1. HISTORY
Though there had been a long span of time where no eggs had been on the Hatching Sands, there were finally clutches again, and one of them was readying to hatch now. As always, candidates stepped lightly but excitedly onto the hot sands, spectators filled the stands, and Rahel, followed by A'ra and Ean, sat down in the front row to watch the hatching.
There were enough candidates, but still some of the dragons decided that their fated one was not around. And suddenly there were only four eggs left, and Teyumeth, and everyone else, watched excitedly, because now her prized gold egg was beginning to crack. As the little queen faught to break out of her shell, one of the other eggs was breaking apart as well. They both escaped at the same time--a gold and a bronze. With Teyumeth hovering protectively overhead, the gold looked over the female candidates remaining, but she soon turned disdainful.
"None of these candidates will do. None of them. Mother, get some other girls over here," she whined, but Teyumeth snorted. "No. If you don't want to bond any of them, you'll have to wait with all the other unbonded dragons, Falideth."
Falideth sulked, and Tamith, a previously unbonded green clutchmate, laughed at her sister from her position at Teyumeth's side. The gold hatchling glared at her venomously.
The bronze had likewise inspected the male candidates, and likewise, had come away disappointed.
"None of these candidates are for me. I guess I'll wait here with Falideth." Druedoniath said, sitting down at the gold's side.

2. BONDING
Peter and Mohammed were transported back to Darkling Dawn on Aten, Rebecca's Gold dragon. The ride was eventful to say the least. Between was a cold and peculiar place where nothing could be seen, heard, smelled or touched. And halfway there, Aten had alerted them that peter was slipping. Aten had barely managed to catch him with her tail as he slid down her sides, which she really couldn't feel.
Then they'd suddenly appeared above land again. But how different were the lush green forests of darkling dawn compared to the red and orange of the desert. They arrived at Darkling Dawn in the evening. Rebecca explained it would help them catch enough sleep to get through the following days.
"Don't worry." she had said, "It's a lot, but I'll help."
Both Peter and Mohammed were shown to the candidate quarters. they were asked to share a room since there was a clutch on the sands and most of the other rooms were already taken. Neither of the men objected.
The following morning they were woken up by the load calls of a dragon, a sound they learned later, was referred to as 'bugling'. They dressed themselves in clothes someone brought them. The clothes fit awkwardly since the tailoring was different from what the both of them were used to. Peter even refused to wear anything beside his suit, wrinkled as it may be.
Half an our later they walked outside, admiring the large cliff walls that housed the hundreds of residents of Darkling Dawn. Rebecca awaited them near the largest cave entrance and smiled.
"These are the hatching sands." she said, "I was told you could watch the eggs, but after that I was also told to bring you to meet some of the unbonded older dragons. Apparently Aten thinks you might make a good match for some of them.
"Just how old are they?" Peter asked thinking he'd end up with a grandpa dragon.
"Oh they hatched only a couple of weeks ago. You'll have plenty of work raising them."
"How long does it take for them to reach adulthood?" Mohammed asked.
"A dragon needs about a year to grow large enough to become a weyrling. During the following two or three years it practices running, hunting, flying and fighting. Usually they are considered adults when they've joined their first mating flight though exceptions need to made for some of them. At first you'll need to feed them every day, but gradually their hunger lessens and they'll become self-sufficient. They can get by with a large cow once a week."
"That's a lot." Peter remarked, looking slightly uneasy.
"They're big." Rebecca shrugged.
The three of them walked around the eggs where a weary female dragon gave them a once-over and then returned to her nap. She seemed to not be interested in them, but Mohammed felt her eyes on him the entire time they were inside.
"Shonakasen likes you." Rebecca said smugly, "That's a good sign."
"She didn't even look at us." Peter remarked while Mohammed smiled knowingly and let his boss be.
"Now for the unbonded dragons, the road is a bit hard." rebecca warned them, "Only the ones with the best of determination impress." she shrugged, "It's a way of making sure these dragons don't get hurt unnecessarily."
The three of them climbed a long set of stairs, rising ever higher until they were walking on the top of the cliffs. The view was fabulous. Forests as far as the eye could see. There were mountains and lakes and rivers and all of it looked fresh and untouched.
Rebecca waited for everyone to catch their breath and then walked on until they reached a small group of dragons enjoying the sun. Some opened their eyes and watched them, others ignored them and some even flew away.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Mohammed and Peter. Aten says they might suit your tastes."
"Not mine." Lackadeith said and trotted off.
Rebecca shrugged and whispered, "He does not like humans much."
"That sounds like discrimination." Peter said, "I'm not just any human. I'm a Brit."
The gold dragoness, barely big enough to look Peter in the eye looked up and said, "Murrdeth."
"Yes fellow clutchmate?"
"Isn't he your type?"
"Of types and tastes there is much to discuss." the dragon noted, "But yes, he does seem to be one to converse with on the many subjects that strike my fancy."
"Then shoo." the gold dragon said while thinking: 'at least we got rid of HIM.'
And maybe this was a chance to get another pest of her tail. Falideth looked around and then said,
"Druedoniath, don't you think this human is very promising?"
She looked over Mohammed, licking her lips, "I know I said I wanted a girl... but you know for someone as yummy as this..."
"He's mine!" Druedoniath interupted.
"Awww." Falideth sighed and giggled, "You got me."
"Great!" Druedoniath thought to himself, "I found a human that she likes." Then he turned to Mohammed and asked, "You're not married, are you?"
"Eh no."

Bronze Druedoniath

3. FLIGHT
Rebecca woke up and felt different. Her heart raced like she'd been running up and down the stairs to the top of the mountain walls. Her throat felt dry and her body was uncomfortably warm. She opened her eyes and sat up. Nothing stirred in her living quarters.
On second thought no-one but her was there. That was unusual, normally Aten loved to laze around for just that half hour more of rest while rebecca got washed and dressed. So where was she now?
"I'm flying." Aten's voice told her.
And then rebecca was away. Her mind caught by the vortex that was the dragon's experience. It was not routine but knowledge that kept rebecca from falling. She had seen mating flights before and had heard the stories. She knew that the way she was feeling one with Aten, which was so much more than usual, meant that her gold had finally decided to rise.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Rebecca asked, trying to stay calm and collected, which was hard.
"I did not know." Aten said.
And it was true. Aten had not shown any of the usual changes in behaviour. She had not grown grumpy or irritated. She had not felt lazy or energetic. She'd just been Aten.
"Never mind." Rebecca said, "Who is chasing you?"
"I don't know all of them, but there's 4 bronzes, one of whom is Druedoniath. And then there's about 3 browns who're trying to keep up." Aten said, followed by, "I'll lose the browns quickly though."
"Be wary of sudden betweens." Rebecca warned, "Anubith isn't chasing, is he?"
"No."
Technically Anubith and Aten weren't related. that their riders were did not always matter to dragons when they got caught up in their instincts. There were solutions for that kind of situation of course, but not ones she'd really like to try.
Rebecca flew on, feeling the wind and sky through the close bond she shared with Aten. For a long time the gold dragoness just flew straight. Not bothering to manoeuvre just yet. Rebecca felt stronger now that she and Aten had been joined for a longer period of time and she knew that the browns had all fallen behind, as had one of the bronzes, an older male who had lost too much of his energy when he had tried to catch Aten from above.

The three remaining bronzes were all young dragons still. They had matured though and in the prime of their strength. Druedoniath flew second, Mohammed knew. One large bronze dragon, Kreonath, flew before him. In terms of strength Druedoniath would lose to him, but Mohammed knew he was too eager. Aten would not leave the competition for her with just a match in endurance. Behind Druedoniath another Bronze, Rendath, barely adult was straining his wings to keep up. Druedoniath knew as well as his rider that he would not hold on much longer. Unless he took action the flight was over for him.
Suddenly Rendath vanished and popped out of between above Aten. He propelled down, wagering all of his remaining strength on one lucky catch. He did not make it. Aten swooped down and right and avoided his clumsy catch without much effort.
From this point on, Aten decided to not just fly straight anymore. In a spectacular aerial display of flexibility she spun, twirled, dove and rose, hoping to throw off one of the remaining two bronzes. Mohammed believed the two of them were evenly matched and the chase should prove interesting. Of course, he had reason to wish his own Druedoniath won the flight.
Maybe danger had played with his endorphines, but the moment he'd seen rebecca on the night she'd saved him like the incarnation of Isis, he'd been lovelorn. He really could not deny it. He was a gentleman though and courted her slowly. He talked with her, invited her to diner, but had never openly asked her to date him. Had not even spoken of the feelings he had for her.
So currently he had two problems. One, Rebecca didn't know how he felt about her and neither had she told him she liked him to make him think he had more chance of winning in this flight. And two, Druedoniath still had the same adoration for his sister Falideth he'd had when he'd been born. Mohammed could not say if it was just admiration, family love or more. He'd probed his dragon time and time again, but no clear answer had come.
At least Druedoniath was flying now. Maybe he could hope that the young bronze was ready to leave his improbable first crush behind and move on to someone new. Someone his rider wanted with all his heart.
"And what about my heart?" Druedoniath asked.
"I know it is selfish of me to ask. But I love her." Mohammed said.
Druedoniath followed the loopings Aten made and caught up just a tiny bit with Kreonath because of his smaller size. He could take smaller loops which made him faster. Getting more excited, Druedoniath asked more of his wings and muscles. Slowly he was gaining.
"Why did you not tell her sooner?"
"I'm not good with words..."
"That's not the reason."
Druedoniath evaded Aten's tail as it smashed down between the two bronzes. Kreonath tried to grasp it, but managed only to graze it before Aten whished off again. The two bronzes continued the pursuit.
"Maybe I'm shy." Mohammed said.
"Or maybe you are chicken." Druedoniath added.

Rebecca felt her heart lurch into her throat every time Aten performed a loop. She begged for the mating flight to end because she really couldn't deal with it much longer.
"Seasick?" Aten asked.
"Never tried sailing." Rebecca wheezed, "But I can't take it."
"Then you decide." Aten said, "Druedoniath or Kreonath? Mohammed or D'ren?"
Rebecca tried to chose between the two men. They were both around her age. Both were taller than her. Both were strong. The difference lay mostly in their personality. Mohammed was the silent type, the thinker who she found often to be a bit gloomy. D'ren on the other hand was open and extravert. She'd enjoyed his company at parties. But did she feel anything more for either of them.
"Hurry." Aten told her, "Or the race will be decided by speed."
"I don't know..." rebecca desperately thought.
"Keronath is first... I'll slip back..."
"No!" Rebecca called.
"Then Druedoniath it is."
Aten rose up and fell back, describing a daring backward loop which brought her on a collision course with Druedoniath. The two dragons grabbed hold of each other and fell.
Rebecca opened her eyes and saw a familiar silhouette at the entrance of her living quarters. Mohammed hesitated a bit to come in, opened his mouth and then shook his head. Finally he asked,
"Can I come in?"
"Yes." Rebecca said and let him take over.

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STATS

Mohammed: male, 24 black curly hair, tanned skin, dark brown eyes. description: Mohammed is a hard worker, prac-tical and logical. Though he works for Peter he pretty much does his own thing. Because his family was cursed he's a bad luck magnet.

Bronze Druedoniath: male, medium-large Druedoniath's a good-natured, sensitive soul who feels for others, and he is easily upset when anyone takes a stern tone with him. He is extremely close to Falideth (perhaps too close, some suspect) and he tends to follow her around like a lost puppy.

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Story
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Lantessama Isle
Peter and Mohammed impressed at Darkling Dawn
Background made with a picture found on google search engine