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Shortly after laying the eggs, Kendra had left the Valley of the Sky. ~Gotta go,~ she had told them as they tried to impress upon her the virtues of motherhood. ~Got countries to destroy, castle battlements to tear down, bondmates to protect, and prophecies to seal.~ Which had left the rest of the valley with eight little eggs lying in the earth. The other saa considered the clutch for a brief time before they collectively decided to take it upon themselves to act as surrogate mothers and fathers to the clutch. Well. At least someone had it in themselves to be parents around here. The clutch was well cared-for, despite its mother's complete disassociation from the young within the eggs. They grew and developed, and while half the valley seemed to be rolling their eyes at irresponsible mothers everywhere, all of them were happy for the new life and their continued legacy. When the news went out that the young would hatch, the Valley swarmed with interest, and one of the fathers - Keromazon - returned. There was no sign of Kendra nor Mossamang, and by this time, none of the saa were really all that surprised. Candidates came from all over to stand for the hatching, hoping one of these hatchlings would want to join them. One, Dakan, had proved himself a slightly obsessive and reclusive fixture around the Valley in the passed few months, but the rest were all newcomers. There was Vanessa, a human girl who wore a straightjacket who arrived with a far healthier-looking young man and a coppery dragon. There was the disconnected youth, Kalju, who looked as pale as Vanessa but wandered the Valley investigating everything in silence or words that he spoke to no one in particular and meant less to the collected dragons. Large, rosy Toretera Selamputo filled the Valley with grace and set contrast to the winged Shade, Noriko Hearts, who was accompanied by -- was that a rotting dog?!. Noriko spent a large portion of time staring at Freeman Lewis in a mixture of fascination and horror, and he shrank by the side of the young dryad, Magnolia, under the scrutiny of her gaze. Then, there was Aurrick ve Chayth, who was taller only than Kalju, who was a fascination in his gilt-skinned tones and easy confidence. He wandered the groups and knots, gleaning about them what he could while still eying everything with an expression of fascination. The sun came and went that day, playing games until a few annoyed artists put on the appearance of a bright, sunny day. Lacking a proper mother to precede over this clutch, Eikida stepped forwards, poked an egg, and shrugged. ~Soon,~ she'd said in her tiny, cheerful mindvoice. They waited. And waited. And waited. And just when someone was beginning to whisper to someone else that this might be Eikida's idea of funny, one of the eggs shook in the earth in which it was encased. It rocked and it pounded, and finally it cracked, a tiny silver-frosted black head bursting through, nubs of horns and a shock of brown joining it soon after. He forced his way out, then sat there, shaking the eggshell off his back, which was studded by wings. He stretched for a long moment, yawning, then blinked up at the collected people standing there, waiting with baited breath for the hatchling to choose a bond. He blinked huge blue eyes at them, his half-mane glistening with the wet of the egg, and then all of a sudden he seemed to understand. ~Holy cow! People!~ he yelped, then cavorted in a circle and quickly about-faced back to the eggs to jump on one of the shells. ~WAKE UP!~ he cried. ~Wake up! C'mon! Hatching time! Let's gooooo!~ ~People?~ another voice answered as an egg burst open revealing a pair of huge dark blue eyes and a tuft of white. Tiny tufted ankles rolled the hatchling out of the mess, and his two tiny tails followed him. His rear ankle-wings flicked in the simulated sunlight, and his big ears perked forwards. ~Is Aurrick here?~ he asked hopefully, scanning around the group. ~Oh! There you are!~ he chirred and trundled and tripped over the hatching grounds as his brother continued to leap and cavort at the eggs. ~Can I come with you?~ ~Wake up! Wake up! Wake up wake up wake up wake up!~ the first hatchling continued to cheer before another egg cracked open and a little light-brown-dusted black hatchling with the very obvious facial tusks of his father pushed his way out. ~What? Daaaad, make him stop!~ the little hatchling demanded, wandering over to Kertoman. ~Can we go somewhere cool? Please? And leave him here?~ Finally, the rest of the eggs started to crack and split with alackrity. One of Keromazon's daughters, already sporting a thick mane of fur, rolled her eyes at her brother, who was still hopping around and tapping eggs and calling out to his brothers and sisters, and started walking towards the group of collected candidates. She had an eyeline on Dakan when she tripped over an eggshell and fell flat on her chest. She glared behind her and huffed at the egg, swatting a tail at it before picking herself back up. ~Dakan, we'll find Andri,~ she said confidently. ~I'll make sure of it.~ Which left four eggs to hatch. Or, three, rather, as one had hatched so quietly that her approach to the young scholar, Kalju, had nearly gone unnoticed. ~Hi!~ she chirped. ~Can I go learn with you? I want to know EVERYTHING!~ Wild eyes followed her request, and Kalju didn't answer. He just smiled a moment, reached down, and touched a fingertip to the hatchling's nose, which elicited a giggle from her tiny brown form. Another male forced his way out, and he was tackled almost immediately by his over-active brother. The two of them rolled around on the ground in a mass of fur and horns and tail-tufts while the rest of their siblings went about things the normal way. A stocky black female forced her way from the eggs next, and looked around at the large gathering around and ducked back into the egg for a moment before peeking out and obviously steeling herself to step out. She was shaking a little as she crossed to the line of candidates, potential bondmates, and blinked up at them all. ~Vanessa,~ she said quietly. ~Don't be mad, but I don't think you're really... ... mad. But... um... Can I still be your own personal hallucination?~ Finally, the two half-brothers stopped toussling on the ground long enough for the brown, twin-tailed brother to saunter over to Noriko. ~Be with you in a minute. After I teach him a lesson,~ he said, tipping her a wink. ~Nice bones, by the way,~ he added with an appreciative nod to Draven. He proceeded to do exactly that, practically throwing his overly-excited brother over to roll to a stop to where Freeman crouched watching them. ~I pick you!~ he giggled. ~Tag!~ and he righted himself to tap a calwed paw on the Shade-Eniiy hybrid's hand before scampering behind him. ~Go get him! Show him what you're made of!~ he giggled. That left one egg to hatch, which would go to Toretera, or so it seemed. Eikida was peering down at it in what seemed to be either deep thought or conversation. Then, from out of a tiny hole broken in the shell just facing the Shield, a tiny grey and gold hatchling errupted in a spurt of giggles. ~Nope!~ she declared. ~I'm stayin' riiiiight here!~ A few saa fluttered down to Toretera's side. ~Don't worry,~ they told her. ~There's always the next clutch.~ It was a good day. All the eggs hatched. All the hatchlings were healthy. And that weird saa's eggs were no longer the responsibility of everyone else. Now to think of a way to make sure she didn't pull something like this again. PICKUP |