A Princess's hatching

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All was quiet in the Kingdom of the sea, nothing but the stirring breeze and the chirping frogs to bother the two dragons shuffling excitedly together on the beach of the ruined, generations old Island palace. "Tonight's the night!"

Queen Dolphin, a pale blue SeaWing with a dark blue underbelly and pink accents said, her webbed talons curling protectively around her single blue and orange egg. Ridge, a large orange SkyWing, stood beside her, giving her a perplexed smile, his large wings arching towards the star speckled sky in his slight impatience. "Are you sure, dear? You said that last night too, and the night before that."

The royal nodded, looking down excitedly as the egg rocked, shifting the sands below it before going still. Ridge settled beside his partner to wait, his wing resting on her back. "Finally, I know it! Soon we'll meet our son...our little dragonet."

Ridge glanced at her, knowing how desperately she wanted a son. He figured it was because she wanted a dragonet with him she could raise without worrying about having to kill him, since he couldn't try for her throne like a daughter could. The idea of a possible daughter of theirs challenging and possibly killing his partner disturbed him a little bit, same with the idea of Dolphin killing their daughter.

He suppressed a horrified shiver and leaned in closer to the queen, resting one talon atop of hers as the egg rocked again, a single crack appearing down the middle and multiple around the bottom. They held their breath together, watching in the shared wonder of brand new parents as the cracks became bigger and more seeable.

The egg stilled again before all at once the eggshell broke apart, scattering onto the sand and allowing an orange dragonet to tumble out, squeaking with protest as almost instantly sand went up her nose. Despite how she sneezed, she was almost immediately the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.

The dragonet lifted her head, staring up at them with wide green eyes, one's that perfectly matched her mothers. He softly gasped in delight and reached out his talons, feeling Dolphin move away and out from under his wing as the hybrid dragonet wiggled forward slightly and hauled herself slowly up into his talons.

The SkyWing settled back on his back legs, bringing her close to his chest and humming as she stared up at him, reaching forward with curious claws to touch his horns, as his head was bent towards her. The dragonet's wings fluttered, baring the royal, glowing SeaWing patterns underneath and she giggled when he bent his snout down lower to give her a little, and very gentle, nudge. "Dolphin...dear isn't she perfect?"

Finally he turned to Dolphin, and much to his shock she looked...upset, and even a bit angry. "It was supposed to be a son!"

She burst out after a moment of lashing her tail in silence. "How can I possibly trust a daughter? Someone who will one day kill me for the power I hold in our tribe!"

Their dragonet froze, startled by her aggressive, raised voice and Ridge lightly booped her snout with one claw, trying to distract her while he flared his wings at Dolphin in an outrage. "She's still our dragonet! How could you say that about her when she's barely a minute old!"

"Why wouldn't I?!" Dolphin shot back, grabbing a small seashell in her talons and crushing it in her anger before tossing the broken pieces away into the gently lapping ocean beside them. "That is nothing but a threat to me! How could you love it?"

Pure anger for his daughter flared in him and he growled deeply, smoke starting to billow around his horns from his nostrils, something that happened to him when he was pissed. "How could you not!? She binds us together, Dolphin. And she's your daughter, your kin!"

The queen made an outraged noise, clawing at the sand with her wickedly sharp claws. "I could have avoided all of this if I'd just laid her in the royal hatchery. Then I'd have known from the start and could've gotten rid of her!"

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