Legs crossed in front of her, arms down flat to her front with her hands buried deep in the sand, a dark girl sat watching a pair of oddly colored fire lizard eggs twitch in the sand with sober brown eyes. One was moving quite faster than the other, all but spinning back and forth in the small hollow she had dug for it in the attempt to get it warm enough to hatch. Having seen quite a few of these nests on the beach, Etansi believed that the burning sands near the ocean would be the best bet to getting the eggs to react and it appeared that she had been correct. In front of her, between her wraith thin body and the dancing eggs, was a small piece of cloth with dried meat, bread, and one or two pieces of cheese spread out on it in the hopes of keeping the lizards from instantly hopping Between and dashing her brother's hard work and her hopes of bonding to something. Even if she had taken both of the eggs, pointing at his beautiful blue dragon as she did so in the attempt to remind him that he had a bond he needed to keep and work on long before he tried another, deep down she knew that it had been selfish and there was a part of her that burned with guilt. It would only get worse if one or both of them disappeared. All she could ever do was try and hope, something she wasn't used to having.

Slowly, despite the wild rocking and spinning the larger egg was doing, a crack split down it's shell from the smallest point to the fatter bottom of it. Reaching out to grab one of the pieces of dried meat, her hand closed around it carefully and she tensed, not entirely ready for what was about to take place in front of her. But she wasn't given a spare moment to think herself calm as the crack split and the entire tiny egg shattered into pieces with a shrieking howl that startled her for sure. Keeping her emotions well in check, something she had learned from her most recent remedial lesson she and the rest of the Candidates had been taking after the disaster of a Hatching, Etansi tossed the piece of meat into the screaming mouth of the blue fire lizard hatchling that had burst from the egg. It's red eyes turned to her as it snatched it from the sky, using it's small claws to hold it as the little beast tore into it quickly and ravenously, a loud hum still coming from it. This little creature was angry, it had come into the world screaming and that actually amused her, so she held out a piece of bread to it slowly as it nearly finished the first piece of meat. Without warning it took that as well and swallowed it whole, stopping suddenly as it began to trill at her and walk forward slowly, carefully, completely disregarding the food in front of it.

Not understanding what was happening, but wanting to make sure she could keep it near her without having it pop Between, the fear beginning to creep into her, Etansi held out yet another piece of meat. The lizard knocked it from her hands and climbed into her lap, sitting on her crossed legs and looking up into her face with curious green eyes that glowed from it's dark face. It was searching for something but she didn't know what and her fingers kept trying to offer more food to it as it searched her, eyes spinning back and forth between red, green, and blue before finally settling on a purple and biting the meat she put before his face.

"You're very angry... remind me of Erastan." She told it, rubbing one hand over the blue fire lizard's back as it ate, her words were met with a tiny chirp full of attitude. "Etan? Will you stay?"

Once again the lizard chirped at her and it licked at it's claws before climbing up her body to rest on her bony shoulder, eyes staring straight at the egg she had forgotten in the minutes since the dark blue lizard had hatched. Her own dark eyes were pulled back to it, noticing the web of fine cracks all over the shell as it shook and shook in the sand, the lizard within it seeming more and more desperate by the minute to get it. It was concerning, if anything it seemed really bad that the little fire lizard couldn't break it's own shell, what if it ended up being a dud? Worry deep in her gut, Etansi reached out a hand to try and help it, only to have Etan hiss in her ear and nibble at her skin, enough of a shock to her that she turned and glared at her new lizard with an affronted air.

"Needs help, brat. We need to help." Etansi started and very suddenly an image a fire lizard breaking through it's shell came through to her mind followed by others in rapid fire. Dark eyes widening with the realization that Astriana had been completely correct and not at all lying to her, the teen filed the information away so that she could thank the older girl the next time she saw her for being so truthful when not many in her life had been. So she'd told her the truth about fire lizards, that meant that she did have hope for the future on the sands.

A keening noise brought her from her own thoughts as a claw sliced through the cracked shell of the egg and drug down to finally release the hatchling within in a tumbling puddle of pale blue lizard. Etan gave a snarling hiss to the lighter blue lizard and lurched forward as if to attack it, eyes whirling red once again, but Etansi caught him with one arm and pinned him to her side with considerable force. Not enough to hurt him certainly but she didn't want one lizard to frighten the other and chase it away, he really was exactly like her brother in every way even trying to protect her from his own clutch brother. To it's credit, the lighter blue was unfazed by it and lifted itself up gracefully from the puddle it had entered the world in to peer up at her with gentle blue eyes. Holding out a piece of cheese to the pale blue, she smiled softly and sent a very gentle thought towards it, reaching down through the hole in the armor of her anger to pull up the small bit of happy for it was such a pretty lizard compared to the squalling one beside her. Both were beautiful in their own ways, Etan looked like a dark night sky with starry spots and this one looked as though it were made of clouds or snow, literally night and day with their personalities too.

Oh how she wanted them both.

Despite the noise coming from the darker lizard, in spite of the fact that she didn't feel as though she were nice enough for this gentle and graceful little creature, the pale blue took the cheese from her hand with a smooth motion and ate it slowly, eyes on his brother. When it was gone and it was gone quickly, it held out both claws for another piece, this time receiving some meat that it ate just as slowly. Just seeing how gentle his brother was, Etan relaxed against her body and Etansi ended up releasing him so that he could greet him with a hiss that his pale brother ignored without an issue, far more focused on eating what was in his claws than greeting his brother. Nosing him and hissing one more time for good measure, the darker of the two blues stalked back over and sat on one of her knees, peering down at the paler one with orange eyes and body language that made the little teen laugh despite herself. Finished eating after a few more pieces, the smaller blue climbed into her lap as well, nestling down between her legs where her hands had once been and nuzzling at her as Etan rumbled and did everything but throw a fit.

"Both should nap, all of us should nap." Etansi offered to the darker one, handing him another piece of meat as she sat staring down at both of them, something twitching deep inside of her for them. She was going to need to figure out a name for the little light blue one. "Thank you, for not running, for not leaving me."

A bright chirp came from both of them at her words, as if the two had understood, and she was startled to see two sets of purple eyes looking up at her adoringly, the paler one clearly woken up by her words. It was a beginning and they could only grow from these small forms into something more, but for the first time since the Hatching Etansi felt as though she could breath and it was only because she was in the presence of the two blues and their differing personalities. Waves of hesitant trust kept washing over her that were laced with love that seemed to be directed from both of them all at once, like they were doing it together even though they were so different. In the exact moment she was able to grasp why people wanted them, why there were so many tame lizards around especially with those that worked in the lower caverns, because it was like feeling outside of her own body. Just having them send her love and trust was odd, like feeling her own heartbeat when she was just sitting there.

"Together forever?" She asked them, a smile spreading over her face at their responses.