A little SandWing hybrid voiced half-feigned impatience as she traced a claw ever so lightly over one of the blue-and-brown eggs she was nestled close to.
"These three are in for the best lives ever when their hatching day is finally here. We're going to take such good care of them, and take them on adventures...and they'll get to go to school right here with us! Ohh, I wish it was soon! I wish it was now," she said.
"It will be soon," her large, mud-hued friend insisted beside her, despite the many, many months that still awaited them. Clay let out a deep, yet wistful sigh before he continued, "But I know the feeling. I don't think I've ever been more excited for anything."
Sunny beamed. "Me neither! I'm practically vibrating and they're not even mine." She looked back down to the eggs and then suddenly lowered herself to nuzzle them again. "We should tell them about her."
"Can they really hear us?" the MudWing blinked curiously.
"I think so," Sunny answered confidently. "Or at least, I've heard noises from eggs before. If we can hear them, then surely they can hear us too. Right?"
Clay tilted his head slightly. "Hmm. That does make sense."
"Well then," the golden dragon paused for a moment, glancing down at the egg she'd wrapped her arms around before she looked back up at her friend with a warm and knowing smile. "Do you want to go first?"
The MudWing blushed, quickly averting his eyes as he shifted a bit and gave a soft laugh. "I...yeah...okay." Taking another breath, he turned his attention back to the three eggs.
For a moment, Clay felt stuck in his thoughts, with all the wonderful things he wanted to say about his mate, except the exact words he wanted to convey them with. He was brimming with joy and excitement, and yet, it seemed those very emotions had left him a bit speechless. Talking to his eggs was something that should be easy. Truthfully, he didn't want to come off as too excited...despite the fact that he absolutely was. He was going to be a father in less than a year. He was going to have three perfect little dragonets, of his very own, who would never have to grow up without sunlight, or mud, or the ocean, or parents who truly loved them. It was almost overwhelmingly beautiful to think about.
Just like her.
Clay suddenly smiled, and lowered himself down to curl around the eggs as he gently pulled them all close. He inhaled contentedly, and sighed his next words. "You're gonna love her. You guys have the best and bravest mom in all of Pyrrhia, and you're gonna love her just as much as I do."
He could almost feel Sunny radiating even more warmth than usual as he finished speaking. Barely a second passed before she'd crept closer to continue her own affections to the eggs, and to speak as well.
"You really are. I don't know where we'd be right now if we'd ever been without our strong and fearless SeaWing. She's always protected us...and now she's going to protect you!"
"And teach you all about the ocean and how to swim," Clay continued. "And what fish to eat! Mmmmmm."
"And how to be proper royal grandchildren," Sunny added in a pretend-haughty voice, lifting her chin toward the ceiling for a moment before she fell into a small fit of giggles.
Clay grinned. Sunny was the only other dragon who seemed to share the exact level of excitement that he and Tsunami had about their first eggs. Not that his other friends weren't happy for them, of course. But Sunny... The MudWing lifted his gaze to the colorful cave walls around them, adorned with beautifully painted scrolls - art gifts from the students of the academy and anyone else who'd decided to join in with Sunny's decorating plans for the new hatchery. She'd wasted no time on fixing up a cave just for the occasion as soon as she'd found out that her friends were with egg.
It was perfect, too. Rich and warm, with all the artwork and fire-lit glass globes strung from the ceiling, just like the ones Sunny had used for other parts of the academy. She'd picked a slightly softer palette for the hatchery, of pastel yellows and sky blues, which set a perfect scene of serenity and fun to accompany newly-hatched dragonets. Everything had been so thoughtfully woven together, even down to the cushy seaweed-and-mud bed that the eggs would be safely tucked in for the rest of the year.
"Hey," Clay suddenly interrupted, affectionately poking his friend with his tail. "Thanks again."
Sunny blinked. "For what?"
"For all this," the MudWing gestured out to their surroundings with big, brown eyes full of admiration, to which Sunny couldn't help but stifle another giggle at.
"You've thanked me enough, silly!" she said.
"I know," Clay sighed. "But Tsunami and I are really, really lucky to have somewhere this great for the eggs, and it's all because of you."
The SandWing shook her head a bit, but couldn't even try to hide her bashful grin. "Fatespeaker helped me a lot, and I only painted a few of the scrolls myself. I'm lucky to have such great dragons around who want to do nice things for each other. And we're all super lucky that those are the kinds of dragons these three will be growing up with. Dragons who want peace, and friendship."
"Yeah," he breathed with relief at the truth behind his friend's words. For just a moment, his mind drifted back to all the dragons he and his friends had encountered throughout their lives, and how few of them actually met that criteria. The war had changed a lot of dragons for worse, but the Jade Academy had truly proven itself in revealing so many others who longed to help turn things back around.
After a short moment of silence, Sunny interrupted his thoughts. "Maybe this is more of a personal thing, but...I'm so happy that I'm not going to be the only hybrid dragon anymore. I'm so glad that our students are going to have you, and Tsunami, and your dragonets as an example of true love that transcends our tribal differences. It's so...nice. And it makes me feel like a part of something beautiful." She paused. "I can't wait to see them."
Clay could only respond with a bright smile, before nudging her affectionately with his big head and then turning his attention back to the two-toned eggs that rested between them.
"Did you hear that?" he asked them. "You've already got something totally awesome in common with your Aunt Sunny."
Sunny laughed, unable to hide the darker notes of brown and orange that had already crept over her cheeks. She'd expressed her excitement about her new status as an aunt almost immediately after her friends had revealed the news, but Clay hadn't considered that one of her reasons for being so excited had something to do with their dragonets being hybrids like her. Now that he did consider it, it definitely made sense, and made him feel just as warm inside as if he had his very own SandWing scales. Sunny would be the best aunt ever, without a doubt.
"Hey, you," called Tsunami's voice suddenly. Clay and Sunny looked up to meet her gaze as she trotted into the hatchery cave and straight over to the seaweed-and-mud nest, gently nudging Clay under the chin and then dipping her snout to share the affection with the three eggs. After her friends had both returned her greeting, she mused aloud to her mate. "How long have you been here today? You know they don't need constant supervision. You can go do other things. They'll be fine."
"NO! Never!" the MudWing replied fiercely, and before he knew it himself, he was pulling one of their eggs even closer into a protective hug. "I'm never leaving them."
He knew that his reaction could be at least partially attributed to the fact of his own parents, and MudWing parents in general not exactly being the most loving among the dragon tribes. And while nearly every other MudWing he'd met so far continued to treat that custom with seemingly instinctive understanding, Clay had never been one of them. He'd always wished just as hard and daydreamed just as often as the rest of his friends about one day finding his lost parents and being part of a family.
As it turned out, he'd found two families - one with his biological siblings of the Mud Kingdom, and one he'd soon realized he'd had all along, with the four other dragons of the prophecy.
And now, he had a third, with Tsunami and their coming dragonets, and there was something about that that squeezed his heart like nothing else ever had before. He was, at least for the time being, not at all interested in being away from the eggs when he'd only just gotten them.
Tsunami grinned at him, and gave an amused snort. "Well, what are you going to do about eating, then?"
"Uhhhh," Clay turned his head to look down at his own belly, and right on cue, a familiar growl of hunger rumbled from the depths of it. Had he really forgotten to eat? Sheesh. It was sort of weird getting used to this level of distraction hitting him outside of breeding night.
"I can get you some food!" offered Sunny cheerfully, getting to her feet with the words.
"Ugh, no!" the SeaWing answered with a playful eye-roll and shake of her head. She leaned forward to nudge her mate again, in a more encouraging kind of way. "C'mon, Clay. Go get something good to eat. I'll stay and watch them until you get back."
He beamed. "You will!?"
"Yes," she promised.
"...Alright," he agreed shortly, hunger influencing him a lot more now that it was fresh in his mind. And if Tsunami was going to stay with the eggs while he was gone, he felt much better about leaving them, even if he knew he could always trust Sunny to watch them as well. He carefully stood up from the seaweed-and-mud bed and stepped over the eggs, taking a prance toward the hatchery exitway, before he suddenly skidded to a halt and swerved back around to nuzzle the eggs goodbye. He assured them, "Don't worry, little ones. I won't be long."
Sunny settled back down with a giggle as he turned again to rush out of the hatchery and to the prey hall. Tsunami only huffed a short sigh of relief, but couldn't stop herself from smiling as well. She turned her attention back to Sunny and the eggs. A short pause followed, which ended with the sea dragon catching her friend's green-eyed gaze.
"Already talking to them?" she asked, with hints of amusement in her voice.
"Of course we are," the golden one replied rather matter-of-factly. "Even if they're too young to know what we're saying, they'll definitely know we're talking to them, and our voices will make them feel safe."
Tsunami said, "If they can hear you."
"They can." Sunny confidently remarked.
"Maybe," answered the SeaWing, tucking her chin slightly as she glanced down to her unhatched dragonets. A tiny ghost of hope twinkled in her deep, ocean eyes for the briefest of seconds. Sunny smiled.
She reached out to pat the free spot next to her that Clay had left in the seaweed-and-mud bed, inviting Tsunami to join in on the egg cuddles. But Tsunami only blinked, and a hint of darker blue graced her cheeks.
"Er, I'm fine," she said, almost a bit awkwardly. She did, however, return the smile.
So far, even if it had only been about a week since she'd laid them, Tsunami hadn't spent nearly as much time with her eggs as Clay or Sunny had, and continued to insist that they would be fine left alone in the hatchery. It was a bit odd to Sunny, but clearly completely expected to the mother, which made Sunny wonder if it was a SeaWing nesting instinct of some kind. She made a mental note to ask Starflight about that later.
In the meantime, she crinkled her snout a bit, feeling her own curiosity getting the better of her. Sunny was pretty sure Clay had barely been able to think about anything else since the eggs had arrived. Maybe Tsunami wasn't dedicating as much of her time to watching the eggs like he was, but surely she'd been thinking about them just as often.
"Alright," Sunny shrugged, trying to seem indifferent. Her gaze wandered for a few seconds, and then she cautiously asked, "So...have you thought of any names yet?"
Tsunami quickly shook her head. "Oh, no. That's going to have to wait. I'd have to see them first, you know?"
Sunny blinked, a bit surprised by the answer. But again, there was nothing in her friend's tone that implied any sort of hesitation or doubt in the way she was doing things.
"Gosh, I don't think I'd be able to wait that long. I'd probably have a whole list of names by now," she voiced her thoughts openly. Beetle, her mother's nickname for her, flashed in her mind, along with the memory of Thorn identifying it as one of the possible names she'd had for her while she'd still been an egg.
Possible names...
Had Thorn had a whole list of names for her as well? She liked the thought of her mother sharing the same sentiments about naming her dragonets, even if it was pretty unlikely that Sunny would be having any of her own. Unless there was some kind of magic that allowed two female dragons to have eggs together. But even then, messing around with magic wasn't exactly something Sunny had ever felt all too comfortable with.
Tsunami interrupted her thoughts with a short laugh and a shrug of her wings.
"I'm sure when I see them, it'll hit me like lightning or something. But until then," she echoed her mate's words. "They're the little ones."
Sunny wasn't quite sure what it was, but something about hearing that phrasing from both of them nearly melted her heart on the spot, and at least for now, erased all other burning questions from her mind. She couldn't have stopped the new grin from spreading across her face if she'd tried.
"The little ones," she repeated.
Notes:
So first things first. I'm a college kid and probably won't be updating this series as frequently as I'd like to. I mostly decided to start it up as a special interest outlet and to practice writing things other than shipfics. Chapters will be short and sweet and focused on the little ones (who will be properly introduced in the next one).
I'm also aware ClayNami isn't a very popular ship, sooooo...if you're going to give me constructive criticism (which I welcome), please try to keep it objective. I'm not here to fight over ships (just ship them ALL, I say!).
Happy reading!