"Soren?"

Soren's drifting mind was brought back to reality by the voice of his 
friend.  He blinked twice and refocused on the faces in front of him. 
Maarken, whose voice had brought him back, was looking at him with a 
small smile.  

"Yeah?"

"You were day dreaming again.  Was it about the hatching?"

Soren smiled, recalling the images that had been going through his head.  
"Yep.  I guess I'm just starting to get impatient."

Maarken's small smile broadened into an open grin.  "It'll be soon · 
don't worry."

Soren glanced over at his other two friends before answering.  They were 
as out of the conversation as he had been · but for an altogether 
different reason.  Anne and Ostvel were oblivious to the outside world.  
They had been this way for the past few days.  It had started with a 
glance here or there, but had blossomed very quickly · with a little 
help from Soren and Maarken of course.

He just shook his head and went back to the conversation.  Or at least 
he would have.  Just as Soren opened his mouth to reply, he heard a 
commotion outside his room.  Opening the door he saw people running all 
over the place and a rider standing at the main entrance bellowing, 
"It's time!  It's time!  Get your butts over to the hatching cave!"

Soren ducked back into his room, but he didn't have to tell his friends, 
they had heard the rider.  The four of them were up and out before the 
rider could shout his message again.

<..>

In the chaos of the trip, Soren had lost track of his friends.  He stood 
now on the hot sands of the hatching cavern, watching with rapt 
attention as the eggs rocked back and forth.  There weren't as many as 
there should have been, of course, but there was still a fair number of 
eggs.

The first egg to split and crack produced a teel dragon who wandered 
over to the middle of the line.  Soren didn't see who it was that the 
dragon had chosen, but he did hear the shout of glee that came from the 
chosen one.

Focusing back on the sands, Soren watched as another egg rocked 
violently back and forth.  The dragon who burst out (and he literally 
did burst out) was larger than the first hatchling.  As the face of the 
creature appeared, a presence filled his mind and Soren gasped in 
wonder.

The sky-blue hatchling had emerged fully and was stumbling towards him.  
Soren didn't wait for the little creature, but ran out to meet him.  The 
voice that sounded in his head was the most wonderful thing he had ever 
heard.

<Hungry!  I'm hungry!  S'ren, I need food!>

<It's coming my little friend.  It's coming.>  Soren was startled by the 
name the creature had used for him and was even more startled when the 
little guy commented on his thoughts.

<Of course I call you S'ren.  It's your name, right?>

<Well · yes.>  It was, in a way.  The hunger pangs swept over the little 
beast again and Soren sucked in a breath as he too felt the pangs.  
Suddenly there was a pail of raw meat next to him and a familiar voice 
above him.

"The little monster will eat like there's no tommorrow, so you'd better 
be ready to feed him all the time."  Soren glanced up at Liam's smiling 
face and thanked the trainer for the meat.

The rest of the night was spent feeding his bottomless pit.  The little 
guy kept eating even after most of the others had stopped and finally 
dropped off to sleep.  He finally belched his satisfaction and curled up 
in Soren's lap.  Scratching the ridges along the creatures face brought 
sighs of pleasure and Soren had to laugh.

<You know, you never told me your name>

One lazy eye opened to regard him.  <Sorry · too·> the creatures mouth 
opened in a mighty yawn before he continued.  <Too hungry.  My name is 
Azhdeen.>  And then the eye closed and Azhdeen promptly feel asleep.  

<..>

It wasn't until much later that Soren (or should he call himself S'ren 
now?), looked around for his friends.  Ostvel and Anne were curled up 
next to each other, of course, both with hatchlings.  Maarken was · 
where was he?  

Azhdeen was roused a little by the panic that went through Soren, but he 
was so sleepy that he managed of half-open his eyes and then he was out 
again.  Soren, however, was up on his feet and scanning the cave ... and 
he couldn't find Maarken.

"Soren?"  Ostvel's weary voice caught his attention.  "What is it 
Soren?"

Soren looked at his best friend and the bronze dragon in his lap.  
"Maarken didn't join."

Ostvel closed his eyes and muttered a curse.  "We'll have to find him · 
whenever we get time."

Soren nodded.  They couldn't leave their dragons · not for a while.  
When they could though, they would find Maarken · they had to.

"Oh, Ostvel?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me S'ren."

NRPG:  Hello everyone!  S'ren is going to need some help fitting into 
warren life.  Right now, I don't have any idea how to get him into the 
flow of things.  If anyone has an idea, I would appreciate it.

Here's the bio for Azhdeen:

Name:  Azhdeen
Appearance:  Azhdeen is a fairly large dragon · he's bigger than most 
dragons and as a result he eats a lot and eats often.  He is sky-blue 
with dark blue overtones and light grey underwings.  

Character:  Azhdeen is basically a big teddy bear.  He's paitent and has 
a big heart.  He doesn't often realize how big he is in comparison to 
humans and tends to accidently knock people down.  He likes company and 
can usually be found with two or three other dragons.

___________________________________________
Ben Tate    
Galen - Norwall
S'ren/Azhdeen - Geode
Sabian, "The Angel of Death" - Ralengarde


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