It didn't take him long to find another deer, this one a fair bit larger than the previous two. He took it back to the others and they all ate their breakfast. After it settled a bit, they took to the air. Flying over the island, they looked at all the trees, and heard wildlife that they hadn't heard while living on Malnev's habitable moon. They approached Storm's clearing cautiously, landing a walkable distance from his cave.
They walked into the clearing with feigned confidence, except in the case of Mylvara, who had perfect confidence that they would be welcome. So it was she who called out when they entered the clearing. "Hello? Is anyone here?" It was at this point that Melinar realized that they would all feel very silly if there wasn't anyone here.
After a moment, a blue head, then body emerged from the cave. He looked at the others gathered in his clearing and stumbled. He stared, in shock, at the five dragons, for several moments, before he shook his head and started to speak.
"Who...? How...? Where...? Am I seeing things?" He was so stunned that he could barely form a complete sentence. Then he pulled himself together. "How is this possible? Where did you come from? Where have you been? Are you really Malnevian?"
"When our ancestors sent a group of hatchlings and a handful of elders to find a safe place to strengthen our numbers, they went to the moon. It had a habitable atmosphere, but it turned out that it wasn't quite sufficient for the needs of large numbers of dragons. Our numbers are less than half, actually less than a third of what they hoped they would be after a century, so we decided it would be best if we returned, before our numbers began to shrink due to lack of resources. We're sorry to have been gone so long with so little to show for it, but we were hoping that we would be welcome." Mylvara knew she wasn't the most diplomatic dragon of the party, but she was the one who feared the result the least.
Storm stared at the group for a moment longer. "Of course, you are welcome!" He exclaimed. "We thought you had all died. I'm happy you've made it back, though I do wish you'd been able to come back sooner. But you're back now, and that's what is important. Is there anything I can do to help you? Do you have a place to live? These caves used to be home to many dragons; you can stay here if you like." He took a closer look at the cream female, and smiled. "We also have a hatching sands, that haven't been used in a long time. By a female anyway. At the moment, there is a small clutch of anjir eggs that were orphaned recently. There is plenty of room, whenever you are ready."
Mylvara blushed lightly, and nodded. "I would like that very much. The moon did not have nice sands. They worked, but I wasn't looking forward to clutching there." She looked back at her mate. "Thrintar, is it alright if we stay here? I don't want to look for a new place to clutch. Can I see the sands?" She glanced back at Storm.
"By all means, go ahead. If you are possibly going to be the first dragon to clutch there in decades, you have a right to see them first." He led them all into the caverns and they were rather surprised that the interior of the cave was very well lit. There seemed to be natural skylights in the cliffside. There were also numerous other chambers branching from the main 'corridor'. While Mylvara examined the sands, the others investigated further down the corridor. They each found a chamber that they would like to move into, and then they went back to the sands.
"Are you going to mind sharing the sands, if you clutch before the anjir hatch?" Storm didn't want to move the anjir eggs; they might get damaged and they were almost as rare as Malnevians. The sulanu guarding the anjir looked up at the dragoness, and waited for her answer. They wouldn't take lightly to having the eggs moved.
"Oh, no! Please leave them. They'll be fine. I'll even help to watch them. I... we've never seen anjir. We heard stories of them, but they stayed here, so none us us ever saw them. I have no problem sharing with them, or probably with any other female, if any of the others shows up. But none of the others had even flown when we left." She looked a bit disturbed by this fact, but shrugged and gazed lovingly at Thrintar. "I think this place will do nicely for our children."
He nuzzled her, then looked at the others. "Okay, we're going to need to get some food. I doubt Storm here has enough food for six dragons just lying around, so we'll help make a stockpile. I think Mylvara will need meat close by fairly soon." They all looked at the cream dragoness, who was busy playing with sand, arranging and rearranging piles of it near where she was sitting. "Let's get hunting."
True to Thrintar's prediction, Mylvara laid her clutch about three days later. The sulanu were thrilled; now they had more eggs to play with. Of course they took their guardianship of the anjir very seriously, but every now and then one would take a break and come over to check out the larger malnevian eggs.
Melinar came to check on his cousin almost as often as her mate. He was relatively young and had never seen a clutch before. He also wanted to make sure his older cousin had everything she needed; she and Thrintar had always been his mentors. The other two, Kinlara and Khellendar, took turns exploring the planet. One would go, while the other stayed to help hunt or guard, then they'd switch. Thrintar, well, he mostly worried about his mate and their eggs. He knew there was nothing he could do to help them grow, but he worried anyway.