Because eggs were never entirely on time, Frux took a week off from teaching classes-- and Pebai took off a week of babysitting, since that was really all she did, besides spending time with her "siblings" and her pet-- with the date he had predicted for the eggs to hatch smack in the middle. He packed what few belongings he might need, Pebai packed rather more, though for once with his blessing, as she was fairly far along in her pregnancy now. If she suddenly needed extra blankets or books or combs, he wanted to make sure she had them. Not that it was likely that she would need books or combs or whatever else she put in her bags because of her pregnancy.... He just wasn't going to argue with her out of respect for her condition. At least he wasn't going to carry it.

Not all of it, anyway.

As they gathered their belongings up for the teleport, Frux magically levitating one of Pebai's bags-- the lightest of the three-- onto her back, the door to the apartment opened, revealing, to his surprise, Hambia Sesske, another of Frux's adopted children. She was in anthropomorph form, and to his further surprise, she had a pair of bags, one in each hand. A glance at Pebai showed her smiling serenely at her pseudo-sister, quite unsurprised. Obviously, she, at least, had known about this.

"I don't remember discussing taking along yet another passenger," Frux commented dryly.

"As if I'd stay behind while you went to some exciting new world," Hambia snorted, pushing her glasses up on her nose.

"It's not exactly exciting at Ryslen, Hambia," Frux pointed out.

"It's different, and I've heard it has a library. That's enough for me." She flashed a brief, uncommon smile. "Besides, you were worried about Pebai. I will come along to look after her."

Pebai rolled her eyes expressively, but Frux sighed. "Very well. Come stand next to me, we'll be teleporting in a moment."

Once he had his single bag and Pebai's remaining two balanced on his shoulders, between his wings, Frux cast the teleport spell. Even though his main magic was centered on healing and, in particular, healing particular to the unborn and pregnant mother, teleporting wasn't particularly difficult. He'd come to his true gifts fairly late, after all, and had spent childhood training in generic magics.

They all appeared in a courtyard at Nidus Ryslen, and promtly Pebai brought up a spell for warmth: there was snow everywhere, and if she hadn't, both he and Hambia would have been shivering in seconds. Still, she was pregnant! With not long until her due date, either! She had no business working magic, particularly not on such a wide area.

"You didn't have to do that," he told her with a frown.

"But I wanted to," she answered sweetly-- and not falsely sweet, either. Frux sighed. "Go on inside, Frux, sign us up, get us rooms, whatever. I want to play in the snow! I'll even make my bags fly for you!"

"That isn't necessary," Frux grumbled. "Just put them all in a pile-- Hambia, you, too-- and I'll take them inside myself. You keep an eye on Pebai."

By the time he'd found someone with the authority to get him a room for the three of them, left their things there, found the one in charge of candidate lists for the Flurry hatching and arranged to have Hambia and Pebai's names added-- he'd put his own down on his first visit, weeks ago before-- the morning had flown by. It was nearly lunchtime when he finally made his way outside again, following the scent of magic that was Pebai's heating spell. Not surprisingly, Hambia had settled on a bench with a book, though she was, at the moment, watching Pebai instead of the pages. Pebai was rolling on her back in the snow, apparently trying to make snow angels. Frux smothered a chuckle; snow angels made by four-footed dragons tended to go awry, as Pebai finally realized when she rolled to her feet and looked down in dismay at the mess she'd made, instead of the crisp image she'd probably hoped for. Judging from how she'd glanced at the half-Water, Hambia made at least a half-hearted attempt at consoling her-- either that or a snide comment of some sort. He was too far away to hear the words.

Feeling lighter than he'd expected to, at the place where he'd had to give up three children, Frux padded out to meet them with a smile. Though he hadn't so much as thought of Nidus Ryslen over the past years, except as someplace he wasn't likely to return to, he remembered that there were some good memories, as well. He'd enjoyed his stay, between flight and hatching, he remembered that. Pebai had kept him company, and though he hadn't been particularly affectionate with the lady-dragon who shared his children's parentage, they were on friendly enough terms at the time to talk some when they were both watching over the eggs at the same time. The bunch from Avengaea-- Tantra, Catame, Daynoren, Novitas, and the rest-- visited regularly, though they had been unable to attend the hatching itself. He'd had several months of rest, relaxation, and a very quiet, happy sort of pride: he was a father.

Some of that happiness hadn't been ruined by the hatching itself, and it had come drifting back to him as he walked the Nidus. It felt even stronger, now, as he approached Hambia and Pebai, children who he had been able to raise, even though they weren't his by blood. They were good dragons, Hambia and Pebai, and for all their frustrations, so were Ontellonji and Brio. And now-- now he had grandchildren....

Shaking his head a little, he came up to join the girls. "Enjoying the snow?" he asked.

"Mostly," Pebai grinned. "I didn't do very well with my snow angels, though."

"Well, remember, last time you were in human form," he reminded her with a small smile. "It works quite a bit better, then."

"And I can't shift until I drop all these babies!" Pebai huffed, but she didn't seem too put out.

"She hasn't been over-exerting herself, has she?" he asked Hambia.

"I've been looking out for her," Hambia chuckled dryly.

"Just killing time until you got back," Pebai added. "Everything all settled? Can we give Hambia a tour now?"

"I don't need a tour--"

"I think that's a fine idea," Frux interrupted Hambia, who looked mildly annoyed at the idea of being led around. Still, he did want to spend a little time with the both of them, before Hambia burrowed into her books in her room and didn't come out until the hatching. If she was going to invite herself on this excursion, she would have to deal with the consequences. "Come along, Hambia," he chuckled at her expression, "just a little family time before we let you isolate yourself again."

"All right," Hambia sighed, and followed him into the Nidus.