It wasn't any more than a month before some of the gravid herd-members began laying their eggs. From the large Pachyrhinosaurs, to the tiny Microceratuses, their nests were built in groups around the lake. And one by one, these nests were filled with eggs, arranged in single-row rings. They were big or small, in accordance to their parentage, but were all oblong-shaped.

"Were my and Aladar's egg like that?" Noah asked Plio.

"Somewhat. Since you two are twins, and so came from the same egg, it was more rounded."

Though she knew it was rude, Noah couldn't keep herself from looking at each nestfull of eggs in turn. Since she had rarely seen birds' eggs on the island, the eggs fascinated her to no end. Especially the Iguanodon's eggs, for obvious reasons.

After her rampage at the two bulls, they stopped trying to court her. They didn't even look at her for several weeks, preferring to pretend like she wasn't here. Which she was completely fine with. The cows didn't hold their grudges against her long after that, realizing that the odd Iguanodon had no interest in, in their own words, stealing the bulls' attention. But they were still slow to actually approach and talk to her, seeing as she was so different.

Noah didn't mind this, however. She was fine with her small group of friends, because she knew they truly liked her for who she was, oddness and all. And she knew it would be foolish to try and change how she acted for Iguanodons she didn't even care about.

Much to her amusement, it didn't take long for Neera to lay her and Aladar's eggs. "You sure don't waste time," she teased, nudging his shoulder with his own.

He chuckled nervously. "No better time like the present, I guess."

Neera smiled proudly. "You think we'll have any twins, Noah?"

"I surely hope not, you already have a dozen eggs. I think that's enough."

"Plio knows what to look for," Aladar added, sniffing over the eggs again. "She'll be keeping a close eye on her grandeggs, so she'll let you know."

"They're not gonna hatch for a long time," Neera remarked, nudging his head away so she could comfortably, yet carefully, sit on them.

"I know. I'm just... making sure they're okay."

Neera nuzzled her nose against his before turning back to Noah. "What about you? Have you thought about having eggs?"

"Eggs? Me? I-I don't even have a mate."

"You still haven't talked to Bruton?" Aladar asked. "And don't try to play dumb. I know you like him. At this point, I think the only one who doesn't know is Bruton himself."

"No, I think he does know," Neera argued. "He's just not the type to approach a pretty girl and spit it out. And even then, he definitely likes her too."

Aladar nodded in agreement.

"Hello? Why are you talking about me like I'm not here?" Noah protested. "And talking about my 'love life'?"

"More like lack thereof."

Noah shoved Aladar over with her shoulder and climbed on top of him. "N-Noah!" he protested. "I can't breathe!"

"Promise you'll stop talking about me like that, and I'll get off."

"Neera! H-help!"

"Maybe you should listen to her, tough guy." She chuckled as she laid her chin on her crossed forearms.

"And you too," Noah added. "The only reason I'm not doing the same to you is because one, you're sitting on eggs; and two, I know Aladar can handle me."

"Alright, point taken."

After trying to kick her off, only for her to lean back to dodge his legs, Aladar finally gasped, "Okay! I give! I'll stop!"

At that, Noah rolled off of him until she was laying in the grass. "Was that so hard to do?" she mocked as she stood up.

He stood to his feet and shook himself off. "You're a menace," he groaned.

She stuck her tongue out at him as she wandered off, pausing only to swing her hip to the side.

She passed Paka and Chastain's nest, where they were tending to their ten recently-hatched children. Noah had been ecstatic when they laid their eggs just after coming home, and had been as excited for them to hatch. She had visited them often, and was already treating the little ones as if they were her own nieces or nephews. Though they couldn't speak yet, they were obviously excited when she visited, and sad when she had to leave.

But right now, it seemed the new parents were busy. So she walked by with a smile and nod. They returned with their own smiles and nods.

She finally found the lemurs, where they were relaxing in their new tree. Technically, it had been Url's tree. But Suri had grown so fond of it, she didn't want to find a different one to try. Luckily, Url didn't mind sharing it, since it meant he was almost always the first one to greet Suri and Zini when they climbed down, so they could look all for food or play together.

"How are the eggs?" Plio asked, shimmying down a vine and onto Noah's shoulders.

"They look good. Neera wants to know if any of them look like they could be twins."

"It wouldn't surprise me if there's at least one," she remarked. "Twins ran in lemur families, so eggs shouldn't be any different. I'll go and take a look myself." She bounded into the grass and towards Aladar and Neera's nest.

Zini replaced his cousin with a sigh. "Still no sign of any lemurs?" Noah asked, her voice taking on a sad tone.

"Not yet. And we've been going to the edge of the trees, calling out for days."

"Maybe they're shy. It's probably be the first time new lemurs came to the valley." Even though she was the one soothing him, she was worried herself about the idea of no new lemurs. Though she loved her tiny family, she missed having a huge one all the same.

"Yeah, you might be right."

Noah hated seeing and hearing Zini so depressed. As much as his teasing about her crush on Bruton annoyed her, she knew he wanted to find someone to fall in love with too. Even if they couldn't bring back the courtship like how it used to be. And she wanted him to find someone too. And what about Suri, when she became old enough and wanted a mate?

An idea came to mind. "What if I went into the trees to find other lemurs?"

"You?" Zini asked curiously, sitting up on her neck.

"I don't have any egg responsibilities, nor am I the herd's leader. I could take a couple of others that know the valley so I don't get lost, and maybe Yar could come with me so the lemurs aren't so wary."

"What am I, sour berries?"

"You'd just scare them away," she teased.

"Ha-ha, I forgot how to laugh," he remarked sarcastically. "Who would you take?"

"Maybe Eema? She knows the place really well."

"Orrr, how about a certain other Iguanodon?" He climbed up onto her head and hung his head down over her eyes to grin at her.

Noah's inquisitive smile melted to an unamused frown. Her lids fell halfway over her eyes as she stared blankly at Zini.

"Aw, c'mon, Noah! This'll be the perfect time to be alone with Bruton!"

"Did you not hear how I'm asking Yar to come with me?"

Zini slid down to sit on her snout. "Yeah, you're right," he muttered. "He might be too overprotective to give you two space."

"Give who space?"

He nearly fell off of Noah's face with a start, but managed to grab her lower jaw. She grunted in pain, but let him climb back on. He turned to her with a nervous chuckle. "Hey, this was your idea," she remarked.

"It was yours too!"

"Not the part about Bruton."

"How about both of you tell me what's going on?" Yar suggested, still sitting in his branch.

A/N I think I said in a previous chapter, but I have a good feeling there were some gravid (aka pregnant with eggs) herdmembers, just waiting for their nests once they reached the valley. Or even some mates itching to MAKE some eggs XD

This next arc of them finding lemurs won't be too long. I hate feeling like I'm rushing through this story, but the previous chapter, this one, and some of the next one have been sitting already-written in my files for the last couple of years. And I just want this finished so I can get to writing what I'm currently into. I promise I'm not half-assing it though; I'm doing my best with what I can remember of the plot XD