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Aurin holds his mother's hand as she leads him from the street to his aunt and uncle's house. He's been here only a couple of times, and can't remember most of them distinctly; they're sort of awkwardly related, his dead father's half-brother and the wife thereof. But now they have a baby parunia, and that means there is a dragon related to Aurin who is not too far from his age, only thirty-one years younger. This is apparently the sort of relation that it will be particularly enriching for Aurin to meet. They can do this now instead of waiting a month, because parunias don't die when they're babies; this one is safe, unlike the miscellaneous cousins on his mother's side he's never met because they are all in too much danger to get attached to (and have all succumbed to that danger). So here they are. Even though it was a very long flight and he couldn't ride his mother for takeoff and landing when she had to be a heron, only for the middle part.
Alys knocks on the door.
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"He's a - I hope I'm wrong, but some incompetent individual must have let a shren near here," shudders Alys, still squishing human-shaped Aurin in her arms and following Koridaar. "A baby one or a criminally negligent one, either - do you live near any other dragons, could the baby be chaining infections to anyone else -"
Aurin starts crying.
Aurin starts crying.
greatcomposure
"No, but that doesn't preclude flyovers, that's the second place I have to be is—Avar! Avar, love, it's an emergency! Wake up!"
greatcomposure
"The baby just fell out of the air and couldn't launch himself again," she says. "You need to call your father. I'll be on the bottom of the world if you need me."
And she teleports.
And she teleports.
on-my-word
Well. Now it's Avar's turn to swear.
But he's digging for a communication crystal while he does it.
Alys cannot exactly fly away; whoever infected the baby is still around. She waits, squishing Aurin, shaking.
on-my-word
His voice remarkably steady, Avar says into the crystal, "I'm reporting a possible shren infection. At my house, in Imilaat."
A brief pause, perhaps to let Piro do some swearing of his very own, and then he adds, "It was the baby."
Another pause.
"Right now I'm more worried about finding the vector. My wife took him to the bottom of the world, he'll be isolated to anyone's standards; I'm going out looking for stray shrens."
A brief pause, perhaps to let Piro do some swearing of his very own, and then he adds, "It was the baby."
Another pause.
"Right now I'm more worried about finding the vector. My wife took him to the bottom of the world, he'll be isolated to anyone's standards; I'm going out looking for stray shrens."
"If you have neighbors I can leave Aurin with I will help," Alys says, gritting her teeth. "You stay human, Aurin, as you value your life you will, understand?"
Nod, nod, goes Aurin.
Nod, nod, goes Aurin.
on-my-word
"Yes, we do."
His conversation with Piro apparently concluded for now, he deactivates the crystal, but keeps it in case of further news in either direction. Out they go to petition the neighbours to watch Aurin for a bit.
His conversation with Piro apparently concluded for now, he deactivates the crystal, but keeps it in case of further news in either direction. Out they go to petition the neighbours to watch Aurin for a bit.
With a "hello, I'm Avar's sister-in-law, there's a family emergency, can you look after my son for an angle or two, he won't be any trouble", Aurin is left with the Taraamik next door. Alys helps Avar case the neighborhood for suspicious characters and small reptiles.
on-my-word
There's a public park just around the corner that would be a good place to stash either; Avar heads there first.
There's some stripey eggshells under that evergreen bush over there.
And a very tiny very red baby biting the ends of bush needles.
And a very tiny very red baby biting the ends of bush needles.
on-my-word
"I think we've found our vector," says Avar.
He calls Piro again.
"Someone left a shren egg lying in a public park. I'm going to bring the hatchling to the bottom of the world in just a moment."
Is there any remaining chance that this was all some kind of incredible coincidence and if he teleports to the bottom of the world right now he will find his son happily diving onto Mama's head? Enough to be worth an extra tick or two to check, he decides, even if it's close to none; so he teleports to the spot where he and Koridaar occasionally go to have a little alone time, leaving the hatchling temporarily under her bush.
"A shren egg hatched in the park—is he definitely—?"
on-my-word
Teleport - scoop - teleport.
"I might have the vector contained," he reports to Piro. "For all I know, though, the sort of person who'd leave one shren egg lying under a bush might just as easily leave two - I'm going to keep looking. The baby's a red. See if you can find someone who'll admit to having lost a red striped egg recently, why don't you?"
Piro affirms that he will. Avar goes back to casing the neighbourhood.
"I might have the vector contained," he reports to Piro. "For all I know, though, the sort of person who'd leave one shren egg lying under a bush might just as easily leave two - I'm going to keep looking. The baby's a red. See if you can find someone who'll admit to having lost a red striped egg recently, why don't you?"
Piro affirms that he will. Avar goes back to casing the neighbourhood.
Alys doesn't find anything, and joins up with Avar again to report this.
The dragon council is pretty efficient, since the invention of teleportation and communication crystals, at getting urgent questions filtered down. There is a woman in Larotia whose striped egg went missing; she thought the father took it to smash it against her strident and divorce-proceedings-backed wishes.
The dragon council is pretty efficient, since the invention of teleportation and communication crystals, at getting urgent questions filtered down. There is a woman in Larotia whose striped egg went missing; she thought the father took it to smash it against her strident and divorce-proceedings-backed wishes.
greatcomposure
The father is going to hear some urgent questions of his very own; Pirodeynan is positively thunderous about the infection of his grandson, and nobody else is too happy either.
Koridaar, meanwhile, wants to talk to this woman in Larotia. She arranges a meeting, leaving Avar to watch the babies on the bottom of the world. (They're going to have to move, aren't they. She'll deal with that later.)
Koridaar, meanwhile, wants to talk to this woman in Larotia. She arranges a meeting, leaving Avar to watch the babies on the bottom of the world. (They're going to have to move, aren't they. She'll deal with that later.)
The woman in Larotia is mid-unpacking into a farmhouse near a field of brightly colored quinoa. "Is my baby okay?" she wants to know. "I mean, besides the - obvious."
greatcomposure
"She's fine. My husband's watching her and our son on the bottom of the world."
"This place is in the middle of nowhere. I already notified my color rep that I was planning to raise a shren here."
greatcomposure
Koridaar looks around. It does seem very - appropriate.
"I can go and get her," she says. "And... would you mind terribly if I or Avar stayed with you for a little while, with our baby, until we can find somewhere like this to move ourselves? The bottom of the world has many qualifications for a situation like this, but 'comfortable' isn't really among them. I'll understand if you're not keen on entertaining strangers, though."
"I can go and get her," she says. "And... would you mind terribly if I or Avar stayed with you for a little while, with our baby, until we can find somewhere like this to move ourselves? The bottom of the world has many qualifications for a situation like this, but 'comfortable' isn't really among them. I'll understand if you're not keen on entertaining strangers, though."
"I'm barely unpacked but - yes, sure, if you don't mind the boxes?"
greatcomposure
"Not at all," she promises. "Thank you. I'm Koridaar, by the way, I'm not sure if our names filtered through all the intermediaries - Koridaar Retaan and Avarpiro."
"I'm Colladiam. I'm so sorry I wasn't keeping better track of my baby's egg. I didn't think he'd take it. I thought he'd be more than happy to let me bring her here and never hear from us again."
greatcomposure
"My father-in-law - he's the silver colour rep - is going to be itching to ask him some very pointed questions, I don't doubt," says Koridaar. "Thank you for coming forward. For your little girl's sake, and for the sake of not having to wonder where that egg came from for the rest of our lives."