2024-06-10 - [ 1-4 ] description

Shades of milk-glass yellow and pale chartreuse flow around and into each other like dreamy, hazy layers of a watercolor wash on the upper curve of this average-sized egg. The lower half is a dark tisane of mottled deep greens suggesting algae and submerged plant matter. Where its two contrasting halves meet, whorls of dusky brown and muddy plum blot the edges like improvident ink fingerprints.

The most remarkable feature is the strange translucent glaze that limns the entire egg. In some places, it is as smooth as a pane of glass. In others, it’s a swirling profusion of translucent beading that winds along the curve of its shell to resemble tiny bubbles. This gleaming water-dazzle effect is most pronounced along its uppermost, lighter portion, the part that seems deliberately angled skyward. When the daylight hits it just right, the uneven surface gives this egg an uncannily liquid quality, not unlike a pool of cool water rippling in the light. One touch will tell you that this really is just a dragon egg. It’s warm and firm to the touch and not-at-all as aquatic as it appears at first glance.

This egg's darker half is wreathed in a mantle of sand, allowing it to slant comfortably to one side. Positioned this way, the lighter upper half has an opportunity to bask in as much light as possible from the periodic rays of sunlight streaming down from the jagged fissure in the cavern's ceiling.