Chapter Six

It was only a few hours of calm with the maturing egg before her new Flight came to visit. Gen was the first one to poke his head in.

"I knew it!" He quickly slipped into the stable and sat next to MeiAnne. "Do you have a name yet?"

MeiAnne had given it some thought. "I'll name them based after my mother, Molla. So Molis if it is female and Molas if it is male."

Gen laughed. "You would be the kind to have a meaningful name. I named Jusa because I thought it sounded like a good name for a red dragon." It didn't surprise MeiAnne in the slightest.

Raba appeared while Gen kept poking fun at MeiAnne's name ideas.

"What about Jusi, so ours could match? On second thought, maybe not cause that sounds like juicy."

"How about you stick to your own terrible names?" Raba smirked at Gen as he sat on the other side of MeiAnne.

She suddenly felt shy. She still couldn't believe she was requested by Raba personally. She glanced up at him and met his eyes as he looked closely at her. Her head quickly moved back, but not before she noticed a slight smile from Raba. Now was not the time to talk about why she was picked, especially if she was feeling so off. Instead she kept her gaze locked on her egg.

The rest of the Flight would stop by in turns to congratulate her. Except Yama, but MeiAnne didn't expect to see her.

Time seemed to fly for the next few days. Raba would visit and every time MeiAnne thought she could bring up the subject of him picking her she would get flustered and give up. She didn't get shy when Gen would visit her and the egg, so it confused her that she was still shy around Raba. MeiAnne blamed the fact that she was still unsure why Raba picked her and left it at that.

She did not have a hard time keeping up with the egg. All it took was replacing the substrate it laid on once a day and keeping track of its warmth. Occasionally she would feel the little dragon inside move some and she would get excited as if it was hatching. Already two of the clutch had hatched, one blue and one green, so that didn't help her excitement.

It wasn't until five days had passed that the little dragon started moving around a lot. She called over Gen and Raba, who were once again visiting, to feel as well.

"That's gotta mean it'll be soon." Gen mumbled.

"Tonight by the latest, I think." Raba added.

MeiAnne could barely hear her friends over her own excitement. This little creature would soon be her partner. She could feel its warmth through the egg shell. Even though she could feel Raba's and Gen's eyes on her, she couldn't pull hers from the egg.

It was in that instant that the egg lurched to the side.

"It's happening now!" Gen couldn't help but to yell in his excitement.

Raba had already grabbed the towels and warm water before Gen and MeiAnne remembered to ask. They got to work monitoring the egg with each bump and shake. They couldn't let it start to roll or fall, as the young dragon was still very fragile until it started to grow.

Soon a small crack formed where something was clearly pushing to escape. It pushed and pushed, warping the shape of the shell so far MeiAnne was sure the lining would have torn already. She saw a tiny maw open with an egg tooth now exposing itself. The lining tore and fluid and dragon flooded from the egg.

Raba handed MeiAnne the now soaked towel to get to work on cleaning off her partner. She revealed scales that looked like the frosted blue of glaciers. However, when the baby opened its eyes they were the warmest shades of yellow and orange. The baby's eyes reminded MeiAnne of a sunset, which greatly contrasted the lighter, cool blue of its body.

Raba then came around MeiAnne, who was still gently washing off the creature, to examine it. He extended her frail looking wings, ran his hand the length of her back and tail, and even looked underneath.

"She is perfect MeiAnne."

"She-" MeiAnne paused. Her partner was a female. She felt an immense sense of pride as she looked her over. Then staring into her eyes that hadn't left MeiAnne's, she resumed. "She will be called Molis."

Raba rested his hand on her shoulder. MeiAnne ignored how aware of his touch she was, instead running her hand over Molis' scales.

"Congratulations." Gen beamed at the baby Molis along with the rest of them.

Molis clumsily came to a stand before chirping lightly. MeiAnne knew this meant she was hungry. She gently pulled the dragon into her arms, Molis did not protest as she did. In fact she even seemed to enjoy being so close to MeiAnne.

They made their way past the stables, towards the dragon feeding grounds. As it was hatching season there were staff waiting with small rodents. Molis would take a month to reach a size where they could trust her to hunt on her own, so for now they knocked a live rodent unconscious before placing it before Molis.

The dragon slowly approached the rodent, getting so close as she sniffed that her snout nudged the rodent. She then used her tiny teeth to tear it apart. As she ate her egg tooth came loose and freed itself. Even though the small sight would've been gruesome to most, MeiAnne was proud. Molis would prove to be an amazing dragon, and an even better partner.

After Molis had eaten MeiAnne cleaned off her snout. She quickly pulled her back up into her arms as Raba and Gen escorted her back to the stable. As they walked she felt Molis' breathing slow and noticed the little one had fallen asleep. She couldn't help but smile.

Gen left to feed his own dragon right after they returned to the stable. Raba lingered though.

"She is very beautiful." MeiAnne saw his eyes staring into her own, and not on her dragon. MeiAnne hid her head, looking back down, as she felt herself blush.

"I've been meaning to ask. Why did you pick me?" Her voice was soft as she asked.

"Why not?"

The air was silent. MeiAnne didn't know what she expected to hear, but for some reason this shocked her.

"I should leave you some bonding time before she wakes." Raba stood, dusting himself off. "I will come back with an extra blanket for you. You should be comfortable with your new friend." MeiAnne watched him as he left. This time that nervous feeling she had come to know when Raba was around stuck with her.