Little Brothers
@NetShy, @Neige, @DruidicMelody, @AdventureChaser, @Wildehearted, @ArgenteaMoon, @Fairyn, @ScienceGal8, @IronPen, @Neloth, @BarbaraFett
The night of their return, DarkRain praised the Living Sculpture for protecting the lair, and fed it a treat, and instructed it to keep guarding the entrance. Then, to her dismay, Viviane insisted on going back outside and shooing Sithi to one side of the nest, and curling up with the nature egg on the other side. DarkRain kept vigil in the doorway all night in the doorway (well, most of the night, but the others didn't need to know that), watching Sithi suspiciously with the Living Sculpture by her side.
The next day was almost oppressively warm. The eggs barely needed the two women there to warm them, but both refused to leave them all the same. Viviane curled up on the side of the nest nearest Stoneguard's head, humming lullabies and occasionally talking to Stoneguard in low tones. Sithi coiled around the other two eggs on the side at Stoneguard's tail, repairing her "diagnostic crystals" and occasionally giving Viviane dubious "are you sure you're sane" looks under one wing. DarkRain insisted on someone else from the clan being present at all times, because "We don't even know this crazy noc, and we're taking the word of Stoneguard that she's safe?" Enigma switched off shifts with her so the chores could get done.
Enigma was on duty at lunch time, and brought them both food. "Don't worry, Mama, you won't be stuck in the nest long. Remember, the wildclaw lady said we had to be extra careful not to wake the egg because they figured it was almost ready to hatch anyway, and if it got too warm it'd hatch out right in the carry-bag. If it was really that close, it could hatch any time now."
Viviane nodded. "It's not a problem though. Stoneguard is plenty long enough to shelter the five of us."
"Five? Oh, with the three eggs, right."
"Never forget, daughter, eggs are people too." Viviane nuzzled the nature egg. "They're just very small people that need some extra protecting."
Enigma nodded and sat down with her own bowl of greenpod salad. DarkRain eventually came back and shooed her off to go check on her latest alchemy project. The guardian tried to cover up her suspicion by chatting with Sithi, who for her part talked amiably enough about her journey. Traveling was the safe subject of the day, since everyone had been traveling one way or another. DarkRain thought it odd that Sithi kept interrupting herself whenever she thought to start talking about she had been doing with the crystals, but chalked it up to Viviane's obvious dislike of the subject; Anael lurked about in the trees or behind Stoneguard and threw pebbles or pinecones at Sithi's tail whenever she tried to broach the subject.
The nature hatchling decided he'd had enough of his shell before supper time. Whereas Enigma had struggled to widen a hole large enough and then crawled out, leaving the rest of her egg still in one piece, the nature hatchling struggled and rocked his egg, then finally made one great push, cracking a huge opening, and rolled out of the egg. It flattened behind him into a short trail of pieces. The adults laughed in delight as he struggled to get his head and feet pointed in the right directions. Viviane nosed him gently upright, and he clung to her nose, looking around curiously.
"It's definitely a boy! Are we still agreed on Wyeth?" The Stoneguard women had actually agreed on potential male and female names while they were travelling, so DarkRain, Enigma, and Anael all chimed in quickly with their agreements, and after a small but frantic search, DarkRain fetched her parchment and wrote it down. "Hatchling, I declare you Wyeth of clan Stoneguard! And Sithi, if you ever put my clan rolls in with the note-writing scraps again, I'll have your hide for parchment."
"But it was torn and - oh, fine. I know better now, it won't happen again."
Sithi's little brother came out just after dinner. He wiggled, rocked, and rolled his egg, but at first managed only to make small cracks in two places. Sithi was starting to look concerned when he finally head-butted the shell between the cracks, and burst out wearing that section of shell like a hat. He was not, in fact, a nocturne; Sithi didn't seem surprised. The head beneath the shell-hat was four-eyed and crested. The little mirror ate bits off the edge of the shell until he could get all the way out, then took a rest, then ate the remainder. Enigma was inclined to take it away from him ("That can't be safe to eat!") but Sithi assured her that all mirrors did, and Viviane chimed in to point out that DarkRain had done the same thing with hers. "It's actually full of useful vitamins and minerals," Anael chimed in, "So a lot of breeds eat them, and many animals do the same. Not to mention Pearlcatchers, since that's actually a different situation."
"What are you going to call you're, ah, brother then?" DarkRain asked Sithi, to distract Enigma.
"Oh, you should call him Anik," Enigma suggested. "I read it in a book the Light people had - it means 'little brother."
"I've actually been thinking of calling him Anakin; I've heard it means something like 'whether hidden or obvious,' and I think it kind of works for him - he is who he is, whether some crazy prophecy has anything to do with him or whether he's just a hatchling with no more or less potential than any other." Sithi considered the sleepy hatchling a moment. "He needs a clan. Will you record him into yours?"
"What? No! You said he was your brother!" DarkRain exclaimed, not angrily but with a sort of that-can't-be-right expression.
"Yeah, but Jed is my brother too, and with so many of us out traveling, he uses magic to keep track of the clan. If I name the hatchling, he'll show up as my son, which is wrong anyway, but what's worse is Jed will see it and know for sure that I took him, and then he'll definitely come after us both!"
Anael twitched and gave Stoneguard a hard stare. Viviane spoke up to say, "Stoneguard said they can stay, so they can stay. Write him into the clan, DarkRain."
"Are you...absolutely sure, Mama Viviane? I mean, I believe you that Stoneguard is alive but...nobody else can hear him talking, so..." DarkRain trailed off unhappily.
"Anael can hear him, can't you Anael?"
Anael shook her head. "I can tell he's doing something, and I can sort of tell that it's connected to you, but I sense it in my antennae, not my ears."
"Oh. Well, I suppose I don't sense it in my ears either, come to think of it...I sort of...that is, I...I kind of...huh." Viviane paused to try and sort out what she was trying to say, finally ending with, "So it's just magic, then?"
Anael nodded. DarkRain cleared her throat, and asked, "So just to be completely clear, Anael. You're saying you can sense that Stoneguard is doing magic that might come across as saying something to Mama." Anael nodded again.
"Yesterday, when I was right under him, I could almost fell how it made...not words exactly, but word-ideas? I don't think anyone but Viviane would be able to 'hear' it from more than a length away though." Anael blinked at DarkRain. "A me-length, I mean, not a you-length. You make four of me."
DarkRain looked at the Statue in wonderment. "Wow. I was wrong. I told that guardian at the festival that Stoneguard couldn't tell me things, but now I'm wondering if some of the stuff I thought I imagined as a hatchling wasn't quite that imaginary after all. I used to spend my middays right underneath him in the nest you know, for the shade." Anael and Sithi stared back at her in equal wonderment, but DarkRain seemed not to notice. "Well. OK, so Stoneguard votes to adopt. He's still not the whole clan, what do the rest of you say? We might be bringing trouble down on our heads here."
"I vote with Stoneguard," Viviane said staunchly. "And you should too!"
"I vote to adopt any orphan who needs it, if we possibly can," Enigma said. "You know that."
DarkRain looked at Anael. "What? I'm not...well...Hm. It happens I've heard this prophecy - I think, if I've guessed rightly which one Sithi is referring to - and I have to say that I couldn't name a better place than here for trying to make sure it doesn't go wrong. Besides, the clan needs males or it'll die out anyway, and that would be sad."
"I guess if everyone agrees then... Hatchling, I declare you Anakin of clan Stoneguard! We'll probably call you Anik for short." DarkRain nodded to Enigma for her contribution to the naming.
"It's late," Sithi commented, once Anakin had been written into the clan rolls. "You should take the hatchlings inside before they get cold. I'll stay with the last egg for you - it's not like I have a nest in there that I'm letting go to waste." With a cold mist starting to rise, nobody could argue with that; a mirror hatchling wouldn't deal with cold weather as well as a tundra. She watched little Anakin until he was out of sight in the shadows of the lair, then curled up around the wind egg with a sigh. "I hope you know what you're doing, stone-guy, because I'm not so sure I do," Sithi whispered.
If Stoneguard had an answer, Sithi couldn't hear it.
OOC: I promise this isn't going to turn into a full-fledged StarWars parody, but when I was given a dragon named Sithi...with a sibling rivalry with a brother named Jedil...and then I was trying to decide where the scavenged eggs would come from in the story... Well, I just couldn't help it! References aside though, Sithi is actually Baldwin's opposite: "Most people think magic is an art, but I know it is a science!"
@NetShy, @Neige, @DruidicMelody, @AdventureChaser, @Wildehearted, @ArgenteaMoon, @Fairyn, @ScienceGal8, @IronPen, @Neloth, @BarbaraFett
The night of their return, DarkRain praised the Living Sculpture for protecting the lair, and fed it a treat, and instructed it to keep guarding the entrance. Then, to her dismay, Viviane insisted on going back outside and shooing Sithi to one side of the nest, and curling up with the nature egg on the other side. DarkRain kept vigil in the doorway all night in the doorway (well, most of the night, but the others didn't need to know that), watching Sithi suspiciously with the Living Sculpture by her side.
The next day was almost oppressively warm. The eggs barely needed the two women there to warm them, but both refused to leave them all the same. Viviane curled up on the side of the nest nearest Stoneguard's head, humming lullabies and occasionally talking to Stoneguard in low tones. Sithi coiled around the other two eggs on the side at Stoneguard's tail, repairing her "diagnostic crystals" and occasionally giving Viviane dubious "are you sure you're sane" looks under one wing. DarkRain insisted on someone else from the clan being present at all times, because "We don't even know this crazy noc, and we're taking the word of Stoneguard that she's safe?" Enigma switched off shifts with her so the chores could get done.
Enigma was on duty at lunch time, and brought them both food. "Don't worry, Mama, you won't be stuck in the nest long. Remember, the wildclaw lady said we had to be extra careful not to wake the egg because they figured it was almost ready to hatch anyway, and if it got too warm it'd hatch out right in the carry-bag. If it was really that close, it could hatch any time now."
Viviane nodded. "It's not a problem though. Stoneguard is plenty long enough to shelter the five of us."
"Five? Oh, with the three eggs, right."
"Never forget, daughter, eggs are people too." Viviane nuzzled the nature egg. "They're just very small people that need some extra protecting."
Enigma nodded and sat down with her own bowl of greenpod salad. DarkRain eventually came back and shooed her off to go check on her latest alchemy project. The guardian tried to cover up her suspicion by chatting with Sithi, who for her part talked amiably enough about her journey. Traveling was the safe subject of the day, since everyone had been traveling one way or another. DarkRain thought it odd that Sithi kept interrupting herself whenever she thought to start talking about she had been doing with the crystals, but chalked it up to Viviane's obvious dislike of the subject; Anael lurked about in the trees or behind Stoneguard and threw pebbles or pinecones at Sithi's tail whenever she tried to broach the subject.
The nature hatchling decided he'd had enough of his shell before supper time. Whereas Enigma had struggled to widen a hole large enough and then crawled out, leaving the rest of her egg still in one piece, the nature hatchling struggled and rocked his egg, then finally made one great push, cracking a huge opening, and rolled out of the egg. It flattened behind him into a short trail of pieces. The adults laughed in delight as he struggled to get his head and feet pointed in the right directions. Viviane nosed him gently upright, and he clung to her nose, looking around curiously.
"It's definitely a boy! Are we still agreed on Wyeth?" The Stoneguard women had actually agreed on potential male and female names while they were travelling, so DarkRain, Enigma, and Anael all chimed in quickly with their agreements, and after a small but frantic search, DarkRain fetched her parchment and wrote it down. "Hatchling, I declare you Wyeth of clan Stoneguard! And Sithi, if you ever put my clan rolls in with the note-writing scraps again, I'll have your hide for parchment."
"But it was torn and - oh, fine. I know better now, it won't happen again."
Sithi's little brother came out just after dinner. He wiggled, rocked, and rolled his egg, but at first managed only to make small cracks in two places. Sithi was starting to look concerned when he finally head-butted the shell between the cracks, and burst out wearing that section of shell like a hat. He was not, in fact, a nocturne; Sithi didn't seem surprised. The head beneath the shell-hat was four-eyed and crested. The little mirror ate bits off the edge of the shell until he could get all the way out, then took a rest, then ate the remainder. Enigma was inclined to take it away from him ("That can't be safe to eat!") but Sithi assured her that all mirrors did, and Viviane chimed in to point out that DarkRain had done the same thing with hers. "It's actually full of useful vitamins and minerals," Anael chimed in, "So a lot of breeds eat them, and many animals do the same. Not to mention Pearlcatchers, since that's actually a different situation."
"What are you going to call you're, ah, brother then?" DarkRain asked Sithi, to distract Enigma.
"Oh, you should call him Anik," Enigma suggested. "I read it in a book the Light people had - it means 'little brother."
"I've actually been thinking of calling him Anakin; I've heard it means something like 'whether hidden or obvious,' and I think it kind of works for him - he is who he is, whether some crazy prophecy has anything to do with him or whether he's just a hatchling with no more or less potential than any other." Sithi considered the sleepy hatchling a moment. "He needs a clan. Will you record him into yours?"
"What? No! You said he was your brother!" DarkRain exclaimed, not angrily but with a sort of that-can't-be-right expression.
"Yeah, but Jed is my brother too, and with so many of us out traveling, he uses magic to keep track of the clan. If I name the hatchling, he'll show up as my son, which is wrong anyway, but what's worse is Jed will see it and know for sure that I took him, and then he'll definitely come after us both!"
Anael twitched and gave Stoneguard a hard stare. Viviane spoke up to say, "Stoneguard said they can stay, so they can stay. Write him into the clan, DarkRain."
"Are you...absolutely sure, Mama Viviane? I mean, I believe you that Stoneguard is alive but...nobody else can hear him talking, so..." DarkRain trailed off unhappily.
"Anael can hear him, can't you Anael?"
Anael shook her head. "I can tell he's doing something, and I can sort of tell that it's connected to you, but I sense it in my antennae, not my ears."
"Oh. Well, I suppose I don't sense it in my ears either, come to think of it...I sort of...that is, I...I kind of...huh." Viviane paused to try and sort out what she was trying to say, finally ending with, "So it's just magic, then?"
Anael nodded. DarkRain cleared her throat, and asked, "So just to be completely clear, Anael. You're saying you can sense that Stoneguard is doing magic that might come across as saying something to Mama." Anael nodded again.
"Yesterday, when I was right under him, I could almost fell how it made...not words exactly, but word-ideas? I don't think anyone but Viviane would be able to 'hear' it from more than a length away though." Anael blinked at DarkRain. "A me-length, I mean, not a you-length. You make four of me."
DarkRain looked at the Statue in wonderment. "Wow. I was wrong. I told that guardian at the festival that Stoneguard couldn't tell me things, but now I'm wondering if some of the stuff I thought I imagined as a hatchling wasn't quite that imaginary after all. I used to spend my middays right underneath him in the nest you know, for the shade." Anael and Sithi stared back at her in equal wonderment, but DarkRain seemed not to notice. "Well. OK, so Stoneguard votes to adopt. He's still not the whole clan, what do the rest of you say? We might be bringing trouble down on our heads here."
"I vote with Stoneguard," Viviane said staunchly. "And you should too!"
"I vote to adopt any orphan who needs it, if we possibly can," Enigma said. "You know that."
DarkRain looked at Anael. "What? I'm not...well...Hm. It happens I've heard this prophecy - I think, if I've guessed rightly which one Sithi is referring to - and I have to say that I couldn't name a better place than here for trying to make sure it doesn't go wrong. Besides, the clan needs males or it'll die out anyway, and that would be sad."
"I guess if everyone agrees then... Hatchling, I declare you Anakin of clan Stoneguard! We'll probably call you Anik for short." DarkRain nodded to Enigma for her contribution to the naming.
"It's late," Sithi commented, once Anakin had been written into the clan rolls. "You should take the hatchlings inside before they get cold. I'll stay with the last egg for you - it's not like I have a nest in there that I'm letting go to waste." With a cold mist starting to rise, nobody could argue with that; a mirror hatchling wouldn't deal with cold weather as well as a tundra. She watched little Anakin until he was out of sight in the shadows of the lair, then curled up around the wind egg with a sigh. "I hope you know what you're doing, stone-guy, because I'm not so sure I do," Sithi whispered.
If Stoneguard had an answer, Sithi couldn't hear it.
OOC: I promise this isn't going to turn into a full-fledged StarWars parody, but when I was given a dragon named Sithi...with a sibling rivalry with a brother named Jedil...and then I was trying to decide where the scavenged eggs would come from in the story... Well, I just couldn't help it! References aside though, Sithi is actually Baldwin's opposite: "Most people think magic is an art, but I know it is a science!"
Guardian
