Damien was glad he'd gotten advance notice of the hatching about to take place, when Jackie had, or otherwise he might never have gotten a seat, much less one without a couple hundred people in the way. Distance wasn't really an issue for him-- all he had to do was focus a little more, after all, and he could see all the way across the hatching bay or farther-- but he didn't have the ability to see through people, and he wasn't exactly tall. Besides, Jackie didn't have the same range of vision that he did, and she wanted to be able to see him. "If you won't be out in the bay with me, at least I want to be able to see you watching!" she'd said as she'd dragged him after her to bay three, right after she'd gotten the call that the clutch was hatching.

So now, almost an hour later, Damien leaned against the railing in front of the first row of seats, surrounded by a pushing, jabbering, excited crowd. If he focused on them, he could pick conversations from all around him out of the babble, and even without trying he could hear the people right next to him chatting animatedly about the coming hatching, but he didn't really care. He was more interested in what was going on-- and what was going to be going on, soon enough-- down on the synthetic moss-covered floor of the bay, where a ridiculously large group of eggs, an even larger group of candidates, and Jackie stood.

Patus chirped in his ear, and absently he reached up to scratch behind her long, fuzzy ears. She chortled at him and snuggled up against his neck contentedly, a very small bundle of warm fur against the skin. He'd originally adopted her for Jackie, in case this hatching went badly-- or just to be nice, because Jackie liked furry things like cats and dogs, and the terisae was more friendly than the former, more intelligent than the latter, and cuter than either. However, the little creature had inexplicably adopted him, instead of the person she'd been adopted for. Jackie didn't seem to mind; in fact, she found it rather amusing. Damien didn't particularly mind, either, though he wasn't as amused by it, especially since the terisae insisted on going everywhere with him, even such crowded, noisy places as this.

For herself, Jackie didn't seem to be too anxious to the casual eye. Standing with a group of other girls, not twittering nervously like the rest of them or shifting restlessly, but standing calmly with her hands in her pockets, watching the rocking eggs and glancing at the packed bleachers now and then. She looked confident, but then, she was good at looking confident. Dressed in her second-best clothes-- her best might have been ruined by egg-insides if she bonded, she'd reasoned, but she still wanted to look nice-- she looked as bright, colorful, and outrageous as ever, with reds and golds and purples, her braids flying every which way despite her half-hearted attempt at confining them under a brightly colored and beaded kerchief. Her face was serious, though, and the smile she flashed him when she caught his eyes was tight. He smiled back encouragingly and lifted a hand, in case he was too far away for her to see his expression.

Damien wasn't entirely sure why Jackie was so anxious-- because, despite her confident front, he knew she was. She had told him repeatedly that she didn't think she'd end up with a dragon today, that she didn't care about the outcome of this hatching, that she was just killing time and learning what it was like to stand for one of these things. "Everyone should experience a hatching once," she'd said reasonably. "Just to see what it's like. It's part of the Star City culture, and all."

But she was anxious. Did she really want to bond a dragon? Damien wouldn't argue with anyone who said she deserved the honor of bonding the best dragon in the bunch-- Damien had done his research on these off-world dragons, Old World or Pern-bred, by the mother, and Alskyrian, by the father. That largest egg that the girls were clustered around was the queen egg, holding a dragon gold-colored and larger than the others, like the golden mother. In Old World dragon-homes, that was the dragon most sought after. If anyone deserved to bond that dragon, it was Jackie.

At the same time, though-- Damien was, after all, practical-- he had to wonder how in the world they'd manage to afford taking care of such a large dragon. Or, in fact, any dragon at all. He and Jackie had carefully budgeted out the next four years that it would take for her to finish college, and they would just barely have enough to make it without either of them having to work. Trying to factor in a dragon who would be quite likely an eating machine, would need special accommodations that probably meant they all move to a more expensive apartment on the dragoner decks, and certainly would require special care and attention... well, it was a nightmare. Affording Patus, who was only supposed to grow up to be eight inches high, compared to her four inches now as a kit, was enough of a stretch for their finances.

So, understandably, Damien was of two minds on the subject of a dragon. Or, if Jackie had her way, two dragons, one for each of them. That was, of course, out of the question; even if they could somehow afford one dragon, two would be even more difficult. Besides, Damien didn't actually think a dragon would find him palatable. There weren't very many androids who were lifelike enough to attract a dragon, after all, and even then, they usually had more biological parts than mechanical. It would just be embarrassing to even try, so he didn't think there was any point in going through with it. Jackie had other opinions, but she had yet to change his mind. Nor would she.

Damien had only been to one hatching in his life, and it had been a long time ago, even before Jackie had come into his life. One of his creator's friends' dragons had clutched, a private event really, but old Aamanuel was invited to watch, and he had taken his young creation with him. "It will be a learning experience for you," he'd told him. That hatching had been nothing like this one. There had only been a couple dozen watchers, one Archivist, privately funded, and it had been in a smaller, personal hatching bay on a dragoner residential deck. The dragons in attendance-- there were several, in addition to the parents, which was already different from the hatching years ago, with only the mother to oversee the eggs-- were all humming a low, deep, and throbbing thrum, a somewhat eerie sound. It had started even before they candidates were called, Damien had heard, as much of a warning that the hatching was eminent as the stirring of the eggs. The first hatching, almost twenty years ago, had been silent but for the sound of the watchers and the cracking eggs.

After an hour of listening to the steadily increasing thrumming, underscoring every loud conversation in the room, Damien had almost gotten used to it-- almost, but not enough that he didn't notice immediately when it stopped. He looked around the room, at each of the dragons, but their attention was fixed firmly on the eggs. The rest of the audience took longer to realize the dragons' silence and add to it by stilling their own conversations and looking expectantly at the eggs. This was more like what he remembered, this expectant silence, though it was almost as nerve-wracking as the humming had been. Even Patus was quiet and still, staring out at the eggs with wide-eyed interest from his shoulder.

Then, into the silence, came the sound of an eggshell splintering. One of the smaller, quieter eggs had rolled over, smacked into its mate, and broken open. A dark purple dragon rolled out into the springy moss, silent and gleaming with albumen and golden filigree. The clutch was largely cyborware enhanced, and this was one of the results-- and the poor thing was obviously a mistake, at that. One foreleg and one wing were shrunken and malformed, so that the hatchling had to struggle to its feet and hobble awkwardly away from its shell. Someone at the edge of the moss let out a soft wail-- the Journeyman in question, who was responsible for the mistake, Damien guessed-- and the crowd around Damien murmured pity and disgust amongst themselves. A few didn't figure on the malformed hatchling surviving even to make a bond. Damien didn't think the little dragon would have an easy time of it even if it did survive, unless somehow the leg and wing were replaced, but for now it seemed strong, despite the deformity, and it was limping along purposefully enough, as if it knew exactly what it was doing.

To the surprise of many, though the hatchling passed the candidates, it did choose a bond: the new apprentice of one of the Farahan Archivists. Damien had never heard the boy's name, though if he had he would have remembered it. There was very little that slipped his mind, after all. He silently wished the pair luck and courage, for he and his dragon would need it. Especially given the look his Master was giving him. At any rate was an odd way to begin a hatching, even to Damien, who had only seen one previously.

The hatching after that proceeded fairly normally-- or, as normally as could be expected with strange candidates, cyborware-enhanced dragons, and so many people watching. Two went bondless, one of them another three-legged, one-winged hatchling, even purple like the first; two bonded each other in a moment that could have been cute, if not for Damien's ability to see the devious expression on the little green's face when he pounced his brother; and five bonded candidates-- actual candidates, not apprentice Archivists, probably to the relief of the candidates and the Archivists.

Then the queen egg broke open. All attention was quickly drawn to it once people noticed it was starting to break, Damien's included, though he split his between Jackie and the egg itself. The golden hatchling revealed flopped around a moment after shattering her shell, then finally got herself to her feet and spread out her wings, mouth gaping slightly as she looked around at the candidates clustering closer around her. Damien couldn't see through people, of course, so that was when he had to wait with the same impatience of the rest of the crowd to see who she choose. The rest of the crowd, though, didn't have such a personal stake in this particular bonding....

A familiar laugh sounded from the hatching bay floor. Most people probably couldn't hear it, but Damien could, and he watched with mingled anxiety and pride as Jacquelyne extracted herself from the knot of girls, the little queen trotting along at her side, looking immensely pleased with herself. Jackie didn't look too displeased, herself, giving the watching Farahan Archivists her new bond's name-- Quelymerith, unless Damien heard incorrectly-- and headed for the food. Jackie paused en route, searching the stands for a moment until she found Damien watching her, then burst into the brightest smile he'd seen on her in a long time and waved cheerfully. It was impossible not to smile, back. No matter how difficult it would be, financially, at least this made her happy-- and Damien wasn't about to say no to anything that made Jackie happy.

"Let's go down and congratulate her," he suggested to Patus, who trilled in what he guessed to be agreement, then started making his way through the crowd, still focused on the rest of the hatching, towards the stairs down and Jackie-- while a little part of his mind was already making computations about how they were going to afford this!

Chapter Two

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