Hatchings

Rice' was not enjoying motherhood. Sitting on a sand-covered clump of eggs all day just seemed so pointless. The mating part she had enjoyed immensely (after all, what female in her right mind wouldn't enjoy being fought over by such gorgeous males as she'd had after her?) but waiting for her eggs to hatch just about drove her to distraction.

Her only saving grace was the fact that unlike the other dragons on the sands, two of those non-verbal types that seemed so prolific around here, her eggs matured quickly, and the developing children inside reached a point where they were able to communicate with her. Pleased that she wouldn't have to explain everything as they were hatching she settled down to tell them what was expected of them when they were ready to hatch.

Now the eggs were getting very close to hatching indeed. Some maternal instinct that was completely foreign to her had caused her to tell the leaders here at Darkling Dawn that she had eight eggs, when in fact there were ten resting beneath her on the sands. Still baffled by this, but not willing to correct the misinformation, she hoped enough candidates or sponsors would come to take the little beasts away from her. Kourikawa assured her he, his sponsor, and his fellow sponsorlings would be willing to take a son, and since the whole troupe had showed up to support him Rice' had informed those eggs with masculine energy that one of them was to leave with their father, no matter what!

: Don't forget now, boys, : she said silently to the eggs, wanting to remind them just in case, : one of you must go with your father. :

She received an affirmative response and shifted her weight to rest more easily. The eggs had gotten hard and though she padded them with sand it was impossible to get comfortable while lying on them. When this ordeal was over she intended to leave this place and find a comfortable place to reside for as long as it took to forget about this ordeal! And if she ever had to rise again she intended to find a place that would furnish her with feathers rather than sand, or maybe a place that would incubate the eggs for her without her assistance, that would certainly be infinitely better! She could enjoy the flying and once the eggs came she could go on her way without worrying about a thing!

She shifted again, the egg-mound seemed lumpier than usual today and she seemed unable to find even a moderately comfortable position.

: That's because we're hatching, mother-dear! : said one decidedly mischievous masculine voice. : Best get out of the way and call in those candidates unless you want us to bond you! :

Rice' let out a bellow of alarm that alerted her fellow dragonesses. Eoth, who was the ranking dragon here and still confined to the sands, let out a bugle of warning and began to hum. The other female joined her in her humming, as did every other dragon in the place! Rice' let out a roar that had something of the spirit world to it and promptly silenced every dragon in the area. "None of that racket! How do you expect my children to be able to make intelligent choices with all that infernal racket going on!"

The Pernese dragons all looked a little put out, but then the candidates and sponsors came filing in and Rice' could tell the eggs beneath her were vibrating with the hatchlings' struggles to break free. She dug the sand away from her ten eggs and stepped back. Whatever maternal instincts she had told her not to leave, but she wasn't about to snarl and snap at the candidates, spirits forbid she might scare one of them away!

The egg on the top of the pile was also the first to hatch but it rolled down off the pile to rest directly in front of the candidates before shattered into a million pieces that rained down on the waiting hopefuls. The little female inside was a pale blue with purple wing sails and a mane of dark blue hair running down the back of her neck. She looked at the candidates a little sheepishly then turned her gaze to her mother. "Do I have to?"

"Of course you have to! You don't have to bond but you have to choose someone to go home with," was Rice's somewhat testy reply and the hatchling turned her attention back to the candidates and sponsors in front of her. Luckily the bloody dusk daemon Niche caught her eye and she scampered over to the daemon.

"You look interesting, I like our wings. I'm going to stay with you. My name's Harioua."

Niche's reaction was lost as another egg began rattling from the middle of the pile. Before long a serpentine male dragon of a lavender color crawled from the pile of eggs. In fact, his coloring was almost identical to his mother's and though he gave his mother a look he moved quickly to a brightly colored sponsor. Emquenje blinked placidly at the serpentine dragonet who opened his mouth in a grin. "You're quite inspiring, you know that? I'm Forikanal and I'll be coming with you if you don't mind!"

At that point the rest of the eggs decided they could no longer wait and five eggs hatched simultaneously. One male and four females crawled from the sands and spread out before the candidates. The male was blue and he moved stealthily over to Sondraun. He said nothing, just settled beside the Vekora-Lo'Shee crossbreed and before long it became apparent that Rourikan intended to stay with Sondraun.

The females were more obvious in their choices. A pink female moved toward the mousy Parnava and settled herself at the young woman's feet. "You don't have to follow others around, you know. Now you can just follow me and I'll keep you safe! I'm Pasytia."

A grayish purple female stood next to a dark blue female and they exchanged nods before moving in separate directions. The grayish purple female moved toward Rowena and stopped in front of her. "I think we will accomplish great things together. I'm Kourisa, and I choose to bond you. Don't make me regret that."

Meanwhile the dark blue female had moved cautiously up in front of Sendaye. The young woman was shaking and if not for her friend being there to support her it looked like she'd be far away from here. The hatchling crooned softly to get Sendaye's attention. "I'm Riceyal. I will be strong for you when you need it, but you must promise to be strong for me as well." That said, the bond was made and small as she was she moved to her bond's side as if to take her weight away from Essie.

The last of the females, bright lavender in color, tilted her head to the side as she regarded the two remaining candidates. Uhlri Katera and his daughter Mylin caught her eye and she flashed her mother a mischievous grin before bounding over to the Avyndal. She pressed her bond on him before he could say a thing and then flashed him and his daughter a cheeky grin. "I'm Tasinoura, and I don't think I'm quite what you're looking for, but we're going to have lots of fun anyway!"

The last remaining candidate, a young...man was soon approached by a shiny pale yellow hatchling who managed to roll out of the confines of her egg just as Tasinoura approached Uhlri. Tamohara found himself face to face with the little dragon as she stood on her hind legs to look him in the eye. "I'm Taiyou, and I suppose you'll do."

Eight eggs had hatched, all of the candidates were gone and the only remaining sponsor was Kourikawa himself. The two remaining eggs were wobbling mildly, though not as if they were in any hurry to hatch. Rice' watched the two eggs with a growing sense of dread as the two masculine auras inside seemed to quiver with laughter that prevented them from hatching. Finally, one of the eggs cracked and a silver male crawled from the shell and over to his father. "I'm Kiceral, father, and I choose to go with you."

While that went on the other egg had hatched silently and Rice' looked to the egg only to find a creamy red hatchling at her feet. "No! You're supposed to choose a candidate or a sponsor!"

The little male looked around at the now empty sands and then grinned up at his mother and said in that mischievous voice she knew quite well by now, "But I don't want a candidate and there are none left anyway. I'm Jatansyal, mother, and it looks like you're stuck with me!"

Rice' collapsed to the sands and pulled her wings up to cover her face in dismay. There would be no rest for her until her child matured. At least she could hope that as the eggs had hardened quickly the children would grow quickly as well! Jatansyal prodded his mother with his snout until she pulled her head up in order to look at him. "Come along, Mother, I'm hungry!"

Rice' hesitated, but maternal instinct won out and she rose to her feet and led her son off of the sands to where the kitchen staff was waiting with well cooked morsels of meat for the hatchlings.