Chapter Thirty

Elio

Weeks passed of us hardly leaving the nest. I knew it was coming. I knew what nesting did to a dragon's mind. We stayed in the south nesting tower as if it were the entirety of our home. The kitchenet set up with a full bathroom off to the side allowed us to ignore the rest of the house while we nested. We didn't have to worry about going out for food. The flight provided for nesting mates by delivering big crates and bundles every day. Marsin, Teddy, and the others were happy to bring us food, but I loved how connected the flight was. If someone didn't have friends or family nearby they were still taken care of.

Everyday Teddy, Marsin, and Izora came to visit. Castor, Sunny, and Casimir only stopped by every few days. Which was fine with me. I had nothing against the rest of the Medwin 2's crew, but my dragon was crunchy and always wanted people to shower before coming into the nesting room. They were all filthy beasts trying to give his hatchling a disease in his mind.

They brought news of ongoings in the flight. No one had met their true-mate yet. Though, Castor was keeping them close by as the construction of the houses began. Their captain was right. They needed to help build their homes. There was something about putting your blood, sweat, and tears into something you lived in that made it more of a home than anything else ever could. All the leads that might have connected us to the Other World gateway network were duds. So, traveling easily to other worlds wasn't an option yet either.

Castor and a flight communication expert came in and set us up a big monitor that not only called within the flight but allowed us to video call with Fred's friends and family back on Earthside. Every day he talked to his children and sometimes his grandchildren. We saw his first great grandchild tottering around as he learned to walk. Sometimes after the calls, I was sadder than he was. Those were Lotus's babies and grandbabies too. They were little pieces of her that proved she had existed somewhere outside of the little piece of the Other World I met her in.

Every week, Tritus updated us on her scale. That bright yellow scale was still there. I hoped she was reborn by now like I was. I couldn't imagine her locked away over there all this time. Sooner or later, we'd find her again, but mostly, I just wanted to know she was still okay.

Fred and I talked the universe in circles during our time inside the nest. Sitting around our ever-growing egg he told me of all the strange yet fascinating things on Earthside and all the places he had seen and the businesses he'd started. He told me of the darker stuff too. The things he had to do to protect Glitter Bomb and the territory it was in – how he might still be there if he'd never met Lotus. Still, I didn't need to ask if he was happy to be here with me and the baby. He was. His scent said it all. His doubts were gone, and they took most of mine with them. I worried here and there about how little it seemed I knew about babies. Fred knew plenty, though and promised me most of child care was shouting at toddlers not to eat whatever they were trying to put into their mouths.

"Well, that and common sense," Fred laughed late one night. "Always common sense. Lots of love too. Answering dumb questions."

"I don't think the baby is going to hatch and ask a dumb question," I laughed, leaning back against the side of the nest.

"He might," Fred chuckled. "You never know."

The screen across the room lit up with a purple spinning sun. It was late, but someone was trying to call us.

"Earthside?" I guessed.

"Maybe," Fred said, narrowing his eyes and pushing the button on the remote to answer the call.

I let out a rush of hot breathed relief when Tritus's face took up the whole screen. No guide would call us for an emergency. So, the world was probably as safe as it was before the call came through.

"A minty green star has disappeared. There are only three eggs waiting to hatch and yours is the oldest. I know scales, eggs, and Starscales don't always match up, but it is the consensus your egg will probably hatch soon."

I glanced at our egg. It was no longer small like a water waddler's egg. It stood up to Fred's hipbone and was almost as broad as his shoulders. That baby was going to come out sooner or later and I had suspected sooner for days now.

"Thanks, Tritus," Fred said, because I was too preoccupied with my egg to practice polite manners with the guide on the screen.

We dozed on and off after our call with Tritus. I was on edge, but Fred seemed to relax more after the call. I kept startling awake expecting to find a baby sitting in the broken pieces of shell. Only our son kept me waiting. I snacked on pudding cups and those little sticks of dried meat as I waited for our baby. We played around with names and had almost certainly landed on Emerald or some form of it. I was fond of Emerique after Fred's full name, but he told me how much he hated learning to spell that name in preschool. He also thought it sounded pompous like most of his family. He held a grudge against his parents for not accepting his firstborn because he arrived out of mateship. They were asses, but they picked out a name I loved for my mate.

An explosion woke me up from a cat nap. Fred was awake and kneeling close to our egg. There was a giant hole in the green shell and the head of a baby poked through. Most hatchlings came out of their shells with really strong necks that lost some strength after they hatched as if their little muscles needed months of recovery from the trauma of beating their way out of an egg.

"Hardheaded," Fred teased.

Our green-eyed baby was not impressed with his sire's joke and proceeded to bash against the shell again. This time he landed face down on the soft bottom of the nest. My heart leapt. We had to let him break free on his own, but his feet were still inside. What was I supposed to do?

My hands trembled, but Fred didn't miss a beat. He decided that our son had broken free of the shell. Sliding a big hand under his small belly, Fred lifted him up. He turned him this way and that as if examining him for injuries before kissing his forehead and handing him off to me.

Fred disappeared into the bathroom and I lost track of how long he was gone. It could've been hours or seconds. It was probably minutes, but they didn't matter. All I could do was stare into the face of our little baby already rooting around for his first taste of milk. The star on his chest was minty green and matched the tiny soft scales on the bends of his knuckles and other joints. He was beautiful. I wasn't sure the name Emerald fit anymore, but that didn't matter. He was beautiful, here, and ours. Our love had brought him into the world despite all the space and time that literally separated us. He was perfect.

Fred came back with a wash basin and a warm bottle of cow broth that Marsin had made the day before. Sometimes milk alone wasn't enough to ease a hatchling's hunger. So, we gave them meat made into water. Together, we washed the last of the shell and its membrane from our newborn. His tiny feet kicked at the water inside the basin as if he might swim away into the great unknown universe if we let go of him.

"Minter?" Fred whispered to me.

"Huh?" I whispered back unsure if he was trying to use a code word I didn't know of.

"For his name, possibly," Fred shrugged.

"I like it. It sounds like a mountainous winter," I nodded.

"He's fucking gorgeous," Fred said, his eyes misting over.

"He's ours."

"Minter ---" he stopped. "If we hyphenate his name is going to have a lot of ‘scale' in it."

"What about Minter Moon Starscale?" I offered up. "Or I guess we could go Minter Star Moonscale? Though, no one uses surnames here unless they're talking about different groups."

"Minter Star. I like it," Fred grinned and kissed my temple.

I leaned back against him, holding our now clean Baby Minter all wrapped up in the softest blanket hands could weave.

"Thank you for calling me here," Fred whispered in my ear.

"Thank you for coming so far from home."

"This is home for now at least. One day, though, I want you and Minter and all my kids in the same place – at least for a while."

"I love you," I said, turning to kiss his chin.

"I love you too."

Watch out for the next series of the Hemlock Universe. It's time to unfold the Starscale stories, darlings . Starscale Mates will be out soon!