Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Delivery

Trey regretted having her backside to the crystals immediately. He couldn't see what came out, and he wouldn't know when she was done. What if Gabriel flew over before she finished? All he knew was that she was supposed to lay eggs, and some would hatch right away. He didn't know what would happen with the other eggs yet. He got instructions on a need to know basis, as they all did.
   The thing that confused him was, she didn't seem to know that she was gravid. Those things tended to take time. How did she not notice? They couldn't be that busy on Tupino!
   Thoughts of being busy just reminded him that she'd mated with Dwayne, of all people. Dwayne? He already had a mate! Sure, maybe she was supposed to store samples, like she said, but he didn't have to like sharing her with two other guys!
   And why is she another color again? Does she change color every time she boinks an Elder Dragon, or what?
   Though he hadn't intended anyone else to hear his thoughts, Dwayne informed him that she'd flown through a star, and come out that color.
   When he could think coherently, he said :She flew through a star? As in the burning plasma balls that incinerate any living thing?:
   Dwayne was silent for a moment. :Please don't make me picture it again. I don't want to have to explain a boner to my girlfriend.:
   Trey stared at her, not really seeing anything at all. :You thought it was hot, in both meanings of the word? Weren't you worried? She could've died.:
   :But she didn't. And do you really think she'd do something that dumb without being told to? Like, Told with a capital T? Maybe she's supposed to be that color now, I dunno. Dang, there's a boner. I hope I don't have to stand up soon.:
   Trey slammed the mental door, trying not to feel ill. If he'd seen her fly out of a sun, he would've been so worried, he'd yell at her for a minute straight. He couldn't understand how anyone could find a burning dragon attractive. He wasn't even sure he liked her new coloring. It was pale, opalescent, but still sort of blue. She didn't look anything like the dragoness he knew. If he hadn't seen the glow on her that she saw on him, he would've mistaken her for a Charon. That wasn't exactly attractive.
   She stayed in the trance all night. The only way he could sleep was to drape his body over her rump as best he could, without squishing anything, and cover the pile of eggs with his wings. Even then, he didn't sleep that well.
   By the time she came to herself, there was a mound of eggs halfway up the back wall. Trey had had to disperse them to the sides periodically, under her wings, and then under his neck, when he ran out of room to the sides and back.
   "You're awake? Okay, don't move. I had to get creative."
   Onnu's head lifted, and craned to look over her own back. Her maw dropped open. When she could find her voice, she croaked "That's a pretty big delivery."
   Trey, gently rolling eggs this way and that, huffed a not-laugh. "Shoulda known, as big as you were, but I didn't expect this many. Should've set you up further forward. No, don't move yet. I'm trying to excavate your rump, but even then, you might want to sort of slide out. No, don't move your back feet. Like you're going into a yoga pose or something. Yeah, yeah, just stretch the front. Good, good. Hold. Okay, feet are free. Scoot that way some more before you try standing. Aaaand clear!"
   She'd reached the widest part of the Bowl before she could extricate herself from the pile of eggs. There were more, even, than the Hundred Little Eggs! How had she carried that many, that far? In the past, tortured souls had been laid in eggs that didn't distort her physical form. She'd merely been a conduit. These seemed to have been generated with her own resources, like natural eggs! That would have taken personal energy reserves greater than she could ever hope to...
   "Oh."
   Trey looked up from his egg tending. "What?"
   "That's why I had to fly through a sun."
   He scowled. "Don't remind me." He settled more eggs into an even layer, not looking at her.
   "No, think about it! If I was supposed to deliver this many eggs, even as big as an Elder Dragon, with less than a day to actually make them--"
   "So these aren't yours and... his?" Trey asked, glancing up.
   Onnu scowled. "These aren't mine, at all. I left Tupino without an egg to my name, as far as I know. It does explain why I got so tired, though. Even with the energy of a sun, I was still growing what... two hundred eggs? If I'd known, I'd have dipped into another sun on the way here. Ungh, I'm hungry, too. Obviously, but I don't know if I'm in any shape to hunt. I don't suppose you stocked ahead?"
   Trey returned her scowl. "Of course I did. Other end of the Bowl."
   She patted the air in front of her. "I wasn't criticizing, I was asking. We don't always get the full details in time, so I wasn't sure if you were going to hunt right away, or if you'd stocked up first."
   He snorted. "We get what we need to know, and feeding you after... delivery... was definitely need to know information."
   "Fair. And thank you."
   She didn't think he would say anything else, but when she was nearly to the tidy pile of carcasses and fruits, she heard "You're welcome."