Mattimeo

The first sound he heard was that of Life. His three siblings were crawling out of their shells and the nestling himself was tired and warm. The sun beat down on his shiny silver hide and he curled up to conserve that vital warmth. Then his mother came. His gentle, caring mother.
"Hello, darlings," she cooed, "are you hungry?" The dragonets nodded and began squirming toward the mother. All except for the one. The one that was silver. He was weak. His mother knew it, so she picked him up and dropped him by the food. When they were done eating, the silver one got less than a seventeenth of it. The meat was good, and he wanted more. He crawled weakly into the strong sunlight. There he laid until noon, when his father returned.
"What?!" his father gasped, "All four hatched? I thought that one was a dud!" When he said that last sentence, he pointed at the silver one. The dragonet sensed his father's disappointment and cringed. Even though his eyes were sealed shut, he didn't think he'd like his father too much.
"He's a weakling, Lorelei," the father muttered.
"Don't say that, Nightshade," Lorelei growled, "these are our children. Show some respect."
At that moment, a screeching Mirror dragon crashed into the nest.
"Oh, sorry!" the Mirror called before gliding off.
"Peeeep!" squeaked the silver Pearlcatcher. He sensed fear in two of his nestmates. Lorelei grasped her pearl and looked over.
"Gah!" she cried. Nightshade clutched his pearl and snarled.
"What is it, dear?" he growled.
"The hatchlings!" she despaired as she launched herself forward, "They're falling out of the nest!" She grabbed one, but his claws were slippery. Lorelei's pearl slipped from her talon.
"No!" she screamed. The pearlcatcher dove down to the earth and grabbed her pearl. She tried to grab her hatchlings, but it was too late. They hit the ground. Loudly. The silver hatchling sensed their fear and pain, and then they were gone. He had lost two siblings before even living a whole hour.


After the hour was complete, the hatchling felt very sick. He whimpered to his mother about it, but she said it was normal. He went into a shallow painful sleep. When he woke up, he barfed up a pearl. The feeling of sickness immediately left him as he inspected the smooth pearl. His eyes had opened to slits now, and he could just see the sparkling center of the orb. He wrapped himself around it and slept.