Copyright J.B. Norman
Lucia, Apolline, Petra, Alda, and Roland recently returned from the forests outside of Middlesbrooke after breaking up a poaching ring. In the poachers’ camp, they found a large, strange egg. Since no-one in the Duchy seemed to know what to do with it, they decided to keep it.
“I’ve never seen an egg like this before,” Lucia notes.
“It’s quite large,” Petra says
“I bet it’s a whale egg!” Roland exclaims.
“We found it in the middle of a forest!” Lucia cries.
“And whales don’t even lay eggs,” Alda adds.
“It’s a land-whale egg? Roland offers.
“There’s no such thing as land-whales,” Lucia insists.
“Actually, they’re known to exist in certain inland regions of the eastern continent,” Alda says.
Lucia stares down at the girl.
“Really?”
She nods.
“Wow,” Lucia mutters. “You learn something new every day.”
“I learned how to tie an ascot today!” Roland says. “Agricola taught me.”
Lucia shrugs.
“Well, as long as it’s not another Freenbird,” she mutters.
As if on cue, the exotic bird foisted on the group as a payment for a previous job gives a piercing call of Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!
Lucia shudders and wishes, for the first time, they’d let her just eat the darn thing.
“It’s hatching!” Alda cries. “It’s hatching!”
The egg begins to tremble and shake. Cracks begin to form in the shell as whatever is hatching from the egg behinds to chip away at it.
“Look! There’s a paw!” Roland says.
“I see teeth!” Alda says.
“Paws? Teeth? What kind of bird is this?” Lucia asks. “Animals with teeth and paws don’t hatch from eggs!”
“Well, it might be some kind of reptile,” Apolline says.
“It might be a Dragon,” Petra notes.
“Oh,” Alda says thoughtfully. “That would be so —”
“— cool!” Roland declares.
“— horrifying!” Lucia groans.
“— a worthy challenge,” Petra says. “What?” she asks when she sees the other staring at her.
“You can’t beat up a baby Dragon!” Alda cries.
“Of course not,” Petra says. “I would wait until it was at least the size of a house until I challenge it in battle.”
She smiles wistfully at the prospect of fighting a Dragon.
“What?” she asks when she sees the other staring at her.
“Look!” Alda says, turning back to the hatchling. “It’s almost out.”
As one, the five all tilt their heads quizzically at the animal that emerges.
“It looks like a bear,” Petra says.
“It looks like a wolf,” Lucia says, her feline instincts causing her to back away and put Petra between herself and any potential danger.
“It looks like both,” Roland declares.
“I think it’s a Bear-Wolf,” Apollines says. “But I never thought Bear-Wolves occurred in nature. I’ve always heard that Bear-Wolves are created through magical experimentation.
She touches her finger to her chin thoughtfully.
“Fascinating.”
The five all stare in silence at the unexpected creature breaking through the egg, tumbling out of the egg, then adorably rolling around the floor.
“I have so many questions right now,” Lucia mutters, breaking the silence.
“Let’s name it Lucia,” Roland says.
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