Author's Note: Another chapter, another week. Kind of. Next week's chapter is coming a day early, but past that I can't really be sure, as I'll be out of consistent wifi for the holidays. As of now, I think I'll be dropping chapters on Mondays, but it'll all be reliant on far too much chance for me to promise that. Things will roughly keep to their normal pacing of posting.
It was morning, according to Lily's best guess, but she let herself drowse long past when she would usually have gotten up, waiting for Crystal, who was sleeping even later than her new normal.
Honey was also defying her usual, though in the opposite way, already awake, and from what Lily could tell between clandestine glances her direction, impatient. She was curled around her egg in a way that made it extremely obvious, flaunting it for everyone to see… If anyone was awake to notice.
That, in turn, made her actions the night before slightly less odd to Lily. She must have been tired and intending to get all the attention she surely considered rightfully hers in the morning. It was even a considerate plan; Honey had surely understood that being woken in the middle of the night would be unpleasant for everyone else, and whether she had held back out of altruism or out of a desire to not dampen the enthusiasm she felt her due, the result was the same. She had not disturbed anyone's sleep.
Though, Lily mused sleepily, if Honey had really wanted to get the most attention possible, she should either have held her laying of the egg until the morning, or if that was impossible, begun faking it right about now. Of course, that would take either discomfort or effort, so Honey had obviously opted for the passive plan if the alternative had ever occurred to her at all.
A while later, long after Honey had begun looking around impatiently, one of the light wings near the exit began to stir, dragging herself up and blinking slowly, seemingly befuddled by the end of her slumber. Lily held in a small laugh at her bemused, half-asleep rumble; it seemed there were some light wings who were even less suited to mornings than Crystal.
Honey had noticed the movement too, of course. Her reaction was to huff loudly, trying to draw attention to herself without being obvious about it.
Lily watched with half-lidded eyes as the drowsy light wing slipped out of the chamber without so much as looking in Honey's direction, so out of it that the obvious noises had not caught her attention. She was probably going to go stand outside so that the cold could shock her awake, if Lily had to guess, but whatever the female's befuddled mind had decided, it didn't involve investigating Honey.
Really, the other light wing had the right idea, half-asleep or not. If the crowd that formed around Diora and her egg the day before were any indication, when Honey eventually did get the attention she craved their cramped side-cavern would become very loud and crowded.
Lily made a show of yawning and stretching her wings, bumping Crystal a few times to wake her in the process, having decided to be proactive in getting them both out of the throng's way before it had a chance to form. Crystal would appreciate not being crowded or woken by a raucous group of well-wishers.
"Ugh," Crystal groaned, flapping a wing at Lily lethargically. "Just let me sleep. I feel awful."
"You will feel more awful if you don't come with me," Lily said quietly. "Trust me on that. Honey laid her egg. We should go before everyone finds out."
"Oh… Yes, we should," Crystal agreed, lurching to her paws. "I am up."
"I can see that," Lily purred, rising slowly. "You go on ahead." Crystal could easily get away with ignoring Honey, but Lily didn't think she should do the same; it certainly did not hurt to be in Honey's good graces.
Crystal nodded agreeably and quickly left the side-cavern, not even looking at Honey, who seemed even more frustrated by the lack of attention now. Lily quickly slid into Honey's line of sight, keeping her eyes wide. "Is that what I think it is?"
Honey relaxed, her frustration visibly fading away. "Yes," she purred smugly. "I have an egg now. Jealous?"
"Not in the slightest," Lily replied, suppressing her irritation at the ludicrous heights of ignorance that went with the taunt. "But good for you, I suppose. I look forward to helping you look after it." That also was truth; she could already see ways to use caring for Honey's fledgling to build the image she was cultivating for herself, not to mention ensuring that this blend of Claw and Honey was raised well enough to not be as bad as both parents combined.
"You will not have to do anything for a while," Honey simpered smugly. "Go tell Claw. He will want to know."
Would he? Lily was once again reminded that this was one part of living in the caverns she didn't know about, being the only offspring in her own side-cavern. Her first instinct was to deny that Claw would care in the slightest, but Honey sounded sure and was more likely to be basing her opinion off of actual facts in this instance.
"I will pass the word along," Lily promised, specifically avoiding mentioning Claw in any way. The word would get to him soon enough if she announced it in the main chamber of the cavern.
"Good. It is perfect, right?" Honey looked down at the white orb she was flaunting. "I think so."
"I see nothing wrong with it," Lily agreed, looking at the egg. "Congratulations."
"Maybe you will get one soon," Honey said condescendingly, draping her fins over it. "Crystal surely will."
Lily huffed in annoyance and turned away, leaving the side-cavern. She was not worried about having an egg herself, but Honey's smug attitude was already insufferable and the praise had barely started. Living with her was going to be even more annoying now.
"Honey laid an egg," Lily announced as she picked her path through the main chamber, deftly avoiding sprawling limbs and wings. She didn't even bother looking to see if anyone had heard; the growing murmur of voices told her that the message had been spread.
And then she stepped outside, and the cold wiped away all other thoughts. She yelped, paws briefly struggling to find purchase in the slush immediately outside the entrance, and bolted for the pond, resigned to needing water but unwilling to spend a moment more than necessary in getting it.
Crystal was still there when Lily arrived, just turning away from the water. "Be quick, it is terrible out here," she growled, throwing a wing over the hole in the ice that she had just drank from, sheltering Lily as she quickly sated her thirst and then some.
"It's not so bad," Lily replied, nonetheless grateful for her friend's wing. "We're just not used to the cold. Pyre wasn't bothered by most of the cold season." He had been chilly and miserable at times, but at others he had laughed at her reaction to the icy chill and held her close, unaffected by the wind…
"We should get back inside," Crystal murmured, holding Lily close with her wing for a moment longer.
"We should," Lily agreed, her mood sinking like a rock. It still hurt whenever she remembered that he was not waiting in his cave, that his body was broken on the rocks below it, out of sight but there nonetheless.
"And we should go talk to Diora," Crystal continued, pulling her wing away and starting down the path. "You know why?"
"Why?" Lily asked, still feeling miserable.
"Nobody will be bothering with her thanks to Honey," Crystal barked, beginning to lope along the path. "And if I am going to feel nauseous, there might as well be a reason."
"Nauseous?" Lily called out, catching up to her friend. "What do you mean by that?"
"What the word usually means. My stomach hurts." Crystal shook her head as they ran, her ears and frills flopping around wildly with the motion and the wind. "It is not a problem. I probably just ate some bad fish."
"If you have to bring it up, try to hit someone annoying," Lily joked.
"Why do you think I want to go congratulate Diora now?" Crystal said seriously, skidding to a stop just short of the entrance to the cavern. "You lead, though. I do not want to actually talk to her, so you can get and hold her attention."
"Sounds great, if she's as bad as that," Lily groaned dramatically. Really, she was curious now, in a morbid, cynical way. Crystal seemed to despise Diora, and likely for good reason, but Diora couldn't possibly be like Grass or Cressa. Lily had yet to meet a Dam who both participated in their child's life and was terrible, so this would be a new experience.
Lily wove her way around the now somewhat diminished piles of light wings, making her way back into the corridors and slipping around into a side-cavern that she recalled being crowded and inaccessible the day before. There was nobody around now, proving Crystal's guess right.
Inside, on the other paw, there were a few light wings. A male, a female, and an egg, the male sleeping a good distance away from the female, the egg resting against his side.
Lily knew that Crystal's dislike and Pearl's plight were coloring her perception, but she couldn't help but read into that arrangement. Not only were the Dam and Sire sleeping apart, the Sire was barely holding the egg close enough, and the Dam wasn't even bothered by that. It certainly didn't look good to her.
"Oh, good, someone remembers us," Diora said loudly. "Ivy, wake up."
"I would have come sooner, but the crowd was in the way," Lily said politely, for the moment playing the part of a normal well-wisher come late.
"Not today," Diora growled. "They are all off ogling that little trough and her egg."
Lily heard Crystal bark in surprise, but she was too confused to be similarly shocked. "I don't know that word."
Diora stared at Lily with wide eyes, seemingly caught off-guard by that admission. "Everyone knows that word."
"I don't." She had only heard it once before, applied to herself by Gold's Dam when Gold was missing and it was not yet apparent that she wasn't involved. Once was not enough to discern an exact definition, even if she had a pretty good idea.
"It is not important," Diora grumbled. "So, what do you think?" Her tail flicked in the direction of her sleeping mate and the egg resting against his side.
"It is impressive," Lily said, walking over to get a closer look. She had seen a grand total of two eggs now, and neither seemed all that special. Both were white, both were about the same size, and both seemed to have the same texture. Honey's might have been a little larger than this one, but that could just as easily be her imagination, and aside from that they were identical.
"And I knew it was coming," Diora agreed happily. "It will hatch female, of course."
"As likely as not," Lily said agreeably, taking a small amount of pleasure in correcting Diora in a way that the other light wing would think was her agreeing unless she ignored the tone and puzzled through the words.
"And a much better female than my last," Diora continued, walking over to the egg and nuzzling it. "I will teach her better."
"You will teach her worse," Crystal grumbled quietly, lurking at the back of the chamber, near the exit.
Diora looked up, apparently having noticed the sound if not actually heard the words. "Oh, another well-wisher." Then her eyes narrowed. "The same female that Pearl always spent time with. Stay away from my new daughter. You are a bad influence."
"One of us is a bad influence," Crystal agreed with a snarl. "But it is not me."
"Get out," Diora said sternly, slapping her mate's back with her tail as she spoke. "Ivy, get up."
"Gladly," Crystal snarled. "You make me sick."
"She should not be blaming me for Pearl's issues," Diora said loudly, turning her attention back to Lily. "Pearl never did obey fully. Always complaining, resisting. Clearly, her obnoxious 'friends' were bad examples."
Lily nodded politely, her eyes slipping to the unremarkable egg resting against Ivy's side. She had heard all she needed to from Diora to form her own opinion of the vile female, but she wasn't about to betray her true feelings and earn Diora's ire. Not now, not yet if ever. The hatchling growing inside that egg needed help more than Lily needed to let out all of the disgust she felt, listening to Diora.
"See, others get it," Diora exclaimed loudly, purring at Lily. "Some people remember courtesy."
"I will come visit again in a few moon-cycles to see your hatchling," Lily offered, grateful that she was more than skilled at holding in her true feelings by now. Diora clearly suspected nothing of her true opinions, even though she and Crystal had arrived at the same time.
"Please do," Diora agreed, before turning and glaring down at Ivy, who still seemed to be asleep. Another, heavier tail slap made him flinch. "Get up, Ivy! And go get our fish before I faint of hunger."
Lily stepped to the side, out of Diora's line of sight but edging closer to the egg. Something in her heart was pulling at her, telling her that she couldn't leave, not when the egg was in the middle of heavy tail-slaps and a sleeping dragon waking with a start.
Ivy's eyes opened, immediately fastening on Diora, and he heaved himself up with a sigh. The egg rolled over, totally unattended for the moment.
"Yes, mate," Ivy rumbled quietly, cringing away from Diora, and quickly made his way out of the side-cavern.
Diora looked down at the abandoned egg on the floor, heaved a loud sigh of annoyance, then walked over to lay down beside it, holding it close with her tail but otherwise ignoring it.
Lily, seeing the egg relatively secure and herself forgotten by Diora, slipped out of the side-cavern. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest, and she honestly couldn't tell whether fear or anger drove it.
The egg was fine for the moment; really, Diora wanted the hatchling that it would in turn produce, so she wasn't going to forget it or let it be damaged or killed. Lily knew her worry was irrational, to some extent, but at the same time, how could she not worry about an egg left in the care of a Dam so clearly unfit to care for it?
"I told you she was horrible," Crystal remarked, startling Lily, who had not noticed that she was lingering just outside of view of the side-cavern. "Was I right?"
"Definitely." Lily eyed the side-cavern dubiously. "Why is she like that?"
"No idea," Crystal grumbled. "So, what are we going to do about her?"
"Nothing for the moment," Lily immediately responded. "Once it hatches… If it's male, we don't know how she'll treat it."
"Badly, if how she treats her mate is any indication," Crystal supplied helpfully. "We need to stop her."
"Or counter her," Lily offered, turning and heading in the direction of the main chamber. "You were Pearl's friend, and that helped her cope. We can make sure this new hatchling has plenty of friends and outside influences, not just Diora and loneliness." Honey's hatchling was going to come in very handy if it was female; it would be easy enough to manipulate watching a female hatchling and a false friendship with Diora into plenty of social time and clandestine counter-teaching for Diora's newest child.
"I feel like we should do more than that," Crystal complained. "But I do not know what, short of stealing her egg and fleeing, and that would not work."
"Definitely not." Lily could imagine sending someone else away with the egg, someone who knew how to survive on their own in the wilderness, someone who knew how to raise a child, but neither she nor Crystal fit those requirements. Neither of them could leave the valley in any case.
"Do you have any idea how long it will be before our side-cavern will be back to normal?" Crysta asked, abruptly changing the subject.
"Probably by midday?" Lily guessed. "I don't think it's worth checking until then. Why?"
"My stomach still hurts," Crystal admitted. "I want to just lie down and sleep it off."
"You can do that somewhere else," Lily offered. "The main chamber. I can clear a spot." She was entirely capable of shoving a few tails and wings aside if necessary; there was always a spot available if one pushed hard enough.
"No, I will just wait," Crystal decided. "It is not serious."
O-O-O-O-O
By midday, Crystal was irritable, and Lily was pretty sure she knew what was coming, even if Crystal hadn't put two and two together yet. It stood to reason that the immediate buildup to laying an egg would be uncomfortable, and by this point it was pretty much guaranteed Crystal was expecting.
But Lily didn't mention it, partially because she wasn't certain and partially because she didn't think it would do Crystal any good to worry about it ahead of time. As long as she was in a nice, quiet place by the time it actually began, she would be fine.
Or, that was what Lily assumed. She didn't know what was best for a female about to lay an egg; she was working off of personal preference. She would have preferred privacy and plenty of space to stretch out in, were it her in the position of expect an egg.
Of course, that meant that where they were at the moment was wholly unsuitable. Lily rose, allowing the two encroaching tails that had been shoved up against her side to flop down into the open area under her. "Come on, we should go check the side-cavern."
"Good plan," Crystal grunted, standing slowly. "I was going to bite the next light wing to trip over me. We are not even sitting in a pathway!"
"With such a fat tail, it is hard not to step on you," a feminine voice called out from their left.
"Say that to my face," Crystal snarled, turning to look in that general direction.
"Come on," Lily encouraged gently, quickly stepping away and hoping that Crystal would follow. "Your stomach ache is making you cranky."
"Yes, and I do not care," Crystal grumbled, following Lily out as she spoke. "I do not remember it being so annoying last cold-season."
"There are more of us every season-cycle, so it probably wasn't as crowded last cold-season." Lily explained as they walked. "Really, at some point we're going to have to start keeping the more fit parents out. There is only so much room in here." That was going to be a problem eventually.
"Sounds horrible," Crystal groaned. "Is it optimistic to hope that Honey has driven everyone away by being unbearably smug?"
"There's nobody around the entrance, at least," Lily noted, turning the corner and seeing the narrow crack in question. "That's promising."
"I can hope," Crystal groaned.
Lily slipped through the crack, poking her head around to look into the chamber, and saw a very odd scene. Three light wing males were sliding their tails across the ground in a haphazard pattern, pushing away from themselves and backing in her general direction, awkwardly looking back to see where they were going.
"So? Is there a crowd?" Crystal asked impatiently.
"I don't know what I'm looking at," Lily admitted, moving just far enough into the chamber to let Crystal follow her in.
"Lily?" Honey called out from somewhere on the other side of the males, blocked from view thanks to the constant movement and low ceiling of the chamber. "Do not get in their way!"
Lily decided not to ask the obvious question, and instead walked over to the far side of the chamber, moving around the slowly advancing trio. Once she had gotten far enough around, the rest of the chamber was visible, and she noticed the other dragons present. Honey, watching the three waving their tails around the ground, and two more males pawing at one specific patch of stone near where Honey usually slept…
And Claw, watching over it all with a bored look, his eyes immediately going to her as soon as she came into view. He said nothing, but his wandering gaze was more than enough to make her feel uncomfortable.
"What… Oh," Crystal huffed, coming up on Lily's other side and seeing what she had. "This is no better."
"This is much better," Honey objected indignantly. "Look, they're clearing and smoothing the floor! They are going to do the ceiling next."
Lily noticed a very unhappy wilting of ears and tails among every male present but Claw, which was absolutely no surprise.
"Yes, they will, if that is what you want," Claw said graciously. "And I have assigned two to bring you fish every morning, as well as two more to watch the egg whenever you need. Any other requests?"
"Oh, not right now," Honey simpered, slowly tapping the tips of her tailfins on the egg by her side. "Stay in case I think of anything? Or tell them to obey me for a little while."
"I might be sick for real," Crystal grumbled unhappily in a much lower voice than before. "Here seems like a good place. They will just clean it up for us."
"Go for it," Lily hissed back, entirely open to that idea.
"No," Claw said, replying to Honey's request with a patronizing hum, "I think I will stay. It is not a gift if I am not here to give it."
"We will come back later, then, so as to not get in the way," Lily offered. There would be no peace and quiet to be found here, and Claw made any location undesirable just by existing in the vicinity.
"Be back by nightfall," Claw commanded off-paw, staring at Lily intently, and then turning his gaze on Crystal. "I want all three of you here."
"Yes, Claw," Crystal intoned lifelessly, edging toward the exit, her gait unsteady. Lily nodded and quickly followed her friend out, feeling Claw's eyes on her hindquarters as she left but too worried about Crystal to care about the lecherous gaze.
"Crystal, how bad-?" Lily began urgently the moment they were out in the corridor.
"I feel absolutely awful," Crystal groaned, looking around wildly. "There is nowhere good to go! It is freezing outside, the main chamber is crowded, and Claw is in the way here. I just want to lay down somewhere and die in peace!"
Lily stumbled, her thoughts freezing. She had been keeping a heavy paw on the frantic planning and concern for Crystal's probably imminent delivery, but that particular turn of phrase had her head spinning with worry. She couldn't lose Crystal! Not now, not soon, not later, not ever! The fact that she would usually be offering help in the form of plants for the pain but couldn't was not helping either. "You're not dying," she managed to say firmly, pouncing and trapping her thoughts as if they were particularly unruly fledglings racing around the main cavern. The cavern that was currently packed full of light wings taking up all available-
"Well I certainly am not having a good day!" Crystal complained.
"I know!" Lily closed her eyes for a moment, trying to settle herself to coherency. Crystal needed somewhere to rest, somewhere safe and peaceful. It had to be somewhere in the cavern because outside was mostly open and freezing. It couldn't be the main chamber or the corridors, which by extension meant it had to be a side-cavern, and to be considered safe they had to be invited in by the occupants.
And just like that, the answer was obvious. "Come on," Lily requested, turning her tail on the crack in the wall and Crystal. "We're going to Pina and Dew."
"What can they do?" Crystal whined. "I feel like I swallowed a rock."
"You're more than likely about to lay an egg," Lily revealed, surprised Crystal hadn't considered that possibility yet, "and we are going to them because they have a side-cavern, a fledgling which means one of them is probably around because fledgling can't be outside long in this weather, and knowledge about laying eggs."
"Of course I am," Crystal groaned, apparently unsurprised. "I would prefer stomach issues. But that is a good idea."
"It's the only idea," Lily admitted. They rounded a cramped corner, passed through an even more cramped section of corridor, and turned down the tall and thin passage that led to the side-chamber in question. Lily barked a polite but urgent greeting, too rushed to actually say anything.
"Lily?" Pina asked, her voice echoing loudly. "Come in, come in."
"I hope we're not disturbing anything," Lily said automatically, giving the polite reply even though she thought their situation more urgent right now. "Dew. Nice to see you. What do either of you know about how it feels to lay an egg?"
Dew looked up from her sleeping hatchling, appearing as if she had been sleeping herself moments ago, and eyed Lily suspiciously. "Why do you need to know?"
"You tell us," Crystal blurted out, lurching through the entry arch and collapsing on her side just inside the chamber, her shoulders rolling with her deep breaths.
Dew's eyes widened, and she partially stood, crouching low over her fledgling. "Surely your Dam told you what to expect," she said quickly. "Is this not like what she would have spoken of?"
"I did not ask," Crystal said, managing to sound both sheepish and pained at the same time. "I did not want to know. And my parents are out flying today, so I could not exactly go ask them."
Lily saw the moment Dew's concern overrode her surprise and lingering suspicion; the female glanced over at Pina, who was already approaching her, and silently stepped aside, letting Pina take over in lying with her son.
Then Dew quickly strode forward, stopping by Crystal's heaving stomach and side. "Well, I can tell you," she said in a much friendlier voice, crouching by Crystal. "Sometimes it is painless and sometimes it is not. Seems like you are not a lucky female in that regard, but do not worry, it will pass."
"The egg or the pain?" Crystal asked.
"Both. Just wait it out," Dew advised, gently laying a wing over Crystal's stomach. "Relax your muscles. How long has it been hurting?"
"All day, but not very badly until just now."
"Then this might be a while yet." Dew shook her head. "Mine took all day, but it can be much faster. It depends on the female. As long as you do eventually lay an egg, it will all be fine."
Lily could see that there was nothing she could do at the moment, and it was clear Crystal was in good paws, but that didn't stop her from worrying. "I'm glad Dew knows what's going on," she remarked to Pina, hoping for reassurance and trying to keep herself from clawing at the ground.
"I am surprised you never sought out this kind of knowledge," Pina murmured back, looking over at Lily. "It seems like something you would want to know just because."
"I've had a lot on my mind recently," Lily admitted, unable to take her eyes from her friend. Being told that she could have been better prepared stung, even if Pina hadn't meant it that way. It would have been the work of moments to correct her lack of knowledge on the subject, and she certainly hadn't lacked free time in the last moon-cycle.
"And you also had a Dam who would not feel like taking the time to tell you," Pina agreed. "Sorry. I should have stepped in and done that long ago."
"Well, now it does not matter," Lily said firmly, not wanting Pina to feel bad about that tiny oversight, not when it really didn't matter any more. Pina's guilt in the matter was small and insignificant next to her own, anyway.
"I hope not," Pina said sadly. "Lily, I still will do anything that might help your… situation. But I cannot see anything that would help."
"Like I said, I'll tell you if there is anything," Lily asserted. "Help of this sort is more than good enough in the meantime. We had nowhere else to go." That, at least, was Claw's fault, not hers.
"Your own side-cavern was not an option?" Pina asked curiously.
"Hey," Crystal called out in a strained voice, "are you two having a nice talk without me?"
"Yes?" Lily offered guiltily, looking over at her and Dew.
"At least someone is having a good time," Crystal asserted vehemently, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Carry on."
"You know," Dew said conversationally to her, "the pain might make you tense, but that is no excuse to be rude."
"My life is an excuse," Crystal retorted humorlessly. "Now what were you saying about breathing exercises?"
"She seems overly unhappy, even for the situation at paw," Pina observed quietly, drawing Lily's attention back to her. "I do not know much of her. How does she feel about this?"
"She is as discontent with her lot in life right now as I am," Lily replied carefully. "In all aspects. She had wanted to be Granite's mate."
Pina winced and sighed sadly, her ears drooping in sympathy. They sat in silence for a while, watching Crystal, or in Lily's case looking in Crystal's direction but not really looking at anything in particular, as it felt odd to just stare at her friend for no reason. Dew moved over to sit by Crystal's head, and Crystal remained on her side, breathing slowly and deeply, occasionally wincing or groaning in discomfort.
Watching and hearing her friend go through this, Lily was glad that she was not at risk of undergoing the same thing due to Claw, but she couldn't ignore the lingering guilt she felt at not having managed to save Crystal from this fate. This was Claw's fault, but it was also hers, for not finding a solution to the problem at paw.
Crystal's breathing picked up in pace, and she abruptly rolled onto her stomach, moving just as Honey had the night before. Lily respectfully looked away, knowing what was coming and feeling no desire to observe. She had seen it once already in watching Honey.
A low sigh of relief marked the end of Crystal's physical torment, and the beginning of something else entirely. When Lily looked back to her friend, she saw a very unhappy, tired light wing staring at a white egg as if it was something entirely foreign to her, not something from her own body. She could sympathise, her own relief was shadowed by some tumultuous feelings too.
"Healthy," Dew remarked, not catching Crystal's distress, or not thinking it appropriate to remark upon it. "Now you should sleep. The lingering pain will go away quickly if you do."
"I…" Crystal let her head drop to her paws and closed her eyes. "I did not…"
"Just sleep," Dew said firmly. "You are welcome to stay, but if I know Claw, he will want you back in your own side-cavern as soon as possible."
"Tonight," Lily volunteered. "He told us to be back by nightfall." She had no intention of actually trying to make Crystal move if that would be bad for her, of course, just stating fact.
"Then you have time for a long nap," Dew said to Crystal. "Sleep." She put her paw on Crystal's forehead for a brief moment. "Should I let anyone know? Bring your Sire and Dam to see?"
"No," Crystal murmured. "Not them… Tomorrow, maybe."
Dew, Lily, and Pina waited silently until Crystal's breathing evened out and slowed. Once that had happened, Dew wrapped her tail around the egg and slid it away from Crystal, carefully bringing it over to Pina.
"She will feel better if she can spread out without fearing for the egg," Dew said by way of explanation, immediately returning to Crystal and nudging her into a different, more natural sleeping position, one slow push at a time.
"You seem to have done this before," Lily noted. She admired skill, and Dew clearly knew a thing or two more than one would expect the Dam of a single egg to have learned through experience.
"I have helped others," Dew replied shortly, still preoccupied with rearranging Crystal. "It was something to do, something useful and distracting."
"I prefer what comes after the egg," Pina remarked. "But it is good you help."
"Of course," Dew replied matter-of-factly, returning and taking the egg back from Pina, then nestling it snugly between Crystal's front paws and chest. "There. On her stomach, back legs spread out, tail straight. She will recover quickly. But not," she continued, looking to Lily, "quickly enough for Claw's intentions, so she will have to sit out any visits for the next few nights unless she wants to suffer needless pain."
"Understood." Lily was not naive enough to hope that Claw would act like any decent dragon and consider Crystal's comfort, let alone that he would act anything like the Sire of her egg, but she did hope that he would not think it worth forcing when it was only a few nights' delay, and only one of his many mates.
"I am going for a walk," Dew announced. "I want water, and she could probably use a few fresh fish for when she wakes. Lily, your help would be appreciated."
"I don't know how to fish," Lily admitted, "and my tail is still healing." She didn't like that it sounded like she was giving excuses, but as both were true, she had no choice in the matter. "I will repay your kindness once those are no longer problems."
"Do not bother, I would do this for any female with a new egg and her… friend…" Dew said slowly, trailing off and eyeing Lily. "Close friend?"
"Best friend," Lily replied without hesitation. "Definitely."
"I see." Dew glanced over at Pina. "I do not think I need to tell you what to do in my absence," she purred.
"Go." Pina agreed. "He might wake soon, and it is your turn to take him out to play."
"Sharing responsibilities?" Lily asked once Dew had left, letting a hint of amusement into her voice alongside a large helping of pride. "Given you showed up bleeding and disgraced, I think I should congratulate you on winning her over so quickly."
"Sharing privileges, more like," Pina said happily. "Taking him out to play is the most enjoyable part of our day. It is the trips to the waste pit in the middle of the night that we argue and haggle over like two light wings fighting over food."
Lily paused in confusion, envisioning Pina frantically pleading with Dew to let her have the privilege of braving the freezing cold so that a fledgling could relieve himself in the intended place instead of the middle of their side-cavern, before she realised what she'd meant "There's got to be a better comparison," she laughed.
"Maybe," Pina agreed. "In any case, we have much in common, and she is a very agreeable change of pace from Cressa and Grass. I think I had forgotten what pleasant company was like."
"I think I'm forgetting about that too, aside from Crystal." Lily looked around, marvelling at the modest but thankfully clear chamber around them. "And personal space. How do you and Dew not have others crowding in here on Claw's orders?"
Strangely, that innocent question elicited a subtle wince from Pina, though she quickly covered it up by shifting and pretending that she had just meant to move anyway. "Oh, he decided not to burden us with others," she said, then looked down at the male fledgling "This little one does sometimes wake up and screech for attention."
"That's not a reason," Lily asserted bluntly. "Or not the only reason. I'll figure it out if you don't tell me, so save us both the time, please."
"Claw came and had a 'talk' with me about what I did to Cressa," Pina admitted with a resigned sigh, not looking at Lily. "And Dew still limps from her own 'talk' from back when Pearl disappeared. I suspect he does not want anyone spending too much time close enough to us to notice."
Lily felt a rush of pure rage, one fueled by guilt. She had not even noticed anything off about Pina or Dew, and she was supposed to be better, more observant, than the rest of the pack! "What did he do to you?" she snarled.
"Nothing that is obvious," PIna said bitterly. "Nothing I would not have reasoned away as him 'getting carried away' before all of… this. But it was painful, and is still visible if I lay on my side, so it makes sense. We certainly are not in his good graces and getting this privacy as a reward for good behavior."
Lily made a note of that; practically speaking, she needed to remember that Pina and Dew were not perfectly innocent of wrongdoing in Claw's eyes. That made going to them for assistance in anything clandestine slightly more risky, for both them and her.
But on the less practical side of things… "I want to see," she requested.
"No," Pina answered firmly. "Please, do not press me on it. It is not important."
"If you say so," Lily agreed, resolving to pay very close attention to Pina until she had an idea of what had been done. Her paws and tail and entire life at the moment told her all she wanted to know about Claw's methods, but every bit of information she could glean made her assessment of him more accurate and thus more useful.
"I am glad you understand. Now," Pina warbled, "can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What is Crystal to you?"
Lily tilted her head, confused, and shrugged her wing shoulders aimlessly. "I just told Dew, she's my best friend. Is something about that unclear?"
"With you, anything can be unclear, because I am not sure I would know a cover-up from unspun truth," Pina said bluntly. "So I am just going to take a shot in the dark here and tell you that what you are feeling is totally acceptable."
"Okay…" Lily rumbled. She had no idea what Pina meant, but clearly Pina had some sort of mistaken idea as to what was really going on, so the easiest way to understand was to just wait and hear Pina out before admitting she really had no idea what was meant by any of it.
"And your situation makes it entirely okay because there is no such thing as being faithful in an abomination of a commitment that you did not choose," Pina continued consolingly. "But for your own safety, keep it very, very hidden. Claw would either be very angry, or very interested, and for you I cannot say which would be worse."
Lily nodded noncommittally, wondering what she was missing. She didn't see the connection; Pina was speaking of breaking commitment to Claw that wasn't really commitment, which was clear enough, but had also spoken of Crystal. Were they talking about a male friend she would understand, but…
She warbled uncertainly, looking over at Crystal, and then back at Pina. "Honestly," she admitted, "I do not understand." It really felt like she should, like she was missing something obvious, but the pieces just didn't fit with what she knew.
"I am asking if you are attracted to your friend," Pina revealed, flicking her tail in Crystal's general direction, her voice soft. "But since you did not even understand the question, I suppose you have already answered it."
"I wasn't aware that could happen," Lily replied, still turning the idea over in her head. She didn't even know how that would work, and it seemed pointless unless she was totally mistaken about there needing to be a male involved somewhere to get an egg.
"It certainly is not common," Pina agreed, "but it was a possibility. You are very close with your friend, and given your situation, I thought it more likely than not."
"Well, that is not happening," Lily asserted, confident that she could speak for her own heart. She liked males, though there were none around that she specifically wanted, and many she would not have anything to do with no matter what. When she imagined her ideal mate, her mind immediately went to a male light wing, one with strong features and a strong mind to match.
"I would not disapprove if it was," Pina offered. "Do not worry about that. I can see the appeal."
Lily shook her head, dropping back down onto all four paws and looking Pina in the eye. "No, really. I am not lying. I do not want anyone right now, but if I did, I would want a male. What you are talking about doesn't appeal to me at all."
"I just wanted to be sure." Pina shrugged her wings casually, her eyes dropping to stare at the floor, her ears drooping slightly. "I cannot help but feel terrible for you."
"And I cannot help that," Lily replied, lying down next to Pina and extending a wing over her back, subtly acting far more like a Dam than she probably would were she not mindful of the reputation she was trying to build. Even with Pina, it could not hurt, and might even help Pina cope with her guilt by removing some of the responsibility she felt she held.
"I should be doing this for you," Pina grumbled. "You are the one trapped in a bad situation."
"You're just as trapped," Lily countered. She initially left it there, but only a heartbeat later something else occurred to her. "Unless, that is, you were also being serious a moment ago."
"About what?" Pina asked, a confused lilt to her voice.
"You said you could 'see the appeal'," Lily said carefully, not wanting to accidentally come off as accusing. "And you told me to be very careful to keep it secret from Claw. Is there something I should know?" Now that she knew it was a possibility, she had to ask, though nothing she had ever seen from Pina leapt out at her now as being meaningful in retrospect.
"No," Pina chuffed. "I am… was… loyal to Claw." She whined softly. "It is all so broken and wrong now…"
"How did that start?" Lily asked, partially to keep Pina's attention and partially out of curiosity. "I mean, it seems like you had even more options than most females."
"Not really," Pina huffed. "Back then he was strong and young and charming, and I definitely did not mind the idea of ending up one of his. I did not particularly like any of the males available in my season-cycle, and did not really look to the females, because nothing would have come of that even if I did find one who felt the same."
"Why not?" Even as Lily asked, she saw the obvious answer. Even if it was commonplace, which it definitely was not if she was only now finding out that it existed, Claw would never allow something that took two potential females away from him in one fell swoop. Something like that, were it allowed at all, would irritate him, to say nothing of any other problems it might have.
"It simply is not done," Pina explained. "And as I said, I was more than happy to let the inevitable happen. Back then, he had far fewer mates, so we all got more attention."
"So basically, you didn't mind and just let it happen," Lily summarized, going back to staring at her now totally relaxed and gently snoring friend. "And it wasn't obvious how terrible he was, because…"
"Because I was not looking and because it is not easily noticeable," Pina continued in a low voice. "Pearl was the first real sign that something was wrong, the first one that I could not ignore and explain away as an unfortunate fit of anger or some other benign chance, and it took you implying that there was more to even get me looking. Then, of course, he made it obvious."
"Yes." And that would be his downfall. Taking his own daughter openly was a bold move, and it was coming back to bite him already, giving her an easy crack in his authority to exploit with people she didn't even know, like Mist. It seemed that he tried to keep his more flagrant abuses quiet, but that one couldn't have been hidden, and in going for it he had made a large mistake.
Really, Lily realized, Claw had let greed and lust get the better of him. If it were her, she would have ignored the temptation, dismissing it as too destabilizing to her image to be worth it, and moved on.
"This will not last forever," Pina rumbled sadly. "But I was happy for a long while, even without an egg. Now… Even if he let you go tomorrow, I would not be able to go back and be happy with him again. I know too much."
Lily, lacking any sort of verbal response that felt adequate, shifted her wing on Pina's back, reminding the other light wing that it was there, and settled more firmly against her side. Wordless comfort was all she could offer, and all that Pina could in turn provide, because neither of them had the power to promise a better future. To work toward it, yes, but not to promise it.
O-O-O-O-O
"Yes, pick it up like that," Pina instructed, her mouth wide to demonstrate how Crystal was supposed to be holding her egg, though devoid of an egg or prop to symbolize one, she looked far more silly than instructive. "Now let your teeth out to block it from sliding right back out."
"'Ike 'is?" Crystal asked, her voice all but unintelligible, her tongue blocked by the egg that barely fit in her mouth. Her teeth slowly slid out into place, her gums contracting and forcing the needle-esque spikes out into position.
"Yes, perfect," Pina praised. "Now let us go quickly, because that does not feel good to hold long. Your jaw will be sore."
Lily followed along behind her cavern-Dam and best friend as they quickly made their way out into the corridor, Pina taking the lead with the air of someone entirely willing to bite and shove if that was what it would take to get wherever she was going quickly. Luckily for everyone, nobody got in their way.
Lily felt like she was an observer at the moment, though she certainly did not mind Pina taking the lead for the time being. It was obviously making Pina feel better about herself to have something to do, and it might be easier for her to get everything done and settled if Honey and Claw were still messing around with the side-cavern.
Crystal wasn't objecting to being led around and told what needed to be done, either. She had been unusually quiet since waking, though not so downtrodden as to truly worry Lily.
Pina did not slip through the crack in the wall that let out into their side-cavern so much as push her way through, somehow avoiding scraping her sides on the sharp edges. Crystal followed her in, and Lily quickly did the same, hoping against hope that-
"Ah, Pina," Claw purred as they entered. "What brings you here?"
"Just helping a new Dam out," Pina said briskly, her voice deceptively light. "I will not be long."
"Honey needs no help," Claw replied. "She has males waiting on her paw and tail whenever she wants."
"Oh, good," Pina replied quickly. "They will be able to help Crystal too." She ushered Crystal along with her tail in such a way that her own body was between the two of them, somehow making it not look as awkward to accomplish as it undoubtedly was. "She had a hard laying."
"Did she, now?" Claw asked, sidling around, only to be blocked by Pina's outwardly innocent movement. Lily purred quietly in approval; she would have to figure out how Pina was making her movements seem so random and unintentional while totally blocking Claw. It was an act of subtlety she hadn't thought her cavern-Dam capable of. "I did not know she was with egg."
"Neither did she," Lily offered, having looked around and ascertained that Honey was not at the moment present to object. Claw had been waiting alone in the chamber, which was in itself disturbing if she thought about it.
"Right here," Pina instructed, turning her back on Claw and subtly flaring her wings to keep him from getting too close. "Set it down and curl around it, yes, that is right. If you start cramping up in the night, wake Lily and pass it off to her. Lily, you see how it is done?"
Lily walked over, helpfully contributing to Pina's blockade with her own body, playing along. "Yes, I see. And we do not have to do anything but keep it warm and wait?"
"Well," Pina hummed, making it sound like she was just thinking of it for the first time, "Crystal will need to heal and rest, but other than that, no." She narrowed her eyes and flicked her ears in Claw's direction, her small movement unseen by him. "That is just common sense."
Lily nodded eagerly, deciding to add her own ploy to Pina's fairly thorough attempt to dissuade Claw without outright telling him what to do. "Yes. If she cannot rest, she might be permanently hurt."
"Not that," Crystal rumbled. "I am tired, anyway." The alert look in her eyes defied that statement, and Lily knew she had just slept for part of the day, but it was obviously a lie meant to contribute to driving Claw away.
"I think she is settled," Claw said firmly, walking around Pina's wings to rudely poke his head in and stare at Crystal. "Now, do you have somewhere else to be, Pina? I did not send you to share a side-cavern with Dew just to have you sleeping elsewhere when the mood strikes."
"No, you did not," Pina agreed. "But it is not a bad side-cavern. Visit us tonight?"
"I have other plans," Claw rumbled. "But I will walk you out." His tone made it clear that he wasn't making an offer so much as telling her what was going to happen.
Lily huffed a tentative sigh of relief once Claw and Pina were gone. "How likely do you think it is that she'll tempt him enough to get him to forget about us for tonight?"
"I do not know. But she certainly tried," Crystal said quietly. "Did you ask her to do that?"
"No, but that's just who she is," Lily replied proudly. "She knows you need to avoid Claw at least long enough to recover, so she did what she could to make that happen. You did pretty much the same for me when I couldn't move."
Crystal grumbled noncommittally and closed her eyes, never having moved from the position Pina had led her to assume, her body curled in a tight circle around the white orb-
"Odd," Lily said, realizing something. "Honey must have taken hers with her." Carrying an egg around seemed to be an annoying task, though. Maybe one of the males Claw had assigned to her was doing it for her.
"I do not care about hers," Crystal said slowly. "Lily…"
"Yes?" Lily sat down across from Crystal, positioning herself so that her back was to the majority of the chamber. Crystal would tell her if someone came in without making any noise and thus without catching her attention.
"You will help me, right?"
"With everything. Of course."
"Thank you. I would do the same for you… Though I hope I never have to."
"You won't," Lily said, knowing that what Crystal would take as a hopeful assertion was actually stone-cold fact. It didn't bother her, but at the same time it did, if only because she could not change it if she ever wanted to.
A heavy silence fell over them, one unbroken by their quiet breathing and occasional shifting of position, scales sliding against newly-smoothed stone. Every heartbeat brought Lily a little more relief, because the absence of Claw as time passed made it more and more likely that Pina had succeeded in distracting him.
"Today was a terrible day," Crystal murmured, breaking the silence only briefly.
That certainly was true, at least from Crystal's perspective. A pained day full of uncertainty and likely conflicted emotions over the egg did not seem like a good day by any measure.
But, looking at it objectively… Lily couldn't call it a bad day. It was a necessary one, and a resolution to uncertainty. Now it was no longer in question whether Crystal had an egg, and therefore there would be no more uncertainty or worry on that subject. That, combined with the interesting conversation with Pina, and the apparent success at keeping Claw away, seemed to at least balance Crystal's discontent.
At least it had not gone any worse. Lily could imagine a dozen different ways things could have gone wrong, and she was thankful she was only imagining them in retrospect. The egg was here, Crystal was being allowed to recover, and life would go on. Everything was still in motion, slowly but surely, and the egg would not slow either of them down much in working toward their ultimate goal. Claw would fall eventually, and that day had not been postponed.
Author's Note: Wow, not a lot happened this chapter, even by this story's standards. But these were all scenes I certainly could not skip; imagine me just flipping to the next morning and starting with 'oh, and Crystal had hers too', to say nothing of skipping our first meeting with Pearl's now-named Dam and Sire.