Lao's second hatching already was much more exciting than his first, which was saying something considering how excited he'd been then, and none of the eggs had even broken yet. The crowd was absolutely huge, and actually rather intimidating, and the clutch was supposed to be twice the size of the one Keum had recorded a several months ago. Everyone was bustling around, all organized and purposeful, while he kept to Keum's side, taking notes dutifully on it all while Altadeva, shaped like one of the many tiny dragons that flocked the station, looked around for him and commented softly on things of interest.

They made a great pair, for writing down observations; it was a wonder that no one back home had thought to use the soulbond between human and daemon in such a way. But then, maybe someone had. Lao and Alta were hardly experts on things that went on, on their own planet. Their old planet, for it was unlikely that they would ever go back. Lao didn't really mind, for there wasn't anything there that he really missed, other than seeing other people who actually had souls he could see, and nature. No actual people, and certainly not his situation.

The best thing of all about this hatching, compared to the last, was that his Master was in a good mood. The great winged, wolverine-like Keum Orst was a kind Master, but she was also gruff and only got gruffer when she was annoyed. For the last hatching, she had started off very annoyed, for whatever reason. Lao didn't understand that at all, for he just found it all very interesting, even exciting, but by the time the hatching was over, she'd seemed content again. Or, more content, anyway. This time, though, she was already in a good mood, waiting patiently for this massive clutch to hatch, sharing her duties with her own Master, another wolf-like Archivist.

While Lao scribbled faithfully on the electronic notebook Keum had given him weeks ago, letting Alta warn him if he was going to trip on anything, the pair followed Keum as she made her rounds, making sure the lesser Archivists were in place and ready, making sure the food tables were set up and ready to run smoothly, and then moved to join her fellow, Master Linaeas. Lao drifted to a stop beside her, ignoring the amused little glance his own Master gave him before focusing on the older Farahan.

"Why the grim face?" she asked him companionably. "You look like you've just swallowed something that's better left to the scavengers."

"Leave it to a wolf to talk in terms of meat," Alta whispered in their own tongue, and Lao bit his lip to keep from giggling. Keum knew the old words almost as well as a native, and could probably understand Alta when she spoke, so the daemon usually tried to keep her voice quiet when she remembered to-- particularly when saying something teasing about their large Master!

"I'm just worried," the gruffer-voiced wolf-person said with a flick of his tail and a grin that looked more like a grimace in his scarred face. "We've never done a public 'ware hatching before--" that meant enhanced by cyborware before hatching, Lao had learned, "--and never one of this size--" since the clutch was twice the size of Tegwenessa's, which was supposedly pretty large, itself, that was understandable, "--Suppose there's a mix-up in the recordings. Not only are there dragonets and new riders to consider, there's the fact that each dragonet's 'ware must be traced to its creator."

"Now, he's just being silly," Alta scolded lightly. "There's four times the usual Archivists here for this, I'm sure things will be fine. Besides, we won't miss anything."

Keum shot her and Lao a quelling, though amused, look, and Alta cringed down a bit on Lao's shoulder at the unspoken rebuke. Then the wolfen face turned away, back to the conversation, and Keum flattened her ears and fluffed her feathered wings at Linaeas. "Pfft. Here you're worried about a few hatchlings, when you've objectively marked down the events of a war first hand, and fought without fear to advance the downfall of the thousand year rule?" The scoffing was partly teasing and partly respect, if a scoff could be called respectful; Keum really did rather like Linaeas, or at least held him in a bit of awe that she hid behind such scoffings. "And here I thought," she was finishing, "that you were proud and strong and fearless. At least," she added with an amused grin, tone definitely teasing, "that's what the stories say."

All Linaeas did was snort, though Lao was hard-pressed not to giggle again. The great warrior and chronologer was unnerved by a simple thing like keeping track of dragonets. Not even Lao was worried about that: there were twenty pairs to be recorded between two Masters, and only two cyborware installers to match to each altered dragonet. Lao and Altadeva had already memorized which augmentations had been done by which Journeyman installer, so it would simply be a matter of matching item to hatchling, when they emerged. Keum had probably done the same, given her impressively trained memory.

Suddenly, quite suddenly, the thrumming that had filled the hatching bay dropped off into silence. Ever since the eggs had shown signs of movement, Qutteth, her mate, and a few other dragons who had wandered in, attracted by the sound and commotion had all been humming, a low, soothing, and somehow joy-filled sound. Now, though, it was gone, and the whole bay slowly fell silent as others noticed and looked about to see why. Lao continued to scribble, glancing up now and then, trying to record every sensation into words, while Altadeva watched the eggs.

Once there was complete silence in the bay-- or as complete as a group as large as the one gathered could manage, which was to say, once the actual conversations had run down and all that was left were occasional coughs, whispers, and shiftings-- the first egg broke open with multiple soft cracking sounds. It had rolled into its neighbor, and the force of that contact seemed to have finally broken it. The one next to it started cracking in response, but Altadeva's attention, Lao's attention, and everyone else's attention remained on the new hatchling.

Looking up from his writing, the first thing that Lao thought about the firstborn was that she was lovely. He'd never seen a shade of purple quite so rich, and the glitter of that swirling gold filigree complemented it perfectly. Then, along with the rest of the room, he held his breath in shock as she climbed unsteadily to her feet-- all three of them. One forelimb, her right one, was shriveled and unformed, not even reaching the first joint before it dwindled into nothing. Her wing on that side was tiny and useless, with no membrane at all and only stumpy fingers instead of the graceful tines of her other wing. Her whole side, extending up her neck and patching her tail, was a darker violet, where the tissue was scarred already. Lao gulped a bit, unable to stop staring, remembering that Keum had mentioned something like this being possible, that sometimes installing cyborware on an unborn dragon, or even a still-growing dragon, could hurt them. He never imagined it would look like that.

The whole audience started talking amongst themselves, gasping and whispering, probably about the poor hatchling, but it was only a dull murmur from the floor of the bay. Some of the candidates drew back with disgust and even fear, some leaned forward with sympathy and pity. Linaeas said nothing, but Keum made a noise that sounded like distaste. Altadeva twittered wordlessly, like the flit she currently resembled, and rustled her wings in anger at their Master, for being so cold, but Keum didn't seem to notice, and Lao didn't want to look away from the poor dragonet, half-afraid that she wouldn't be able to move to find her bond.

Despite missing a whole leg, the baby dragon still managed to stand, holding still a moment to catch her breath, and then started hobbling forward. Her progress was slow and stumbling, not only from the odd gait she was forced to use, but also from the uneven ground she had to traverse with only a few moments of experience behind her to tell her how to walk. She stumbled more than once, one time so badly that she fluttered her left wing and extended her useless right wing, trying to recover her balance.

"Someone should help her," Altadeva muttered as the candidates shifted, some tentatively reaching out but doing nothing, and some shrinking away, focusing resolutely on the rest of the clutch. "Can't everyone see she can hardly walk? She's only a baby!"

"Shh," Lao whispered to her, tapping her muzzle absently with his light-pen-- though he felt almost exactly the same way. These were candidates for dragon-bonding, shouldn't they... take care of the baby dragons? Or something?

::Excuse me, Lao?::

Lao dropped his pen, staring open-mouthed at the baby dragon, who was slowly making her way across the hatching bay floor towards them, ignoring the half-hearted gestures of the candidates.

"Pay attention, boy," Keum hissed next to him, but Lao didn't answer, too distracted and surprised. No dragon had ever spoken to him before....

Altadeva bunched up on his shoulder and launched herself into the air, zipping over to the hatchling, still flit-shaped, and hovered above her head. The dragonet paused and chirped, and Lao heard, ::Lao and... Altadeva, that's your name, right?:: Alta circled around with surprise of her own, that she might be addressed like a normal person.

"Yes, yes, I am," she whispered, still in their own tongue, but somehow understood. The dragon picked up her rolling, limping gait again, this time more purposefully, and directly towards him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Keum growled, her voice low and ominous, but Lao hardly heard her. If no one else was going to help that dragonet, and she was going to talk to him, he was hardly going to just stand there and watch her make her difficult, painful way towards him alone! He trotted over to her and let her lean against his legs a moment. She shut her whirling, opalescent eyes a moment, sighed faintly, then filled his mind with apologetic, grateful affection.

::I know you're not here to bond, but... you seem right,:: the little dragon said. Altadeva settled down on Lao's shoulder, peering down at her, and she added, ::Both of you.:: Alta preened demurely under the attention, and Lao stroked the little dragon's neck, feeling her lean slightly into the touch and sigh again. ::I'm Gicuceth.::

"Gicuceth," Lao tried the name, and all three smiled.

Chapter Two

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