Sestral raised her head tiredly, disturbed by the comings and goings at the tiny sands near the entrance of the main sands. She'd been waiting so long... but so had the little one. Perhaps this signaled that her own brood would be hatching soon as well.
Meanwhile, at the tiny cubby that Tek-lia had waddled into what seemed like ages ago, the tiny Schattarneki stood proudly to one side, occasionally nuzzling the tiny green and blue hatchling that had hatched first.
The tiny hatchling chirrupped, then looked over at Selverat, "I'll go with you, okay?" The little one squeeked as Selverat lifted her up gently in a palm, then grinned brightly at him, "I'm Ara-teli."
Selverat sighed, then gave Revent a pleading look. "I didn't sign up for this."
"The hatchling's choice is always right," Revent grinned toothily, "I suggest you get used to it."
Ara-teli giggled, then ran up Selverat's arm to perch on his shoulder, "My siblings will hatch soon. Shouldn't you gather the candidates?"
Selverat herded the hastily gathered candidates towards the mini-sands, his new bond insisting on remaining perched on his shoulder like some strange bird. He'd find it adorable... if it wasn't him trying to find his footing after bonding a second... dragon? Could these things be considered dragons, even?
He made sure to hang back when they got near the sands - tempt fate? Him? Only on days when it suited him... otherwise known as days when fate hadn't already put the jump on him.
Ara-teli giggled, as if she knew what he was thinking.
Several of the eggs had already hatched, their contents romping around the unhatched eggs, playing hide and seek, pounce the tail... anything and everything their young minds could think up while they waited for their new friends to show up.
A bright red hatchling was tussling with a deep blue and black hatchling, their friendly scuffling bouncing them around into the three unhatched eggs, knocking one over and out of the mini-sands with their sheer energy.
Rachel, Dryad rukel, shy little rukel, suddenly darted forward through the gathering of other candidates and curled up below where the egg would land. And land it did, in pieces, the little green, brown, and white hatchling spilling out and looking about in shy fascination, before turning her attention to the one who'd caught her.
"You, I go with you," whispered the little one. "I'm Lya-sel."
Rachel nodded, and stood carefully, letting Lya-sel grip onto her fur. Once she was sure the hatchling was secure, she turned and slunk off - there were too many eyes on her to let her meet her new bond comfortably. She'd find somewhere else.
While all eyes had been on the rukel and her new bond, the red and dark blue had broken apart, ears back as they slunk towards those who would be their bond or caretaker. Their mother looked on with resignation.
The red rose up on his hind legs, pawing at the leg of the man standing just outside the mini-sands, "Cerebus... Cerebus, take me home with you. Please?" The red looked nearly dejected at the thought of being left behind, until Cerebus knelt and lifted the tiny hatchling up in a hand.
"What's your name?" Cerebus asked, running a finger lightly over the hatchling's head-fluff.
"Anderyn."
"Alright then, let's get you fed, then we can go back."
The deep blue hatchling perked back up almost instantly - or at least as soon as his mother's attention was off of him. With a happy chirrup, he trotted across the mini-sands and towards the candidates, to sit proudly in front of Monomezurashii.
"You, me, adventure." He grinned, ears pointed forwards, entire focus on the rukel. "Sound good?"
M'urashii chuckled, "Sounds good."
"Good!" The hatchling sprung to his feet, trying to simultaneously control himself and prance his joy, and instead just stumbling over his paws and going nose-first into the sand. When he finally straightened his limbs out and got himself up again, he shook himself off, then went on as if nothing had happened. "I'm Holyllic!"
The relative silence following M'urashii and Holyllic's departure was broken with a loud, childlike shriek of...
"Bbbbrrrooootthhheeeerrr!"
Followed by a citrus-y green-yellow blur that resolved itself into a hatchling only upon collision with the - rather surprised - Blue Lagoon. The collision sent the poor Selampotato-Zalor hybrid head over tail from the sheer kinetic energy of child. (Now if only that energy could be harnessed for good use, as opposed to surprising half-brothers, imagine the possibilities!)
"Brotherbrotherbrother! I'm Xel-ist! What's your name? How many other brothers do I have? Huh? Huh? Huh?!"
Blue Lagoon shook his head, trying to make sense of the speed-chatter that Xel-ist was babbling. Finally, he sighed, took her paw, and led her off. Maybe being somewhere else would quiet her down enough to make sense of her... maybe...
Everyone sighed in relief when the hyperactive hatchling was led off the sands -- since when was a Selampotato hyper after all? -- and looked for the next adventuresome hatchling.
Not that there were many left -- two eggs were still unhatched, and two hatchlings were playing tag the tail around their mother's paws.
"Yyyooouuu ccaaaannn'tt seeeee meeeee!" Came a tiny voice from... somewhere. Like promised, no one could see the baby.
With a shrug, the remaining candidates looked back at the two hatchlings. One of which had broken off playing and was advancing with purpose towards the small group. Her sibling, though, thought this was a wonderful opportunity, and pounced upon her back, making her squeak in protest.
"You're all blind!" Came the voice again, this time followed by a laugh. Was it coming from... the candidates themselves? Han's eyes were puzzled, and he looked around, confused. The voice sounded so close...
Back on the sands, the pale blue hatchling had pried herself free of her excitable sibling and finished advancing, "Wintery Song, will you be my bond?" The hatchling asked in mock seriousness.
"I will." Wintery Song replied, a smile on her face as she reached to lift the hatchling up, "And your name is?"
"Nemi-si!" She replied with a laugh, dropping the serious attitude, "I'm Nemi-si!"
"And you're all still bllliiinnndd!" Chimed the voice again.
Han narrowed his eyes and lowered his muzzle, to be rewarded with a shriek as a bright pink -- pink! -- hatchling tumbled free of his muzzle and landed on the sands.
"Aww! No fair!" the pink hatchling groused, ruffling his fur and wing-stubs in childish indignition. "You weren't supposed to do that, Han!"
The Danachian eyed the hatching, "What's your name?"
"Valane."
It took a moment, but the general theme of the rest of the clutch filtered through.
"You're male," Han spoke. A statement, not a question.
"Mhhmm." Valane casually brought a paw to his mouth and gave it a swipe with his tongue.
"You're pink," Han continued.
"Mhhmm." Valane put the paw down, grinning brightly up at Han, "You got a problem with that?"
Han blinked. Did he? He didn't think he did. Should he?
Valane grinned wickedly, vanishing from his spot on the ground and reappearing wrapped around one of Han's horns. "Then off we go, into the wild blue yonder! On, my daring companion! To the future!"
Han sighed, then shook his head carefully and turned to move off, intending on finding food for Valane.
The one remaining hatchling, cheated of her siblings, had found a new fascination. One about six inches tall and with gossamer wings. Which wasn't paying attention to her, as she crept through the sands on her belly. Once she was close enough, she leaned forward...
... and touched the little person between the shoulder blades with her nose.
The little person squeaked.
The bright blue hatchling giggled.
"You're my size!" The hatchling poked at the little person with a paw, "I'm Enna-kett, and you're my bond now."
Fi blinked, bond? What? Agate only grinned.
The last two eggs quivered, shook, and rolled into each other, spilling two similarly colored hatchlings out onto the mini-sands. After a few minutes of trying to sort themselves out, the two finally stood on shaky hatchlings legs and stared at each other.
"Do you want...?" The violet colored hatchling began.
"I'll remain here," The blue hatchling continued, as he moved to nuzzle his sister gently, "Perhaps someday I'll find a bond, but mine is not here. You go, have fun."
The violet hatchling bobbed her head in acceptance, as she turned to glide across the sands, suddenly graceful on her paws, to stand before Fushidara.
"I will travel with you... what is it like, these other worlds you've been to? I am... I am curious." The hatchling snuggled close to Fushidara, "Oh, my name is Aril-tip."
The blue hatchling crossed the sands and stood on his hind legs, staring up at Revent as best he could. "I will remain here. My name is Zanvey."
Revent nodded, "As you will, Zanvey. The choice belongs to the hatchling, not to any of us."