David watched as Freefall flew off to some unknown destination, leaving David at the Hatchery. He smiled and walked behind the Hatchery to the garden. He loved the feeling of riding the skybax, he had a great time; and the sight of Marion only made the day more enjoyable. He walked over to the garden gate and was about to speak when a pile of dirt flew at his face. He spit some of it off of his face and wiped a lot of it off. He opened his eyes and looked down to see 26 looking up at him with a smile. She honked happily. He saw Marion and Amelia sitting in the garden looking at him. Marion looked horrified that something like that had happened but Amelia smiled and laughed slightly. Amelia stood up and gave him a piece of cloth from her pocket and helped him wipe some of the dirt off of his face with the corner of her apron a little.
"Are you alright?" she asked him laughing. He nodded, beginning to laugh a little himself.
"Yea I'm fine. Though I swear she hates me…" David said looking down at 26. Marion stood up and walked over to him too, offering a clean cloth for his dirty one.
"No she likes you, she just likes to play too much," Marion said patting 26's head.
"Where's Karl?" David asked causing 26 to hank louder. Marion quieted her down.
"I don't now…" Marion said almost surprised by it.
"He went to the Earth Farm, to talk to the Matriarch," Amelia explained. David nodded in understanding. The letter. He was glad Karl was asking her, David didn't want the Matriarch to get the impression he wanted to leave. The question coming from Karl wouldn't surprise her as much.
"How long has he been gone? It's almost noon," David said with a glance down to his shadow surrounding him.
"Well he hasn't been long enough for 26 to start worrying," Marion said still rubbing 26's head. 26's head shot up instantly and she ran from the garden, trampling over some newly placed plants. The three of them watched her gallop toward Karl who was walking up the path toward the Hatchery. He stopped when she reached his and he rubbed her. After she seemed a bit satisfied he continued walking toward the three. He looked at David and shook his head and then looked out at the garden.
"Wow you guys got a lot done…" he said nodding in approval. He then noticed the bit 26 had unintentionally dug up.
"Hey you missed a spot," Karl said and pointed to it. Marion and Amelia frowned at him. Amelia held up a bunch of plapes and threw them wordlessly into Karl's face. She and Marion then walked out of the garden and into the Hatchery. After Karl wiped most of the dirt off of his face with the cloth David had just given him he looked at David questionably. David smirked back at him.
"They did plant there. 26 dug it up…" David explained and followed the girls. Karl frowned and looked down at 26 who was looking up at him. She honked.
"No, don't even try…" he told her and she honked again. He began to walk toward the Hatchery, 26 following him.
"No, I don't want to hear it…" he said. She honked twice.
"I don't care how cute you are, you're still in trouble…"
Inside of the Hatchery Marion found her little sister making the bed in the spare bedroom. Marion knew she was making it for Zippo who was going to arrive tomorrow afternoon sometime. But Amelia made the bed when she got up this morning. Maybe someone had washed them for Zippo. Samantha was having trouble getting the top quilt to lay on the bed evenly so Marion helped her.
"This egg, Marion, what do you make of it?" Samantha asked her older sister.
"I am going to wait until it hatches, and make my mind up then," Marion answered. Samantha nodded her head in agreement.
"We've had a few eggs die on us these past few months, I hope this one lives," Samantha said and the two sisters tucked the quilt in under the mattress.
"It will. This egg is special, it's strong."
"If it has half the strength Amelia or Mary have it should bust its way through that shell in no time," Samantha said with a smile. It always worried Marion when Samantha talked about Mary like she was still around. Samantha was only a few years old when Mary died, but when Mary was alive Samantha idolized her much like Amelia had. Marion blamed herself for that sometimes. Marion spent most of her time at Waterfall City learning politics and caring about the whole of Dinotopia. Sometimes she forgot she was a big sister too. Amelia was more like a sister to Samantha than Marion was, though Marion knew neither of them would say so. When they were done Marion walked over and gave her sister a hug, just because she wanted to.
Karl couldn't find Marion anywhere so he left 26 with Earhart and went to find Amelia. He had noticed the expression on Earhart's face when Karl asked him where Amelia was. It was obvious to Karl if not everyone that Earhart had a dislike for him. Karl and Earhart were probably the only ones who knew why too. That reminded Karl. He still hadn't asked Amelia about the wedding band she wore around her neck. He noticed it sometimes but the thought of asking her about it always went quickly in and out of his mind. Karl found Amelia where he half expected her to be. By the egg.
As he got closer to her he could hear the egg making noises like it had a few times before. Noises like Samantha said most eggs made. Amelia was gently running her fingertips along the design on the egg with her hand clasped on the nape of her neck. He noticed she hadn't realized he was there so he decided to get back at her for the plants and dirt so he snuck up on her slowly. When he was right behind her, almost to the part of touching, he stood up very straight.
"How is it?" he asked simply. Of course she yelled in surprise and turned around and slapped him a few times on the chest in a spout of anger. He just laughed.
"Did I scare you? Oh I'm sorry," he said still grinning. He scared her in just the way to do it effectively but if anything had gone wrong he could say he hadn't meant to frighten her. But nothing wrong had happened so he just laughed at her. She didn't find it nearly as funny as he did.
"You are quickly becoming a pain in the ass, Karl Scott," she informed him, "what do you want?"
"Well I, wait no. I don't know. I had something to say to Marion but I can't find her so I came looking for you. But if I said to you what I was going to say to her it wouldn't end up right," he thought over. Amelia sighed and turned back to the egg.
"It's a boy," she told him. He looked down at the egg too.
"Yes, I've heard. What are you going to name it?" he asked her. She sighed.
"I don't know. All the names of any importance have been used already. I'd name him after my father but that might get confusing…" she confessed.
"May I make a suggestion?" he asked her. She turned to him surprised that he asked. She nodded.
"25…" he said and she punched him lightly. He laughed again.
"This isn't funny Karl. I may very well be the only family this children ever knows…" she said and Karl's grin turned into a smile.
"Hey, family is the people who love you. Every one here will probably love this kid to death, family is the least of his worries…" he told her and she smiled back.
"So does that mean you've pulled a stop to your trying to leave the island?" she asked him and he nodded easily.
"26 would miss me too much if I left…" he said.
"A lot of people would, I suppose. Somewhere…" Amelia said and Karl nudged her slightly.
"Hey if this place is good enough for Amelia Earhart it's good enough for me," he told her. Amelia smirked.
"With Marion as an added bonus…" she said and he laughed.
"You know there's something that has bothered me…" he started, catching her interest. He reached his hand up and held the wedding ring in the palm of his hand.
"Is this a wedding ring?" he asked her. She looked down into his hand and picked up into her own. She nodded.
"It was my grandmother's…" she explained. Karl raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't people here buried with rings and such on?" he asked. Again she nodded.
"This was her first wedding ring. She was married before she came to Dinotopia. It was hard for her, at first, to think about marrying again. But she fell in love with my grandfather. Her vows were "until death do we part." The entire world thought she was dead, so it became alright to her to marry again."
"Why'd she give you the ring? I assume she gave it to you…"
"She told me this is a symbol of the Outland, the places you come from. After awhile this was the only thing of her home she had left…" Amelia explained. Karl bobbed his head up and down in approval.
"Cool," he said simply. They both looked at the ring for a few moments.
"Cool is a good thing, right?"
"Right."
