Three weeks had passed since Fal’thor’s conversation with Ailthea, and he was already feeling as if something huge was going to happen. He knew that Seers could no more predict the date of an event than they could communicate with other Seers across great distances (that, he thought rather smugly, was what his kind was good for), but he trusted the Seer from the Clan of the Rose almost as much as he trusted the Kailan of his own clan, and that was saying a lot. Living with another being for as long as he had (nearly seven hundred years) will create a certain unbreakable bond between spirits, and he felt that very strongly with his Kailan. That is why he was so eager to find another Speaker – while he enjoyed his job tremendously, he was prepared to delegate the responsibility to another and take the pleasure of travel. He had longed to travel since he was a shrape, and had never been afforded the possibility. As a Speaker, he was required to stay with his clan at all times. The only time he had left their small village, in fact, it had been with the whole group of them, all forty-some-odd dragons, when he had gone to see the Eldest.

He sighed and shook his head. He performed his duties to the best of his ability, but that ability was beginning to wane. He was tired from so many years of stressful communication – mind-speak across great distances was hardly a simple, everyday task – and the tiredness was beginning to affect his powers. He was having to try harder and harder to communicate with other clans, and each time, the communication would drain him. What he needed was a rest to restore his powers, but that was out of the question. In fact, it was at least once a week that the Kailan or some other Delegate needed to contact one of the other clans to discuss something or other, and so it was quite often that he would find himself curled up on his slab of ice, tired, in some amount of pain, and feeling strangely like his brain had been reduced to a squirming pile of mush.

A sound outside his home distracted him, and he extracted himself from his sleeping quarters and slithered outside. A young female was waiting there, looking exceedingly nervous. A trainee, he told himself, before smiling at her patiently. “Yes?” he asked.

“Pardon me, Sir, but one of the ladies has just laid her eggs, and she is waiting for your appraisal before she moves them to the permanent nest.” The female nodded and moved aside so he could pass. He repressed a sigh – he was extremely tired, and was not much in the mood for another disappointment. However, he knew his duties, and he was not willing to shirk them for personal benefits. He took a deep breath and slithered after her, leaving a path in the freshly fallen snow.

Twenty minutes later, he was being welcomed by a nervous and overeager young mother. This was her first clutch, she told him, and she was so eager to have her children turn out well. Her mate was a Scholar for the clan, a very prestigious job, and she had been the most intelligent member of her class of Healers. She expected her clutch to be healthy, of course, since she had been very careful in preparing herself for the laying…

He stopped her gently, feeling her excitement but hardly in the state of mind to listen to her ramble for hours about her eating habits over the last few weeks. He smiled and asked her to lead him to the site of laying.

She did so quickly and quietly, flicking her tail nervously as he slithered after her into a small, cozy room of ice and well-packed snow. Six large, healthy eggs, frosty in color, four denoting girls by their icy blue and two minty green ones indicating males perched on a softly packed bed. He moved closer, closing his eyes momentarily to prepare himself, emptying his mind of all thought and distraction, and then opened his eyes, staring intensely at the eggs.

His eyes moved over the males first, seeing vague blue auras – Gatherers, or Explorers, useful, but nothing special. Moving to the females, he picked up one purple aura – Healer or Teacher – and one red aura – potential Kailan. He could not tell for sure – he merely had a very vague idea. Only two eggs left now…

He stopped dead. There, bright as day, the egg was glowing with a strong, sparkling silver aura. The aura was even pulsing slightly. His breath caught in his throat as he turned toward the mother, who was watching him with anticipation in her eyes.

“Sir?” she asked nervously, tilting her head to observe his expression.

“I believe…” he said very slowly, not wanting to get his hopes up too high, “that one of your girls might be a potential Speaker.”

She squealed, a high-pitched, mewling sound, and began bouncing slightly on her tail. It always amazed him how excitable young mothers could be, but this time he felt he might actually like to join her. Six hundred years of waiting, and this little egg potentially held the key to rest and relaxation for him.

Once the mother had calmed down slightly, she stared at him with shining, excited eyes. “Which one?” she asked, her breath catching in her throat.

He turned his head back toward the nest and squinted for a moment, trying to clear the thoughts and hopes from his mind. His eye immediately fell on the closest blue egg, which was emitting a very definite silver aura. He was about to wrap his tail around the egg and lift it carefully when he realized this egg was not the one he had spotted before. His eyes darted to the egg at the back of the nest, the last egg he had seen…and his jaw dropped.

The mother was instantly by his side. “What is wrong, Sir?” she asked, her voice filled with worry and a hint of fear. “Is something the matter with my babies?”

I must just be tired, he told himself, blinking several times. Just tired. It is not possible that two Speakers could be born in one clutch.

“I…apologize, Lady,” he replied quietly, his eyes watering from the multiple blinkings. “I have been rather overworked lately. It appears to me as though two of your eggs are glowing silver. I must simply be out of touch. Allow me a moment to refocus myself, and then I will answer your question.”

She moved back, still nervous, eyes wide and fixed on his face. He took several deep breaths, his eyes tightly closed, trying to clear his mind of all distractions, and then opened his eyes and stared hard at the nest again.

This time, there was no mistaking it. Two of the eggs, both female, both slightly smaller than their companions, sparkled with a very definite silver aura. He shook his head in disbelief, but moved quickly over to the nest and scooped them both up.

“It would seem…” he started, his voice unsteady, “that you have birthed two potential Speakers.” He handed both eggs to her and she almost forgot to accept them, her eyes were so bugged out and her mouth so slack.

“Wh-what did you say?” she whispered incredulously.

He shook his head, immediately making for the door. “I apologize,” he said quickly. “I must consult others, my associates…I will be in touch, madam.” And with that, he was out the door in a flash.