10 Minute Tales, Part 2

Oct 26 - Harpy

(Prompt inspired - " An abandoned harpy egg hatches just as a group of adventurers passes by, and the hatchling ends up imprinting upon one of them and starts following the party around.")

He saw the egg alone. The mountain path hadn't proven kind to any of them, but this seemed particularly cruel. The nest had been abandoned a while back, but there was still an egg. Its shell was a pale blue, speckled with black dots, but the mother was gone. She had taken most of the food, but the egg had been left. He frowned slightly as he climbed up, looking to the sky. There wasn't a harpy in sight, nothing but a mundane vulture. He climbed into the nest properly, carefully approaching the egg.

"What's the word?" a voice called out from below him. He turned around and looked back down the mountain. His partner, a druid that had come to check the natural balance this far out, was growing a little restless.  She knew something was wrong.

"It's a harpy nest, but I don't see the owner anywhere."

"Oh, no..." she wanted to come up and examine, but she couldn't climb up the cliff face. "Is there anything innocent in there?"

"There's an egg. I don't think the mother's coming back."

"Oh, no... we can't do much with it, though, we shou-" a loud crack interrupted them both. He looked to the egg in shock. There was a large crack along its length. A second crack burst into place, accompanied by a louder crack. "What's going on? Are you breaking it?!" The druid shouted out.

"I'm not touching it! It's just cracked!"

"Cracked? You mean-" a third crack tore through the conversation and the egg as a chunk of the shell exploded off. He yelped and ducked under it, narrowly missing a headache. He straightened up and looked at the egg... and something within looked back. The face he saw was adorable, tiny and cute and staring at him with... almost a loving expression. The harpy baby wriggled out of the egg, more shell crumbling to the nest underfoot. She looked at him and chirped a sweet note, wings flapping excitedly. "Are you okay?"

"It hatched!" he exclaimed in disbelief, sitting down. It wriggled closer, chirping happily. Had... had it imprinted?