“I was just checking on it, when I saw this,” Zina said. “I guess it makes sense – if Goldie and Dusty felt secure enough to hatch, then maybe this one does too? It’s just a crack for now, though – it hasn’t moved at all since then.”
“Hmm.” Trent leaned down a little to inspect it more closely. “Would it be better to let whatever’s in there come out in its own time? I don’t want to rush it. It should only come out when it really feels ready.”
Plus, who knows if I bought any food it’ll like?
“You’re right,” Zina said, putting the egg back down in its foam casing. She sniffed the air. “Do I smell Chinese food?”
“You absolutely do!” Trent shot her a grin as he stood up. “Want some?”
“God, yes,” Zina said. “I feel like I could eat a whole noodle factory.”
“Probably good, since I just about bought a whole factory’s worth of them,” Trent said, heading over to where he’d dropped the shopping. “Should we see if Goldie and Dusty can be tempted into eating anything that might actually be good for them, too?”
“Sure.”
Zina went to the kitchenette, finding where the plates were kept. The place was well-stocked with all the kinds of things people might need – but then, Trent thought, it seemed like the suite was designed for people who wanted to spend as little time as possible outside of it.
“Here.” Zina laid the plates out on the table. “What did you get?”
“Beef mince, to start with,” Trent said, scooping a little out of a container and placing it on the plate. “Then I got some apple and more banana, since wedoknow they like that. Some broccoli. Bit of chicken mince, too. I thought a whole chook might be a bit too much for them to handle just now.”
“Grrup?”
As Trent placed the food on the plate, Dusty lifted his head, making a sound that was very definitelyinterested.
“Oh, you want something?” Trent said, glancing over his shoulder. “You hungry?”
“Grrp grrp? Cheep!”
As soon as he spoke, Goldie too raised her head from where she’d been guarding her treasure, eyes glowing with hunger.
“Well, if you want to eat, you’re going to have to leave your little treasures,” Trent said, putting the two plates with their selection of food down on the ground next to the table. “Baby dragons have to prove they have good manners before they can eat at the grown-up table.”
As Trent watched, it was clear that there was a war going on within Dusty and Goldie’s hearts – they didn’t want to leave their two-dollar coins, but theyalsodefinitely wanted the food.
“No one’s gonna steal your hoard, I promise,” Trent said, with as much sincerity as he could muster. “You can trust us – right?”
“Oh, for sure,” Zina chimed in, nodding enthusiastically. “No one would dream of it.”
Maybe Dusty and Goldie believed them, or maybe their hunger won out. Either way, in the next moment, both of them had left their treasures to scuttle their way over to the edge of the table, throwing themselves down off the edge and fluttering to their plates of food.
They took a moment to inspect what was on offer, and then, without any further hesitation, started eating.
“Whoa,” Zina murmured as she watched them ravenously devouring everything in front of them. Goldie started with the chicken mince, wolfing it down without even chewing, while Dusty seemed to prefer the banana, before moving on to the beef mince. Whatever their preferences, however, it was clear neither of them were fussy, and soon the plates were completely cleaned, and the two baby dragons were licking their chops like especially satisfied cats.
“Okay, well, that, at least, is easy,” Trent said, shaking his head. “We can tell Tahnee she won’t have any trouble feeding these two.”
“Thankfully not,” Zina agreed.
Now that they’d eaten, Trent couldn’t help but notice both baby dragons were looking a little sleepy – their eyelids drooped, and Goldie seemed to be having trouble keeping her head up. Nonetheless, they both seemed to want to go back to their tiny hoards, if the way they were looking anxiously up at the tabletop was anything to go by.
“Looks like it might be someone’s bedtime,” Trent said, smiling at them fondly. He didn’t really want them on the table, though – he and Zina still had to eat their own dinner off that!
“Come on,” he said, scooping Dusty up in one hand, and Goldie in the other. “Let’s find you somewhere to snooze. Zina, could you grab their, uh, treasures? Maybe they’d be happiest sleeping with them on the sofa.”
Nodding, Zina grabbed the coins, which brought forth a small cry of protest from both dragons, though they calmed down when Zina put them down on a sofa cushion. “You guys are definitely going to have to learn to get along,” she said firmly. “So no touching each other’s stuff, okay? You’ve both got your own.”
Dusty and Goldie seemed to accept this edict, curling up next to each other around their respective coins happily enough. It wasn’t long before Trent heard a tinycheeeepandbrrrrrpemanating from their tiny snouts as they drifted into a deep sleep.
