It's Hatching!

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 12th September 2014

Characters: Humari, Taril
Description: Humari's flit egg hatches
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 8, day 17 of Turn 7

Humari

Humari placed another plate into the sink and plunged her hands into the hot water to finish the rest of the dishes while Taril enjoyed a glass of wine at the table. She tried to refrain from drinking more than a glass. It tended to go to her head quickly and she giggled a bit too much. But Taril seemed to be able to hold down far more wine than she.

It didn't take long, as there was just the pair of them dirtying dishes, so it wasn't long before she was wiping the table. She was silent in her work, concentrating on getting the surfaces clean as she did every night.

Dodger abruptly raised his head from where he was snoozing on the corner of the table. With a chirrup, he spread his wings and flew to the hearth, where he promptly sat on the edge of the lintel and began to-- "Is he... singing?" Taril asked. "I've never heard him make that sound before."

Humari lifted her head, brow furrowed as looked at Dodger. Her eyes followed his gaze downward and down to the small basket where her egg sat. Rocking. Her egg. Her eyes widened and she quickly dropped the cleaning cloth. "Taril, it's the egg. My flit is hatching!" Hurrying, she pulled the bits of meat she'd been saving and hurried to the fireplace before kneeling. She put the bowl down and nervous hands fidgeted in her lap. "Taril, what do I do? Just feed it when it comes out, or something else?" She looked over her shoulders at him, eyes excited.

"As soon as the egg cracks, feed it until it's too fat to fly." Taril grabbed his crutch and hobbled over, excited in spite of himself. "Quick-- what colour?"

"Brown, like Dodger." She burst out quickly. "Maybe?" She watched the rocking egg, resisting the urge to pick it up to help it open. She nibbled on her lip, holding her breath as a crack appeared in the egg. Her attention turned solely to the rapidly rocking little egg. "Come on, you can do it, little one."

"I'll guess..." Brown, as dark as her eyes when she smiled. "As blue as the sea," he said instead.

Humari flashed a quick smile at him as the crack spread along the egg, noting at the same time that Dodger's humming had gotten deeper. She took a breath as it widened and then webbed around one point at the side of the egg. Excited, she bounced in clasping her hands and held her breath as the egg bulged at that point and then shattered, a sticky little green nose appearing. Humari took a sharp breath and let it out with a soft sigh as the nose snuffled and then forced it's way past the shell. "Green," she breathed. "a little green..." She bit her lip as a head thrust through and the egg toppled to the side. She reached out, making herself go still to let the hatchling free itself.

"Meat-- feed her!" Taril prompted, realizing that he'd been holding his breath as the egg had split in two, distracted by both the event itself and Humari's excitement. The little green was so tiny-- had Dodger ever been that small?

Hurrying, Humari scooped out pieces of meat from the bowl and held them out as the green stumbled out of the egg, her wings still covered in bits of shell and goop. The little thing cried piteously until the scent of the meat caught her attention and she stumbled over her feet to get to Humari's hand. Bit by bit, the meat was bolted down the hatchling's throat, and the infant flit had literally crawled up in Humari's hand to get to more. It wasn't long before the meat was gone and the green was nestled on Humari's arm, held close to her chest. Humari's eyes were sparkling with happiness, her fingers stroking over the hide with awe. "She's so pretty and soft." She looked up at Taril, her eyes as soft as the green's hide. "Thank you. This is the best gift I've ever been given."

He smiled, a little discomfited by the way she was looking at him. "You'll want to wash the egg goop off her when she wakes up. When you're done, use
some of the oil I use on Dodger. The blue bottle on my desk... you'll want to feed her then too. They're hungry when they're new."

Humari nodded quickly. "Yes, I will." She looked down at the tiny little flit on her arm and sighed softly with a smile on her face. "What shall I name her?"

Taril smiled back. "Whatever you'd like. She's yours, as long as you treat her nicely."

"Oh I will." Humari agreed promptly and stroked the soft hide. "Sissa. I like that name." She looked back up at Taril, her smile wide. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a perfect name for her." Dodger chirped from his perch on the mantle, and Taril laughed. "So does Dodger. But he's also hungry... can I give him Sissa's leftovers? Do you have more for when she wakes up?

She moved carefully to avoid waking Sissa, though the little green was lightly snoring on her arm and was unlikely to wake even should an earth tremor occur, and rose. "Yes, there is some jerky I had saved in the cupboard." She walked slowly, her eyes ever on the firelizard as she fetched the bag and brought it back to Taril. She sat down on the couch, and with a loving hand, kept stroking the green.

Taril sat heavily beside her and called Dodger over, and the brown eagerly flew to his shoulder. Dodger are a few of the small slivers of jerky before losing interest and climbing onto Humari's shoulder to examine Sissa with bright, curious eyes.

She looked up as Dodger peered down at the new baby and smiled brightly at the brown firelizard. "Isn't she lovely, Dodger? You'll have a new playmate." She scratched him along the shoulder and feeling so happy, companionably leaned against Taril.

He froze, unsure of what to do. But her ease and happiness was contagious, and he soon relaxed, letting Sissa's soft snores and the rustle of Dodger's wings soothe the strangeness of having Humari's warm weight nestled against him. The flit egg had been a good idea. For the first time, he began to think that their marriage might not be as much work as he'd anticipated, and that they might find a few small moments of happiness together.

Last updated on the September 21st 2014

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It's Hatching!