Eikida had been gone for a while. The Valley became restless. It wasn't often that they did not rely on The Shield for their defense. Thankfully, however, there were always replacements. 'Kida did need to sleep sometime, so they were at least vaguely prepared for her leave of absence. What they weren't prepared for was the length of her vacation. It had been almost a whole day!      The Shield, for her part, was having the time of her life. She had never been away from the Valley before, and never even heard of a 'Space Station'. It was the best thing ever! She loved it when new visitors came to their hatchings, unlike many of her kind, so in a place where almost everyone was something entirely different and almost no one was related to each other in any way, shape or form, she was like a kid in a candy store. Sort of. She did want to take them all home with her, at least.      But then, that was why she was here, wasn't it? She'd volunteered some time ago, something to do with representing the Valley for a hatching, but only just now received the invitation. So she was predictably excited; Eikida loved hatchlings.      It took her a while to find the hatching bays, since she was incredibly distractible and whenever she managed to pick up directions, something shiny or bright invariably caught her eye and lured her off the trail. Her favorite had been a merchant of some sort peddling shiny, multicolored, glowing orbs that could be worn as jewelry, or placed on a shelf, or hung from something, or any number of fun uses. It wasn't the first time she'd wished she'd had some kind or currency with which to buy trinkets, and it certainly wasn't the last, but it was one of the most agonizing.      The saa would have to return later, or at least send someone (since she didn't think her people would so readily let her leave again any time soon... she could almost hear their agonized, and entirely spoiled, wailing all the way out in space) to pick up some things when and if she ever got any of that money or credit stuff.      When she finally found the place, it was after an attendant had been sent to seek her out for the hatching. They found her at another vendor, this one selling silver dangly chain things (or at least, that's how 'Kida referred to them), and led her to the bay in which she'd heard a friend of a friend was having a clutch. It amused her to no end that Niaryalii wanted one of Dark's children to live in the Valley, but she supposed it shouldn't, really. It was a safe place now, but they couldn't possibly keep it hidden from the rest of Lliyani forever, especially with all the outside attention they were getting. Oh well. Bright side would be even more visitors, and Eikida was definitely up for that. Any day.      The childlike saa could barely contain her gleeful enthusiasm when she entered the hatching bay and discovered that the eggs had already hatched. That was the only thing she didn't like about hatchings: waiting for the eggs to hatch. Oh it was fun sometimes, but really, unless there was some sort of surprise, like with Multra's clutch (which she still giggled over every once in a while), she would much rather skip to the happy cries of hopeful candidates or playing with hatchlings.      And that's just what she heard when she entered. The thing had already started, but only just, and candidates, both bonding and sponsoring, were being greeted, attacked, hidden behind, and generally picked out of the crowd.      'Kida was only vaguely aware that the newborn hatchlings were both incredibly leggy and about as big as she herself was. Really, that only made them more fun to play with.      She spotted Dark immediately, since a description of the mother had been sent along to her, by way of explanation, she thought. She would've liked to meet the large silver and black dragon, but... well... hatchlings were more fun. She watched for a long time as, one after the next, the manylimbed darklings found who they were to go home with. And then her ears perked when someone in the room spoke her name. Her luminous black eyes immediately found Dr. Schroeder with his notes. The small teal hatchling he was talking to turned to look at her, and then grinned and surged forward, eight legs powering her toward Eikida.      The saa grinned hugely and hovered just above the ground, waiting for the little one that was to come home with her. | Back | Next |