Flight 36

Hatching 36

Cercleth painted circles around the three eggs that sat before her. Dori, her bond, danced along the edge of the sands, using the steps she'd been taught a world away. It was a dance to bring good luck and prosperity and she put her all into it in order to transfer the sentiment to the eggs. Not too far away, Kimry sat on a rock watching. Orideth was flying somewhere up in the sky above, keeping watch as he could not keep his energy confined. Instead, Auralia, Kimry's Gem-Glenn hybrid was keeping watch from the ground-level, resting up for when she would take the skies at night. Although.... the darkly-coloured wyvern suddenly sensed something change. She looked up and saw Cercleth freeze as a crack appeared into the shell of the egg she was drawing mandalas around. Within seconds, Orideth plumeted down and landed quite roughly in a nearby clearing.
"They're hatching!" Cercleth announced.
The words spread like wildfire and people came rushing to the hatching sands. Among them were the candidates that had been found for this clutch. Henrietta arrived first, using her palisman as a flying broom. The grey-skinned near-human demon grinned and a few people suddenly had the urge to give the many-toothed girl some food to keep her occupied. She promptly conjured a chair and sat down. She was pretty laid back, but the energy of the message had gotten her excited. Next to arrive was Maiki, a fit young man with shoulder-length brown hair. His mother had duobonded and the tension in his stance was palpable. Last to arrive was Stejn, a dark-skinned scribe and a stickler for rules. Although some noticed that today, there was a little spring in his step that seemed to match the tapping of Cercleth's tail.
After that first crack, a lull settled over the eggs, people waited, foodstalls were set uo and when dusk approached, someone had the bright idea to bring out a fiddle and started playing music. As if by magic, the eggs started to wobble again, maybe curious as to what was going on. Only a few songs later, the first hatchling poked a snout out of it's shell, followed by a paw and then it rolled onto the sands. When he stood up, the dark yellow male, looked wide-eyed at the audience. People were waiting expectantly and the musicians had stopped playing as soon as he'd appeared. And that would not do. Whining, the hatchling looke dup at his mother who agreed:
"Keep up the music, it seems my children have inherited my love for music."
With the tune restored, the Sinhalite hatchling relaxed and he happily pounced his way to Maiki.
"Show me everything you know and then we can discover new things together!" he urged.
"First share your name with me." Maiki replied.
"Maalumuth!"
Not much later, another egg fell apart and a rich purple dragoness slipped outside. The tune was lively, set in a major key and she crooned to it as she approached Henrietta. Headbutting the demon, she did not wait to make her intentions clear:
"Move over, I want to rest here so I can keep listening!"
"Just give me a minute." Henrietta agreed, dismissing the chair and in it's place conjuring a large sofa with plush cushions.
"Salviaverticulith is happy." the dragoness sighed and promptly fell asleep.
The last egg didn't leave the spectators waiting, and the dragon within, a Jasper brown, fell to the sands. She shook her head a few times to dislodge some dirt and then quietly made her way toward Stejn.
"I see you can move, how about we move over to that table with food?"
Stejn grinned and agreed, "First we need to pass the scribes and give your name..."
"Waltzth." the young dragon cut in and then moved lazily toward the table.
With that the hatching ceremony concluded, but the night was young and the people of the isle and those visiting were far from ready to go to bed. Merriment lasted well into the night and quite a few people needed the services of Orilya Tours to get home.
"See I told you the Laedryses would see the potential in our busniess venture." Orideth couldn't help but gloat.

Maiki (m) and Sinhalite Maalumuth (m)
Stejn (m) and Jasper Waltzth (f)
Henrietta Smille (f) and Charoite Salviaverticulith (f)

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