Whatever I had written about between, it didn't do the place justice. Cold beyond reason, so sensation whatsoever, only a reassuring touch from Faroth kept me from rolling right off the dragon's back. While I knew it hadn't been anymore than an minute, winking out over Falas was like being born again. I breathed the warm, tropical air and felt the sun, Rukbat shining down on me. Faroth and Jesioth bugled exuberantly as they began a landing spiral, Philippe and M'len whooping aloud, obviously overjoyed to be home.

Once on land, my curiousity overthrew my shyness and I stared around openmouthed at the bustling surroundings. I noticed people gawking at me and didn't realize why until I caught the brilliant glare coming off of Tiny's hide. "Tiny!?" I blurted, the robot muse was very much real, alive and seperate from me, settled in plain sight on my shoulder. Valefor was on my other shoulder, blinking as though he'd just awoken from a deep, deep sleep. "What...what's going on..." he said sleepily. Not in my head, not me talking, Valefor was speaking of his own accord, aloud.

"I seems you've already made a few new friends." said M'len, wincing as light was reflected off of Tiny and into his eyes. "So soon?" "Er..." was all I said once again. "Valefor, we're real...We're alive!" Tiny exclaimed aloud, once M'len had his back turned. "Shh!" I hushed him fiercely. "Act like a normal flit, they can't speak aloud!" I followed M'len as he turned and waved me forward. "We'll have to figure out what the hell happened to bless me with you two's presence."

As it turned out, M'len was leading me into the candidate's barracks, I was surprised to see the large number of girls loitering around the halls, chatting inside open rooms or watching movies on laptops of their own. "Here is your room. I don't believe there's anyone else occupying it at the moment, so enjoy the privacy. I promise it'll be brief." M'len cast a harried look at Philippe as he opened the door. "You'll find everyone friendly enough, all the candidates appear to be girls so far. Firelizard incubators are just down the hall, this should be enough marks for an egg." He dropped an handful of coins into my hands as watched the other girls talking so freely.

"Thank you..." I murmured distractedly, watching as a number of winged wolves capered up and down the corridor. "Well, good luck." M'len waved as he left the corridor and I backed into my room and shut the door. The sound from the hallway was deadened once the door clicked shut, and I chose the bed backed up to the wall on one side and curled up on it. Mind thoroughly overwhelmed for one day, I fell asleep.

"Wakey...wakey uppy!" Tiny's high-pitched voice cut into my deep sleep and I opened my eyes. He stood on the bed in his fat little goatish form, clutching two cream-colored orbs in his claw-like hands. "What?" I muttered, rolling over and yawning. "I's brought you some brekkie-fast, eggs!" He held up the two orbs and dropped them into my lap, where they promptly began to tremble. "Tiny! You stole firelizard eggs! They cost money, you know!" But nothing could be done now, already two pairs of clawed feet were punching their way through the shells.

Out of one came a flit that looked as if it were make of stormy sky, swirled with seafoam greens and raincloud greys. It popped out and chattered at me, clearly a female. "I believe it would be called an opal." Valefor said from the bed next to mine, front feet tucked under him in a cat-like way. "A female opal..." I murmured, stroking the chin of the flit. "Name it Keoie, it's gaelic for crazy." "Keoie..." I repeated, completely lost in the brief moment of Impression. If this was what it was like to Impress a firelizard...well, a dragon must be pure ecstasy.

The other egg had broken cleanly in two, revealing a brilliant red flit uncurling fron a sleepy position. "Ruby...call him Obosi, s'romainian for weary." Valefor grunted. The ruby uncoiled itself with a great yawn and gazed up at me with spinning green-blue-red eyes.

"We have to go the the incubators." I said, standing up and cradling the hungry flits. "I can give them the marks M'len gave me, and maybe work off the rest. D'you think they'd take some Earth money?" I asked Valefor as he leapt from the bed and stretched luxuriously, beat his wings and flew along side me down the corridors. Tiny, in his flit form again, purred, chittered and twittered at the newborn flits in my hands.

"I suppose, they could always give it to their Searchers, no?" He landed on my shoulder and began picking his teeth with a claw. "That is very rude..." I scowled at him, but he just belched loudly in my face and continued. I sometimes wonder how he could be a part of my mind, then I remember that, when at home with close family, I am just as crude.

We reached the incubators, a stifling hot room lined with nooks in the walls, full of sand and eggs. I stopped the first person I saw and showed her the marks before opening my mouth to speak, put she took them, shoved a bowl of meat into my hands and steered to me an incubator with hatching eggs. "No, I...wait!" but she'd walked off, looking more and more harried as others stopped her with money and questions.

Obosi and Keoie both dove for the meat, devouring 3/4ths of it. Then, their gaze was drawn to a shuddering egg in the sand. "Oh no...two of you plus this pair of numb-skulls is all I can take care of..." It didn't matter, because the egg promptly hatched as soon as I'd properly focused my eyes on it. The little dark-colored flit crealed indignantly and cast a fierce, red-eyed gaze in my direction. Yet another mind jockied for space with mine, and the new flit also tackled the bowl of meat, finishing off what the other two had left.

I sighed, "Well Valefor? You've been unusually cooperative, what shall I call this one?" He considered for a minute as the little night flit let out what I swore was a belch. "Nekura...it's japanese for dark-natured." So Nekura joined my brood, hopefully the trio could help me restrain Valefor and tolerate Tiny.

"I wonder," I said to Valefor as we left the incubator room, paying for the other two forgotten. "how you came to know so much in other languages? I barely speak french properly..." He snorted and took to wing again, no doubt in search of some poor soul to torment before returning. He did take the time to call back to me simply, "Humans only use 10% of their brains nowadays." This left me with three sleeping flits, one hyperactive robot muse, and the butterflies in my stomach as I awaited Hatching Day.