~Aaron’s P.O.V~

I looked at Blu and Tyron standing before me. The two dragons seemed oddly opposite of each other. Blu was so excited he couldn’t keep still. His tail was whipping around behind him and his wings were slightly open as if he was about to bound into the air. While Tyron was a little… less enthusiastic. He was watching Blu from the corner of his eye and seemed to want to be happy… but was unable to bring himself to be so. Blu didn’t notice however, and seemed to be barely holding in what he wanted to say.

The five of us, including Tabitha and her mother, were all gathered on the outskirts of the camp as a request from Blu. He had simply said that he had some grand news that we need to hear. Of course, I was instantly intrigued and now, watching him, I began to get excited for this news as well.

“So Blu,” Tabitha said, leaning against a nearby tree, “What did you call us out here for today?”

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, “Last night, I went out to get a drink, then someone I never expected to show up appeared on the other side of the pond. The black dragon that’s been attacking us. He called himself Gabriel.”

“What!” I exclaimed.

The other two were similarly startled, though Tyron didn’t seem the least bit surprised. Blu had probably already told him the story.

“Did he try to attack you?” Meriwether asked.

Blu shook his head, “He only came to chat, which was odd.”

We agreed with him, “Well, what happened?”

“Well, he came to tell me that… well… apparently I’m going to be having hatchlings!”

We were all silent for a moment, not quite taking in what he just said. Tabitha was the first to act.

“What!” she exclaimed, looking up at him

He nodded with a massive smile, placing a paw on his stomach. “Tyron and I are gonna be parents.” he started crying as he nuzzled Tyron

The red dragon nuzzled back with a soft grin, but there was still something slightly… off about it. I shook my head, deciding I must be imagining things and turned back to Blu. Of course, this was amazing news for them, but something still didn’t sit quite right for me. Why had Gabriel come and told him? It didn’t seem like something a decidingly bad person would do.

“How did Gabriel know?” Meriwether asked.

“He said he and Garagain sensed the little one. He was congratulating me for keeping the dragon species alive,” Blu said with a shrug.

“And that’s all?” I pried.

“Well… he did warn me not to go further in our journey, saying if I did than the hatchlings would be in danger of being harmed… or worse. He said if I stopped no harm would come to them Well, at least that’s what he implied.”

I nodded my head with a small frown. It made a little more sense now. But it still seemed a little out of character for the black dragon, not that I knew him very well anyway. But there had to be something else that they were trying to achieve out of this, something that I wasn’t quite aware of.

“I'll have more guards assigned to you Blu. I don't want this Gabriel character getting near you again,” I said, “You may not see it, but I think there was more to his visit then what he is letting on. I think you should be careful.”

“I know,” Blu replied, “I still don’t trust him, but I do think he was telling the truth. At least in this instance. All the signs are there… and well… I don’t think he would have come otherwise.”

I nodded my head in agreement, “Well, either way I guess we’ll know the truth in a couple of months.”

“Sooner than that hopefully,” Meriwether chuckled, walking over to her son and placing a hand on his leg, “Your father would be happy for you my son.”

Blu smiled and leant down, nuzzling his mother, “I only wish he were here.”

Tabitha hugged him around the snout, causing me to smile slightly, before she stepped back with a smile.

“I’m gonna be an aunt to a bunch of baby dragons,” she said, “That will be cause for an interesting story.”

We all laughed at that, even Tyron.

“Alrighty,” I said, “Enough of this chatter. We’ll have time to celebrate later tonight. Right now we need to get on the move again. Now we have an even greater reason to find this forgotten kingdom.”

“Yes,” Tyron said, “The sooner the better.”

~Tabitha’s P.O.V~

My brother was pregnant. The thought sounded so weird in my head that it caused me to laugh, getting me a few curious looks from the people around me. I wish I could tell them, but we all agreed that we should wait a while until we revealed it to the public. Still… it was so strange. I mean, I guess he was part female but still. It all made me a little confused.

Either way though I was happy for him. My brother was pregnant and I was going to be the aunty for a clutch of baby dragons. Again I laughed, just shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it all. 

“Are you alright Tab?” Blu asked, a little concerned at my second outburst.

The parade of people had started again, and we were walking along a makeshift pathway with a small incline blocking the river from view. Trees surrounded us and the mountains towered around us. People walked as quickly as they dared, lugging large bags or using horses, mules, donkeys and the occasional gryphon or centaur to move carts full of things.

“I’m fine,” I smiled warmly at the blue dragon, “Just... I find it a little funny how everything turned out.”

He tilted his head at me confused.

“I mean, you, my brother, is pregnant with a clutch of baby dragons, to which I’m going to be their aunt. It’s… weird,” I said, making sure to keep my voice low so the people around us didn’t hear.

He seemed to think about it for a moment, “It is a little strange. No less wonderful though.”

I nodded my head, placing a hand on his flank, “No less wonderful.”

He smiled at me. Blu seemed to be a lot lighter today, lighter than he had been in a long time. Since he had lost the ability to fly. His wing was still in a cast and was taking its time in healing, but his head was high and his eyes were bright. Every step was taken with eagerness as we got closer and closer to our destination.

“I wonder what they'll look like all grown up.” he said, smiling.

“I’m wondering what they will look like when they hatch,” I responded, “Will they be the same colour as you and Tyron you think?”

Blu shrugged, “No idea. Dragons come in all sorts of colours, but I don’t know if it is dependant on who their parents are or not.”

“Well I'm betting your first born will be purple.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, red and blue is purple isn’t it?”

“Hmm, true.”

“I’m hoping one of them will be green,” I grin.

I heard a chuckle rumble from his throat, “Me and Tyron would love them all. I'm hoping for three eggs.”

“Three? That sounds like a lot from a humans point of view, but I guess in the stories dragons easily have three, four or even five eggs.”

“Hmm, I kinda hope it won’t be five,” he said, “I think that would get difficult to handle. Even Harry can be a handful, or clawful I guess, sometimes.”

“Haha, Harry’s a sweet kid. I think he’ll love his dragon brothers and sisters.”

“Yeah. Should we tell him when we stop to rest?”

I look up at Harry, who was currently sleeping in the crook of Blu’s neck. The kid had been really tired that morning, and had barely been able to get up, so Blu had allowed him some rest on his neck.

“If you'd like, I can be there when you tell him.” I offered.

He nodded his head, “That’d be nice.”

As we walked we continued to talk about things, about potential plans if we find the kingdom, when we would find it and what would happen when we did. The day began to slowly slip past with the constant rhythmic pounding of feet. I heard complaining all around me about blisters on feet and stiff and sore legs. I was used to walking a lot but even I was having a little bit of trouble.

As the sun set in the horizon we began to set up camp once again. We didn’t bother trying to find a clearing big enough for all of us and instead simply camped out on the road. Blu lay at one side, setting a small fire alight in the middle. Tyron had flown down and was sitting on his haunches beside Blu.

Mum had fallen to sleep early, the travelling hard on her, as it was for a lot of older people. But we couldn’t afford to stop moving. With the creatures of darkness slowly taking over the land, if we stopped then we would die.

“Hey Harry,” said Blu, looking over at the child.

He had woken up earlier, around lunch, and had been quite energetic for the rest of the day. Now however, he was rugged up in a furs and was sitting by the fire, staring into the hypnotising blue flames. When Blu spoke he looked up and smiled.

“Yes ma?” he said.

“We have something to tell you,” Blu said to the child, “You are going to have some brothers and sisters.”

Harry’s eyes widened, “I am?”

I smiled, watching the interaction with interest. I could already see the excitement building up within him, though he probably hadn’t fully understood what Blu was saying yet.

“Yes,” Blu smiled and lightly nuzzled the human boy, “But they will be dragons, like Tyron and me.”

He blinked, before smiling excitedly, “When?”

Blu placed a paw on his belly. “Hopefully soon. But they'll come in due time my little one.”

“That’ll be so cool!” he exclaimed, “I’ve always wanted a brother.”

“I know,” he said, “You probably will have a brother by the end of the year.”

He smiled and nodded his head, leaning against Blu’s side and hugging him. It didn’t take long before he fell to sleep, tired again from the days walking. Tyron smiled slightly, he seemed more relaxed than what he had been this morning, less anxious. Maybe he had come to terms with the fact he was going to be a father, if that was what had been bothering him.

“Come on,” I spoke up, “We should get some sleep. We got another long day of walking tomorrow.”

“Woohoo,” Tyron said a little sarcastically and a laughed with the rest of us.

I lay down in my bed, not having been bothered to make a tent tonight. It didn’t seem like it would rain anyway. I closed my eyes and let myself fall into the embrace of sleep.