Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Pannu Stumbles

Now that she was carrying dragons, and not a hundred little kin, Onnu visibly changed. You wouldn't think that a few dragon eggs would make more of an impact than a hundred little kin, but they did.
   By the time she was showing, Amber and Weaver had already laid their eggs. It seemed that dragon gestation was three months, give or take.
  Amber was a bit bigger than Weaver, but their eggs were the same size. There was much speculation about Onnu's eggs. If they were the same size as the other dragons' eggs, how many did she carry? If there weren't any more, how big would they be? Did the size of the dragon change the size of the eggs, after a certain point?
    Pannu changed, as well. He brought more food home, well before Onnu grew too heavy to comfortably fly. He insisted she move to Egg Hold, also before her time. He spent very little time in their home Bowl; only stopping to drop off what Onnu couldn't eat, or transport someone somewhere, if they happened to ask when he was already there making a delivery.
   Marla chipped in to help out, since she felt too young, or small, to participate in breeding. It was her way of repaying their kindness in her early days. It was she who interceded on Pannu's behalf when the little kin complained; she who chased him off, when he was too curt.
   It was also Marla who reminded him who they were put on the planet to protect.
   He felt sheepish, of course. He bore the little kin no ill will. This was all just so new, and strange, and he didn't know what to expect. He couldn't even boil water when it was time.
   Marla laughed. "Your lady-love can make steam. I think she can boil her own water if she needs it."
   He chuckled and ducked his head. "You're right, I'm being silly. But how am I supposed to behave when there's a giant sky monster ready to gobble up my children as soon as they're born? Tell me that, and I'll settle down."
   Marla patted his elbow, since she couldn't reach his withers. "We've seen dragon eggs. They're much easier to protect than the Hundred Little Eggs were. If Amber and Weaver can keep theirs safe all by themselves, I'm sure the two of you can do the same."
   "You're right," he said. "And maybe I'll settle down after she lays our eggs. I guess we just don't know how we'll react until it happens, huh?"
   Mira would only allow him so much leeway with the pre-parental jitters. Even she lost her patience a time or two before Onnu laid her eggs. "Women have been doing this for millenia, and this isn't your lady-love's first rodeo."
   That was news to him!
   "Well maybe if you two actually talked to each other once in a while, instead of taking care of everyone else," she snapped, "you'd know these things."
   "We've been busy," he objected.
   "They have," Tandy said. She kept such fastidious records, mentally if not on papygrass, no one could deny her adamant defense of their dragons.
   "Well it's not going to get any less hectic after those eggs are laid, so make time.."
   "About those other... rodeos..." he began.
   "Go talk to her about it!" Mira snapped.
   He slunk away to Egg Hold, to do just that.
   He greeted her with the usual head butts and grooming. She was far more patient with his affection these days, he noticed. He supposed she must have pushed him away before because she wasn't... in heat? Did dragons go into heat? Or did they just know when it was time?
   She did just lay a bunch of eggs, so maybe it was a bit soon, but I couldn't help it! It was like an itch I couldn't scratch!
   He still felt silly, looking back, no matter how many little kin told him they'd felt the same. There were many bellies in the Holds that were growing heavy, and they had also settled down afterwards.
   What came over us? he wondered for the umpteenth time.
   Onnu warbled happily, and the crystals lit up, where they'd been scraped clean.
   "Wait, how long has that been happening?" Pannu exclaimed.
   She furrowed her brow ridge. "How long has what been happening?"
   He blinked at her for a moment. "Did you not notice that the crystals glowed just now? Without being touched?"
   She looked at the nearest crystal, but she wasn't singing, so it didn't glow. She hummed a little, while looking at it. Nothing happened.
   "Do you have to feel an emotion first?" he asked.
   She shrugged. "Worth looking into."
   He lay next to her for a while. It took time to bring up her other children. They weren't calling the Hundred Little Eggs her children, so he thought Mira might have been talking about back on Earth-that-was.
   "So... You're very calm about all of this. I'm, ah... guessing this isn't your first..."
   She stared down at him. "If you're asking if I was a mother in my human life, yes. I lived a nice, full life before being transmogrified. That is fairly common on this world."
   If he could have flushed, he would have. "I know, I just never thought about it. We have been pretty busy..."
   She rumbled. "True. There hasn't been much time for socializing." She paused for a while, thinking thoughts he didn't expect her to share.
   "There might be a reason for that, though. You sort of resemble someone I know--well, know of--and I like him well enough. It is hard to tell when neither of us is human, but... Perhaps that similarity is enough for the basis of a relationship." She shrugged uncomfortably.
   It was his turn to shift in the grasses. "Yeah, I think I know who I remind you of, and... Yeah. I can see that. Lots of people like... him... a lot."
   They couldn't look at each other. She was fairly certain he was who she thought, but everyone had chosen different names here. Except us, that is. We were given our names. The point was, even if he remembered what his name was, he would never admit to being that person. For all intents and purposes, he wasn't that person anymore.
   There was no guarantee he even remembered his name on Earth-that-was, though.
   Onnu didn't.