<The eggs are hatching!> Zareth trumpeted in M'tan's head.  He 
groaned slightly, holding his head, and then looked over the lunch table 
to meet Aleta's eyes.  She smiled.

	"I'll take Benna and meet you there," she suggested, leaning over 
the table to kiss him.

	He nodded, turning to Benna.  "How would you like to see a 
Hatching?" he asked.  

	"A hatching?" Benna asked.  "What's that?"
	
	"You can see all the baby dragons come out of their eggs," he 
explained. 

	"Oh!" Benna clapped her hands.  "I saw baby birds come out of 
eggs once, and Mommy let me hold one.  Can I hold one?"

	M'tan laughed.  "Well, baby dragons area little bigger than baby 
birds," he admitted.  Aleta met his eyes over Benna's head, a shadowed 
with worry.  There was something disconcerting when Benna talked about 
her mother...

	Aleta took Benna's hand and nodded to M'tan, who turned in the 
opposite direction.  <Zareth, could you ask Darshan if Almiron could meet 
us by the cave mouth?> he asked hopefully.

	<Darshan says Almiron is already there, but he'll let him know.>

	M'tan returned while the last of the landbound guests were 
filling the Hatching Cavern, with a small woman near 50 year of age 
holding his arm.  He found Aleta, Benna, and a slightly nervous Almiron 
waiting for him.

	"Benna, Almiron, this is my mother Aylin," M'tan said 
cheerfully.  "Mama, this is this man who healed my wounds from the attack 
on Ralengarde, and the child he rescued from Rivenor."

	The woman smiled.  She was tiny, perhaps 5' in hight, and slender
with pale, delicate features reminiscent of sculped china.  Her hair fell
in soft, salt-and-pepper curls around her face.  Her eyes were M'tan's 
hazel.   "I've heard all about you," Aylin explained conspiratorially, 
"but M'tan never takes me to see anyone."

	"You can see anyone you like," M'tan retorted, laughing quietly. 
"You've just been too busy for me persuade you to come visiting.  I've
never been able to stop you from doing anything. 

	"You've learned not to try, my boy," Aylin answered slyly, then
turned her attention to Benna.  "So this is the little one I've heard so 
much about.  Isn't she the charming one?"  She leaned forward to touch 
Benna, who shrank back against Aleta-- avoiding Aylin's hand.

	Aleta looked helplessly at Aylin.  "You, um, know how kids are... 
don't you?"

	Aylin laughed.  "Of course I do, child."  She was addressing 
Aleta.  She looked closely at Benna.  "Hmmm... Why is her skin in two 
colors?"  Benna's skin color had equalized a great deal in the two months 
since her rescue, but the difference was still observable.

	Almiron flinched, looked uncomfortable, and opened his mouth to 
explain.  M'tan stayed him with a comforting hand on his shoulder.  
"Almiron tends to have a remarkable affect on people," M'tan explained.  
"She was as good as dead in the wraith attack on Rivenor, if it weren't 
for him."

	Aylin turned and looked shrewdly at Almiron.  "It looks as if 
you're a great deal more powerful than I had believed," she said.  "I owe 
a lot to you, it seems-- for M'tan and for the girl who will be my 
granddaughter."

	Aleta blanched.  "Well, uh... isn't that Al'dairan?"

	The group looked up and found Christalla herding the last of the
Landbound into the Hatching Cavern, flanked by her private courier-- a man
in his early twenties with sunbleached hair, dark eyes, and tanned skin. 

	"Yep, that would be Al'dairan," M'tan agreed.  "I didn't think 
he'd be back from Marrid this quickly."  He waved to Christalla as she 
passed, and reached out to grab the arm of the younger man.  "Hey, kid 
brother, don't you have a word for your family?"

	"Oh!  M'tan, sure," Al'dairan echoed, obviously distracted.  
"Mother, Aleta, good to see you!"  Aylin offered him her cheek 
expectantly, and he leaned down to give her an obligatory kiss.

	"Great that you could get back so soon," M'tan said.  "D'neor's 
standing again, and this will be Del's first Hatching."

	Al'dairan's expression lightened a little.  "Well, D'neor can 
stand until he's 45, and he'll still be unjoined.  But I'm glad I could 
catch Del."

	"We're going to miss it!" Aleta declared.  "Come on."  She took 
Benna's hand and led the rest of them into the Hatching Cavern, amidst 
the excited Dragon trumpeting that echoed in the huge chamber.  

	M'tan lagged behind, pulling Al'dairan with him.  "So what 
brought you back so early?  I thought you were supposed to stay at Marrid 
for another few days."

	"There are some strange goings-on at Marrid," Al'dairan replied, 
his disturbed expression returning.  "They've had two dragonriders killed 
recently, sending their Dragons to suicide.  We'd like to think they're 
some kind of accident, but it's starting to look deliberate.  Waylene the 
WarrenLady would like to see if Keldarra's observed anything at all 
similar." 

	M'tan hesitated.  "That sounds really serious," he said quietly.  
"Well, we haven't.  Everything's been fine here, except for someone who 
doesn't take a liking to Almiron" --he gestured to the small man climbing 
into the stone tiers with Aleta, Benna, and Aylin-- "taking Keldarra by 
storm."

	"Christalla said the same," Al'dairan admitted.  "But I thought I'd
stay for the Hatching while I was here."  He pushed the concern out of his
face and grinned.  "Oh, and the other news from there is good-- the new
Queen just flew to mate, and the outlook's good for a lot of eggs." 

	"The more the merrier," M'tan agreed.  "Let's not miss the 
Hatching."   He took Al'dairan by the arm and led him to the rest of the 
group.  "Besides, I don't think you've met Almiron OR Benna yet."

	The fifteen eggs were shaking vigorously on the Hatching sands.  
Alicynth crouched in the corned of the Cavern, obviously wanting to be 
closer to her young in their birth, but knowing they had to be left alone 
to join.  At the first crack, Christalla signaled M'ressan, and he sent 
the two orderly lines of candidates onto the sands.

	"See that one there?" M'tan clapped his hand on Almiron's 
shoulder and pointed to a dark, heavy set young man at the edge of the 
sands.  "That's my other kid brother D'neor.  And that one--" a small, 
dark-haired girl, "is Del.  This is her first Hatching.  Now you've at 
least seen my whole family."  He smiled at Almiron and turned his 
attention to the events.

	As he was stepping on to the sands, D'neor pulled aside his
man-of-the moment, a dragonrider in Alpha Wing under M'tan, and kissed him
passionately before jumping back in line.  The gasp from the audience was
audible, and M'tan rolled his eyes.  "D'neor is insufferable at hatching
times," he confided in Almiron.  "He milks his homosexuality for all the 
shock value he can get out of those poor Landbound."

	Almiron looked at M'tan in surprise, then dropped his eyes. 
Something about that seemed to clarify things for Almiron...  something
about Warren society, or M'tan's understanding, or both. 

	Then the eggs began to hatch, and conversation became impossible
against the cacophony of Dragons trumpeting and Humans cheering.  M'tan
looked and looked for the Queen, hoping... just a little... for Del, but
he never did find the metallic dragon hatchling.  The first few dragons
joined quickly: a brow-and-gold to a youth Bandin M'tan knew from around
the Warren was the first, and he noticed that cute Landbound kid M'ressan
had picked up from Traveler's Rest find a vivid red-and-orange.  The
redhead Reolden had picked up in Michel's rescue simply walked up to the
right egg and joined with a little white as soon as it hatched. 
Remarkable.  Then, he scanned over the tummult... 

	"Look!"

	Almiron, Aleta, and Aylin turned to where M'tan was pointing.  
"See? It's Del.  Does that look like that I think?"

	The dark, petite girl was walking across the hatching sands in 
the direction of a clump of remaining dragonets.  And behind her... 
unoticed, a dragonet followed, keening miserably.

	"That's the one," Aylin declared.  "That's the one for my Del."

	Suddenly, the girl on the sands stiffened.  She turned around
slowly to meet the eyes of the creature behind her.  The cacophony
swallowed her exclamation of joy as she fell to her knees and wrapped her
arms around the dragonet. 

	"What was her name?" Aylin demanded aloud.  "She called it out, but
I couldn't hear." 

	<Olesya,> Zareth said promptly in M'tan's head.  <She's Olesya.>

	M'tan opened his mouth, but Al'dairan was already relaying the 
news.  

	"Four children, and three dragonriders," Aleta observed 
appraisingly.  "The searchers weren't wrong when they found you, Aylin."

	"My children have gone plenty of places I could never go," Aylin 
replied, and there was a brief sadness in her voice that she quickly 
covered.  "I want to be near my Del!  This is her moment!"  She stood up 
and tried to pull Al'dairan's larger form up with her.

	They all rose and descended the tiers, waiting to ambush Del as
she walked off the hatching sands.  It was M'tan who stepped out of the
shadows to grab her, squeeling, and swing her around.  Almiron watched
her.  She was almost young enough to be M'tan's daughter... the same age
gap there would have been between Darlea and her child, had Almiron made
her pregnant, he realized unpleasantly.  Her black hair, tanned skin, and
deep dark eyes made Almiron think pleasantly of the Horse Nomads. 

	"Let me down, M'tan!" Del screamed.  "I want to be near her!" 

	"You've got the rest of you life, baby sister," M'tan answered,
grinning fully.  But he did finally put her on the ground.  

	She hurried to Olesya to quiet her confused keening.  Olesya was a
cream- colored dragonet, accented in yellow-gold above the eyes and along
the wing membrane.  Her large eyes turned on Del were deep indigo.  Though
homely as hatchlings tended to be, she'd be a beautiful dragon soon. 

	Aleta approached, holding a crying Benna-- with a panicked 
expression on her face.  "M'tan," she pleaded.  "She wants to touch the 
dragonet.  I was afraid..."

	M'tan grinned.  "Del, just tell your Dragon she's going to have 
her first rider..."  He took Benna from Aleta's arms and seated her 
gently on Olesya's back.  Beena, her tears forgotten, laughed and hugged 
the hatchling's neck.  Then M'tan met eyes with Al'dairan's and nodded.  
The two of them attacked Del from both sides and hoisted her onto their 
shoulders.  They carried her, insulting them all the way, to find meat, 
and Olesya-- completely bewildered-- followed.

	Almiron held back and watched.  He'd never seen M'tan like that.  
He felt both warmed by the closeness he observed and isolated from those 
feelings himself.  Then he saw Aylin, still standing near, turn to him 
and smile.

	"We're going to celebrate tonight," she said.  "Come along, 
now."  She reached over to take his arm.

	Almiron smiled a little inwardly, nodded, and let himself be led.