Celia laughed and began using the hand shovel to dig away the dirt.Darian was right.It did make it easier.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Of course,” he said, with a warm smile in her direction that said he truly meant it.
With the help of the shovels, they reached the bottom faster than ever, and amidst the ruins of the eggs, there were no babies.
“That’s an easy one,” she said, sitting back on her heels with a smile.“They’re almost ready to take off.”
Air dragons always flew to the mountains, unlike the earth dragons, who always walked.
She glanced down toward the creek, where there was a water dragon nest in the mud, and sighed.
“Only the water dragons left,” she said.“They’re my least favorite.”
“Why?”Darian asked, following her gaze to look at the nest.
“It’s the hardest to dig to the eggs,” she said.“They build their nest close to water.I suppose the dragon eggs want to be moist, but getting to the bottom is difficult.”
“It’s a good thing you have a shovel now,” he said with an easy grin, holding out his hand for it and stowing it back into the knapsack.
The air hatchlings took off in a flurry of wings and chirps, and when the dust cleared, Celia opened her eyes to see one new hatchling still on the ground, surrounded by their fire and earth hatchlings.
“Uh-oh,” she said as she hurried forward.
The baby was chirping pitifully, and Darian reached it first.
“I’m sorry it hurts,” he said soothingly.“We’ll help you.What hurts?”
The baby dragon answered and Darian turned to Celia.“It’s her wing.”
She looked up at Celia with pain and fear as Darian ran his finger gently down the side of her neck, whispering soothingly.
No matter how many nests she helped, Celia always forgot just how tiny they were until she was holding a newly hatched baby.
It was even more difficult now that she had the oldest dragons she’d ever had following her around now.Even Sod was larger than most dogs at this point, though he was shorter and more squat than the fire dragons, who were more sleek and graceful.
The air dragon let out a pain-laced trill as Celia gently opened her wing, and there it was, near the top where it was harder to bend—a large slit probably torn by a sibling’s clawed back feet as they climbed their way out of the dirt.
“Let me take you home,” she said soothingly.“We can bandage this.There’s an ointment I want to put on before we do.”She should have grabbed it and put it in her bag, but she’d taken it out to rub on Flame’s wing last night and had forgotten to put it back.“It’s sitting on my table,” she said with a sigh.“I shouldn’t have left it.”
“It’s okay,” Darian said, offering her a smile.“She would have come back with us anyway.We will help you,” he told the baby, who turned her gaze on him with distrust.
Air dragons were the least likely to bond with her.She thought perhaps it was something about the freedom they usually enjoyed, and this one seemed to be no different.
“Let’s go, Breeze,” Darian said, scooping her up and placing her in the basket, taking it from Celia before she could protest.
“I could carry the basket,” Celia said.“I’m perfectly capable, and you’re already carrying the knapsack.”
“Just because you’re capable doesn’t mean you have to,” Darian said, the words so matter-of-fact, as if he didn’t realize what he was saying.
Celia wasn’t used to being told that.
She’d always had to do everything herself, except for the brief time she’d been betrothed, and that hadn’t lasted long enough to get used to it.
“Let’s get her home and take care of her, and then I’ll let you take care of me by making us food.Does that sound like a deal?”
Celia laughed.
