The Hatchlings of Fall (Clan Adeptica) (Story)

=== The Chronicles of Clan Adeptica Edit===
==== Chapter 14: The Hatchlings of Fall Edit====
====September 25 - October 17, 2015====
Toward the end of the week, amid all the socializing and celebrating, Clan Adeptica took in another hatchling whose path crossed with Enchantment's, Heath's, and Sheena's. Enchantment found him at the alchemists' stall at the Trading Post, watching the bigger dragons at their craft. They were both too little to reach the tops of most of the cauldrons, but this dark-colored Pearlcatcher seemed content to sit back and observe.
Enchantment started talking to him, and learned that his name was Darkstar, and that he had traveled from the Viridian Labyrinth to the Starfall Isles in search of a better view of the stars and a broader range of magical skills to study. They struck up a friendship straight away, and at the end of the day, Enchantment introduced Darkstar to her own adoptive parents. Sheena said he was almost as adorable as Enchantment, and asked him if he would like to stay with their clan. He said yes, and from that day on, Darkstar became part of the family.
"Another one?" Jareth said to Sheena the next day, when Sheena was introducing the new hatchling to the clan's de facto tutor. "You certainly are impatient to be a mother, aren't you?"
"I really am," admitted Sheena. "At least it won't be much longer now. And yes, I will love my own hatchlings, too- no more and no less than these two."
"No one is saying you won't," said Jareth.
At long last, the day had finally come when Heath and Sheena could have hatchlings of their own. Many of their family knew how long they had been waiting, so this nest was greeted with more joy and anticipation than any nest had been in a long time.
Heath and Sheena's two eggs were hatched one brilliant fall afternoon, when the sun and the cool breeze were perfectly in balance. The first hatchling turned out to be dark-colored, while the second hatched out lighter, more like her father. Sheena named the first Kahtaven, because it was a good name for one who survived by prowling the edges of the shadows, and the second Moonshadow, because her color reminded Sheena of moonlight on the ocean.
Despite his misgivings (two more Guardians would need as much space to move around in as their father when they were grown, after all), Jareth was overjoyed to be a grandfather. He enjoyed teaching and helping to care for all the hatchlings in his clan, but these two were blood descendants. They were an assurance that his family line had survived, and would survive - a value that still ran deep in his Mirror blood, even if he was from the Windswept Plateau.
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As it happened, a short time later, even more grandchildren were hatched, this time to Adeptica and Devon. Their youngest, Mustardseed, and his Tundra mate, Cottontail, had three hatchlings: two Tundras who hatched out bright-orange and bright-pink, and a Guardian who came out brilliant gold, like her father. And her grandfather. That one was named Pelaegys, a warrior's name. Devon felt that the hatching of a third-generation gold dragon was auspicious, and hoped that she, too, would one day become a warrior, just as he was.
Devon and Talia had begun fighting in the coliseum on some days, taking turns with Lilia and Cerulia. Talia had discovered that her Charge was the security and sanctity of the clan's borders, and she took her training for her position as head of clan security seriously. Her younger brother Mustardseed was a builder and a cultivator, not a fighter, but she was willing and able to fight for both of them, and she looked forward to the day when she and her father would be able to begin training her niece in the ways of combat.
Shortly after all this hatching had taken place, Shadowspell found a scroll among the items in one of the clan's courier deliveries. He didn't recognize the sigil on the wax seal: a pair of acorns with connected stems. He opened it and saw that it was an invitation to an autumnal festival, complete with directions to the festival grounds and a list of events to be held there. One of them was a Hatchling Exchange, designed to honor and celebrate the founders and other highly-respected members of clans, and their offspring. Each pair of founders would offer one of their hatchlings for adoption by another clan, and would have the opportunity to adopt another clan's offspring in return.
When Shadowspell told Adeptica and Devon about this, they were intrigued by the idea and agreed right away that they wanted to join in. However, all of their children were already grown, and some of them had mates and offspring of their own. Therefore, they decided to start another nest, and offer the handsomest of whatever hatchlings came from it for adoption.
"How many hatchlings is too many?" Jareth remarked one evening, as he was settling down to eat dinner in the clan's dining hall.
"There's no such thing," said Snowblossom, who had finished her work of preparing and serving the day's meals and was preparing to eat her own dinner.
"Don't be silly," said Jareth. "There are only so many dragons one cave system can hold."
"This one is plenty big enough, and still growing every day."
"That's just it. The mountain itself isn't getting any bigger. The amount of space we can safely excavate isn't going to last forever."
"That's why we have to submit a petition for more space every time we want to expand, isn't it? The Flight government keeps track of that. I'd say let them worry about it."
"I suppose so." To Jareth, this wasn't very reassuring. The day was still coming when their excavation efforts would reach some sort of practical limit, and what would the clan do then?
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Adeptica and Devon's third nest had four eggs, bringing their total number of offspring to eleven. This was an auspicious number, so they both agreed that this would be their last nest. It was their older children's turn to carry on the family line.
This time, the only Fae hatchling was also the only girl. She was named Celine. Her three brothers, Chalcedon, Chang'An, and Candric, called her "Goldenrod" because her skin was golden-colored, though a darker, duller shade than her father's or her sister Talia's was. Of the three, Candric, the youngest, was deemed the handsomest and was named in the letter that Adeptica sent in reply to the festival invitation, entering him into the Hatchling Exchange.
On the appointed day, Adeptica, Devon, Candric, and a small group of their other clanmates traveled to the mainland, following the directions they had been given to the autumn festival. One of the clearings within the festival grounds bustled with activity. Within a fenced-in enclosure, dozens of hatchlings of all breeds and colors played together in the glorious autumn sunshine, while their parents conversed along the edges of the enclosure and a regal-looking female Wildclaw greeted new arrivals.
Candric entered the enclosure timidly, and Adeptica and Devon spoke with the Wildclaw supervisor. She encouraged them to meet and greet the other families, reminding them that the purpose of the exchange was to strengthen the bonds between clans. Devon and Adeptica struck up conversations with many other parents and learned all sorts of things from their experiences. Such as, that the easiest way to keep omnivores from eating their carnivorous siblings' meat supplies was to tell them that they could only eat what they had caught themselves. That seemed unnecessarily harsh to Adeptica, but Devon thought it was a good way to instill responsibility and self-sufficiency early.
The members of Clan Adeptica thoroughly enjoyed their day at the festival, but in the end, there were more hatchlings than there were clans prepared to adopt them, so Candric never did find a new home that day. However, he did find a new friend who wanted to join his clan. Her name was Phoenix, and she was the daughter of a skilled craftsman from the Ashfall Waste, but she didn't really take after her father very much. Her favored treasures were things like scrolls, books, and crystals, rather than tools and ores, so when Candric said he was from the Starfall Isles, she positively jumped at the chance to move there. She came home with Clan Adeptica, where she had a small bedchamber to herself, at her request. There, she began building a personal hoard around the only possession she had brought with her from her native region: a leather scroll case with strange symbols stamped into it.
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Next Chapter: Autumn Leaves