Phaedra crossed her arms against the chill. The wind was becoming shrill
and unbearable, and even the warm mist that normall rose above Boiling
Lake was freezing on exposed skin. Phaedra chastized herself for being
alone. After all, she was the warrenlady, wasn't she? It seemed that people
had been warming up to her a little bit, but it certainly didn't help for
her to
be by herself now. Of course, there was the little matter of a half-enraged
queen dragon on the hatching grounds, but she had handled that before. 
Melith was becoming more irritable and protective every year, though, and
Phaedra was worried that someday some unlucky candidate would suffer 
for it. Perhaps if she brought in the candidates a bit more often, given
them
a little more exposure-

<<Phaedra!>>

*What is it, dear?*

<<The eggs, they're about ready to hatch!>>

******************************

Kryptel watched fascinated as the little egg rocked, then split. A wet,
bedraggled
form rolled out in front of the girls that had been chosen-prepared-for
this event.
One of them screamed as the little dragon-'little', only in the sense that
it
wasn't 70 feet long yet- stumbled towards them. One broke ran, just as the 
queen lunged again. A claw snaked out, grabbed at her leg; the girl
screamed
again as the claw ripped the flash along the inside of her calf. The dragon
was
in a bad way, it was easy to see; it had caught a claw on the inside of its

wing and couldn't get it loose. It meweled it's fear even as the girls-no,
one
of them was moving forward, crooning to it, grabbing the offending claw,
ignoring the buffets of the other wing, looking into its eyes-

...and it was over. The girl gestured imperiously for a bucket of meat,
then 
cringed under the quick lash of the overseer. The dragon moaned, a mixture
of fear and hunger. Slowly, the girl plead for the meat, and it was given
to
her. 

[[Rejoice, Kryptel. A queen is born. My queen.]]

************************************

Here's the chance to write any hatchings at Geode, if you wish...the other
events are at the rogue's cave, of course, and happen about the same time. 
Everyone please send me a short note and let me know if you're still
writing 
with us, thanks.

Allen