Author's Note
I do not own the Dragonriders of Pern series or any other material you might recognise in this fic. All rights to the rightful owners.
To Allysha Dragonblood, and all those asking, yes, of course the eggs have to and will hatch! At the moment, there's three chapters left before the hatching. While it does seem to have taken forever, when I was writing this I was actually keeping track of time, and everything happens over the course of about five weeks!
Two more candidates were dead.
And Jalenna wasn't even surprised by this point.
She was just hoping and praying that this Hatching wouldn't be an absolute catastrophe.
Leaning back against Nareth's golden hide, she sipped at her wine and gazed at the large clutch of eggs. Her dragon was gently rearranging the eggs slightly, nudging them into what she deemed 'much better' positions.
Part of her wondered whether she should just send Yariel and Dorasa away, or have them isolated until the Hatching. They always seemed to be at the centre of things. It was like some great cosmic force had decided everything needed to be thrown in their direction. They were a liability!
But their story did add up with what the riders there for the confrontation between them, Kingsley Orius Keiren Lunarlight and Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight had said and had their dragons show Nareth. Their deaths had been accidents. Kingsley Orius Keiren Lunarlight had died on impact with the wall when he was pushed/thrown/glow-ily hurled into it (there was some apparent considerable confusion over quite how the impact had come about), while Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight had simply ran straight into Dorasa's sword (which, uncomfortably, Dorasa had been cleaning and polishing when Jalenna questioned them).
And, according to everyone she spoke to, Kingsley and Princess Lilyen Adalicia Midnight had started the fight by trying to force Dorasa to sleep with Kingsley.
That was something that was strictly prohibited and punished at Sunspyre, though murder as a reaction did seem a little… harsh.
"My children will have strong and powerful riders," Nareth crooned proudly.
Jalenna decided she needed more wine.