Plans
It was late in the morning by the time Edan woke, roused by the groggy cries of one of the nocturne hatchlings.
He hurried to his feet and scooped the infant up, attempting to soothe it before it woke the rest of the house. After a few minutes of bouncing, and then simply shoving some food in its mouth, the nocturne calmed and settled in his arms.
Maybe I should make breakfast, he thought, pacing the room on his hind legs. He peered into the new room to check on Saerun, who had indeed stayed for the night. She was sleeping, though she didn’t exactly look peaceful, with her brow furrowed and mouth pulled into a grimace.
A pitiful sight.
The rest of the hatchlings still slept, unperturbed by the earlier fussing from the one he carried. Rorin and Ila were still in their beds, and Solveig was…
Gods damnit.
“Where the
hell did you go this time?” Edan hissed under his breath, casting another look through the house before switching to his second sight, and letting out a relieved sigh at the heat signature just outside the building.
“You really had me worried again for a second there,” he stated, shutting the door behind himself and heading over to the pearlcatcher.
“Sorry,” Solveig bowed their head, offering a sheepish smile. “I couldn’t stay asleep. I didn’t want to wake anyone, so I thought I’d head outside and sort the wood we have left.”
“You should probably head inside and try to get a bit more rest,” Edan frowned, looking over the pearlcatcher’s bloodshot, heavy-lidded eyes. “You look like hell.”
“Maybe…” Solveig admitted. “But it looks like everyone else must be waking up by now.”
“No, it’s just me and… this one,” Edan replied, looking down at the hatchling leaned against his shoulder.
“Ila said she was naming that one Hazel.”
“She named them all already?”
“I assume so. I don’t know the others, though. That’s the name I heard before Ror came to get me.”
“Hm, Hazel. Hello, Hazel,” Edan held the hatchling out, looking it over. It let out a delighted trill and attempted to grab onto his face. He let it pull on his frill as he turned to look back at the pearlcatcher. “So. Sol, a
lot has been going on recently. Even these kids would be a lot to deal with. I appreciate all the work you’re doing, but you need to rest. So go inside, lie down, and I’ll set some breakfast up.”
It was a nicely-worded order, but an order nonetheless.
Solveig stared for a moment, then let out a strange sort of half chuckle and turned, heading toward the door. “Alright, Edan.”
The pearlcatcher had already flopped into bed by the time Edan made it inside, and had started lightly snoring by the time he had started to cook anything.
Edan sighed, silently chastising himself for not making sure the others were looking after themselves better. With all the literal infants showing up, it was easy to forget that everyone else was still young, too.
“Do you need any help?” came a quiet voice from over his shoulder.
Edan jumped, but managed not to shout in alarm. He turned to look at Ila, who had managed to tiptoe all the way to him without his noticing.
“…Yeah,” he replied, tipping the contents of his pan onto a plate. “This was for Sol, but they’re passed out, so just have some yourself and give the rest to the other hatchlings when it’s cooled off. Also, poke Rorin awake. I’m working on food for us next.”
“Why don’t I just wake Sol up?” she asked, eyeing him quizzically.
“They just were up,” Edan replied with a shrug. “They were outside. I made them go back to bed.”
“Hmm,” Ila cast a scrutinizing look at their sleeping sibling. “Okaaay…”
She stood there for a while as Edan cooked, quietly eating and occasionally blowing on the food to cool it down. Eventually, she spoke up once more.
“Edan?”
“Hmm?” the mirror grunted in response, flipping his steak.
“Do you think Sol’s been acting kind of weird recently?”
“I…” Edan began, pondering it for a moment. “Well. How ‘bout you tell me.”
“But I’m asking you!” she replied, frowning.
“You’ve known Sol all your life,” Edan replied. “You’d know better than me. I’ve always had some trouble figuring them out.”
“Well…” Ila sighed. “Yeah, they’ve been kind of weird recently. I think.”
“Is there something you think I should do?” Edan asked, turning to look at the nocturne, pan in his hands.
“I don’t know if there’s really anything
to be done,” Ila replied, wrapping her arms around herself. “I can’t even really say what’s different, aside from them being more. Like. Distant. I guess I’m just worried.”
“None of us have had any time to act normal,” Edan replied. “I’m worried too. But we just have to keep on going until… until we do. I feel like I’m gonna jinx myself saying this, but things can’t stay this crazy for much longer.”
On that note, one of the other hatchlings began to whine, and soon the whole pile was awake and crying out. Ila rushed off without another word, sitting and gathering the three nocturnes into her lap to feed.
Edan watched with quiet amusement as she succeeded in getting them to take bites from the plate, and began to praise them in baby talk.
“So, Solveig told me you’ve named them all?” he asked, before pointing a thumb at the hatchling still perched on his shoulder. “I know this one is Hazel.”
“Yep!” Ila replied, pointing from hatchling to hatchling. “There’s Clade, Espen… and the one that keeps falling over is Marshall.”
“…He’s not balancing? That’s kind of worrying.”
“No, I mean, he’s a lot… rounder than the other ones so when he stumbles he kinda just starts rolling.”
Edan snorted, shaking his head. “Hope he grows out of it.”
The fire-eyed pearlcatcher hatchling toddled out from the side room, making a beeline toward Ila and her plate. Saerun followed shortly after, blanket securely wrapped around her shoulders. She sat down a fair distance away from Ila, keeping an eye on the young pearlcatcher.
“Good morning,” Ila greeted, smiling brightly at the skydancer. She didn’t seem to know how to respond.
“I expected you to sleep longer,” Edan remarked, taking an apple from one of his shelves in one hand, and a plate for Rorin in the other. He passed by the mirror first, nudging him awake with his foot and dropping the plate next to him.
“No, I was lying awake for a little while before now,” she replied quietly, looking down. “I’ve always been a light sleeper.”
“I see,” Edan replied slowly, sitting down across from her and offering the apple. “Well, if you heard Ila listing off the kids’ names that’ll save us some time.”
“I did,” she replied, a slight smile on her face at his comment as she accepted the fruit.
“Alright, so that leaves Ila,” Edan began, gesturing to the nocturne.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” Ila greeted warmly, offering a small wave between keeping the four hatchlings that were currently swarming her balanced.
“And the other mirror is Rorin.”
Rorin groggily waved, sitting up and squinting blearily.
“And the pearlcatcher over there who’s still sleeping is Solveig,” Edan finished, gesturing toward them before looking back to Saerun. “They’re the one who healed you before we brought you here.”
Saerun cast a long, considering gaze at the sleeping pearlcatcher. She then took a bite out of her apple, looking between him and the ground.
“We couldn’t find the rest of your arm,” Edan continued. “You didn’t lose it there, did you?”
“No.”
“Where did you? And how did it happen? Was it a creature, or a dragon?”
“I don’t remember - I didn’t even feel it happen. I really… don’t want to talk about it.”
“I’m not expecting you to go into detail - “ Edan began, but stopped himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Okay, Saerun, all I need to know is if someone is looking for you. You said you weren’t safe, and if there’s a dragon after you we need to prepare for that.”
Saerun looked ill, wrapping her arms around herself and pulling the blanket tighter.
“…Yes, it’s other dragons. A group,” she relented. “If they did this to me… they probably think I’m dead by now. But they might be looking for Ciron.”
“Damnit. Then… you’re both going to stay inside for now,” Edan frowned. “What should we expect if we run into one of them?”
“They’ll come off… normal, friendly. And they’ll say they need help,” Saerun replied, her voice bitter. “If you turn them down, they’ll turn violent.”
“Edan and I can keep watch,” Rorin assured, now quite awake and eager to calm the skydancer’s fears. “We can see things way before they see us - unless they’re mirrors too, anyway.”
“No. Mostly pearlcatchers,” Saerun replied quietly. “How far… where are we, anyway? How far did I run?”
“You’re in Dragonhome, the far Southeast of it,” Edan replied, silently musing on how to handle the situation. He wasn’t as hopeful as Rorin seemed to be.
“Then… they’d be coming from the South,” Saerun rubbed her shoulder. “Cusp of the Tangled Wood and Plaguelands.”
Edan was silent for a time, forcing himself to eat in spite of feeling quite ill at that point. Finally, he stood and nodded to Rorin.
“Okay so, we’re going to patrol, get ready,” he ordered, then turned to Ila. “And you’re going to look after everyone while we’re gone, alright? I’ll sweep everywhere around the house first, but if someone comes, don’t say anything about Saerun or Ciron.”
“
Of course I won't,” Ila replied, clearly offended he felt the need to say that.
The mirror shook his head, grabbed his cleaver and satchels, and headed for the door.
What he really needed was time to clear his head.
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Another chapter! I'm not usually gonna be doing one a day, but given all the new clan members I want to get all the details down before even more things come up.
Can't get bogged down!
I also took some time today while nursing a migraine to (kinda badly, but whatever) draw the current adult dragons in this 'locke.
Ila is very spiky. It probably won't come up in the 'locke, but I wanted to hint that one of her blood parents was a ridgeback.
