{"sf1_id":922431,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Chapter One - Huthatch(l)ing","author":"DraaGulFirepaw","words":5330,"posted_at":"2015-10-16T19:14:00.000Z","tags":["Blazkul","Desert","Dragon","Dragons","Drake","Drakling","Fighting","Fire Dragon","fight","hatchling"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/922431-chapter-one-huthatch-l-ing","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/922431","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=922431\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nA\nnew Life awoke. The first thing his senses picked up were noises.\nMuffled cracks, meeps, squawks and something... else. He couldn't\nmake out what it was, it seemed like a follow up of noises that were\nsupposed to make sense. Instinct told him that it was the noise of\nhis kind though, it already seemed familiar. Curiosity urged him on.\nWhat\nis that?\n\n\n\nInstinctively\nhis eyes opened, for the first time ever, searching for the answer.\nThey picked up dim light, but it didn't send him the answer he\nsought. It only illuminated something that his instinct called a\nprison. A grey, dim prison that was filled with a slow flowing,\nsticky liquid. A strong urge spread through his entire body.\nOut.\nOut! I must get out.\n\n\n\nHis\nclaws scratched at the grey walls around him. Light shall not be\ndimmed eternally and he had to find out what the noises were. Every\nfibre in his newly awoken body was shaking with the will to break\nfree.\n\nHis\nscratching became eager it could even be seen as desperate. Instinct\nforbid him to stay even a second longer in this small, dull place.\n\n\nThe\nfirst results were noticeable, the prison showed cracks. It wiggled\naround with his efforts, he felt that. It was a new sensation to move\naround so much. The noises grew louder, but they still made no sense\nto his young mind and remained dampened.\n\n\n\"Oh,\nlook! The big one is at it now,\" a soft, but ragged voice said.\nIt was followed by wheezing coughs.\n\n\n\"Yeah,\nI wonder how big the hatchling will be, considering how huge the egg\nis compared to the rest,\" a second, softer voice said. It spoke\nwithout effort.\n\n\n\"It'll\nbe a strong warrior surely,\" a third voice reckoned. It was\nlouder, deeper and startled him for a moment, making him pause his\nefforts.\n\n\nThen\nhe went right at it again with even more vigour! Those noises, he had\nto find their origin. More cracks were showing on the surface. He\npulled himself together, then threw his head at the weakened spot.\nI\nmust be free!\nHis\ninstinct yelled at him to finally break forth and escape.\n\n\nWith\na loud burst, his snout broke through the shell. Air, warm and dry,\nflooded his lungs for the first time as he took a deep breath through\nhis nostrils; scents assaulted his sense of smell. It overtaxed both,\nhis unused muscles and his sensitive nose, causing a stinging pain.\nHe took shorter, less deep breaths afterwards to try and lower the\npain in his chest. The things he smelled were many different things,\nbut many of them seemed like they were the same, yet they were not,\nwhile others were completely different, but none of them he could\nreally attach to anything. Except the many similar ones, they seemed\nfamiliar in a way, he wanted to get more of them.\n\n\nSince\nhis eyes were still in the prison, he could still only see the inside\nof it. He retracted his snout from the hole and, grasping the edges\nof the hole he created with his claws, he pulled it apart, widening\nthe gap. Pieces of the walls broke off and fell onto the ground or\ninto the prison. Slowly but surely he pried himself out of it, until\nfinally his head fit through the gap. With a firm push he forced it\nthrough the opening, with a loud meep and eyes closed, then began\npanting from the effort with his short tongue hanging out of his maw.\nSlime dribbled from his head and left his eyes and their lids, but it\ntook a few blinks to get rid of all of it.\n\n\nWhile\nhe rested in the half broken enclosure to regain strength he opened\nhis eyes outside of the shell for the first time, finally taking in\nthe light without its walls dimming it. He looked around curiously to\ninspect this new, wider space. The light itself was still dim except\nfor a very bright circle in the middle of the building that he\nappeared to be in. This made it easy on his eyes that weren't used to\nunfiltered light yet. The building had brownish walls and was shaped\nlike a small dome with a wide circular opening in the highest point\nthat let the sunlight in, causing the bright circle in the centre.\nThe ground was sand. For him, this dome was gigantic compared to the\nprison. It felt relieving to be in it.\n\n\nAround\nhim were eight oval, sand coloured things. Three of them didn't move\nat all and another three showed cracks and wriggled, as if something\nwere inside and tried to leave it. The last two were already in\npieces. A black and a red something were writhing on the ground next\nto them, while someone licked the slime off of them.\n\n\nThe\nblack thing had yellow paws, the red something had orange stripes\nalong its back as well as orange paws.\n\n\nThat\nsomeone who was cleaning them was of way higher importance than the\ntwo writhing beings to the freshly hatched dragon. It was a\ndragoness.\nMother?\n\nHis instinct left no doubt that this is female of his kind, but he\nwas not sure if she was the one female that his instinct longed for.\nHer scales were black except for her paws and the stripes along her\nback, those were of a dark red. She was licking the writhing beings\nclean when her eyes fell onto him, after he attracted her attention\nwith loud squawks.\n\n\n\"Oh,\nhe managed to get out! Well, partly. Look at him though, he has such\na big head and neck.\" She smiled while moving her head near his\nto take a closer look at him. He felt her warm breath wash over his\nscales as she started to sniff at him. A shiver ran through his body\nat this first taste of warmth from another of his kind. \"It's a\nmale, as you expected.\" The female raised her head as if she was\nlooking at someone behind the hatchling. He, the freshly hatched\nDrake, only had eyes for her, staring at her, making soft happy meeps\ntowards her.\nMother!\n... Mother?\nHer\nsmell, his instinct didn't find it to be right, but she had to be\nmother, right? She's the only female around.\n\n\n\"Come\nout of your egg fully so we can see all of you,\" said the deep\nvoice from earlier. It startled the Hatchling again, but now made him\ncurious. He figured that those noises that seemed to make sense, yet\ndidn't, but yet seemed organised, belonged to his kind.\nNow\nto see who that is.\nThe\nHatchling turned his head towards the entrance of the dome. It was\njust big enough for a single dragon to crouch through it, but right\nnow two heads were looking into the hut through it. One orange head\nwith six short but thick horns also arranged like a crown and a dark\nreddish blue one with two straight, longer horns. The dark blue was\nwashed out though, grey scales were showing. The head shape reminded\nhim of the dragoness that sniffed him, so the dark blue must be\nfemale, too.\n\nHis\ninstinct was already familiar with the slight differences in an\nadult's head shape and he recognized the orange one as a drake. His\ngaze shifted between the orange male and the black female a few\ntimes, meeping loudly! He wasn't sure what to think of the drake.\n\n\nAfter\nregaining his strength the urge to free himself fully returned and\nthe Hatchling started to struggle more firmly and he pushed at the\nedge of the gap in his prison's shell in order to finally get out of\nit with all of his body. Due to his shifting, the prison, that now\nmore seemed like a nuisance than a cage, fell over and instead of\nbursting the thick shell he slipped out of it onto the warm sand\nwhere he laid for a few moments, breathing heavily. Immediately, the\nblack dragoness started to preen him. Her tongue felt so very soft\nand warm; it was a lovely feeling to have it brush over his body. It\ncaressed his young scales, soothing him after he has done such great\neffort in order to be part of this world. It caused him to close his\neyes again and purr joyfully. Meanwhile the other eggs cracked open\nand the rest of the very young dragons hatched, but he had no\ninterest in that. All of his attention was taken up by being cleaned\ncarefully.\n\n\nThe\nthree eggs that hadn't moved earlier still didn't move. She looked at\nthem with a sad sigh before pushing them away behind her with her\ntail. Afterwards she began preening the others while letting the\ndrake inspect the new generation, especially the biggest one of them.\n\n\nThe\norange drake spoke again, his voice sounding surprised: \"He's\nall red, no patterns, no nothing, just a strong red from snout to\ntail tip. That is odd. A rarity.\"\n\n\nThe\ndark blue female nodded in agreement and seemed thoughtful. \"It\nonly happens to our hightribe though, so it is clear that he is one\nof us,\" she replied to the drake's concerns.\n\n\nThe\nRed Drake looked at himself as he noticed the drake's surprised\nstare. He wasn't fully red, his chestplates were black as he could\nsee. Now he was curious how he looked, but there was no way he could\nsee his whole self. Instead he used his paw to touch his head. He\nfelt his own scales but also noticed four smooth stubs that did not\nfeel like scales at all, but were more comparable to the teeth in his\nmaw that he felt with his tongue earlier. Along his own back he saw\nvery small fins, the writhing things and the adults had them, too,\nbut the adults' were bigger.\n\n\n\"True,\nit is clear that he's a Fireclaw,\" the female that took care of\nthe hatchlings said with a warm smile. \"So all is fine and he'll\nbecome a proud warrior of the Gul tribe, surely.\"\n\n\nThe\nHatchling and his peers tilted their heads first at the caretaker,\nthen tilted their heads the other way, to look towards the two\ndragons at the entrance, intrigued by the sudden mass of noise\nbetween the older dragons.\n\n\nThe\ndrake cleared his throat and spoke with a gentle voice: \"Hatchlings.\nThat lovely dragoness over there... ,\" he gave her a friendly\ngrin, \"... is going to take care of you in your young years.\"\n\n\n\"My\nname is Sara. Sara Gul Fireclaw.\" She nodded her head as a sort\nof bow towards the little dragons who simply meeped and squawked at\nher happily. They and the Red didn't understand what they were\nsaying, but Sara's soft voice simply made them happy. It had\nsomething soothing, something attracting.\n\n\nSara?\nMother. But she smells so different than me. Are the others my\nsiblings?\nHe\nwished he could sniff them to figure that out, but they weren't right\nnext to him and he hadn't stood up yet either.\n\n\nShe\ngives each of the hatchlings a lick on their forehead. \"I might\nnot be your mother, well, not of all of you at least.\" She\nlooked up at the orange drake with a shy smile before returning her\nattention to the hatchlings again, \"But I'll take care of you as\nif you all were mine own. Such is tradition for Blazkul.\" That\nword made him perk his head up by instinct. Blazkul.\nFire\nDragons.\n\n\n\"And\nI, on the other paw, will teach them how to hunt, fight and about\ntheir own kind,\" the drake at the entrance said with his head\nturned towards Sara before he went over to watching over the little\nones that now all turned towards him with big eyes. \"That is one\nof the tasks I have to fulfil as the new leader of the Gul. But it'll\nbe a while until then.\"\n\n\nNot\nsoon after he stopped talking the short attention span of the little\ndragons was used up and they turned towards Sara again, who churred\nat them. They started to feel a bit cooler, even though it was very\nwarm in the hut, but just not as warm as mother's affections felt.\nAgain instinct guided them, including him, this time to try and get\nto her to be close to her warm body.\n\n\nThe\nRed Drake attempted to stand up. Now that he had rested on the ground\nfor a while it didn't take too much effort. He shakily got onto all\nfour legs and stood on his first try! Meanwhile the other hatchlings\naround him kept falling over or managed to stand for a few moments\nbefore following the same fate. After a bit they all got it figured\nout and they all moved closer to the caretaker with shaky, uncertain\nsteps, settling down against her flank after she raised her wing\ninvitingly. A few had to crawl the last bit though, having fallen\nover on the way. Luckily she wasn't too far away, not even two\nhatchling lengths at the furthest point. The Red managed to get to\nher in one go.\n\n\nThey\ncuddled up to her side. It felt like warmth flooding his system as\nthe Drake did. Every fibre that had contact to her immediately warmed\nup and spread the wonderful feeling through his body.\n\n\nNow\nthat he was settled and warmed, a new feeling came to him. Hunger. He\nand the others seemed to share that new feeling, all of them started\nsquawking loudly, demanding food from Sara who he still thought of as\ntheir mother.\n\n\n\"I've\nsomething for them.\", the dark blue female, that has mostly just\nbeen watching the scene, said and her head retreated from the hut.\nMoments later she poked her head back in with a dead worm in her maw.\nIt wasn't a small worm though and was three times longer than the\nRed, if not more, and quite thick. A feast for the six headed group\nof very young, hungry dragons. She tossed it towards the hatchlings.\n\n\n\"Eat,\nlittle ones, you've to grow big and strong.\" She chuckled, then\nbroke out into a coughing fit again. \"Mref. I should rest. I'll\nlook after you some other time, Sara.\" With those words the\ndragoness turned around and walked away. The Red barely gave her any\nattention before he started sniffing at the meat.\nEdible.\nWith a meep, he dug his tiny fangs into the meat and attempted to rip\na piece of it out.\n\n\nThe\nadult drake looked after her before turning back to Sara. \"I'll\ngo out and hunt. I do not think we have enough food stored to feed\nsix hungry maws.\" His gaze fell onto the hatchlings that\nhungrily started to devour the worm. Fights over the meat didn't\nhappen as the worm was easily large enough to satisfy the first\nhunger of the hatchlings.\n\n\nThe\nmeat was tough, but filling and quite tasty for the Red Drake. It\ntook some effort to get some of it separated, but that didn't stand\nbetween the hatchlings and satisfying their new craving.\n\n\nSara\nwatched them eat while she spoke to the drake, \"Alright. Be\nsafe, Druk.\"\nDruk.\nSara. Parents.\n\nDruk being the only male around, it had to be the father. With\nstretched out necks they managed to touch their snout tips in the hut\nand rubbed them against eachother. Watching that confirmed the\ninstinctual thought and the action allowed the Red to sniff at Druk's\nchin to notice what a male dragon smells like\n\nAlso smells too different from me. That\nconflicted with his instinct and he meeped curiously. Then the drake\nleft and allowed the curtain made out of a dry flexible material that\nrustled while it moved to fall back in place and cover the entrance.\nBut before it completely blocked the view the Drake noticed that Druk\nhad yellow paws. Now the hatchlings were alone with Sara.\n\n\nThe\nRed pushed himself as close to her flank as he could and curled up.\nThe sand beneath him was warm, but her body was warmer and nice to\nlean against. He felt the other hatchlings' scales against his own as\nthey all cuddled together under the caretaker's wing. Sleeping was\nnot a thought that came to their mind, though; instead, they eagerly\nsniffed at eachother, taking in the scents of their peers. Comparing\ntheir scents to Sara's and Druk's scent, his instinct identified that\nthree of them were female, the other two male. That made three males\ntotal including him. He now was also able to place what the scents\nthat seemed to be the same yet weren't are. It was the scents of\ndragons! They all seemed to be the same; yet each dragon had their\nown personal twist to it.\n\n\nThis\nmoment of sniffing eachother gave the Red the time to inspect what he\nthought to be his siblings. The black and red both had six horn stubs\narranged exactly like Druks horns were, like a crown. All three\nfemales looked pretty similar, the Red found. All three were purple\nand only their markings differed. One had black stripes and paws, the\nother had red spots and paws, the last one had no markings but red\npaws. The chestplates of all of them, hatchlings, Druk and Sara, were\nblack though.\n\n\nNow\nwith his first curiosities satisfied, their stomachs filled and his\nbody warmed by Sara's, tiredness overcame him and apparently also his\npeers as all of them fell asleep pretty quickly. The Red fell asleep\nlast, watching over the others.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n*\n\n\n\n\nHuthatchlings.\nHe heard this word a lot because the adults referred to him and the\nother ones like him as such. They spent all day in the dome and have\nyet to see more of the outside world than the glimpse they see when\nan adult moves the curtain. Said glimpse wasn't much, just brighter\nlight.\n\n\nMany,\nmany times the light in the building has switched between bright and\ndark and the huthatchlings didn't do more than eat, sleep, and\nplayfight, but they grew quite a bit. The Red loved to playfight with\nthe others, especially when he pushed down a male after a fight. He\nalways meeped happily when he managed to do that and he did so often.\nSara always rewarded him with loving licks to his head and neck when\nhe won a playfight, showing great approval of his actions. He did\nenjoy the act of playing with his hutsiblings itself, too, though and\nthey all curled up together beneath Sara's wing when the light turned\ndark, when the surrounding space became colder than it was when the\nlight was bright. He was cold every time he wasn't close to Sara\naround that time. When the light started to become red, so before it\nstarted to darken, they also covered the opening in the ceiling with\na thatch plate.\n\n\nBefore\nthe huthatchlings slept Sara often spoke to them. By now the Red\nfigured that the noises the adults made were words. Noises with\nsense. He, nor the others, managed to use them or even fully\nunderstand them yet, but they picked up a few things and their\ncaretaker often showed them things. She pointed at her claw for\nexample and simply said: \"Claw.\" Slowly but surely the bunch\nlearned to at least understand a few words.\n\n\nSometimes\nthe other female, the dark blue one, stuck her head into the hut to\nask Sara how she's doing and if she needs anything. She always\nnuzzled and licked the hatchlings, making them purr and wriggle.\nOccasionally, she helped Sara preen them. The Red always avoided her\nthough, he preferred to get such attention from Sara. She was gentler\nand it felt nicer.\nCaresses\nfrom mother are best.\n\n\n\nEven\nafter understanding Sara when she told them that she isn't their\nmother, he still referred to her as such. It simply felt natural to\nthe Red. Probably feeling the same, the rest also still called her\nmother. Sara didn't seem to be bothered.\n\n\nDruk\nbrought the food. Worms, lizogs, and others. Lizogs tasted great, the\nRed found, so it made him drool eagerly everytime he saw Druk enter\nwith one in his maw. Lizogs had scales like dragons and somewhat\nlooked like them, too, but their legs seemed different. He couldn't\ndescribe it though, having seen nothing to compare it to. The head\nand paws looked sort of draconic as well, but the muzzle was slimmer\nand longer and sported bigger slit-shaped nostrils. They weren't\nwingless dragons though, Druk told them. He described them as \"Scaled\nwolves\". The Red wished he knew what a \"wolf\" was; they sounded\nlike interesting creatures. Druk said they hunt intelligently in\npacks and are great predators. They didn't live in the desert though.\nDruk saw them in the forests when he was scouting years ago. They\nalso had fur, which Druk explained as a soft, vulnerable form of\nhide.\nWhat\ndoes having fur feel like. Or touching it?\nAll\ncreatures that were shown to them so far had scales, too. This is\nnormal for most of the desert life that one can find in the sands,\nDruk explained, after one hatchling manage to utter the sentence, \"Do\nall here have scale?\"\n\n\nSometimes\nthe orange drake even brought living creatures to the huthatchlings,\nlike a snake or a very young lizog. The young bunch enjoyed watching\nthose creatures try to threaten or run away from them in the hut,\nwhen the hatchlings chased them around. Sara and her mate always\nwatched carefully to make sure the creatures wouldn't hurt the\nhatchlings. Often they killed the living creature in front of the\nhatchlings and let them eat them. The hatchlings' natural urge to\nhunt awoke slowly and sometimes one of them dared to attack the\nbeasts brought to them, except the Red. The Red never bothered to\nkill them or even just chase them. He just watched the others do it,\nif with clear interest in his eyes. Sara always nudged him forward,\ntrying to get him to move, but he stayed put. With a disapproving\nlook she shock her head, but this didn't bother him much. It did\nsaddened him, though, that he got less affections than the successful\n\"hunter\" as Sara called the one who managed to slay the small\ncreature.\n\n\nToday,\nDruk brought a rather large six legged creature for the group this\ntime. It was actually bigger than the young dragons. This intrigued\nthe Red, because usually the creatures that Druk brought were easily\nkilled by the huthatchlings once they grew bored of it and preferred\nto eat it. This one on the other hand seemed like a real threat,\nespecially because it didn't seem very afraid of the young dragons,\nnot at all. Instead of trying to get away it raised its pincers and\nlifted its stinger threateningly above its head.\n\n\nThe\nfemales cowered and retreated closer to Sara while the males looked\nquestioningly to Druk, not sure what to do. Said drake just nodded\nhis head towards the creature with a growl, while looking at the\nhatchlings. \"It's a scorpion. It won't be easy to kill this one,\nbut you might manage.\" The Red did not look up to Druk, but instead\nhopped up from his position beneath Sara's wing, leaving more space\nfor the females who huddled closer together. He kept eyes on what was\ncalled a scorpion, watching its every move. With meeps directed at\nthe other two males, he tried to get their attention so they focus on\nthe opponent, too. They squawked, unsure if they really want to\nattack the vicious creature.\n\n\nThe\nRed huffed at the cowardliness of his peers. He moved closer to the\nscorpion, watching every tension of its legs, every slow closing of\nthe two things he was holding towards him, which looked like two big,\nblunt talons that can snap shut.\n\n\n\"Watch\nout for the pincers.\" He barely heard Druk say, his heart was\npumping too loudly and rapidly already, letting adrenaline flow\nthrough his entire body, preparing it for the effort of the coming\nfight. This was a new feeling, one he couldn't quite grasp. It was\nenergetic, made him tremble, made him strong, made him want to\npounce, leap, claw.\n\n\nQuickly\nmoving its six legs, the scorpion shifted its body more towards the\nRed and snapped its pincers at him, but he was way out of range. It\nwas just a threat. Bravely, the Red Drake hopped forward towards the\nside of the scorpion and tried to bite at its right claw. Quick isn't\neven close to describing just how fast the scorpion reacted. It\ndodged and slammed the stinger down, digging the tip right into his\nflank. Squealing, the huthatchling writhed on the ground for a\nmoment, startling the others so much that they hopped back with a\nscared squawk, but then caught himself again and bit right at the\nscorpion's tail. This was the first time he experienced such pain, it\nwas a new sensation, but it didn't bother the young Blazkul, it urged\nhim on to bring down this opponent, to take revenge for every bit of\nblood spilled that was his own. Something changed in his mind, he\ncould finally place the feeling from earlier, it was the urge to...\nkill.\n\n\nA\ncracking noise signalled that he pierced the chitin armour of his\nopponent and dug his fangs into the flesh, locking his jaws around\nit. He tasted the life juice of the opponent as it ran into his maw,\nfuelling his instinct to kill further. The beast within took control,\nrationality had no place.\nYou\nwill die.\n\n\n\nAnnoyed,\nthe six-legger tried to lift its tail again, ripping the stinger out\nof the wound. The hatchling didn't let go though and kept the tail in\nhis jaws, despite the throbs of pain coming from the fresh wound.\nWith the tail weighted down by the Red, the scorpion couldn't lift it\nup again and shook it angrily.\n\n\nFinally,\nthe other two males leaped at the scorpion with a loud meep, the\nbattle cry of a hatchling, and each bit into a pincer. This prevented\nthe scorpion from trying to hurt the Red with them and basically\ndisarmed it. Full of anger, it shook itself vigorously, trying to\nthrow the attackers off, but they were too many and too strong.\n\n\nThe\nRed dug its claws into the tail base of his foe and started clawing\nat the chitin armour until it gave way to tearing at the flesh\nbeneath. His two hutbrothers realized what he was doing and started\ntearing at the pincers of the disabled creature, mimicking the Red.\n\n\nGreenish\nsplatters started covering the ground while the fierce drakes tore\nthe writhing creature to bits. With a firm tug of the Red's maw and a\nloud squelch the tail came off, quickly followed by both claws. The\nscorpion simply writhed on the ground, dying as it bled out. The\nhuthatchlings paid the beaten opponent no further mind.\n\n\nTriumphantly,\nthe Red Drake strut around with the tail in his maw, emitting muffled\nvictorious meeps. His hutbrothers followed his example, but with the\nscorpion's claws in their maws. He wasn't even bothered by the\nbleeding hole in his flank, the feeling of a proper first victory\noverpowered the pain.\nSuperiority.\nHis instinct praised him for his victory, it meaning that he survives\nwhile the scorpion dies. A feeling of great happiness spread through\nhim as he stood in front of Sara and dropped the tail. A wide smile\nspread across her muzzle and she nuzzled the Red before nudging him\non his side to inspect the wound and then began to lick it clean.\n\"I'm so glad he finally caught on, I bet he was just waiting for\na worthy opponent. He really will be a strong warrior of our tribe.\"\n\n\nDruk\nlooked at him with an equally wide smile, but it contained more pride\nthan anything. \"I have high expectations for him. I cannot wait\nuntil I can teach them all how to hunt properly. It'll be great to\nshow them tricks and take them along.\"\n\n\nSara\nnodded in agreement and started tending to the other two dragons by\nalso giving them approving licks to reward them for tearing off the\nclaws. \"It's certainly a good generation for the Gul.\" She\nlooked up at the drake and that same shy smile, which she first had\nwhen the bunch at her forepaws hatched, returned to her features.\n\"And we contributed to it.\"\n\n\nHe\ngave her a firm nuzzle, growling amiably. Through the entrance the\nRed could see Druk's tail swish.\nHappiness.\nThe males started gnawing on the parts they ripped off, while the\nfemales came out from beneath Sara's wing, bit into the still\nslightly writhing scorpion and tugged it under her wing to devour it\nthere. Eating the meat he fought for tasted better for some reason.\n\n\nSuccessful\nsurvival.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n*\n\n\n\n\nDruk\ntold them that every time it turned dark, something called a day was\nover and after many days are over, a month is over. More details on\nthat would follow soon, he promised them. He also notified them\neverytime a month had passed and told them that after six months they\nwould be allowed to leave the hut. The brown walls apparently were\ncalled a hut by the adults. Three months had passed when they fought\nthe scorpion, according to the orange drake.\n\n\nNot\nmuch happened in the next three months. The hatchlings grew more and\nthey slowly started to speak more clearly and way more often. They\nwere properly acquiring the gift of speech. Sara and the elder female\nassisted them by telling them more simple words than before in the\nhopes that the huthatchlings repeat them. It started to work more and\nmore often. Entire sentences began to take form more often than just\noccasionally. Now that they started speaking they started referring\nto eachother with words, since they had no names, nor did Sara or any\nother adult gave them any.\n\n\nThe\nDrake was just called \"Red\" due to his lack of any markings. The\nblack male hatchling was just called \"Black\" and the other male\nhatchling was called \"Orange Paw\" due to his orange paws. \"Spot\"\nwas the name of the female with the red spots, \"Black Paw\" became\nthe name of the female with the black paws and \"Red Paws\" became\nthe name of the female with the red paws. Simple names for young\nminds.\n\n\nDruk\nstill simply provided food but brought tough prey to them more often.\nOnce he brought a young but still large lizog into the hut and one of\nthe males was badly bitten during the ensuing fight. It was nothing\nserious though and within weeks the hatchling was allowed to sprint\nand jump around again. The lizog was killed by the effort of all\nhatchlings, even the females assisted. Red often directed them some;\nhe told them to go for the legs to disable the lizog, just like they\ndisabled the scorpion by tearing off the claws and the tail. With\napproving nuzzles, Sara rewarded the hatchling's actions further. She\nmentioned something about him, from which the hatchling only\nunderstood \"learning\" and \"experience\". All of the hatchlings\nwere joyful after their victory, even the badly bitten one meeped\nhappily.\n\n\nRed\ngrew to be the dominant one of the bunch. He got to eat first and he\nwas always in the middle of the bunch when they curled up to sleep as\nthey attempted to get close to him. He enjoyed it greatly to be\nsurrounded by his hutsiblings like that. It made him feel warm and\nlike they were family. The attention gave him another feeling though,\nthe feeling of an...\n\n\n...\nAlpha.\n"}