Jackie held tight to Patus, who was only barely resigned to her person leaving her behind while he went and stood in front of a bunch of eggs, just in case she thought she might change her mind and try to escape. In the crowded, noisy, doubled-up hatching bay, that would mean disaster. If she didn't get lost or stolen, she could get trampled or kicked, and Damien would never forgive her. Even though he'd only had the little terisen for a few months now, and even though he'd deny it if asked, Jackie knew he'd gotten attached to the fuzzball and would miss her if anything happened to her.

The hatching bays-- for there were two, one for each dragon-mother of the double-clutch-- had only that afternoon been opened up into one massive room. During the incubation of the eggs and even right up until just a few minutes before, well after the candidates including Damien with Jackie and Quely trailing along behind, had started to arrive, the partition wall between them had been closed. Given the glared and high-pitched screeches the two mothers were tossing at each other, Jackie could imagine why.

::They're hurling insults at each other, too,:: Quely piped up, sounding terribly amused. ::Oh, look, do you see? My sister is down there!:: She couldn't point, not really, but her attention focused on a limping purple form down beside the two Master Archivists. ::See? Did you see her at the hatching? Only three legs and one wing! She bonded an apprentice.:: Quely seemed quite smug and superior because she'd bonded a college student rather than a mere apprentice.

"You might change your tune if I can't find a job once I'm done with school," Jackie commented, giving her dragon's nearest part, her wing-thumb, a little tweak.

::You will,:: Quely said calmly. ::And so will Damien, once he stops worrying about things. Silly man.::

"That he is." Jackie smiled some, finding him among the cluster of candidates, looking nothing but bored and maybe a little impatient. "You're sure about this?" she asked her dragon. It would be a disaster if, somehow, Damien simply didn't bond.

::Of course! A queen is never wrong!::

"You are, too, miss priss."

::Well, not about stuff like this.::

"Look, look, one of the eggs moved!"

::They're all moving, not just one!:: Though Quely tried to sound superior, she was really just excited, and she couldn't help an absent thrumming in the back of her throat, rather like the sound her mother and the other dragons she'd summoned for the hatching had made. A few people sitting around them noticed it and shifted uncomfortably, but Jackie didn't mind. She was used to people being uncomfortable with her-- like today, when she was dressed in her best vibrantly-patterned skirt and a bright red blouse, her many braids each beaded with a gold ring at the ends so that she jangled when she moved-- so people being uncomfortable with her dragon was hardly surprising. She loved everything about Quely, and Quely loved everything about her, so that's all that mattered.

"But it's moving more-- oh, look!" Along with the rest of the crowd, she gasped, pointing to an egg in the nearest clutch, the larger dragon's, that had burst open, spilling a brilliantly white dragon with colorful wings onto the cushioned floor. The mother bellowed, then mantled and screeched like a banshee at the other dragoness, who had apparently roared at the same moment, for one of her eggs had just hatched, too.

::They sure are gaudy, aren't they?:: Quely commented disdainfully.

"Oh, hush, you. What if Damien bonds that one, and then you'll have to live with calling his bond gaudy."

::He won't bond that one, if he knows what's good for him,:: Quely grumbled, eying the hatchling. Jackie glanced at her with arched brows.

"Picky, aren't we?"

::I only want the best for your friend,:: was the only answer her bond would give her, so Jackie looked back at the hatching.

More dragons had hatched, and more bonds were being made, on both sides. Three of the smaller clutch had hatched and at least two had bonded, the third making his own way to the food, but waiting there as if expecting someone. Sure enough, a dirty-looking little boy came darting into the bay, ducking past the surprised man stationed at the door, and made a beeline for the dragon. Jackie chuckled at the thought of bonding a child, or bonding a dragon, that neither could even see. Four eggs on the nearer side had hatched, as well, three bonded and one going straight to the food without making a choice.

"Did everything go this quickly for your hatching?" she marveled to Quely, who rustled her wings lightly, eyes on the eggs.

::I wouldn't know, I was busy trying to hatch,:: she answered, sounding distracted. ::Now that one I think I like the looks of. He shows some promise.::

"What?" Jackie looked down to find her dragon's attention focused on a black hatchling that shimmered faintly iridescent in the light, his wings fading through the colors of the rainbow. "He doesn't look any less gaudy than the white one," she pointed out, but Quely just snorted at her, making her laugh. "You're inconsistent, you know."

::So? Pay attention, goose, important stuff's happening.:: Somewhere or another Quely had picked up her grandfather's old teasing name for her, even though Quely-- and Jackie, for that matter-- had never even seen a goose before. ::And the fuzzball's trying to escape again.::

Clamping both hands around the tiny, struggling body that was Patus, Jackie craned her neck, trying to see over the two rows of people who had managed to get here ahead of her. The black dragon was making his way to the candidates, pacing deliberately and looking rather like he'd made his choice already, but Jackie couldn't see well enough to make out who he'd chosen. There was another dragon, a lavender-shaded one, also trundling across the moss-covered floor towards the candidates, but Quely wasn't paying it the slightest bit of attention. As the black one and his chosen bond split from the candidates bunch, she knew why.

"WHOOOHOOOOOO!!" she shrieked, leaping from her seat excitedly. Patus went tumbling from her lap, but Quely hastily stepped on her tail to keep her from scampering away. The general noise of the crowd and the hatching still didn't quite drown her out, and several people glared at her for being so loud and exuberant. Jackie didn't care. "He bonded, he bonded, oh, I knew he would!" she crowed, already pushing herself through the people, Patus now tucked securely under one arm, not caring who she stepped on or elbowed, to get out of the stands and to the hatching bay floor.

::I told you!:: Quely told her smugly, trotting along in her wake, every bit as heedless of who she was aggrivating to follow her.

"I'll never doubt you again!" Jackie told her grandly, grinning.

::I doubt that,:: Quely answered, mind-voice full of a giggle.

Then they were free, and climbing down the stairs to the floor. "Damien!" she squealed, waving frantically, trying to catch her housemate's attention. He was talking to the wolfish Archivist, presumably giving his name and his dragon's name, like all new bonds had to do. Now that she was closer, she could tell he looked quite surprised.

::We told him he'd bond, and he didn't even take us seriously, did he?::

"Guess not. Too late now! Damieeeeeeen!"

Patus struggled free just as Damien glanced over at them, blinking, and the little terisen bolted madly for him, leaping into his arms with a squeal of her own and a hiss for the bemused-looking black dragon standing at his hip. Jackie jogged after her, Quely trotting along behind her. His pet had already done what she'd half-considered doing, throwing herself at him with an enthusiastic hug, but that didn't mean she couldn't beam at him. A reluctant smile of his own tugged at his mouth.

"All right, all right," he admitted, "you were right."

::Of course we were,:: Quely agreed proudly, and Damien stared at her.

::I relayed it,:: a strange, masculine voice commented, ::just like she's probably relaying me. I think I surprised him.::

Jackie laughed. "There, now we can all talk to each other!"

"I'd just as well not," Damien muttered softly, but Jackie still heard him; she just decided to ignore it. Quely only snorted delicately.

"So?" she demanded, still beaming. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Intro-- oh. Incath, this is Jacquelyne Ohuine, and her dragon Quelymerith. Jackie, Quelymerith, this is Incath."

"A pleasure!" Jackie grinned, giving the dragon a silly little curtsy, making him gape his jaw at her in amusement.

::The pleasure's all mine!:: he replied. ::But we can talk more later, right? I'm really very hungry now! Please, Damien? They'll excuse us.::

"Oh-- yes, of course. Just a minute, Jackie?" He gave her a small, pleased, still-surprised smile, then led his dragon off towards the food.

::A pleasure, indeed,:: Quely commented, but refused to explain herself. Jackie let it be as they drifted in the new pair's wake, content that everything had gone as hoped-- or, in Quelymerith's case, planned.

Chapter Five

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