Chapter Twenty-Four
Galen
I must have scared our eggs with the burst of smoke. Just when I thought they were about to hatch, they went back to sleep inside their shells to wait for another day.
They were getting so big, it was hard to reach Mac on his side of our blanket fort. The weather on Ignitas never strayed far from comfortable, but the heat inside our little egg incubator was getting to me. Both Mac and I had been drinking more water than usual, but that only meant we had to pee more. Every time I got up, I worried I would miss the first tremor of a crack.
Still, nature called. I hurried from the nest. I was still washing my hands in the stream when Mac called to me.
"Galen! Hurry!"
That could only mean one thing! On the way back, I tripped over a rock and stubbed my toe. It burned, but I kept running until I was at the lip of the bowl.
I skidded to a stop and surveyed the beautiful image before me. Mac had stripped the blankets away, and our beautiful eggs shone in the sunlight. They were almost transparent, which was more apparent in the sunlight than it had been under the blankets.
I also had a surplus of magic compared to the last few days. That should have been my first clue we were about to have hatchlings, but I was lucky I could remember my name with as much sleep as I'd gotten the last few days. Every time I started to drift off, a new worry popped into my head. What if we weren't good parents? What if Olaf was wrong about the way to break the curse?
At the first tremor, I slid down the embankment. "This won't do." I looked down at my kobold alpha form.
Mac wordlessly tugged both eggs closer to his pretzeled legs and grinned. "You won't need to conserve your magic anymore." He pointed to the large crack down the side of the dragon egg, and the tiny puncture at the top of the kobold egg.
I couldn't let my babies greet me like this. I shifted, wings first, raising myself above the nest and gently landing along the far edge. In my dragon form, the bowl was almost too small for the four of us. I rested my tail on the ledge behind Mac, so I didn't crush him.
"Hello babies." I cooed at them, nudging the shells with my snout.
I didn't hear any response, but that wasn't unusual. Our little ones wouldn't vocalize until their first molts. For our kobold, that would be in a week. For our dragon, it would be a few months.
Not for the first time, I worried I would be an impatient parent. Mac sometimes said I overreacted to minor changes, and this was a major one. We were about to have two additions to our family who relied on us for everything.
The dragon egg shook, and my fear succumbed to the awe of watching yet another deep crack mar the shell from top to bottom. The egg trembled and a huge chunk of shell fell to the nest, exposing our baby's left side. They were all-black like me, but their wings and claws were gray, with a sheen of opalescence.
They stood on their back legs, and the top of the shell stuck to their head, still covering their eyes.
"Let us see you, little one," Mac said, his voice soft so he wouldn't startle them.
We both knew better than to help the baby from the egg, though it took every ounce of my willpower.
They shook their head, and the eggshell slipped to one side, finally sliding down their wing and falling to the floor. They had the sweetest little dragon face, and their eyes were brown, like Mac's. They would remain that color until they could breathe fire after their third molt.
Mac spread his arms wide, and the little dragon scampered onto his lap. With wide eyes, Mac slid beneath my wing, cradling the beagle-sized baby close to his chest. "They have all their wing claws and toes!" He looked up at me and grinned. "There's your paragon, baby. Want to say hi?"
Though they couldn't vocalize, they made a high purring sound in their chest. They snaked their neck around Mac's, and then they dropped awkwardly to their wing claws and feet. This time, the sound in their chest was more of a grunt. They clambered awkwardly on their claws for a few steps, becoming more and more steady as they went.
I lowered my head to their level and covered them in a welcoming burst of smoke. "Hello, little one."
They closed their eyes and my smoke rolled over them, coating them in my scent. "Welcome, little dragon. I'm so glad you're here."
My neck was far too big for them to wrap around, but they rubbed their snout along my wing. I did my best to pet them with a wing claw, but this form would never do. I was too jealous of Mac's ability to hold our baby in his arms, and to pat our little kobold egg, which had rocked on its base once and stilled.
I shrank back to my kobold alpha form. The spell to put on pants, which had been difficult even two hours ago, took much less time and effort.
"We have to name them," Mac said.
"Slate." I picked them up so there was no confusion. "You are as sleek and strong as the stone in the quarry."
Mac patted their head and slid an arm over my shoulder, turning me back to the egg still in our nest. "Slate," he whispered. "I like it."
"You get to name her," I said.
He sputtered. "What? We didn't agree to that! We have names picked out!"
"Yes. I picked Slate, so it's your turn to choose for our little girl."
"I'm not even good at naming dragonets," Mac whispered.
"You'll know the right name for her, the same way I knew Slate's." The little dragon clawed their way onto my shoulders and then snaked their neck out to rest their head on Mac's shoulder. Together, we sank down and leaned forward to watch the kobold egg's progress.
As though she knew she had our full and undivided attention, the egg shook. Then, the top exploded upward and fell inside-up in the nest. A little snout poked into the opening, and the egg shook again as she tried to worm her way out.
Finally, she gave up and smacked the side of the egg with her snout. A large portion of the side fell open, and she flopped out onto her back. Her white scales stood out against her brown skin. Her tail whipped, throwing the remains of the shell against the collapsed walls of the blanket fort.
"She's beautiful," I whispered. I reached out a hand, and she scampered to me, already sure on her feet. She quickly climbed as far as she could on my arm, and she nosed her brother in the flank.
"We should let them get to know each other," Mac whispered.
I nodded. I didn't want to say what we both thought out loud. I was ready to create a harness to tie them together if it meant our kobold daughter would survive her first molt. I pried Slate from my shoulders while Mac removed the dirty blanket, exposing a clean one underneath. Then, I set the two little ones in the middle.
"Opal." Mac squatted beside her to pat the top of her head. She wasn't about to let him go that easy. She followed his reach and almost knocked him onto his back. "If you're going to name our little dragon after stone, our little girl is a gem," he said once he finally stopped laughing.
"That she is." I helped Mac back to his feet, and we watched as Slate and Opal turned toward each other, sniffing. Instead of circling each other, they awkwardly scampered across the rough terrain of the blanket. Slate's claws got tangled in it. Opal tackled them onto their back, knocking their claws free.
For a terrifying heartbeat, I worried I would need to pull them apart, but then I heard Slate's strange purring sound, and Opal curled up on their chest.
"No suffocating, now." Mac shifted them to their sides, and Opal curled up beside them, still draping her tail over their neck.
Mac tugged at her tail, and it unwrapped.
"They're not trying to kill each other yet, at least," I said.
Mac laughed nervously. "You don't think?—"
"No. She loves them. Look." They were already fast asleep.
I embraced Mac, and the corners of my eyes stung at the glorious sight before us. Mac turned in my arms. I placed a gentle kiss on his nape, and we watched the rise and fall of their chests.
I had already forgotten my first duty as a parent. "I need to go hunting."
"No, you don't," Mac said. "You're not leaving her until her first molt."
"How will they eat?" Our baby dragon's first meal would be a fresh bovinji, or I was already a bad parent.
Mac laughed. "Rapture's bringing us supplies, and your paragon is already hunting for us."
I blinked. "You told them? When?"
"I sent some messages after the dragon egg cracked."
I dropped to the floor and pulled him into my lap, content to watch our children sleep.
"Gods, this is magnificent," I said. "We did this."
"We did." I couldn't see Mac's face, but his voice was thick with tears. "We have two perfect little babies. I'd do anything to keep them safe and happy."
"I love you, Mac." The words rolled off my tongue without a care. I could read his mind, after all. I knew he loved me, too. We hadn't said it yet, too overwhelmed with the worries of becoming new parents. That hadn't gone away, certainly, but looking at our sleeping dragon and the adorable little kobold girl curled up beside them, I felt brave.
Mac turned in my lap, straddling my hips. His kiss said he loved me back, and more, so when he said it out loud, it was almost anticlimactic.
"I love you, too, my great grumpy dragon."
"I'm not grumpy," I argued. This is the happiest day of my life!"
"You sound grumpy to me." My paragon breezed through the doorway. They'd taken the form of a dragonet, with Rapture following closely behind them. Rapture landed beside them in the bowl.
They shifted into their kobold priestess form and swatted his snout when he leaned forward to sniff the babies.
"Wait your turn! These are my grandchildren!"
I stopped short of growling at them. The babies were already awake, blinking their eyes at each other before turning as one to study their grand paragon.
"Oh, look at you. You are the perfect pair. And your grand paragon brought snacks!"
They pulled a satchel from under their arm. "Your sweet kobold baby can't digest this, but I believe your dragonet has something for her."
Mac unpacked the supplies from Rapture's packs. There were soft plush toys for both babies and a salad container with a note on top.
"Clementine's favorites," Mac said. "Lark says she helped him pack."
My eyes stung as unexpected tears welled up. I missed our friends. I couldn't wait to be home, where the children would continue their class visits to see us, and we would make trips to the village for supplies. For now, we relied on these sweet gestures.
Mac tried to get Rapture to return to the dragonet barn, but he refused. He hunkered down near the doorway, wrapped in his wings, and stared at us as though daring us to make him leave.
"That's normal," Paragon said. "They were our pets before the kobolds put them to work." They glared at Mac. “He has already bonded with your little girl, which means the curse is well and truly broken."
Mac frowned. "How does that prove anything?"
"Dragonets only bond with powerful life forces from such an early age." Paragon paused. "Do my little grandchildren have names?" They held the bovinji organs just out of reach over our little dragon's head.
"Our dragon is Slate."
"That's a strong name. Slate," they said. "Remember who gives you treats." They shook the container, and the smell of fresh organs was strong in the air. "Can you follow me? We don't want to dirty your nest."
Slate followed my paragon off the blankets. They still had difficulty with their claws sticking in the fabric, but their eagerness to taste the goodies in Paragon's hands drew them forward. Soon, they reached the stone floor, another learning curve, but much faster this time since their claws didn't get stuck in the stone.
"Here you go, my dear." They placed the bowl of organs on the stone floor, and Slate knocked it over in their haste. They slurped it off the floor, blood and all, much like I had done with my share of bovinji organs before I'd laid their egg. That had been ages ago.
Mac tried to feed Opal her bowl of salad, but she scampered after Slate, showing no interest in the food. She plastered herself against Slate's flank and watched with interest as they ate.
"I forgot," Mac said. "They should stay together."
Paragon nodded. "Yes. They will always be close, but the first week is critical."
Mac moved the salad bowl within her reach by Slate's side. She glanced at Slate, as though testing whether they would steal it from her. When they showed no interest, she dipped her snout in the bowl and began to eat.
Paragon reached down and patted her head. "What's her name?"
"Opal," I shared.
"It's beautiful. She's beautiful." They played with the white tuft of hair at the top of her head while she ate. "I'm certain she will break the curse."
"We're staying here until she molts," I said. "There's less trouble to get into here."
"We kept you here until your first molt," Paragon shared. "You were such a curious baby. The drop-off scared you enough to keep you in the cave, at least."
I'd continued to live in our family home after they left. The gradual slope, large landing at the cave entrance, and steep chute to the bone pile were unmatched by any other caves in the area. I would probably need to fish Slate out of the bone pile a time or two before their first molt, but they would learn.
The babies finished eating. Instead of returning to the nest, they curled up on the stone, Slate on their side and Opal curled around their head.
"They'll get cold." Mac picked Opal up, and I grabbed Slate under their wings and lugged them back to the nest. They returned to the same positions, and we covered them with the blankets to keep them warm, leaving a large vent above both their heads so they could breathe.
"Your siblings will be angry if I stay too long," Paragon said. "They wanted to come, but we'll wait a day before we overwhelm you."
"Thank you." At the cave entrance, we both returned to our dragon forms and twisted our necks together in a farewell hug. "Thank you for staying." My whisper echoed on the mountaintop.
"This is still my home, little Galen."
I snorted at "little." I was larger than they.
"I will help your siblings find their mates," Paragon said, "and then I will pick one of the ancestor caves as my own. I wish your father was here to see it. He always liked the one that looks like a dragon. I told him I hated it, but the priestesses have kept it clean over the years. Now that you've disbanded them, I can pick up where they left off."
"Are you mad about the priestesses, and the temple?" I asked.
They shook their head. "No. Dragons don't need to be worshiped. We also don't need to worry about how quickly these new kobolds reproduce. Several dragon planes have no kobolds. It will take millennia to repopulate them all."
I had more questions about the other planes, but I didn't want to stay too long away from our babies. "We'll talk more tomorrow," I said. "Tell Chance and Lux I can't wait to see them."
Paragon rubbed their snout against mine, the same way they'd done when I was little. "I will. Take care of those babies for me!" I closed my eyes against the downforce from their wings, and then I shrank back into my kobold alpha form. I patted the little dragonet still huddled resolutely by the door and returned to our nest.
Our little ones were still wrapped around each other on their sides. Mac stood over them with his tablet, snapping picture after picture.
Once he sent them to all our friends, we lay on either side of the little nest, facing each other above the blankets. Our babies were more compact now than they had been in their eggs.
I reached across the expanse and caressed Mac's cheek before resting my hand on his shoulder. We fell asleep like that, curled around our babies in our love nest.