Chapter Eight: A Fragile Onyx Sky
Year 203 of the 82nd Era, The Era of the Dying Lands; e82-203
Late Spring
Somewhere in the Dying Lands
The day was warm, and the sun bright. Blood-Seeker traversed the sunbaked earth, her two children hidden once more as she made her way to check in on the two sailneck siblings, Opaleye and Agatetooth, among their glade. She hunkered among the lush ferns surrounding the clearing; her body posed to run at any notice. She scented the air, the sweet smell of hatching eggs catching her nares before she spied the first hatched of the ashy-violet mare's clutch.
A little ashy-raspberry mare sat among the pieces of her shell, staring at the other eggs around her. The tiny azure teardrop egg beside her wobbled as she got her bearings. The little mare stared, lapis-blue eyes wide. Blood-Seeker sat up straighter, trying to get the best look at the tiny skytalon about to breach their egg's confines.
A dark snout peaked from the egg, the rest of their head following until their entire body emerged from the azure and speckled shell. They slumped in the soft nest of upturned earth. The kit struggled to their feet, the russet soil clinging to their yolk-wet feathers as they squinted at the sun above. They reached a winged arm for the sun, hind legs wobbling. The ebony kit reared back too far, their legs giving way, and they lost their balance, falling onto their back and colliding with the larger body of the other hatchling within the nest.
The tiny, black, and ashy-beige skytalon squeaked as they landed on the soft earth, the other hatchling squealing loudly at the sudden collision. The narrow snout of the foal prodded at the other hatchling, her lapis-blue eyes filled with wonder. The tiny, fuzzy kit shook their head, dizzy from their tumble.
Blood-Seeker lowered herself deeper into the fronds as Opaleye approached her hatchlings. The young mother had been closely monitoring her clutch over the past day or so as their hatching progress began. She seemed pleasantly surprised that the odd eggs were also hatching with the eggs she had laid. It was either by luck that the two unknown eggs were hatching with the rest of her clutch, or maybe they were spurred into hatching when the nine sailneck eggs started to hatch.
The skytalon kit steadied themselves on four legs, absorbed in the world around them. They didn't notice the shadow of Opaleye looming over them as their bi-colored dim-caramel and evergreen eyes took in their first view of the world. Finally, their eyes locked on the shadow, a chirrup escaping them as they narrowly avoided the touch of Opaleye's enormous snout.
Quivering, they edged back against the earthen nest, tripping over their yolk-slick egg shard. A sharp squeak sounded as they fell onto their back, tiny blue-black hindwings on their hips fanning. Pedaling three-toed feet in the air, they spread out a rather impressive wingspan, iridescent black wings shimmering in the morning sun. Those wings possessed the same slate-blue sheen as their hind wings — just like their blood-mother's wings.
The same massive snout of Opaleye returned, gifting a gentle lick as a peace offering. The kit warbled in fear but stopped as they stared into the mare's lapis-blue eyes for the first time. A loving smile warmed the ashy-violet mare's face as the skytalon hatchling stared into her gentle eyes. The kit breathed in her aroma before grasping her nares, chirping, and wheeking eagerly.
Opaleye lifted the little winged keentalon high, allowing the newly hatched to see the world from her perspective — towering and observant, ever eye level with the horizon. The kit's feathers frizzed in panic until they took to the increase in altitude, whistling in awe.
As the mare lowered the awe-struck kit back into the nest, a word was spoken, one that Blood-Seeker caught.
"Wayward."
Blood-Seeker perked up at the name, confusion running through her. That was a simple word in leaf-eater tongue, not a true name. And it seemed the ashy-crimson brother, Agatetooth, agreed. Opaleye ignored him as she placed the kit back amongst their nestmate, grumbling something. Wayward's ashy-raspberry sister cooed at them, inviting the smaller earthborn to play.
Opaleye chuckled at her brother, soft words spoken between them as she stared down at her nest. She began grooming them, inciting a slew of high-pitched sounds from her offspring, still speaking to her brother. A snarking comment from him made her whack him with her dusky-ashy-violet tail. To which he winced, adding another comment. Opaleye spoke once more.
"Onyxvane."
There. There was the more traditional name of those who spoke Leaftongue. However, Blood-Seeker couldn't help but create her own name for the kit while waiting for the mare to give her adopted offspring a more traditional name.
Lost-Shadow.
Even if that were Blood-Seeker's given name for them, she would address them as the very first name their mother gave them — Wayward.
It was time for more eggs to hatch; the next egg was the other odd one. The hatchling had already fully emerged, standing on gangly legs and possessing a nimble figure. His scales were a sable brindle, head and feet darkening to black. A cape of fuzzy, brown-and-peach tortoiseshell feathers covered his back and head. His underside and face were pearly white. Orange and pale periwinkle stripes decorated his body, including a lone periwinkle stripe down his ridge-adorned nose. Small black pinfeathers grew on his stubby, two-clawed forearms, and he possessed smart, honey-colored eyes. He was a clawhand, carvefang, twoclaw, slenderjaw, ridgesnout.
The lithe two-claw chased around his new siblings, all variations of ashy-purples, blues, and magentas. He was tackled to the ground as his longneck siblings playfully nibbled at his feathers and scales.
Meanwhile, Wayward was becoming acquainted with four more sailneck foals, two of which had come from a shared egg. The twins were ashy-crimson with pale-ashy-cyan back splotches. One had lapis-blue eyes, and the other had jade-green eyes. They approached their ashy-raspberry sister first, sniffing her collectively. The larger foal giggled, and the twin boys squeaked in delight.
Next was an ashy-iris female with an ashy-violet back and teal eyes. She was less touchy but carried herself with an air of observance. She looked her larger sister over before the fifth foal of the bunch, a bashful, petite, ashy-purple mare with an ashy-turquoise back and topaz-blue eyes peered around her. The runt seemed already bonded with her eldest sister. However, as she was coaxed into introducing herself to the twins and ashy-iris mare, she came around and licked the three.
Once all acquainted with each other, the five longneck siblings collectively looked at Wayward. The skytalon's ashy-beige rosette back was arched, and their forehands were planted into the soft earth, seemingly mirroring their siblings' quadrupedal stances. Their slate-and-black ringed tail was pointed skywards as they bowed to their siblings, hindwings on their hips unfurled. They certainly were the odd one of the bunch, which put the other four off at first, but as the twins acted first, the others followed.
Wayward cheeped, startled by the larger hatchlings approaching them. The skytalon scrabbled their way out of the nest, ashy-beige masked face morphed in alarm. Opaleye grabbed the kit by the hardened scutes on their scruff and gently placed them back into the nest beside the five sailneck hatchlings.
The ashy-violet mare spoke something to her tiniest, and they keened back at her, trying to climb onto her snout. However, Opaleye lifted her head, causing Wayward to flop back into the earthen bowl. She tittered at the uncertain keentalon, running her tongue over their back, casque, and tickling their eight auricles of various lengths.
Wayward was like any other skytalon. Eight auricles: a pair of large ones on top of their head and three on either side of the sloping ear guards of their casque. Their irises were a dim-caramel while their sclera were evergreen. The upper half of their face was ashy-beige, though the scales around their eyes were black. A trail of black scales led down to the edge of either side of their lip, just under their eyes. The latter half of their snout was black, except for their ashy-beige chin and a grey-tipped snout. The black casque, which encompassed most of their skull, led down the top of their snout, ending in a hardened nose guard. The kit's legs were decorated in little ashy-beige rosettes, while the scutes covering their digits had a slate-blue sheen, just like their wings. Their tail possessed three fleshy tail vanes like that of a tailed skyborn. Skytalons were adapted for high-speed and agile flight, after all.
Opaleye mumbled something in Leaftongue as she pressed Wayward toward their siblings. They seemed uncertain until they shuffled over to the largest of the five — the ashy-raspberry mare and first hatched of all the eggs. She seemed happy to be reunited with her nestmate.
The new mother's eyes twinkled as she looked over her hatchlings and began naming them. Blood-Seeker would eventually learn all their names. Nambulitescale for the first hatched. Rhodochrositeback for the blue-eyed twin and Eudialytebelly for the green-eyed twin. Amethystheart for the quiet, observant ashy-iris mare and Sugilitetail for the shy ashy-purple mare.
Wayward leaned closer, softly pressing into the other four sailneck foals, tail resting on Nambulitescale's feet, body pushed into the twins, neck against Amethystheart's chest, and their head atop a smiling Sugilitetail's head. The six canoodled, content, and relaxed as they all became acquainted.
As Opaleye nuzzled her little ones, Agatetooth returned her attention to the others he had been watching. The naming of the ridgesnout came into question, which Opaleye quickly named Andalusitecycad. Agatetooth balked at the name but couldn't get in much of an argument. Lastly, the other three foals were named — Chalcedonysail, an ashy-turquoise male; Topazspine, an ashy-cornflower-blue male; and Apatitetoe, an ashy-sky female.
After chatting, there was a shift in the air as Opaleye and Agatetooth turned to the two odd ones in their clutch. A few more words were spoken before they began to forge for any meaty life they could find. The pair swiftly found various insects and lizards. When offered to the two odd hatchlings, Andalusitecycad, or Cycad as he would more commonly go by, quickly dug in. On the other foot, Wayward looked up at the two expectingly. Agatetooth and Opaleye exchanged puzzled and worried looks.
A few more words were exchanged between the new mother and uncle, and they began chewing bugs and shreds of meat before laying it out to Wayward. Sadly, the tiny keentalon sniffed at it, peeping at them in doubt. The siblings were dumbfounded.
Agatetooth groaned, and Opaleye stressed until the kit pawed for Opaleye, wheeking — the same sound Blood-Seeker's mixed-blood hatchlings made. The mare lowered her head, and they stuck their head between her teeth, nipping at her tongue. Almost gagging, Opaleye was taken aback as she retracted her mouth, unceremoniously sending the kit back into the nest. Wayward cried out at her, upset she had denied their entry. Opaleye glanced at the chewed-up food and back at the kit, grimacing. She leaned down and swallowed down the pre-chewed food. Agatetooth shouted, Opaleye's tail lashed, and she merely mumbled something. Some moments later, she regurgitated the mass into her mouth, letting it slide onto her tongue. The keentalon was hesitant but soon was happily slurping the foodstuff down.
Finally, when all the regurgitated food was devoured, Wayward seemed to be looking for more. Still, Opaleye pushed them off and placed them down to sleep with their siblings, who had been munching on fronds and swallowing small pebbles to help digestion.
Wayward cocked their head to the side before yawning. They wearily warbled at their mother, eyes and auricles droopy. Opaleye drew closer to her nest, allowing her little ones to crowd against her plump, pale-ashy-violet belly for rest. As Cycad joined them, Wayward seemed to almost fall asleep on their birdy feet, already tucking their neck into a resting position. Opaleye collected them and deposited them between their siblings.
All fed and clean, the clutch began to fall asleep. Wayward leaned into their bundled siblings' comforting warmth before tucking their head beneath a wing. Agatetooth smiled at his nieces and nephews, nuzzling his sister's neck. Opaleye kissed the little keentalon with her tongue tip one last time. Wayward's head poked up as their mother licked them, leaning into the kiss with a drowsy simper. Opaleye crooned soft words to them, and they drifted asleep.
Finally, Blood-Seeker moved from her spot, satisfied that the hatchling was safe. For now, her promise to Hecate would stay true.
This chapter is a rewrite of the very last section of Trookay's first chapter of Metempsychosis. I feel like I barely rewrote any of this…oops. It is still worth reading their chapter since you'll have all of Opal and Agate's dialogue, and the writing will be a little stronger from Wayward's and Opal's POV.
