Hatching

Chapter 1- Dragonlet Drama

Zeyh paced up and down the red brick walkway outside the Hatchery, his golden school cloak dragging on the ground with each step of the feet shod in black boots. Under his school cloak he wore black pants and a black shirt crisscrossed with silver.

His friend, Ama, watched him from the steps leading to the Hatchery's door. She too was worried, and had one knee tucked tightly up to her chest and was resting her head on it with her own light blue school cloak pulled around her tightly, black shorts and t-shirt underneath.

They were worried sick about their eggs, their dragons-to-be, both of which were currently in the Hatchery. Zeyh and Ama had good reason to be worried about their dragonlets. As they went from their ages of twelve to thirteen as they both would in a matter of days, it was customary among Flyers to receive their dragons. Not receiving your dragons before your thirteenth birthday was called a Late Hatching, and it was a deep disgrace.

In Zeyh and Ama's world, you were one of three things: A Drop, a Tide or a Flyer.

Drops were people of the ground. They were farmers, builders, that sort of thing. They had animals, but not dragons. Sometimes Flyers got a bit jealous of Drops- their animals could be so many different things, like dogs and lizards and all sorts. But then they looked at their beautiful, loyal, magical dragons and they didn't feel jealous anymore.

Tides were water-people, and lived in colonies deep under the ocean. Most of them were merpeople, and some were human/merpeople crosses that lived there in the domes with their family. Their animals were an array of fish, crabs, and all other things in the sea.

Flyers were people of the air, all of which were Dragon Riders. Dragon Riders with battle training made up most of the armed force their world had, and more peaceable and less-skilled Dragon Riders were post-carriers and private shuttles to and from various locations around the world.

Most Flyers had to go to school for four years to learn how to fly and care for their dragons. Zeyh and Ama were no exceptions. They had taken all the classes, studied diligently, and wished passionately for the day of their Hatching. Now the day had come, and where were their precious dragons?

"Oh, Zeyh, I'm so worried I could die. Suppose they don't hatch? Suppose they don't hatch and we have to wait another year to see our babies? What if we have to wait an extra year to fly?" Ama whispered to her friend in her high, thin voice.

Zeyh turned to face her. He had hair so black there was a blue sheen to it, and his eyes were an odd, bright green with a flash of tawny in the center, his skin an even golden brown tan. He always made her feel so plain, with her mousy brown hair and dull gray eyes, her light skin that was so frail it sunburned in little under ten minutes in the heat.

"Ama, don't you dare say that!" he said, his unusual eyes sparkling, "They are going to hatch. I can't even remember the last time we had a Late Hatching here, can you?"

Ama smiled faintly. "No, I can't. I can't remember what we had for lunch yesterday either, so perhaps I'm no help."

Zeyh rolled his eyes. "It was tuna fish. Now stop worrying. If I learned anything from my brother's Hatchings, it's that they'll arrive when they darn well want to arrive! Xavier's waited until three minutes before midnight, remember? And Saulo's came three months early!"

"I guess so," Ama said, smiling thinly. “After all, it is just the start of June.” She looked a bit paler than usual, but Zeyh knew she was just worried. He hoped. Ama had always been a sickly child, and the stress hadn't been good for her, what with her parent's splitting up a month ago and now this dragonlet drama.

There was a creaking behind Ama, and the Hatchery door opened. Lorie, the Hatchery apprentice, poked her head out. Her red-gold hair fell out behind her in waves, and green eyes sparkled behind thick glasses. Lorie was a Drop, not a Flyer, so she had a different type of animal instead of a dragon. He was a blue cat named Paul, a sweet little fellow with a pleasant disposition. Paul was never far from Lorie at any time, and now he was sitting at her feet. He mewed at them merrily.

“Ama, Zeyh, come in, quickly! They're hatching!" she told them urgently.

Ama jumped nimbly to her feet and ran into the Hatchery with Zeyh not far behind. Inside the hatchery was hot and humid, and Zeyh and Ama raced along the labyrinthine paths between huge eggs in boxes lined with rags beneath heating-lamps. They knew the paths well, for they had been anxiously visiting their eggs every day for the past year.

"Look, I see mine!" cried Ama, racing around to where a dark blue egg the size of a small child shivered in place. Zeyh's egg was right next to hers, a red egg with a meandering ribbon of black across it. It too shook with the squirming of the dragonlet inside it.

There was a clicking sound, and a chip of shell came off of Ama's egg. A white bit of egg tooth came out before quickly ducking back in. The shell began to weaken and crack in several places, and before long, a whole half of the egg split off. The dragonlet flopped out, shining and squirming. It was damp from the inside of the egg, and its egg tooth fell off the end of its shining nose. It sneezed, and a small spurt of fire issued out of its mouth, followed by a few hiccoughs of smoke.

"He's beautiful!" cried Ama, for indeed the little creature on the rags in front of her was a boy dragon. She could tell from the tail, which had a broad end. Girl dragon's tails were slimmer, so she knew right away.

Her little dragon was cobalt blue with a grey spot on his muzzle, an adorable and shiny little fellow. He had a row of spikes down the center of his head, and his claws were grey. Each scale gleamed, and his wings were folded close to his body.

As he looked up at Ama his soulful, blue-rimmed-with-grey eyes sparkled and he said, "Ama? Ama, is that you?"

She nearly began to cry with joy at her baby dragon's tiny, sweet voice. Of course, all children talked to their eggs and told their future companions their names, taught them who they were, and shared their worlds, but Ama was astounded at how quickly the little one had found her.

"Yes, Damiaan, it's me," she said. Damiaan hopped into her arms, spreading his small, papery wings in an attempt to flutter up. He sighed and laid his damp head against her school cloak.

"I wanted to meet you earlier, but my egg tooth hadn't grown up enough yet. I squirmed and I wormed and then today I cracked the shell open," he said, closing his eyes, "I missed you when you couldn't visit me."

"I missed you too. Now I'll never have to miss you," Ama whispered, stroking her dragon's head. A tear fell from her eye and she snuggled close to her dragon.

Next to her, Zeyh was also nearly in tears. Not because of the touching scene next to him, but because his egg had stopped shivering. The once-animated egg lay on its side, still and quiet. Eerily quiet, it was like a rock. Lorie was bent over it, panicking.

"I think it might have stopped trying to hatch. It could be sick, “she said.

"Lorie, crack the shell! Do something!" Zeyh shouted.

"I can't do...," Lorie began, but Zeyh didn't let her finish.

"Sssh!" he shushed the Hatchery apprentice, and was kneeling beside his egg, quietly talking to it.

"Crista, are you okay? It's me, baby, it's Zeyh. C'mon, Crista, don't quit on me. Don't quit on me now, babe...," he said, a lump forming in his throat.

"Ama? Is that Zeyh?" asked Damiaan quietly.

"Yes," said Ama, kneeling next to Zeyh with Damiaan still in her arms. To Ama's great surprise, Zeyh was crying. Silent tears ran down his face onto the slick red surface of the egg, his face showing pain and sadness clearly.

"Let me try to help," said Damiaan, wiggling out from between Ama's arms.

"No, Damiaan, if Crista is sick, you might get sick too," said Zeyh, trying to stop the little dragon with his hand.

Damiaan defiantly slipped under and said, "I don't care. I'm not about to let Crista die on you, Zeyh."

Zeyh looked at Ama in surprise at Damiaan knowing so much.

"Don't ask," she said, and Damiaan hopped atop the egg.

Damiaan's head was touching the shell, and in his tiny, tiny voice he whispered in a language none of them had heard before. The long mumbling ended with a shriek from Lorie as the egg busted open violently, throwing red shell bits everywhere. Damiaan let out a shrill laugh of triumph as the little magenta dragon inside shook her head and coughed out smoke just as he had.

"Ouch," said Crista, shaking her dark pink head, "That was one hell of a hatching, I'll tell you that much." She looked up with black eyes at Zeyh. "Zeyh! Baby, come give me a hug. Your princess is here!"

Zeyh laughed and picked up his dragon. "Crista, baby girl, I was afraid you'd never get here."

"That’s nonsense. You know I'd never quit on you," she looked over at Ama. "Who's your girlfriend?"

Damiaan's eyes bugged out and he started laughing hysterically, rolling around on the floor.

Zeyh laughed nervously. "This is Ama, my best friend. Her dragon, Damiaan, saved you."

"So you're the little snap who knows Old Dragon," she said, looking at Damiaan. The blue dragon stopped laughing and looked at Crista.

"Yep, I saw you were in trouble. What happened?" he said.

"We'd all like to know that," said Lorie.

"I'm not so sure. All of a sudden, I got so... tired. It just weighed down my whole body, and I couldn't move. I heard you, Zeyh, and I tried to move but I couldn't, and then I heard someone whispering an energizing spell in Old Dragon, and the weight just lifted off! Of course, I got out of there ASAP," she explained, wildly flailing her wings and then resting back in Zeyh's arms.

"At least you're OK," said Ama.

“Yep, we're all thankful for that," Damiaan said.