The horde of dragons landed at the picnic blanket in a tangle of wings and claws, all struggling to be the first to get their fill of whatever was on the platters.
This was a special al that Hawk had prepared for them, a favour to Cara, and an expression of his skills as an Immortal Mystic Chef.
It often felt like he wasn't as much of a cook as Lotus, who baked the sweets that everyone seed to love so much, but Hawk was proud of his skills, even if they leaned more towards roasted ats and vegetables than desserts.
Healthy eating was important too, even if you were eating mostly for the benefit of the magic that was stored in it.
So, the hatchlings had no idea that the al was actually sothing special. What they did know was that it was delicious, and that roasted at was every bit as good as the fresh at that they had been served before, as it was easier for them to digest.
All at was good at.
But Cara wouldn't have arranged for Hawk to make a al if there was no potential for additional entertainnt. It wasn't in her nature. Just feeding the dragons was sothing that happened ten tis a day at this point in their lives.
So, she had Hawk bring out the good ats, prepared to the best of his abilities to showcase the glory of his cooking skills and the Fire Elent, in her words. That was enough motivation for Hawk.
{Hey, this one has fruit in the middle!} One of the little dragons cheered as he bit into a piece of roasted fish.
{Fruit in the at? Is it good? Give so!}
Tessa watched the little dragons fight over the chunks of at as she
approached with Thor. They were tiny savages, and Hawk had made dozens of different flavours, without any consideration to how many young dragons were coming.
So, while there was more than enough for everyone, there was far from enough of each flavour for everyone to try it all.
Exactly as Cara had planned.
In so cases, that wasn't such a bad thing. Not every dragon was interested in every flavour. But these were hatchlings, and the urge to compete over food was hardwired into their brains.
They couldn't stand the fact that others might have sothing that they didn't manage to get.
It felt like losing.
That too was a valuable lesson for the little dragons, but it also ant that there were going to be fights. Not major ones, as the dragons were too young to have activated System Classes, and most of them weren't born with control of their innate skills yet.
But violent enough that Tessa and Thor had to step in to separate the little ones and keep the battles from spreading to involve others.
"Alright, we will spread the at out in a larger area if we have to. Everyone play nice and eat whatever slls good." Tessa ordered, using the well trained 'mom voice' that all Red Dragon Clerics were trained in.
It was a tone that worked especially well on Lotus when they were still in the Academy, and the young Green Dragon Cleric was about to get herself in trouble again.
The hatchlings considered her demand for a few seconds, then quickly realized that spreading out the at ant it would be further to get to the other flavours. That was not good, they would have to fight even more to get to piles that they couldn't hoard.
Thor laughed as the dragons arranged themselves around the blanket, and began to jostle and fight for position, which ended up with them making a slow rotation around the at pile, as they all moved from option to option.
It almost looked organized.
At least, it did until one of them realized that there was an open spot on the top of the pile, and it turned into a starved hatchling version of capture the hill.
While Tessa tried to organize the chaos of a hatchling picnic, Nachtia was having a much easier ti with the dragons of the dark and death elents who had naturally congregated around her and Rae.
They had moved to a shadowed region of the underground city, which had been entirely appropriated as the Orphanage for young dragons in the Tiny World. That gave them the comfort and solitude that they wanted, without moving them too far from the others, or making it hard to get to the food. It also mostly stopped the wayward son of the black dragon clan from wandering off to go find Karl.
Why he was such a draw for the small dragon was a mystery to her.
Nachtia had clearly heard from her patron on multiple occasions that Karl was prohibited from having a baby dragon. However, that did not an that baby dragons were not drawn to him.
Even Brother Chin, the reborn white dragon was drawn to him.
"Alright, what does everyone want to do after we eat? Should we play shadow tag? Or should we all have a nap?" Nachtia asked, knowing what the answer would be, and what would actually happen.
"Shadow Tag!" the hatchlings demanded as one.
That was what she expected as they headed for the end of the second day after the hatching. They would all want to play tag, and then ten minutes in, they would be exhausted, and the caretakers would be carrying them back to the small beds that had been set up in alcoves for them.
But Sister Rae loved to play the ga with them, and she would chase them around in spider form, making the hatchlings work their wings to escape her, as the spider put in minimal effort to keep them moving and prevent anyone from actually getting away.
It wasn't like they were ever going to be faster than she was, and none of them had a skill that could hide from her eyes. Nor were they likely to learn one in the next few years while they learned the basics of how to be dragons.
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