HATCHING
She had seen her world be torn apart. She’d been part of it. Collaborated with the culprits in fact, while maintaining her grip on the Healing Den as usual. Everything would be perfectly normal for the Buenos Weyr. Once the Den was gone, they wouldn’t remember her presence in it anyway. Or so she’d been told. She only half-believed the blond haired brown-rider E’tan, she knew that he was full of tricks, and wasn’t telling everything he knew to her. He probably didn’t tell anyone ‘everything’. But Baeris took in a long breath. This would be the day of the hatching, and it would be a nice one.
Zaith’s clutch would hatch too, very soon. That would be the last tie to this world... Baeris shook her head and blinked. The light of the mid-summer sun crept into the Den with ease. Such a huge difference from the Flight weather. It was quite warm, the insects were rising off the grass of the hillside, and the lake was teeming with people enjoying their rest-day.
Like a series of bells, at first, the song of dragons began. Though this weyr was one that had seen many hatchings, and people around Buenos were used to dragons on their own sands as well as the Healing Den making noise, this was something different than what they had expected. It was as if human voices had joined their dragons. It was like a choir.
The hatching begins, my friend. Gather the candidates. None of them have strayed very far. Dulath informed Baeris, and the healer nodded to herself.
She clicked her tongue and sent for Saro. The dragon-healer would be of use at the hatching, and it would give Baeris the excuse she’d been trying to use to get the girl on the hatching sands all this time. The dragons had seen her, brooding and terrified of another dying dragon in her life. There was so much good that could come from her becoming a dragon healer, but at such a cost...
Baeris then set about clapping at each doorway, knocking where there were doors, ringing the handbells of those rare dens which had a suite of rooms and were fit for visiting dignitaries (and were full to the gills with candidates of all walks of life).
“The sun’s up and the dragons are hatching,” Baeris called to the candidates. She did not stop walking along the hallways, weaving around until she guessed everyone was up. The candidates were not the only ones being roused for this. The drudges and staff were already up, and having a great time slinging slabs of fresh-killed wherry and herdbeast onto the kitchen counters. There would be a lot of meat for a huge group of hungry hatchlings. There was bread baking – with luck this huge clutch would take just long enough to let it cool and be fresh for the impression party afterwards.
There could be no guess as to how long a hatching of this size could take. No one in this weyr had ever seen so many eggs amassed together! Nor so many candidates! Even for the Fools Day dragons, there had been some stiff competition, and many people left the sands in sadness, but this time... There were barely enough candidates to go around to all the varied eggs!
And oh those eggs! From tiny cream colored ones, to huge speckled grey and green, to violet ones almost translucent... Not a one could be ignored by those who saw them. Their dams all had moved up to the ledge slightly above the sands, and were quite crowded. But fortunately most of them were smaller than normal even for their rank, though some held out for more than their fair share of ledge and were hissing at each other between bellows of their announcement song.
Baeris looked around the stands. Even barely after the announcement went out, men and women from all around the world had started to show up. She relished seeing those weyrwomen and leaders whose dragons had participated in the Frenzy leading to this clutch. She knew they would be wanting to keep track of how many offspring might have come from their dragons, should they be able to tell. That first earlier Frenzy wasn’t as easy as the next, and this one would probably be easier. With the vastly different markings, little differences in the dragons from each Weyr, and such, they ought to be able to tell whose hatchling came from which egg.
That only left the task of recalling how long the sire held on to his mate, while flying her... And trying to determine that while having been IN that flight ... Baeris merely chuckled and thought to herself that if there was ever a time not to care about paperwork, today was it. She let the recordskeepers do their jobs. They would ask her later which dragonet was from whom, and she might be able to answer... But she also might not care. So long as they hatched healthy and came to a candidate in the end, that was all that truly mattered. Baeris felt younger than she had in years. She thought about her children, and that she would be having more, and wondered where they would be born. Baeris’ eyes misted over, in a strange starlit daze. It was over in a moment, but the memory lingered. Where would she be? Where would the dragons be going? Something touched Baeris’ mind, not too harshly, and reminded her that somewhere between lay their new destination. Another presence came flitting by, a dark anger of a presence, but then both faded.
Confused for a moment, Baeris then turned to the candidates as they entered the cavern. The room was filled to the brim with people – the dragons were politely leaving themselves outside and watching through the eyes of those remaining, and the eyes of their life mate.
The first on the scene were some of those who had remained from the last hatching, and from the Fool’s Day clutch. The ones who had chosen to remain on, standing again when they did not impress from the prior months. Brandon, Evril, Wetalen, Cingwen, Gak and Zeima strutted, slunk, scampered or danced in. Every one of them had a kind of electric bliss around them, now that they had the chance to stand before eggs instead of already-hatched dragons. With them, Lithya and Telanor came in. Telanor still had a royal black eye from the last time he’d been smacked senseless by someone – Baeris wondered if it had been someone else, since Lithya kept close to that odd pointy eared gent named Eadwyn. He came in following them shortly, keeping his ears tucked into his hair.
“You should just take it off,” Baeris said of his bandana. She glanced at Moonshadow’s, and raised her dark eyebrow at both of them. They both seemed to want to hide behind their masks, but here on the hatching sands, they would be opened to the world anyway. It was Eadwyn who removed his disguise first. Perhaps Lithya had something to do with that.
Moonshadow stood and carefully removed the beautifully painted leather headband, folded it onto his wrist and looked at Baeris. She nodded. “That’s better,” she said. “You’ll find your place among the dragons, I hope your wife approves.”
Moonshadow muttered something and Baeris suspected it was something very slightly derrogatory about Siltek being a pain to some of the poor riders they’d met earlier. A couple of them were in the stands, Ivo and Shezumi waiting to see if the fruits of their dragon’s maiting would please them. Green-white Tesimith claimed a large portion of the sands as hers, and it only made sense: Tesimith and Black-Bronze Zkoth had started the frenzy with a bang, and almost ended it that way too. In a way, Shezumi had ended it on a bizarre note, she was obviouly pregnant, and it seemed more than likely that it was NOT a human child.
Delly removed herself from Shezumi’s side, when Baeris beckoned her down from the stands. The red-haired gypsy had family in the stands as well as her friends – Ivo and Shezumi qualified as both, and she dearly hoped that she would be impressing from one of their dragon’s eggs.
A happy voice called out, “Popcorn! Get your popcorn!” And then was shortly followed by a giggling shriek. Illerion had brought literally a barrel full of the brightly white popped corn, and as soon as he heard the sound and smelled the scent of it, blue Striker lept off Baeris’ shoulder and dove into the barrel. Few people wanted to challenge him for the snack. Hope came from Mystic’s shoulder similarly, cheeping at the big unruly blue, until he came out of the barrel and they ‘assisted’ handing out small portions of popcorn to those attending.
Illerion took his place near the other candidates when Baeris waved him over. Behind him, Gaonatin bounded up, grabbed a double-handfull of popcorn and tried to talk, but fortunately for everyone he almost choked. Baeris patted him on the shoulder and nudged him on his way.
The candidates were wearing their normal clothing, but they had all also adopted a sort of red cloak over their shoulders. It half draped over them, but was obviously more comfortable than a thick white robe. All tradition had been tossed out the window for this Frenzy clutch, it seemed.
There were some people in the stands who would cheer for everyone as they passed, and there were obviously some people distinctly missing from the area who should have been there to see their children impress. Sephira had come a long way to be here, her blue flitter joining the others loudly in song. But she was silent. “You’ll impress, Sephira,” Said Baeris. “And your mother will know. You’ll be able to keep her in your heart always... Chin up.” Sephira set her eyes up to Baeris’ and smiled proudly.
Dark haired Zoltan seemed to be attracting attention to himself, almost dangerous attention. It looked like he, Telanor and Evril were all trying to show off to the girls... And at least one or two of those girls really wished they would stop. It also looked like Setaden wanted them to stop, it was making him look bad. He didn’t seem to like the hemming on his cloak, either, as he kept fiddling with it, the way he would fiddle with the long sleeves on his black tunic. Elrelad stood uncomfortably next to the older, shorter candidates, hoping he didn’t up an die. That embarrassing shedding incident was just the first in a string of odd things he managed to pull, and though he had things in common with several other candidates, the memories of that little revolting moment where all his skin simply sloughed off hung high in the minds of others. They gave him a slightly wider berth.
Nixfuzon’s strange sickly look across the stands told Baeris all she needed to know. The girl hadn’t actually gotten her parents permission to come, she’d just gone in and come back. Always the skittish girl, Baeris handled Nixy with tender words while she stayed at the Healing Den. Her visions had not abated, but there were many people there who had been able to help her get a grip on understanding them, on manipulating them... Some of those riders were up in the stands now, T’shen and even E’tan... Now why couldn’t he have attended his own son’s impression? Baeris pointed to them in the stands, and Nixfuzon finally offered a slight grin. At least people who understood her would be present. And the dragons accepted her the way she was.
Just like the others, Aescha and her brother Medelhn. Silent but not stupid, the older of the pair held his arm around his sister’s shoulders and helped her along the hot sands. Her limp was less pronounced when she was relaxed and among friends – but it had been a long hard journey to get her to admit that the people in the Healing Den were friends. So used to being drudges, both of them found it a surprise that Baeris insisted they learn to read and write properly while they waited for the eggs to harden.
Chatty Sedis came walking in with a grin a dragonlength wide, walking right in front of Tamira and Dashiva. The girl with the multi-colred hair attracted her own attention, but it was deep-brown skinned Saell who walked in wide-eyed that attracted the most. Her clothing had never quite blended in with the rest, but no one ever stopped her from wearing the beautiful snug outfits. Certainly not Ep’son up in the stands, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl he’d searched. Dark-haired and bubbly Lajoya joined the group of girls with a bounce to her stride, which continued to annoy Baeris.
Quiet Sarben came in behind them, next to a slightly too-skinny looking Denytton. They sought out the company of Setaden and even Elrelad, and muttered to one another about recordkeeping and inks, technology and why others couldn’t understand them.
With a bark to announce that their mistress was there, two canines off to the one side happily wagged their tails when they saw Cyrei come into the sands. It only took a single look from the herder to keep the canines from bounding toward her and licking her face. This was business, she seemed to say with her eyes. The dogs remained standing and wagging their tails happily, while the girl approached the clump of other female candidates.
Ren strode into the hatching sands like she owned the place. That was expected. She fully threw herself into the sands the first day she’d been allowed to touch the eggs, and it made sense. She would impress no matter what. What happened then, of course, Baeris laughed to herself, Ren had never really given any thought.
Baeris wondered if Neija was present. She searched for the few different looks that the girl could adopt. Not just her hair style, nor with makeup... Ah, there she was. Short haired, comfortably dressed, she seemed at home here. Where else, but with two other shapeshifters and otherworldly visitors?
Finally Anandiar came in, hesitating because he was still not entirely certain he belonged at a hatching. Yet, Magika convinced him, and she was there in the stands to cheer him on personally. It almost looked as if that honor would have humbled him, if it weren’t for the fact that the eggs were trembling and about to hatch!
At a moment’s notice, one of the smaller sized eggs burst up into the air and came crashing down. Inside it, something came roughly out, cutting a line through the pale violet color of the egg shell. With this weapon, a teal-colored spiral horn, a small lilac colored dragonet came out of her shell. When she opened her wings up, and stood her tail out on end, there were dark teal colored markings. A sort of flame pattern danced in teal and lilac across the edge of her wings, her feet, and tail tip. That single horn upon her forehead was significant to those who knew what dragons had flown. Kiraith, Corlath and Califath were the only dragons at the Frenzy who had horns, and it seemed that Corlath’s bright striped coloration carried in her offspring.
That dragon strode quickly up to the girls, sniffing up and down. They backed away from the dangerously sharp short horn. All but one of them.
“It was you,” Nixfuzon breathed. “It was your vision I saw in my mind when I got here... Soothing me...” Nixfuzon knelt down and wrapped her arms around the warm thick neck of the hatchling.
It was me. I seek you and now you are never going to endure alone. I promise that you do not frighten me, and you will not get hurt any more. Not from your visions. My name is Anzenth.
They were escorted from the sands as three shells began to shatter from different portions of the sands. The dragons had done a great job of keeping their eggs properly turned and warm the whole time, and kept from mixing them up too much. One of the eggs broke open to reveal a pale creamy colored face with a darker brown blaze upon his nose and head knobs, with speckles of brown over his creamy colored body. Jaluth’s rider Ep’son hooted loudly – there was no missing any offspring of his dragon’s! Next was another very pale cream colored dragon, but this one had beautiful sunset-bronzes on his wings and a kind of siamese-marking on his feet, tail and face. He bellowed loudly, and began the walk toward the boys. The speckled hatchling followed him, and they were joined by a third creamy-brown colored male. The other two males kind of steered clear of the third. It was painfully obvious that this was a Ryslen dragon hatchling, though the features were a bit oddly carried: his crest was sharper than normal, his tail longer and thinner, and he walked with a swagger that only the sunset-colored one could match. The trio of dragons came up to the boys and looked them over carefully.
The first brown-cream then turned away from the other two. As if he had better places to be. He arrived at the clump of girls and nosed his way through them. Burrowing through them, he reached Sephira.
You! Me! No one else! I am Dereyk, and we will stand bravely wherever we land! The dragon announced, and oddly it was as if he could speak to everyone present. His announced name took everyone by surprise. What did this mean? A dragon with a name that –
“Dereyk, you’re all I will ever need! Mama will be so proud of me!” Sephira cried, “Don’t you think?”
I know she is, Sephira, she told me so herself. We will see.
The other dragons continued their searching among the boys. By now, several of the braver lads had come forward, and looked at the pair of creamy bronzey colored dragons. Suddenly the sunset-shaded one burst over to Telanor and bellowed loudly.
I am Sampath! Come ride with me, and we will catch all the best females every time! With you and me together we cannot miss!
Telanor grinned so hard his black eye hurt. “Thanks Sampath, we will do that. But don’t you want to get something to eat first?”
The sharply Ryslen-born cream pranced up to Brandon, and gave off a beautiful trill. You are for me, and you don’t need any silly little puffball canine to join us. We’ll break hearts, we will... Though the dragon’s mental voice was distinctly male, there was a certain kind of femininity to it that made Brandon’s heart leap. I am sure you know my name, it is Nakamak.
“You’re already going to break that hussy’s heart you know,” Brandon lisped to the dragon. “You’re already such a beautiful shade of pale, I can’t believe it! And that behemoth of a bronze that I was trying for before had to apply his glitter... You certainly don’t!”
They swayed off the sands together.
In the short lull, Baeris began to hear whisperings of those oddly named dragons. What next? No one dared ask, especially since more eggs were breaking open. Another four of them, this time spinning closer to one another, came open around the same time. But how different each dragonet was! From one egg there was a brilliant flash of lavender, horns gracing the speckled white-purple hide of the dragon’s head. From another, a brilliant teal-green with a dark tint to her wings; from the third, a deep silvery-violet midnight blue. From the fourth, a white and red swirl-patterned one.
The blue wove his way around the others, as they picked off the bits of shell from their glossy hides. The darkness of this dragon’s skin was rivaled only by Vaoth’s, and it was very obvious that he was the sire. He came to Sarben, and looked up at the morgue keeper with a whirl of yellowy-red. I am hungry, Sarben. Will you show me to the food? I am Hinnith. And yes, it was a two-colored dragon you saw. Believe it. The dragon seemed to wink, and Sarben took the dragon’s advice and got him something to eat.
The deep teal green dragoness shook off her long wings, they dragged on the ground. She was strong enough to move to the girls, but it took effort to raise her wings off the ground. So by the time she reached Aescha, her apparent destination, her wings were stinging with burns from the sand.
I am Tsorninth, Aescha. But my wings hurt... Make it stop!
Aescha called out, “Tsorninth is injured! Her wings are so big they drag on the ground... Oh someone please help her...” She sobbed half with joy because this beautiful deeply colored dragon was her own, but also with the shared pain that the dragonet offered her.
Baeris nudged Saro out onto the sands, with numbweed and some cool water soaked rags to help the dragonet’s wings. Hesitating only a moment, Saro steeled herself and strode to the former drudge and her new dragon. There were tears in her eyes, Saro could barely see. But she dabbed the cloth across the wings of the green, and helped Aescha to the side of the sands. There she stood, as they went to find the rest and food they deserved. How long would this pain last....?
It does not have to last forever, Saroa, bespoke a dragon mind into Saro’s. She used her old name, the name which conjured pain and a life without what she’d striven to have forever. Saro spun and glared at the sands. The purple and white colored dragoness, horns adorning her head, walked carefully up to the healer.
I am Hiraeth. It is time for you to remember the joy. Do you want to share how much you loved Iphaeth with me? I think we can still feel him between. Come. I want to share with you. And I am hungry, did you know that?
“Oh – Hiraeth, I did know that... You’re starved... You must eat...” In a daze, Saro gripped her dragon – her second dragon’s neck and carefully felt along the violet belly. “You won’t die. You won’t die... I won’t let you.”
Nothing will part me from you, my friend.
Two more eggs opened before the white and red dragon made his choice. Both dragons which came from the shells had horns, yet they could easily be told apart. Both of them were quite red in tone, but again, were easily distinguished. The spots of white dotting the female red’s legs, neck and tail, and her pale pinkish wings, as well as her short, swept back curved horns, told her from her bigger, darker brown clutch mate. He had thin flame-red stripes along his legs, tail and wing edges, but his twin spiraled horns and paler golden-brown wings reminded everyone of Corlath. The colors on his wings seemed to dance with metallic reflections. The pair of dragons lifted themselves off the sand and began their searching while other eggs rolled about.
The pair of dragons both wound up at the male candidates. The smaller red put her muzzle into Medelhan’s hand, and hummed with her voice. Though you cannot speak, I know your name, M’ahn. I will be your voice if you wish it.
Through the connection that this wonderful spotted dragon gave him, the mute drudge finally burst out into a joyful exclamation. * Shibboleth! You are going to have a big job ahead of you, if you want to speak for me! I have so much to say! *
I know, the dragoness replied, as they left for the kitchen, I know you do.
Meanwhile, the other red-brown dragon paced around in front of the young men, and snuffed at some of them. Then, he rose up on his haunches and placed his nose right in front of Moonshadow’s nose. That is a very pretty stone. May I watch it?
“Bazuk, you’re kidding. It’s going to be there forever, just ... stop staring at it while other people are watching!” The shapeshifter said, carefully putting the dragon’s paws on the sand again, and when he knelt there with him, he felt it appropriate to add, “And you know what I am, don’t you. Siltek will probably be furious.”
But I do not want Siltek. I want to fly with you, and be your wings. She can come along if she is nice.
“That’ll be the day...” Someone in the stands muttered, somehow overhearing their supposedly-private conversation.
One tiny overlooked egg shook itself open, an egg which for all intents and purposes should have been more a flitter egg than anything else. Hardly bigger than an adult flitter anyway, Baeris watched this egg with interest now. It had been, she’d been told, squeezed out half as an afterthought by one of the mothers. When the yellowy pair of horns came from the egg first, people realized that it was one of those more rare non-local types. When the bright festivities of pink and white became apparent on the dragon’s skin, one of the candidates simply bolted to her side and blurted out a greeting.
Lajoya squealed with glee, “you’re so cute! I just want to pick you up and cuddle you!”
Then maybe you should! I need a hug! Sitting in that hot egg all this time made me really lonely. Now I’m not alone.
“Hey, Kukith, are you hungry?” Lajoya bounced, “I’m hungry too. Let’s have something to eat!”
Baeris noted the size of this dinky pink, and hoped to high heaven that the dragon would wind up being useful for SOMETHING, for she surely wasn’t going to be a fighting dragon by the looks of it. Maybe a currier. Or a map maker. That girl certainly knew her way around places, her one saving grace...
Several more of the eggs on the sands broke just then, revealing another violet-shaded horned dragon, a teal-black obviously of Tesimith’s clutch, and an amazing red and white candy-stripe-winged one. That was the first of the trio to step shakily toward the boys.
I think I need to eat. Wetalen, get me some food! The dragon called to the curious and usually-confused Wetalen. It looked like a male dragon, weren’t the brown ones male? Yet the voice that spoke to Wetalen was distinctly female. Husky, but feminine. He looked across the sands to the girls, found Cingwen’s eyes. They were almost apologetic – to his own, ecstatic perhaps? Was he doing this right? Had he just impressed?
You won’t impress me by staring at that friend of yours! Feed me! I am Khauduk, and I am hungry!
“Okay, okay, we can get the food, the kitchen’s right here...” Wetalen said, and he was right, he’d been there sneaking through the sands so many times prior to the hatching he knew just where everything down there would be.
You have pointy ears, bespoke the violet blue dragon. Eadwyn found himself looking down at the slowly whirling eyes, and smiled slightly.
“Yes indeed I do. But you have pointy horns, Vladmirth. So I suppose we are even.” Eadwyn held on to one of those dark blue curved horns, and cast a glance back toward Lithya. She clapped happily for him as he impressed. Then, she herself turned to look at the teal-black with the huge curved wings that sat in front of her.
Surely you were not going to ignore me all this time, Lithya. The black-teal female bespoke, an air of haughty arrogance on her mind.
“Never,” whispered Lithya. “And I’m so glad you’re female...”
What else would I be? I am sure that if I were male I would not be so perfect. I am Buszketh. I want to see that pretty purple male who just walked out of here with yours. Come along.
Laughing, Lithya slowed her dragon down by pulling on her very long tail.
The white-red dragon hatched a while back sat at the edge of the sand, watching. He seemed intent on watching the proceedings like the others in attendance, rather than participating. And what with all the dragons actually finding their partners, it seemed, he’d been left to do just that.
Another batch of eggs broke, while Baeris was busy helping identify the dragons’ sire and dam for the recordskeepers. While she did so, she felt another brush of odd emotions. Stale harsh thoughts mixed with brightly hopeful ones. It was very hot in the hatching sands, perhaps that was it.
Two greens and a large golden white broke shell, then a speckled white-blue, then a darkly violet-blue. The golden white one screeched loudly, making the greens wince. One of the greens was very pale, a minty color. But her wings were very deeply forest green underneath, and her nose and wing edges were specked with white. She wobbled her way towards Tamira, and in a beseeching tone asked, will you show me where you live? I want a warm place. What is that on your shoulder? I am Hakkath.
“That... That’s little Manilla. He was my birthing day gift! But oh—you’re such a great gift too!”
The other green stood slowly and extended her sharp wings. While she resembled a normal looking dragon, she did have two spiral horns distinguishing her as one of Corlath’s young. However the expected stripes were not quite like anyone had ever seen. On the undersides of her wings, there was a pattern design, a straight-line design which only one person in the whole area recognized right off.
“Inputh!” Called out Dytto, “you’re beautiful! I didn’t think anything like you could ever come from an egg!” The strange half-starved self-styled computer expert dove toward the green and she looked up in time to be bowled over. The normally sedate Dytto was quite exuberant at the discovery of her lovely circuit-board style patterns.
Thank you. I think. And yes, you have my name right. No errors. But I ... need input myself. The kind you eat. And you should eat too. Everyone thinks you are too thin.
Dytto shrugged and helped the little dragoness off the sands, careful of her horns.
The little white-gold queen shrieked again, calling attention to herself, but while the girls came around to gawk at her, she did not look any of them in the eye. None of them were passing muster it seemed. Her pale blue sea-foam colored clutch mate however had tumbled himself over to Gaonatin and chirped expectantly.
Well? You’re here, I’m here, and you keep thinking of that song. Let’s sing it together! I’m impressed and you’re not! I’m impressed and you’re not! The little blue seemed to be aiming these loud words at the gold-white, who glared at him from around some of the girls.
G’nat shortly joined him in his annoying little song. “I impressed Impatienth and you didn’t!”
Baeris looked at Dulath, who sat with her greeny-golden head low. That is one of your children, is it not?
I cannot choose the riders which my children want, my friend. Dulath bespoke, with a roll of orange through her pleased green eyes.
He will NEVER let us forget that, Dulath! Baeris mentally groaned.
The dark violet-blue was obviously not of Dulath’s brood, and could easily be identified as one of Alendreth’s offspring. But was it male or female? He proved that he was male, when he dried his wings and bellowed, walked over to Neija and chose her with a croon.
I like you this way. But you can show me what you look like when you are playing, can’t you? I do not think I can change, but I will remember you even though you look different every time. My name is Valasztanith.
“Valasztanith!” Neija chuckled, “thank you for choosing me!”
Three more eggs broke, two of them directly next to one another on the sands. They were clearly siblings, by their silvery-violet shading and tall neck crests. Even though they were barely out of their eggs (and one was huge, nearly twice the size of the other) their neck crests stood tall without drooping. The third which hatched was darkly blue-black, and when he stood up on his hind legs, everyone had a flashback to the water-clutch. But this dragon’s wings were normal, he merely chose to stand upon two legs. In fact, he balanced himself quite well as he ambled over to the girls.
“Now that’s what I call a sure dragon!” Saell cheered to the blue-black. He put his sharp nose over hers, and then nudged her into the sand with a little wave of his nose. She clung to the dragon and righted herself. “Jishinth, you’re already walking. Now don’t let that go to your head. Even I know that dragons can’t fly when they’re little so don’t you go trying. Unless you think you’re going to do that too?”
Baeris leaned over to Mystic, and muttered, “he might just do that, his sire and his sibling did it their first day out of their shells...” She thought back to the brave and wonderful Vaoth, as he blinked between, and to Teth with the gigantic orange-colored wings catching air shortly after getting dry.
The two violet-silver dragons chuffed at one another, and then headed toward different ends of the sands. No one could really tell at first glance with these two dragons, if they were male or female, or one of each. Though, it seemed that the one creeping around nearer the ground toward the boys had a mischievous gleam in his eye when he pounced on Evril. Very catlike, the dragon sat up and announced You are mine! And I am Padak. We must see about food and you will show me all the beautiful women you know. Will they like me?
“Oh,” Evril said with a nasty grin, “I know they will!”
The huge silver-black violet colored dragon left toward the girls turned her head away half of them, but then nudged up to Delly. I am Chalak. You have such interesting friends. I want to see them... But we can avoid my dear brother Padak for a while, can’t we? He’s going to be a pain, I can tell.
“Especially with Evril as his rider,” Delly muttered. “See Shezumi? Now we can go find father!”
The dragon-woman in the stands nodded sagely, with a broad grin on her lips.
The white-red dragon still had not found a bond. He was joined grudgingly by the white-gold, and they sat together watching. But the red-swirled one remained quite calm and sedate, as his clutch mate continued to squawk occasionally.
Five eggs shattered and let their hatchlings out onto the hot sands. They creeled angrily, but did their best to get themselves on their feet and strode over to look at the candidates. One held back, a deep brown-black colored male. The pale winged green which had yellowy-gold on her face, tail and feet didn’t hesitate at all. She nosed her way through the remnants of the early hatched eggs, carefully lifting her feet over the shards. Finally she stomped on one mostly hidden shell, and it made her yelp in pain.
Sedis! Get over here and help me! Can’t you see I’m in pain?
The weyrbred girl with the Holder’s daughter attitude gulped, and her blue eyes got wide. “...Tabinath? I’m sorry – right away! Healer?! My dragon is hurt!” Sedis at last put something else before herself, met her match in this marked green-gold. One of Baeris’ apprentices scurried out to show Sedis how to lift the dragon’s paw and examine it, while the other two bumped into one another on their way towards the boys.
The deepest blue with the Ryslen-crest swaggered almost drunkenly toward Gak. The boy had had to leave his eyepatch and other piratey accessories in his den, when the call went out. But he thought the red cape over his shoulder did a good job of substituting. He gazed at the deep midnight-ocean colored dragon, who was gangly but pretty tall, and grinned widely.
“I done it! I impressed a fine sea-worthy dragon!” Gak exclaimed. “His name is Tengerk! Look at how he shines like the depths o’ the sea! Arr!!”
The dragon immitated him, producing a bellow sounding quite a bit like ‘b’ggggrrrrrr!’ They lovingly swayed off the sands, into their future.
While the paler colored white-brown hatchling sniffed around at the air for something, the much darker one barked a command at someone on the sands. When no one came forward, he barked again, loudly.
You are stalling! I know everyone can see you! You’re my life mate! Come along and help me over here! Anandiar, you do not know how easy it will be to do what you will, with my help...
“D—Doroboth?” Asked Anandiar. “You asked for me? You really want me?”
Don’t say it! Don’t say any more, just come over here and help me. My tail is caught, and I’m not able to free it. The dark mottled dragon was right, his long tail had wedged between two still-full shells, and they had rolled together, blocking the large hatchling from pulling himself free. Anandiar went to his side, and pushed on one of the big eggs. Once free, the dark dragon turned and set his big wings over Anandiar’s shoulders, so they could talk in private. Within the sheltered darkness of the dragon’s wings, Anandiar grinned.
“I can say it now, you’re going to help me stay a thief, aren’t you?”
If it is what you want. If you want to become something new, we can do that too. I will be big and strong, you know. We can do anything. No one will ignore you if you want to be seen and heard now.
They left the sands, both holding their head high and Doroboth with a bit of a crook in his tail (so to speak!).
An incredible white with reddish feet, nose tail and wingtips shook the sand off his blue-tinted wings. He’d been half buried in the chaos of hatching, almost run over by the herd of other hatchlings.
How rude! He bespoke to Elrelad. How very rude! Don’t they know that my skin is very sensitive? It could get burned under this hot sand!
“I agree, Napzurath! It’s so very warm in here... and I’ve been in the sun far too often for my taste... Let’s go cool off inside the bathing chambers, shall we?”
After you feed me. I must keep up my strength! So Elrelad impressed with a grin on his face and hardly an incident to show for it!
When the paler brown had settled on a direction, it was by sniffing in the air rather comically. He nosed his way around the candidates, past Cyrei’s barking canine, and over to the edge of the sands, where the barrel of popcorn still sat, mostly empty. Without pause, the dragon put his face into the barrel, knocking it over, and spilling the last of the corn out. His brown tipped pale cream wings fluttered up, and his dark tipped tail flashed into the air behind him. This stuff is good but you could probably put something sweeter on it... Sweet and salty, that would be great...
“Well... I thought it was pretty good just the way it was, Kukoricath, but if you think that something sweet would be better... Hmn... Maybe I could try putting some melted sugar on it... It’d be sticky all right, but...” Illerion muttered to himself as the popcorn-colored dragon and he went to get some real food. He could hardly live on popcorn, now could he?
A short lull, filled with laughter and relieved talking, went next. Everyone could smell the scents of the eggs broken open, it was an odd smell, but one which every Weyr got used to quickly. The more pleasant mouth-watering smell of baking bread also came through the area, and it was certain that the hatching and the feast would be perfectly timed. Now if only those last bunches of eggs would open up! Baeris knew full well that there were eggs on the sands which would not hatch. Some had gone cold almost immediately, and their dams would simply ignore them when turning the healthy ones. And even though the healer made her living knowing how to save half-dead dragons, she knew better than to try and save one which was never alive at all.
It was certainly not one of those small, cold eggs which shook first, when the lull was broken. A long egg with a pinkish tint to it rolled on its end, and as it tipped over, it opened up at the top. A tall sharp pinkish-silver crest came out first, followed by white-violet paws. A beautiful and long-winged violet-white shaded hatchling emerged fully and stretched herself out carefully before looking toward the girls. She knew where she wanted to be, and everyone else knew it too.
I like that song in your mind. Sing it for me, will you? The dragoness bespoke Ren.
The redheaded girl gulped and then smiled widely. “It’s my life?” Ren asked, “Camkanak, you and I can sing that any time...”
Then now! It’s now or never!
Laughing, Ren escorted her pale silvery-violet dragoness off the sands while humming a tune no one had heard before.
It was when one of the larger, but obviously lifeless, eggs began to wobble of its own accord, that Baeris and everyone else took note. Something very queer was happening, and though everyone was excited about all the hatchlings so far, even Baeris felt something was very wrong. “This shouldn’t happen,” she breathed, but there were already those who were cheering the egg on. Only the candidates, locals and Baeris’ personal attendants – and the dragons – knew certain eggs were dead. The audience members had no idea.
When a ghost-pale almost transparent colored opalescent dragon came writhing out of the shell, it was immediately followed by a hush. While it was easily possible to get colors similar to it on these sands, it was not all that usual to see the sticky black-green thing which followed it.
That blackness turned its head away from the light dragon nearby it, and scanned around. There were two apparently alive dragons from that one single huge egg. One brightly shimmering in the light of the hatching sands, and the other... seemingly able to suck down light into itself and turn it dark. The dark one paced away. The bright one looked directly at Baeris.
She has been here. I will wait. They will come again. The dragoness bespoke. With a shudder, Baeris knew what she was talking about.
We have room, bespoke the black one. It was male, surely. As opposite from the pale opal shaded dragoness as he could be, obsidian with grit of gold, ruby and sapphire within the grain of his hide.
When everyone else felt the presence of the ghosts who had been haunting the area, it fell almost completely silent. Only the dragons already impressed and their bonds, who were mostly out in the kitchens and beyond, getting their dragons first meal into their bellies, were still apt to ignore the sands and the silence on them.
Iendae manifested herself. The dead girl, the very brave girl whose body had been stolen, brutalized and used, appeared on the sands near the pale dragon. “I can only maintain this shape for so long, my dear friend.”
I know. Truth is my name. Death is my brother. And you know what must happen now.
“I cannot! I can’t – do what she did!”
But it is our job! It is our service to you, you have impressed me, and I will accept you inside my mind. Come within. Guide me, and I will fly with you. Be happy with me.
The dragoness put her glimmering nose toward Iendae’s half-wavering form, and when they touched, the ghost vanished. There were pale tendrils of essence which draped themselves into the dragon’s eyes, mouth and nostrils, and the dragon seemed to breathe in deeply. Taking Iendae with the air, into her mind and body.
Iendae settled inside, the warmth of the body was welcoming and secure. It was a new thing, taking over someone else. It was not new to her rival and former friend Ellaein. “This is what she did to me,” Iendae spoke through the dragon, whose voice suddenly cleared as if it were human. But I am still here with you, my friend. I will always be here with you. You do not need to worry about me vanishing or turning on you. You will not harm me. Truth spoke broadly, for the benefit of all to understand.
While everyone was reeling from that shock, Ellaein had apparently stolen into the area, breezed past Baeris to run her ghostly hand past her raven-haired head – the passage drew out a scream before Baeris settled, and her hair had run with a pale white streak through it. T'shen in the audience stood with wide eyes, and mentally informed E'tan to calm the healer. She was near-frantic, and that would not do. Within moments, E'tan had settled Baeris, without her knowing.
The dark dragon beyond widened his mouth and almost literally swallowed whole this monstrous green-guck which manifested itself in the air moments before enveloping the dragon’s head. He gave off a bellow, a shriek, but it was not of grief or loss, it was of triumph.
The newly hatched black dragon bellowed again, eyes whirling red and orange. Spreading his wings wide, he flapped hard, growled once more, and vanished between.
Iendae and Truth gazed at the place where they had been, and Iendae whispered, “we know they’ll be back. We will be waiting.”
Everyone sat nervously watching as the pale dragon – without a visible rider near her – walked herself to the kitchens for her first meal. No one wanted to know where the black had gone, but he would be requiring food of course.
With trembling hands, Baeris helped note down that it was in fact one of Aerinhath’s beautiful offspring that lived – the other so far as she was concerned was Death itself and had never lived at all.
There were but a handful of moving eggs on the sands now. There were still a number of candidates left, and when two eggs bounded open they spilled out two much more normal dragons than had just come out. A pretty pale brown shaded one, and a bright violet-red one. The brown shook off the sand from his head, as he had nosedived into the pile of sand near him before standing.
Look at all the eggs we’ve missed! Where are the dragons! I want to see the girls, Zoltan, get me to them! Z’tan! I want to see them!
Zoltan, now Z’tan, laughed and helped the smallish brown off the sands, “Plerusqueth, I’d be more than happy to do that! I think we’re going to have a great time!”
With no headknobs nor neck spines, it was certain that this violet-pink colored dragoness who approached Dashiva timidly was of one of the Istabitha’s dragons. Her blue whirling eyes met up with Dashiva’s, and she bespoke.
I like your hair, I wish I had some so it would be all colorful!
“But Loklynth, you’re colorful enough as it is!” Dashiva chimed, laughing loudly.
The last five eggs broke nearly at once, some of them shattering quickly, others being pried open from within. It was one of those carefully opened ones which revealed a blue head. Without knobs, like the last one, he was obviously from the same Istabithan stock. It was when his wings and body came out, that everyone gasped. Whiter than snow, his body and most of his wings were pale, but the tips of the wings were shaded with a blood-red color. He crept from the egg, and the tail of this odd dragon was blue like his head.
You have a good reason to be stared at, now, S’en. I am Ujjth, and you are fiddling with your sleeves again. Come do something new. Cut me up some meat. I want food.
“Oooi-yith?” Setaden said, pronouncing the odd name. “Okay okay. I’m coming. Wait up. I know you’re hungry, I’ve been feeling it all morning... You’re making me dizzy.”
About this time, a stranger appeared at the edge of the hatching sands. Very few people noticed her, but the canines belonging to Cyrei began barking loudly. It took more than a little effort by the people around the poor beasts to calm him, as this odd girl came walking in, almost totally passively. Her brown skin seemed oddly furry, and her round ears stood out from her head. She looked around herself, but since this was a hatching no one was refused entry. Anyone might prove to be the right partner for one of the many eggs here.
Several of the dragons had come back from their first meal, and were lined up along the kitchen wall with their newfound partners. All watched as the trio of girls left waiting began to realize their situation. Zeima was nervously looking at the gold-white and muttering to herself. Cingwen grumbled about her friend being with his own dragon and she being left without, and Cyrei continued to glare at her dogs in case they were apt to start barking for no apparent reason again.
Am I blue enough for you? Asked a dragon to Cingwen. She perked up, wondering where the voice had come from. It was a whispery voice, and she finally located the source. A good sized and very sturdy looking blue stood. His wings and hide were mottled with pale blue and white, while under his wings and his crest showed a darker starlit blue. He was entirely too pretty to ignore.
“You... You’re just right. You’ll definitely do. I came here for a blue, and that’s what I’ve got! Keik, let’s clean you up and get off these sands!” They did so, to the applause of the crowd. There were several dragons, and only a few candidates left upon the sands. No one wanted to guess what was going to happen if those off to the sides did not find a bond. The pair, white red and white gold, were joined by an oddly combined brown and blue dragon. He had solid, strong looking wings. His body was browns, and the undersides of his wings blended to an almost sunset yellow shade. But above, his wing flaps were entirely denim-blue dashed with sky. He quietly took his place beside the other two. The queen had stopped making much noise, though she still looked angrily on at the candidates left, as well as the occasional pass of her red-orange gaze at the audience. The white-red dragon looked a little bit more interested, for some reason, than he had half an hour before.
One of the last small greens, a minty teal colored dragoness with white marked wings came striding up to Cyrei. She was busy with silencing her dogs again, admonishing them from the edge of the sands. Why were they so uppity right now? Just had to be annoying right when –
Right when what? I am Shikith and I like how you tell those furry things to be silent. I think they are angry because of the cat-girl.
“... Cat... girl? What cat girl? Shikith, huh?” Cyrei suddenly realized that she had an answer for her dragon right away, that the dogs were barking right in the middle of her own impression! She chose to ignore that, and called the dogs to her side once she and Shikith got to the feeding area. They hesitated, growled at everything along the way, until they reached their mistress and her pretty new friend. Then, of course, with the introduction of fresh-cut meat, they liked everything in the world again.
There was supposed to be one dragon left. But in the confusion of the dogs and the impressions, somewhere, she’d simply up and vanished, or at least that was how it looked to the last candidate left. Zeima took her trembling hand and placed it on her forehead. “I feel sick. I can’t have this. I’m left standing again. This is not right. I’ll never forgive you for this...” Though who ‘you’ referred to was up in the air. Zeima stomped her foot and then winced. “This place is so hot. It’s unforgivable. It’s too much for me. It wasn’t bad enough being in that dark awful den with the abandoned dragons but this is... oh! Too much!” Finally at her wits end, Zeima strode across the shard-laden sands to confront the golden-white queen who still had her nose in the air over the lack of proper candidates.
“You! I can’t believe you! I’m supposed to be your best partner, your mate for life, your rider! Don’t get all snooty at me! Look at me! I’m perfect for you!” The petite little princess bellowed.
Then from behind her, a snorting sound and a breath of warm air across her back moved Zeima’s hair. She spun, thinking it was one of the dangerous mother dragons, there to swat her off the sands. Surely she would fight back! But instead, what greeted her were two shining whirling eyes of russet, worried eyes. They were set in a pale golden-speckled green hide, and the feet of this pretty little dragonet were dark green. The wing tips were dappled with more sunglow-orange and gold.
You do not want her. She’s not fit for you. Only I am. I am your perfect match. I got lost over there, those egg shells are really big, do you know that? And I’ve got such warm feet now. My name is Patlak, and I am just waiting for you to give me a nice long cool bath. We both deserve it.
With a delighted whimper, Zeima realized that her true calling was not to that big white-gold queen, but this small delicate wonder before her. They exited the sands with less of the huff and puff that anyone expected. She’d finally impressed. Thank goodness.
But there were still three dragons sitting off to the side. None of them had made the slightest move toward the stands, which would have been normal for a hatching which had too few candidates. Even among the drudges there could be an impression made. But today, it seemed, that was not going to be the case.
It wasn’t over quite yet, though. The white and red marked male stood and walked carefully over to the edge of the sands. There, he butted his rounded head against the strange girl who had showed up late. Her long tail grazed the sand, and her odd slitted eyes looked over this white dragon with only vague interest.
I will come with you, to your destination, if you wish. I would like to see it. Your mind is filled with things that no one else here knows. Stars and charts and many strange people. Will you allow me to accompany you?
“I would. I am Auroura. What is your name?” She asked. Baeris was busily helping record this. It looked like that girl was less human than even Ivo and Shezumi, Moonshadow or his ilk.
I am Citak. It is settled then. I will go. Feed me first. I have been waiting since the start of the hatching.
They simply walked toward the kitchens, calmly both of them. There was such little emotion shown by either of them, that everyone wondered if this was a true impression, or if perhaps it was merely a partnership?
E’tan had been moving down through the stands during this whole part of the hatching, and finally reached Baeris’ side. “Are you going to keep this?” He asked, holding a piece of her now-white hair. The strands had been bleached as white as, well, as a ghost. Baeris almost snarled at the thought, but couldn’t help shuddering again, with the memory of that chilling touch. E'tan resisted the urge to make her forget the incident. Shard was watching, and he always insisted on the proper respect for their Healer.
“I will, if anything as a reminder of all this. Now what?” Baeris turned to see E’tan with his eyes closed. Something was going on, in that blond-haired head of his.
Then, almost as abruptly as they had come in, many visitors began packing up and getting ready to leave. Just like that. Just as E’tan wished. As the rest of the stands began to clear, Baeris’ thoughts turned to the pair of dragons left standing alone. They continued to look around them, but even the queen now had calmed herself. She was the one to stand and look for Baeris.
I am called Mizan. My companion is Mazeru. Did you know that we are no longer where we were when we started?
Baeris took a deep breath. She gulped and hoped that the dragon didn’t start a panic. She didn’t seem to notice then, that practically no one was even acknowledging their presence. “I do know. But I don’t think now is a good time to talk about that.”
It will be done soon. We will be fixed in a place and time outside of here and now. Dulath has shown her son how to navigate, and she will show me soon as well.
“Dulath?” Baeris looked to her golden-green dragon. She looked at the two-colored male, and realized that yes, it would be her offspring with that split end on his tail. “Go on.”
We will assist you in any way we can. But we will not take a human partner. We do not have need for that.
“See! I told you!” Shezumi exclaimed, apparently being privy to the conversation. Her shout came while many people were getting out of the room, it was swallowed up by the slow shuffle of feet and exchanges of bets won or lost. That was a good thing.
“But if we aren’t where we were, how are they all getting back to where they belong?” Baeris asked, “And how do you know all this? You’ve only just hatched.”
We have been waiting for these moments since we were concieved, replied Mazeru. His voice was dark, smooth and satiny. We will make sure everyone gets back safely. After that, and after those other eggs are given to the world, we will no longer reside upon this planet or any other. We will be between.
“E’tan,” Baeris groaned, “tried to explain this to me. I’m a healer, not a ... not a world-skipper.”
“Genre-hopper,” Shard corrected her, and Baeris certainly was glad that he was there. He made no sense, but he was there.
“Whatever,” Baeris chuckled. “It’s just not me. I don’t do that sort of thing. I stay here and tend the wounded and breed special dragons.”
“Yes you do,” E’tan said, with his voice a purr. “You just don’t realize it yet. You haven’t met yourself recently. But you’re out there all right.”
Shard poked E’tan on the shoulder, with a long fingernail. “E’tan, just shut up and let her take care of the dragons.”
He indicated that the rest of the attendees were being taken care of, escorted to their weyrs or holds or craft halls as usual. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on at all, so far as they knew. Only those few who had impressed a dragon not like the others – those with the new names it seemed – were really able to understand that they had changed locales.
“E’tan will take care of their memories,” Shard said. “And that will be that. They will know where they came from, but they won’t need to worry about it not being there any more.”
The hatching was over, Mystic, Magika and Baeris and some other weyrleaders came together to greet one another yet again, before splitting up to their various places.
Looking out on the sands, the huge number of broken shells dotting the small dune, and all the tracks... Baeris stifled a sob. This had been the most spectacular thing ever to happen in the history of the world.
And the world would never remember it.
Baeris drew in another long shaky breath, put her white-streaked hair back over her shoulder, and strode carefully back into the main hall to perform her duties as a good ... weyrwoman (no more) would do. What would she be called? The Den mother? She almost laughed at that, and was in a slightly better mood when she finally left the sands. Dulath attended to Mizan and Mazeru, finding a drudge to bring food and water to them.
The sky turned dark, for another moment... Then brightened again with the sun over Pern shining down. It was now only a matter of time before that sun never shone on it again.
Congratulations to the new riders!
Zeima on Gold Green White Patlak (hindi- delicate, frail), Twiseath/Jaluth
no one on Gold-White Mizan (japanese – balanced), Aerinhath/Medyatith
Iendae within Opal White Truth, Aerinhath/Erachenth
Ellaein within Opal Black Death, Aerinhath/Erachenth
Telanor on Cream-Bronze marked Sampath (hindi? – lightning), Creesath/Sploth
Zoltan on White-Brown Plerusqueth (latin – multiple), Aerinhath/Medyatith
Illerion on White-Brown Kukoricath (hungarian – corn), Creesath/Sploth
Sephira on Cream-Brown marked Dereyk (hungarian – brave), Lanayth/Jaluth
Anandiar on Black-Brown Doroboth (japanese – thief), Twiseath/Zkoth
Brandon on Cream Nakamak (japanese – companion), Tesimith/Zkoth
Moonshadow on Red-Brown Marked Bazuk (hindi – winged), Corlath/Dhumdhuanath
no one on Brown-Blue Mazeru (japanese – to mix, mingle), Dulath/Minicioth
Cingwen on Blue marked Keik (hungarian – blue, pronounced “cake”), Creesath/Minicioth
Saell on Teal Black Blue Jishinth (japanese – self-reliant), Dulath/Vaoth
G’nat on Blue Marked Impatienth, Dulath/Vaoth
Gak on Black Blue Tengerk (japanese – sea/ocean), Tesimith/Zkoth
Sarben on Black-Silver Blue Hinnith (hungarian – belief), Zaraith/Vaoth
Dytto on Circuit-Yellow Green Inputh, Corlath/Reeazonith
Sedis on Green-Gold-White Tabinath, Creesath/Sploth
Aescha on Dark Green-Teal Tsorninth, Dulath/Vaoth
Lithya on Black-Teal Buszketh (hungarian – pride), Tesimith/Zkoth
Cyrei on White-Green-Teal Shikith (japanese – command), Tesimith/Zkoth
Tamira on White-Green-White Hakkath (japanese – mint), Twiseath/Jaluth
Nixfuzon on Teal-Lavender Marked Anzenth (female, japanese – safety), Corlath/Reeaz
Saro on Lavender-Purple Hiraeth (female, welsh – inexpressable sorrow), Kiriath/Reeaz
Eadwyn on Violet-Blue Vladmirth (male), Kiraith/Reeazonith
Lajoya on Pink Kukith (female, japanese – air/atmosphere, hee, “airhead”), Kiraith/Reeaz
Ren on Silver-White-Violet Camkanak (female, hindi – to cause shining), Tesimith/Alendreth
Dashiva on White-Violet Loklynth (female), Tinoth/Razelth
Delly on Silver-Black-Violet Chalak (female, hindi – overflowing, deception), Zaraith/Alendreth
Evril on Silver-Purple Padak (male, hindi – an award, a “notch on his belt”), Zaraith/Alendreth
Neija on Violet-Blue Valasztanith (male, hungarian – to choose), Zaraith/Alendreth
Elrelad on White-Blue-Red Napzurath (hungarian – sunstroke), Tinoth/Razelth
S’en on White-Red-Blue Ujjth (hungarian – sleeve, pronounced ooi-yith), Tinoth/Razelth
Auroura on White-Red Marked Citak (hindi – funeral pyre), Lanayth/Dhumdhuanath
Medelhan on Red-White marked Shibboleth (female), Lanayth/Califath
Wetalen on Red-White marked Khauduk (female, hindi – voracious, heh, pronounced “cow-duck!”), Tinoth/Califath
RE-READ the Frenzy?
