his mind. Theault blinked at the contact. It wasn't rough with his mind at it peered into his thoughts and sctually, Theault felt the egg wasn't very interested in him to begin with. With a small frown he let his hand drop from the dark shell as he regarded the egg carefully. He sat there for a few moments before shrugging and getting to his feet. All eggs were going to be different.

From there he moved on to the Burning Branch egg and found out what it had to say about him. As his hand touched the hot shell he was pleasantly surprised that it really didn't burn him as he had been expecting. In fact, despite being on the boiling hot sands, the eggs warmth was rather soothing. This egg apparently saw something it liked in him and it was a much different feeling from when he touched the Death egg. He found himself grinning at the feeling of approval the egg gave him.

So far so good, he though to himself after giving the Burning egg a final pat and getting back to his feet. So it would seem his prior nervousness at being rejected due to the fact he had a wher bond with him before was completely unfounded. At least it seemed the eggs hadn't minded. Shrugging he wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around for the next egg to catch his eye. This would probably be the last. These sands were hot after all.

He found himself drawn back to Izanycorths clutch, though it was probably to keep a closer eye on his rambunctious nephew more then anything. The first egg he settled down to was the Passage Egg. It was probably one of the smallest eggs he had touched so far but each egg, regardless of size, deserved a little attention. Kneeling, Theo set his hand on the white and grey egg, wondering what sort of reaction this egg was going to have for him.

From there he moved on to the Rising Star Egg

[/b]. Of course he would be attracted to the mainly blue egg. It did remind him of his beloved ocean life after all, especially with the almost star like markings as well as the splotch that looked curiously like the sun.

----

As if to answer her question, Vl'kan had already moved off towards the nearest seat, which just happened to have his grumpy dragon sitting overhead. "Well aren't you a little bundle of energy today." Thormyth stretched his head down to where His sat and sniffed curiously at the bundle in his arms. The garnet snorted before lifting his head to, once again, stare at the many eggs. I don't like these eggs, Mine. Already they're stealing the attention and focus that is rightfully mine!

Vl'kan glanced up, shielding his eyes from the sun as he watched his bonded carefully. Just think though, Thor. You've sired them. So no matter what once those little terrors hatch and begin causing a ruckus, you'll be on everyone's mind. Thormyth merely grumbled at His' words, his tail twitching as he kept his swirling gaze on the crowd below.[/center][/font]

[jovia]

Lilia was rather ecstatic about today, there was a touching and she was at the Weyr having dropped off some fabric that was asked for. Even though she couldn't bring her feline with her to the Weyr, and even worse her Fire Lizard wasn't allowed in the hatching grounds... She was finally able to make her way to the entrance. Of course the girl stayed silent as she watched the scene before her. There was soooo many people, but the most shocking part was the two mothers sharing the sands. Did they actually do that? Well with many females that would happen true but... Her eyes widened at the eggs, they were so large and different colors...

Lilia slowly tried to move into the stands where hopefully she would be out of the way. Her eyes keeping out for anyone who would tell her to stop. Doing so was just second nature now really since she couldn't hear anything. But wait... wasn't candidates supposed to be young and well... young? She could see several older people touching the eggs... maybe it was an inspection? Oh how she wished she could communicate well and ask such a thing...