First I want to apologize for the LATEness of this.... I just can't write the way I used to.

As far as whatever you need to put in your hatching stories? ANYTHING GOES. There's a song and dance routine in the middle, and Baeris gives birth sometime toward the end. We don't know for sure, she's asleep for it... :)

***

With the arrival of a batch of singing, dancing Nexus travelers, Baeris knew that she’d very nearly seen everything. But it was about to get worse. Much worse. Because, she was told, the eggs on THOSE sands were beginning to tremble.

They were big and little, pale and dark… Eggs of all types littered the sands. By this time, a host of dragons had actually left the sands and come back, it had taken so long to assemble the group of ‘candidates’ for them.

The asteroid where they’d been laid tremebled with antici………..

pation.

Every single egg shattered at once. Not one was left unbroken, and to some degree every dragon in them stepped out at the same time. However, it looked now like someone had arranged the eggs with care so that just that very thing could happen and no one would be interrupting anyone else. As though on cue, wave upon wave of dragons began marching off to find their suitable partner or sponsor. Proud parents of every size and color stood by, occasionally watching and nodding toward their deviant offspring, sometimes offering Baeris a name to go with their child.

When a spectacularly large male walked out and found his ‘friend’ there was a ripple of angry and triumphant trumpeting from the female who’d laid him. All eyes turned, for it was teeny Halutath. “Must have been that gigantic male that stuck her on at the end,” chuckled Baeris.

More and more, disturbing the shells and walking through the piled sand, dragons came and selected their friends. Some did so aggressively, with confidence. Others meekly accepted their bonds. Some offered their new partner a beer.

What mystefied Baeris the most were the ones that appeared almost fully-fledged and, “Where’d they get those cigarettes? WHO is giving these dragons cigarettes?” She demanded. But no one fessed up. She suspected it was Booyath, of course, or Pierth. But neither of them had been at this flight anyway. Startled by a pair of arms around her waist, Baeris elbowed Kalkin in the gut and continued growling about bad habits and accesorising out of the egg.

“It’s all right, Baeris,” Kalkin said warmly. “They’re all going away soon.” He did something that she wanted him to never – ever – do in public again, he rubbed her huge belly and laughed, “like this one, too.”

Baeris sighed, and watched closely as dragon upon dragon found their friends. Only a few draconic bonds were formed, mostly it was humans and humanoids. A couple demons, half breeds here and there.

When a batch of particularly fun-loving dragons found their friends, another spontaneous song and dance routine broke out.

More than a dozen people and hatchlings sprang into the air, wiggled themselves, practically did a mating dance right there, and then all but ran out to their respective homes. With her jaw slack, Baeris wondered what the fuck that was. “Catchy tune though,” she said, humming it for the rest of the afternoon.

The cracking of whips brought attention to the other corner, and a madly pleasurable howling from apparently the recipient of those whip slashes made Baeris sure that whoever just got that dragon they were happy about it.

***

“They’re done,” Kalkin said, nudging Baeris awake. “And your waters broke a while back, but you were asleep. I brought you in,” he smiled. “The rest of me kept writing down pairs, so don’t worry. We’ve got all the records done.”

“That’s a relief,” Baeris said with a weird smile. It changed rapidly into realization. “Where – where’s my –”

“Over there,” Kalkin pointed to the softly lined basinet where their daughter was resting. He glanced past it, where their son slept. “And there.”

“I gave birth in my sleep?” She said aghast.

“You’ve been known to do some interesting things in your sleep, sweetheart,” Kalkin said. “Kali and Baelin are asleep too. No fuss.”

***

So here they are at last. Pickup page link is at the bottom of the page. I'm sorry again for not making a decent hatching for this bunch.

5.25.15 - ** marked RETURNED TO HEALING DEN

PICK UP PAGES!