24. Wings
F or once Aeden felt an air of optimism as he made his way into the hatchery. The day had been brutal to say the least, but at least Harrison had come off with no long-term injuries. He certainly still had his humour.
Serene had been less than impressed with Harrison’s comments towards her, huffing and protesting that she was upset for both Vivienne and him, but Harrison had taken all that he needed to from the exchange.
To be fair, Aeden had found it funny watching Serene get caught up, fumbling her words as she tried to think of a comeback for Harrison, and she had failed miserably.
Harrison’s whole demeanour showed Aeden he was more than okay, to a point where you would not have thought he had taken a beating at all.
It was only at Mistress Plato’s insistence that he remain at the healers wing over night so they could keep him under observation.
Other than that, he was okay. Once Aeden had spoken with him and was satisfied that he was okay, he headed across to the hatchery .
Hushed words and whispers followed Aeden around every corner as Aeden walked down the hallways, wandering eyes casting judgement over him.
Aeden had thick skin, but that didn’t make it any easier.
His biggest worry was the huge magnifying glass it placed over his head.
The last thing he had wanted was to draw this much attention to himself.
His plan was to uncover the truth behind his parents’ deaths, and to do that, he needed to go incognito.
So far all he had managed to do was the exact opposite of that.
As he approached the hatchery door, he could hear Nyra chittering away, and the warm feeling of contentment reached him through the weave, causing him to smile. He wondered what she was doing to be so happy.
No sooner did he open the heavy wooden doors into the hatchery than he saw the source of her happiness. Nyra was in a large pen that had metal bars running across the front. She was padding her feet on a thick pile of straw that looked fresh; Lyric must have added more to her nest.
“ Aeden ,” she said through their bond, clear delight in her voice. She stopped what she was doing and rushed towards the edge of her pen. She leaned her head straight over the top of the railings and lowered her crown to greet him.
“ Hi ,” he said back as he walked straight across to her and rubbed her head.
The scaled feathers were both smooth and rough at the same time.
It was a strange texture, and Aeden moved his hand around to the side of Nyra’s head.
She pushed her head into Aeden’s hand, and another pang of comfort reached him through their weave.
Aeden gave her a little scratch, and she started chittering almost instantly.
“ I missed you ,” she said .
“ I missed you too, girl .” Aeden looked around for Lyric and found him standing within the pen on the opposite side of them, where loads of Aer-Kin eggs sat, waiting to hatch.
Lyric was taking measurements of the eggs and muttering something to himself.
Under his thick beard, the words came out as nothing more than muffled jargon.
“What are you doing?” Aeden asked.
Lyric finished measuring the large egg that he was standing beside. The thing was even taller than he was, light blue in colour and speckled with light brown spots.
“I’m just taking measurements to make sure all the eggs are incubating well.
I assume you got my message from Nyra?” He climbed over the railings of the incubation chamber and dusted himself down.
Dirt and straw fell from his tunic, although there was still plenty stuck to him.
There were even a couple pieces of straw in his beard.
Aeden gestured to him to let him know, pawing at his own fake beard. It took a moment for Lyric to understand what Aeden was saying. Finally he laughed and rubbed his large hands over his face, feeling for the straw and brushing it away.
“How’s Nyra doing?” Aeden asked. “She seems happy.”
“She certainly is.” Lyric walked across the hatchery towards them both, then patted Nyra on her side.
“She loves the straw for her bed and is definitely fond of a scratch or two.” He dug his fingers into her side and gave her a scratch, to which Nyra continued to chitter.
“All in all, she’s just as playful as you would expect a hatchling to be.
She still needs rest, and lots of it. A hatchling’s growth acceleration is far quicker than a human’s.
She will get bigger pretty quickly, especially if she’s happy and well fed.
” He offered Aeden a smile, but it came across as forced, and Aeden couldn’t help but think that there was something Lyric wasn’t telling him.
“Is something wrong?”
“There’s something that I need to speak to you about, and it isn’t the best news, I’m afraid.”
“Please just tell me,” Aeden said. “Especially if it’s about Nyra. I need to know she’s okay.”
“Very well.” Lyric finished scratching Nyra and turned to face Aeden, folding his thick arms across his chest. There was a solemn look on his face. “As you know, there’s an issue with Nyra’s wings. Now, you’re absolutely certain that she hatched out of a stone egg?”
“Yes. I remember parts of it crumbling away like an old statue as she hatched.”
“Well, with her forming in a consecrated egg – which in my opinion should not be possible – I believe it caused an issue with her wing development. This is only a theory, but look at these other eggs and the varying sizes.” He pointed to the rest of the eggs in the hatchery around them.
“These are all at different stages of development, and they will not all hatch exactly at the same time because each Aer-Kin inside is a different breed. But even if you look at the same breeds and their eggs” – he pointed at two eggs that were both light yellow and had the same light orange speckles on them, just in different patterns.
The one on the left was about one-third bigger than the egg on the right.
“These two eggs were laid by the mother at the same time. What do you think the difference in size will mean?”
“That the Aer-Kin on the left is bigger,” Aeden answered. It was the only answer he could think of .
“Exactly, except when both these eggs came into the hatchery, they were the same size. The one on the left, however, has developed stronger, and as such, the egg that they are incubated in has grown with them.”
“Okay,” Aeden said, not fully understanding where Lyric was going with this.
“My theory with Nyra is that – if it is true that she hatched from a consecrated egg, which I have never read or heard of happening before – then this has potentially hindered her development.”
Aeden gave Lyric a blank look before looking at Nyra and then back to the eggs on the far side of the hatchery.
“I think that as Nyra has grown in her egg, the stone has not grown with her, causing her wings to press into an unnatural position. As they started to grow, the egg didn’t expand with her.
I mean, it’s a miracle that she hatched in the first place, but also that it is only her wings that are damaged. ”
Aeden didn’t like Lyric’s concerned tone, and his own apprehension swelled inside him.
“Now, I have been examining her wings, and I am afraid they are damaged beyond repair. The way the muscles have formed, the ligaments, tendons, the bones themselves . . . they are fused and formed in an unnatural position that I do not believe we can fix. Even if we had the finest surgeons try to tend to her, they would all say the same thing.” He sighed a deep sigh as he looked at Nyra, lowering his head in defeat.
“She would be deemed a runt and would have been executed.”
“They can’t!” Aeden said, his heart thundering against his chest. He would fight the gods themself if they tried to harm a single feathered scale on her body .
“Woah,” Lyric said, raising his hands. “Don’t worry about her being executed.
I said she would have for a reason.” He placed his hands on his hips as he continued to speak.
“It’s the main thing I do not agree with at the academy.
But sometimes if an ailment is too severe for a hatchling, the kindest thing to do is free them from this world.
I am absolutely sure that, had Nyra hatched inside the academy with these eggs, that would have been her fate. ”
“They would have killed her?” Aeden said, horrified by what he was hearing.
“It is done in a humane way, but yes, that is what would have happened. The good news is that she wasn’t, and she has already bonded to you, so the academy will not move to have her destroyed.
To kill a bonded hatchling would also kill the rider that they are bonded to, and we are short on riders as things stand.
This will mean that Nyra is safe.” Lyric’s face softened, and more than anything, he looked sad, defeated almost. “The bad news is that with Nyra’s wings the way they are, I can’t see a way that she will ever fly.
Her wings are too damaged. Just moving them slightly causes her agonising pain. ”
The news hit Aeden in the chest like a sledgehammer. His breath hitched, and the room felt as though it was vibrating violently as suddenly his legs seemed to be made of stone.
“ I’m okay, Aeden .” Nyra’s soft voice brought him back into the room as his thoughts whirled around his head about her future, about their future. “ I will be okay .”
“ How can you be so brave? ” Aeden asked, reaching out to her through the bond. He could sense her sadness, feel her sorrow, but here she was, comforting Aeden.
“ Because I have you . ”
Aeden raised his head to meet Lyric’s gaze, who looked every bit as devastated as Aeden with the news.
“Are you sure there’s nothing that can be done?” Aeden asked.
“As certain as water is wet. There is nothing we can do to repair them.”