Creatures Caves | Creatchi

As the setting sun heralds the end of a late spring day, a grendelchi makes his way slowly and carefully through the forest, carrying something small, but very precious. Eventually he reaches his destination: a gatehouse of sorts within a thick wall, with stone buildings beyond. It's been quite a while since he was last here.

Seiryu carries his burden into the keep, the high-ceilinged stone room where he himself hatched. He'd set off, many days ago, to try to find out more about this place, who had built it, and why he'd hatched here. Despite his searches, he wasn't much wiser. He'd found out early on that the castle had been home to a dragonchi, but the penny hadn't dropped even then. Some days ago, there'd been a shock of recognition on seeing a dark creatchi in the depths of the woods - but she'd taken off, scared at the sight of him. Seiryu had known he was different, but it took the near-miss with the other dragonchi to realise why.

Now, with time running out, he wonders if he should go in search of her again? It can't be co-incidence that they're both different.

But other things fill his mind... his parting from the blue grendelchi Marzipan, whom he'd almost failed to spot in the treetops one day. He thought he'd seen a patch of sky - until it had moved, and thrown an acorn at him! He'd hung around her for a while when he was younger, and probably made a bit of a nuisance of himself; but she was always flitting around, off seeing other creatchis. Marzipan seemed to know everyone. And eventually, Seiryu thought she might have a point, and started going off and meeting other creatchis and having fun himself. He still got together with Marzipan every now and again; and they'd been close enough to leave something behind them for the future.

Very carefully, Seiryu pulls together a soft nest of grasses in the middle of the room. After a little thought, he collects together the more interesting objects in the room - a couple of rough-cut gemstones, a tarnished dagger, and something that looks like a large, twisted bracelet - and tucks them in around the sides of the nest. A bit more arrangement of grasses, and two eggs are gently placed in the nest: one pale with a scattering of purple spots, the other a mass of blue and purple swirls. Both seem almost to glow in the dark room. Seiryu smiles, turns, and wanders back out into the dusk.