CHAPTER 4: HELLO TO YOU TOO! "She wasn't kidding!" Quail stated aloud, mouth slightly agape. The brown spotted and streaked egg was slightly wobbling on top of the pedestal. He rushed over to the egg, abruptly stopping near the pedestal. His tail whipped back and fourth excitedly, similarly to a dog. He stopped himself, realizing that he looked absolutely stupid. He also realized that he was only excited to no longer have to take care of eggs... but rather skets. Suddenly, a large crack revealed itself. It began to branch out, reaching multiple areas of the egg shell. It was almost magical... and unnatural. The crack spiraled until a little brown hawk sket revealed itself. "Wait.. this one has... no mammal features?" Quail questioned. He hadn't read anything or seen anyone with this. He knew of Fysikoulous, which meant a skyarie had little to no bird features, but this was... strange. It was almost fully bird, and the front legs were underdeveloped. "Ikaika?" Quail shouted, attempting to get Ikaika's attention. He came running in, yet it was clear that he was busy beforehand. "Yes, sir- oh my." Ikaika froze. "That's... strange..." he commented, staring at the unusual skyarie. "I get that stuff like this can happen, but I never knew... wait. Does that mean it'll be heir instead of me?" Quail asked. Ikaika shook his head. "It will be an heir, but it wouldn't replace you- just be next in line... if we keep it." Ikaika said. "If? Why wouldn't we?" Quail asked, growing frantic. "Well, the arms... and... look, Quail. It would be for it's own good to just... end it's suffering. We are in a floating castle, ya know." Ikaika stated. Quail was promptly mortified, and carefully yanked the sket (and the eggshell) off of the pedestal. "NO, IKAIKA." Quail yelled after a brief pause. "WE AREN'T THROWING A POOR SKET OFF OF THE CASTLE, YOU MONSTER!" Quail continued. Ikaika slowly backed up, planning to exit. "I'm sorry, sir. I'll let you think about it." "IT'S PERFECTLY FINE! IT MAY NOT BE LIKE YOU, BUT IT'S NOT SO HIDEOUS TO THE POINT WHERE IT SHOULD BE PRACTICING DEFENESTRATION WITH!" Quail shouted once more. Ikaika sighed, walking out the door. The sket had been curled up due to the yelling. Quail quickly returned it to it's place to finish escaping the shell. "I'm sorry, little one." Quail said in a calm voice. "I'll, uh, name you... er... gosh, maybe I should've let Mealworm name them... um... er... feather? Yeah, let's go with feather. Hello feather!" He grinned at the sket. The sket had finally climbed out of the shell, yet remained near it. "Oh! uh, right. " Quail remembered that he would also have to take care of them. He swiftly constructed a makeshift pen to house them in complete with blankets, food, and water. They weren't pets, but they were animals... so... ya know. Quail scooped up feather and placed him in the pen. "I'll have to keep an eye on you especially." CHAPTER 5: EXPLORE A LIL' MORE Quail was exhausted, yet feather had finally gone to sleep. The other egg didn't appear to be hatching anytime soon, so perhaps Quail had some free time. He left his room and immediately got hit in the face with a hefty gust of wind. He frowned, yet continue to walk out. As he did, a tri-colored skyarie caught his eye. She was talking with someone, yet Quail wanted to talk to her. "Maybe when she's less busy." He murmured inaudibly, continuing to walk forward. "Oh, uh, hey. Sorry, I noticed you looking at me... or Nali... but whatever. Would ya wanna talk with us? Oh! Sorry, you're probably busy. Sorry." The tri-colored skyarie spoke. "Oh! My manners- sorry. I'm Toucan, and you're... er..." Toucan paused. "Quail? Well, we're about to explore the castle a little bit more. We're tourists... I think. Something like that. We're touring the palace. You can come along, if you want. You could also show us around! Gosh, I'm sorry, I've already invited you to three things. Sorry. I- I'm going to go back to Nali now. Sorry again." Toucan trotted away, approaching her friend (who Quail registered as presumably Nali). That wasn't a bad idea, though. Quail mostly kept to one area of the palace, but there was so much more to explore. "Oh, er, uh... Toucan? Was that your name? Would it actually be alright if I did come with y'all?" He asked, flattening his ears in embarrassment. "YES! Oh, er, I mean, oh yeah! Of course! This is Nali, by the way. She's a cardinal-wolf skyarie. I'm a toucan-wolf skyarie, if you couldn't guess... ok, whatever, Let's go." Toucan finished, signaling to Nali. "Well, she's a bit confusing" Quail thought, yet trailed along.
