Serali had settled herself comfortably in her new home and was enjoying the crisp winter weather. Kethro had picked a cave quite near hers, and they continued to spend much of their time talking together.

There was no snow here, but they had not gone far enough south to escape the winter entirely. The wind was chill and the stands of trees that dotted the rolling hills were bare. It was a mere week after they had arrived when the real reason for moving to this location became clear.

"Serali! Come on!"

"What?" Serali looked up from where she had been sunning herself just outside of her chambers. Cherval leaped into the air from the mouth of a cave a few dozen yards away. He headed across the river to the north. All around other dragons were likewise launching themselves. Serali followed them. Catching up with Cherval she asked, "What's going on?"

"The herds are arriving! That's why we winter here, it's near where the herds winter. We leave after they've gone, but we fly much faster, so they usually get here a little after we do."

"But why is everyone going? I thought you said that hunts never had more then a dozen or so?"

"At all other times, yes. But after this move, and also come spring when we move back, all dragons will hunt. Think about it. After what you've been living on these past weeks, couldn't you nearly eat an entire herd-beast yourself?"

Serali considered. She'd eaten nothing more substantial during the move than the mule-eared deer that could be found in the area, and most of her meals had been smaller than that. And after moving here the diet hadn't improved much. Dragons seemed to be designed to go long periods without food, so she hadn't really felt the lack the way she would have in human form, but Cherval was right. Right now she could have eaten a horse and had room left over.

"You're right, I'm starving!"

"If we hunted like this all the time we might damage the herd, and it would be a waste of food. But twice a year we forget the rules and let everyone that can hunt."

Serali had never seen so many dragons hunting at once. But the herd was huge and after much chasing around and stampeding, everyone managed to catch something. Serali even managed to haul hers across the river to her cave. It was far too heavy to fly with, so she had to drag it, and it got quite soaked when she swam the river, but that didn't hurt it any. Unlike the tales, few dragons could actually carry off a cow or horse. Many of the plains dragons couldn't even lift a child. She could lift an adult human, but anything much heavier than that would be totally impossible. She had only been able to fly long distances with Janus on her back because he was quite light.

All of which cast a different light on the tales of marauding dragons carrying off people and livestock.

Serali quickly settled into the winter rhythm of life, and time passed as it has a habit of doing. She was once again sunning herself in front of her cave when she was interrupted by Cherval who landed next to her.

"Serali! Come quick!" He was practically twitching with suppressed excitement.

"What is it?"

"Vulcnor's eggs are hatching!"

"Then what are we waiting for?" With a swift beating of wings she launched herself into the air. It took only seconds to reach the cave that Vulcnor and his mate had chosen. Serali poked her head inside. The cave was just a single hole in the rock, but it was much larger than her small cavern. It easily fit Vulcnor, his mate and the pile of eggs on the sandy floor with room left over for Serali and Cherval as well. Cherval poked her from behind.

"Go in. You make a better wall than a window. I want to see."

Serali moved into the large chamber. Vulcnor and his mate were crouched eagerly next to the pile of cream colored eggs. Of the dozen or so heaped on the floor, two had rolled out of the pile. They were rocking from side to side and small, muffled trilling noises were coming from them. A crack formed down the side of one that was slightly larger than the other. The crack spread until the whole egg was webbed with fine lines. Suddenly a piece of the egg broke off and a tiny snout, tipped with a short egg horn, emerged. There was a long pause while the little dragon simple breathed, resting after its exertions. Then the hatchling began to squirm and rock the egg again. Soon it had enlarged the hole enough to fit its forearms through. Then its tiny wings, and at last the entire hatchling lay on the sand. Its mother quickly scooped it up and began licking it dry.

Serali watched curiously. She had never seen a newly hatched dragon before. It was proportioned somewhat differently from an adult dragon, with tiny wings and small arms and legs. A large head made it look as though it would tip over forward any moment. It was covered all over in soft leathery skin, the same cream color as the shell of the egg it had just left.

Her attention was torn from the hatchling by a cracking sound from the other egg. A small snout poked from a hole in the egg. It wasn't long before the second hatchling emerged onto the sand. The mother picked this one up as well. The two hatchlings easily fit into her hand. They were so very tiny, hardly larger than human babies.

She turned and whispered to Cherval, who was standing next to her. "Do you think they'll let me hold one?"

"Probably. But first they have to check the other eggs."

"What do you mean?"

"Just watch."

Serali looked back to the pile of eggs. Vulcnor was picking them up one at a time and carefully breaking open the shells. Most of them were full of gooey fluid, just like the whites of ordinary chicken eggs. A few had a yolk too, but no sign that it had ever started to develop into a dragon. Near the bottom of the pile however one egg was different. When Vulcnor broke the shell gently there was no leak of clear goo. Instead a tiny foot poked out. Vulcnor's face lit up. Quickly, but with great care, he broke the rest of the shell away from the tiny dragon. It moved weakly, with none of the clumsy animation of its siblings.

"Amazing," said Cherval with a shake of his head. "A third hatchling is very rare in a clutch of this size."

"Is there something wrong with it that it didn't hatch by itself?" asked Serali.

"Sort of. Some hatchlings are just weaker, nobody knows why. This one will always be smaller than its siblings, and will need a little extra care, but it will grow up just fine. I was a runt myself, actually."

Vulcnor handed the tiny hatchling to his mate. All three of them were making little sounds of contentment, halfway between a birdlike trill and a purr. Vulcnor went back to the eggs and broke open the last few, all empty.

Serali and Cherval left the proud parents with the hatchlings and sat outside.

"Cherval, are hatchlings always that color?"

"Yes. In a month or so they'll shed the egg skin and the egg horn, but until then there's no way of knowing what color they'll be when they get older."

"What about gold dragons?"

"Well, it depends. A liveborn gold is golden from the start, but that only happens when gold is mated to gold. If a gold is mated to another color, the mother will lay a clutch of ordinary eggs, and they will hatch out with an egg skin just like these. Some of them may be gold, or they may not be."

Serali shook her head. "There's so much I still don't know."

"But you're learning."

"Yes, I'm learning."