They went to the hatching of the second Biosynth group-- consisting, apparently, of a whole four creatures who were wildly different and, it seemed, had very little actual connection to each other. Ketvia couldn't even imagine making children-- even in this strange, sterile fashion-- with someone she didn't have some keep kind of connection with. Hence one of the reasons she'd never deigned to have kits until now.

But even so, it seemed courteous, and the bay was right next door to their bay, so it wasn't as if it was out of their way, or anything. Callidei even came along, curious as to what hatchling looked like from the outside. She was still tiny, so it was no trouble at all to sit in human form in the stands, at the very top, bouncing their furry little daughter on her lap, while Chiya sat beside them both, taking a decided, and a little bit anxious, interest in the proceedings. After all, she was so invested in the eggs with her own children inside, Ketvia was surprised she wasn't taking notes, so she would know what to expect in the future, when her own batch hatched. In fact, Ketvia was almost surprised not to see her start misting up by simply imagining their own batch hatching, bonding, and leaving the not-so-metaphorical nest. The amount of emotion her partner could display when it came to their kits was downright embarrassing, sometimes.

Ketvia, for her part, didn't really care. Their kits would go as they wished, Chiya would be sure to get phone numbers or something-- with the intent of using Aedelian's phone, since they obviously didn't have one on Avengaea-- and they'd have a couple to raise, themselves. It would fall out however it fell out, and that would be that. The only one she could say she really knew and was attached to was Callidei, anyway. The general lack of playing around with, patting on the head, feeding and bathing, and even chasing down whenever trouble loomed with the egg-bound offspring made them seem slightly distant, as if they weren't quite real yet. Sure, she knew names, had a vague idea of personalities, even bantered with the egg-bound, but they didn't have faces, didn't come running into the bay for reassurance when they had a nightmare, didn't laugh when she bounced them around or squeal when she took them flying on Star City's well-named flight deck. Every now and then, she wondered if that was probably stupid of her-- they were going to end up raising at least one egg-bound, after all-- but she just couldn't quite focus on them the way she could focus on the flesh-and-fur daughter who was so obviously in need of parenting.

So it continued as it was, and at least she felt properly parent-like when it came to one of her children. And also so, it made her interest in the current hatching a little less marked than Chiya's, so she could take fond amusement in Chiya's fixed attention.

The hatching itself progressed in whatever fashion hatchings usually progressed, or so Ketvia assumed, since there didn't seem to be any problems or anyone panicking. There was one little, black hatchling who sat off to the side, looking sullen, but no one seemed to think this amiss. The kits themselves... hardly looked like "kits". They looked more like puppies: little furry wolf puppies. Though Ketvia had seen, and playfully chased around with Callidei, the test-type puppy-hatchling for this clutch during their stay on the Destiny-- and little Ahina'Sitawi was a very adventurous sort, too, a girl after Ketvia's own heart-- she still had to look twice at them all. Canine dragons reminded her too much of demons for her comfort.

"Ketvia," Callidei said, perhaps halfway through the hatching, tugging a little on her sleeve to catch her attention.

"Yeah?"

"How come that little black one down there's not bonding?"

"Dunno," Ketvia shrugged lightly. "Maybe he's not gonna. Maybe he's not into the bonding thing."

"Oh."

There was no flood of questions, as Ketvia had come to expect whenever Callidei got started on questioning. Actually, after that single question, Callidei was oddly silent. Ketvia, mildly surprised, followed her quiet offspring's gaze and noticed, with some puzzlement, that she was still looking at the black canine-hatchling. It was as if she'd lost interest in the rest of the hatchlings, more focused now on the black one-- who was looking more and more disgusted by the minute, actually. Because of Callidei's interest, Ketvia watched him, too.

And so it was that she, while others were focused on the bondings and pairings and sponsorings, saw him lunge to his puppy-paws, snarl, and stalk towards the staircase leading up past the audience's seats and out of the bay. Though she had to strain her ears, she also caught his barked words: "Pathetic! I don't need a stupid biped bond! I am... I am... Battleworn Claw!"

That was when Callidei launched herself off Ketvia's lap-- and Ketvia, startled, made a wild, belated grab for her, and missed. Callidei didn't, thankfully, go tumbling down in an uncontrolled plummet, however: instead, she managed to get to the stairs and rocket down them like a little white and red arrow shot from a bow. When she hit the black hatchling going full-tilt, Ketvia stood up, ready to run to the rescue. When the pair became a black and white ball of giggling Avengaean and yipping canine, Ketvia would have stepped forward but for Chiya's grip on her wrist. She shook her friend's grip off, stalking to the stairs for a better view, when Callidei came out on top, beaming down at the wriggling puppy under her paws.

"Callidei!" the canine-thing squawked-- how in the hell did he know her name?

"Where you think you're going, Cyris?" Callidei giggled, letting him up and padding in a circle around him as he recollected himself and rolled to his feet-- how in the hell did she know his name?

"Away from all the stupid bipeds!" he huffed.

Callidei cuffed him lightly with her wing when he bared his teeth threateningly at Doctor Schroeder. "Well, I like the bipeds, so if you're sticking with me, you gotta stick around the bipeds, too."

"What is she talking about, 'sticking with her'?" Ketvia growled at the idea of trying to take home a rough, black, canine thing with them, when they left.

"They bonded," Chiya said calmly, coming up behind her. "I sort of expected it, when she started looking at him so intently. I could almost feel the bond forming-- though I suppose that could have been my imagination."

"But, Chiya, we can't take that home with us!" Ketvia protested. "It's-- gods and demons, all of Sanctuary will be up in arms, thinking he's some demonic hybrid!"

Chiya looked away from the pair-- Callidei was now introducing... her new bond... to the doctor-- to turn a puzzled look on her partner. "You thought Callidei would be coming home with us?"

"Well... yeah," Ketvia said. She'd thought that would have been obvious.

"Ketvia, she'd never be happy in a world of magic-- much less a world of battle, like yours," Chiya explained. "You've seen her: she loves technology. To make things. I've known for months that she would never leave this place."

To Ketvia, who had known no such thing, and who had expected no such thing-- demonsbane, who had never considered such a thing-- it was like a punch to the gut. She looked back down at Callidei-- Doctor Scroeder was leaning down to pat her on the head, and getting snarled at by the canine-thing-- and for a minute, couldn't speak. And for that moment, she knew, with the empathy of someone who was experiencing that very thing, exactly how Chiya felt when she thought of her coddled egglings hatching and leaving her. She blinked, rapidly, as the vision of white and black slowly starting towards the food tables together blurred and went out of focus. Her eyes burned with the effort of forcing herself to see them, a bonded pair, without the waveriness of tears.

Chiya put a hand on her shoulder, but she pulled back. "Not. One. Word," she growled.

"Ketvia--"

"Later," she said firmly, and turned and left the bay.

Abstract Destiny

Chapter Eight

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