This is going to be a two POV switch because I can't write about anything happening. The dilos consider Protocol their mother.

Blue:

I curl my tail around my eggs and yawn. I've been a nest guard for two days, and hardly had any sleep. Skaa hasn't moved since his breakdown yesterday; Nara is pestering both he and I wanting someone to play with. Between jumping at every sound and Nara's constant asking, it is driving me insane. I can feel my hide drooping underneath my eyes.

"Blue, can you teach me how to hunt?" Nara asks, which is another question she constantly asks, "I want to learn to feed myself."

I've never heard reiterated that way before. Every time she asks, she changes slight details of it. I like her, but she is not my hatchling; Nara should also know that I have been on egg duty. My patience is wearing thin with her questioning; I understand she is a child, yet she hasn't learned that neither Skaa or myself can play with her.

"Nara, the last hundred times you asked me that what was my answer?" I stain myself to keep from growling at her.

"That you are busy with your eggs." She sadly says for the hundredth time, "But I don't know what to do."

I glare at her and try to be both threatening; yet friendly, "Why don't you go play with the other hatchlings?"

She sighs and heads off to find Skaa. I hope my offspring isn't going to be like her. She's a clever girl; she's clingy, but she needs to expand who she affiliates with.

"You sure this is the way, Luna?" a human female pants as the water nearby splashes.

I lowly growl and keep my tail curled tightly around my eggs. The abomination should've driven all of them off of the island. She is a liar. Alpha shouldn't trust her.

Keep your mind straight, Blue. A female human is approaching. They are dangerously close to the nests, and I need to warn the pack of the intruders. We have to purge the island! I tilt my head upward, and bark for assistance. If they want to take our eggs, we'll give our lives for them.

Luna:

I stop the second the swift-runner begins barking. Giving a whimper and making myself smaller, I force my human mother to cease her forward trekking. I've seen what the swift-runners can do. They killed my brothers, and nearly my sister, Winter. I don't want my mother to leave me like my brothers.

"Luna?" she asks, half frightening me; half confusing me, "What's wrong, girl? "

I shake my head violently, and firmly plant my foot down in minor defiance. She mustn't head closer, or else I will be alone with my sisters. She chose me to lead her here, which I did, but I didn't think she would have the audacity to skulk close to the swift-runner territory.

"Come on. It's just one." She smiles and gently scratches my frills, "We're just going to look. It won't be that traumatic. I promise."

I step away from her soft talons and submissively whimper. If only she knew what the swift-runners could do. My oldest brother had his arms ripped from him and was given three sweet; final words. I will never forget the phrase he spoke to me: I'm sorry, sister. I nearly broke down in tears before one of those monsters tried jumping on me.

I won't let my mother die like my brothers! I will make her stay! She has to stay. I don't want it to be my sisters, and that one human who are with me. I want to go back to Valkyrie and Winter to enjoy the freedom of being outside of our paddock; with Mother with us.

"Are you really that scared?" she asked with genuine concern radiating throughout her soft voice.

Giving her a slight nod, I look down in shame. My mother is upset because I wasn't brave. I am not like Winter, she would've stayed with Mother. I am nothing but a coward. I am a nobody.

Mother's gentle talons reach under my chin and turn me to face her. She is wearing her black face, but underneath, I can tell she doesn't care if I'm weak. I wish I had the courage to tell her how I feel vocally, but it hurts to. My throat has been like this since I was hatched, I could barely speak four worded sentences to my siblings. I can, however, make sounds; not sentences.

"You want to go back to your sisters?" Mother smoothly asks in the voice she used to sing with.

I nod and we begin to head back to our camp. The worry of the swift-runners doesn't fade as I can feel like we are being watched. The jungle is silent as Mother and I slowly walk away from the egg area where my brothers were slain. The water is eerily still, even though it's current runs. The trees hover above us like giants.

I stop and listen for anything. The jungle seems to have a dark soul as the most unexpected event happens. She calls.

Good? Don't matter, in case you were wondering why I took so long, I had a really, and I mean really, bad stomach bug.

Swift-runners are raptors. I also have a poll on my profile page, but I will also have a surprise one once I figure out which direction I'm going. Stay classy, people.