they're near ever grande, using the haven Eva Morales and dahlia goode had built for rayquaza when they were recovering. rather than see it empty, freya had leapt at the chance of using the ample space for her dragons. hell, she even had a small list of staff to help her maintain them. 

it isn't her estate. it isn't sootopolis. but it's more than she's had in years.

the penned area ana walks through contains the most docile. mythril and inari's newest clutch of bagon trip over each other, snarling, to get at the cart. 

ripjaw follows at freya's heels. the zweilous has only recently evolved and half of freya's attention is given to the irritable creature at all time while she leads it about. 

"i'm just glad this place is big enough to house so many of them," she says by way of greeting. ripjaw tugs at freya's leather boots with one of its heads. the other snaps its beaky snout against its twin and chirps. 

"you feeling confident with the hatchlings?"

ana fell

☉

she has guts, but freya hadn't expected any different. she'd had guts back when she was someone else, staring daggers at her and cutting her teeth on her own instability. wishing, deeply, that it was her blood dripping from lyune's maw rather than the limp neck of her hydreigon. 

ripjaw nips at the back of freya's leg again and freya snaps her fingers, shuffling a couple steps to the right to avoid the irate creature. but it follows stubbornly, changing course only upon catching the scent of the meat as it's being doled out. 

freya reaches and tugs on one of its elongated feathers, nudging it back to her side. "that's not for you. it'll just upset your tummy." though now it's an omnivore, ripjaw's only recently evolved and still doesn't have the stomach for the tough cuts ana's throwing out to the bagon. 

her lips twinge. "starscream can stay as long as she wants. it'll be good for her."

ripjaw crows violently and lashes out, cutting a thin ribbon on the side of freya's arm. she hisses in surprise, but bats away the other incoming head, a "what's gotten into you?" before one of the few other assistants runs up to her, panting. 

"councilwoman, the eggs are hatching." recluse and wolfe's clutch.

her eyes light up. "take over miss fell's duties please. ana, come, come," she says and hops the fence, reaching for a mostly clean towel in her back pocket to wrap around her arm. 

ana fell

☉

to starscream's credit, bagon usually are. ana's in particular, though, is a handful, and that's coming from freya, self-proclaimed queen of godsdamned salamence. the bloody imprint on her face makes her already formidable figure look outright terrifying and the youngest of the newest bagon shuffle away from her, scampering away with their share of the meat in their jaws. 

"baby babies," freya says, absolutely elated. 

the parent hydreigons have been led away, enticed with bloodied meat and then coaxed into their pokeballs. an egg handler is in the nest and looks up as freya approaches. 

"have they pipped yet?" she asks, though she can see for herself - slits are visible on the top of each egg, save for one. ripjaw hisses at her side and freya withdraws the pokemon's ball to return it. 

no sense taunting the zweilous with its tasty newborn brother and sisters.

"deino are neat. their egg horns are at the top of their heads," she says to ana. "we call them cowlicks. rather than nose out like most of the other broods, they kind of...well, do that." one of the egg ruptures and a slimy head bursts up, head thrown back out of its shell.

"in the wild, they'd tear each other apart to survive. that one would probably eat its brothers and sisters before they hatched on their own." her lip quirks. "we still had wild breeding practices with a few of our salamence, back when my parents still ran the estate."

ana fell

☉

"i can't remember the last time i had time to sit and read a good book," she admits. gods, had it been back when she was a child? she remembers the summers spent at the cliffside cottage, nose in whatever epic fantasy she could get her hold on. but after her training became more serious, she turned more towards auto-biographies and local publishings from sootopolis. 

she picks her way into the nest. one of the handlers steps out of her way and she stoops, grabbing the gooey alien-looking dragon up in her arms like it's the most natural thing in the world. it turns its head, hissing lowly, but freya has more than enough dragon scent on her to confuse her with its mother and father. 

it settles against her chest as she steps back over to ana. 

"no, we'll separate them. these little guys are going to be league property. most of them anyway. we kept the old practices alive for the salamence - my father's breed of choice. lyune was the champion of his brood centuries ago, supposedly."

she holds out the sticky baby, suddenly...shy. "but anyway, this one is yours."

ana fell

☉

the library. oh, if she had time for a casual stroll through the library. she does, really, with how many hours are spent in a stasis, staring at the wall in lieu of sleeping. 

"they'll be leased primarily to the rangers to fulfill a variety of mundane tasks. the strongest will fortify league strongholds, yes, but i don't raise cannon fodder, ana," she says with an indignant sniff. 

annoyances aside, her smile grows when ana takes it into her arms. her heartbeat thrums in her chest and she parts her lips to apologize for back then, but is swiftly reminded that ana may not even remember the back then. to her, this may just be a gift, rather than an apology.

"then it has good instinct," she says and gives the little one an affectionate pat on the head. "you'll be in good hands," she adds to it, fingers scritching wet, feathery fur. 

ana fell

☉