There were now almost hourly squeaks and tiny roars coming from Aurha and Haonorh's cave. The hatchlings had grown more active, and their appetite had increased.



'Seshkra! Seshkra!' Handreth called one morning. 'Come help me put this usurper back in his place!' He squeaked in rage at Drethse, who was underneath him, and who had just tried to throw him off.



Seshkra merely yawned widely. 'If you need my help to dispatch of the silver, you're not that good for anything,' she drawled lazily. The silver harrumphed and resumed wrestling with his younger sibling. The silver-copper female was without a doubt the ringleader of the nest, but as with any good leader, she realised that sometimes they needed to sort squabbles out by themselves. Besides, she had just woken up and was in no mood to be clawed by her brothers.



The silver and his brother tumbled and squeak-roared around the whole cavern. Handreth used his mother as leverage and sprang down on Drethse, who rolled away.



'Ow!' the smaller silver cried suddenly. 'OW! Mother! Mother!'



Aurha opened one bleary eye. 'Handreth, let loose your brother's wing,' and she went back to sleep. The silver spat out the leathery limb with contempt, and crawled up to lounge beside Seshkra on Mother's best spot.



'You didn't really mean it, when you said I was useless, did you?' he asked. Her head snaked round and she nipped him.



'Don't be such a bird, Silver,' she scolded. 'If you go your whole life worrying what others think it'll be a miracle if you make your mating flight.' She snorted. 'Father says life is tricks. You have to trick the stronger into thinking they are weaker, and the weaker they are strong, and if neither of those works, just loose your flame on 'em.'



'That last bit doesn't sound like Father,' Handreth replied.



'No, that bit was mother,' the silver-copper admitted, settling down closer into the cavity where Aurha's wing folded over.



'But what does it mean?'



'What?'



'What you just said.'



'I don't know. Ask Father,' and with that, Aurha curled up and went back to sleep.



About a week later, Handreth embarked on a fairly fruitless task. One of the gemstones littering the wall of the cave had caught his eye and come slightly loose, and now he tugged at it with his teeth and bashed it with his tail. Finally he grew so frustrated, having tried every possible angle, that he snorted at it in disgust. A thin jet of flame shot from his nostrils and landed on the wall, dripping off the rock in golden tongues. He rushed back to Aurha's huge copper side. She had been woken by the smell of dragonfire, and had gathered all the hatchlings under her protective belly.



'Mother! You'll never guess!' he piped excitedly.



'What is it?' she growled, alert to the sound of intruders.



'I breathed fire!'



All the hatchlings were interested now. 'Show us, Handreth! Show us!' they called excitedly. So he did. He drew up his neck and snaked it back, every sense focussed on reproducing a flame. He breathed in and. . .



And nothing. Fire had not come spouting from his nostrils, and now all his siblings rolled over with laughter.



'Brilliant fire, Silver,' Drethse jeered. 'You must be a new kind if dragon to have invisible fire. Oh, how your enemies will tremble at it!' Handreth, puffing out his chest, gave a tiny hatchling war cry and pummelled into his nest-mate, wrestling him to the floor until he apologised. The others squeaked in excitement, egging on the gray and cheering when the silver got the upper hand. Their allegiances were fickle, and they tossed and turned in favour of the prospective victor, whoever it was at any particular moment.



Handreth won, as he always did, and the hatchlings lost interest, immediately forgetting what it was they were fighting about. Only Seshkra remained, crouched, her tail wrapped around her legs.



'Come to scoff as well, Seshkra?' Handreth asked morosely, desperately disappointed that his flame had failed.



'No,' she replied, looking genuinely surprised. 'I believe you.' He cocked his head at her in bemusement, and she sighed. 'Males,' she muttered. 'You smell like dragonfire, Handreth,' she explained.



Handreth practiced his fire away from the others where they couldn't see him to laugh at him. He was a very proud young drake, and failure repulsed him. It took him a while to recreate the exact sequence of events that led to that first globule of flame bursting from his nose, but when it happened again he got excited. He dragged his sister over to watch him practicing now, and became interested when he actually did something.



'Will you teach me?' she asked. He nodded and hurriedly told her what to do.



'Lift your head, yes, like that, and snake your head back like you're about to strike. Inhale. Feel your chest muscles convulse, and . . . release!' Seshkra felt like an idiot doing as her brother was telling her, but she too got excited when the thinnest of thin flames spat lazily from her snout.



'Come, Handreth, I hear Father coming. We must defend our prize!' Seshkra piped suddenly, cocking her head to a sound only she could hear. Seshkra's ears were very good- and always right.



The two hatchlings stood on top of the carcass once again, tag-teaming so that one ate while the other snacked on tasty organs and muscle. This one had once been a wild boar, but was fast being stripped of any edible part.



Hanorh lay down next to his mate and rested his head on her shoulder. 'Are you weary, my love?' Aurha asked gently. Hanorh murmured the affirmative in his half-sleep. She looked at him fondly, enjoying the calm that sleep gave to her mate's usually frowning, worry-worn features. He laughed too, and there was the barest hint of an upward curve lingering on his lips at his nearness to his mate. 'Hanorh,' Aurha whispered in his ear. 'Handreth has breathed first flame, and so has Seshkra.' The silver shifted slightly, but went on sleeping. Let him, she thought.



A sense of tingling excitement stalked through Aurha's every nerve now. Traditionally, when the first hatchling could breathe fire, parental duties swapped, and the drakka hunted for the family. Her maternal instincts were still powerful within her, but Aurha's yearning for open sky and the knowledge that now her children could at least put up a fight was comfort enough for her to leave them. She could unfurl her wings again and dance with air currents again. She couldn't wait.