Happy Beginnings Amongst Sad Endings (touching)

A clutch on the sands was always a happy occasion. However, this clutch was shadowed by a very dark cloud. That cloud took on the shape of the more gray than gold dragon that held onto life only for the clutches sake. Kimeth, no longer the proud symbol of dragon-kind that she use to be, barely moved as she lay curled about her large clutch. Most days it seemed hard enough for her to breath let alone keep her eyes open. Occasionally the weyr would have to be reassured that she was even alive by their own dragons because she seemed more dead than anything else. Truth be told, she was as good as dead. With her rider past from this life the gold didn't have the will to live, but for the sake of her children she stayed.

Every rider and dragon knew what she would do once the eggs began to hatch and thought brought a tear to every eye. It was always hard to lose a dragon, but to lose a queen and one of the few left on Pern was worse. Hope of the species survival rested on Perlerith and the golden shelled egg resting on the hot sands. It would be kind of fate to make the hatching come fast so the suffering gold could follow her rider into the after life. The weyr would survive, though their hearts would be broken for a bit. At least there was thirty new dragons to welcome to the weyr, for that they had to be thankful. Today the candidates were being allowed to touch the eggs, hoping to capture the attention of a dragonet within one of the shells. It would be hard with the limp and lethargic body of the queen right beside them, but hopefully the candidates would be able to muster themselves through.
Go ahead and start touching candidates. Since Kimeth isn't really doing much except laying there, girls feel free to spend as much time with the gold as you want. Kimeth's mate will be looking in though, so be sure not to be disrespectful.