After conferring with the Captain, we agreed that Eldest Sister and I would search for the poor hatchling. We knew that by now it would be starving, cold, and terrified; as well as being utterly alone, something Queen Dragons should never know.
Sister had two huge bowls of raw meat scraps sent to our cabin, and then we began our search, always keeping in mind that time was not on our side. If much more time passed the hatchling would just curl up and shut down, which would prove fatal at her young age.
Eldest Sister has always been aware of others’ suffering, more than most of our people are naturally. I chose to stick with her, so we would have enough to fill the belly of an Imperial 5-toed dragonette.
As I knew she would, Eldest Sister found the hatchling easily, and she was able to coax it out of hiding with tempting morsels of chewed meat and her entire repertoire of sounds. No sooner had the babe poked her head out of hiding than the ship’s horn blew, scaring her half out of her wits.
Sister was right there, cooing and snuggling the wobbly head that was larger than Sister’s body. The baby butted her and squalled plaintively, then sniffed Sister’s mouth in search of more of the delectable meat that she craved so.
Sister laughed and popped a hunk in her mouth and chewed quickly, before spitting it into the dragonette’s mouth. The mouth gawped open, full of small, sharp teeth, and accepted the morsels as fast as we could chew and spit.
All the while, we led the hatchling closer and closer to our rooms. As she trundled behind us she flapped her wings and they seemed to grow as she stretched them out from being held tightly in place when she was in the egg.
By the time we had reached our rooms, ‘our’ dragonette was standing taller, and wobbled less. We could nearly see the bites of meat, her belly was that full. When the horns blew again, she stood as tall as she could and bellowed defiance to the world in general.
The noise awakened Youngest Brother and Sister, who were delighted by the addition to our family. Sister immediatelty began grooming the dragonette who writhed in delight and regaled us with the sweetest cooing she could muster, which still sounded huge in a cabin sized for someone of our diminutive stature.
It didn’t take long at all for Sister to settle the dragonette and Youngest Brother and Sister into bed, there seemed to be little space for us, until we dragged the wooden frame from the duenna’s room and slid two of the feather mattresses over for us to sleep on.
We climbed into the bed, as did my sweet Mrreshell, the Duenna, and we were asleep before Eldest Sister blew out the last lamp.
The New Hatchling
The Veiled Lady's Cabin 