~~~
“Mi'lady!” the servant gasped. She leaned, panting with exertion and sheened with sweat, “Mi'lady!”
Laesara looked up, as did the cousin she was conversing with. “Yes?” she asked, her expression expectant but polite. Her cousin's expression was anything but, haughty and disgusted at the rudeness of the interruption and of the servant's disheveled appearance.
“Er, Mi'lady Laesara...” her cousin looked away, fanning herself in distaste. “It's your egg, mi'lady, it's rocking and making such a ruckus... tapping and cracking...!”
“Cracking?” Laesara stood, earning a puzzled but still somehow sour look from her guest, “are you sure?” she stared at the servant intently, her heartbeat quickening at the thought.
“Yes! There be one right down it's full length, Mi'lady! I was told to get you right away!”
It's happening... it's happening... she thought, turning to her cousin. “Excuse me Noia, there is something I must attend to immediately.” She left the room quickly before her guest could protest or do more than stare arrogantly at her. Noia Senraei was one of those family (by marriage connection, not blood, but still important) members who looked down their noses at Laesara, and Laesara had hoped to soften that somewhat with this nice, civilized visit.
This, she thought, is far more important.
She rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and it was only her military training and constant exercise that kept her from needing to rest as she strode quickly down the trophy-strewn hallway to her room. “Out.” she ordered the servant inside, a man who's name she did not know. That would have to be remedied – Laesara found it beneficial to know one's servants – but that was not a matter for now.
- Look at that, girlie!
Her weapon crowed, almost rattling in excitement from its perch on Laesara's dresser,
- It's a strong 'un, look at those cracks!
Laesara approached the egg, which shuddered and leapt and rattled in it's makeshift crate-borne nest. Shell flecked away with every movement, revealing dark void and a slickly purple hide. “I can see that, Jiae.” she said, ignoring the muffled voices of the other weapons in the house as they reacted to her excitement. The egg was hatching, and it was nearly free... “Its a good thing I was fetched when I was...” she said, taking a seat on the bed.
~~~
Tap, tap, tap... the young khehora had begun tapping at its shell. At first, it did not give, so the little creature shifted and tumbled until it found a part of the shell that did give. From there, it was easier. Once the shell broke once, it became easier to break, cracks spreading every time they moved or scrabbled. Sounds exploded around them, frantic noises and movements and then silence, but the little khehora didn't mind the inconsistency. All that mattered was out, and they could already feel it on their skin as the shell started to fall away. It was strange – cold and not cold, and full of the promise of openness. Finally, they would no longer be confined. Finally, they would be able to spread their wings. Finally, they would be able to ease the gnawing feeling in their stomach, the desire for food and meat.
And soon, also, they would ease another desire, wordless and strange, a desire for something that it could not yet name. Finally, with a cry, the little khehora freed it's head, it's nose inhaling the strange scents of the air and it's eyes blinking as it wriggled free, the last of the shell falling away neatly in a perfect split. It was what it blinked at that it craved, the light that sifted in from the window and from the lights, magical and artificial, that glittered throughout the room. It breathed them in along with air, it's magical longing sated. And then, it looked around. It's brilliant green eyes found hers and they locked...
~~~
Laesara watched with fascination as the egg slowly dismantled, revealing, bit by bit, the creature inside. It was rhythmic, hypnotic and beautiful, and she could not look away. Finally, it burst out with a cry of what she assumed was victory and shook itself free of its remaining fetters, revealing itself in all of its colors. It was a deep purple creature, with bright yellow at the tips of its body. It's tiny wings and awkwardly sized feet marked it as young, but it's teeth showed that it was perfectly capable of being dangerous, even so small. It sat there for a moment, breathing. As if it is surprised she thought. And who wouldn't be, emerging into such a wide place after an egg?
She had felt the same way when she had first started to learn how to be a noble. Her world had nearly exploded then, her tiny forest existence becoming immediately transformed into something vast and strange thing. This little creature would be fine, just as she had been. The baby khehora looked around, his brilliant emerald eyes meeting her intense blue ones.
There was a feeling like a magical perturbation or a sudden, forceful shove. In an instant, those eyes were all Laesara could see, her ears full of a rushing, roaring sound. She felt, suddenly, filled with power, and a mind – young, inquisitive, surprised, monstrously hungry – brushed her own. Her heart raced as she felt herself both embracing and fighting it, struggling to keep her individuality and yet wanting to welcome that presence into herself.
The feeling passed, and she was firmly in her room again, but the sense of power and connection remained...
~~~
The little khehora knew that it had lost something irreplacable, but it soon forgot all about it as it sniffed around itself, and then at the creature that it knew, instinctively, was it's bonded. “Curr!” it squeaked, awkwardly moving from the ruins of its egg and reaching for her lap.
Laesara picked it up and placed it on her lap, stroking it gently. “Well.” she said, inhaling - she hadn't realized she was holding her breath. “Hello.”
“Currr!” it said, settling itself in her lap and looking up, beggingly. It was hungry. It was so hungry. She would feed it, of course.
- That thing is your bonded now, and all you can say is hello?
her weapon commented, snickering from it's perch.
“I think hello is a perfectly reasonable thing to say on a first meeting.” she replied curtly, ignoring her weapon's laughter. She called for a servant and asked for a tray of cut, raw meat, before settling back on her bed, stroking her newly bonded beast. Of course, she needed to attend to her Noia as well at some point, but that could wait, couldn't it, for the warm feelings she felt to subside? For the little beast to fall asleep?
Of course it can. she thought to herself, closing her eyes and enjoying the new company of her bonded.
