Jarzyl & Atlas: A Good Day
#65 of The Life and Times of Jarzyl Mintaka (Slice of Life Stories)
Jarzyl makes moves, Atlas makes moves in return
Some further fledgling flirtations featuring two fond friends. (6,330 words)
Atlas glanced towards the kitchen as Jarzyl led him down the corridor. "If you get me a wet towel, I can wipe this chalk off..."
"Nah. I'll get you properly clean." Jarzyl turned on the light, and then she used her wing to nudge Atlas into the bathroom. Normally the young drake's scales were a deep dark black, but Jarzyl had spent the afternoon dotting chalk on his scales as she counted them for a school science project. "Right. Get in the tub. In you go."
Whereas the bathroom directly attached to Jarzyl's bedroom had a shower, this one had a bathtub. Jarzyl bumped her shoulder against the other dragon fledgling's hindquarters until he stepped into the bathroom, then into the bathtub. With a quick motion Jarzyl plugged the drain and opened the tap. Atlas sat down as the tub began to fill, and he watched as warm water splashed around his paws. "It's been a long time since I did something like this."
"I suppose you don't have a bathtub at the sheltered home?"
Atlas shook his head. "Of course not. Water isn't free."
"Water is pretty cheap. The city harvests it right from the clouds."
Atlas shrugged. "Cheap doesn't mean free. Clanless hatchlings have to wash themselves clean in the sink. I'm a fledgling so I'm allowed to use the shower, but there's only one big shared communal shower. It's also against the rules to take a long shower, and the rules are that we're only allowed a shower once every two days."
Jarzyl didn't like to admit it, but listening to Atlas talk about his home life as a clanless young dragon made her much more grateful for being in Clan Mintaka. "That seems restrictive. So you don't even get to be clean every day? I didn't know that."
"No, of course I'm clean. But I just have to do it the natural way." Holding out a wing, Atlas stuck out his tongue and licked at his flight scales. "A tongue bath is healthier anyway. Gentler on the scales than soap. Yuck, this chalk tastes bad though."
"Don't get the chalk in your mouth." Reaching for a shelf, Jarzyl grabbed a clean wash towel and passed it to Atlas.
"Thanks." He dipped it in the water, then got some soap from a nearby bottle and began wiping his body, cleaning away all the white marks that Jarzyl had covered him. Closing his eyes, he ran the wash towel all over his face and snout, then he dipped his head into the stream of water from the tap to rinse the soap off. "Do you... do you do this often? Take baths, I mean."
"Not at all. It takes far too much time compared to taking a shower." Jarzyl waited for a moment, then she hopped to her feet and strolled out. Returning to her bedroom, she used her jaws to grab her radio set by its strap, and she carried it to the bathroom. The long antenna wire dangled between her legs as she walked, and lively music continue to play out from the radio as she walked.
Atlas glanced up as Jarzyl re-entered the washroom. He had been cleaning his wings, but he smiled faintly as Jarzyl put down the radio and adjusted the volume.
"This thing is great. I can listen to music anytime and anywhere I want," Jarzyl said.
"Careful not to get it wet."
Jarzyl shook her head. "It's a fleet-grade radio comm set--you can carry this thing and fly into storms, so it can take a splash." She hummed along to the music as the song built to a crescendo. "Huh, duh, da-duh..." Then with a grin, Jarzyl picked up the soap bottle and casually poured a sizable dose into the bathtub as it continued to fill around Atlas. "Hehehe." The water pouring in from the tap churned up the soap, and thick bubbly foam started to form.
"I don't think that's necessary," Atlas noted.
"It's not necessary. But it is fun," Jarzyl replied.
"Fine." As Atlas continued to wash himself clean, Jarzyl sat down on the tiled floor beside the tub. She turned up the music, and then she closed her eyes and bobbed her head to the music before singing along. "Flying with your eyes closed, burning but you're ice-cold! Join the fight, for what's right, together we stand, never to bend..."
Eventually the song ended and Jarzyl didn't know the lyrics to the next song, so instead she stared into the mirror and peered at her own appearance--perking her neck frill up, she grinned and winked at her reflection.
Atlas chuckled. He glanced away when she looked at him, but he was faintly smiling. Jarzyl waited until he made eye contact with her again, and then she winked at him, which made his smile widen. "Jarz."
"Atlas."
By now the bathtub was mostly filled, so Atlas shut off the tap. He sat down in the water, and a thick layer of soap suds partially obscured him, all except for his neck, head, and wings. Atlas draped the wash towel around his neck, then he sighed and his expression became hesitant instead. "Jarzyl, can I... can I ask you about something?"
Jarzyl sat down beside the bathtub and casually leaned against it. She nodded. "Sure. Ask away. Do you need my help for your science project? I can help! Or do you need me to scrub your back? I can help with that too." Reaching over, Jarzyl grabbed the wash towel from around Atlas's neck and rubbed his back.
Atlas hardly even reacted. "Nothing like that. There's something that's been on my mind. It's serious."
Jarzyl's curiosity was piqued. Putting down the soapy towel on the rim of the bathtub, she silenced the radio and then looked at Atlas, listening closely. "What is it? What troubles you?"
Atlas was quiet and still for a moment, just staring at the tiny shimmering rainbows of all the soap bubbles. "Yesterday afternoon, after I left school, I had interviews. And I got an offer for... for a clan."
It took Jarzyl a few seconds to process what Atlas had said, and then she gleefully exclaimed and leapt to her feet. "Aiiiih! What?! Wait, what? Wow! Since when have you been applying for...? But you got into a clan? So you're not clanless anymore?! I knew you could do it! Congratulations! Wow that's amazing--!"
Atlas raised his paw to interrupt her. "Not quite."
Jarzyl had been jumping up and down on the spot, but she froze and peered at Atlas. "Oh, are there restrictions? Is it a conditional offer of membership, like you have to get a certain minimum score on this year's exams? Or you need to have a certain type of magic before they'll confirm you? Or they're putting you in indenture, and going to take all your income for a few years?"
"Nothing like that. It's an open, standard offer. No restrictions. If I accept, I get proper clan membership--housing, community facilities, access to training and job opportunities, and all the rights that come with clan membership."
"Wow!" Jarzyl squeaked. "Which clan is it?!"
Atlas continued. "Over the last few months I applied to a few different clans--not because I expected anything, but just to get practice with the process. There's tests, examinations, and interviews, but most clans don't want to take fledglings--they'd rather an adult dragon with magic, so they know how useful I'll be if they let me join. But somehow I got all the way through. Yesterday was the final interview phase, and at the end of it they gave me a formal offer for clan membership."
"Wow." Filled with excitement, Jarzyl resumed hopping. She danced on the spot and waved her wings, creating a gust of wind that caught some of the foam from the bathtub and sent bubbles floating through the air. "Wow, wow, wow!"
Atlas smiled, but then he frowned at the same time, with that same hesitant expression. "I'm going to decline the offer."
"Eh?" Jarzyl's hindleg slipped and she nearly fell, but she used her tail and wing to maintain balance. She stopped dancing. "Why? And which clan was it, anyway?"
Atlas nodded. "That is the problem."
"The clan is the problem?" Jarzyl picked up the wash towel and fidgeted with it, dipping it in the soap and water before lifting it out and wringing it dry repeatedly. "Is it a very small clan? I thought you said that um... I remember you saying once that any clan is better than no clan?"
Atlas was quiet again for a moment, then he sighed and said, "It's Tydarin."
"Tydarin? Hmm." Jarzyl thought hard and searched her knowledge. She wasn't an expert in clan politics, but she did keep up with current affairs and had heard of some of the more significant dragon clans beside her own. "That's the nocturnal clan, isn't it?"
Atlas nodded again. "So, you do know about them."
"Yeah. Clan Tydarin. The Dark Sky Clan." Jarzyl glanced at her friend. "They're not a small clan at all. Tydarin is the largest clan that isn't under banner or dominion alliance with any of the apex clans. They control a decent chunk of city territory, right?"
"Correct."
"So why are you not accepting the offer? What's the problem?"
Atlas glanced away. He used his paw to bat at some of the bubbly foam that surrounded him in the tub. "The problem with Tydarin is that they are nocturnalists."
Jarzyl tilted her head. "Yeah? Just like you?"
"No, no. There's a difference between being a nocturnal and being a nocturnalist." Atlas looked right at her with his gaze sharpening. "Jarz, what's the big difference between you and me?"
"You're a drake, and I'm a drakka."
Atlas laughed, but he shook his head. "Not like that. I mean the other difference. I'm a nocturnal--I have dark stealthy scales, night sight, and silent wings. But you're a diurnal dragon--you have bright pretty scales, fantastic long-range sight in the day, and speedy wings. Those are the differences between diurnals and nocturnals."
Jarzyl smiled, and her neck frill perked up a little. "I have pretty scales?"
"Yes, obviously." Atlas had an intense, serious look, and he waved away her question. "But listen, this is important. In the City of Wings and the drakken Outer Colonies, one out of every five dragons are nocturnal. But whether nocturnal or diurnal, that's just a subspecies difference, and we're all just dragons. It's only a physical difference, and not a big one. There's no difference when it comes to minds and emotions and magic... and the important parts. We're all still just dragons. We live together in our society."
Jarzyl nodded. "Yes?"
"But Clan Tydarin has a different philosophy. They only want nocturnal dragons."
"But you are a nocturnal dragon."
Atlas sighed. "Yes I am, but that doesn't define me. Clan Tydarin is, to its very core, a nocturnalist clan. They only accept nocturnal dragons into their community. Their territory is all in the city's underside in the shade, and they conduct all clan business and meetings at night, including every interview I went for. Even their lights are left dim, because they assume you've got a nocturnal's night vision. And let me tell you--that last interview, I spoke with one of their wingleaders and their viewpoint was made fully clear. They think that since nocturnal dragons are outnumbered by diurnals, we should stick together and stand up for ourselves."
Jarzyl hesitantly nodded. "That seems logical...?"
"No but it's more extreme than I'm making it sound. They are... splitting society. Try to see it from my perspective--would you join Tydarin?"
Jarzyl slid the wash cloth along the edge of the bathtub, then wiped it against Atlas's wing. "It's hard to say what I'd do if I were clanless. Mintaka has always been my clan, so I can't claim to know how you feel. But even if I were clanless, I wouldn't be able to join Tydarin because I'm not a nocturnal dragon."
Atlas scowled. "Imagine, Jarz. Imagine if you were a nocturnal dragon. Would you join a clan that only accepted nocturnals?"
"Uhhh..." Jarzyl stalled for time by wiping Atlas's shoulder with the cloth, then his back. "I don't see why not? It means that their housing, their job opportunities, their healthcare planning, and all their clan things are better suited to nocturnal dragons. So if I were a nocturnal, why not?"
"Because of the principle," Atlas insisted.
"I don't know too much, but it's not like Tydarin wants to get rid of diurnal dragons, right?" Jarzyl asked curiously.
"Well, no. Of course Tydarin is just another clan in the city--if I did join, they wouldn't stop me from still having diurnals as friends, colleagues, or acquaintances. But in principle, I don't agree that diurnals and nocturnals are so different. And in practice, Tydarin Clan has rules and limits."
"What rules? Surely you can't object to them holding meetings at night--that's a nocturnal thing. Or keeping their lights dim, because you shouldn't have any problem with darkness."
"I'm not explaining this properly. It's nothing so trivial as that. They have strict restrictions on their communities and their families."
Jarzyl shook her head. "Sorry Atlas, but I still don't get it. Give me a clear example--what exactly stops you from joining this clan?"
Atlas opened his mouth to say something, then he closed it and thought for a moment. He took a deep breath and drew himself up. "You want an example?"
Jarzyl nodded. "Yes please."
"Alright then. Let me demonstrate. Pretend that I accept the offer and join Clan Tydarin. I move out of the clanless shelter and into their housing estate, probably get a tiny little apartment of my own. Then once I get my magic, they sponsor me attending some vocational training classes and learning how to use my magic, and maybe I get preferential admission to one of their workplaces. All that good stuff that any clan should do. But then one day, I go and do something ridiculous like, uh, this."
And then he leaned over and kissed her. With a quick move of his head, Atlas gently licked the side of Jarzyl's snout. His tongue felt warm and wet against her scales. It could just be thought of as an affectionate gesture between friends--or something more than that, between two friends who were a little more than just friends.
Jarzyl didn't react for a second. Then her neck frill perked up halfway. Then it perked up all the way, rising straight up around the back of her head.
Atlas glanced away, trying to play it cool. "I'd get expelled from Tydarin for that."
Suddenly things made sense. They made a lot of sense. Or maybe they didn't make any sense at all. Jarzyl swallowed, and she shimmied up against the outside of the bathtub and leaned towards Atlas. "Uh, do that... do that again. Repeat the demonstration. I wasn't paying enough attention the first time."
"Heh." Atlas grinned at her, looking amused. His head was so close to hers. She felt his breath wash over her cheek as he exhaled softly, then he again licked the side of her snout. He pulled back too quickly for Jarzyl's liking. "Me, a nocturnal--you, a diurnal. Not allowed, by Clan Tydarin rules. You get what I mean?"
Jarzyl suddenly found it impossible to make eye contact with her friend. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind. What she finally said was, "ah."
Atlas chuckled, and Jarzyl found herself laughing along too. "Hah. I spoke with some of the other clanless fledglings at the shelter yesterday--my old friends. They all thought I should just take the offer from Tydarin. They didn't see any reason why I wouldn't."
Jarzyl wasn't thinking--it was just difficult to concentrate. Her gaze was fixed on the wall. "Huh."
Out of her peripheral vision, she could tell Atlas was staring right at her. "Lost your words?" His paw moved and touched her chin, gently turning her head until her eyes met his. Jarzyl offered no resistance.
Atlas had a faint grin. "Jarz..." he muttered, "Jarzyl Mintaka." Her name sounded comfortable in his mouth, the way he said it so confidently, as if he owned it. Where had that come from? Atlas was normally quiet and sometimes a little awkward, but not today.
Jarzyl's neck frill was still perked all the way up, and it twitched, which briefly drew Atlas's gaze upwards before he smiled at her again. Her gaze darted from Atlas's left eye to his right, and her head tilted slightly as she leaned into his paw as he held her chin. She could feel the rapid pulse of her heartbeat, moving in a quick staccato. "Keep going..." she murmured.
Atlas's grin widened. He sniffed the side of her snout, then he licked it again. Instead of just doing it once as before, he did it again and again--running his tongue against one side of her muzzle, then the other side, and then Jarzyl let her mouth open up, and then he was in there too. Snout against snout, exchanging breath, exchanging saliva, two young dragons tasting each other. Her gaze went distant, and her eyes became half-lidded.
"Mhhh..." Jarzyl sighed softly, unable to say anything else as her mouth was otherwise occupied. Her wings fluttered as a shiver went through her body, and a tingle ran over all her scales. She pressed forward, eyes closed, just enjoying the messy, intimate sensation of Atlas's mouth against hers. He had been holding her chin, but then his touch brushed down her neck, before resting against her shoulder.
Finally Atlas pulled back, and Jarzyl was left panting for air, eyes still closed. Reared up on her hindlimbs, she wobbled before slumping against the bathtub, catching the rim to regain her balance. Blinking her eyes open, she glanced at Atlas just in time to see him licking his snout.
Abruptly Jarzyl chuckled, then she let out a breathless series of giggles. "Haahe... hehehe... oah... woah... I think I... I deserved that. You... I ... We... That was fun."
Atlas laughed too. He shuffled his wings and glanced away, sitting back down in the tub. "I can't believe I did that," he admitted, shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you let me do that."
Jarzyl was less coherent. "Ho, oh, ho, hoo. Hehehe." Hopping to her feet, she shook herself all over and then she bounced between all four paws in a dance. The bathroom's enclosed space and slippery floor prevented her from doing a backflip, otherwise she would have done so. Rocking her body, she waved her tail about and flicked her neck frill up and down. Instead of feeling frozen like before, now she felt filled with energy and joy. "Atlas, Atlas. Atlas..."
"You know my name." Atlas grinned at the sight of her dancing. He licked his snout again, then wiped it with the back of his paw. Lazily he batted at some of the soap foam which still partially filled the tub, and shifted the way he was sitting. "Good thing for all these bubbles, or this would be improper."
Jarzyl halted mid dance, balancing on two of her paws with her other two paws in the air. Her neck frill snapped back up. "Oh, really?" Scampering over, she peered at Atlas, who glanced away, looking self-conscious again.
"Uh..."
Jarzyl put on an innocent, curious, wide-eyed expression. "What does improper mean? When you say it like that?"
"I--" Before Atlas could reply, she leaned over the tub and put one of her paws on his shoulder and the other on his chest, which made him cut off his sentence.
"Go on. Tell me what you mean by improper," she demanded. Grinning wildly, Jarzyl glanced down, but the bubbly foam fully obscured the lower half of Atlas's body. She had clearly put far too much soap in the bath. "Or if you won't say it, I'll figure it out myself." For a moment she rubbed at his chest as if to clean his already washed scales. Trying to be casual, Jarzyl moved her touch down Atlas's chest--her paw trembled slightly, just once.
The water was decidedly less hot that it had been before, though it still had some warmth as it engulfed her forelimb. The bathroom felt almost too hot now, making Jarzyl pant a few times. Atlas was sitting up on his hindlegs, with his forepaw resting on the edge of the bathtub, and he looked as uncertain but curious as she felt. Jarzyl moved her paw through the water, right between Atlas's hindlegs, until she felt her digits brush against something.
Both fledglings flinched--Atlas sat up straight, while Jarzyl gasped and snapped back her paw, half withdrawing it from the water. She hesitated for a second, then she put her paw back into the water and continued. She slid her paw along the bottom of the tub, then again she touched something, but this time instead of pulling back she got a feel.
There was nothing else in the bathtub except for Atlas and a whole bunch of soapy water--and soapy water didn't feel this solid. And it wasn't his hindpaws she was touching. Jarzyl felt a cylindrical organ, a little soft yet a little hard, and she delicately wrapped her paw around it.
Unexpectedly, that appendage flexed in her grip, then it coiled around her paw and gripped her back. "Oh!" Jarzyl exclaimed, surprised. She looked at Atlas, who had an amused smirk. "I didn't know you could..." But then suddenly the organ moved, pulling her paw up through the water until it broke the surface and the soapy foam. Jarzyl then saw that she'd just been touching Atlas's tail tip, which had been curled forward around his body. "Oh," Jarzyl muttered.
Atlas laughed. "Hah. You sound disappointed."
"I am disappointed." Jarzyl squeezed on her close friend's tail, which she was still holding. "I thought this was something else."
"Something improper." Atlas glanced at his tail tip, and he coiled it and squeezed against Jarzyl's grip. "It's not as thin as that," he casually muttered.
"Oh!" Jarzyl stared at her friend with a shocked grin. "Oh!!" she repeated. "Oh, really?" She glanced down at the water, but there were still too many soap bubbles to see anything. Jarzyl casually reached over and twisted a small lever, unplugging the tub, and water slowly began to drain.
Atlas observed this, but he said nothing as the water level gradually began to drop.
"So..." Jarzyl used one paw to grab Atlas's tail, while using her other paw to rub the tip--the soap made the appendage slick and slippery under her grip, and Jarzyl found it easy to move her paw back and forth, rubbing quickly. Then she stopped and glanced at Atlas. "That's how you _clean_your tail, yeah?"
Atlas casually shrugged his wings. "Something like that. Although I don't grip as hard."
Jarzyl grinned playfully at the other young dragon. Again she rubbed the tip of Atlas's tail, twisting her paw and sliding it back and forth, with a gentler touch instead. She'd heard about this from gossip at school, and from some of the spicier descriptions in the books she'd read. There were classes at school or by her clan which such matters where drily taught, but this felt so much more real. Curious excitement ran through her body, and her own tail tip flicked from side to side.
Without really stopping to think about what she was doing, Jarzyl put the tip of Atlas's tail right into her mouth and suckled on it. But the taste of soap was unpleasantly bitter, and she spat it out quickly. "Eyuck. Why did I do that?"
Atlas let out an amused laugh. "Hahaha! Wow, Jarz, you went right for that."
Moving to the side of the tub, Jarzyl turned on the tap to rinse her mouth clean. "Sometimes I do things without thinking. Something seems like fun, so I just do it."
"Hmm. That's how you always seem to find adventures, and then I get pulled along to be the voice of sensible reason." Atlas looked a little more introspective now. He took his tail tip out from Jarzyl's grip. "Relax, Jarz. Slow down a bit. Don't rush."
"Ok. Yes, ok. Right." Jarzyl took a deep breath to control her breathing, and she tried to slow the frantic pounding of her hearts. She looked at Atlas. Rational thought pushed back against the hungry desire that burned inside her, just a little bit. "I like spending time with you. We talk. We do things. We have fun."
"It's good, isn't it?"
"It is." Jarzyl shuddered. "Atlas, I've told you this before, but I can't get you into Mintaka."
Atlas nodded calmly. "I know that."
"Are you sure about Tydarin? You're turning down a clan offer just because they won't let you... uh... we..." Jarzyl made a vague gesture with her paws. She didn't quite know how to describe what had just happened between them.
Atlas shrugged. "It's not just that. It's the whole principle. Joining Tydarin truly isn't that enticing, at least from my perspective. I disapprove of their core principle, which is that nocturnal dragons need to stick together and pair up otherwise the subspecies will go extinct. We're all dragons. And practically speaking, I'm sure I can find another clan that will take me, eventually." He glanced pointedly at Jarzyl. "Although yes, um, it is fun to kiss a smart, pretty, adventurous, diurnal friend. I think I'd miss doing that if I joined Tydarin."
"Hehe. That's me..." Jarzyl giggled happily, and she tapped her paws against the tiled floor. "Atlas, do it... do it again, then."
And then he did it again.
It still felt awkward and a little hesitant, but it was even more electrifying than the first time as the two fledglings touched snouts, and their mouths met in a kiss. Jarzyl stood up on her hindlimbs and hugged Atlas. She wrapped her wings around his body, feeling the wetness of his scales, and then she ran a paw up the back of his neck before grabbing one of his horns to press his head against hers, as they just kept licking. She breathed in the scent of his scales, and felt his chest against hers, and it was good.
But then there came the sound of wingbeats, accompanied by the distinct sound of repeated overlapping dinging, and that made both fledglings suddenly pull apart. "Was that...?" Atlas asked. "What's that ringing?"
Jarzyl spun around and looked out the bathroom door, which was still open. The corridor was empty. "Um. Weird noise." She glanced back at Atlas, and both fledglings stared at each other. Jarzyl kind of wanted Atlas to keep kissing her, but the ringing, dinging sound was still continuing. "Let me go check what's going on."
Jarzyl stepped out into the corridor, and she followed the sound of dinging until she got to the living room. Unexpectedly, the living room had a small crowd of dragons who were filing in from the balcony, landing one by one.
Jarzyl recognized some of the new arrivals as family members. She recognized aunts, uncles, and also some of her grandparents as well as more distantly related family. But there were also other dragons who weren't related by blood, but instead by the clan--there were some who were wingleaders like her father, as well as other friends of her parents.
Everyone was wearing the insignia of Clan Mintaka, and they all had bells--holding the bell handle in their jaws, or with forepaws, or even with a tail tip--and everyone was ringing the bells repeatedly, creating the noisy dinging even as they all entered the living room and stood in a large circle.
Jarzyl knew this clan ritual. Her uncle, Decarn, strolled over, and he too held a bell in his mouth and was nodding his head up and down to ring it. "Jarzyl! Here you go!" he said with clenched teeth, and then he passed another bell to Jarzyl.
Jarzyl took the bell, but she was too surprised to ring it. "Wait, already?"
Her uncle nodded. "Yes. What a relief, isn't it?"
Before Jarzyl could reply, a whirling sphere of magical energy appeared on the living room balcony, dissipating quickly to reveal three dragons--both of Jarzyl's parents, as well as her Aunt Mira, who had her wings raised to channel her teleportation magic.
Immediately the assembled crowd cheered, and there was frantic ringing of the bells. Tails were thumped against the ground noisily. "Ding, ding, ding! Clang, clang!" "Congratulations!" "Hooray!"
Zilarin Mintaka, Jarzyl's mother, looked weary and tired as she strolled into her home, but her expression lighted on seeing her daughter. "Jarzyl..."
"You're back!" Dropping the bell, Jarzyl sprinted across the room to hug her mother.
Zilarin wrapped her wings around her too, but then she nudged Jarzyl towards her father, who was standing just beside and behind. "Go on. Go see what I did."
Galon Mintaka was smiling proudly, with his neck frill perked up, and he wore a large sling pouch attached to the front of his flight harness. He beckoned Jarzyl over, and she saw that inside that sling pouch was a large, pale white ovoid, carefully wrapped in soft warm cloth--a dragon egg.
The assembled crowd of clan drakken was still cheering happily, ringing the bells, and thumping their tails against the ground. Everyone was eagerly peering at the egg, but Jarzyl had the first view. "The future fourth member of our family," Galon cheerfully declared. "You can touch it."
"Wow." Jarzyl swallowed nervously, but then she reached out a paw and touched the egg. It was warm and solid. She lowered her paw quickly. "Wow."
"Heh. Came out far quicker and easier than your egg did," Zilarin said to Jarzyl, which made the fledgling blink. Zilarin then dipped her head in quick acknowledgement of the crowd. She raised her voice. "Thanks everyone for coming. We'll see you again when this thing eventually hatches." She yawned, then leaned over to Galon and affectionately licked his snout. "Right, I've laid the egg, so you go ahead with the show and tell. I need a rest..."
Galon nodded. "Of course." Zilarin vanished down the corridor, off towards the bedroom. Another drakka--one of Zilarin's sisters, Jarzyl's aunt--accompanied her, and general well wishes and congratulations came from the crowd.
Meanwhile Galon went around the crowd of assembled of family and clanmates to let them see the egg in turn. As was tradition, each dragon observed the egg and made comments about how it looked very healthy and solid, and would surely grow well and hatch soon into a strong little hatchling, and then they each gifted a small red pouch which clinked from the gold coins inside. Everything had the slightly ridiculous air that came with old traditions and rituals. Galon was careful as he held the egg in its sling against his chest, while one of Jarzyl's uncles helped to collect the gifts for the family.
It was all a common tradition for newly laid eggs. Jarzyl hesitated, and then she fled down the corridor.
Atlas was standing just outside her bedroom, wiping his black scales with a towel. He grinned at Jarzyl, clearly having heard and understood the commotion. "Congratulations."
"Shhh!" Jarzyl hushed him. She shoved the door open, but rather than making it to her bed, she slumped down on her front, in the middle of her room, letting out a frustrated groan. "Arrrgghhh."
Atlas chuckled. He followed her into the room. "Why so glum?"
Jarzyl huffed. "Bah. Close the door!"
Atlas used his tail and pushed the bedroom door shut. Then he went over and looked down at the amber-coloured fledgling as she lay splayed out on the ground. "It seems we both are having exciting developments in our lives."
Jarzyl glared up at Atlas. "You got offered a clan, but you got the option to turn it down. I don't get the chance to turn this down. My parents... just decided that they wanted another child, and then they _had_another child. I don't believe this."
Atlas laughed. "Isn't it exciting that you're going to be a sister? Now that's an adventure."
"It's stressful! And it's responsibility! And I already get dragged in to babysit my cousins, so it is guaranteed that I will be forced to help take care of number two."
"Number two? You're already giving a nickname to her? Or him? Your future little sibling?"
"Not her or him--it! It is number two, in that I_am _number one," Jarzyl muttered. "I completely do not understand why my parents would do this to our family."
Atlas laughed heartily. "Maybe... raising you was such a fulfilling and proud experience that they decided to do it again? Maybe because they love you, and they will love your future brother or sister too?"
"Eggs are burdensome, and hatchlings are pests," Jarzyl grumbled.
Atlas was cheerfully unsympathetic to Jarzyl exasperation. "Says the fledgling who was herself a hatchling only a few years ago--"
"Oi!"
"But you knew this was coming. You already knew your mother was gravid, and that it was only a matter of time before the egg would be laid."
"Yes, but I've been doing a good job of not thinking about it." Jarzyl gestured vaguely in the direction of the living room. "But now that_thing_ is here. They're all so happy about it. I haven't seen this many family and clan members together for months."
"You ought to be happy too. You like adventure and play--and soon you're getting a new little hatchling to play with. Also you love your family, and I'm sure you'll love your new sibling, no matter what." Atlas knew her too well, and his words seemed precisely targeted to dissipate her grumpy mood.
"Shhh!" Jarzyl hushed him again. "Stop being reasonable and persuasive. Let me grumble about this life change. It sucks!"
"You'll get use to it." Atlas moved across the room with his uneven, three-legged gait, and then he stepped into his flight harness and started pulling it on.
Still lying on the floor, Jarzyl glanced at her friend. Her gaze slipped towards his underbelly, but of course there was nothing to see there--all proper, all normal. Stretching out her paw, Jarzyl batted at Atlas's tail tip. "You're leaving?"
Atlas nodded. He secured his flight harness straps, then he took his dark goggles off the table and slipped them onto his forehead again. "I'm meeting someone for dinner."
"Who?"
"Reylin. Do you know who that is? I guess you two have never met. Do you remember Glecion--that blind fledgling who joined us when we all went on the school excursion to Mizalin-on-Sky? Reylin is Glecion's twin sister. She left the clanless home cause she got into Clan Taslin."
Jarzyl's neck frill perked up. "Taslin?"
"Yeah, quite a big accomplishment. I'm catching up with her, just having a chat over dinner. I also wanted to get her perspective because she just got into a clan, and here I am turning down an opportunity like that out of principle."
"That seems like a good idea." Both fledglings were quiet for a moment.
Jarzyl still held onto Atlas's tail tip, not letting him go. "Yes? Do you need something else?" Atlas asked. He turned around and glanced down at her.
"You're just... going to go?"
"That's correct." Atlas bent down and bumped his snout against the top of Jarzyl's head. "Goodbye!"
Jarzyl made an incoherent grunt. "Mnngrah." Still holding his tail, she rolled onto her back and looked up at him expectantly.
Atlas laughed. "Fine." Leaning down, he licked the side of her snout, then kissed her again. It was very odd, but Jarzyl found that this massively improved her mood, for reasons she couldn't quite explain.
A soft, rumbly, pleased sound rolled out from her throat. "Hmmrrr..." Both fledglings kept up their embrace for a good fraction of a minute, licking at each other, but then there came the sound of footsteps from the corridor, and that made them both pull apart. Jarzyl glanced at her closed bedroom door, but the footsteps continued past without stopping as someone headed to the washroom.
Crowded, lively chatter was still audible from the living room, and every now and then, there came the sound of wings flapping as dragons came or left from the house. As was the tradition for a newly laid egg, family, friends, clan members, and even co-workers would drop by to offer congratulations, advice, and gifts over the next few hours and days.
Atlas nodded. "It sounds crowded out there. Give my congratulations to your parents, would you?"
"Sure." Jarzyl pushed herself back into a stand and she looked at Atlas. For a moment it felt like there were a dozen things she might have wanted to say to him, but finally she settled on a simple nod. "Fly safe."
"See you tomorrow." Atlas's reply was immediate and casual, just like it had always been. As if nothing had changed. He smiled at her, and she smiled back, and then he stepped out onto the balcony and flapped his way into the evening sky.
Jarzyl waited at the balcony entrance and she watched him fly away, until finally he passed behind an apartment tower and was gone from view. Then she spent a few more moments staring contemplatively at the sky. "What a day," she muttered to herself.
Taking a deep breath, Jarzyl lunged towards the bedroom wall and kicked off it, flapping her wings in a quick motion to do a complete backflip. "A good day."
END