The New Clutch (open)

[katgod]

The silvery Gold landed on the Sands before her rider. Elfreth settled close to the middle of the Hatching Sands. This was her eleventh clutch and as such, she knew what she was doing. Elfreth was not known to have the number of eggs per clutch as Sheluth, which made sense considering Igen’s views on breeding Queens. Though the little Queen had proven to supply healthy, good sized dragonets she had a reputation of having a lot of greens and blues in her clutches. Something that Laszreen took as a good thing while the rest of the world saw it as disappointing. The fact of the matter was that greens were the best at flying thread even if they couldn’t last a whole fall.

Laszreen had not been able to meet Elfreth on the Sands right away because she was in a meeting. If she was distracted she wasn’t showing it, so the meeting continued for about two candlemarks. When she was finished she hurried down to the Sands. Elfreth had already clutched a few of the eggs, they were smaller but that didn’t necessarily mean less important. It would be candlemarks before the Gold was finished. Laszreen liked to watch and make sure no problems were encountered. As such, she did like to have a Dragon healer at hand, should they be needed. The man at least had the good grace to be quiet and stay out of the way.

It would be interesting to see how this clutch turned out. This was only the second time Elfreth had been flown by someone other than Ionuth and the first she had been flown by a dragon from a Weyr other than Igen. Hopefully things could return to normal after this. It wasn’t that having an egg heavy dragon was bothersome it simply disrupted her daily routine. Now that Elfreth was laying them she would be able to fly further away but obviously not for long. The eggs would need protection and warmth from their mother.

[Adobe]

J'var took pride that his dragon was a good flyer, a strategist even, however he rather regretted Ionuth couldn't have been there to catch Elfreth. While he would rather have not gone to see some other sire's eggs, he went because the eggs half belonged to his gold as well. J'var had no intentions of loosing Laszreen and Elfreth to J'ren and Gliath now. J'var would even hover around Laz if he had to. J'var fought too hard to loose Laszreen to a simple flight. If she loved another man, if she chose some one other than him, fine, he may have to back off, but not now. He has possibly loved Laszreen the day he met her in the candidate barracks. Oh how his mother barked at him for giving up on the queenrider Jenafa for a simple do-nothing candidate. Oh, how his mother had been wrong! Laszreen was beautiful, strong, clever, and turned out she Impressed a magnificent silver-gold dragon.

He walked up to her on the sands and smirked a little, "Long meeting, eh? I am surprised you didn't just get up and walk out. I understand clutching is sort of a big deal to a queen. Congratulations, Love."

The Weyrleader stood boldly close to the woman, almost possessive, but still in a lover kind of way. He moved to kiss her, but stopped less than an inch away from her skin to whisper in her ear, "He didn't hurt you, did he? I'd gladly show him some Igen manners if you'd only command me. I promise you, Io will be there to catch Elfreth next time, my sweet."

[Zenniel]

How is it that Live always found herself unlucky, and in unlucky situations? It seemed that way to Live, who had been lying in her favorite place in the whole Weyr—the Hatching Sands—when the wonderful silver-golden Elfreth chose to clutch. Strange was more like it. All of a sudden, Live was in the same predicament as she had been last time, with Sheluth. But this time was different, this time it was Elfreth. Maybe Elfreth would let her stay to watch the whole clutching.

Live was, however, unlucky. Nothing ever worked as was planned with her.

The girl slowly leaned forward, feeling the cool of the stone at her back replace itself with warmth. Her eyes took in Elfreth’s wonderful golden form—complete with the eggs sticking out of her stomach at oblong angles. It must hurt, having so many eggs in there night and day. She wondered if it was a million times worse than a human pregnancy. The labor was certainly longer. Live also wondered about the clutch—would Elfreth be lucky and clutch a gold where Sheluth clutched none?

The girl near-silently made her way to her knees, and placed her hands on the ground in front of her, leaning forward slowly. She couldn’t quite lay on her stomach, though the heat of the sands did nothing to her. No, if she lay on her stomach, she’d get her favorite blouse dirty, and she didn’t want that. Her light blue eyes focused on the silvery-gold dragon, and she wondered if the other people in the Sands would mind her here. She had, of course, been there for Sheluth’s clutching—well, part of it. Should she go and speak to them, or should she stay put? She was in a fairly shadowed area… but she didn’t want to seem intruding on anything.

[katgod]

Laszreen turned to face the man who had spoken and smiled widely. "Well we Queenriders know of this thing called discipline. Elfreth would have told me if anything were going poorly. Besides she's never had trouble clutching before and she is in her prime." At the last part she nodded, "Congratulations should wait till she is done. We haven't even got a clue how many she will have laid by tomorrow."

The Goldrider would allow people to watch Elfreth only as long as the Gold permitted. Queens had tempers and Igen Queens were known to be worse than others. She kept an eye on the way the Queen was reacting to the knowledge that there were more than just Laszreen and her lover hanging about the Sands. Maybe she was in the mood to be watched and admired. Elfreth seemed to like being admired for what and who she was, bringing vanity to a whole new level.

Whispering back to J'var, "No, love. He is a kind person, there is no reason for you to be concerned." At these words, she knew he would get jealous so she added, "I'd much prefer you catch me next time. " He was the only person who knew her truly and it made her sad knowing that things like this hurt the other. If she could take her own jealous nature away that might help but she could not. Neither was J'var capable of doing so.

Elfreth was now moving the fifth egg over near the others. This one was obviously larger than the other four though no one could say what it would contained. It could be an oversized blue for all they knew. All Laszreen could think was how lovely each mottled egg was. Five was a good number for it being so early in the day still. Maybe she would have a fast clutching today. Some were faster than others and it mainly had to do with Elfreth's mood. As she was not in a complaining, whiny mood, she would probably get done quicker. Some days she would prefer to be doing anything but clutching.

[Adobe]

J'var gave a tight smile and stood back a moment, "Kind does not necessarily mean he's not a threat. And you can be sure that I will be there to take you." He wasn't going to let another sclub take his queenrider again. Why did it seem such a good idea to sit out from Laszreen's flight again? Oh yeah, because he was proving a point, the same as last time. He was confident that the last bronzer couldn't keep Laz, but he didn't know J'ren. He might have have a little chat with the man. . .

He smirked a little, "Am I not a kind man, my love?" Of course he was teasing her, he knew very well how vengeful and vindictive he could be. He wasn't exactly the "nice guy," not that he wanted to be, either. Perhaps his only redeeming factor was his great love for the small dark woman before him.

J'var watched the fifth egg, he secretly hoped there wouldn't be a golden egg. The people of the Weyr might favor this Gliath-Elfreth pairing, and they would be dissapointed. J'var was determined to make them thus.

[Zenniel]

Live couldn’t believe it. This queen wasn’t as… well, mean as the last one! She could watch this queen clutch! Live didn’t know whether or not it was a good thing, but she did know that she wouldn’t overstep this privilege. And it certainly wasn’t her fault for getting herself into this mess in the first place. No, it wasn’t her fault—or maybe it was—that she loved to hang out in the Hatching Cavern thinking about nothing in particular during her time off. In fact, it wasn’t her fault, either, that Elfreth had chosen today to clutch.

But Live wasn’t complaining. In fact, she’d only seen two clutchings in her life, and one of those she hadn’t even seen the whole way through. Sheluth had made sure of that—but the girl wasn’t complaining. The first wasn’t that momentous, and Live had forgotten the gist of it, since she hadn’t been Searched for that clutch. But this clutch… this one would be different. Maybe she’d Impress this clutch—and if there were more smaller eggs, or a gold egg, then she’d have a better chance at Impressing. Females rarely—if ever—Impressed to larger-colored dragons. No female as of yet had Impressed to a Bronze, and it should be that way forever.

Live watched as the queen labored. She stayed still, and could feel trickles of sweat fall down her chest from the closeness of the sands. It was a good thing Live was used to the heat, but even she had limits. She shifted uncomfortably and fell into a better position. The better to watch the marvelous queen at work.

[jerith]

J'ren arrived in time to see the fifth egg being layed. He walked up to stand on the oppisite side of Laszreen from J'var, "Queenrider, Weyr Leader," he nodded in greeting to both of them. "How is your Elfreth doing?"

There was a happy sounding rumble from outside, Gliath was lending his vocal support to the slivery golden queen.

J'ren wanted only to be present for the clutching, and he wanted it to go well. It was the only thing that had kept him from telling J'var exactly what he thought of him. His attitude was not conducive to the Wyers cooperating.