Wings of Fury 2

Comète crouched down to investigate the red egg, then turned to look at the group. "Ten people to ten dragons is a harder ratio to manage than one person to one dragon ten times," she stated to the group as a whole, before looking back across the eggs. She found a flat spot to sit down cross-legged and pulled her rations out of her bag, taking a piece of dried meat and biting off a chunk.

"Unless we all agree on a location to send mail to and meet at or something, communication will be tricky.

He took a look at the written message from Rozenn, between her and Henri. His pupils narrowed, uncomfortable signs underneath a mostly calm seeming exterior, that could be an issue in the future.

"Of course, we'll all need to be writing in languages we can all understand if we write letters to each other. That'd be confusing potentially."

Leaning over the eggs, he reached a hand out, as if feeling for something. The eyes closed and, the hair on the back of his hands raised as he hummed, moving over and... like magnetism, his hand rested on the silver egg. Looking anew- "Oh... Like the stars."

He picked it up, cradling it carefully, and began to sing slightly, giving it a little rocking motion as he turned and walked back to the camp.

SpoilerShow

"We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale stars gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers, Of the world for ever, it seems."

Proud at an entire elf being proud at him, Holek puffed his chest with capital P Pride. Following the kindly elf, he picked up an egg that was almost as tall as himself, all shiny and black. "I will call you... Pepper, after the most important spice...". He was not wearing his puppet as he said this, and he couldn't have done so anyways, for he needed both hands to grab the egg.

Zaya hefted the weight of the purple egg up into her arms, carefully. Wouldn't do to jostle it around too much.

"...Well said, Comète. For now, though. Going to take this out to the campsite. If we're each caring for one, each of you should also pick. No, color of a dragon doesn't really impact anything. Just... pick. After tonight, probably want to make camp further from Naissyri's... remains. Don't want to hatch the dragons so close to their mother's corpse. Might be. Unpleasant. I'll be outside."

And with that, she headed to the campsite!

Rozenn gulps before nodding and picking up the teal egg - it calls to her, its colors shifting like her beloved sea. She cradles it gently, protectively, and then has an idea. She fastens her shield loosely to the front of her torso and slides the egg between her chest and the shield. Perfect baby carrier, one that could stop an arrow. Probably looked dumb as hell, but whatever. It was safe.

She signs to Caulind, smiling weakly:

[Oh, certainly! I'm so sorry, I wasn't aware you couldn't read the language I was writing in. What tongues are you literate in? Any from near here that I might know, or could try to learn?]

Once she's done signing, she passes a little note over to Comete.

"For what it's worth... I think you're right. It's sad, thinking the children won't know each other, though. Would you mind--" She scratches it out. "Would it be okay if I visited your shop every once in a while? You're really nice, and it would be nice to have the dragons be able to catch up! :)"

Cométe read over the note, nodding thoughtfully as her eyes scanned the paper she’d been handed. A smile crossed her face, and she reached into her satchel and pulled out a flyer- looked like the last one she’d brought. She held it out to Rozenn, specifically emphasizing the address at the bottom, and her eyes sparkled somewhat. That’d be a yes.

Brom picks up the green dragon egg! It was like a giant emerald to him.

Caulind looked at the sign, then Henri, and gave a look back.

"I... sorry, don't know sign or many languages actually, I'm afraid either. I tend to rely on my skills with the third song for communication to be honest. It tends to bite me in the ass something awful when it comes to letters unless I can find someone to read it for me." Giving a mildly awkward look but, it was hard to learn languages when there was a convenient alternative normally. "I'm more of a dabbler where it comes to languages than fluent in anything particular.

OUTSIDE

Terzi, far away from the corpse of the felled dragoness, was setting up camp. Her own tent, a hand-sewn canvas creation sporting various colorful patches, was set up rather quickly, and once it was she started about setting up a campfire. It was best to start one early, so the wood could burn down to coals and be easier to cook on.

The her veil hid her face, her body language betrayed her anger. Short, terse movements betrayed a stirring storm in the Tsavari's mind. She was currently cursing in Zrucanese Salish.

["Foolish children, all excited for adventure... This is no adventure. This is a death sentence. By Verse and Flesh, of all the ways this could go wrong..."]

Zaya made her way to the campsite, violet egg cradled in her arms. She set it down gently in the grass, and began setting up her own tent - a simple, plain survivalist's tent, far sturdier than was necessary for the mostly-pleasant climate here.

When she finished setting up, she sat by the fire, warming her hands, and looked up at Terzi. ["This is going to be. Difficult. You aren't wrong. Parenthood. But far more involved. Have to do what I can to help prepare. Don't know if it will be enough. ...Not taking one yourself, I gather?"]

After reading Rozenn's note, Grok let's out a nervous chuckle. 

"To be honest, I'm not sure where to even find a letter," he admits. "Always lived on the move! Should be useful in trying to hide these little beasties, at least." He shifts his gaze back to the remaining eggs on the fortress floor. They really are beautiful, precious things. Grok glances towards their slain mother, his heart squeezing at the thought of how fiercely she'd tried to defend her family. He wonders how much more there was to the story of Naissyri's 'rampage'... 

Grok looks to Rozenn once more, who is now improvising a baby carrier. He decides to suggest that, "We can travel around the same areas, if you'd like. I imagine dragon-rearing will be a lot easier if we can meet with each other every now and then. Maybe tonight we can draw up a map with everyone and sort of plot out where we'll plan to be. That way at least we'd know where to look..." 

Grok's voice trails off as he's distracted once more by the clutch of eggs. Another pang of guilt wracks his heart, thinking of all of these creatures about to come into the world, separated from their family. He excuses himself, approaching the cluster of eggs and squatting down close to them. He rests his hand atop the blue egg, mesmerized by it's deep, swirling colors. Grokzurl isn't sure why, but this is definitely the one. He scoops the blue egg up into his arms, then returns to Rozenn's side. He politely suggests that they get to helping setting up camp, before heading towards the exit. 

It looks like Terzi and Zaya are already well underway getting things ready. Grok gives a wave, approaching Terzi and gingerly setting his newest family member on the ground next to him. 

"Alright, how can I help?" he asks, eager to make himself useful. Since he didn't manage to get a single thing done in the battle, the least he can do is put his skills to good use. "If you or Zaya can keep an eye on this egg for a spell, I'm happy to gather supplies, or get us something to eat. I'm not sure how well everybody packed, but I've always lived outdoors. Just let me know what you need!" Grok punctuates his enthusiasm with a bright smile.

Terzi sighs, looking to Zaya.

[“One moment.”]

She turns back to Grok, switching to Chunadie.

“I’ve got some spare blankets, I’ll make us a... Nest, I suppose? What would be very helpful, Grok. As for the egg, I’m certain it won’t be going anywhere... Do me a favor and retrieve another one. It seems everyone is picking out eggs already, even if we can’t go anywhere quite yet. I don’t want someone feeling like they need carry two at once,” Terzi gave a little curtsy. She’d have given Grok a smile but she *was* wearing a veil today, “Thank you.”

Terzi turns back to Zaya, switching back to Salish.

[“Picking out children like we’re choosing horses at the stables... Do you yet see how foolish this whole venture is, Zaya? You’re all not leaving me much choice. I trust few people here with one dragon, let alone two. I suspect Rozenn would take it, and the poor child already isn’t ready for the duty she is heroically taking on as is... and Song, I changed my mind about letting Henri handle one. If the only thing keeping him from doing something he thinks is evil is a mere loophole, he is a shameful fool.”]

Terzi moved back to tend to the fire.

[“I will need to accommodate the child while I dig through archives for clues to the father, mind. Perhaps we can travel together until then.”]

Comète crouched down by the red egg once she'd finished her dried meat and reached out a hand. Thoughts raced through her mind as her steel-clad fingers brushed the shell, and, absentmindedly, she reached up to her collarbone and pressed her hand to her breastplate. She couldn't touch it right now due to the armor, but she knew it was there- an old, plain, gold band wedding ring hanging on a string around her neck.

Comète frowned and pulled her hand away from the egg, then took out the net she'd been handed by Guy. With a few minutes of work, she was able to secure the egg to her backpack well enough for the journey back, then stood and joined the people setting up camp. When she sat, now, she gingerly placed her backpack and the egg on the ground and pulled her helmet off, running her hand through her hair. She knew this was going to be a serious undertaking, but... well, Comète was never particularly religiously observant, but it did occur to her that some prayers get answered much later than requested and in rather unorthodox ways.

Zaya sighed and nodded to Terzi. ["Of course I see how foolish it is. Saw how foolish jumping onto a dragon was, too. Sometimes foolishness is necessary. Sometimes no non-foolish options are left. Sometimes... have to make the most of what fate dumps in your lap."]

What an absolutely Zrucanian thing to say. Zaya, as she spoke, reached into her bag and pulled out yet another tome - Mating Rituals of the Wyrm, by Ivasaar Aragwyn. ["Going to return to Stemspire for help when I can. I can help you check archives first. Not confident about this quest to find the... other parent. Not necessarily 'father'. Little draconic notion of a gender binary. Not something we can assume. Regardless."]

Zaya flips through a few pages. Given that other people are arriving and the information seems important, she re-activates her translation charm. "Very rare for both parents to be involved with raising draconic children. Usually one takes the eggs, the other has nothing to do with them. How that's decided varies. This one? Possible she defeated her mate in combat for the eggs. Maybe combat to the death. She was... aggressive. Can't hurt to see what we find. Not simply a 'deadbeat dad', though, as it were."

She paused, squinting at a particular page of the tome. "...Hm. Ten eggs of different colors... doesn't usually happen. Usually inherit colors from parents, maybe grandparents. Not sure what that means - unusual song sang during the mating ritual? That's something to look for."

One of the last to take an egg was actually Avag, who had been sat there trying to work out the best way to get the egg back to his family, and to convince them to help look after it. As he watched the pile of eggs start to dwindle to just two, he suddenly scuttled closer. "Egg, egg, everyone's picking eggs, gotta pick an egg," he said, looking between the white egg and the bronze egg, then over his shoulder towards where the others were heading outside.

Then, looking closer at the metallic sheen of the bronze egg, he noticed the flecks of oxide green around the imperfections in the shell. "Just like the bells," he said, to nobody in particular. "That one's the one."

He headed outside, carrying the bronze egg. "We're not leaving one behind, are we?" he called to the group. "I can take two, so we're not leaving it behind! My family can help look after them. I mean, it's just until they're old enough, right? We shouldn't abandon it. Unless someone else wants to help look after it?"

With the eggs having been chosen, everybody went outside and worked to set up camp. Horses (and donkey) were recovered, tents were put up, and everybody started making things comfortable. Camp had been set up in the outer courtyard, allowing them all to rest somewhere VAGUELY secure without being right next to the dragon's corpse. A nest was put together by Terzi, and all the eggs sat together nice and secure.

Once camp was set up and a nice meal was cooking, some curious sounds began to come from the nest. Getting up to investigate, the group found cracks to be forming on the eggs as they jostled around.

They were hatching.

The cracks grew larger and larger as fluid began to spill out, and then the hatchlings began to emerge. Each one possessed scales of the same color as their egg, with their eyes being a lighter shade. They possessed tiny wings, little claws, nubby spines and horns, and little tails. Altogether, they were each around the size of a large housecat. As they finished breaking out of their eggs and examining one another, they began to make little high pitched cries and grunts as they flopped into each other and rolled around in their egg fluid.

It was kind of gross. But maybe kind of adorable. Depended on outlook.

"Aw..." Henri said.

Avag instantly let out a high-pitched yelp of joy and grabbed the bronze dragonling in a big snuggle! He was careful to be gentle with it, but this thing was so cute you have no idea.

“The miracle of birth...” Terzi’s tone wasn’t quite full of wonderment. She sighed.

“I don’t have any more extra blankets. Can someone fetch something to towel them off with? Avag, did you fetch that water I asked for? - Careful with it! We should get it warm. Not hot, warm... Someone attend to that for me. We’ll need to wash the... fluid off the hatchlings.”

She looked to Zaya.

[“I don’t know the Chunadie word for amniotic, if they even have one. Does your soul dragon or whatever you refer to her by have enough knowledge to assess the hatchlings, make sure they’re healthy?”]

Terzi went to settle near the nest with her bag, digging around in it for something.

Zaya was taken a little by surprise by the sudden hatching. It's easy to convince yourself that "within a week" means "one week", and not "possibly a few hours". Still, she got herself moving quickly, kneeling by the nest, pulling out one of her books (and, shortly thereafter, holding it well away from a curious and slimy hatchling), and began speaking to the dragon in her soul. As one does.

After a bit of this, she looked up - mainly toward Terzi, but she kept herself translated for the rest of the group. "They're healthy. Well cared for. Main thing right now will be keeping them fed. We need meat. A lot of meat. Any of you good at hunting? Rations we brought probably won't cut it."

"I am a skilled huntsman, but I fear that Terzi would kill me on the spot were I to suggest such a plan," Henri lamented.

It was a miracle he was still standing, to be honest.

Rozenn stared - first in wonder, then anxiety, and finally in horror. Coarse as Terzi was, birth was something of a miracle -- a miracle that was suddenly becoming much realer than it had been an hour before. It was a miracle that was not just a story she was telling in her head, but rather an overwhelming, all consuming reality which she would now have to reckon with. It was a miracle they'd robbed a mother of -- and while that mother was a scourge the world was better without, there was still no small tragedy to the fact that these children would never know her. They would be raised by the hands soaked in her blood. They would be raised by--

Before her thoughts could overwhelm her, Rozenn forced her eyes shut. She focused on a little song her mothers sang to her when she was overwhelmed. It had no words, just a tune, and it always had helped her gather her thoughts.

What was done was done, and she'd only done what she'd best been able to with the little information she had. She needed to remember that. Hindsight provided insights, but nothing could justify the many lives Naissyri took. Hindsight left her with regrets, but no one could change the past. No one could give these little ones their mother's embrace; no one could shield them from the shadow of the great dragon's corpse. All they could do was protect them from a world that would see them harmed.

And so with a gentle, sad sigh, she knelt and proffered a sad, pitying smile to the little creatures. Welcome to the world, babies; what a world it is.

Moving quickly, Comète approached Zaya and took the first knife she could see off of her. Appraising it swiftly, she nodded. “I need to borrow this, sweetie,” she said.

She approached her backpack where the cracking dragon egg and its sole resident still sat inside Guy’s net, with Comète not expecting the babies to born so soon. A flash of fear and guilt went through her as she worked, finally freeing the baby from its accidental entrapment. To calm it down, she brought it close, resting it against her breastplate, and began to heat it slightly with song, enough to help the young dragon relax in her arms.

The bronze hatchling wiggled and flailed against Avag, but didn't seem to HATE the attention. They were just confused and overwhelmed and incredibly slick and sticky!

The red dragon, deftly freed from their net prison, greatly enjoyed the heat and the singing. While still covered in sticky goo, they nevertheless gleefully growled along with the music.

Many of the other hatchlings, busy as they were wiggling and flailing against one another, did not notice Rozenn. Only the teal one did as they managed to separate themselves from the others. They stared up at her, tilting their head somewhat as they cried.

Brulie had, thankfully, stuck around the area, but she seemed unsettled. Guy was brushing her down while the kettle warmed over the fire when the sound of crunching eggshells nearly set her running, but Guillairme caught her by the muzzle and threw his other arm over her side, murmuring calmly to her while he strained his neck to see what was happening.

It was so much sooner than Zaya had predicted!

But if it was happening, it was happening. The donkey no longer seemed in danger of bolting. He gave her a pat on the nose and picked up his satchel, thumbing through to pick out a pouch of sassolite-treated barley grains and a crudely carved and well tasseled cow talisman, which he looped over his wrist.

Hearing Terzi's call for water, he picked up the kettle (which was probably on the hot side of warm, but it would cool soon enough) with one hand, and threw the grains onto the fire with the other. They shot up in brilliant, verdant green sparks. "Mother Amarie, we thank thee for thy gift of new life. We pray for your benevolent aid that these infants may survive their first year, that they be provided enough to eat, that they escape sickness and harm."

He set the kettle down next to Terzi, and went to each dragonling in turn to smooth a thumb over their brow while holding his pointer and pinky finger in the shape of the bull horns, an animal favored by Amarie.

Avag - who was also now gross and slimy - cuddled the bronze dragon for a moment longer, then held it out at arms length. "You are so cute and I love you and my whole family is going to love you and you're going to be super looked after and oh gods I have no idea what I am doing. What am I doing? This is a baby dragon! We have baby dragons! What do we do now? Gods! I guess I'm looking after a dragon from now on! Probably going to have to retire from adventuring to raise this kid, can't be dragging it into dangerous places, gotta keep it secret..."

As he rambled, he took a look at the dragon, seeing if it had been born with little teeth. "Hey, who knows what baby dragons eat? Zaya! What do dragons eat just after hatching? Do you know? I've got some jerky in my pack, but if that doesn't work I can go looking for something!"