Oliavia was awoken late at night by a rumbling humming noise. Frowning, she stood up and looked outside to see what was going on. "Hurry and get your candidate robe on, the clutch is hatching!" One of the other female candidates yelled to her as she joined the throng of spectators to the hatching grounds.
Oliavia gasped and dashed back into her room, pulling the white robe on before racing back out.
Four dragons had already hatched, and a brown, two greens, and a blue all looked on impatiently as they searched for their chosens. The first green bonded to a young, purple-haired woman, and the brown bonded a half-horselike creature.
The second green and blue watched as two more eggs cracked, and Oliavia watched with them. One revealed a brown, who refused to bond right away, and the other yeilded twin greens. Oliavia smiled at the sight of the squabbling greens, who quickly bonded to their chosen girls.
A dark green bonded to a young man, who simply sat down in the sand with his young dragon to watch the rest of hatching as the blue and brown decided not to bond.
Two more eggs hatched, spilling a pale blue dragon and a green onto the scalding sand. The green slipped, and landed at the feet of her rider, and the pale blue moved resolutely to the young man who had bonded a green earlier. Oliavia watched in surprise and amusement as his two bonds began to fight, before he calmed them down and left to feed them.
The last three eggs hatched, a blue and two greens. Oliavia shifted nervously and hoped one of the green swould choose her. The pale gray-blue male chose the other candidate, a fox-shapeshifter. The larger of the two greens chose not to bond.
Oliavia watched the last dragon hopefully, and the green turned to catch her eye. With a croon, the green dragon trotted over to Oliavia. I'm glad you're here, Oliavia. My name is Rhalelath.
Oliavia gasped happily, then smiled down at the green. "So am I, Rhalelath." Rhalelath crooned as Oliavia took her to the kitchens to join her other siblings.