Stone of Summer was all mixed up. Part of him was miserable. Part of him was angry. Part of him was hurt. Part of him was excited. Part of him was worried. And part of him was just plain confused.

He was miserable, because he'd lost his temper at Golden of Autumn and now she wasn't even speaking to him. He was angry because she'd challenged his leadership to the Dynce, and didn't think he was doing a good enough job. He was hurt because no one really seemed to agree with him that he was at least doing his best, least of all Autumn. He was excited because they were soon to step on board the birthplace of the creature that saved their homeworld, the Abstract Destiny, and quite possibly meet one of the great venators in the process. He was worried, because he really had no idea what he was supposed to be doing here, and he was confused because he didn't see how bringing back some kind of creature-- interesting or not-- made him a better Lord.

Besides, wasn't that a stupid reason to take someone from their place of birth, to a new place-- just because they were interesting? Weren't these things children looking for a caretaker, or a bond, not someone to gawk at them because they were different? And the premise was just confusing-- silly, even. Dark of Winter, who seemed to have taken pity on him after he'd calmed down and Autumn had refused to even look at him, had told him she expected that Kaz was just being lazy, delegating her job to someone else so she didn't have to do it. Frisk of Spring just seemed to think it was all part of the owner's master plan, somehow-- but she was strange like that.

Still, the fact that Kaz had suggested he bring a supply of the best stones he had because these hatchlings would see them as a treat, fascinated him. A dragon who liked stone? Maybe as much as he did? Then even if his Dynce abandoned him, he'd at least have a friend with similar interests at the anory, who knew him and would explore caves and cliffs with him. That was one of the things that kept him here, doing this silly "contest", aside from the certainty that even if any dragons came home with him after all this, they'd at least be cared for. No one at the anory went hungry or cold unless they wanted to.

So he'd filled the neck-pouches Kaz had given him with the prettiest obsidians-- black, brown, and even some lovely red-- and quartzes-- mostly clear but with some rose and smoky thrown in-- he could find. There were a few pieces of turquoise, too, and he'd even included a couple pieces from a small vein of gold topaz that he'd managed to coax a sample from a few years ago. Rarer and stranger, though, was the odd iridescent sort of rock that Kaz had given him, saying it was from a distant mine, native to Llyr aRraanor alone. He wasn't sure what it was called, but if the dragon didn't want it, he was keeping it, himself.

Even so, Stone of Summer didn't know if this would be enough-- or even the right kind of stone-- to please a young dragon. But it was the best he could do on short notice, especially when it was the leadership of his Dynce at stake so he couldn't exactly leave to hunt out something else.

The meeting with the Ministry of Dragon Affairs was brief, but had gone well enough. Summer hadn't met anyone like the venators, though he couldn't help but look. Frisk of Spring didn't seem to have heard a word their humanoid guide through the sponsoring process, though, so busy was she craning her neck around for a sight of one, or for the human doctor who had made them. They were in the wrong place for that, really, though: they wouldn't see the Destiny and its collection of venator draconis until the hatching itself.

Golden of Autumn, of course, was as focused as ever and didn't even seem to notice where they were. She caught him looking at her once and deliberately tossed her mane and looked away.

Summer was starting to think he'd made an unforgivable mistake when he accepted her challenge....

Now, at least, she was off investigating the clutches she might sign up for on Star City station itself-- meeting the parents, apparently, and actually seeing the eggs. Summer was wary of trying that on the Destiny. Star City was spacious-- spacious enough that one could almost forget being trapped without a true sky. Even the Ministry offices had seemed large and open, and the hatching bays would certainly be even moreso, but the Abstract Destiny was a much smaller space, and he didn't want to spend any more time on it than he had to. Not even for a glance at a venator draconis. 

So he was back where he and the rest of the Dynce were staying, a part of the place called the Flight Deck that was relatively quiet and unused. It was the only place where they really felt comfortable enough to sleep, because it was so huge, which wasn't also heavily trafficked. They even had a plant-bedecked wall and something that looked like a tree but very obviously wasn't-- Summer would have been able to tell-- to lounge around under, and a fairly open area just beyond if they wanted to run. Frisk of Spring seemed to have forgotten that she was angry with him for losing his temper at Autumn, and was letting him chase her around playfully, and Dark of Winter let him tease her for her laying sedately under the tree and just watching. For a while, at least, all was well.

He just dreaded when Golden of Autumn returned, that's all, and he hoped that this clutch wouldn't take very long to hatch.

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