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Roana was both enjoying and cursing the brief candlemark of time the candidates had been granted to see to their own affairs. Without the mental pressure of chores or lessons Roana's mind only had the recent events to focus on. And focus on them they did, turning the chaos of the touching over and over in her mind. She had fought with an egg of all things! And the gold had almost eaten someone, she was surprise she hadn't also been under those jaws given her performance. With her mind in such turmoil she had only wanted to do one thing. Talk to her uncle. As bad as their parting had been he was her guardian. Closer to her than her parents and always good with advice. So she had written a letter and bid the candidate master get it to him with any dragon making a trip to Rivercrest. With some grumbling the man had complied.

But it was still a surprise to the girl when a young brown rider rushed into the brackets baring a letter for her and a tightly wrapped package secured with string and oil cloth. She took the items with due thanks.
Happy to have a new distraction she Roana took the items to her cot and settled cross legged on the sleeping area with the package in her lap. She turned the letter over a few times in her hands before giving in to curiosity and breaking the seal. I
Her uncle was all apology and reassurances in writing and she relaxed as she read it. A smile on her lips she felt some of the tension leave her body, soothed by the words on the page. Right up until the last line.

'I have sent you something to remind you of just how much I think of you. Just how much I believe in you. I believe it should travel safely with this dragon man but don't waste any time once you have it.
It's meant to hatch soon.

Your Uncle Remmy.

Hatch soon? HATCH SOON?!

With mounting panic Roana turned her shaky attentions to the package, pulling back the oil cloth she had to work through several layers of fabric till she found what she was looking for. A gleaming pale golden egg packed with warmed sand. She yelped and cursed her uncle as she gathered up the bundle. She had no idea what to do with it. And the candidate master was taking a break at the same time as his students. Calm down Ro, deep breaths. Gathering her thoughts she tried to settle on a plan. The only thing she could think to do was look for a rider, any rider to help her. Surley they would know how to do this. Holding the package like a bomb about to go off she raced out of the brackets.

Luck was on her side and even as she reached the door she had spotted the slender dark form of Nicara. "Nicara!" she called the riders name hurrying over to her. All resentment she felt for the rider dragging her into the entire mess had been pushed aside. "Help me" she demanded tipping the bundle in her arms towards the rider, just enough to let her see what was inside.

"It's meant to hatch soon and I don't know what to do. And the candidate brackets don't even have their own fireplace there is no room. Plus you don't need it with the heat of all those bodies." She was rambling.

Roana looked at Nicara with a strange mix of excitement, panic and exasperation as she launched into the explanation of the egg's origins as quickly as she could, though her mind was such a jumble half of her words managed to run over themselves as well and the blue rider would have to focus to make sense of it all.

"My uncle. I think its some how a misguided attempt to make me forgive him. He managed to wrangle (most likely bribe) one of the riders at River crest t bring it with them back to western." Knowing her uncle he had likely tracked them down in a bar and thought it was a fantastic idea to bring them back without clear instruction and contrived sentiment.

To her credit, despite her bewilderment at the whole situation the redhead didn't need telling twice, she quickly picked up her feet to follow Nicara while she held the bundle close to her and tried to run while not shaking her precious burden. In fairness to her uncle the egg had been packed by someone that clearly knew what they were doing as the warmed sand packed in around the egg kept it secure and the flitt inside comfortable while the layers of fabric and oil cloth around it kept the warmth in and the cold or wet out.

Roana was quick to fold the cloth back over the egg when Diesteth landed beside them in wave of dust and wind but she was relieved to see him. She had expected them both to mount the dragon straight away but then Nicara was turning around and going back into the building. "What? Where are you going?"

She sighed as the small dark form of te blue rider was already retreating and hurried up the the placid blue. "Thankyou for coming Diesteth." she told the dragon. She bent briefly to kiss his great head and let him glimpse the golden egg inside the package that seemed to be throbbing with the life it held.

Once she had greeted the blue she walked around to his side to climb onto his back. It was a more trying task than she had expected with both her arms occupied by the wrapped egg, however she managed it, seating herself as comfortably as she was able on the base curve of his elegant blue neck.

"Me as well." Roana admitted to the blue. "I'm still not sure you made a good choice big guy."

Honestly she had every intention of unloading her frustrations at her failing on the hatching sands atop the poor women, she still felt sore at the rejection of some of the eggs to her touch making her more solid belief that she was not cut out for this. 'Dragon men are men apart' as the old saying went. She was pirate. Though admittedly she had struggled seeing any singular unique and uplifting trait in the dragon riders she had observed since entering the weyr.

When she saw Nicara running out and felt Diesteth start to move she gripped tighter with her knees and balanced herself. luckily years on rocking ships and rough waters had given her a good balance and she was able to stay steady till Nicara was suddenly there, infront of her. She took hold of the smaller women's waist with one hand and held the egg between them where it would be warmed by their bodies and best protected from the harsh wind chill that accompanied the flight.

She didn't have a chance to admire the rush of scenery and the beauty that the distance of flight granted the weyr, her eyes were fixed on the egg. It was only when they slowed and landed that she was able to wrench her attentions away briefly. Taking Nicara's hand she slid over the blue's withers towards the ground. The sand was soft and shifting and she sunk a few inches into the soft material as it caved to take the impact of her weight.

"Well, it managed the journey in tact and whoever packed it...well it wasn't my uncle they look to have known what they were doing, hopefully its far enough along we can't mess it up too badly now." Roana pointed out hopefully. But she did look around, quickly accessing when she had to hand.

Kneeling down Roana set the package down with the greatest of care then she pushed her fingers into the sands and frowned. It was warmish, she moved further down the beach and tested the sand again. Better. However from what she remembered,fire was involved so heat was clearly needed, and she had so recently felt the heat of the touching sands. So she moved about and began gathering some of the large flat dark rocks along the edge of the shoreline which had broken off from the cliffs above.

once by one she pushed them into the sand, forming a rock basket, then she covered the whole thing with more sand and at last set the egg in the middle, hopefully the rocks would release the suns stolen heat into the sand around the egg and make it warmer, at least that was the theory, now all they could do was wait.

Once the egg was settled in it's place it gave an encouraging little shudder but it would not do them the favor of hatching instantly. After the initial movement it went still again. Only the sound of the breaking waves and the occasional sea wherry broke up the silence.

Roana sat down to wait, her legs drawn up and her arms around her knees. At last she looked at Nicara "You lied to me, you said a dragon would never hurt a person, not an adult anyway, and I know that queen meant to kill that girl before her rider collapsed. I know you can't really predict things like that, but still, I feel like I was deceived." She looked square at Nicara then, sitting up strighter to make it clear she would not be cowed by the events, despite what she said.

"I am still going to stand for the hatching, because, well I am here now and I can't go back before I have finished what I said I would, but I am afraid, the other candidates told me hatchings can get bad." She grimaced "bloody." She turned her head to look out at the sea. "So I'm going to write a letter and if something happens I want you to take it to my uncle for me. Cause he can tell my family then." It was a morbid subject but Roana clearly wanted Nicara's promise on the matter. It would make her feel better going in.

"And if I don't impress, then I can go back to rivercrest knowing I tried."

Roana's eyes flicked to the scar without flinching. Even though it was alarming to see what those claws and teeth could do, even fresh out of the egg. She would be standing to witness that, experience that within a seven day. Never the less she held her tongue and let Nicara continue her story. She had a hard time imagining the gentle Diesteth being so violently but that was the problem. Despite the bond, dragons were not people. They operated differently on their own codes and laws that were hard to understand and accept for people outside the weyr.

"Thankyou, I've already started on the letter, so I should be able to get it to you soon." She told her, before falling silent to greet the blue dragon with a smile then a groan and a little shove at his head. "Don't sit right up close like that when you're still damp you great wherry." she scolded him affectionately. But his renewed presence seemed to break some of the tension.

Roana stood up and walked over to Nicara dropped down beside her with a tremble of sands. "Oh for perns sake women, stop looking like a kicked canine. It's no fun digging at you and scolding you if it actually makes you cry. " To make her point she put an arm around Nicara's shoulders and gave her a brief squeeze.

"But you waxing lyrical about the glories of impression isn't going to help. I know that by now, you don't see true long lasting love in the hold's in a long lasting marriage the best you get is a sort of contented acceptance between people, but I see it. Every time a rider looks as their dragon. But that doesn't change the fact I've also seen aged out candidates in the lower caverns, a lot of them at completely loose ends, no idea what to do with themselves. I'm not like that. I have a craft and a life(Poor as it is) , back at river crest and for me it's a matter of how long I put my life on hold for something that might not even happen. When their kids, everyone, at some points dreams of being a dragon rider, like in the ballads. But before you came along my dream had shifted to captaining my own ship before I hit 25."

Though, admitedly that had suffered a blow thanks to thread. Before Roana could press Nicara for a response there was a little chirp and a small crack appeared in the shell of the flitt egg.

Roana couldn't help but give Nicara that extra squeeze when she felt her stiffen, it gave her a twisted little thrill to make the uptight blue rider squirm. Andbeing so close wasn't a bad thing, she was defiantly cute in her own way. And Roana was perfectly aware that once again her arguments had hit home and left Nicara struggling to find words, which also pleased her. Roana's mind was ticking over more playful and potentially fun ways to push some of Nicara's buttons when the interruption came.

Instantly all the red heads focus was on the shiver of the egg. For a minute she froze and her brain preformed a few misfire starts before Niacara's words brought her back to the world again. "Oh right." She reached up and took the offered meat. She nodded meeting the blue riders gaze with a steady gaze and stright set to her lips to show her that she understood. As Nicara stepped back against Diesteth Roana shuffled forward. She also took her knife from the belt she wore and sliced a few small chunks from the meat strips. She placed them by the egg leading towards her lap in a trail. where she held the majority of the food.

However the excitement seemed to prompt the egg to fall still again. For five long minutes nothing happened and Roana eventually had to take a breath but then there was a pip pip pip and the crack on the shell widened as the flitt within started to chip her way into the wide open world. Roana had to grip her knees to stop herself from helping the little one, just pulling away the egg shell, but she resisted.She was hyper aware of preforming any action that might scare the miniature creature between.

Chip chip chip. Occasionally the shell would part a fraction to show the flash of gold inside before closing up again. However slowly but surely the crack was encircling the eggs circumference, then with one last desperate push from the fire lizard inside the egg toppled over and split apart. The perfect delicate queen that had been hiding inside sprawled out in a tangle of egg goo limps and damp wings. Roana let out an involuntary gasp at the beauty of the queen but the firelizard didn't seem to notice as she took some time to regain some strength after her escape from the egg. Then it was a matter of gathering her legs under her, gaining some control of her wings and shaking off some of the wet goo.

Only then did she look up at Roana sitting stock still at the edge of the hatching pit she had prepared. The queen started, but at the same moment she had noted the food. That was enough to stifle her fears and she pounced on the first chunk of meat, horking it down like it was about to do a runner. She was a beautiful creature, slim and delicate with large wings and just a fine swirl of pattern around her head. As Roana had planned she jumped on the next piece and the next following the trail of food right into Roana's lap, when Roana jolted and pulled away the larger strips before she could choke on them the new baby gave a piteous cry. Taking her knife again and cut a smaller slice which the gold gobbled straight from her fingers. Once Ro had offered her a second and then a third she got the idea. The new baby flitt sat in Roana's lap, head up and mouth open like an expectant baby bird. When the meat didn't arrive fast enough she also let out shrill chirps of demand.

At last the meat was gone and the flitt had become slow and her demand calls had ceased. However she did reach out with her little claws, tugging Roana's had down to thoroughly inspect it for lingering food. She gave it a lick to gain some of the juices but this soon didn't seem worth the effort and she curled up in the fold of Roana's legs. Up until that point she had ignored Diesteth but now she surveyed him with a smug sleepy satisfaction. She had gotten all the meat, none for him! Nyeh nyeh nyeh.

"I think you can come out now Nicara' I don't think she's going anywhere."

Roana stared down adoringly at the little gold. Looking at the sleek form brought back previously forgotten memories of chasing flitts along the coast by her house before she went to sea. Of course she had known then, it was impossible to catch them but it hasn't stopped her or her siblings from trying. Gingerly she reached down and ran her fingers gently along the little queens back. The fire lizard turned her head to fix Roana with one swirling eye. Then she curled back into a golden ball and fell asleep.

After Roana was sure that her new companion was content and comfortable she turned to Nicara with a frown. "Crackdust women! Slow your rolls a bit, she is only just out of the egg, she won't be ready to rise for at least a little while, besides..." she rolled her eyes. "I really don't care what male she chooses, I heard firelizard flights don't really effect their bonded that strongly, so its fine. And I have already gone through a few green flights now."

She cut herself off with a sudden and extended yawn. "Huh, guess I'm picking up on her feelings a little, and I can sort of feel something at the edge of my mind, but its not clear unless I focus on it. Then I know its her." After all a firelizard was quite different from a dragon, the connection was not as deep or complex which is why a fire lizard would simply go wild again after its bonded died .

She laughed at Diesteth's little dig. "like I just said you great wherry, she's only just out of the egg, but. I think that's what I'm going to call her. Nyeh." Roana announced the name with an impish grin the blue's direction. "She just wants to be spoiled and have attention and treats to herself, but all babies are like that."