Tempest Weyr

Tanith felt the stirrings of her unhatched children. They were restless, yearning for sand and sky. But not yet... not yet... Restlessness was not the same as being ready.

The gold and her rider were patient. Nothing would happen before its time.

That time was midday. An unnaturally calm winter stillness hung in the air and Rukbat had peeked out to give the cold land a brief respite. There were storms before, and there would be storms again, but this moment was peaceful until the first egg began to crack. Tanith hummed and Kaya set down her correspondence to take her place at the gold dragon's side.

They are awake, the gold reached out to the Weyr, although she offered some special consideration to 's Bronze Sundath.  Come and see.

The stands filled with spectators. The stage was a set. It was, in many respects, nothing that had not been seen before. But a new gold queen was added to their ranks.

Kaya couldn't help but ponder at what this would mean for the future of the Weyr. So many Queens in one space was good for replenishing the ranks, and yet there were complications that she knew well with the more frequent Rises during the Red Star's reign. They would have to be careful, or a golden battle could play out in the skies above...

NPC Hatching Conditions & Rules

It is a clear winter afternoon, bright and sunny but still quite cold. Tanith and Sundath's clutch consists of 25 eggs. Four of these turn out to be duds, resulting in 21 successful Impressions.

This is an NPC Hatching, and available NPC slots from this Hatching can be used to create your own weyrlings. To claim a slot, click here. This thread will stay open in the Hatching forum in case you want to write out your character's Impression. A token is required to claim the gold NPC. Please bear in mind the below IC expectations, and that Tanith will intervene if a hatchling becomes too violent.

IC Expectations

Hatching Results

The bronze growled in her egg, charcoal-black and situated next to her golden sister's, as her consciousness coalesced into a furious awareness. She could not bear the weight of this prison anymore, nor the weight of the stares she could feel from across the sands. The humming of dragonkin, of her parents. She thrust herself against her shell until it bore her into the world at last.

She stood, shaky but confident, her eyes burning a red-hot ire to compliment the fiery gold lighting her hide. The hatchling's lips bared to a snarl as she swept her gaze across the stands, the ledges high above, and, finally, across the candidates laid out before her. She felt it in their minds. A bronze first- a good omen. The hope of impression from the boys....it was saccharine. Disgusting.

All of this fanfare... Her snarl, distinctly feminine but no less vicious, rippled through the cavern. ...And you think it will help.

Her fate hung like a sword above her head, though. She must impress. If only she could grasp it and eviscerate the line of fools standing in front of her. Gawking at her from the stands. The bronze marched a line from one end of the cavern, to the other. The wiser ones stepped away. Her quarry lingered, though. Suddenly she stopped, kicking up sand, in front of a boy no older than sixteen, his posture shrunken in to himself. The boy glanced, then looked away quickly. She snapped at him until he fell backwards and skittered away.

Wonderful. Her tail twitched with delight.

You cannot dare to meet the eyes of the one you might call your 'equal'? Your spine is made lesser for suffering the weight of a skull like yours. Pick. Yourself. Up!

The boy faliled desperately until he had managed to find his footing again. Pathetic, if this was what they had for her. For her siblings. Self-conscious, insecure whelps, the lot of them! These were to be the protectors of Pern?! As if her siblings would debase themselves for these....things. Pfah. She ought to have opened his throat while she still had the capability.

More draining was the press of instinct against her mind. It gnawed at her very being, biting at the fiber of her spirit as she pushed past each of the men standing. She teased them by flaring her wings, biting at the air. In the chaos of them stepping away, pushing and nudging against each other. One of the fools had the gall to reach for her, and she bit his arm for his insolence.

Enough. Find yours.

...Father. Mother. The bronze huffed, and sat down in the center of the cavern. Her claws dug into the sand. Why- WHY - must she shackle herself to anyone at all?! Why had any of her kin?! This 'instinct' meant they had to do it?! And she was supposed to be happy about it. Happy about having the air ripped out from beneath her wings. To have her life ripped away should her worthless rider pass. And she must 'choose' this.

She growled, her tail lashing. This unnatural desire kept her rooted in the cavern. A crushing weight pressed against her heart. If only she could be anywhere else. Free- like the whers she'd heard of. Why must she shoulder this...?

...I- I just want... Her voice died to a keen. The humming was sweltering. Fine. FINE! She snapped back to her paws and ran forward. No. She knew what she must do, if she must suffer this cruelty! In her egg she'd felt the notions of family, of a bond. Of arrogance. She could pick it apart. Pull their worlds apart. Make Pern bear witness to this damnable tragedy!

She ran through the legs of a group of candidates, her wingtalons clipping legs in her ruthless wake. MOVE. The moment she'd untangled herself, her paws carried her into the stands instead. No. No, she didn't want someone alone. Not someone who would take glee in this...prison of a bond--

The bronze stopped. Yes. If she must bind herself to someone, she would feel their pain and drink it.

You.... She hissed as her eyes found Nalim's, her eyes sparking with rainbows one moment, and red the next. The man's consciousness trickled into her own. His memories. His hopes. A family. The path that had lead him here. Haa. The shocked look on his face, his mate's face...why, she would hold that close to her heart. The man's eyes widened with tears.

"You don't understand-"

I understand better than anyone. N'lim. Your duty is to your Vaalbarath.

N'lim stood, uncertain. "Vysha, I'll...we'll talk later."

They were both as speechless as Vaalbarath had hoped they would be. There was, of course, the entire reason her dear rider had ventured here at all. Vaalbarath made a point of snarling at specifically as she lead her shock-striken rider down to the feeding stations.

N'lim couldn't meet her eyes, either.

This time there was a golden egg.

This time she would leave the hatching cavern with her head held high.

This time...

Her family had sent her the barest scrap of support. It wasn't even her favorite brother--they could not send their Golden Child, their Future, to the backwater place they condemned their daughter. No... It was only Goody Two Shoes Nalim and his nice little wife. Had he volunteered? Or had he been forced to come here as she had? She didn't care to know. She liked to think he was forced. Maybe this people pleasing, mustachioed boy had finally tasted the bitter drink of their mother's wrath and got himself a brief time-out at the end of the world.

It was unlikely. But it was a reality she preferred.

Minali pursed her lips and lowered her eyebrows at the arrival of another angry, spiteful dragonet. It appeared woven in the tapestry of this place that all clutches must have a villain. This time she stood confident in the knowledge that they could do no real harm. The Weyrleaders would put a stop to it. When the creature clawed in the sands and voiced her rage, Minali has the briefest moment of self-reflection.

It wasn't anger.

It was despair...

... A fight against things she couldn't control.

I won't take a husband. I won't! I'll go anywhere else.

And so she had gone to the only place left for her: a place between civilized worlds.

The bronze was up and running, this time thankfully not barreling through the group Minali was with as if single-mindedly determined to hurt her in particular.

... But she might as well have.

The newly hatched climbed up, up into the Stands where VIPs and dignitaries sat. Mina's eyes latched onto Nalim, hungry for confirmation. He looked so distraught, so confused... It was true... It was true.

"WHAT!?"

The lady screamed without knowing herself, her voice shrill as a harpy off cold stone. It pierced the cavern as if howling wind. But her brother wouldn't hear her. No. He had Impressed. But he had barely just got here!

His dragon led him by, smug, and she thought the thing growled at her. She drew in breath sharply. Her eyes narrowed to slits, all the better to shoot daggers straight at her backstabbing brother. He wouldn't even look at her, the coward! Treacherous creature! She despised him, she...

... She had missed the Gold's Impression. To someone else. Not to her. She was left standing, again, where her brother was ascended to the highest ranks. That simpering, pandering, compliant fool. She shrieked again, this time a banshee, tears threatening to spill over her eyes. This was the one thing she had, the one thing, and he took it from her. He could have stayed and lived out his life with his nice little wife, but no... He had to steal the one dream left that she could dream.

She found she hated him

She found she couldn't stop.

Her mother had done this on purpose.

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Response for , for dramatic purposes. <3