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Tsunami had never exactly been “motherly”, but even she was excited about the hatching of her egg. She said it was because “I’m so SICK of WAITING” and that was probably true, along with the fact that she was having a dragonet. Riptide was in a state of panic, setting up a room for their new family member, insisting that no, we can’t have harpoons as wall decoration. They were living in the palace, but Tsunami refused to let any of Queen Coral’s dragons help them, with the exception of using the Royal Hatchery (but she insisted on choosing the guards herself – and being a guard). Some might say she was paranoid, but this implies that her suspicion was unwarranted, but with a mother like Coral, who wouldn’t be a bit wary?
Today, the day the egg was supposed to hatch, Tsunami was inside the hatchery along with Riptide. The rest of their SeaWing families were waiting outside, and Tsunami’s non-SeaWing family was waiting on a nearby island.
Their egg was a deep blue, tinged with green, and this close to hatching, the tiny dragonet inside was visible, squirming occasionally.
Just as the sun was setting above the ocean, sending rippling waves of orange light through the water, Tsunami saw the first crack.
One negative of being underwater: you can’t yell. But Tsunami was nothing if not loud, so to get her mate’s attention (he had the door open a tiny sliver to ‘talk’ with someone on the other side), she lit up every single glow spot on her body.
Riptide spun away from the door, slamming it closed with his tail, and swam over to the only occupied nest. Tsunami pointed to the egg, flashing Crack.
Riptide swam a little closer, carefully not to disturb the water around the egg.
Another moment later, a second crack appeared. Tsunami was practically frozen in anticipation, and Riptide looked somewhere between panic and elation.
A chunk of egg fell away, and the parents got their first look at the new-hatched dragonet; a tiny claw curled around the edge of the hole, scales a deep sapphire and talons dark green. Tsunami jerked a little in the water, and Riptide started gently flashing Hello. The head poked out after several more cracks, and the hatchling pulled itself out of the egg shell. Tsunami bent down, gently scooping up her – daughter, she flashed at Riptide, and enormous smile spreading across her snout.
They had already picked out a name: Catfish.
Their daughter flared her wings, blinking up at Tsunami. Riptide swam over, cupping his talons around Tsunami’s, and signaled Hello again. The small dragon stared up at him, tilted her head to the side, and then a few of her spots lit up. It wasn’t hello (what it actually translated as was lobster), but still. Tsunami looked like she was going to explode, and Riptide felt like his heart might shut down then and there.
The family was called in, and soon everyone was huddled around the hatchling. Tsunami put up with this for about two minutes before she pushed them out of the way, and started swimming out of the palace. Poor Riptide had to explain to a very angry Queen Coral why her granddaughter was being taken out of the safety of the hatchery, let alone out of the palace.
Carefully clutching her dragonet, Tsunami aimed for the surface, powering through the water. She reached air in a matter of minutes, and slowed down. According to the research Riptide had done, switching from water to air could be very stressful for newly hatched dragonets.
Tsunami popped her head above the water, hoisting her daughter up. The smaller dragon seemed unperturbed by the change, so Tsunami lifted out of the water, heading for the island where the rest of her family was waiting.
Sunny was on lookout, so she was the first to reach the SeaWings, gasping and dropping a foot in the air when she saw the tiny dragonet in Tsunami’s claws. The golden dragon led them down to the small beach, where the rest of the family had already gathered. Tsunami let her daughter clamber out of her talons and onto the sand. She patted it inquisitively, then , noticing the dragons gathered around her, stopped moving, as though she was torn between wanting to meet them and wanting to return to the safety of her mother. Finally, Clay stepped forward, bending down so he was on eye level for the hatchling.
“Hello,” he rumbled, “What’s your name?”
Tsunami answered, since it was pretty obvious the dragonet wasn’t going to.
“Catfish. Her name is Catfish.”
Glory, guiding Starflight, drew closer.
“Hello little one. I’m Glory, and this is Starflight.”
The blue dragonet titled her head up at the RainWing queen and flared her wings a little. Sunny asked cautiously “Can I hold her?”
Tsunami nodded. “Catfish,” she said, as though her daughter could understand, “Your Aunt Sunny is going to pick you up now, but you don’t have to be scared. These are you aunts and uncles, even though they’re not SeaWings.”
Sunny picked up her niece, cradling the small dragon against her chest. Catfish seemed comforted by the warmth, and curled up, closing her eyes.