Acarien did not answer, but yawned and rubbed her eyes. She shifted her feet uncomfortably; the hot sands were more than enough to keep her awake.
As the first egg cracked in two, she glanced warily at the dragonknight sent to oversee the hatching. Tenken looked even less happy about being woken up than the candidates.
The first dragon to hatch was a blue, and he and his rider were instructed to get food out for the rest of the hungry hatchlings.
Next came a starry purple and a normal bronze. Both bonded quickly, spurred on by Tenken's impatience. The candidates were then told to stay on the sands after they bonded, in case there would be some double bondings.
The next egg to hatch revealed a dainty, mint green dragoness. She hurried over to her bond, then another creamy-yellowish colored dragon hatched, and at Tenken's insistence, bonded quickly and with little fuss.
A red, a yellow, and a blue dragon all hatched and bonded to three young men. After that was a sturdy brown, also bonding to a male.
Acarien's attention was caught as two spectacular dragons emerged, one a rainbow-white dragoness, the other a dark blue and silver male. She watched the female wistfully until she had chosen her bond, and two more dragons had hatched.
A speckled purple dragon hatched, followed by a small and dainty green. The purple bonded first, but Acarien's eyes were drawn to the green dragon. She approached the female candidates, and stopped in front of Acarien. Hi, She heard a shy voice say. My name's Ytaia, what's yours?
Acarien laughed and hugged the green to her. "I'm Acarien, Ytaia."
Ytaia crooned happily. I like you, Acarien. I think we'll get along fine.
"Me too, Ytaia." Acarien whispered. "Me too."
