Colors
She flew down the long and bright passageway toward what was supposed to be the warmer part of the pack's ranges. Eagerness and warmth burned brightly in her liver all because the pack of light wings was giving her a chance to be one of them and prove herself!
She was not going to foul this flight. This was her chance to find a pack of her own and maybe some friends too!
Friends. Having friends would warm her life-flight so very much!
She spied several apparently empty caves in ice or rock, one of which she could probably claim as her den once... if the pack accepted her. Ice-caves were what she knew very well and could sleep peacefully in after proving herself to the pack.
On the other paw, resting with the other light wings in peace and shared-warmth would also be very good at first as a way of bonding and helping them to know her better!
Her flight continued down the range and along the frozen waters, strange plants and mosses that grew among the rocks and ice, and the glowing light-rocks. The ice-range eventually changed into more cold waters which rolled and fell away entirely as the passageway sloped higher. The air became warmer and the sky brighter with more light-rocks.
She flew up around a corner and passed into a new chamber that was truly warm, warmer than any range she had ever lived in before, and was one of the larger bounded chambers. Pools of water steamed in some places, which was something she had not seen many times before. The old ranges she had flown in were cold and did not have steaming pools.
This range also had far more plants than did any ranges she had flown in before. Green covered all the walls and all the lengths of the chamber. Many of the plants were even bigger than kin! It was so liver-warming and good and filled with life!
So much green!
The warmth in the air was so great that she almost wanted to lay down and go to sleep right there, but no, there was something more important to do. She had fledglings and friends to find!
She glided deeper into the green and warm chamber until she saw what she was looking for. There were four older light wing fledglings resting by or swimming in a large pool of hot water. Those would be the ones who were her age in life: almost truly grown but not yet mature.
She was already as large as most of the female light wings, which made her bigger than these fledglings who needed another life-making cycle of growing to be mature. Even though she was a little bigger than all four of them, she and they were not so different in size that they could not have fun! They were sure to enjoy having another kin who was much like them to play with and bond with! These might be the friends she had wanted for so long!
Hopefully...
She roared with joy to announce herself to them. They heard her joyful roar, and they hopped to their paws at attention or climbed out of the water as she glided in and touched down on the mossy ground. The ground was so warm and filled with fire compared to the ice world that she knew.
The fledglings, two males and two females, stared her direction in open surprise and then eagerly bounded toward her with their tails swaying.
"New kin!" "You have spines!" "Your colors!" "What are you?"
So much liver-warmth. These fledglings did not see her as different and something to turn tail on. They saw her differentness and wondered about her in a good way!
She sat down on her rear, purred with warmth, and preened, holding her head high.
"I am a half light wing! Your Alpha and Oldest-Knower are letting me fly with your pack!"
With that reassurance, the four fledglings started prancing around her, scenting her, nudging her side, nosing at her wings, touching her soft back-spines with their paws or noses, and hopping over her tail. They were very eager to meet her and mark her with their scents as kin and known to them, which was very good!
They wanted her!
"My name is Skadi! What are your names?"
They paused and sat down around her; their tails were swaying and ears were lifted in confusion.
"Names? We have no pack-roles yet," one of the males answered.
"Only secret names none can know!" a female with red-tinted wings slyly added.
She grumbled in confusion. She had not asked about pack-roles, so why did he answer like that. What did the female mean about secret names?
Partial understanding flew to her. Their name would be their pack-role once they get one. Scent could be like a name, but that did not work from afar. She meant something else by secret-names.
"Are your names... your pack-role? You have no other names, true?" she asked.
"True, other than the secret names which only closest kin know," the male answered.
She grumbled again out of annoyance. The pack could have whatever naming-ceremonies it wanted, but this way was confusing. For one, their names could change if their pack-roles changed.
Having one name that meant each of them would be better for her, at least until they got their pack-given name. But maybe they already had those secret names which none of them would speak about until later.
"I want to name each of you four so I can talk to you without confusion!"
"Sure!" "Name us!" "Tell me!" "What am I?"
She approached the females first. Those two already had a faint shine on their wings. The males appeared to lack those shines and colors.
"You are Yellow and Red! Those are your wing shine colors."
Yellow and Red purred with approval after glancing at their wings.
"What about us?" one of the males clamored.
"You are Blue and Green, for your eye colors."
They also purred with approval.
"What is your name for?" Red hummed.
Her ears fell and tail stopped swaying.
"I do not know. My sire is lost now, and he never told me what my name meant."
"Lost?" Yellow whined, apparently feeling her liver-chill.
"He died of age," she sighed, holding in the chill and sadness.
"What about your dam?" Yellow softly asked.
"She did her duty to me and then left to fly on her own. We parted... well. I do not know where she is."
Blue, Green, and Yellow whined softly with fallen ears of their own. Then, one at a time, they stepped forward and nuzzled her neck while purring softly in comfort. Red also approached and nuzzled her.
"Are you very cold in your liver?" Blue hummed.
"A little, but I found a pack, yours, that might take me in, so I will have a warm life-flight now!"
She had to think this way. Think with lift and hope. There was no better way.
"Talking about warmth, do you want to swim in the warm bubble-water?" Green spun away and asked.
"It is very good to sleep in! No fouling the water though!" Yellow cried.
"And we can do play-fights after! I like play-fights!" Green added and smirked.
"We can show you where the good fishing is!" Blue hummed, stretching his wings.
"Those, yes, but we should also learn more about you, Skadi. You are a special kin," Red huffed.
"Yes! Yes to all!" she joyfully roared.
She bounded along, following the fledglings on the ground as they led her somewhere. She did not care where they were going first. What mattered was just that she was going with them and would be bonding with them!
They wanted her to be their friend!
They all arrived at a big and deep pool of hot water. They jumped into the warm water and started swimming and splashing, and she followed them into the warming, sleep-making, hide-soaking goodness of bubble-water.
She never wanted to leave the bubble-water for any reason at all. Never had the warmth soaked into her hide and filled her liver with so much sleep-wanting. Swimming out into the middle of the bubble-water pool was so good and...
Blue crashed into her from below, flipping her over while Yellow swam underwater at him, nipping at his tail in play! Play in the water was very liver-warming, but they did not know that she was a very good swimmer! She could play-hunt far better than they could!
She only reluctantly left the water later to join the play-fighting which Blue and Green had suggested.
They took turns fighting each other, males against males, females against females, and mixed-fighting. Green, the closest male to her size, especially enjoyed fighting her even though she barely had an advantage from her size. He was also far more practiced at fighting, which made their play-fight more of an even contest. Green was much better than Blue, and neither Red or Yellow seemed very eager for the play-fighting, though they went along with it.
The play-fighting involved a lot of pinning and rolling. It was good that her spines were soft and not hard like bone at all, unlike those of some other kin, though it was not comfortable when her spines were pinned against the ground.
Once the play-fighting was done and they were all resting on the ground, Yellow bounded up to her.
"Well, that was fun. Do you know the warm-light mushroom-tree?" Yellow asked.
"No, I have never been in your pack's range before. What is that tree?"
All four fledglings purred while gathering around her.
"It is a big mushroom tree with blue and white light. It smells good and is very warm to sleep in!" Yellow explained.
She yawned widely at the mention of sleep. Sleep sounded very good after long flying and playing!
"We should go to it!" she agreed.
"Ground race!" "Tail chase!" "Catch me!" "To the tree!"
They started running together, weaving through the trees and mushrooms, bounding around light-rocks, and hopping over fields of glowing flowers. Running for fun with her kin was so good!
Then they arrived at a very big mushroom-tree.
She sat down and stared up in liver-warmth at the mushroom-tree. The tree had many big branches so thick that they could hold grown light wings; she saw several light wings hanging upside down using their tails. The branches and the smaller mushrooms growing from the mushroom-tree were very big and glowed underneath with white and blue light.
They were right! It does smell very good.
"Up on top!" Yellow shouted.
She followed the fledglings up onto the largest mushroom at the top. They all landed and lay down together around her, leaning against each other for shared-warmth as they looked out over the warm-range.
Then something very twisted and warming happened.
Yellow and Blue, the two on her sides, started licking her neck and tucked wings in grooming. No kin, other than her sire-father and dam-mother, had ever done that liver-warming bonding with her.
Red nudged her shoulder and purred after the other two finished the grooming.
"Tell us about you. You are a mixed-kin: a light wing and... what other kin-kind?"
"I do not know what my other kin-kind name is. My sire was the kin who was not a light wing."
She considered telling them that her sire had been the Highest-Alpha of all kin in all the ranges. Telling them that did not feel needed. They accepted her without knowing that detail that did not change her life-flight now.
"My dam had a little blue and more purple shine on her hide and wings. I got my color from her," she added.
"Do you truly not know where she is?" Yellow asked.
"Not here. She flew away from me a pawful of life-making cycles ago."
The fledglings looked uncertain about that explanation.
"Why did she do that?" Red softly asked.
She had to be careful explaining this to them to not give away the truth. Her dam had explained the reasons long ago to her before they parted in peace. Learning that full truth had been very twisted to learn, mostly because it helped her see that packs were not necessarily good.
"She explained it like this. My sire was an Alpha far from here. He had no mate and had to leave his far range. He went to a pack of light wings that knew who he was, and he made them an offer. A female would make an egg with him, and she would be allowed to leave that pack."
They gasped.
"Why would she want to leave the pack?" Blue barked in shock.
"Because that pack had... forced-pairing for short times as a life-way. Both the males and females could not choose who to be paired with... and the pack did not even allow life-mates at all. The Alpha was not a good one either."
They growled after recovering themselves.
"What! Why?" Yellow asked.
"I do not know why. She did not tell me."
"That is not our pack-ceremony," Red huffed.
"We make our own pairs," Yellow hummed.
She also hummed in approval, liking this life-way much more.
"I know. I would not want to stay here if this pack had that other life-way. My dam accepted the offer, went with my sire to another range, and they were... good to each other. They made my egg and raised me together for... four life-making cycles. My dam stayed with me until I learned my fire and could protect myself. She did all that she should do as a dam," she whispered.
"What about your sire?" Blue wondered.
She wanted to answer that question, but she did not know what to say. The chill was still too close to her liver.
"I... he and I had some problems. He flew away from me and my dam... but he came back to see me before he died of age. It... I..."
Yellow warbled softly and licked her cheek, "You do not want to talk about it. I understand. Just stay with us as our kin and be warm."
She purred to Yellow, Red, Blue, and Green. Their understanding and patience was very good and liver-warming. Then she yawned, showing her sleep-wanting.
They also yawned.
"I agree." "Sleep now." "I am tired." "Time for a long nap."
Exhausted from the long playing and bonding, she lay her head on her paws as the four light wings did the same. She very quickly heard only their snoring and purring.
She noticed a couple other light wings fly toward a far corner of this warm chamber. She briefly wondered what they were also doing here, but her exhaustion became too much. There was more time to learn about that later.
To go in only one waking-cycle from being packless and wandering to now almost certainly having a pack and kin of her own who were much like her was so very good and liver-warming!
These were her friends. Finally.
She was so sleepy and did not want to move, so she did not move from her place in the cave-den. Sire-father and dam-mother were talking on their own just outside the cave-den. She could barely hear them, and it was hard to hear what they were saying.
"... should stay... needs you here," dam-mother hissed.
"I must... danger in far... cannot know... should have gone," sire-father grumbled.
More grumbling and growling followed, but she did not care about any of that. She just yawned widely while waiting for them to come back. Trying to sleep without dam-mother's warm wing was not so good and not going to happen.
Paws approached later, and she saw both her sire-father and dam-mother there. Good, they came back to sleep now.
Sire-father crouched down and nuzzled her forehead, which was so warming of him to do.
"Skadi, little one, I must go on a flight."
She hopped to her paws and stretched her wings, getting ready to fly with him! He always liked seeing how strong her flying was!
"Okay! I fly!"
"No, you stay here with your dam-mother. Stay here and be strong."
"Okay! When see you?"
Sire-father glanced at dam-mother, who stared back at him without blinking. There was so much warmth between her sire-father and dam-mother!
"When... the time is right. Your dam-mother can say more... later."
Sire-father spun around and walked out the cave-den without looking back at them. He did not need to since he would be back soon. She watched as he took flight and flew from the cave-den.
Dam-mother came over to her and lay down with her.
"Where sire-father fly?"
"Away," dam-mother hissed.
"Why?"
"I... do not know."
"Why?"
Dam-mother said nothing else; instead, dam-mother just covered her with a wing so she could sleep better. Sleep was a good idea, so she closed her eyes and listened to her dam-mother's purring and grumbling. Maybe dam-mother had wanted to fly also?
Going on that flight, whatever it was, with sire-father would have been fun, but she was so sleepy right now. They could go on another flight later once he flew back-
She woke up with a gasp and a whine which quickly faded as she heard the purring around her. The four light wing fledglings, all still asleep, had shown her acceptance and kindness on the first waking-cycle of knowing her. That was so good of them.
But that sleep-vision was very cold.
Why had he needed to fly away? What flight was so important that it would lead him away from his kin... from his own life-water kin? Why did being a High-Alpha mean being away from her?
She did not know and might never know. He had never shared that in all their distant thought-sharing. He had kept that truth away from her.
Curiosity was too strong and powerful.
How to fly out of that past, forget it, and move on? Maybe the only way was one waking-cycle at a time, using those waking-cycles to help others and be around those who cared for her. Eventually learning what she had done wrong would also help her grow and have a warmer life-flight.
This might be the pack which would help her find that good future.
She shrank slightly under all the glares and watchful gazes from the pairs and especially from the dams. Resting with the playful fledglings in the other, warmer chamber was very different from this cavern where many of the pack slept in the cold range. These caves for sleeping went back far into the rock and quickly became very dark. Finding a good, dark cave was needed for sleep because the light-rocks were always burning brightly outside. Not everyone slept here, but many did because of the closeness, shared-warmth, and feeling of safety.
But they did not know her yet, so they did not look at her with liver-warmth.
Then she saw Alpha walk in alongside his two mates and a two cycle male fledgling who was obviously his. His mates lay down alongside each other while the fledgling partly vanished under one of their white wings. Alpha walked up alongside her and then faced the pack.
"Pack! Just to remind you, this half light wing is named Skadi. She might be joining the pack! She has been bonding with our fledglings! She rests with us in peace! No bothering her," Alpha cried.
That must have satisfied the suspicious light wings since the grumbling and unfriendly glares mostly stopped. Alpha bounded over to his two mates and lay down between them, whispering softly.
She felt more confident and continued deeper into the cave. The cave became slightly warmer the deeper she walked toward the tail-end of the pack. The darkness at the rear of the cave was much better for sleeping in.
She continued on past the adults and pairs resting together and purring in peace. Finally, at the back of where the pack slept, she saw that the cave split in two directions, one leading up and another going down.
"You should stop here," one of the last females whispered.
"Why?"
"There is no reason to go deeper. Both paths go nowhere you need to go."
"I do not understand," she grumbled.
"Walk into one and you come out the other after you see them," the female said, before lying down again.
She looked away from the female and stared at the two paths that indeed did not look walked upon much. There was a very faint wind in her face, but the paths were silent.
She blinked, wondering how there could be wind if the paths went nowhere. She was always very curious and had always wondered what might be hidden from her. Something, probably not important, might be hidden now, but that was fair of the pack. She was not truly one of them yet, so they would not want her to know everything.
I should ask about this later once I am in the pack. That female mentioned a them back in the paths. Maybe there are packmates who sleep back there? Hatchlings maybe?
She took her place at the tail-end of the pack and then curled up, hiding her head under her wings. Sleep did not fly to her for a long time despite this place being better for sleeping than the warm range. The calming purring of the many dozing light wings helped spark sleep-wanting.
But curiosity was hard to escape the jaws of once it bit.
She let everything fall away until she saw with life-fire sight. That sight, while not perfect for this, could see through some rocks. There were indeed many burning lights around her, all further up the cave. Those were the entire pack. There were no other lights anywhere else near her or deeper in where the cave probably went.
Nothing was living in that direction.
But there was still that very faint wind.
First-Fish-Hunter was very impressed with her performance so far. Three dives down below the ice had resulted in three big fish for the pack. She had also showed off how long she could stay under the water.
"You can dive very deep and stay under the water longer than we can," he hummed.
She preened slightly at his fair praise. She was a better swimmer than a pure light wing. Secretly, she thought that being a mixed-kin was very good, not that she would say that aloud. There was no reason to think of herself as more important than everyone else.
"Yes, I can swim very deep and stay under the water long. My being a mixed-kin probably helps me with that. I also like swimming into the very deep water to hunt the big fish and the snappers on the ground."
He looked surprised and worried since his ears went back, "You know that there are monsters and kin-hunters down in the deep dark, yes? Deep diving to prey on the many-legged snappers is a very dangerous hunt. We only swim that in small groups that can fight together. Lone kin diving deep sometimes never return."
Should she reveal that she could force the kin-hunters away through thoughts alone or that they otherwise feared her? Or would it be better to hide that? Hiding that truth is probably best. He does not need to know about anything twisted.
"I know that there are kin-hunters that swim in the deep. I do not fear them, and they never try to hunt me. I do not know why."
He looked impressed again, though he was also very thoughtful.
"That is very good, if it is truth. You can hunt in waters we cannot safely hunt in. Your shape is a little better for swimming and cutting through the water than ours is. This is twisted for me to say, but you are probably a better Fish-Hunter than any of us in the pack-order, even than me..."
She bent her head to him in thanks, "My liver-thanks, First. I might be a better hunter, but you and your kin know these waters better than I do. You can teach me things I do not know about the hunt here. I will listen to you and learn from you as the First so I can better help the pack."
He purred in open approval, "Good. You want to be a Fish-Hunter, if I remember well."
"Yes, I would be best at this out of the many pack-roles. If that is not a problem... since this is a male pack-role."
"It is not a problem. There are no females in this role because none want to be. Too dangerous, they say. I will speak with Alpha and tell him you did well and know what you are doing. Also, one of the fledglings that you have been flying with has also been asking about being a Fish-Hunter."
She remembered well. Blue had expressed that very interest.
"I know who you speak of."
"While he is a fledgling still, he and the other fledglings will all have their tests. Would you help teach him if you have the time?"
"Yes, I will."
He sighed and glanced at the pile of three fish, "Being a Fish-Hunter is a necessary role, but it is not much liked in the pack. Most do not approve of it or care for it as much as they do the Fighters or the Ground-Prey-Hunters."
"Why not?"
He waved a paw at the big hole in the ice, "Because our work is more done in hiding where others only see the result: the fish already caught. With the fights and the chase for prey on the ground, others can see it happening. There is more status gained when others see it done."
Being seen doing good brought more status and approval than doing good which was not seen. That seemed to be what he was saying, anyway.
"I understand... maybe."
He gestured with a paw at the fish, "I will take these fish to the young, and I will send two other packmates to come get fish from here later. Do you think you can catch more fish by then?"
She purred, spun away from him, and dove into the open water. Showing him that she was eager to help the pack would also help her.
She liked that Blue was going to learn something about fishing from her. He had indeed mentioned that he liked the fun of diving into deeper waters where the bigger fish or other prey could be caught. That was very good since it gave him and her more opportunity to bond as packmates... as possible packmates since she was not yet truly part of the pack.
"What will they have you do next?" Red asked, hanging upside down from the tree.
She was also hanging upside down beside her friend.
"I do not know. The tests are different each waking-cycle," she answered.
Yellow barked up at her from where she lay on her back on the ground.
"They will probably have you sit with the young, play with them, and be kind to them. The young always want to play!" Yellow brayed.
"I would like that. Being around the young is something I... never got to do."
"Why not?" Yellow asked.
She sighed, "Because I have no nestmates, and my range far from here was away from where most kin would fly."
Red hummed, "Your dam flew away how many life-making cycles ago?"
"Two."
"What did you do with your time all alone since then?"
She was not sure what to say to that question. That time had been used practicing her hunting, learning to provide entirely for herself, growing until she reached this almost fully-grown size, and, most liver-warming of all when it happened, sharing far-thought with her sire-father. Seeing from his eyes as he perched on a great light-rock, watching the occasional kin bring him a fish-gift, and hearing his whispered thoughts that only she could hear. But even those thought-visions were not the same as truly sharing life-flights as they should have.
He had seemed quieter in those cycles, though she had no idea why that might have been other than his age. He had never said anything to her about his power fading even though she could easily see that it was.
"I kept myself busy. I am a strong hunter!"
Red chuckled, "Maybe you are, but learning to fly within pack-rules and... rise in the pack is different from hunting prey."
"True, and I have not had a chance to learn that without being in a pack. It could be good to learn all that."
A pair of roars sounded as Blue and Green flew to them.
Yes, now we can all play!
She unwound her tail, flapped once to slow the fall, and touched down on her paws before Yellow. Red similarly dropped down as Blue and Green bounded to them.
"You are here! Now we should go and play," she purred.
"Yes, we will always have time for playing," Yellow hummed.
"What playing? Fighting?" Green growled in readiness, his tail twitching.
"You always want to fight! Stupid male," Yellow huffed.
"You know you want this," Green huffed and puffed his chest out.
"Yes, I want that... far away from me," Yellow snorted.
She, Blue, and Red laughed at Green's look of amused frustration. But there was something about that teasing that made her wonder.
The pack allowed four eggs every other life-making cycle. There was no guarantee that there would always be two males and two females, but there might be some expectation that males and females in each group of fledglings might try to pair off. Or there might not be an expectation, but that interest might grow naturally after much time bonding. On the other paw, the fledglings might think about each other like they were nestmates, in which case they probably would not think about making mate pairs.
She had no idea or way to know about that, short of asking them. She did not know what it was like to have a nestmate brother or sister.
"Are we ready to fly?" she asked.
The other four flung out their wings and crouched, so she leaped first to lead the flight. They were planning on using the whole waking-cycle exploring the warm range. The fledglings probably knew this range already, but they were eager to show it off for her sake.
"I see them!" Yellow shouted, racing ahead.
She and the others followed Yellow's lead, diving down onto a darker and damper place in the chamber. This place had many different mushrooms of various sizes, shapes, and colors. Mushrooms did not grow in the cold ranges that she knew.
"Why are we here?" she asked them.
Oddly, they chuckled, tails swaying.
"You do not know yet?" Yellow asked in surprise.
"If I knew, why would I ask?"
Yellow huffed and hopped over to a patch of pure white mushrooms which she then growled at and even flamed, "These are bad mushrooms. Eat enough of them and you will go to sleep without ever waking up."
She growled at the death-sleep mushrooms, but Yellow hummed and hopped over to another patch of mushrooms. These ones were brown and very big.
"These are very good ones. They grow fast, and we can eat them!" Yellow hummed.
"We can eat these plants?" she gasped in surprise.
Yellow munched on a couple of the mushrooms and purred after swallowing the plant-food, "Yes, they taste almost like meat without any life-water. Try one."
She did, even though the idea of a kin eating a plant was a twisted one. But... the mushroom did taste almost like a ground-prey, which made it probably taste as good as a plant could taste. None of these grew in the ranges she had grown up in.
"These do not grow in the range where I hatched and fledged," she said.
"No, these only grow where there is warm water and dirt, not ice and rock," Yellow agreed.
"Are there other plants I should know about?"
Yellow hummed as she looked around. A brief flash of motion got their attention behind them. Blue and Green were having a play-fight, snapping at each other's necks and growling for the sake of doing so.
Red snorted, "Males. Ignore them. There are some berries that we fledglings do not need to eat."
"Why not?"
Yellow chuckled, "They stop us from making any eggs for a while."
She snorted to hide how inside-twisted that made her feel. Eggs, mates, and anything like those topics were for later in life!
"There are also some mushrooms that we try to kill almost all of whenever we find them," Yellow added.
"I understand. Should we flame the rest of the white ones?"
"No, not those ones. We do not kill them. I mean the blue ones."
"What is twisted about them?" she asked.
Oddly, Yellow grumbled, her tail twitching in agitation, "I do not know. It is a pack-rule that they are not for eating unless one of the pack is in much pain. The Plant-Tenders tend the mushrooms and keep a pawful of the blue ones growing in one place, but no more than a pawful. I heard whispers that these blue mushrooms might twist a kin's thinking."
Red chuckled and glanced at Blue and Green, "You males should stop eating the blue mushrooms all the time!"
"Hey!" "We do not!"
She, Red, and Yellow laughed together until Red recovered herself first and spoke in a whisper.
"Males will be males. Let them waste time fighting each other while we learn the rules of the game."
Yellow looked a little confused, though she said nothing other than vaguely agreeing.
Skadi suspected that she understood what Red was really saying. Understanding the rules of rising in the pack was an important part of life that she still needed to learn about. Learning those rules as a fledgling would help a kin be best ready to rise high in the pack-order as fast as possible.
So this is where the pack keeps them. I should have known.
Where else could the pack keep something so important? These certainly had to be kept warm all the time.
She was not sure at all about this test, if this even was one. This was also different from what she had volunteered for. She offered to watch the young, not sit with eggs!
"Is there a problem?" First-Egg-Watcher warbled from where she lay in the nest.
The light wing females had piled fallen trees and sticks into a big nest on the ground in that large, warm chamber. Each of the four eggs had one of the four Egg-Watchers protecting it, and there were other Young-Watchers nearby also, likely as more protection.
The Egg-Watchers were older female light wings who could not make eggs anymore. They helped protect and warm the four eggs whenever the true Dams needed to be away, in addition to knowing much about tending to eggs. The Young-Watchers, which were younger females, helped protect hatchlings and the younger fledglings when they were being cared for in a group. They liked to help the Dams and the Egg-Watchers whenever they had spare time, which was very frequently.
"No, but I... have never sat with eggs before."
Fourth-Egg-Watcher huffed and stepped back from the egg between her paws. It was a normal, plain white egg.
Fourth-Egg-Watcher nudged her shoulder and purred to the egg, "Sit with the egg. Put your paws around it and your tailfins over it. Feel the warmth and give your warmth."
Cautiously, she did so, stepping over to the egg, sitting down with it, and covering it with her tailfins. Nothing went wrong so far.
"Now what?" she whispered.
"Now, you sit with it. Talk to it. Sing to it. Let the unhatched one know that you are there. We turn the egg once every waking-cycle," Fourth-Egg-Watcher explained.
"But I am not the Dam. Does that matter?"
First-Egg-Watcher hummed beside her, seemingly pleased by the question, "That is not very important. The true Dam sits with it the most to let the little one know her voice when the egg is near hatching. She will also be with it when it hatches and looks for its true Dam. What is important now is that the hatchling within hears voice and feels warmth. Those keep it alive and let it know that it is wanted."
That is not hard to do.
She knew no songs, but she could hum to it, so she did. First-Egg-Watcher purred in approval after a while and then went over to speak with other Young-Watchers.
Her paws gently cradled the precious egg that was so warm and heavy with life, though she did not know how close it was to hatchling. The life-fire within was small, but it was strong and bright.
It was so easy to pretend in that moment that this was truly her egg... or that of a nestmate she would never have.
"Little one, you do not know me, but you... grow strong and then you will see how good life is. You are wanted in this pack."
This still felt like a twisted test for the pack to have her sit with their eggs. Maybe this was a way of seeing how kind and gentle she was to the weakest in the pack: the unhatched. If she was careful and gentle with them, then she could be trusted with anyone else. Further, the pack letting her sit with the eggs and keep them warm definitely helped her feel more protective of the pack.
Her warm thoughts were chilled by something that Alpha and Oldest-Knower had mentioned. Of four eggs laid, one usually would not live to be grown. At least, that is what had happened with previous groups of eggs. Whether by hunters who ate hatchlings, fighting, lack of food, or something else, the jaws of death would take many.
There were four eggs here now.
"I will help protect you... all of you," she whispered to the egg.
Sitting there with the egg was peaceful, though she could not help but wonder what else Alpha and Oldest-Knower planned to test her on. Everything had gone well so far, so she would have no problems with any other kind of test! This pack was where she belonged.