Orin stood impatiently in line at the hatching ceremony held in the great and majestic Tronjeim. Orin stood, uncomfortable in his itchy, tight new clothes, growing hot from all the dwarves crowding around him and the other younglings. As he stood, silently cursing these stupid ceremonies, a rather attractive dwarf girl standing in front of him looked up at him and asked,
"Do you think one of us will get chosen?"
As he stood there, tongue-tied, he remembered that, in the last twenty years since the Great Eragon Shadeslayer manipulated the Dragon's magic to allow dwarves and Urgals to be chosen by young dragons to be Riders, there had been a startlingly large amount of dwarves that had been chosen. So yes, it was very likely that one of them today would be chosen by one of the two eggs.
"Um…yeah." Was all Orin could stutter out. Her bright green eyes shone up at him as she smiled, her smile so beautiful, he just wanted to lean down and close the distance between their lips. When she spoke again, he snapped out of it,
"I hope I get chosen." She looked hopefully at the two eggs on the raised dais ahead of them.
Orin hoped she didn't. He rather hoped that neither of them were chosen, and that after this whole messy ordeal, he could ask her to dinner.
Sooner than he expected, Orin was just a few dwarf children away from the dais and the eggs. He looked up at them, pearly white and gleaming in the surrounding torchlight. There were but two of them, one had a faint red tint about it, the other a faint olive color. When it was time for the girl in front of him to go up to the eggs, she turned and winked up at him,
"Wish me luck." Then walked purposefully up the steps to the dais with the two eggs perched upon it. Orin watched with a surprising amount of suspense, as the auburn haired girl curtseyed to the elves present and raised her hand to the egg with the red tint. For what seemed an eternity, nothing happened, and Orin was sure that they would leave this ordeal arm in arm, when suddenly, two of the elves stepped forward, bringing the girl with them. Orin could barely believe his eyes, nor his ears, when one of the elves spoke into the suddenly silent chasm of Tronjeim,
"People of the great and fair city of Tronjeim, one of your children has been chosen to learn the ways of the Riders, and defend your freedoms! A new Rider has been born!"
Orin's mouth stood slightly agape, and watched as the girl's green eyes watered up and her brilliant white teeth flash in the torchlight as she smiled and laughed with glee. Orin's ears rang with the sound of the cheering coming from her particular clan gathered somewhere nearby. Orin knew that if one egg was chosen, the other still had to finish the "hatching ceremony", but he was sure that with all of the pomp and ceremony going on, that they'd forget it was his turn. He cursed the girl's luck as her family and clan leaders came up onto the stage and began speaking with the elves. He'd never get out of there! He'd be stuck waiting for hours! He wished he could just get up there, touch the stupid egg and go home. The clans were evenly divided on the topic of the hatching ceremony. Half were excited and overjoyed that their children had the opportunity to bond with a dragon and to unite all the races of Alegaesia! The other half felt more as Orin did, that dwarves were meant to stay underground, where everything is solid and stable. But the high king Orik had decreed that it was necessary for all clans to have their children participate, so that no dragon went unhatched.
Orin felt silly, he was upset that he couldn't take a girl, whose name he didn't even know, out to dinner. What did he expect? An immediate marriage proposal? And besides, he should feel glad for her, she got what she wanted, right? Her family and clan were even glad for her.
"Young sir?" one of the elves beckoned. Orrin looked up and was surprised to see that the girl, the egg, and her clansmen had all moved off the stage and were chattering loudly from somewhere behind the dais. He walked up and gave a bow to the elves assembled, and stared at the green-tinted egg for a moment. This was even better, he thought, only one egg this time. All he had to do was put his hand on it, bow again and leave, never to return to that blasted dais! He stepped forward purposefully, and placed his hand on the smooth surface of the egg. Right as Orrin was about to remove his hand, he felt a desire to throw his previous plan to the wind, and stay there with the egg. He felt a strange, warm sensation in his chest that urged him to stay, and keep the egg, no matter what the cost. He looked up, and saw that the elves were all staring incredulously at him. Orrin was taken aback, had he broken some cardinal rule amongst the elves, to never touch a dragon's egg for too long?
He felt his heart stop beating when he figured out what was happening. The same two elves came up beside him, and they all together faced the dwarves gathered in Tronjeim. The elf seemed to hesitate, and stumble over his normally honeyed words.
"People of the great and fair city of Tronjeim, yet another one of your children has been chosen to learn the ways of the Riders, and defend your freedoms! A new Rider has been born!"