A New Beginning: Passing The Torch

Chapter 3

Tasha's POV:

The sound of hungry creeling disturbed my sleep yet again. I wasn't sure which one started it, but the second hatchling swiftly joined the clamor for more food.

I muttered to Keegan, "Your turn. I fed them the last two times..."

The hatchlings had woken up at least twice an hour to demand food, and like the puppy I had once had, as soon as they had been fed, they left something to be cleaned up. Between the feeding and the cleaning, I had barely gotten any sleep all night. Keegan hadn't fared much better, even though we had been taking turns.

Taureen had originally left his bedroom door open in case we needed something, but had closed it around midnight, telling us to mindspeak him if we required anything. The sound-proof door was probably a blessing; it shouldn't have been possible for the two tiny creatures to make so much noise.

Even as tired as I was, it was hard to fall asleep since my ear tufts perked up at any sound. My instincts were making me a light sleeper since I had hatchlings that I might need to defend from predators. The timer on the main heat lamp had switched the light off when the sun set, although it kept producing heat. A very dim light in the room had been left on to allow us to see without disturbing our attempts to sleep.

We were laying right in front of the stump entrance, and Keegan sluggishly went inside to drop more food into the ravenous maws of our children. A faint odor made me wrinkle my nose. Well, what goes in, has to come out, but one of those two has some seriously nasty gas. I'm glad that I'm not inside the small hut at the moment.

I also knew what the gas was heralding, and it wasn't long before Keegan came out to fetch the leather gloves. The creels died down now that the nestlings were sated and relieved. Keegan exited the hut with a small disposable baggie that he promptly took to the air-tight garbage can by the backdoor.

He came back and curled up beside me. I rested my head against his shoulder as I fell back to sleep.

Yawning sleepily, I dropped more slivers of fruit into two pink mouths that were apparently attached to black holes. If nothing else, the insatiable babies were visibly bigger, even though it was only just after lunch.

Eventually, they were full once more, and curled around one another to sleep. I nuzzled them affectionately as I mindlinked my love towards them. They were far too young for speech - or even coherent thoughts - but I did get back a very faint sense of full stomachs and pleasantly warm sand.

Their ability to use mindspeech would develop as they grew. As their parents, Keegan and I would be the only ones they would be able to 'speak' to for about three weeks. After that point, things could get fun... Thankfully, by the time they would be old enough to use true mindspeech, they would also be old enough to understand that they should only speak to other dragonets or certain Kymari.

I left the stump and flopped down under the heat lamp where Keegan was attempting to nap. Although, it really wasn't possible to sleep anywhere in the vicinity while the hatchlings were creeling.

Taureen commented from his seat, "After listening to the amount of noise those two make, I'm simply baffled as to how no Kymari have managed to locate a wild dragonet's nest."

Regarding him out of one sleepy eye, I replied, "If a Kymari gets too close to a wild nest, the parents give a quiet warning hiss, and the youngsters will remain silent for some time."

The noisy hatchlings in the nest seemed to amuse Taureen. "Most tend to think that dragonets are very quiet. Just before lunch, I released an audio recording of them due to the numerous requests for an update. I suspect that several Kymari will search the park for the next few days, trying to be the first to locate and observe a wild nest. They are curious to see what kind of differences there may be between how the wild ones raise their young and what my notes and records show."