Sisu arrived in Spine to pretty much what she could expect, snow and ice. She had no idea what she was doing here, but the environment calmed her. She came to a landing and walked through the peaceful trees as she approached the gates of Tong's village; it might be nice to see him again, she decided.
As she reached the gates, they let her right in, being the Great Sisudatu had its own advantages when it came to getting into places, her presence spoke for herself, and everyone knew she was one of Tong's greatest friends.
"Sisu!" Tong cried when he saw her, rushing to embrace her, "Good to see you again."
Standing in the doorway of his house, she noticed Young Noi coming up to the door to greet her. Noi's mother rushed up to grab her, picking her up to keep her out of the way, but only succeeded in bringing her within reach of being able to play with Sisu's fur.
"Sorry about that," Noi's mother said, trying to pull her daughter's hands away, "she must be happy to see you."
"Sisu," Noi said, "Sisu's here to play."
"Oh my," Sisu said, grinning, "you're getting to be quite the talker, aren't you."
Tong laughed.
Ever since they had returned from the Druun situation, Noi's mother had come to see Tong as some kind of uncle for her; whenever they came to visit spine, they always made sure to visit him, and he was always grateful to host them. It was all Sisu could've hoped, now with the world restored, Sisu's friends had not only kept from falling apart, but had continued to grow closer together. It seemed ironic that in their time of greatest peace, Sisu was seemingly doomed to suffer in the most excruciating of experiences, but such was the luck of an egg laying dragon.
Anyway, friendship, yippee!
Tong seemed about to invite Sisu inside, but Noi had other plans, she leaped from her mothers arms, grabbed a pair of ice shoes by the door, and started heading for the lake, trying to drag Sisu along with her.
"Sisu go ice skating," she said enthusiastically.
Sisu looked apologetically back at Tong, "I guess I'm going with her," she said, "I'll talk to you later."
Sisu allowed Noi to lead her to the lake, frozen nicely in the snowy landscape.
Noi quickly kicked off her shoes and exchanged them for the ice ones, "Sisu follow," she said, jumping out onto the ice and gliding across.
"Wait, don't I need some sort of special shoes for this or something?" Sisu asked. But Noi was already too far out of range to hear. "I guess not," Sisu mused.
She looked down at her talons, wondering, maybe if she used them right...
So, laying down her eggs safely beside the shore, Sisu took a step out on the ice.
And slipped. She tumbled about, sliding forward, falling over until she was nothing but a tangled mess.
She tried to regain her feet again, but CRASH! Faceplanting on the ice, rear end sticking up in the air.
Why was it always her rear end? The Universe must really want to show off something. Well, at least the Universe made a good choice.
At least faceplanting hurt a little less than laying an egg.
Okay, a LOT less.
Sisu looked down at the ice beneath her feet again. She was a water dragon, she leaped through the air on raindrops, she could do this.
So, she gathered her feet under her, standing on the uneasy ice, she looked ahead of her to where Noi was gliding along effortlessly, leaping and spinning and laughing. She looked back to see Noi's mom had joined them at the edge of the lake to watch, Sisu waved self-consciously to her, betting she had probably seen that embarrassing slip-up, and turned her attention back to the ice.
She could do this.
So Sisu moved one of her feet, then another, felt the drift beneath her, her natural abilities as a water dragon perhaps making it easier; she started to pick up on the rhythm.
She could do this.
She swished her feet again, and again, and she felt herself drifting, sliding forward on her dragon feet, all of it starting to come to her within their movements, as if they were made for this, a deeper instinct buried within her that she now just had to remember.
And before she knew it, she was gliding along the lake, moving along to meet up with Noi near the center. "You're doing it!" Noi said, clapping, "Sisu is doing it!"
Sisu rotated her body to slow herself down.
And slipped.
Sisu crashed and slid to a stop beside Noi, Noi laughed.
"Well, I'm getting there," Sisu said.
Sisu tried again, this time moving across the lake, getting used to banking and turning.
And then she was at it, soaring and gliding along the ice like it was second nature, she felt the wind blowing through her hair, the momentum of being on the ice, the amazing feel of her shifting weight whenever she made a turn; it was a wonderful feeling, almost rivaling the feeling of swimming; Sisu belonged on the ice, just as much as she did in the water when it was unfrozen. Sisu wanted to WHOOP!, to leap into the air, and that's exactly what she did.
Unfortunately, as her front paws came in for landing, they slipped, skidding off to the side, and Sisu crashed, landing on the side of her face, sliding diagonally to a halt.
Noi came up beside her laughing.
"That great Sisu."
"Yeah," Sisu said, "I'm just going to lay here and rest a moment."
So Noi sat down on the ice beside her, and the two of them just remained there a moment taking in the fresh frosty air. Sisu's mind began to drift.
"Sisu?" Noi asked finally.
"Yes?" Sisu replied, "I'm just thinking and all."
"'Bout what?" Noi asked.
Sisu sighed, "My eggs," she replied, "Don't know what to do with them, still trying to figure it out."
"Oh," Noi said, before going silent again.
Then, "Where eggs come from?" Noi asked curiously.
Sisu paused, she had no idea how much she should say to a girl her age. She hesitated, "Well, they come from my body. Sort of." She looked over at Noi's mother by the shore, "How much as your mother told you about birth?"
Noi just tilted her head, looking confused, "well, my birthday is a few months I suppose."
"Exactly," Sisu answered enthusiastically, "it goes something like that."
Noi just continued looking confused, but Sisu had no idea what to tell her about what birthdays had to do with eggs.
"Just ask your mother, she knows everything about that." Sisu said.
"Okay," said Noi, standing up finally and skating away toward her mom.
As she watched the con-baby go, Sisu felt it again inside her: Children, so pure and sweet, yet to grow up and experience the things of life you only understand when you're older. She noticed she had come to a stop back where she had left her eggs, and she looked at them feeling that returning sense of longing, of motherhood she knew could never exist between her and these eggs. To watch them grow and become beautiful dragons of their own. Eggs, what were the point in them except to cause her angst as a female? She was beginning to think she'd never know.
Sisu felt the ice under her feet, another longing awakening out there on the lake, not a replacement for her eggs, goodness no, but a dual longing, as if from another part of her. She stood up and begun to slide her feet under her, feeling the momentum begin to pick up again. A peace began to wash over her as she moved across the ice; right now, she still didn't know what to do with her eggs, but the angst of her egg laying wasn't the full summation of her life, here on the ice, she could just live this part of her life as her.
