Celebration (Nikianeth`s First Clutch)

[kia]

The Orange has become swollen as she became gravid with eggs. Nia was very excited at the thought of Nikianeth becoming a mother the first time that she ever Rose. Then again, Kalith did Clutch a slightly smaller clutch this time around. Nia woke up with a yawn as she quickly climbed out of bed to check on her Orange. Niki was no longer proddy anymore and had returned to her normal self, which was slightly bossy and still pushing Nia to become someone she was meant to be. Niki had even tried to get Nia to go visit S`rial several times, but Nia had quickly come up with some excuse to not go visit him. She was shy and embarrassed about what had happened to her during and after the Flight. And she had nearly refused at any time to get out of her weyr except when she had to go eat and wash Nikianeth. But, now that the dragon was going to Clutch, Nia could not hide anymore. She had to take her place as a sub-Queen Rider of Dalibor. She sighed and stroked Nix`s back as she thought about the Hatching. She wondered how many eggs there would be and if they would all Hatch and Impress.

Nia moved toward Niki`s dragon couch to check up on the Orange. But, Niki was not there. She walked out toward the ledge to look for the dragon, catching an orange blue making her way down to the Hatching Grounds. Nia smiled. So, the dragon was about to Clutch now. She hoped that Kalith had left a spot for Nikianeth. Though the Orange was not as large as Kalith, Niki still would have a small Clutch. Nia went back to her bed and quickly changed into some more decent clothes. After all, with Niki laying her eggs now, Duareth would want to come see the eggs. And, with Duareth, S`rial would be joining the Brown as well. Nia quickly placed Nix and Flare in their respected spots, one on each shoulder, making her look like she wore a blue hide scarf. Both Blue chirped happily as they rose on their Mine`s shoulders. Nix was finally starting to get larger than when he was first born. Flare, on the other hand, was starting to act more like a larger brother and friend to Nix rather than a mentor.

When Nia arrived on the Sands, she smiled at Nikianeth. The Orange had laid three beautiful eggs on the Sands. "Oh, Niki, they are very beautiful. I am proud of you," she said, smiling at the Orange. The Orange rumbled in affection. Like Kalith, she had set her three eggs in a certain position. Thank you, Mine. Yes, I am very proud of them. It may be a small Clutch, but they should be very strong. After all, they have me for a Clutchmother and a very large and strong Brown for a Clutchfather, she said happily. She looked over at Kalith`s Clutch, making sure they had some distance from each other. No Queen or female dragon liked sharing their Sands unless they had too. And, well, Kalith and Nikianeth had too. But, Nikianeth did respect the Copper Queen and had never said a bad word about her. Nikianeth turned her head back to her eggs as she crooned softly to them. Duareth, come see our beautiful eggs. And you may bring your Mine if you wish, she said, calling out to the Brown.

The first two eggs laid side by side with each other. The egg on the right side was slightly smaller than the egg on the left side. Both eggs also did not look alike. The first egg, the one of the right, was a mixture of green and blue swirled in the shell, with white speckles covering it as well, giving it an aurora borealis look with fallen snow. The second egg, the one on the left, was a bright egg of with white starting from the bottom, changing to a light yellow by the middle, to a bright yellow at the very top, almost like the glow of light coming from inside a room and being seen on the outside. The last egg, the largest of the three, stood behind the two eggs, making it look like the three eggs formed a small pyramid. The last egg was orange with red that looked like it was trying to climb up the egg shell. This egg almost looked like a fire burning in the kitchens, bright and very warm in appearance. Nikianeth crooned to her three eggs, giving them all extra attention as she could. Yes, they would be very good dragonets once they Hatched.

[Admin]

Walking around in the days,
Out for days now,
Talking it up as amazing,
A maze that I'm in.

Kalith let Nikianeth come onto the sands. The broody copper could have taken the gravid orange down in a fight, but she would allow the lesser Queen to clutch. Her rider was thankful for it. They'd gotten in a dragged out debate over it, for the past day, since only a short time after the Queen had finished clutching her nineteen eggs. A very tired Fajra had won, mainly because she hadn't taken refusal as an answer and had appealed to the copper's odd maternal instincts to help Nikianeth's eggs. Thus, Kalith only curled more protectively over her brood when Nikianeth arrived. She had left enough space to the side for the orange, though she got to dominant the center of the sands. Her sands. The sands might have been Nikianeth's had she been alone, but Kalith owned all of the Weyr at the end of every sort of argument, at the end of everything.

Offering a kindly critical look to the orange in congratulations after her clutching, the copper eyed the three new arrivals on the sands. Three. Good enough for a lesser Queen. It was good enough that the young orange had clutched at all. Still, Kalith felt some glee at the sight of the tiny clutch beside hers. At least two of hers were bigger than even the largest one of the three two! Even though she knew that it would be impossible for the orange to ever produce a clutch as large as the smallest she might ever produce in her life and hers probably had at least a King while the orange's would be lucky to have another orange at the best, she felt proud and gratified. It was also a way for her to justify allowing the other clutchmother to hang about. She didn't like to be defied or out shone, ever the Queen, even if her pride was more aggression.

Up in the stands, Fajra watched from the spot she had selected at the back of the stone benched tiers, exuding a steady, cold calm to make sure Kalith minded herself. She offered Nia a nod of greeting. She was tired, but had gotten a bit of sleep a while ago before she'd fought it out with her dragon over allowing another mother onto the sands. A bit of sleep was enough for her, when it came down to it. A bit was better than none. She surveyed the three new editions to the sands. They were pretty enough, she would think or perhaps suppose, with lots of orange and warm, fire-like colors to them. Not quite as beautiful as the majority of Kalith's eggs, though she knew she was entirely biased with Kalith in her head, but she'd always found dragons to be pretty, though she didn't tend to think of most things as pretty. It wasn't a very good word for most things.

Kalith extended a wing to shield her eggs a bit more, still possessive and agitated. Is she going to invite Duareth, do you think? I am not letting that brown of hers in! Not near my eggs; the copper hissed to her rider, informing her that she was drawing the line at Nikianeth and Armania. She hardly let Daidoroth in as it was, and he was her mate! It wasn't fair that she had to share. She had to protect her eggs. The fierce instinct and desire to keep them safe made her aggressive and snappish. A lack of proper sleeping patterns made her grumpy. It was almost as bad as before her flight, except she was fairly content unless anyone stepped into her hatching cavern. People were in her cavern. It made her bristle, made her turn wary, made her unsettled. It was wrong! It wasn't right. Necessary, but it still wasn't truly right. She felt the need to fight, defend, drive away.

Sighing and then drawing in a deep breath, Fajra fixed the copper with a look. The Queen let out a huff, returning the gaze with swiftly whirling eyes, but the resistance she offered like that was easily broken. In many ways, the redhead was as perfect for her job was she seemed (if only, if only). She smiled faintly as she made her defiant dragon agree to her terms. With another huff, Kalith settled back. She stretched her wing farther over her eggs. She would let Duareth come. Duareth, Nikianeth, Daidoroth, S'rial, O'sho, and Nia. No one else. She would eat anyone else. Alive. Painfully. Thinking blood thoughts in her peevish mood, she glared about. None of them were getting within ten feet of any of her eggs either. Her eggs! Faintly, Fajra shook her head at the dramatics of her dragon. She went back to the work she had, keeping one eye on a sulking Kalith.

Listen just a little bit harder,
The hearts tell the truth,
Is it just a pistol on the edge,
To keep you moving.

[kyrillion]

Duareth had of course seen Nikianeth enter the Hatching grounds; on such a splendid morning as the one in question, he had taken the opportunity (as he often did) to stretch out and sun on his ledge. It offered a marvelous view of the bowl, and since it had become clear that Nikianeth would clutch, he had taken to keeping a watchful, if subtle, eye on her. Her beautiful orange hide was not difficult to spy, and though the knowledge that he would soon be a father thrilled him, he did not budge from the ledge. She would call him, if she needed him; he would not dare intrude upon the Sands, particularly not with Kalith already there. Instead, he gave His own a good, firm mental shake to wake him up, and waited.

And summon him Nikianeth did, in due time. The brown had nearly launched himself off the ledge before S'rial, nearly finished getting dressed, shouted for him to "hang on just a moment, you big oaf, and don't you dare leave me behind..." A moment later the man was striding, amused in spite of himself, out onto the ledge, running a hand through his brown hair in an effort to get it to settle. Vaulting onto the brown's back, not bothering with straps, the pair made quickly for the sands, Duareth absolutely radiating excitement.

It was S'rial that had the presence of mind to caution his dragon; Kalith might not appreciate them intruding on her clutch. While Duareth was quick to point out that one of the clutches was his, now, too, he took the warning to heart. Landing lightly, and quietly, just inside the entrance, the brown's eyes fixated immediately upon the three glorious, magnificent, wonderful, perfect eggs in the corner.
Mine-own! Look there - they are mine. My eggs![/color]
Of course they're yours, wherry-brain. Who else's would they be-
They're perfect! Look at them.[/color]
I see them! Just don't forget your manners...

Though his madly-whirling green eyes never left Nikianeth and the clutch, Duareth nevertheless directed his first greeting, and a submissive nod of the head, towards Kalith. Congratulations, Kalith; your eggs are of course lovely. I am honored that my children have the privilege of sharing the Sands with yours.[/color] S'rial might have called it sucking up, except that he could feel for himself the sincerity in his brown's words; like his mate, Duareth had only respect for his copper queen.

Duareth cut off the formal greeting there; the less attention he drew from the clearly very protective clutchmother, the better. Giving Kalith's clutch a wide, respectful berth, he made his way quickly over to Nikianeth and his own, pausing only to allow S'rial to dismount. As soon as that was finished, he went to his gorgeous orange immediately, nuzzling her cheek affectionately; he might have moved to twine his tail with hers, but he did not know how protective Nikianeth would be of her own clutch. It was always best to tread carefully around a brooding mother.

They are beautiful, Nikianeth! Perfect.[/color] He crooned happily. Turning his full attention to the three eggs, he was glad of the opportunity to look them over up-close. Lowering his head to the nearest one, intent on nuzzling it gently, he paused midway; May I?[/color]

S'rial, privately very amused at his dragon's obvious elation at being a father, took a moment to just observe his dragon doting over Nikianeth and their clutch. He hadn't expected him to be quite this ecstatic; but he supposed that wasn't really giving the brown as much credit as he deserved. He had always been a protective, guardian-like figure; of course he'd pay his children as much, certainly more, attention than he lavished on his Candidates students.

Eventually, he turned his gaze away and spied Armania. Making his way over to her, sporting what he hoped was a disarming grin, he thrust his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. He knew, or at least suspected, that she'd been avoiding him. He certainly didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but he was nevertheless glad that Nikianeth had invited them to the sands. "They did well, huh?" He nodded towards the clutch, his smile turning into a full-blown grin. "They look healthy, too. Congratulations are in order; how are you and Nikianeth holding up?"