naga

Naga came to Clan [insert name] many many years ago when they were but a burgeoning group of misfits who had just begun to create a home in the cliffside hills of [place]. She had a natural affinity for child care and rearing so she became the clan's babysitter, looking after the hatchlings while their parents were busy so simply needed a break. While she had helped to raise countless hatchlings she had never been able to have of her own. However, that changed when she discovered an abandoned egg while out exploring. She took in the hatchling and named her Malita .

There was one small egg in the nest. It sat alone, small and weak against the jagged wood of the hollowed-out stump it called a home.

Naga's breath caught in her throat as her mind flashed back to other nests, hatchlings born weak and broken and unable to breathe, two eggs she had stubbornly nurtured for months before realizing they were never going to hatch, a single hatchling that had grown up smaller and frailer than she should have been but at least she had lived to see her first hatchday.

But this egg sat in its hollow all alone. She bent down to nuzzle at it and sniff out its parent's scent, but all she could smell was a muddled array of animals that had passed by.

The heartbeat rang out to her, as it had seldom done with her own nests. A bright a vibrant energy, a strong soul.

She hummed a little noise to it. a half-remembered song her mother had sung to her when she was young, the tune was off-key and she could only remember a few words but she sat there until the sky had gone orange and the shadows and nocturnal creatures had come out to roam the {nature place name} humming and muttering the song.

As the last bit of colour drained from the sky and the stars came out she gently lifted the egg up and took off for the cliff caves her clan resided in.

"You were alone like me little one," She whispered in a voice horse from singing

"But now neither of us will be alone ever again, my child," She thought to herself as the crest of the cliffs she called home came into view.

She alighted on the outcropping of the cliff face gently, careful not to jostle the precious egg tucked safely away in her paw. She made her way through the curving network of cave systems and tunnels where her clan resided, brushing by any clanmate that tried to greet her.

"What's the rush Naga?" Some asked.

"Naga I was just looking for you!" Others greeted her.

"Rude" A few muttered.

They were less important right now than the egg she carried.

Eventually, she reached her destination, a large cave with a partially open ceiling through which (during the day) light streamed in. She picked her way through the night-blooming flowers to place the egg down gently in one of the empty nests.

She rushed to collect soft bedding for her little one and bright flowers to adorn the nest. She had always been good at making nests, even though they were never occupied for very long.

She paused as she arranged a rust-red feather to better cushion the egg and looked around the nesting grounds. She had many bad memories of the place, of egg and hatchlings she had lost.

But she finally felt that it was time to make some good memories.

She looked back towards the foundling egg and started to hum a new tune.

One she made up as she went, creating words and a melody:







By vEncrypt