The hatchery was abuzz with life, people milling about the room, looking over eggs of all shapes and sizes. It acted as a preserve or conservation centre of sorts, adventurers and explorers bringing things they thought were endangered or special there for the experts to study.

Orelia was a dwarven woman, short and stocky. She was hunched over a desk, green eyes lingering on a nest that had been set up. Snuggled up among the hay and huddled up next to a red heat stone was a blackened egg, it's shade comparable to obsidian in colour. Seams coursed across it, glowing with an orangey light that reminded her of the expansive forge halls of the Ferric Peaks.

An adventurer had brought it in a couple days ago, not entirely sure about what it was. After deliberation over it, the egg was brought to the headmistress of The Hatchery, Orelia herself. She'd handled many 'high priority' cases before, but none had piqued her interest like this one. With a flick through her journals and bestiaries, she'd quite surprisingly deemed it to be the egg of a phoenix.

At first she didn't believe it, phoenixes were meant to be extinct, but here an egg was, sitting before her! Light shed from it when she exposed it to heat, and she'd kept it as warm as possible for the two days since then.

Orelia had obsessed over the egg, barely catching a wink of sleep as she gave it routine checks and ensured the heat stone was swapped out with freshly charged ones every few hours. Her eyes drooped, rest trying to lull her into it's grasp.

Crack, crack, crack.

Her eyes shot open, looking frantically from side to side before her attention drew downwards. A fissure had formed across the egg. Mouth hanging open, Orelia leaned down towards the egg. With another crack, the fissures and seams spread further across the rough obsidian shell.

A bit of the shell fell away, the dwarven woman's gaze lingering on the hole as she could've sworn she saw something stirring within. A creature, clearly, she mentally scolded herself, of course it was a creature, this was an egg after all!

More shell fell away, cracks and crevices coursing all about it. She couldn't believe what she was witnessing, the egg shook as something pushed it, a brief glimmer of fiery orange visible within.

The top of the egg fell away after what felt like a painfully long time, Orelia's curious eyes feasting upon the sight before her. It was a tiny, minuscule creature, barely the size of her hand. It was a person, humanoid almost, wreathed in flickering flames and moving about cautiously. Long flaming locks ran down it's little back, shaped like what she could only presume were feathers. The creature didn't seem to have hands, just three clawed talons on the end of glowing wings. Her legs were small, speckled with dimly glowing feathers, like the embers of a wilting flame.

Orelia remained awestruck as the small creature turned towards her, eyes flickering open to reveal their fiery colour. She leaned in, breath washing over the little thing.

"M-Ma," It, no, she spoke quietly, cocking her head to the side as she stared up at her.
A smile pushed it's way across Orelia's lips, although her eyes remained wide and surprised. Had.... had the phoenix imprinted on her? It'd make sense, that was how baby birds worked right? This little thing wouldn't be different, would it?

She slowly reached a gloved hand down towards the little critter, a quiet gasp escaping her lips as a tiny claw pushed into her middle finger. A coo escaped her lips, and a smile graced the little thing's face. Perhaps the arrangement wouldn't be too bad.