The Elder turned his emotionless gaze down to Jayne, then nodded at him and waved him forward with bony fingers, "You."
Jayne felt himself still, his eyes flickering between the eggs and the elf before him in a moment of hesitation before he complied. He slowly stepped forward, turning every part of his attention towards the Three. He couldn't help but move carefully, as if at any moment something could be done on his part that would end very, very poorly for them all. He almost didn't trust himself before the eggs, knowing well that it was probably not very...often that someone like him was allowed so close. He almost thought he saw the guards tense, but shrugged it off as a ominous figment of his imagination.
He was close enough to touch them now, and couldn't help but feel more wary than ever. The feeling was terrifying to him, the feeling that everything in his life was about to collapse. He couldn't say he wasn't amazed by them all, not even close. But still the voice in the back of his head whispered coldly, Something so great is not meant for someone...something as small as us. We are a pitiful thing; a thief, a liar, and a coward. You know it. We know it, it chanted and chided, the Riders are nothing like us. Pathetic, hopeless little fool, don't dare even to hope. Hope means disappointment. Disappointment is something we never cared for. He felt his fingers twitch at his side with a touch of conflict, then he murmured back at the other half of him with a tone that sounded nearly like curiosity, I know I'm not the one they want, but they're not going to let me go unless I do this.
There was no reply to that.
He was careful and... unusually tender in the movement, lifting a thin hand to draw the very tips of his fingers over the surface of the first. He moved as if the moment was supposed to last forever, although before he would have preferred it his caress had moved on to the next. The black, polished shell glided under pale skin, but that too was soon gone.
He was unnaturally soft, following the curls and twists of white across the amethyst-charcoal shell. Then he felt himself press even his palm onto the flawless stone, exhaling slowly as he did. It was warm, the gentle heat seeming there simply to promise there was something living, waiting inside.
And despite of himself, he did hope.
A long while seemed to pass that he remained still, then a light laugh escaped his thin lips. It almost felt as if it was growing warmer under his fingers. It only took a second for the laugh to fade into silence, then even the slight smile to disappear as well. Then rather suddenly he felt his hand jerk back slightly, the man restraining a bit of a yelp. When he looked down at his hand, it was red, and he could feel the tingling of the burning heat still laced in his flesh. It had grown hot so quickly that it didn't look like it would do any perman-
-the egg drew his attention back to it with a bit of shock, then began to tremble ever so slightly. The burn on his palm was forgotten in an instant, and the stone picked up more of the shivering movement. The purple was growing brighter with the passing moments, and it took so little for him to realize what was about to happen. Black eyes grew wide, then he was directly between the egg and the Elder, shoulders hunched in preparation just a splinter of time before the polished shell burst into hundreds of steaming, almost glowing shards. He felt the pieces hit the leather of his vest, peppering him with the fragments.
He remained still for the moments after the showering stopped, ice gripping his muscles and breaking only with the high effort he put into it. He glanced up at the elf before him, catching the look that assured he was unharmed, then followed the eyes slowly back to the place where the egg had before rested.
As he turned, he felt his heart stutter. In the remaining base of the egg, slim and damp neck lifting a pearly head was followed by a chirp. The hatchling slowly uncurled its wings, lifting one foot and pawing at the edge of the silk on which it rested. Its muzzle swung around a bit, and a wet sniffing sound curled into the air just before a sneeze racked its small, fragile-looking body. With the jarring act, eyes flashed open at the ground, then blinked a few times as it adjusted to the light.
"Impossible..."
After that it must have heart Jayne, for it turned curiously back to face him, meeting his stunned and numb look. Bright, sky-blue eyes danced up to his, where the both of them paused. Neither moved for what felt like forever, then the hatchling broke the silence with another sneeze. At that Jayne couldn't stop another small laugh, regardless of the tears welling in his eyes. He slowly stooped over, then with another locking gaze with the hatchling, he took some slow steps closer. It watched him curiously, peering at him from where it laid facing slightly away.
With noone warning him against it, his fingers once again rose out to offer his touch to the hatchling, this time a tint of something more in the motion. It cocked its head to the side at him, wrinkling its nose at the long fingers rising towards it. He stopped the movement, and the look quickly vanished as it in turn reached out to sniff at him.
The voice of the elf that brought him here tore him out of the moment for a heartbeat, a hint of warning in his voice as he started, "Ja-"
But in that time the hatchling closed the distance between the two, touching its nose to his outstretched palm.
The pain that gripped him was rather indescribable, but if one thing, he suddenly felt a jab of an icy shock dart up his forearm. Burning, stabbing, freezing, cutting, snapping- such an unnatural combination of everything agonizing suddenly rocketed up his arm, and although he snapped his appendage back with a startled yelp, the pain remained. Black blotted at the sides of his vision as he stumbled back, grasping at his left hand.
...his hand was glowing. Why was his hand glowing? He didn't particularly like the thought of glowing. Glowing wasn't good. Glowing... why was his hand glowing?
He groaned slightly, pressing his other hand to his head as he stared down at the symbol etched into his flesh with blurry vision. Sitting at the base of the pedestal, he glanced back up at the hatchling as it watched him over the edge. His eyebrows furrowed, and he blinked a few times before he could wrap his head around the simplest of thoughts, even then feeling dizzy.
But before he could make out what to do, he caught a nod from the Elder out of the corner of his eye, and Marth was bending over him as he was looked over. He still managed to look up at the Elder in mild confusion as he began to speak, occasionally blinking as if he were a stupid farm animal instead of a man. Of course, at this particular moment the hatchling decided to attempt walking for the first time, and only a second after it had put weight on its feet one foreleg let out and sent it tumbling over the edge with a squeak.
Jayne's reaction was slower than it would have been any other point in his life, but he somehow managed to swipe at the hatchling before it hit the floor, even though not enough to harm it. He fumbled slightly, panic in his eyes until he tucked it against his chest. There was quiet, as they stared at one another, then Jayne's head fell back against the ground with a rather inglorious "thud".
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(( Lol, sorry about the funny parts, I couldn't help myself. |3
Riddled with flaws, but this should work.
And... we'll say after a minute the Elder nodded Kaylee forward; I'm tired of writing. /lazy lazy ))
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