Therbre and Yoshi
What's happened before? ... Back to the Candidacy page?
Ther and Yoshi were taken to Ryslen for Bree's gold flight. Usodorith's flight was interrupted by a brown coming in through the Nexus, Utainth. Fought off by one of the bronzes in the flight, Utainth was injured and ostensibly driven away.
Several weeks later, Therbre and Yoshi locate Utainth's rider, E'tan, and help him recover, while they learn from him about a horrible plot to destroy who-knows-how many dragons or riders. A plot perpetrated by his insane and cross-dimensional son, Renaud.
As the weeks went by, Yoshi and Therbre studied and worked on plans for their eventual 'battle'. They kept everything from Bree, though it was difficult. She seemed to suspect something, but attributed their responses to being giddy as candidates would be. They interpreted her snippy attitude to Usodorith's moody post on the sands. Both were right.
They were to be called Novos at Ryslen, but both Therbre and Yoshi knew they should just call themselves candidates. They weren't entirely comfortable with some of the other novos, though many of those weren't going to stand at the highly traditional queen's clutch.
And finally, they were called to the sands. The brilliant red sands, such a contrast from the snowy and bitter cold landscape outside. Neither young woman was used to such cold, Therbre because her Eden's Gate home was in the warm desert area, and Yoshi because Paniya was sub-tropical. With chattering teeth, the girls found their way to the sands, donning the half-way traditional white vests, and thanking them for being a tad bit warmer than nothing.
There were quite a few people around, almost all the normal people attending stood on the warm sands hugging their arms to their shivering bodies. They milled about in a wide circle, around the scattered eggs. Usodorith had moved them around - Bree had told her sister and neice that Uso's preferences were to arrange them one way then another, then complain that the first had been better.
But the golden queen also held between her strong arms a special egg that had a glimmering tint to it that the others lacked. She was guarding another queen.
With a bit of excitement, both Yoshi and Therbre dared to wonder - would it be them? Would they bond this beautiful queen's high ranking daughter? Or bond at all?
The shaking eggs seemed to move in time with the loud humming of the dragons around the cavern. From the first to break came a dark, sizable green! It seemed like the audience's reaction wasn't to expect such a thing. They wanted a brown at least! But...
The green was as big as a brown, surely. She was also as confident as her mother, walking toward the ring of novos. She didn't do much careful examining, rather she glanced over everyone and then spotted Yoshi.
Yoshi, my name is Verausth.
"I know!" Yoshi breathed, her eyes brimming with tears. She'd been raised among dragons, ridden them frequently, even touched their minds regularly. But this was the most special mind of all. The one belonging to her very own soulmate. Verausth.
Bree nudged her husband, "see, the first one's chosen my neice. How cool is that?"
There were more than a dozen hatchlings tumbling out of their shells - including the gold in the middle of the longish hatching. She impressed to a girl that Therbre thought truly deserved her. More eggs broke and dragonets paired off. Therbre wondered... Maybe not this time. Maybe it won't be until later.
But then, when most of the audience had settled their bets and there was but one small egg trembling on the sands, that egg broke. Slowly a dainty undersized green crept out, and landed on the warm sand. She hardly moved, but she was breathing just fine.
I am Ieanitegeth, and I am tired! She spoke to Therbre and she alone.
Therbre walked up careful of the broken shell fragments that lay hard and sharp everywhere. "We'll have you rested up in no time at all."