Two weeks had gone by since Jerek sent his letter to his sister and niece in Talon and while delays were normal for responses the extended lack of acknowledgment was beginning to worry him.
"I'm getting worried Sisu, I know it takes a while to hear back from people but two weeks is pushing it."
It wasn't like Rapi to be so late in responding back. His sister was always so prompt so the lack of a response was unusual. Rapi was always the responsible sibling, the one who followed the rules, and the general rule of a letter was writing a response letter.
"Oh relax Skippy, I'm sure the letter just got caught up somewhere, you know how the postal service is," Sisu reassured.
Jarek pondered for a moment, glancing his eyes upward for a moment, "I guess you're right, man thought you could rely on the Kumandran Postal Service."
"Well, they did spend half a decade trying to keep from being turned to stone, I doubt the mail would be up and running, even after a year or two," Sisu reminded.
The Druun certainly had put a wrench in the works when it came to the mail. After all, how could one rely on a mail person if they were at risk of becoming a garden ornament? Jarek shook his head and breathed.
Sisu was probably right, he was certain the letter hadn't arrived yet. Heart and Talon were a great distance away, but that made Jarek wonder, what if the egg hatched before it arrived?
Jarek had hoped Rapi and Padi would at least see the unhatched egg, or "Egguardo" as Sisu so lovingly called it. He knew Padi would certainly love to see a dragon egg.
His niece had heard stories about dragons since she was in the cradle, now that the dragons were back, that meant eggs. Jarek pondered if his and Sisu's child was the first egg in five hundred years.
He was probably overestimating dragons and their mating habits. They were not the only family in Dragon Town. The Druun had not spared even dragon children during their rampage five centuries ago. Therefore it was plausible that dragon kind got to work after their freedom.
Life was springing within every corner of Kumandra, human and dragon. Their child wouldn't be alone. Dragons had school just like human children so Egguardo would have classmates, and maybe even friends.
Jarek sat himself down in contemplating. He still had much to mull over. Worry still etched upon his draconic face. As he sat, his eyes darted to Sisu and noticed her setting the egg down gingerly on a pillow.
"Honey, honey bunny, don't worry your little beard about this, it's going to be fine," Sisu's claws latched onto his and her gentle violet eyes stared into his soul, "Trust me."
Smiling at his beloved, Jarek smiled, "I do."
A tender moment to be sure for the dragon couple. They had each other, their egg, and once it hatched, their family would be complete.
"I know I've said this so many times before Jar-bear but I love you, I love you so much, and when Egguardo hat-OW!"
Suddenly, Sisu jumped into the air, so high she nearly bonked her head on the ceiling, falling down with a crash with Jarek rushing to her side.
"Sisu? Sisu!. Babe, are you okay?!" Jarek asked frantically.
"No! Something hurt my foot!" To emphasize, Sisu held up her right foot and rubbed it tenderly, the toes red and pulsing with each heartbeat.
Jarek watched in astonishment at the sight, "Wow, must have been pretty heavy."
"Excuse me a moment, I just need some cold ice water!" Sisu cried as she quickly scampered out of the room.
As his wife left the room, Jarek looked down at the ground, Jarek searched for any sign of what could have crushed his wife's foot. He found nothing, but instead noticed their egg laying by his foot. Strangely it wasn't placed on its pillow. Jarek carefully picked it up and eyed it.
"How did you get there Egguardo?"
Suddenly the egg jostled and shook itself free from its father's grasp and landed squarely on his tail near the tip!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Jarek screamed, leaping up, tail in hand so fast he slammed into and broke through the ceiling.
"Skippy? Skippy! Whats going on in there!" Sisu said both concerned and panicked, running into the room to find a bewildering sight: her husband's body wriggling and thrashing in the ceiling with him actively trying to force himself and his injured tail still in his grasp out of the ceiling.
"Skippy, what on Kumandra happened? Why's your head in the ceiling?" Sisu said now visibly confused and concerned.
Jarek heard his wife and was now actively deadpanning in the rafters to where even the resident mouse was confused. He merely gave the brown rodent a death glare, sending it scurrying away before trying to use his lower limbs to gesture to Sisu and explain what happened. "Uh okay, uh huh…..yeah, so something happened to your foot?"
Jarek spread out his toes.
"Honey…I'm not really getting the signal here."
Jarek would've face palmed if his front limbs were in front of him but sense they weren't he balled one into a fist and slammed it into the ceiling frustratingly, causing it to crack slightly. "Wait, what's Egguardo doing off his rest pillow?" Sisu said curiously.
"MMMMM! MMPPH! MMMPHH! MMMPPHHH!" Sisu didn't understand Jarek's moans but what he actually said was, "NOOOOO! DON'T SAY THAT! DON'T SAY THAT! DON'T SAY THAT!"
At this point Sisu was confused so she put the egg back on its rest pillow before stepping beside her husband, "I don't know what your ba did but I'm just glad your okay Eggurdo."
Suddenly to Sisu's shock the egg shook, wobbled and rolled off the rest pillow straight towards her, caught off guard she uttered, "What the h-"
Jarek knew what was coming and merely sighed, "3. 2. 1. Andddd-" a resounding *crunch* soon followed with him adding, "there we go…"
Now Sisu was mad and said, "Bad, Eggardo! Bad! You don't roll on momma's foot!"
'Eggaurdo' Seemed to hesitate before completely disobeying there mothers word soon after, rolling on her tail just as they did with Jareks, the result… was predictable.
"Ow-whoa-oh-OH-ho-ho-hoo!" Sisu yelped and, like her husband, leapt up so fast that she too… was now in the ceiling.
Sisu blinked as she noticed her husband staring back at her. His deadpan look remained focused on her. There was a lot that could be said within the moment, but Sisu could only think of one thing.
"Well, look on the bright side, at least we can still smooch." Jarek only rolled his eyes before snorting, sending up a cloud of dust.
This in turn caused both of them to sneeze at once with both instinctively lurching forwards as a result, cracking the bit of ceiling between them further.
Both went wide-eyed with Sisu nervously saying, "Uh.. Going-" *creak* with Jarek adding, "Down-" *crack!* the bit of ceiling between the two dragons gave way with both falling to the floor with dust, old thatch roofing and plaster raining down to the floor around them.
The two sat in silence before Jarek finally broke it, "I think we're gonna need a contractor."
Sisu merely nodded in agreement before hesitantly asking, "Uh? Hows your tail?"
"Sore, yours?" Jarek asked.
"Equally sore." Sisu replied.
It was unanimous, both of their tails were sore. If anyone had doubt Sisu and Jarek were made for one another, this was a clear indication to the contrary. The mated pair were left sitting on the floor, tails still throbbing as the pain ran its course. But a bigger question remained: what was the source of their pain?
A solid *thump!* jerked their attention and heads to attention. Both pairs of eyes glanced downward as something rolled past: the egg.
Jarek watched in amazement and he briefly glanced at Sisu and expected the same. Yet, there was no surprise. Before he could question it, Jarek's newfound paternal instinct took over with him quickly curling around the wobbling egg, trying to calm 'it' down, making sure not to utter the nickname of pain.
Although no word escaped Jarek's lips, Sisu caught on quickly and stayed silent while moving curling around her mate and the egg as well, both dragons cocooning it within their noodly forms and coils.
Just when both dragons thought things had calmed they felt the egg shifting beneath them.
"Uhhhh…. S-skippy…. The egg… its-" Sisu hesitantly said.
"Still…moving…Love…. Noodle," Jarek finished.
The egg pulsed, wobbled and rumbled as it attempted to free itself from its parent's cocoon.
"Isn't it too early for puberty?" They both said in unison.
As he pondered this along with the durability of his child's shell, Jarek's paternal instincts burned within as he leaped forward, trying to stop the egg from escaping its mother's soft coils to no avail as the egg continued thrashing.
Suddenly Sisu yelped painfully as the egg burst forth from the center of her coils as if erupting from her chest cavity itself, soaring into the air before landing harmlessly outside and continuing to roll around.
For a moment neither dragon moved due to being in shock at what they just witnessed but after a sec they both looked at each other…
"The egg!" before darting outside to catch it.
Jarek moved faster than his wife and was outside in a flash. The egg continued to roll till at last it came to a halt. Jarek caught up to the egg and cradled it before he noticed it calming slightly.
A tiny tap sounded out as the egg's halt had been due to it coming to rest against someone's foot, making the older male dragon stall in surprise.
The surprise furthered as Jarek slowly and hesitantly moved his sight upward until at last it settled upon a grown woman. Her looks reminded Jarek of himself back when he was human. It made sense for this wasn't any old woman, it was his sister Rapi.
Blinking in confusion, Jarek uttered, "S-Sis?"
"Jarek." Rapi said nonchalantly, hands on her hips while looking at her now draconian brothers red, pulsing tail and the egg presently resting against her foot.
"... Uh… I can explain..." Jerek sheepishly replied, coiling up in fear despite now being a dragon that easier dwarfed his human sibling in both strength and size.
Rapi hardly seemed to care that her brother was being frightened by her intimidation and body language. She always seemed to have that way about her. Sometimes Jarek felt she was so intimidating that even the Druun would've feared her.
"So… when was my 'great', 'powerful' and 'mated' brother gonna tell me I was now an aunt to a baby dragon?"
Jarek gulped, "well, technically it's still an egg, it's not a baby dragon yet."
Rapi furrowed her brow and began tapping her foot, "Does it matter? A baby is a baby, even unhatched."
Jarek darted his eyes to the left and right as if searching for some rescuer, "I…guess not?"
The glare Rapi was giving Jarek could melt even the snow of Spine, and freeze even the mightiest souls. Dragons may have been powerful beings, but even they had their weaknesses.
Jarek's was his sister, the very soul who came into this world with him and the one who made him often see sense during his often foolish or dangerous escapades while he was still human.
Granted, it'd been one such escapade that led him to literally changing his life for the better and meeting the love of his life, but it didn't mean his sister approved of them.
"You could have told me about the egg much sooner, brother." Rapi said while crouching down to look at said egg.
The egg didn't move an inch under the watchful gaze of it's aunt. It was as if Rapi's glare had extended to the egg itself, paralyzing the young dragon nestled within it.
At this point a collective awkward silence fell on the group, one that seemed impossible to break. That is until a certain little girl ran through the doorway.
"Aunty Sisu!" Padi said excitedly while running through the home looking for her favorite draconic aunt.
Suddenly Padi let out a squeal as a familiar blue noodle scooped her up out of nowhere, "Padiwack!" Sisu said sweetly, wrapping herself lovingly around Padi, snuggling her in her warm, soft coils and making the young girl coo at her big noodle aunt.
Sisu only cooed back while nuzzling and hugging Padi close.
The scene was heard by Jerek and Rapi who both ultimately sighed and de-tensed due to the touching scene between Sisu and Padi.
"Even now I'm still amazed at just how close Padi and Sisu are, you'd think they were sisters." Rapi said, her frustration easing due to Padi's joy.
"Yeah, But remember Padi's adored Sisu even before I turned dragon, so it makes sense they'd get along so well."
Little Padi had been a Sisu fan as far back as Jarek could remember. Sisu was a pretty common story among Kumandran children. The Druunslayer who saved all of Kumandra. Twice, even if the first time wasn't an accurate version of the event.
Just like her uncle and mother, Padi had eaten up that story to the point she idolized the heroic dragon. The fact Sisu was now her aunt by marriage made her admiration all the more sweeter. After all, how many kids could brag that their uncle married the most famous dragon in Kumandra?
Then that led to the matter currently entrapped within a surprisingly hard shell. Padi broke away from Sisu's grasp almost instantaneously, and ran towards the egg. As soon as she was near, she placed her hands upon it.
"Is my cousin in here?" She asked with a broad smile.
Sisu gently strode over, "That's right Paddiwack, inside this hardened shell of love is a sweet baby draggy."
Padi gently stroked the egg carefully, making sure she wasn't rough with it. As she did so, her eyes widened as a tiny gasp escaped her.
"I'm barely touching it, but it feels so hard, It feels more like stone then an egg." Padi said amazed.
"Dragon eggs aint like chicken eggs kid," Sisu noted, "We make em hard, so that way they don't get smashed and stuff."
"That explains why my foot is still throbbing," Jarek responded as he rubbed it.
"Why's it hurting?" Padi said curiously.
"Because of Egg-" Jarek instantly clamped his mates maw shut with his tail, silently gesturing for her NOT to finish the sentence.
However, this only heightened Padi's curiosity further concerning her unborn cousin.
After a moment Jarek released Sisu's maw from his tail coils causing Sisu to spit out a few tiny strands of fur.
After a tense moment, Sisu cast a glance at her unborn child and merely frowned, "I don't know what set it off. Maybe it was something we said?"
"Wait? The egg can hear you?" Rapi inquired.
Sisu nodded as she leaned towards her egg, her nose barely gracing it.
"It sure seems that way, Jarek and I have a nickname for it, one we've called the egg ever since I laid it, we were calling it that nickname earlier today and… I don't know its like it gets worked up from it."
"What was the nickname?" Padi innocently asked.
Shrugging, Sisu answered, "Egguar-OW!"
A sharp pain pulsed through Sisu's foot as the egg rolled on top of it, startling some in the room while shocking others with Padi and Rapi being the ones who were shocked.
"It moved!" Padi jumped up and pointed towards her shelled cousin.
Rapi crossed her arms, "I'll say," the egg continued to roll before stopping at it's aunt's feet, "I think we know what's setting it off."
Raising his eyebrow, Jarek snorted, "We know… It's kind of obvious now and has been that way since this morning."
"What?" Sisu eyed her family, then the egg before exclaiming, "You mean Eggmmphfh!" Sisu's speech was muffled as Jarek wrapped his tail around his wife's mouth yet again. As soon as Sisu's mouth stopped moving, Jarek unclamped it, "Okay okay, sheesh, I get it, no more calling it Egg-," Sisu paused as the egg shook as it was revving up, "Well, that name anymore."
"Well now what do we call it? We only called it that nickname because we don't know if it'll be a boy or a girl." Jarek replied.
"Well it's purple, so wouldn't that lean into it being a girl?" Rapi asked.
"Oh please," Sisu said with a wave of her claw, "That's kind of old fashioned, I mean I'm blue and I'm a girl, and heck there have been plenty of pink male dragons in history!"
Colors were not certainly an indication of gender, and for a moment Rapi felt ashamed of what she had just said. At least until Padi spoke.
"It's going to be a boy," the young girl suddenly said.
"Why's that kiddo?" Jarek asked his niece.
Padi stroked the egg before lightly patting it, "I heard purple represents am-bi-tion," Padi tasted the odd word before continuing, "Uncle Jarek had a lot of dreams and goals."
"Actually your uncle wanted to get filthy stinking rich honey," Rapi added to her daughter's comment."
"Yeah, well, the egg doesn't like it when Aunt Sisu and Uncle Jarek call it that name, and I think it wants to come on out, so I think it's a boy!"
All three of the adults blinked at the young girl's logic, then looked at the egg which rolled slightly forward, than back, then forward again, almost as if it was nodding in agreement with it's human cousin.
"Did you just... nod?" Padi said stunned to which the egg nodded again, stunning the others silent.
"Okay, that's….kind of creepy," Rapi noted, arms reaching for her daughter to pull her away.
She halted just as Sisu gingerly picked up the egg, "Oh it is not creepy, it's just how dragon eggs are."
"What? They have ears?" Rapi asked.
Sisu let out a chuckled as she tossed her head back, "No, no, it just means the baby is almost done maturing inside the egg."
Jarek took a quick glance at the egg and then to his wife, his eyes wide, "Wait? You mean like it's ready to hatch?"
Gazing down at her egg with nothing but love shining in her eyes, Sisu stroked it, "Almost," she sighed, "Though, I can't get why It's getting worked up over a nickname like egg-" The egg suddenly jostled and Sisu immediately tightened her lips.
"I think it's safe to say it doesn't like your nickname for it anymore," Jarek realized.
Loosening her lips, Sisu licked them, "Yeah, I think so too…so, guys! Want to come inside? We have an extra room set up for you!"
Padi's face immediately lit up, "Yes please!"
The young girl ran in like toot n boom went off. Rapi followed after her daughter, before she stopped and looked at Jarek, "You really have come far little brother."
Jarek could only proudly smile before his sister went inside to join her daughter.
"Life sure is funny ain't it?" Jarek asked.
"What do you mean Skippy," Sisu asked
"I mean, who'd of thought a former thief would get turned into a dragon by the item he stole no less, run into the most famous (and beautiful) dragon in Kumandra, fall in love with her and now have a child with her," Jarek cocked his eyebrow suggestively, making a clicking sound with his tongue, and then finishing it off with a soft growl.
Sisu blinked before forming her face into a suggestive smirk. Slowly she sauntered over to her husband and continued to hold the egg close to her.
"I can relate, who would have thought me, the worst dragon in Kumandra would boom away the Druun, wake up five hundred years later, help save Kumandra from the Druun AGAIN, then fish a handsome dragon out of the river, teach him how to be a dragon, marry him, and have an egg with him, one with a cast iron shell."
Jarek privately wondered if that's what the egg was actually made of, but he was too lost in his wife's lovely eyes, "If my sister and niece were not visiting, I would think this is an invitation for some 'alone time'."
Fluttering her eyes, Sisu locked Jarek's lips in a passionate kiss, "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, but for now, let's just make sure our guests are at home," Still keeping the egg close, Sisu walked over to the door to their home, turned back to Jarek and asked, "You coming Jar-Bear?"
Smirking his own confident grin, Jarek replied, "Right away Miss Datu," And then he went to join his wife.
A/N: Apologies this took so long. I should note this chapter was co-written by my friend Railroad Preserver. He's a good guy to bounce ideas off of, and he helped with a lot of the humor in this chapter. Thanks man!