The nest shivers as the first hatchlings pull free, wet shells breaking open around them. A soft green-gold sheen spreads through the sweet air, and every tiny head snaps toward Huarti at once.
The Bound Scouts hold the perimeter, tense but steady. Annika Mal watches from the edge of the glow, her posture still as she measures the newborn brood.
A Hatchling
You. Keeper.
A Hatchling
The nest knows him. We know him.
Several cracked eggs pulse harder, then answer the hatchlings with quick, bright movement. The chamber glow deepens, and the smallest claws begin to crawl toward Huarti, not away from him.
Annika Mal
They are choosing. If you mean to hold them, now is the moment to set the rule.
Huarti raises his presence over the nest, and the brood settles under it. The hatchlings stop scrambling, the Scouts ease without lowering their guard, and the nursery stays contained, obedient, and his.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hold the newborn brood
“I draw from nature several samon for them to eat”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Huarti lowers one vast hand to the sweet-air shimmer and calls. The green-gold glow twists, and a stream of silver fish slips out of the stone-shadow beneath the nest.
Several salmon spill onto the warm floor, scales flashing once before the nursery light settles over them. The newborn brood lurches toward the scent at once.
Huarti places the catch within reach, steady and deliberate, his long fingers spread like a gate around the food. The smallest hatchlings press close to his hand.
The Bound Scouts
They know your scent. They come to the keeper.
Annika Mal
Nature answers you cleanly here. That is not common.
One cracked egg shivers wider, and a fresh hatchling blinks at Huarti from within the shell, hungry and unafraid.
The chamber glow deepens around them, and the brood begins feeding in earnest while the last of the fish still twitch in the light.
Quest Complete
Hold the newborn brood