“A dragon pearl,” said Prince Baiyu.
Right! I knew about that!
Dragons were frequently portrayed with a flaming “pearl” that was supposed to symbolize immortality, wisdom, and power.
I smiled up at the heavenly display. The dragons were transparent and made of brightly colored lights, which reminded me of drone shows back on Earth, but more detailed and impressive. Sighing in contentment, I put my arm around Prince Baiyu’s waist, and he put his arm around my shoulders, and we stood there enjoying the sight.
Looking around, I saw that Lari, Kharli, and Mo were staring up at the sky in wide-eyed wonder, slack-jawed. The others of my household were clumped together in small groups, all silently craning their neck up, with the same expression of awe as my apprentices. Even Scholar Wu had forgotten her measuring instruments and was standing still, gazing up at the heavenly apparitions.
Off to one side were Deming and his apprentices, sitting cross-legged on the ground with their eyes closed. Fengying stood above them, radiating satisfaction from her every pore. Though I couldn’t sense it, no doubt the Demon Chef and his disciples were cultivating the “heavenly qi” during this propitious time.
Finally, one of the large dragons, a blue one, captured the ball. With the flaming pearl in his mouth, he slowly descended. There were gasps of astonishment from the people around me as he flew with his eyes fixed in our direction.
It wasn’t until he was only twenty feet above us that I realized the “dragon pearl” was in fact an egg.
“That’s him!” I let go of Prince Baiyu and ran forward just as the dragon opened his mouth and let the egg fall. “Mine!”
The egg floated down, and I caught it in my arms. I quickly put a hand on its bottom to support its weight since it was surprisingly heavy. The white egg fit neatly between my waist and shoulders. Now that I could see it up close, I found that the eggshell had tiny, almost invisible gold and blue veins running through it.
The dragon hovered above us. Our eyes met. His eyes were blue with slitted pupils. Now that he was nearer, I could see that his scales were azure-colored and iridescent. He had four stubby little legs and five claws on each hand, which I knew signified supreme power. Commoners were only allowed to use three-clawed dragons, while nobles could use four-clawed ones. The five-clawed dragon was reserved for the Son of Heaven’s use on Earth, and on this world, it symbolized the Dragon King, and only those clan members who ruled could use it..
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“Um, thanks,” I said to the dragon.
He bobbed his head once before flying up and away from us. I turned back to the others and saw that they had all prostrated themselves on the ground, except for Prince Baiyu, who was simply kneeling.
The other dragons roared once again when the blue dragon joined them, and they all flew up until they disappeared into the clouds.
“Sweetie, look! It’s our child!” I said to my husband.
Prince Baiyu got up and put his hand below the egg to help me carry it. He kissed the top of my head and said, “How wonderful. Shall we carry it to the birthing pool?”
“Yes!” I couldn’t stop smiling.
“Is it too heavy for you?”
I adjusted my grip on the egg. “Kinda? But I don’t want to let go.”
“Let me help.”
I nodded, and he picked me up, egg still in my embrace.
The others got up, looking dazed, and followed us to the portal to Emberstone Farm and then to the birthing pool at the center of the farm. It was a simple open-air hot spring from the Cash Shop with a small onsen for the egg, and no other decorations. I had set its temperature to boiling, which I knew from the dream was the correct temperature for hatching, so when Prince Baiyu put me down, he was the one who gently slid the egg into the water. There were transparent glass screens around the pool to protect onlookers from water splashes. I stood behind one and held my breath as the egg settled into the bottom of the pool, which was only three feet deep.
There were cameras all over the hot spring that were there to capture the moment of my son’s birth, which had been automatically activated when we entered its coverage area.
Prince Baiyu and I held hands. Directly behind us were the midwife, wet nurse, nanny, and doctor, ready to help if needed. The rest of my household was spread out around the hot spring, whispering excitedly about the dragons' appearance and the upcoming hatching.
It only took a few minutes. The water around the egg started to bubble.
“Yes!” I couldn’t help but scream. “Come to mommy!”
The egg rocked back and forth under the water, and cracks started to appear on its shell. Soon, the cracks widened. I held my breath and squeezed Prince Baiyu’s hand.
Suddenly, the egg flew up, splashing hot water around, but it was fine since we were protected by the screens. Bright blue light leaked out from the cracks and, as though it was under intense pressure, the egg exploded outwards. Pieces of eggshells flew everywhere, and my baby dragon emerged.
“Sweetie!” I ran to him and took him into my arms, with Prince Baiyu beside me, cradling us both.
Eggy’s eyes were closed, and he seemed to be sleeping. I marveled at his tiny little claws. There were five of them in each hand. His iridescent scales were a bright, vivid blue, like the color of the sky on a summer’s day. Instead of antlers, his horns were mere stubs, and his mane was a light blue. He had cute little whiskers on either side of his nose, and his mouth, which was slightly open, showed a hint of pearly white teeth.
Prince Baiyu and I lifted him to my shoulder level, and we proclaimed as one, “This is our child.”
Everyone cheered.
*****
Author's Note:
- Eggy is here!
- Sorry it took so long to post this. I had a bit of a delay because originally my plan was to have the egg hatch after a few days. So I was supposed to write a chapter of that... but I found it hard to write it. I couldn't find a way to make the "waiting for the hatching" chapter not boring.
- In the end, I decided my difficulty writing it was because this idea was lame! As you can see from this chapter, I changed my mind and had the baby hatch right away. I think it's much better this way. I hope you like it!
- By the way, I only mentioned this as a sort of "peek behind the curtains" moment. Please don't take it as me complaining. Even when writing is hard or when I write slower than I like, I still enjoy the process. I love writing.!????
- Advanced chapters on my Patreon!
- Thank you very much for reading.
- Please let me know if there are any errors.