2024-07-17 - [6.6] Unnnatural

When it’s all finally, mercifully over, there’s something about what Ansith and Utaibath said that sticks with her.

He doesn’t love you, he wanted a brown.

Everyone knows you hatched last and got the worst pick.

For some reason Xijemynth can’t forget those words. Even hours later, as she turns over in her egg, she feels the water lap at her paws, cold and sharp with ice. She had honestly never considered the possibility before – that a rider could not love their dragon. That was what they were made to do… right?
Something inside of Xijemynth reeled at the unspoken implication. It felt… “unnatural” was the best label that came to mind. She knew from Gwillanth and Pertemarth’s presence that they had riders. There was no dragon alive that didn’t have one. She would have one, and all her siblings too when they hatched.

But the way Ansith had hurled his insult, and how singularly angry it had made Utaibath – She had heard the desperation in the green’s voice. Did that mean she had to try and hatch first? If there was a “worst” pick, then what was the “best” pick? And how would she even know the difference? Why had Ansith’s rider wanted a brown instead of him? What did the color brown have that the dragon Ansith didn’t? Briefly, Xijemynth felt like reaching her mind out towards Gwillanth, then thought better of it. Later, perhaps. While she didn’t understand everything that Mother did, maybe this was a lesson she would teach them before they hatched.