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A New Family Part 8

Dramatis Personae

Family of 5 (Colonists)

• Ataksak (Mother) 41

• Negafook (Father) 42

• Nanook (elder son) 22

• Pinga (daughter) 22

• Silla (younger daughter) 8

Other Cast

-Nathan (Alpha den Historian, Colonist) 235

• Diana (Daughter of Nathan and Alessandra) 102

• Apollo (Son of Nathan and Alessandra) 102

• Alessandra (Alpha den Healer, Colonist) 215

• Mazu (Daughter of Carol and Riku) 102

• Sylvia (Alpha den Technician, Colonist) 212

• Gregory (Alpha den Architect, Colonist) 230

• Sekhmet (Daughter of Sylvia and Gregory) 102

• Anath (Daughter of Sylvia and Gregory) 29

• Noctis (Geneticist, Colonist) 293

• Caleb (Echo den Adventurer, Colonist) 223

• Asa (Orphan of Echo den, Colonist) 4

Our blissful interlude was shattered by Alessandra as she began to cough ostentatiously until all parties in the area gathered their irritated gazes upon her.

"I know this can go on all night. But, you." She pointed her wing at Ataksak "are with egg, and just experienced a colossal change in your body. And you," she pointed at Silla, "were male when you landed on this planet. So I insist that these scans are warranted. I have laid out pads for all of you at the med clearing. After you are scanned I want you to rest. Now, will the four of you proceed onwards to my workspace? Apollo, Diana, and Mazu. Please stay, I would like to speak with you."

"Hey! What happened to no secrets?" Silla asked, somewhat energetically. Shaking the ground as she jumped to attention.

"Secrets? No. You may listen in if you like. I just don't want you here to distract them while we talk."

I shrugged, seemed fair to me.

As we walked towards the med-bay I paid half a mind to the conversation back at our nest. It was largely about asking them face to face how they thought we were doing. It was mostly in the positive other than Mazu noting that she had been making friendly overtures to Pinga but had been rebuffed by Pinga's focus on Caleb and her own impending future.

I made a note to make sure Pinga opened herself to as many friends as possible. Especially when that friend is already a member of our rapidly expanding family.

Just as we reached the med-bay and saw Noctis' tail extending out of the screened off recovery area where it lay idly thumping on the ground the meeting behind us broke up as they took to the air. Sensing our arrival she gave us some brief guidance. Ataksak will you please join me in the recovery ward? The rest of you please rest upon the cushions, Alessandra will be here momentarily.

Ata's body disappeared behind the screen, however she must have stopped just on the other side as her own tail lay next to Noctis'. With this serendipitous chance to compare the structure of the two appendages I took a moment to catalog their similarities and differences. While also watching through Ata's eyes the scene behind the curtain. Caleb lay on his stomach on his mattress, breathing an even cadence but his eyes were as lifeless as they were dull. Pinga lay in between the cot for the fledgling and Caleb, in turn she looked from one to the other. Casting looks of pity and uncertainty upon both, her feathers fading from a yellow so bright it looked white, to an uncertain orange." _ _

I shifted gear to my other source of concern. Tails. I was quick to notice that they were equally long, and looked roughly just as thick. Notcis' scales were much finer however and looked as if they were suppler than Ata's. Like a fine mesh instead of the thicker and broader scales of my mate. Although all that was hard to tell with my mate's tail covered in feathers as it was. I also was keen to notice the way the base of her tail began to spread before joining with the rest of her rump in a curve that I would be able to pick out among any other number of dragons.

I paused to think about that last comment.

Is that one of the ways we identify beauty now? The curve of a dragon's tail and rump? I suppose it is just the next logical step from human beings' fascination with the bipedal posterior. Or to put it more crudely: I was salivating over the shape of my mate's tail the same way I used to while staring at her ass. I wanted to ask her later if she was attracted to the same anatomy.

"Yes we are." Alessandra said as she landed with the rest of our family.

Damn these connections into the abyss! I screamed in my head.

The medic laughed heartily. "I apologize, but you are just too easy. Let me guess, you were never any good at masking your emotions playing games of chance were you?"

I grumbled a halfhearted assent while staring at some distant pebbles on the ground in front of my claws.

"I'll speak to Gregory, and Sylvia. They would be best suited to help you. Although they may ask one of their children to do it in their stead. They are fairly busy with the forests of this region and their colonial task assignments."

"But to continue our earlier conversation..."

I hid my head beneath my wing.

_ _ "Yes, we find the shape of tails a very attractive aspect of these bodies. You'll also catch us judging you and other males based on the strength of your wings and your agility in the air."

She stopped and looked around to make sure no one was in ear shot before sidling closer to whisper conspiratorially. "Take to the skies with Ataksak as soon as you are both able to. Mate in midair, it will drive her absolutely wild. I guarantee it, my shrieks were heard in Charlie den and the open link broadcast of my lustful completion caused two other mated pairs to conceive eggs that day." She backed up a bit and winked her enormous eye at me. "You know you had a good time, when you make other dragonesses pregnant."

I didn't know whether to be completely horrified at what she told me. Or to immediately wrap my tail around Ata and launch into the sky to give it a go.

It became a moot point when I turned back to the curtain and ran snout to snout into my mate. At the moment she was a sphinx, no emotion whatsoever. She just stood there, looking down her nose at me without a word. My wings curled tightly to my body, what had I done?

Tomorrow, we are going out over the ocean. And I am going to take you in midair. Tomorrow I want you to make me scream. Tomorrow I want to see your well curved tail soar.

_ _ If it was even remotely possible, I would have been blushing like a fire hydrant. Unfortunately for me, my visual display did it for me. Ata was sending me her own view of myself and my feathers were glowing a rosy pink. Just as if I was still a mammal. Her statements also answered my earlier questions.

I finally cracked a smile, as her stoic façade collapsed and she bopped my nose with her own. From around her Noctis appeared on her left, and Pinga appeared on her right. But my eldest daughter was no longer alone. Pinga was, if not my same size, smaller by such an incremental amount that it was unimportant. And just like Silla and Ataksak, she was similarly adorned in feathers and horns. Like all of us, she had feathers on top of her head, down her neck, across her wing arms, and following her spine all the way to the very end of her tail where a feather cluster concealed her wicked horned pikes.

As I had mentioned my daughter was no longer alone. The crippled fledgling I had seen the other day was limping along next to her with Pinga's tail wrapped securely around it. (It? I sniffed in the youngling's direction. Him, I corrected.) Along with the obvious limp he was further hampered by the amputation of one wing. A mere stump all that remained. An even more horrific injury was revealed that was previously covered by bandages. His right eye was gone, just an empty socket all that remained of what was a glowing blue eye.

Pinga guided him along to the nearest pad and then laid down and tried to draw him in closer.

At first the fledgling yielded. But then Pinga tried to nuzzle the tiny child. The fledgling stumbled to his paws and backed away from her while he swung his head in negation. He never said a word nor thought one to my knowledge but his actions made Pinga visibly shrink and look away disheartened. I sympathized and could feel the empathy radiating from Ata. She started to move forward but I halted her with a wing.

This will be a good learning experience for her. Gods forbid she ever has to deal with what this child has. But she must learn how to manage grief in all its stages. I wish it wasn't so, but these lessons may serve her very soon.

_ _ Ata did not look the least bit happy about it. But the fact that she lay down again told me she saw the logic in my thoughts.

Noctis said quietly to the child "Asa, she only wants to comfort you. There is nothing wrong with that is there? Please let her provide you with some warmth. I can feel how cold inside you are."

"No!" The tiny slip of a dragon squeaked. "My parents told me my name meant I was to protect others. I couldn't protect my nest mate. I couldn't protect my mama and papa." He stopped to sniff and rub the tears from his snout. He then lost all control of his emotions and I felt my heart break for the tiny thing.

"I was s'possed to protect them! I ppplayed dddead and watched my papa... MY MAMA... my fam... and the egg... the egg... The egg crunch'd... mmy.... mmmyy... Mmmmy FAMILY!" His voice broke into a series of choked screams that would haunt me to the end of my days. He struggled to hide behind his remaining wing, before running from our sight behind the curtain where his soul rending lamentations continued. As each new cry assailed our ears we crouched lower and lower until we were all crouched upon the ground in sympathetic misery.

Noctis did not move, she only closed her blood shot eyes and placed her snout on the ground where her tears fell like rain and her body began to twitch with her suppressed sobs.

Alessandra ran past us behind the screen. We could see her shadow flip over a cushion and then we heard her begin to hum a lullaby. Gradually the woeful cries began to subside until we heard the unmistakable whoosh of an auto-injector firing. The snuffling dwindled into preternatural silence. Alessandra reemerged and stopped to have words with Noctis.

"You have to stop doing this to yourself. Stop shielding us from his emotions by taking them all into yourself. It. Is. Killing you! You never could have known what awaited us on this planet. You never could have known that intelligent creatures lived here that hate us for our intrusion. This is a failure of our exploratory forces, not your own! When was the last time you've slept?"

Noctis didn't even move her head from the ground nor open her eyes. You know when. She spoke into our minds.

"Three days ago, Noctis. You are a legendary geneticist. But I am invoking my medical authority over you. Negafook, Ataksak, and Mazu. Hold her down while I inject her with a sedative."

Noctis exploded from the ground and reared up on her hind legs to begin flapping her wings until we tackled her. "No! No! You do not know what you are doing! I have to suffer for the pain I have caused! Let me go! I order you to let me go!" She roared, to no avail. Mazu wrapped herself around Noctis' torso pinning her wings down while I clenched tightly to her neck and Ata to her tail. Our ears closed to her commands and pleas.

Alessandra marched a medical worker unit right to the base of her neck and injected her with a large dose of what I can only presume was a sedative.

Her thrashing slowly came to a halt as the drug was circulated by her massive heart all throughout her body. "I...I have... toooo" her last word slurred to nothingness as her eyes slid shut and her body lost its fight against the inevitable. Her tense muscles relaxed as she began what would later turn out to be 20 hours of sleep. Working together we carried her to one of the mats and laid her down in as restful a position as we could manage.

Alessandra sat on her rump next to her looking down on her with an uneasy expression. She reached out with a paw to give her a couple of reassuring pats on her shoulder before spinning on her tail to face us.

"We strive all day long turn after turn to make this colony one based on the open flow of all information between us. No secrets, that's what we always say. Now look at us. An outpost that is only a century old. Allowing our ideals to crumble in the interest of preventing harm. All over such a trivial matter. It is time for the colony to be introduced to the cost of a failure that had nothing to do with our own labors. Noctis cannot go on like this. You saw her, emotionally compromised would be the sterile clinical diagnosis. She hurts in ways that cannot be reached. This burden must be removed from her shoulders. Tomorrow, I, Nathan, Sylvia, Gregory, Riku, and Carol as the leaders of Alpha den will call two representatives to the commons from every den. They have to know that secrets have been kept. And that they must be revealed. The slaughter of a den, and the failure of our planetary scouts."

She inhaled deeply and then sighed, before turning to Apollo and Diana. She bowed formally to her twin children. My little ones. I have kept from you what you had every right to know. My reasons are irrelevant. Please forgive me.

_ _ The twins conversed with each other briefly before striding forward to place their muzzles on each side of their mother's own. Mother, you know what has been done in the past by those who justified their actions as being for the greater good. We forgive you, but we beg you to learn from your mistake. We love you mother. They both licked the sides of her head as she sighed in relief.

You can count on this being a lesson learned for all of us.

"Now that our latest crisis has been put on hold for now. Let's get to scanning you. I'll start with the expecting mother."

Ata heaved herself up and then padded over to the diminutive scanner. She awkwardly kept trying to fit herself within the confines. After a couple of attempts the medic grew exasperated and just told her to lay on her side and hold still. Alessandra bit down on the well-worn paddle attached to the scanner and began to play it slowly back and forth over my mate's nether regions and belly. Once done the medic settled down and closed her eyes to focus on the image projected to her.

"Hhhmmm. Have you been feeling any peculiar urges lately?"

My mate looked thoughtful for a moment then opened her jaws to respond. "Well... Every time I'm not actively thinking about anything else my mind keeps returning to the thought of our burrowed nest. Does that count?"

"It might. Any thoughts on what you want to do in your nest?"

"...No... Maybe.... I don't know! I just want to go home and lie in my nest with my mate. Is that so wrong?"

"Well... No... But you should know I think you will lay your eggs soon. The shells seemed to have long since developed and they have begun to shift downward and rearward. I'm honestly surprised you haven't noticed any increased pressure. Or dilation of your passage."

"I might have... I just thought I needed to use the latrine."

"Go ahead. Just don't be surprised if you find an egg laying on the ground. My suggestion to you is to return to your nest and prepare yourself to deposit your children. I know that sounds weird, but I assure you it is still an intensely personal experience. Keep your mate by your side, and listen to your instincts. You will do fine."

Alessandra turned and beckoned Silla to take her mother's place on the scan stand. Once she was situated the scanning began anew. Although this time I would have been horrified to hear that she was expected to lay soon. Or that she was gravid at all for that matter.

She scanned my new daughter for a much longer time than she had my mate. But was I worried? No! Hahahaha. I was fucking terrified.

"Well, physically you are all there. But none of your ovaries have released eggs. So I suppose that all that worrying over you being forced into a position that you were not ready for can be set aside for a considerable time. I don't think you'll ovulate for many turns yet."

Silla looked downcast at the news. "No eggs? But I thought I was ready!"

Ata and I shouted at her simultaneously. "No, you were not!"

Apollo walked towards her and then craned his neck out to whisper something in her frill. Her feathers blushed as Diana giggled to herself and my stomach did backflips. You know what? I don't even want to know anymore, I can't take this any longer. I can't even make sense of the situation. Who is older than whom? How does eight human turns translate into draconic age when we could live to be over 4000 turns old? What are they even going to do? Too many variables, too many questions. I'm not going to watch my youngest daughter mate to answer those riddles either. Ataksak can go spy on them or something.

Ata's tail whistled just over my head as a warning for my last comment. I stopped carrying on in my head in what I considered a wise act of self-preservation. Her tail tip whistled again.

What? I sent in exasperation.

Stop tempting fate. Just join me in counting our lucky stars that we didn't have to watch the son we brought to this world become an expecting gravid mother less than a week after she became female.

"Pinga your turn. Hop on up here."

She did so reluctantly and with obvious agitation. Almost like she knew what she was going to be told.

My prediction turn out to be true. After scanning her, Alessandra's expression melted into one of understanding and pity. "Your body says it is time. Are you ready?" She whispered softly to her.

Pinga drew herself up and then exhaled heavily. "No." She resolutely stood anyways and made ready to satisfy her carnal urges and begin her journey into motherhood. The ultimate expression of what it meant to be a woma...dragoness.

I could see that her body was well on it's to working itself up into some kind frenzy. Her tail cracked repeatedly, while her wings shifted and half rose restlessly as she kept kneading the ground with her claws causing the fresh smell of loam to layer over her own smell. She startled us when after a few moment of churning the ground she dropped to her stomach to wallow in it briefly before regaining her paws. Her head began to weave back and forth eyeing all the other females in sight suspiciously and periodically taking aborted half lunges towards each of them in turn. Even her mother and sister I was horrified to see.

She has to do this, I finally made myself accept reality. There will be blood on the ground if she does not. At least now I know what signs to keep an eye and nose out for in the future.

As she cracked her tail with manic energy I too made note of the fact that her body was signaling in all ways her readiness. To my eternal chagrin, I could smell her receptiveness which was compounded by the earthy smell she unleashed in her restlessness.

I began to back away from her as she eyed me with a feral gleam which told me her sentience was beginning to take a back seat to more primal urges. Nanook was backing up along with me as Apollo and Diana hid behind us watching the scene uneasily. Mazu just looked like she was ready to wrap Pinga in coils if she made any aggressive movements. I had no doubt that the sea serpent could easily disable my daughter. Silla just watched interestedly although I did see her check behind herself for a clear, and uninhibited way out. Ataksak stood on my other side looking sadly at our daughter as she began to lose control of her own actions. The medic caught my attention as she flared her wings to try to discourage Pinga from attacking her. This backfired as my daughter crouched low and hissed at her.

But where is her waiting party?

Where is Caleb? I would like to speak with him. I asked Alessandra.

Keeping all her physical senses focused on Pinga she replied:

You can speak with him if you wish. But I cannot guarantee any type of response. His scans indicate all higher brain function continues. He just no longer wishes to interact with the outside world. Even during all this noisy commotion I had been monitoring him via several optics on a worker unit. Not a flinch, not a single change in respiration to indicate reaction to stimuli. The last words he ever spoke were his volunteering for this... task. All he is, is a creature waiting for the release of death. I cannot promise, as I've told Pinga several times, that he will even make any attempt to actively participate in her act of biological fulfillment. Most likely she will have to position him on his back and let his...

_ Okay, stop. I get it. How will he extinguish his light?_

_ Pinga insisted on being the one to do it for him. I have had made an injectable large and wieldy enough for use by our not so dexterous paws. She will be the one to release Caleb to his family._

_ What will happen to the fledgling?_

_ That is a topic for you, Ataksak, and Pinga to discuss. My part in that has already concluded. I'm sorry but we will have to continue this later._

_ _ I saw what caused her to stop. Pinga was really off the rails now, she had lunged at Alessandra and swiped twice with her fore paws. Mazu interposed herself between the two of them as the medic hurriedly drew the curtain back to reveal Caleb to her. The doctor then went over to the unconscious Asa and shielded him with her body as she eyed Pinga warily.

Pinga glared at Alessandra until she saw her array herself defensively around the hatchling and then paid her no more mind. Even in her state, the paramount importance of protecting the young registered before all else. Instead she fixated on Caleb and stalked forward stiffly until she stood next to him and began to sniff him over as her feathers flashed colors that ran from black, to light purple, to red, and back again.

Alessandra picked her charge up in her mouth toothlessly and exited the ward while Mazu's tail drew the curtain.

Let's go to my nest. The healer suggested. It's not far just on the other side of these trees. It could take hours for your daughter to have her fill and return to her senses.

She bade the worker units to come forward and using their enhanced industrial strength folded the sleeping mats and preceded us to her clearing.

It was no exaggeration that it was close. Just on the other side of a stand of trees really. A sleeping Nathan awoke as we entered, lifting his head from where it lie in the opening to their beautiful domed nest. The twins went to greet their father by nuzzling him as I looked over the impressive pond they had in their little slice of Arcadia. Did I say their nest was beautiful? I was mistaken, it was incrediblybeautiful. The flowering vines that covered their dome matched the shade of the scales on every member of their family. This was fucking beautiful I realized, as I ran out of more proper adjectives to use in my amazement.

"Thank you Negafook, Alessandra has poured her heart and soul in to making our home look like this." He wrapped tails with his mate as she lay next to him in the opening of their nest. Placing the catatonic youth within a circle made by her forelegs she made her own humble comments.

"Stop it you, two you are making me blush. I was happy to practice the art that Noctis tutors me in to make something this pleasant."

Looking to the side at a pair of vines that grew with green and brown blooms she snipped an outgrowth from each delicately using her tongue to press and shear the shoots against her razor sharp teeth. Using a claw she made a shallow hole next to her and placed the clippings in the hole before filling it in. It was a truly amazing display of fine motor control and spatial awareness.

Then the wonder of what she could do with her knowledge of bioengineering and wireless energy transfer began to emerge from the ground as she closed her eyes in focus.

A dozen tender little buds erupted from the ground before growing before our eyes. As they rose and thickened the tender green growths toughened until their bark matched that of the vines on the dome. Then they began to weave amongst themselves into a circle that was half a meter across. Once the shape was complete dark green blooms erupted all around the circle along with strips of brown blossoms. I started when I realized it matched the patterns of my own family's scales.

Using a single talon Alessandra carefully clipped the circlet from its support and left the remainder to grow in a more natural fashion.

Apollo came forward to take the crown of flowers into his mouth carefully and then went over to place it atop the head of an awestruck Silla. Once sure her brilliantly orange feathers would hold the gift in place he lowered his muzzle to make contact with hers. As Diana joined them in their touching moment, what followed was what I can only imagine to be the acceptance of each other as mates. Their eyes all closed as their blissful song could be heard building while slow and deliberate muzzle rubs and licks were seen.

It would seem I was wrong about their being some type of ritual to becoming partners in life and death. It was an act that was as unique to each mated pair (or in this case, mated triad) as it was intimate.

Nathan and Alessandra looked on with happy smiles on their snouts and tears in their eyes.

"This is the real beauty of my mate's gifts and knowledge. The flowers are very, very pretty. But the emotions she can create through them... That... That is what is beautiful." Nathan turned to give an adoring rub of his mate's snout with the side of his own, making them both jump and titter as a tiny arc of static tickled them. (What is with that dragon? I asked myself once more.)

_ _ "It is only made possible by the energy you provide me. My lightning bolt." She giggled with more than a little hint of a lusty undertone.

The units had spread out the pads, and as is our wont we pushed them together to settle. With Gregory and Alessandra staring into each other's eyes in their nest, the rest of us formed a pile of three mated pairs to await the conclusion of the beginnings of new life, and the end of another.

We were jarred awake from our dozing as a sky rending roar of grief rose from the other side of the trees.

Pinga, our daughter. Ata and I sent out to her in a feeble attempt to soothe her.

_He... He... Smiled at me as I killed him! His last words, while he died, were... were... Thank you! He thanked me, for killing him! HE THANKED ME! _ She screamed her sorrow into our minds.

Disentangling themselves from us, the longtime members of our colony braced themselves with their tails and standing up gave full throated screams of their own into the sky above to mark the passing of one of Prithvi. The volume of noise made startled Asa awake and in an act that really drove home what was lost the little one stood to shriek his own agony. All of us there knew that his screams were not just for Caleb, but for his own deeply felt loss as well. With Noctis no longer able to isolate his pain from us it spread in a tidal wave of emotion across the entirety of the connection causing the lamentations of all to reach new heights.

Our ill formed sorrow soon drove us to instinctually mimic these actions as we lurched to tower above the ground. Our sadness burbled deeply within us. Building and building as the mental anguish of our daughter and the fading presence of Caleb drove those feelings upwards. Growing in intensity as it rose in our bodies before the pressure defied our ability to contain it. The last straw were the waves of pathos being generated by the tiny survivor washing over us. The incredible anguish finally emerged out through our snouts and four more voices joined the others in screaming our feelings of loss and grief to the indifferent world.

Distantly, and from every direction, new voices rose to sing of the loss they felt as a light ceased to exist on Prithvi, only to take its rightful place in the heavens where three others awaited it. With one more realization my heartfelt scream began again. This was not just about our feelings, these wails were meant to bid goodbye to those lost, and to carry them onwards into eternity. There had been no one to sing for his den's death. No one had known until later. My understanding spread to the rest of my family, renewing their own calls until the emotional outpouring robbed of us of the vitality to continue.

All lay silent as we quietly returned to four paws and reflected on our own disparate thoughts and feelings. Our feathers flat against our scales and for once lifeless with a lack of color. Alessandra stood with Nathan and they approached to nudge us. Without a word they beckoned us with their heads and led us back to the medical bay. Noctis was still unconscious although wracking shivers began with her tail and rippled forward.

This caught Alessandra's attention and she stared at her mentor for a few minutes before having another sedative administered. The shiver ceased as her taut muscles relaxed once more. She caught my look. She feels the emotions through the connection, she is trying to force herself awake. She is not in the right frame of mind to be exposed to this sad event right now.

_ _ I heard a quiet rustling as a solid wall of the forest began to tremble and then Sylvia and her family crept outwards almost silently. Turning to face the curtain they formed a square and then bowed their heads.

"We are here to complete the life cycle of Caleb. In death he will nourish Prithvi as he had in life."

Ata waved at them to wait there as she and Alessandra opened the curtain and then closed it behind themselves. My mate blocked my sight but she allowed me to hear what was going on.

I heard Ata asking Pinga to let go of Caleb. That she had given him peace when he could find none in this world. Separately I could hear Alessandra asking her to lie on her side while she washed her to make her presentable. Underlying all this chatter, the continuous snuffling of my daughter was heard. She begged the healer and her mother to tell her if she did the right thing or not. I felt Ata's conviction as she told her in no uncertain terms that she had done as she should. Alessandra added that this is what can happen on the colonial frontier. Tragedy is not something known in the stations that comprise the heart of the Collective. To truly live in an outpost it to be subject to planetary whims that are as unforeseeable as they are uncompromising. She had brought relief to one who only knew pain and emptiness.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the lower edge of the curtain begin moving as it was disturbed. A small tail disappearing behind the screen. Hurriedly I showed Ata what I had seen. I heard her announce their guest as conversation turned to the little orphaned hatchling.

"Asa, why did you come? You knew he was gone."

The little one replied with a flat tone that worried me with its similarity to Caleb's: "I am now the last of my den. My family is dead. Everyone that I know gone. I came to be with the one who might know how I feel."

The sound of tiny paw steps could be heard in the silence and then the sound of scale rustling against scale. After that there was only the sound of my daughter and a much younger voice crying before all sound cut out and the curtains were drawn back for good this time revealing Ataksak. "Come" She beckoned.

Silla, Nanook, and I entered while their mates stayed back. We surrounded her trembling form as she silently caressed Asa with her snout. Stretching our necks out and nudging her in solidarity she raised her head to look at us. Her feathers a solid yellow before sliding towards green. She looked back down to the child while he looked up at her. The static bursts of several private communications flew past us before the hatchling lowered his head on her leg and closed his eye while clutching her foreleg tightly.

"He will stay with me. He wishes to live to remember his own family, instead of letting them die along with him. He wants others to remember them. I have promised him that they will." She swiveled her head around showing her steely determination to all, even as it was veiled by tears.

Gregory coughed behind me and my family scattered to make room for him and the three fire breathers with him. Working together they placed Caleb upon Sylvia as the largest of them and silently left once more bearing Caleb's body to its final resting place. Pinga hid the grim procession from Asa as she looked on mournfully. As the funerary train disappeared from sight I saw her jaws work briefly and a wave of finality washed over me.

Goodbye Caleb. May you find your way home to your family.

Gregory, trailing the rest of his family stopped at the tree line and looked back at me.

You, and only you may come to watch what happens next for your own edification. We only ask you that you keep your link closed for the last act. Tell your family of what you saw later.

_ _ I looked around and told everyone that I would be back soon and that I'd be cut off for the time being.

Ata stretched her head out to nudge me. "Don't be long. I can feel the first egg entering my canal, I think it will be tonight." She hummed thoughtfully and then bent her head to lick and sniff at her own lower abdomen before looking back at me. "A couple hours at most for the first one to slide free."

I licked her nose "I'll be there." I sent her my muted joy. She nodded, understanding that the smothering blanket of all that had occurred was dampening what should have sent us into ecstasies of joyful caroling. She gave me another brief snout rub before I turned and hurried after the retreating tail of Gregory.

I followed them through the trees until we came to a large clearing with three clusters of trees and nothing else besides tall spine ridden grass like plants. We reached the tree clusters and I was saddened to see that all of them were in a row. And there was a recently dug hole at the end. It was obvious the excavation was done by paw and claw. Next to the enormous hole there was a small clear bag of seeds and four worker units.

Now I understood.

No words were said as Sylvia crouched low while her family worked to lower Caleb next to the grave. Sekhmet closed her eyes in concentration and the worker units began to run straps beneath Caleb's body. With the workers assistance and Sekhmet, Sylvia, and Gregory's strength he was laid to rest in his large grave. Anath raised the seed pouch and delicately ripped it open and scattered the seeds upon Caleb. Then they began to fill. Soon enough there was nothing more than a mound of freshly turned dirt. Anath departed to shepherd the worker units back to the Commons while the rest of her family turned to me.

"Thoughts?" Sylvia asked, calmly and respectfully for once given the somber tone.

"I...I... don't know. How did you come to develop these burial rites? You all know, well except perhaps you Sekhmet, the death process for those in space. A cardboard box, and then cremation. How did you come to agree upon the symbolic renewal of the trees?"

"We are shepherds of this land. Our bodies are grown and sustained by the resources of this world that we consume. We minimize our impact upon this world, but we know that we cause change by our presence regardless. This is our attempt at penance. For our bodies to become a source of new life."

Sekhmet called me over to the largest set of memorial trees. "Come look Negafook."

Peering closely I could see the trees were alive with movement. Small creatures darting up and down the limbs and trunk eating even smaller creatures. While the airborne squid periodically swooped down to prey on these smaller arboreal predators.

"These trees are special. Almost an entire ecosystem contained within each plant. This is what grows from the nutrients and minerals that our bodies breakdown into. The trees themselves will actually take root in the corpses for sustenance before breaking the surface. A living memorial for each of Prithvi. One that those of echo Den who lost their lives were not accorded. The Rocs took their bodies."

"It is time to put your money where your mouth is Negafook." Sylvia interjected, her brief solemnity wearing away. Next week you, I, Sekhmet, Mazu, Riku, and two you have not met from Bravo den will set out to the frontier and attempt to find their bodies. We expect to make contact in some way or another with the Rocs. The risk is high, but the need is paramount. Aucun ne sera oublié. Nous ne reviendrons pas avant d'avoir trouvé les morts. Pour Asa." None will be forgotten. We will not return until we find the dead. For Asa.

"We know of what we ask of you Negafook, we know that your mate expects she may lay her eggs within the next few hours. Please, accompany us. You will not be expected to participate in any fighting. We do not wish it either. But even now we are in the process of establishing orbital assistance. Observation, communication, and Gungnir spears. There will be no failure. We ask you along to discover whether the Rocs can be communicated or reasoned with. Humanity's days of wiping out sentient life for convenience are over. The orbital weapons are only for use in our mortal danger."

I sighed and crouched down on my rear. They were asking a lot. The timing was bad. Ataksak may not agree. But I had given my word. The Rocs must be engaged. The bodies must be found.

I opened my self to my mate and relayed what was asked of me. What it meant. Her response was nothing more than a request to return to our nest. To make our decision after tonight.

"Ata, my life, my light, has asked me back to our nest. She will begin laying shortly. I..." I raised my wings and then let them fall. "...I gave you my word. But I gave my word to another long before I reached this world. Please give me a chance to talk to my mate."

"You gave me your word and I believed you when you did. Just as I believe you now. But a brooding dragoness' concern must overrule all. We understand." Sekhmet looked back at her mother. "Don't we?"

"Vous avez menti à ma fille. Je vais éteindre votre étincelle ." You lied to my daughter. I am going to extinguish your spark.

"Mother, I have no objection to his reasoning, why should you?"

Sylvia looked away and muttered: "Fine"

I bowed to them briefly in response, and then launched myself aloft to return to the incessant call of my expecting mate. Like an arrow I raced across the darkening sky to my nest.

Slamming to the ground my head weaved left and right looking for her. Pinga pointed a talon towards Ata's earlier excavation. As I rapidly disappeared down the indicated tunnel I heard my mate groan.

"I don't think neither I nor my vent will be up for that flight over the ocean tomorrow."

Even as I ran into the room and just barely had time to notice a large pad of straw in the center of the room a grunt drew my attention. There my light stood fully extended as her rear squat down to deposit the first egg of seven. She laid the glistening ovoid right in the center of the straw as I took in its green and brown chaotic coloring. One meter in length, and she carried seven of these?

Shuffling slightly she gave another groan and then stood panting for a second. "One down, six to go. That did not feel like anything that I ever knew giving birth as a human."

"How so?" I asked while I sniffed over the egg. What was I sniffing for? How did I know what needed sniffing? I paused, then sniffed some more. If my children needed sniffing I would sniff until I knew what I was sniffing for!

"What do you mean how so? I just gave birth to one of our children start to finish in about two and a half minutes!" She whapped me hard with her tail and then arched her back and stomped her rear legs before crouching and laying the next egg with a hearty groan. "You sunless blight, stay away from me. They are coming too fast."

"Okay, I will wait with the others above. Just please, for the love of all the gods above and below. Reach out to me if you need help."

Her snapping jaws chased me from the cavern before halting as she gave an abbreviated groan. It cut off as I ran out into the open air. I briefly looked over all that were here before turning around and filling the entrance tunnel with my bulk as I waited. My snout just shy of actually being seen from the nesting cavern.

I can smell you, you know.

_ Good, that means you know you can't scare me away from being with you for the most important moment you've had in eight years._

_ _ She rolled her eyes so hard I felt it over the mental link. Get back in here you big oaf. Just stop riling me up. I could feel the warmth of her gratitude carry me into the chamber. Under her careful watch I snatched a large portion of the cut grass from the birthing ring and made a smaller nest to the side.

Let me tend to the eggs. I don't want you to worry about stepping on them during your labors.

_ Be careful!_

_ _ I lowered my head to gently place the first egg in my mouth to transfer it to the smaller nest. Once both were moved I curled about them and began to lick them both clean of my mate's fluids. She watched me with adoring eyes until thirty minutes passed and she rose to begin stretching her body once more.

Elongating herself to her fullest extent in preparation she gave a series of snorts followed by a long inhalation. Then her tail rose, her rear legs bowed, and she lowered herself to bring our third child into the world.

This soulful, loving enterprise went on for six hours before seven eggs lay within my protective coil. An exhausted Ata was collapsed before me with her snout pressed deeply within her clutch to be close to her children.

"It took me twelve minutes and you over six hours. Do you need anything, my dear dear mate?"

"A bath" she mumbled into her eggs.

I reached out to beckon our other children down into the cave to meet their new siblings. I halted, and then admonished them to meet their kin one at a time, remembering the relatively small size of the chamber.

Not so little Silla was first. A torrent of dirt announced her arrival as she slammed snout first into the floor with a squeak and bounced up with her tail whistling. "Eggs? Oh! Oh! Oh!" She danced fervidly in place, spinning round and round before rocking from paw to paw eagerly. "Oh, I'm so happy for you mommy and daddy! Seven! Seven, new brothers and sisters!" She rocketed forward until her nose thumped into Ata's side as she began crooning a song of welcome.

The sound of her song. And the blissful feelings of all three of us reached those above as their sonorous melodies began and intertwined with our own. After a few minutes Silla recognized it was time for another to come and rose. She stopped briefly to rub her jowl against each of the seven eggs from top to bottom and then gave Ata and I a lick upon the snout before retreating up the slope.

Nanook was the next one down to stare with unabashed wonder at his siblings. "Eggssss." He sibilated before rubbing his snout down the length of his mother's and then my own. "I cannot wait for the day to feel their scales upon my own."

A titanic rolling feeling of warmth and desire rolled downward from above as Mazu made her own feelings known on the matter. If there was ever any doubt before that we would have more grandchildren soon it was put to rest as those sublime feelings reached us. Nudging us both once more, and giving us encouraging nuzzles Nanook retreated to the surface.

Next came Pinga. And along with her, Asa. At this point I wasn't exactly sure who was comforting who. Both needed it. But only Ping came forward to greet her newest brethren. Asa sat close to one wall and could only bring himself to look out of the corner of his remaining eye. I saw tears build in it before he turned completely away.

The poor child, I thought.

Pinga interrupted my brooding. "I am with egg. Caleb's last act has been fulfilled. Alessandra came by to confirm it an hour ago." She said this while looking at her mother's clutch with unreadable emotions flickering across her feathers in staccato bursts. The gist of her feelings made my own feathers droop in silent misery as her mother lifted her head from amongst her eggs to caress her. "I... I wish that my expectations were as happy as your own. I... congratulate you mother and father and look forward to my children scampering with their aunts and uncles." She ran down like a clockwork toy before settling with her nose against the ground. Asa peeled himself away from the wall to nudge his way under her head and lifted it on to his back to lead her away.

As she shuffled away Ata tried to raise her spirits. "My daughter, it was cruel to have the act forced upon you. And crueler still for you to be the one to end a life that had given over all hope and sense of future. Please be strong, for those by your side. And for those that you now carry within you."

Pinga stopped, and then her tail curled forward to touch Asa as she again tottered from our sight back up to the entrance. Her emotions were flat and unreadable. I worried.

With all our children seen to, the next one down the tunnel was Alessandra. She was particularly concerned about Ata. "You just dropped seven eggs. Of course I'm worried about you. Your body is still in a period of rapid growth. Here." She set down a worker unit to dispense more cubes. "Eat these until you can't eat anymore. You need energy. All that your stomach can contain."

As my mate gorged herself, I stole three to eat myself. While the medic turned her attention to the eggs. She directed the worker to scan them all, and closed her eyes as the data was piped into her mind.

"I had my worries. So many eggs in a body only partially complete. One of them is of particular concern. The scan is anomalous."

Now fully awake from her stupor Ataksak began to anxiously nudge and caress each of her eggs.

Define anomalous. Am I only going to have six children hatch?

_ _ "There seems to be variations in one of the eggs chemical balance. A deviation from what the other six have. Only as the embryos form will I be able to give you a more concrete answer. But..." She lowered her head to soothe some of my mate's feathers as I crooned a song. "...But you may have to prepare yourself for the fact that one of your eggs will not come to term."

Is there anything I can do to help my little one's chances? She asked, while staring at her eggs with longing and sadness showing from her feathers.

"The one of concern is this one." Alessandra nudged the fourth egg lain. "Keep it warm, warmer than the others. Do not move it more than absolutely necessary. Remain hopeful. It is far too early to say that it is beyond saving just yet."

Ata raised her head as a tear rolled down her snout and nudged me aside to take my place around her little ones. She nosed the endangered egg down to rest against her groin and brought her leg forward to cradle it.

"The warmest part of me, to show it the depth of my love." Another tear rolled down her nose, before she licked it off. "I will not give up, not until all hope is lost. I will do what I must to have seven hatchlings." Lifting her head imperiously her feathers glowed with resolute dedication (amber). I nodded and licked the tracks of the tears off her scales.

Alessandra scooped up her medical unit and limped around to begin her way back to the surface. _If you need anything, do not for one second hesitate to ask. We will do anything to help you, brood mother. All of the colonists of Prithvi are at your disposal. _

_ _ A tsunami of agreement washed over us as Ata curled her neck securely around her other six eggs. I completed her protective circle as our eyes slid shut, ending a day full of bittersweet feelings and events. _ _

Author's Note: Well I have just about caught up to where I am in writing this one. (At quite a bit more than my estimated 40-50k words I might add.) One, maybe two more chapters, tops, in this story series. But fret not, my intrepid readers. The adventures of those on Prithvi will continue.