The Dragons Mark

Chapter 22: The Background Color

      Teal sat on the edge of the nest remembering and thinking. "Am I going to be a good Mom?"

Xerus lay snoring behind her, she glanced at him "could I possibly believe that I could raise one of their kind?"

She pushed back the emotions. There was a baby growing inside her now and that worried her. She thought back to her childhood and her family. "Am I going to be just like her? She stroked her stomach." She felt like crying.

     Xerus rolled over and ran his tail through her hair a few times then changed form "what's worrying you now?"

    "Do you know why I was named Teal?"

    "No," he stretched "I assumed you were named after something"

    "Sort of, " she wiped the tears that were cheating there way out "My mother said that Teal is a color that is not meant to be showcased." She was starting to cry hard "It is not meant to be in a place where it could draw attention to itself." She sobbed "I was named Teal because my mother didn't think I was worth being showcased."

    "That's cruel." He quietly fussed as he rubbed her back.

    "Teal is a Background color."

    "One opinion doesn't make fact my love," He pulled her into a cuddle "Teal is only an overwhelming color to those with very little imagination."

"She thought very little of me."

"Because you outshine her even on your dimmest day."

"I can't imagine anyone saying or doing the things she put me through to our baby."

"Nobody will hurt our little one."

     "Am I going to be like my mother?"

    "No, you have to much of an attitude to be a bitch like that." He kissed her head "beside, I love Teal, it's a beautiful color."

     "I love you too Xerus."

     "On a side note, are there any other colors that your mother dubbed background colors?"

     "Why?"

     "Considering our name options for the little one inside you."

     Teal smiled as she nuzzled against him and fell asleep.

     Quietly Nyala snuck in "did I hear that right?" She whispered

    "Most likely, how cruel can a person be?"

    "And still she morns over them." Nyala was surprised and proud of Teal all at once.

    "And she wonders if she is anything like them..." Xerus kissed her sleeping head "they wouldn't morn her."

     "Tomorrow..." she pointed at him

     Xerus nodded an understanding and drifted off to sleep as Nyala returned to her room.

The next morning Teal woke up to a warm breeze, the sound of flapping, and being wrapped in a fuzzy warm blanket. "Where am I?" She asked without opening her eyes.

"The flight ring." Sage answered from the couch beside her. "They added more furniture in here, more things for us to do while they fly."

Teal opened her eyes and saw Sage was all bundled up in a blanket too. "I take it congratulations are in order?"

"Is this a pregnant thing, or is this a my mate was upset thing?" Sage sighed

"You were upset last night too?"