The Hatching of the 12 Days of Christmas Clutch

[Rei]

((Sorry for the fail post *is tired*))

Danar turned around and witnessed the last two impressions. He felt nothing not joy not sorrow just numb. The boy accepted the cloth from Meira and then turned to the two of woman again ignoring all them he kept his grip on Pasine’s hand. Nothing would drag him away. He would deal with the aftermath later.

---

Raylin gave a shriek as she saw Saeo impress and Ebolath responded with a happy warble. Hers was so happy at her clutchbrother’s choice. He must have chosen well but not as well as her of course. The little green nuzzled her distended stomach. Raymine I am tired she said suddenly swaying slightly on the spot.

The black haired girl turned and rubbed her hatchling’s head. “Alright Love let’s find out where we’re supposed to go. We will catch up with Saeo later.” The new green Weyrling helped her hatchling stumble towards a loose grouping of the new baby dragons. Surely they knew where they were supposed to go.

----

Sel’n stood as the hatching ended and waited for some of the people to filter out before calling to Kaaoloth. His brown landed and crouched down to allow his bonded to land. You are glad you came. Kaaoloth said amusement coloring his tone. Sel’n chuckled and mounted his dragon. Yes I am. Together they left for the grounds. If Kaao was lucky perhaps the hatching would keep his bonded in a better mood for awhile.

[Rowana]

Peppeth ate ravenously. Farryl had to be extra careful to make sure the tiny hatchling did not swallow anything too big for her. It was hard to cut meat fast enough to keep Peppeth from simply stealing the huge pieces, but she managed somehow. As a few other candidates trickled in with their new partners, Farryl did noticed that hers was quite a bit smaller than most. Even small than the other greens. It didn't matter though. Size wasn't everything that counted in a dragon. Raylin was the first of the others that Farryl recognized and she grinned to see the other girl with such a beautiful green. Cloar, another boy she had met briefly, had impressed a fine looking brown. Everyone seen so happy it was contagious. Not that Farryl need their help to feel cheerful. Peppeth seemed radiate joy, even while she was distracted by food.

Peppeth swallowed her last mouthful and gave a tiny, adorable burp. Farryl giggled. "Full?" she asked. It didn't seem like her dragon had eaten that much. Farryl hoped it didn't mean anything was wrong with her. She was awfully small. <Very!> Peppeth declared with a content sigh. She leaned against her chosen adoringly and surveyed the others with interest. <Did I eat enough to grow big?> she asked hopefully. Farryl laughed and dismissed all worries about her dragon. Surely Peppeth was just perfect the way she was. "Biggest isn't always best," she assured the green. "And you'll be the best." Farryl nuzzled Peppeth lovingly and earned a purr in reply.

Now that Peppeth was fed and snuggled into her lap, Farryl watched the other arrivals eagerly for Saeo or some other familiar face. Several more came, but no Saeo. Keirin arrived, though, handsome next too a fine bronze hatchling, the only one Farryl had seen. She grinned at the boy who had often had the unwelcome job of ferrying her across the river. He would make an excellent rider, she was sure. Nearly twelve others had come in now and one boy even had blood dripping down his arm. Farryl was growing worried now. What if something had happened to her friend.

<Farryl? What is wrong?> Peppeth squirmed oncomfortable next to her. Farryl realized that her bonded could feel her concern and she smiled in reassurance. "One of my friends is missing," she explained. Peppeth perked up. <Can we look for her? Can we?> she asked helpfully. Farryl smiled. "What a wonderful idea!" No one had said she could go back to see the rest of the Hatching. In fact, hadn't Raylin already done just that? Peppeth was already bouncing towards the entrance, delighted to help her new weyrmate and filled with the prospect of meeting more of the others.

The pair arrived next to Raylin just as the little blue approached Saeo. Farryl gasped at the site of the blood and started forward to help. Then she saw the same look pass between her friend and the blue that had been in her eyes only a few minutes ago. A smiled formed on Farryl's lips. Saeo would be just fine now. She had impressed after all. And to a handsome blue no less! Pleased that her friends had all found their dragons, Farryl turned to follow Raylin back to the others. Peppeth seemed to have wasted her limited energy on the excitement, but the tiny green was still just small enough for Farryl to carry while she drifted off to sleep.

~

<Oh look, T'ke! Food! I love food!> Garaeth bounded forward and tackled the meat in much the same way he had claimed his boy moments ago. "I can see that, Garaeth," T'ke agreed solomnly. He didn't see why food would be exciting, but his dragon was newly hatched. Everything was probably exciting. "Slow down!" T'ke's eyes widened as Garaeth took a huge bite without waiting. "You'll choke yourself!"

Garaeth cocked his head without swallowing. <Is that bad?> T'ke glared at him. "Yes. You'd be dead! It's verybad!" he scolded. <But at least I'd be full!> he pointed out brightly. T'ke sighed. There was no reasoning with this dragon. "Just spit out the meat and let me cut it for you." Garaeth meekly obeyed.

T'ke took the droll covered slap with a scrunched up and disgusted face and set it back on the table. Garaeth pranced around him with curious, but anxious attention while he took the knife and began carving. Knowing his luck he would probably slice his hand his hand open with the tool. But despite his misgivings, he managed well enough and Garaeth was soon devouring more bite sized pieces.

Other newly impressed candidates arrived one by one. T'ke was too busy with his own dragon to pay much attention to them. He hadn't really taken the time to meet any of them yet. Now though, as twelve of them would be spending the next months together in classes, he supposed he would have to get to know them. T'ke looked at his dragon, now curled protectively around his legs while he chewed on the last of his first meal. From what he had gathered from this blue so far, it was certainly going to be a challenging life. T'ke patted Garaeth's head, tentatively at first, then more tenderly. He felt drawn to this dragon, despite his oddities. Life would be challenging yes, but at least now it might be worth it.

[weaving]

Why had he agreed to work this shift? Just as he was finished with Saeo, yet another girl was attacked brutally. This was like a hatching gone terribly wrong, with hatchlings seeming to deliberately go out of their way to maul candidates. Form this distance, he couldn’t see very well how bad the extent of Pasine’s injuries were, but it looked to be quite serious. A stretcher then would be a good idea, and if he remembered correctly, there was one kept in storage on the Hatching Grounds for emergencies. Unfortunately, it was on the other end of the grounds. His eyes darted from where Dorova and…Shmee? Yes, Shmee was there as well, how odd, crouched around Pasine to where the stretcher was. Go get it immediately or check on the girl first? Dorova was already there and had enough experience to stop the bleeding and begin cleaning the wounds without him there, so the stretcher it was.

Quickly the young man began making his way across the Sands, avoiding candidates and dragonets alike. It world do no good if the healer were to be mauled as well. Why had he agreed to this shift again? Well, at least he knew how to take care of it, though there wasn’t much that they could do until they got her into the infirmary. Poor girl probably hadn’t been expecting anything like this when she agreed to stand as a candidate. Hopefully it wouldn’t deter her from trying again. Reaching the closet, he opened it quickly, grabbing the stretcher which was, thankfully, near the front. Hopefully it had been checked before the hatching to insure that it was still in good condition. If it wasn’t, than moving Pasine would become much more difficult.

Jermayan all but sprinted back toward Pasine and the others, though the stretcher made moving rather cumbersome. Time was of the essence. He was surprised to see Meira there, but didn’t question it, thankful for the extra help. Laying the stretcher out, he then moved closer to Pasine. “Alright, I’ve got the stretcher, so lets get her on it. Dorova, have you put numbweed on the wounds?” If not, then moving the girl was going to be extremely painful. Crouching down near Pasine’s face, he noted that she was still conscious which was surprising. Most would have blacked out from the extreme pain. “Candidate, I’m healer Jermayan. We’re going to be getting you to the infirmary as quickly as possible, but we need to get you on a stretcher. It’s going to hurt, but once we can get you of the sands and to the infirmary, things will get better a lot faster.” Not much of a reassurance, but she had a right to know what was happening to her own body. Watching her face to see if she understood, he nodded in satisfaction before standing and surveying the scene.

“Everyone, I need you to back away,” he yelled out. The last hatchling had impressed, but people still crowded around the injured candidate, which would make getting her out of here nearly impossible. “We need a clear path from here to the nearest entrance, so I need you all to move.” Announcements over, he turned back to Dorova, Meira and Shmee to help them move Pasine from the sands to the stretcher.

[dragon]

Val danced around on the bag for a moment, hissing at Meira when she showed up. She was going to steal the bag he was trying to move! She was .... oh. He hopped aside, and dived into the bag, to ride, mostly hidden, into the sands with the bag. He chirred triumphantly, as the bag swayed and bobbed. He was bringing the bag!! Val Keep! Val Keep! No? Val keep! He announced, to Dorava, when the bag was set down near the wounded girl. He then dived from the bag, and back into Dorava's pocket. Turning around in there, he poked his head back out, to watch what was going on, proud of himself. He had successfully brought the bag! And, as a bonus, another person to help!

Dorava was grateful, extremely grateful, when Meira arrived with the bag, and then Jermayan finally showed up ... and thank Faranth! With the board she had requested. It was just exactly what she'd been asking for, for so many long minutes already. Shmee's deliberate ignorance and stupid reactions to things were really getting on the Greenrider's nerves. She wasn't helping any at all, and picking a fight with Dorava was the last thing Pasine or Dorava needed right now.

So what if the terms were wrong?! Dorava had thought they were one and the same, and Shmee hadn't been intelligent enough to look past the wording to what was really meant and needed, in the emergency of the situation. This just wasn't the time for that.

"Oh, thank you." Dorava said, quietly, to the other healers, as she pulled on the stretcher to get it oriented alongside Pasine. "No, I haven't done anything except try to stop the bleeding. I didn't want her feeling good enough to go to sleep ..." she explained. "Her stomach is ripped up pretty badly. I don't think her organs are hurt, but they're definitely visible through the rips." she explained. "We need to move her quickly... Aonith is waiting outside to carry her across to the infirmary, just as soon as we get her out of here."

Dorava considered the situation for a moment. The back of the impression gown was still intact ... "Grab the shoulders of her gown. And the sides, here, and here. I'll get her feet. We should be able to slip her right over. You. Boy. If you won't leave, make yourself useful! Take that side of her gown." Dorava said, issuing quick instructions. A well experienced Healer she might not be. But she was practical minded ... and not at all out of her wits.

Having grown up on a farmstead, she knew alot about moving bodies around, wounded or otherwise. And this was an easy case.

"Here. Put this in your teeth. And take a deep breath. You'll know before we move you." Dorava said, rolling up a small towel tightly, and giving it to Pasine to put in her mouth. Biting her tongue off, or shattering her teeth was not something they needed to add to her injuries.

Once everyone was situated and ready, Dorava grasping the bottom hem of Pasine's gown, Dorava started a short count. "Three. Two. One. Move." And with that, she lifted Pasine by her gown, and shifted her end of the girl quickly and deftly onto the stretcher.

"Alright." Dorava said, gratefully, when the girl was safely deposited on the stretcher. She glanced around, and noted that all the new dragons were gone, and candidates were clearing out mostly, per Jermayan's instructions. Aonith. You can come get her, now. She said.

Aonith shuffled around to the entrance, careful of where she placed her feet. And then she eased onto the sands, head carried low in respect to Aslath. Excuse me. I need to get the girl moved. She explained, as she moved over to where the laden stretcher lay.

Ever so carefully, she grasped the ends of the stretcher, eyes whirling with concerned colors. You'll be alright. I am going to take you to the infirmary. Aonith told her, as she shuffled awkwardly backwards on her back feet only, carrying the girl back out of the sands.

Once outside, she waited. Healers! Come! I will take you, as well. Quickly, now. Aonith said, to Dorava, Meira, and Jermayan all. A green she might only be, but this was a very short hop ... not even all the way across the cayon.

Dorava snatched up two of the duffels she had brought, and sprinted out of the sands, after Aonith. Crossing the straps across her chest, she took a running leap and scrambled up on top of Aonith's shoulders. Once situated, she leaned over to offer a hand to aid the others up.

~~~

C'oar looked up as Raylin arrived, with her dragon. He grinned at her crookedly, standing next to his own dragon. Frosstyth was sound asleep, curled up on the ground, belly distended. The rather round shape made him look like an egg again, only with a head, tail, and limbs sticking off of it. "Hi!" He said, enthusiatically.

And then he frowned slightly. "Is Saeo alright? Have you seen her?" He asked, concerned. Now that Frosstyth was sleeping, he remembered seeing Saeo getting trampled ... and wished that he had been able to go do something about that. But having had another mind suddenly become part of his had been rather ... distracting.

[antinanco]

Pasine was completely out of it. Though the pain hadn’t made her pass out, it had put her in an entirely delusional state of consciousness. Two more people were added to her vision, but she couldn’t even tell if she recognized them or not anymore. Behind their forms, there was a cloud in the sky having a battle with the sun. Also, she could have sworn that one of the Healer’s heads had detached from their body and began floating around her stomach. Everyone’s lips were moving in some foreign language she didn’t understand and she imagined she had been moved to the North. She waved her free hand limply at the air and murmured something indistinguishable.

Suddenly something was shoved in her mouth and Pasine tried to eat it. Food goes in mouth, right? So this must be food. But the towel, which had turned into a giant meat roll in her mind, was too big! Was she shrinking?!

Before Pasine had time to panic, the world shifted beneath her feet and she was swamped with another flourish of pain. Her face furrowed in a grimace, sealing shut her eyes in a vain attempt to shield herself from the pain and cursing the ground for abandoning her like that. Dorvana was smart to put the meat roll into her mouth, otherwise she’d have a bleeding, torn tongue to deal with as well.

By the time eyes were open again, Pasine found herself staring at green. Oh, how lovely! The ground had returned again! Perhaps it could help her get rid of this maddening pain in her midsection? Then, much to the Candidate’s surprise, the green ground spoke! Her mind was forced back into some sort of focus as the words popped right into her head. You'll be alright. I am going to take you to the infirmary. Oh. Jays. Was that giant green blob above her a dragon? Not to insult Aonith, but Pasine wasn’t exactly feeling too thrilled about being around another dragon again, whether dragonet, adult, blue, green or purple. She began fidgeting on the board/stretcher, but then stopped as the raw throbbing increased again.

[/font]

[Avu]

She'd forgotten. In all fairness, she'd been a bit concerned about the girl, and the rules of the Hatching Grounds had been dismissed in her urgency. Besides which, Zesa had been the one to let her know that she was needed, and it had seemed only natural to let the queen stay with her. Apparently, though, Aslath did not agree. The queen's shriek made Meira flinch visibly as Zesa pressed against her throat, trembling, for a brief instant as Aslath's voice cut through the fire lizard's mind. All thought of staying with her Bonded dismissed, Zesa leapt between, vanishing instantly and silently. Meira swallowed a ridiculous sense of aloneness following the fire lizard's departure. Zesa always stayed with her when she was in the Infirmary, and her precense was already sorely missed. Absently rubbing her shoulder where the queen had once perched, she reached uncertainly for Zesa, meaning to console, and found the queen at the edge of the river, waiting for her.

Biting her lip, the healer nodded, acknowledging Shmee's assent without ever tearing her eyes away from Pasine as she gently pulled away the blood-soaked, clinging white robe from the girl's torso - luckily, the dragon had already torn it up enough that ripping away the bloodied section to expose the wounds was a simple matter. Aside from the sheer amount of blood loss, the wounds themselves weren't half as bad as she'd been expecting - there didn't seem to be any that actually tore into the girl's organs. Scars? Oh, yes, she'd almost definitely get a few of those. Hastily, she flicked through the contents of the bag, pulling out a length of soft cloth. It should be clean, and it was only makeshift for now, but - well, it was better to make sure. Upending the vial of redwort and numbweed solution entirely onto it, she hesitated, biting her lip. To make it most effective, it'd have to go entirely around the girl's torso, but - well, that would hurt like dragonfire for the Candidate. And that little problem that she didn't want to disturb the wounds.

Well, this would have to do. The numbweed and redwort would effectively numb the pain and take away chances of infection, and once the girl declared she was no longer in pain - assuming that she stayed awake that long - then they could wrap the makeshift bandage entirely around her, at least until they made it to the Infirmary. "Candidate?" She kept her voice soft as she touched the girl's pale - too pale - cheek lightly. "This might hurt a bit at first, just a warning, because I'm going to have to put pressure on it. But there's numbweed on this, and it'll stop hurting after a bit. I need you to let me know when it does - tell me, or touch my hand, or something, okay?" If only they had fellis, but that wasn't in the bag of supplies. But then, usually, wounds on the Hatching Grounds weren't this bad. Carefully, she pressed the cloth lightly against Pasine's torso, swallowing her own anxiety as blood instantly dyed the cloth with a brilliant, metallic-smelling redness.

Jermayan's arrival was met with a weak, apologetic grin as she realized he had probably been tending another patient, but - this mauling was definitely the most serious. At his question to Dorava about numbweed, she interjected quickly, "I just did, but I'm not sure if it's taken effect yet." Still conscious, the girl was. It was really worse for her that she couldn't simply pass out. Oh, he had a stretcher, too. "If it's possible, I'd like to be able to wrap this," and she touched the edge of the cloth bandage, "All the way around her, it's got numbweed on it and I can't keep the pressure on it when we're moving her." As they lifted the girl onto the stretcher, she deftly slipped the bandage entirely under Pasine and tucked the end under.

She jumped at Aonith's voice, blinking, though she nodded hurriedly at the message and stepped away from Pasine to let the green...drag her across the Sands? Well, at least it wouldn't be half as bumpy as if they had carried it. Wait, now. They were to ride Aonith as well? Dragons she was fine with; she'd ridden quite a few. As Dorava mounted, she hesitated, and then followed suit, instinctively latching onto Aonith's neck ridge and closing her legs tightly around the dragon's neck. The quicker they got Pasine to the Infirmary, the better. Then - "Wait! What are we going to do? We can't take her between, it's bad for wounds."

~*~*~

Last two Impressions, and to bed he went! In theory. However, it didn't work out nearly as smoothly as he'd planned. Actually, it didn't work out at all, because sleep had completely deserted his mind. Only Corinth's warning that people would not react well to an empty Weyrleaders' Box kept him from going directly to the Sands and demanding of Shmee exactly what help she thought she could be to the Healers. As the last dragonet, a blue, Impressed to one of the female Candidates, what was left to restrain him? Evading anyone who might have been searching for him, he ignored Corinth's demand of where he was going, taking the steps to the Sands three at a time and leaping over the last five entirely, hissing in slight disapproval at the sharding heat of the Sands. What idiot had decided to make the entire length of Sands so hot? Couldn't there just be a big pile of hot sand around the eggs and not sprawled all over the place? - what was the point?

He started at a loose jog towards the gathering around the mauled girl - and was just close enough to hear Shmee start in on Dorava. Surprisingly, he had to bite his tongue to keep from snarling at the Weyrwoman, for more reasons than one. First off, Dorava was one of the few people he could stand the company of for more than two seconds, and thus Shmee had no right to be so rude. And second, couldn't she recognize that the Greenrider was trying to make sure her kid wasn't mauled, and that she was making the job awfully difficult? Third and last, it wasn't right for the Weyrwoman to be so sarcastic. That was his job and she could not take it, and - oh, well, she'd just better be grateful he hadn't started yelling at her halfway across the Sands for everyone to hear, satisfying though that would have been, but -

Aslath's screech made the bronzerider blink and stop, his head swinging around as Corinth uttered a distressed croon. Fire lizards aren't allowed on the Grounds, he explained, as the golden fire lizard sprang between. That was a healer's fire lizard, he commented blankly, and then, with irritation lacing his tones, And it doesn't seem to stop /her/ from bringing /hers/ in. What a hypocrite. How on Pern is everyone else supposed to take that seriously when she's toting around hers like a necklace?[/i] Corinth shifted, obviously affected by his Rider's anger as he dropped his wings, lowering his head to regard the young Weyrleader with gleaming, anxious eyes. What are you doing? Fulfilling my duty as Weyrleader, of course, came the innocent answer. Plus I want to make sure the girl's not dead. I /almost/ feel bad for her. Feel bad? You? Why? Well, her mauling kind of acted as an outlet of anger. Now I'm happy and she's almost dead.

Happy. Yeah. Right. Whatever 'happiness' the bronzerider had had disspated by the time he reached the apparently growing crowd around Pasine. Apparently the rejected Candidates needed to see how bloody they could have gotten. Resisting the impulse to unsheath his knife and threaten them, he stepped deliberately around, blocking Pasine's prone figure from most of the rejects' sight except, obviously, the boy who was holding her hand. Personally, if it was him, he'd stab anyone who ogled at him if at all possible, or at least memorize their faces to stab later. No need to get the rejects killed. No doubt some of them were already considering suicide themselves anyway. The Candidates probably left at Jermayan's shouting, but hey, he was staying. He wasn't in the way anyway.

There was a fair crowd gathered anyway - namely three healers, the wounded girl, and her boyfriend - which would make sniping at Shmee very difficult. Nevertheless, managed to work his way around the healers till he was behind the Weyrwoman, hissing under his breath to her, "Do you mind, Weyrwoman? The next time you think about suicide, could you at least give me fair warning? I mean, if you really want to, I'm not stopping you, but...seriously. I'm pretty sure half the Weyr nearly fainted when they saw you bolting across the Sands to help some girl that already has a little group of healers. Do you want to get mauled? I was under the impression that you preferred staying in one piece, but perhaps I'm mistaken." He paused, and then nodded at Pasine as the healers transferred her to a stretcher. "Is she de - erm, I mean, she'll be okay?"[/size]