CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Ban left his so-called meeting with the empress feeling as if he'd be within his rights to lob her into a ditch. A sewer ditch.

He understood an empress didn't have to explain her every move and motivation to her first knight. However, he would've appreciated it very much if she could at least try. He'd asked her point-blank what she was up to, and the only response he received was a cold reminder than he had plenty work of his own to do without trying to meddle with hers.

It hurt to be pushed away like that. Ban couldn't deny it. The Enfri he thought he knew was hiding herself in favor of this imperial mask. The more Ban saw that mask, the more he wanted to snatch it from her and smash it against a rock. As much as it hurt him to see it, he knew it hurt her more to wear it.

In the end, Ban felt powerless. An entire legion and twenty-five knighthoods at his command, he felt utterly helpless. He couldn't save Enfri. Not this time. All he could do was be there for her, for when the time came she needed her Ruby Knight once again. Ban would stay close to her side, do what she asked him to do, fight who she asked him to fight, because he knew his nitwit sister of the heart was still in there somewhere.

And he would never leave her to face the darkness of this world alone.

In the meantime, Ban had more than his share of nonsense to see to. Joining the Jade Empire's campaign against Althandor was difficult for more than just personal reasons. It was a logistical nightmare, made more so by the number of Dragon Lords decreasing by one.

To that end, Ban believed it necessary to check in on the other twenty-two. The Lady of Opals wasn't about to abandon herself, Ban hoped, and he could speak with authority as to what the Lord of Rubies planned to do. He needed to look in on if any other Dragon Lords were at risk at following the Lady of Diamonds into exile, and that's what brought him to the monstrosity he found himself in.

Ban didn't much know what to make of a place like this. The Emeralds got up to the sort of things he usually considered the product of the wishful thinking of printsheet serial authors with overactive imaginations. On the one hand, Ban would prefer the Emerald Knights would use their allotment from the treasury towards something practical. On the other, if they managed to get even a fraction of the gizmos around here working, Shan Alee could begin to approach Althandor or Irdruin as a technological power on the Continent.

It was where the most brilliant minds and most talented hands of the new empire gathered. Plans were made for this to become Shan Alee's industrial center, the heart of science and progress for the western Five Kingdoms.

They called it the Forge.

It was a massive warehouse with every amenity an artificer could ask for. Located in the midst of New Sandharbor's industrial complex, the expansive building housed an impressive foundry filled to the brim with huge smelters. It was blisteringly hot inside, hot and muggy from the constant hiss of steam engines, and there seemed to be an ever-lasting red glow in the air from rivers of molten metal flowing across apparatuses like aqueducts. The metal then poured into casts to be worked by an army of craftsmen.

Beyond the foundry, the product of the metalworkers filtered in to the artificers. The discordant ring of hammers echoed, a constant din as the Emerald Knights pursued their technological art. Sparks fell from men and women working on the higher two stories on catwalks as they still worked to complete the Forge. Only halfway finished, and it still produced almost the entirety of Shan Alee's metalworks.

The high-vaulted ceiling was a spiderweb of walkways and scaffolding, craftsmen milling about sets of dragon battle-regalia suspended high above the floor. The Emeralds had taken the production of dragon armor to a science and were now able to produce a functional set of regalia for a dragon within three days of taking measurements. If Ban didn't miss his guess, the enormous set intended for a larger and older dragon was the one destined for Mevek the Guardian now that she'd received her Peridot.

Ban gave the battle regalia a passing glance as he walked underneath. From what he'd seen of hellebore dragons in general and Mevek in particular, plates of metal were a tad redundant. Though, there was something to be said for the presentation of a bound dragon. Battle regalia was something of a uniform, after all, and the mighty enjoyed looking impressive.

As Ban walked through rows of workbenches on the ground floor, each with an artificer from the Emeralds or a green dragon hard at work with their tinkering, Ban furrowed his brow at the myriad of devices in varying states of construction.

One dragon appeared to be using one of those Irdish welding wands to fuze steel plating to a miniature version of a steam engine. Ban didn't like the implications of something that small needing an added layer of protection. A pair of artificers, an Aleesh woman and Gaulatian man, argued at the next workbench about the merits of alternating or direct current while unspooling lines of copper wire. Ban hadn't a clue what the issue was, or why a current would alternate in the first place. The last in the row was closer to Ban's understanding, a green dragon in tiny form using his fire breath to keep a small furnace going as he prepared his glassblowing tools. Ban's understanding then fled when he saw the dragon had schematics beneath his little claws depicting something like the lens of a spyglass, just far larger in scale.

Ban kept on walking and let out a tired breath. Half the time, he felt like he barely understood anything of what was going on in Shan Alee anymore. For the most part, it seemed he and the Dragon Lords just handed out coin while everyone else did as they pleased.

There'll come a time when that'll bite us in the arse, he thought. For now, everyone's set on common purpose, but that won't last forever. It probably won't last to the end of the war.

A common goal was all well and good. At first, it'd been the challenge of forging a new empire on virgin ground. After, preparing for the inevitable coming of the old masters. Now, with the old masters arrived and the empress bending the knee...

Ban wasn't sure what purpose the Arcane Knights followed anymore. Loyalty to the Dragon Empress? More and more, that seemed less and less like it could be enough to keep the empire together.

He'd known there'd be desertions. Ban just hadn't expected the role call of the missing. Thus far, very few dragons or bound knights left. Less than a dozen, all told. It was the most prominent of the deserters that troubled him.

Pacifica, you were Enfri's second knight. I never thought...

If just one other bound knight remained with Enfri, Ban had assumed it would be Pacifica. All this started because of her. The least she could've done was see it through to the end.

Ban pawed at his forehead as he nearly made his way through the Emerald workshops. He assumed Starra's exile had proven a factor in Pacifica abandoning her seat on the Council. Starra left, so Reyn left, so Pacifica left, so Adar left. A floundering inconvenient chain reaction, if Ban had ever seen one. Inconvenient to the highest degree possible, but Ban couldn't blame any of them.

Which wasn't to say he wouldn't be obliged to put them all in chains and drag them to tribunal when he saw them again. Desertion was a capital offense, after all. Tantamount to treason. Not to mention that the Eldest of the gold chroma taking off was a huge blow to dragon morale. Starra might get a pass because she was no longer an Aleesh citizen, but the rest were looking at a long stay with the Amethysts. Ban would endeavor to be polite about it, but he was his beloved's First Knight. His personal feelings came second.

For that matter, where's Krayson gone off to? Ban wondered. Saveen was awfully dodgy about it when I asked her, and Moon wouldn't let me dangle the little hooligan upside-down until she spilled the beans. Wherever he is, I hope he's doing something good.

Waves knew, someone needed to.

Ban wasn't pleased with how things were going. He didn't want to be a thrall anymore than anyone else in the empire. The same went for Enfri, of that he was certain no matter what people whispered in alleyways. But, what other choice did he have? He couldn't pack up Moon, Nikos, and his mother and then high-tail it to the furthest corner of the world. It wasn't only the infeasibility of leaving Shan Alee. He couldn't bring himself to leave Enfri's side.

In the end, Ban truly did have nowhere else to go.

"My lord Karst," a man bellowed over the din of hammers.

Ban looked up to see a burly man standing near his destination. Hugin was out of both armor and uniform, instead dressed in a leather apron and wearing a yellow, floppy hat on his head. There was a couple day's growth of bristly whiskers on his jawline and dark circles under his eyes. Hugin looked worn and spent, with little respite between every minor catastrophe he had to deal with. His workbench was piled with what looked like scraps of garbage to Ban's eye, but Hugin examined each item as if it were a freshly cut diamond.

"The place is growing," Ban shouted over the noise. "How many do you have working here?"

"Nearing two hundred as of yesterday, Marshal," Hugin answered at the same volume. He set one of his scraps down on the bench and motioned for Ban to follow. "Let's get out of this racket. To my office, my lord."

Ban nodded, grateful for the chance to spare his ears this torture. He assumed the noise was why he saw so many workers going about with coverings on the sides of their head. Chances were the healers would see an upswing in people going deaf if the Forge didn't start handing out ear protection.

Hugin led Ban through a doorway set into a nearby wall. Once through, Ban felt an intense wave of relief as he passed through a number of overlapping wards. Some of the glowing green sigils placed about the room were obviously privacy wards. The rest kept the worst of the Forge's heat and humidity from reaching Hugin's personal office.

The Lord of Emeralds likely had more offices than Ban did. He had one here, in the palace war room, and at least three others across the Artisan District that Ban knew of. He'd been the second appointed Dragon Lord— the first after Ban— so he probably had just as much on his plate. Hugin minded the details of outfitting an empire, and while some of those responsibilities were slowly getting taken over by the charters of other knighthoods, the Emeralds still handled the largest portion of such things. Ban could only imagine how spread thin they were.

Hugin went to his desk to rifle through a stack of papers. "I take it you've come for our quota reports," he said, his voice deep and rumbling.

"I could send Suuri or Karlo for those," Ban replied, remaining standing. "How are things in this corner?"

Hugin blinked as if perplexed. "My lord?"

"The husband doing alright?"

Hugin chuckled. "I suspect you've seen Rav more recent than me, my lord."

"Aye, true enough. What about your girl? Last I heard, you and Rav sent word for Veronika to come live with you here, didn't you? She's got to be close to the end of her squiring."

Ban wasn't prepared for the grieved look in Hugin's eye as he looked down at his desk

"Ah... Plans change, Marshal." He brushed errant dust from the desk's surface. "What with things as they are, Rav and I imposed on Lord Trent to keep the girl on as his squire for now."

"I see," Ban murmured quietly.

"Not that things are any quieter back home," Hugin said, close to a growl. "Waves see this all over before much longer." His eyes hardened as they all but burned holes into his desk. "One more battlefield, it looks like. Just one more, and we can finally get some sleep."

"Not an easy life," Ban said. "Not for a father."

"We're soldiers," Hugin said. "War is our trade, but I'd hoped to hand something more than a bloodied full blade to my girl for her coming of age."

Ban took in a long breath. "I understand that better now. As you say, Hugin. One more battlefield."

"I'll see you there, Marshal," Hugin promised. "Come what may. I haven't served the Karsts this long to stop now when the trail gets a little rougher. On that, you have my word."

"Just the Karsts?" Ban asked.

Hugin lifted his gaze from the desk to look Ban square in the eye. "No, Marshal. Not just the Karsts." He placed his palms on the desk to stand. "I think I've a notion of what brings you, my lord, so permission to speak plain."

Ban sighed. "Was I that obvious?"

"You don't need an augur to see what's going on. Am I the first Dragon Lord you've come to check on?"

"Near the top," Ban admitted. He at least owed Hugin honesty. "Rav was first."

Hugin nodded in understanding. "I expect I'll tell you nothing you haven't heard already, then. My man and I are of one mind on this." He closed his eyes for a moment as if to gather his thoughts before opening them again. "I owe our beloved more than I could ever repay. Not if I had a thousand years to do it. She took a pair of lost paladins and made them Dragon Lords. She gave us a home after ours was destroyed by the First Legion. She gave us the chance to build our own future with our own hands. I will always be a sworn paladin of House Karst in my heart, my lord, but my highest fealty belongs to just one woman in this world. My husband and I, we are Her Majesty's men until the Beyond, again and forever."

Ban cracked an appreciative smile. "Who would've thought when she wandered into the Lost Company's camp. Not even a year later, and here we are."

Hugin chuckled. "All I could tell then was she was someone worth knowing. A princess at her beck and call, a knight-captain unable to take his eyes off her like she was the sun itself."

Ban scoffed. "Talk like that is half the reason folk are still formulating weird notions about her and me. I'm a married man."

Hugin smirked. "Speaking of, meeting Her Majesty was also the first time meeting Lady Moon. Now there was an outcome I'd never have placed a scub on."

Ban was reminded that Hugin and Rav were Moon and Light Hoof's guards all that time ago. Waves, that felt another lifetime. Before dragons, demons, and wars spanning the Continent. Things had felt so much simpler back then, when Ban's world hadn't needed to include the entirety of the world. And through it all, Hugin had been at his side.

"Forgive me, Hugin," Ban said, ashamed. "I owe you and Rav more than an interrogation."

Hugin barked a rumbling laugh. "With respect, Marshal, that's rot. I'm confident I speak for the other Dragon Lords when I say it's no dishonor to have your loyalty asked after. I'll take it as evidence of how much you need me to stick around." He nodded towards the door and the racket of the Forge just on the other side of a privacy ward. "If you don't mind my saying, you and the empress wouldn't get anything done without me."

"Waves, don't remind me. It's bad enough knowing what I have to take care of. If I had a notion of all else there could be to do, I'd be on my pyre by nightfall."

"Setting that aside," Hugin said, coming around the desk, "there's something you maybe should get a look at yourself. Don't know if you caught word of the Irdish artificer we brought in, but Nooka and I set her on a... special project."

Ban arched an eyebrow. "Suuri mentioned. Mistress Obuu, was it?"

"Aye, that's the one. Not much for being personable but just about the brightest mind you'll find in a lass her age. Obuu's already looked to as the top theurallurgic artificer in the known world, so just ask yourself where she'll be once she's older."

Ban tilted his head back. "Not personable? What, she's the cranky type?"

"Not unless you call theurallurgy 'magitech' like some uneducated rube. You'll see folk like her at university now and then. Their minds work a bit different. Might make it hard for them to get on with others." He guided Ban towards the door. "Nooka and I started something when it looked like we'd have to tangle with the Jade Empire's armada. The idea was more than we could tackle ourselves, so my Artificer pointed me towards Obuu. Nooka worked with her now and then while he was living as a mortal in Irdruin, and he thought if anyone could make this thing more than some sketches on a schematic, it was her."

Ban narrowed his eyes. "What are we talking about, exactly? Some kind of anti-airship weapon?"

"It could be, aye," Hugin said. "If we're going against Althandor instead of airships, believe me, it'll be every bit as useful."

"If it works."

"Aye, if it works, but I've got half the Emeralds working under Obuu and Nooka on this. If you thought dragon crews changed the nature of war, you're going to lick your chops at what our device can do."

The notion intrigued Ban. "A giant astramantic battery? Blast them with lightning?"

Hugin chuckled. "Not a bad way to go, but no."

"A huge steam-powered suit of armor the size of a spire?"

"Waves, Marshal. Don't be ridiculous." He opened the office door. "Think more subtle and ten times as devastating. The Jade Empire and Althandor got something in common in how they wage war. We're cooking up a way to deny the empire's enemies the most powerful and taken for granted asset modern legions have."

If Ban wasn't interested before, he certainly was now. He understood at once what Hugin referred to, and if it would be possible to put a stop to something like that on a wide scale, Shan Alee could overpower nearly any engagement.

"Steam engines," Ban said. "You think you can shut down the enemy's steam engines!"

"Ballistae and mangonels," Hugin said, "Steam rams, locomotives, airships, and carriages. You remove a legion's logistics, you stop the legion. Stopping the artillery just sweetens the deal. You can probably tell why we needed a theurallurgic engineer. This project needed more than just a mechanical solution. There's an arcane component."

Ban's mind reeled with the possibilities. "Whatever you need, Hugin. I'll get it to you."

"Got most of it gathered already," Hugin said. "Obuu was what we needed most to get this finished, so I'm glad the empress signed off on me bringing her in weeks ago."

"Weeks ago," Ban murmured. He supposed that though the identity of the empire's enemy had changed since then, the goals hadn't. Enfri would always seek a way to end her battles before they cost too many lives. Ban took what comfort he could from that.

"I'll show you exactly how we mean to do it," Hugin said before stepping through the boundary of the privacy ward. "We're still not sure what to use as a delivery system, but we'll know more once we get the dratted thing working right."

Ban followed him back into the Forge and winced as the clamor of hammers and steam engines assaulted his ears once again. "Let's not wait around then. Just how big is this thing going to..."

The moment he broke through the ward, a sending spirit arrived next to his ear and shouted at a volume to drown out the noise of the Forge. "There you are! You've any idea how long I've been trying to get a sending through to you? Blazing lout!"

"Gah!" Ban shouted at the sudden verbal attack. "Kimpo? What in the name of tides?"

Hugin made a contrite face. "Apologies, Marshal. I had Nooka adjust the office wards to block sendings, or I'd never get any work done."

Ban raised a palm to push down the apology. "None needed. Kimpo, who's giving the sending?"

"Odjualla. You're needed back here in the palace, little warrior. Urgently!"

"I can be back in the war room in ten minutes," Ban said. "What's this about?"

"Not the war room," Kimpo shouted. "The rookery! Anura's already breaking through her shell, so if you want to get here before she finishes hatching, you'll get your blazing arse in the saddle this instant or find someone to pop you to the metavatarium!"

Ban started running the instant he heard the word "rookery". He said something incoherent to Hugin on his way out, promising he'd take him up on seeing the anti-steam device in short order. Ban wove his way around the craftsmen and workbenches in the Forge at a sprint until he barreled through the main gates to where he'd left Arnln hitched to a post by a water trough.

The few Karst armsmen he'd brought with him as an honor guard barely had time to mount up and follow before Ban had given Arnln his heels and sent him galloping through the streets. He'd told Kimpo ten minutes, but he managed to make it back in just seven.

Ban shouted for the palace staff to make way as he charged through the palace halls, nearly bowling aside maids going about their duties. Up the stairs to the second floor, across the landing to the southeast wing, and barely avoiding clusters of knights and crewmen outside the war room before reaching the empress' suite at the end of the hall. Ban came to the last door on the right, the one with heat visibly shimmering from underneath the door, and restrained himself from kicking it open.

Mevek the Guardian waited just outside, flanking the doorway with the full number of Peridots and Opals who comprised the royal guard. Inaz was still absent after being ordered off-duty earlier in the day. Kora and Dahvid, Enfri's first and second officers, made way for Ban as soon as he came into view. Mevek did so as well, but not until her watchful eye passed over the sigils lit underneath Ban's sleeve.

"Marshal," Mevek said in greeting before stepping out of Ban's way.

"Lady Guardian," Ban panted. His run had nearly fallen to a stumble from how exhausted he was from that dash. At least half a league in under ten minutes. In peacetime, he'd have won a trophy for such a feat. He put his shoulder to the rookery door as he burst in, out of breath and wheezing.

"Flames," Kimpo said appreciatively once the door closed behind Ban. "I didn't think you'd actually teleport here."

Ban leaned on his knees to keep from keeling over. "No, just... was motivated, is all..."

"I didn't mean for you to kill yourself in the getting here."

Ban waved a hand in her general direction. "Not as young as I used to be."

"What a silly thing to say. Of course not. That's how linear time works. But come off it. You're twenty-four, not forty-two. You're just out of shape from all that desk-sitting you've been doing lately."

Ban sucked in air and heard more truth in the statement than he wanted to. He promised himself more stints in the training yard over the next few weeks to make up for lost time.

The ambient heat inside the rookery made it unlikely Ban would stop sweating like a race horse anytime soon. At least the dryness of the air might stop the worst of it.

A pool of molten gold and raging flames sat on the other side of the bare, stone room. The fires burned hotter and brighter than they had any of the other times Ban visited Kimpo and Deebee's nest. They reached all the way to the top of the room now, a veritable wall of fire that left blackened scorch marks on the stones of the floor, walls, and ceiling. He assumed that was part of this final stage of a dragon's birth.

"Waves and tides, love. Is that safe?"

Kimpo crossed the room to Ban's side. A large measure of strength and vitality slammed into him through their bond, and Ban was able to stand up straight. It also shocked him out of the numb stupor he'd fallen into somewhere along the ride, not at all unlike how he'd felt at the birth of Nikos.

"You're the last one to get here," Kimpo scolded. "Barely made it in time, lunkhead."

Ban had about had enough of the women of this empire thinking they could go on with all this name-calling. Lout, lunkhead, blockhead, lummox, he'd heard nearly every epithet a woman could apply to a man over the last year, and he was sick of it. He had half a mind to live down to their expectations and show them what a lout really was.

Those snappish notions got set aside in moments. He understood Kimpo's anxiety in this moment better than most, because he'd gone through exactly the same a few days ago. Ban put a lopsided grin on his face and took his Huntress by the arm. "I'm just glad I didn't miss it. I'd kick myself from now until the Beyond if I did. Some things are more important than empires."

A high-pitched scoff sounded from the other side of the room, inside the flames. "If that's how you feel, maybe I picked the wrong man as my First Knight."

Ban blinked. "Enfri? What in the...?"

"Fire wards, Ban. Put one on yourself and get in here with the rest of us."

"Err... As you say, my empress."

Ban looked to Kimpo, and she smirked at him before stepping into the fire. The flames enfolded around her, blocking her from sight. Ban pulled an anxious face, lit warding sigils on his bracers, and stepped in after her.

It wasn't as bad as he feared. The fires surrounded the nest, but they didn't fill the whole of it. It was hotter than a kiln, but fire wards were sufficient to keep from roasting like a pig on a spit. He was more concerned with the molten gold underfoot. He had to step carefully, or his boots would catch fire even through the wards. At the center of the nest, five eggs the size of a man's torso stood on end, half-submerged in a mound of softened gold.

There was a sizable gathering inside the flaming nest. Kimpo had gone to crouch beside Deebee in front of the eggs. Deebee and Enfri sat huddled together, their arms wrapped around the other as they stared with wide-eyed fascination at the cracks appearing across the eggshells. Moon was standing over them, bent over to bring her face closer, and Nikos lay asleep, swaddled in his mother's arms. Saveen perched on Moon's shoulder in tiny form.

"Waves, lisichka," Ban exclaimed. "You can't bring a baby into an oven!"

"Rocker," Moon said, not even giving him much attention. "Oven is for white ones. Does he not sight this?"

"Dragon white ones," Ban argued. He rubbed his forehead and decided if Enfri hadn't talked Moon out of it, he had no hope of success. "This everyone?"

"Everyone," Deebee said without turning away from her children. "At least... everyone we could get here."

Ban noted how Enfri's face fell slightly. "Not Grimdar or Jalla?" he asked. "They're the fathers, aren't they?"

"Sires," Kimpo said. "Their part in all this ended once they fertilized the eggs."

Ban raised an eyebrow. "Is that what we're calling it?"

Enfri perked up and gave him a wide grin. "Oh ho ho! Is there finally something I know that you don't?"

"Eh?"

Her change in manner from the Dragon Empress he spoke to earlier was jarring. And most welcome. It looked as if the imperial mask was gone for this special occasion. He only hoped it would stay gone for a long while.

"Dragons don't have sex, Ban," Enfri said, enjoying being on the giving end of explaining things for once.

"Not for procreation, at least," Kimpo added with a wink towards her Storyteller.

Deebee's silver cheeks flushed, but it might've been due to the heat.

Enfri stood to give her spot in Deebee's arms to Kimpo. She went next to Moon and put an arm around her shoulders. "It's more like fish spawning than anything."

"Bite your tongue," Deebee admonished.

"More or less," Enfri said.

Deebee sighed and let the particulars of dragon biology remain a mystery.

Ban hummed in acceptance. To be honest, he hadn't put much thought towards how dragon reproduction worked. If he did, he thought he'd get hung up on just where the eggs went while they were still inside their mother and polymorphing into various forms. He didn't enjoy the image of eggs that big stuffed somewhere inside a petite frame like Deebee's human body.

Though, he did suppose that all explained why the crews of male dragons didn't have to deal with certain body parts while riding in the belly nets.

Ban stood behind Kimpo and next to Moon. When he got there, he took Nikos and held him to his shoulder. His son stirred but settled as soon as he found his father's scent. Nikos let out a little drool as he sank into Ban's shoulder. Waves, but it felt strange to calmly hold a baby like this while surrounded by an inferno.

To fill the void left where her baby used to be, Moon grabbed Saveen from her shoulder and held her in the same manner. Despite Saveen's protests.

"How long's this been going on?" Ban asked.

"Half an hour, at most," Enfri said. "I guess it goes quickly once the hatchlings start breaking through the shells. Dragonets mature relatively fast after the egg's laid, and they want out."

Ban peered at the cracks in the closest of the five eggs. It rocked occasionally whenever the little hatchling inside clawed at the opening. Ban felt his eyes open as wide as they could get when he saw a shard of eggshell fall away. A tiny claw retracted back inside and was soon replaced by a little, black-scaled snout that snuffled at the air outside.

Deebee and Kimpo reached forward to put their hands against the shell.

"We're here, my darling," Deebee whispered. "Your mamas are here."

"Come to us, my Paladin," Kimpo said. "We wish to tell you your name."

The eggs rocking increased, as if the hatchling was emboldened by the sound of her mothers' voices. The sound of her claws scrabbling against the inside of the shell grew almost frantic. Kimpo and Deebee holding their hands against the shell was all that kept the egg from teetering over.

The cracks grew until they covered the entire egg. A clear, viscous fluid began to leak out. The flow increased until it ran down the side of the shell and reached the molten gold.

The fluid ignited. Flames ran up the side of the egg and raced between the cracks. Fire burst alight within the egg, throwing the hatchling's body into silhouette. Ban nearly called out, but it looked like no one else was alarmed by the hatchling getting set on fire by her own egg fluids. He could've done with hearing more of the particulars of the process beforehand. That'd nearly stopped his heart.

With the fire burning around her somehow helping her along, Anura the Paladin broke through the last shards of her shell and took her first step into the world.

She was significantly larger than the tiny forms dragons often wore. The size of a big puppy. Remnants from her egg continued to burn off of her little scales, wreathing her in flame. She lay sprawled upon the molten gold, scales as black as charcoal with whorls of scarlet markings all across her body.

"Waves take me," Ban whispered breathlessly. He watched Anura get a claw underneath and push herself to stand on all fours.

She wobbled. She shook her head from side to side. Then, she unfurled her wings wide to fling the last burning traces of her egg away. A pace wide from wingtip to wingtip and about as long from snout to tail, the hatchling raised her head to peer at the two women kneeling in front of her.

Anura chirped as if to say "I'm here."

"Hello, my darling," Deebee said. She was in tears as she reached down to pick her eldest daughter up in her arms. Kimpo and Deebee cradled her up between them, touching their fingers to her face and neck as they cooed to her.

Anura gazed back at them with large, inquisitive green eyes. Her head darted from side to side as if she wanted to look at them both at once.

"We might look a little odd right now," Kimpo said, "but your mothers will show you our truest forms as soon as your brother and sisters can join us."

"Odd, indeed," Enfri mumbled under her breath. She leaned against Deebee's back to get a closer look.

Anura's eyes went immediately to Enfri. Her mouth opened wide to showcase rows of razor-like dragonet teeth. She squirmed in Deebee's arms as her claws batted out towards Enfri's face.

Enfri took Anura's claw and held it gently. She sniffled around a broad smile, and a tear fell down her cheek. "Hello, Sister."

The only thing that could've interrupted that moment was when the next egg loudly cracked open.

Each went much as with Anura. Very quickly, the nest was filled with excited chattering from the mortals, joyful laughter from the new mothers, and happy chirping from four red dragon hatchlings. Ban took a turn at picking up and getting introduced to the four girls. Anura the Paladin, Dayja the Cavalier, Darja the Lancer, and Sooji the Hero.

Ban had found Dayja's hatching the most amusing. The little hooligan thought to show off by getting out of her shell quicker than her elder sister, but she only succeeded in exploding her eggshell across the rookery. The Cavalier was going to be a troublemaker, Ban was certain. Not like the Lancer or the Hero. Those sweethearts were just going to snuggle with their Uncle Ban until they were a hundred and never cause anyone an ounce of trouble.

There remained one egg to witness.

Deebee handed Sooji over to Kimpo before scooting on her knees before Shaia's egg. She caressed the shell as the egg rocked timidly from side to side.

"It's alright, my darling," Kimpo whispered. "Everything will be alright. Your mama's here. So's your mother and all your sisters. Come out and meet your family, my Gambler."

Everyone gathered behind Deebee. Kimpo knelt behind her with her arms around her mate. The hatchlings jostled to encircle their brother's egg and began chirping encouragement. Their little wings raised high in their excitement to meet him.

The last egg rocked once. A small scraping of claws rasped against the inside of the shell.

"Shaia, come to me," Deebee said.

A long moment passed, and then another.

Deebee's voice grew plaintive. "Shaia?"

All held their breath. And waited.

The egg didn't stir again. The hatchlings fell quiet, and their wings drooped to their sides. Enfri covered her mouth with a hand as she fought back a sob.

Deebee's voice broke. "Shaia..."

She wept. A dragon's tears fell from her eyes to hiss upon a nest of gold.