Nesting

Movement in the cave brings the large dragon’s head up. She could not sleep because nothing in the cave was where it should be, and all the dangers of the world were waiting for her to fail. The time is near as every blade of grass blown into the cave seemed to roar in her ears.

The fires to warm the cave were too small, the draft from outside cooled the cave too much. The cave is too damp, to dirty, she was not ready. She grabs some logs and sets them on the fires.

A shriek erupts from her mouth as she realizes the sound that had disturbed her was from the lone emerald green egg, this time she sees it move slightly. Then it started the quick tap and then a pause, then another.

“Pipping has begun,”She gasps.

A whimper escapes her as she scans the cave for anything that could be a threat or danger to the egg, nothing was right, but there is no stopping the baby now. Moving close looking down on the egg from above, she emits a soft high pitched whine to the egg.

The tapping stops, did she hear something whine back? So feint even for her ears, her eyes dart around, looking for anything she needed to fix or do before the hatchling breaks through.

Three days ago she began what the humans called nesting, she had brushed the entire cave with her tail, so nothing bigger then a pebble was on the floor. She pushed the pile out the entrance of the cave. She had swept the entire cave at least seven times since then. Even with the fire going, she made sure every bit of ash was swept out quickly.

The pile of wood was in its third spot for the day, just enough wood to keep the fires going for a couple of hours, no stack big enough for any small animal to hide in. Looking at the wood pile, she considers moving it once more; just to be sure no little beasty had snuck in. The click from the egg banishes that thought as she sees the first crack in the egg.

She mews softly to the egg, tapping softly with a claw on the small crack. She could not leave the egg. She had to be there to encourage her baby, to help if she could, to protect the hatchling if something was in the cave.

More time, I needed more time, maybe in another day I will have everything right. She sighs as the crack gets bigger and the egg rocks more as the baby moves within.
Why can we not have a mate to help in these times, to do what I needed to get done? She groans, then add to her thought, Because I would probably kill him for not doing it right. I am quite emotional…But my baby needs everything perfect! Suddenly the egg grows quiet.

Is something wrong? No, what can I do? My baby needs help! Smash the egg! Save it! No, calm down, the baby needs to rest; it gets tired quickly. Then she cries out with a high pitched roar into the ceiling of the cave.

Those slothful humans, I told them I wanted the door up weeks ago, now the baby would have to deal with that draft from the entrance. If the hatchling gets sick, they will pay! She thinks to herself with a low growl.

Several minutes go by as she sits listening to every little movement in the egg, she concentrates, even over the crackling fire; she hears the rapid breathing inside the egg. Finally she can wait no longer so she taps softly on the crack with her outer claw and mews at the egg again.

A soft whine comes out from the egg, and the tapping begins again. The crack slowly expands around the egg. Another tap on the egg brings taping back to where the egg first cracked.

A small draft of air carries smoke past her, grabbing a log she stokes the fire in line with the entrance. The only fire she cannot pile wood on is across the egg from her. The other two were burning well, and heating the cave, the one across from her is about the size of a normal human campfire.

The tapping continues, the dragon grabs a log, eyeing the distance between her and the fire. She could stoke the fire and be back in a few seconds, but what if the baby needed her?

Grabbing two logs, she charges around the fire, spins dropping each log in her arm on to the fire. She feels the logs in the pile tumble over her tail, the pile was no longer neat, and she could not worry about it now. She flips her tail, knocking the wood pile away from the egg, kicking the two logs in her path away. She spins around to face the egg again, just in time for the first speck of shell pops off the egg. At the small hole, an off white object picks at the crack, until finally the little tooth pops through. It disappears as the egg rocks slightly. Then something moves up to the hole, the yellow orb appears, the black dot in the center expands and contracts.

She bleats, throwing her head back, at seeing the future hatchling’s eye look out at her. A soft high pitched screech calls back to her when she is finished. She looks back at the small hole. The eye is no longer there but now at the hole is the green hatchlings skin with two small openings, with a soft rhythmical hiss. The egg is still as the baby breathes in its first breath from the outside, resting again.

The dragon kneels beside the egg, cooing to the baby. This break was shorter, since it hadn’t worked very long. The little tooth pokes out as it works along the crack slowly chipping away, enlarging the hole.

She looks at the logs scattered across the floor, her birthing room a mess and she could not take time to straighten it. She looks around the room.
Maybe she could brush the logs into a loose pile with her tail. She considers as a noise at the entrance of the cave gets her attention.

“I told you there was a cave here, I found it last month.” A human voice says.
“What is in there?” the other voice asks, the dragon glares at the door, her teeth appear as she growls softly. She hears the clicking away of the shell.

A quick claw to each of the intruders and she could be back to her baby, but she could not leave her, what if it’s head got caught…” Her thoughts race through her mind. I am usually tolerant of bipedas, but not now. I do not want to harm them, but my baby comes first.

“You sure we should go in? It looks like someone has been here.”The elven voice, possibly female asks.

“You’re just afraid.” The male voice asks, most likely human.

The dragon moves around, the fire, ready in case they attack.

Attack? They sound like they are young, they are no threat…”

“Are you coming?” The male child enters the cave, his boots echo in the entrance. moving quietly between the egg and the room entrance, she waits. The continued chipping behind her nagging at her to return.

One bite, one claw, and the distraction would be done, if only I was like my evil cousins. She gnashes her teeth, more mess, but something to nibble on…

“I thought caves were supposed to be cool?”The female asks, entering much more quiet then the male, another sign of an elf.

The male blunders into the room. still looking back at the female.

“Tylan!” she gasps, “There is a fire.” The female says as she enters the room, her eyes and mouth go wide as she sees the dragon’s glare.

The male laughs as he turns almost walking into the dragons head, low to the ground, ready to pounce.

“Get out!” She roars, and breathes a green fog at the two, the female spins charging towards the cave entrance, before the gas reached her. The gas engulfs the male as he staggers backwards, instantly begins coughing, gagging he stumbles sideways, and lunging for the entrance. Falling, he flings himself forward on hands and knees, she hears him coughing and could tell he was still on the ground, crawling away, the gas was very irritating to the lungs, if she wanted she could have made it lethal with a higher concentration.

If they saw my egg, I would have had to kill them. No one must know about the hatchling until she is big enough. Bipedas all seemed to want to enslave a baby dragon, no matter what the species.

The coughing is more distant, the boy is still moving away. The dragon turns back to the egg, knocking some logs sideways as she turns. The hole is larger now she can see the little dragon’s snout as it works on the hole with its egg tooth. The dragonet stops, pushing its nostrils out the hole, sniffing the air.

“Mother breathed gas to scare away some intruders. It will not hurt you.” She says softly.
The dragonet coos in reply as it begins to work on the egg again.

The baby slips its snout through the hole pushing and twisting it, then settles back sitting there looking out at the larger dragon, its head rising and falling as it breathes.
The dragon examines the egg, reaches up with one claw extended she slips the tip of the claw into the hole, and applies a little pressure, the crack widens, she pries a little more and a section of egg falls free.

The dragonet waits for the claw to be removed, instantly moving to the hole and slips its head out. With a soft chirp the baby stares into its mother’s eyes. She nuzzles the little dragon, and begins to lick her face and what little of its neck could be reached as a soft moaning sigh escapes the dragon.

The near hatchling bleats softly to its mother. It twists gently, pushing on the shell and it cracks further. The little dragon struggles back into the egg and begins to chip further away at the shell, until finally the egg separates and the hatchling tumbles out in to the leaf and small twig nest below.

With a careful brush of a claw, the dragon clears away the shell pieces, as she begins to lick the slimy residue off. The hatchling falls down, giving up on trying to stand while its mother washed it.

The hatchling lays its head back as its mother licks under her neck. She rests a tiny green leathery paw on its mother’s snout, its thin tail flips to the side. The spade nothing but a lumpy nub, taps its mothers jaw. It rubs its left horn against the nest, scratching an itch, one of two crest horn nubs. Its big yellow eyes open to watch its mother washing its chest. It lifts the free wing, stretching it out, the thin leather of the wing crackles as it opens, from the sticky fluid.

Mother begins to carefully lick the thin membrane of her wing; the hatchling pushes onto its paws and expands its other wing. It watches its forepaws as they move, flexing the claws, the needle like claws kneading the leaves of the nest.

The hatchling is a unique mixture of light green and medium blue, the ornate pattern on its back an intricate design. Being a hot blooded dragon, the veins of the wing are large and pulsating, when in hot climates the veins expand transferring heat, currently the dragonet is on the cool side, while the veins are visible, they are not large.
The dragon begins on its tail, a breeze flows over them from the entrance way, the adult dragon opens its wing to shield the hatchling from the breeze. Its wing is very close to the fire.

Laying its head down, the hatchling closes its eyes and falls asleep as its mother continues to lick it clean. The mother chuckles happily as on cue, the hatchling expels its first stool. Licking often stimulated the newly hatched to defecate.

Looking down at the sleeping hatchling, she examines the wings, they are curved more than older dragons. The wings are the shape of the egg, other than this the wings are perfect. The forepaws are hidden under the dragonet, still not use to being able to move them. The tail is not wrapped tightly against the body, it lays curled just away from its hind legs.

The mother lies down next to the nest, covering the baby with her wing she lays her head down watching it sleep, with a soft sigh she slowly joins the hatchling in slumber.