Ever since the rivers of light had started spreading across the ground like massive tree roots, creating glowing pathways, Rohan had been finding strange magical eggs everywhere. Some were black and white, while other came in every color shade imaginable. At first he hadn't been sure about whether or not he should have picked up the eggs, but now, he was convince if he picked up enough, eventually surely one of them would hatch into something amazing. After his little episode with Iva in following their mother to Sidhiel, he had been more or less grounded to Sularia and the gardens. It was barely being grounded at all, since it meant he got to play with Hazel. 

Rohan's black hair tousled in the breeze that came off Kirika Lake and through the maze as he followed the strange light trial. 

"Come on, Hazel. I know we'll find a whole bunch of eggs. Do you think we can get one to hatch or something?" he asked her curiously. "How cool would it be to hatch a dragon or something out of one of these eggs?" His green eyes were bright with excitement as he scanned the immediate area of the maze, looking for any of the strange colored oviods hiding among the rose bushes. "Do you see any, Hazel? I do hope the other kids haven't gotten to them. That would really stink," he said pouting slightly as he looked at the pretty, mercurial eyed girl who clutched a gray tentacled squid plushie tight in her arms. 

Hazel was in awe of the many different colored eggs and even the plain old black and white ones they found. Her parents had taught her that everything in the world was precious even if it didn’t appear alive. Her mercury colored eyes stared in awe more so at the crystal eggs and she was absolutely in love with them. She giggled as she looked up at Rohan as he beckoned her to follow and hurry up. She loved the lake here in Sularia too. The way the magic flowed in the water and the way the clock sounded when it was changing the item. Each second, minute, and hour had a different sound to it. At least Hazel thought so as she caught the enchanted water shooting up to change over the minute.

“Do all eggs hatch or just special ones?” She wasn’t clueless about how babies even came into the world but they were talking about a baby weren’t they? It was a dragon but it had to be a baby first like everything else… right? It wouldn’t come out and just eat her. She squeezed Mr. Jack closer to her at the thought of being eaten and she just laughed as she caught Rohan’s excitement like a disease. “I don’t think the other kids wander out this far by themselves,” she mused. Other kids weren’t like her and Rohan.

She went over to a bush after catching Rohan’s green eyes looking at her and shifted through it. “Rohan! Come here! Look at them!” She had found two of the rainbow crystal eggs and she found herself squealing with excitement. “Do you really think they would hatch?”

"Of course all eggs hatch," Rohan chuckled. "Where do you think we get things like birds and fish? They all come from eggs. Snakes and turtles too," he said with a grin as he scanned beneath one of the hedge walls. He put his hands on his hips and made a 'hmm' sound. "All the eggs I've seen hatch though have been chickens… they are pretty fluffy when they are little, but then get attitude and chase me around the farm," he said, referring to the times he had gone with Iva to visit her grandparents. 

"I think you are right. Most other kids stay closer to home, but since Mother can keep an eye on us so long as we are touching earth, we can go just about anywhere, huh?" he chuckled. He carefully peered into a hollow in the rose bush hedge but didn't see anything at first, but then Hazel was calling him over to where she was looking through a different bush. Sure enough she had found a couple of the crystal rainbow eggs. 

"I don't know. I hope so," he said eagerly as he reached into the bush and grabbed the eggs and put them in the basket that he had brought with them, placing them beside the other eggs they had already picked up on their way out to the maze. 

"What do you want yours to hatch into?" he asked her curiously, his eyes shining in the sunlight. 

Hazel tilted her head. “I know that! I was talking about if there are eggs that don’t hatch.” She said as she listened to him while she looked for eggs too. “You have a farm you go to?” She was curious about it. “Why?” She didn’t know Angela to have a farm so she was curious where he was going to.

“I guess in a way that is a punishment too since she can see everything you are doing.” She chuckled a bit. “You won’t ever get away from her.” It was funny to think about as she teased Rohan. Soon they found the colorful eggs and she was in awe of them. These were so much prettier than the plain white and black ones they kept finding.

Hazel helped Rohan pick all of the eggs up and looked in their basket at all of the eggs that they found. “They are all so pretty! My favorite are the rainbow ones!” Mercury eyes looked up to Rohan’s eyes as she stared at how much they were shining at the thought. “I don’t know… maybe a phoenix or a dragon?” She tilted her head. “I don’t know if we would get those. They would be cool though!”

She had seen dragons in the travels with her mother and father. She loved them very much but she was sort of fearless since she had to deal with Mr. Jack regularly. “What about you Rohan? What do you want?” After he answered they moved along the shore of the lake and she looked around. “Do you think they are in the water too?”

"Oh, yeah, sure. Sometimes nothing grows inside of eggs, so they are more just for food than anything else. Mama says there is something special needed to make the babies grow inside eggs, but she won't tell me what it is exactly," he said with bit of a pout. "Yeah, I go with Iva to visit her true grandparents. They are humans who live outside of Adeluna. They are really nice. We help them take care of the animals and things," he explained. "Maybe you can come sometime. I'll ask Mama."

"Yeah…" he sighed. "Mama always knows. It's kinda annoying sometimes. I can't do anything secret," he sighed. "Someday, I'll learn to fly, and then I'll be able to surprise her," he said with a firm not of his head. "A phoenix or a dragon would be epic. I think a hydra, or a gargoyle… or a griffon would be REALLY neat too," he said excitedly. "It's a long shot, but hey, what does it hurt to pretend?" he asked with a laugh. "I've only seen one dragon before. Papa keeps a Boreas dragon in his Conservatory. The next closest thing I've seen is Gladi, the hydra," he told Hazel. 

He looked into the lake, squinting hard against the sun sparkling off the surface of the lake. "I don't know. I mean, the light ribbons go into the lake… so I can go take a look," he said as he pulled off his shirt and put it on a rock near Hazel and waded out into the water before he turned into a giant sea turtle and disappeared beneath the surface of the water.

Hazel nodded her head to Rohan and realized that his father might not be the same as Iva’s. That would make sense considering the things she had heard about Angela. “That sounds nice actually.” All she had was her papa and her mama. She wondered if Rohan loved his big family too.

“I think that would probably kill her.” Hazel chuckled softly. “She worries about you and the others a lot I bet.” She tilted her head. “You don’t know how to fly yet? That’s just silly.” She was teasing him now about his abilities but she knew he was talented. “Oh, I didn’t even think about that stuff that is really cool.” She was jealous about all the things his papa had.

She ran to the edge of the water as Rohan went to go down into the lake to see if there were eggs down there. “Be careful Ro!” She watched as he transformed into a sea turtle and she got down on her hands and knees to see if she could keep up with his movements. Her eyes were good but at different depths, she lost track of him.

When he finally came back she tilted her head. “Did you find anything Ro?”

"Well, I don't practice a lot because it makes Mama worry so much. She and Papa prefer me to not transform into a bird unless they are there watching, and they are soooo busy right now. But I can glide really well," he said with a grin. 

The water was so clear and so pretty blue that it was pretty easy to see Rohan as he swam through the warm tropical water before he paused a bit and turned back into a human, grabbed something from the sandy bottom before he kicked off and came back to the surface, and in his hands were a blue egg and a black one. "These were the only ones I could find. I guess it would be silly for the eggs to be under the water where people can't get to them. These were right here in the shallows though," he said as he waded back up to the beach and put the eggs in their basket before he shook the water from his hair like a puppy. He decided to dry off a bit before he put back on his tunic however. 

"Let's follow the light trail that loops around the lake. I think we'll have a better chance finding the eggs in the sand. The Rainbow eggs should be pretty easy there. See, look! There is a pink one there!" he said pointing to the pink lump half buried in the sand. He ran over and picked up the egg before he turned and took it back to Hazel. 
"Yeah, I think the sand is definitely the best place to look."

As he walked scanning the ground, he paused and looked at Hazel. 
"Hazel… what would happen if you were to loose Mr. Jack forever?" he asked her. He didn't usually ask her about things like that, but this one had been nagging at him for a while.

“Are they afraid you’ll fly away and get hurt?” She frowned a bit as she realized she didn’t want that to happen to him.

Hazel thought about it more when he came up. “I don’t think so,” she mused and smiled at him. “Water magic could get them easily and my mama says that water is the sacred life of the desert… so I think it would be pretty alright if eggs were in the water because people could get them… I mean it’s a good place to hide them and they would be a good prize for anyone willing to do it.” She smiled at the eggs he found.

“Okay!” She yelled excitedly as she saw the pink in the sand. He was right the sand would be a good place to find them. “It’s just like turtle eggs! Mama took me to the beach on Apoy to watch all the sea turtles hatch! It was really cool.” She helped him dig up the egg before putting it in the basket.

Her mercury eyes drifted down to the squid plush and she frowned. “Mama and Papa…” She was scared of saying it and the squid was growling at the thought. “Mama and Papa said that I would get really sick and get hurt… Possibly hurt other people if I didn’t have Mr. Jack…” She held Mr. Jack really close to her now as they walked. “Because Mr. Jack is a part of me whether I have the doll or not but the doll keeps him from completely being bad. I don’t know what that means but it sounds bad… and wrong. I can never EVER lose Mr. Jack… Please don’t let anyone take Mr. Jack Rohan!”

"Probably," Rohan sighed. "But I can't not fly forever…" he said softly. 

"Yeah, but not a lot of people have elemental magicks," Rohan commented with a bit of a shrug. "You have to be specially trained. Besides that, people tend not to trouble things that happen to be sacred," he pointed out. "You aren't wrong though," he commented.

He looked jealous. "Cool! I wish I could have gone. I would have loved to see baby turtles," he said as he grabbed another white egg and put it in their basket. 

He smiled and waited for her to answer, and it was clear that the squid plushie did not approve of his question, for Rohan heard the audible growl come from the stuffed toy. Her answer, it showed that she was truly scared. 

He reached out and took her hand. "I promise, I won't. And if someone does, I'll got get it back from them for you," he promised her fervently. "You are my friend, Hazel, and I will protect you."

“I guess it’s just weird to think about because Rosenites have a natural connection to stuff,” she couldn’t put her finger on the right word so she went with stuff. She knew that her mama was special and that water magic was only for oracles but it seemed like everyone else could use elemental magic, even her.

For a moment Hazel felt ashamed of talking about the event because of the look on Rohan’s face but soon she saw that it was alright as they continued. “White eggs are pretty too in a way.” Hazel sighed softly as they continued their adventure.

After he knew that she was scared he took her free hand and she squeezed. “Forever and forever?” Her eyes were glistening and really happy now. The noises from the plush had died down and she was smiling at him.

A whistle came near them and Hazel tilted her head towards the noise. There was Lily and she was smiling at them. She had a young blonde girl with her. “YIVA!” Hazel squealed as she smiled at the girl and the shied away behind Lily. They played a lot but out in the open Yiva was a little scared mainly because she saw how others treated Hazel.

Lily frowned down at the girl but shrugged it off softly. “Sorry Hazel, Yiva go play after you say hi to your cousin.” Yiva waved at Rohan before she ran off. They were all the same age but Yiva seemed so much more shy than the rest of them. “I’m glad to see you both together and having fun. Has anyone caused you any more trouble?” Lily came over and sat down by the lake shore. She patted the ground by her. “Come and chat for a moment the eggs will be there when we’re done.”