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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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Finnah will play with him, of course.
The eggs hatch after being eggs for a month. Now there are three little red dragon boys in Finnah's house. Their parents are enchanted. Finnah is enchanted but from a somewhat greater distance.
The eggs hatch after being eggs for a month. Now there are three little red dragon boys in Finnah's house. Their parents are enchanted. Finnah is enchanted but from a somewhat greater distance.
Mial is even more impressed by actual babies! They're so little! He listens with utmost solemnity to the explanation that he must be very very careful around them and Finnah's house is not a Special Shren Place anymore, and he promises that he will be very very careful, and he is.
Then he is in no danger of harming the little babies.
For the month that they live before, one by one, they die.
For the month that they live before, one by one, they die.
This is bewildering and sad. He knew about dragon babies, of course, but... he met these dragon babies. They were little and red and they had little claws and little noses. And now they aren't there anymore.
Colla and Seru are very sad, too, but, well, this is what happens.
They wait a little while, and then Colla gets pregnant again.
They wait a little while, and then Colla gets pregnant again.
Mial is less excited this time.
But he still comes to visit after the babies hatch. (They are little, and red, and they have little claws and little noses.)
But he still comes to visit after the babies hatch. (They are little, and red, and they have little claws and little noses.)
There are only two this time.
One day, while Mial is over, one of them starts coughing.
One day, while Mial is over, one of them starts coughing.
...Mial is slightly alarmed. He peers at the coughing baby.
Colla is more sad than alarmed.
She picks up the baby and holds him and cries. "Seru. Seru, one of them -"
Seru rushes into the room and also cries.
The baby coughs.
She picks up the baby and holds him and cries. "Seru. Seru, one of them -"
Seru rushes into the room and also cries.
The baby coughs.
Now Mial is really alarmed. He sits on the floor and hugs his knees and blinks tearily up at the baby in Colla's arms.
"Mial, you don't need to watch," says Colla in a low voice.
Cough, cough, cough.
Cough, cough, cough.
He sniffles and stays put.
Eventually the baby stops coughing.
Mial's sniffles are very very quiet.
He gets up and goes over and hugs Colla's leg. He is so sad, and that was her baby with little claws and a little nose; she must be even more sad.
He gets up and goes over and hugs Colla's leg. He is so sad, and that was her baby with little claws and a little nose; she must be even more sad.
Colla lets Seru take the limp red form away, because her leg is being hugged. Pat, pat.
Loud coughing can be heard from upstairs, where the other baby is.
Colla bolts out of the leg-hug. "SERU."
Loud coughing can be heard from upstairs, where the other baby is.
Colla bolts out of the leg-hug. "SERU."
Mial sits back down.
And there he stays, with his arms wrapped around his knees, crying very quietly into them.
Seru comes back from wherever he went, without the first baby.
Eventually the coughing stops and he and Colla take the second baby away, too.
Eventually the coughing stops and he and Colla take the second baby away, too.
on-my-word
Mial keeps crying. He is still crying when his father scoops him up and takes him home, and continues after they get there. Eventually he goes to sleep, and then when he wakes up he isn't crying anymore, but he isn't happy either. He slumps around the house, not taking an interest in things. He neglects the motor skills exercises he has been faithfully doing to see if he can learn how to wizard yet yet yet.
And he neglects to be a merlin and fly.
And he neglects to be a merlin and fly.
When Aurin visits and finds that his cousin is a lump, he does not know what to do right away, but eventually he diagnoses part of the problem and says, "You should fly."
"Don't wanna," says the lump of Mial.
"But you have to."
"Don't care," the lump asserts, from where he is curled up human-shaped on the couch.
"But you really have to!"
"No I don't," declares the lump.
Aurin disagrees, but apparently arguing isn't going to get him anywhere. Hmmmmm.
Aurin goes and puts a chair under the nearest window, and opens the window up, and then he attempts to peel the blanket off Mial.
Aurin goes and puts a chair under the nearest window, and opens the window up, and then he attempts to peel the blanket off Mial.