Master of the Mind

Chapter 25: Cracked

"It's still hard to believe," Diara said softly, looking at the three oval-shaped eggs situated in the centre of the nest.

"What? That you're going to be a mother soon?" chuckled Eldawin, who was laying on the other side of the nest.

"Well, yeah. Aren't you nervous?"

"You forget, I have done this before."

"I guess that is a small comfort," muttered the dragoness, gently nudging one of the eggs with her snout.

"Oh Diara, stop worrying so much. You are going to do great. Trust me. You are much more prepared than many dragons that decide to become parents."

"You say that..." she sighed, before shaking her head, "I guess I should trust your judgement on that, huh?"

Eldawin bobbed his head in agreement, gently leaning over the nest and giving her a slight nuzzle of his own, "Hatchlings can be difficult, but they are the most amazing things. Watching them grow up and become... themselves. It's... I don't know how to describe it."

"Well, judging from those memories you shared with me, you quite enjoyed it," Diara rumbled with a purr.

The two lay their heads together, enjoying the silence as they looked at the white shells that would soon bear new life. Life they had created together. Eldawin felt his heart were so full of emotion that it would burst. A sudden grumble from the dragoness's stomach caused the pair to flinch, startled. The mind drake let out a laugh as he felt his mate's embarrassment.

"Sediment should be back from the hunt by now. I'll go see what he's got," Eldawin got to his feet and shook himself like a dog.

"I thought you said my hunger would go away once I laid my eggs," grunted Diara as she curled a protective tail around them.

"You only laid them last night love," he responded, "Your body is exhausted from carrying them this past month and a bit. It'll take a day or two to fully recover."

She shuffled her wings, "The moment I do, I'm going flying, for a long time."

"And why you're doing that, I'll look after the eggs," grinned the mind drake as he slowly made his way out of the cave.

She smiled, and called after him, "What if I want you to come with me?"

'Then I'm sure Sediment will be happy to take a shift with them,' Eldawin responded mentally as he hopped up the slope leading into the cave with a flap of his wings.

'You know, when they hatch, he's probably gonna want to teach them about dragon history and all that right? It's kind of a tradition.'

'Well... if he has the patience to do so I'll respect him for it. Teaching young hatchlings about anything that doesn't impact them directly is a pain in the tail. Especially mind dragons. They tend to just steal all the information from your head before you have a chance to speak it out.'

'Maybe by then, you'll have learnt how to contact the other elements? I'm sure even hatchlings wouldn't be able to resist the awe of meeting one of the seven elements. It'll be sure to make them listen.'

'Probably. Though I think Sediment would be more excited about that than any hatchlings. It wouldn't be a bad idea though, but I'm still a far way off from figuring out how to do that.'

The mind dragon made his way out into the open, looking around the oasis for any sign of the earth dragon, but not finding any. He frowned. Sediment had left the previous night after Diara had laid her eggs, saying that such an occasion deserved the greatest of feasts. Seeing as he wanted it to be a surprise, Eldawin hadn't peeked into the earth dragon's mind to see what he meant. But Eldawin expected that whatever Sediment had been hunting wouldn't take an entire night to find.