Aethra

He heard the sounds just after midnight.

Ammi rose from his resting spot, his bulk still silent when moving through the camp. Ephraim was still looking for a decent place to create a den in this Shade-forsaken desert, so for the time being, they slept in a shallow cave just big enough to fit the largest of their number. Smaller dragons were perched atop their fellows to avoid being crushed under their weight, though none had dared to do so with Ammi. He was grateful for it, able to remove himself from the cave with a twist of magic.

The Shifting Expanse had never known quiet in all of its existence. The storms were constant, loud, and trying on Ammi's patience, even when it wasn't raining. He didn't know how he had heard the noise over all of it; it must be that, whatever it was, it was sufficiently enough to draw his attention. Slinking through the undergrowth, he walked the edges of the camp, searching around for the disturbance. It was unlikely to be one of the Condor's Hollow dragons this late into the night, but one could never be too careful.

"Maah!"

Ammi froze. Slowly, he turned around and nosed at a bush he had walked right past. The smell of a hatchling, still wet from its egg, was obvious this close. The bush rustled, and a minuscule Nocturne rolled out from under the bush. Ammi stared in disbelief. Of everything he had expected to find out here, a child was not one of them.

The hatchling cooed and waddled up to him, pressing themself against his leg. He peered down at them, trying to get a good look at their eyes, and frowned; though his were darker, they were the same gold.

"You're a long way from the Ruins, little sunbeam," he told them, leaning down to give them a better sniff. They seemed unafraid of his size, hopping around him as if he was a particularly large piece of furniture. Their smell indicated they were female, but he wouldn't be able to ask the truth until she were a bit older. She wasn't old enough to grasp language beyond the repetition of sounds that all Nocturnes performed.

"Sunbeam!" the hatchling chirped happily, rubbing against Ammi. That was something else unusual. No hatchling should be this trusting of a strange adult; all instincts would tell them to flee, out of fear of harm.

TBC