The Rite of Hatching was held every time the Royal Consort hatched, but only when she did. Since Ninna’s had never laid a fertile egg before, it was going to be her first celebration, the one she longed for so many cycles. Now, when the moment was finally here, she felt strangely empty and lost.

Everything changed so quickly, she thought, And just as quickly it shall pass. The feeling of her fleeting happiness morphed into heavy foreboding and gloom. Why don’t I feel happy? Now, when I fulfilled my purpose and gave An the heir? Is it the Light One that troubles me? Ninna was not sure, despite her resolve to feel proud of Ki as well. Who knows, maybe he will indeed grow up to be the next Seer and will be advising Lil on matters of the rule. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Yet something ponderous was gnawing on her. Why is happiness ever so fleeting?

Ninna summoned her maid to help her dress for the rite. Ninra slipped a translucent silky gown over Ninna’s head and crowned her with a golden helm with five elegant curving horns on each side. Her outfit matched An’s, except that he wore six horns on his helm.

Ninra accompanied the Royal Consort to the elevator and descended with her to the ground level. The Sacred Grove was only a short walk away, this is where the royal procession was set to begin.

An was already there, waiting for her by the side of the royal litter, almost too big to fit inside it. He may need a new ride next cycle, Ninna thought as she watched iggs dressed in protective overalls applying a generous coating of firestone paste to the bottom of the litter to make it float. With each smear of the paste, the royal litter rose a little higher, until it was floating comfortably a foot or so above the ground. An unfolded the steps and helped Ninna climb inside. Ever so gallant, and ever so cold… An followed her, and the litter sagged a good six inches yet remained afloat.

Ninra hurried back into the tower and soon emerged with a gilded cage with squirming Lil inside, his slitted eyes wide open now, watching. Ninra handed the cage gently to Ninna, bowing: “Enjoy the Rite, Your Hollowness!” she uttered, backing away.

An waited for an igg to fold back the steps before he raised his hand commanding attention. He gave the honor to Enra. Tall and radiant, although not as big as An, Enra beamed with joy, his golden helm with five horns glistening brightly as the swirls of orange fog bounced off it. “On behalf of the One in Command, I hereby announce the Rite of Hatching.” Enra announced solemnly, ”Let the celebration begin!” he patted the side of the litter signaling a go.

The royal litter was little more than a gilded box adorned with intricate fractal geometric patterns on each side. There were two long poles attached to the sides of the litter. These were not so much for carrying but rather for steering. The litter floated on its own but it still needed the means of locomotion. Three scrawny iggs took up their position at each pole: six in the front and six in the back. Because iggs were generally much smaller than ens, and even though they did not need to carry the weight of the litter, it took all twelve of them to overcome the inertia that An’s massive body imparted on the ride. The porters grabbed the poles and pulled on them, slowly setting the litter in motion. From her seat Ninna could only see the heads and shoulders of her carriers, the sight of them made her realize the hidden meaning of their presence: It was the iggs that carried the load of ens. Over time this load became less heavy, yet a burden nonetheless.

The Sacred Grove was drowning in orange mist, with the Father Tree hardly discernible in the distance save for the large dark shadow it cast against the backdrop of the eternal glow. To help with visibility, the electrified dust dispensers were set up along the causeway the royal procession followed across the city; the servant iggs opened them at the site of the approaching royal ride. The sparkling golden motes attacked the fog and lifted its plumes high above the causeway like a blanket, revealing the royal couple to the crowd. So many… Ninna thought as she watched the unfamiliar faces of ens and nins lining the causeway. Was there anyone she knew? She couldn’t tell. So many… The One City might have looked empty in the fog with the mist concealing the happenings within. Now, with the fog rising, she could see the Ones. So many…

The gamut of faces walling off the causeway seemed endless, the stunned silence disconcerting. Occasionally Ninna could hear a quiet chatter, some pointed fingers at the gilded cage she held upon her knees. Should I raise it higher? She wondered, unsure of how An might react. Ever so reserved he always held her back. Why risk his disapproval? She put one hand on top of the cage but could not come up with anything better than to turn her head and smile.

An rode quietly, staring dead ahead, aloof as ever. Does anything make him excited? She wondered, Does he even know what it means to be happy? Did she know herself, what it meant to be happy for her? Whatever Ninna knew about happiness, she thought she had forgotten, until today. The feeling was returning to her gradually, tiny bubbles of excitement building up inside her. More, and more, and more, until she could no longer contain herself, so she lifted the cage, stood up, and held it high above her head: “All hail Lil! The long-awaited heir of the One in Command! All hail Lil!” she screamed on top of her lungs. The flurry of muttered words traveled through the crowd like a wave, bouncing off buildings, growing louder, and louder, reflecting and springing back, until the individual sounds merged, multiplied, and grew into a roar: “Hail, Lil! Hai,l Lil! Hail, Lil!” The chant rumbled sonorously throughout the One City.

For the first time, Ninna saw An come back to life. Alarmed at first, he stretched out his hand to pull her back down, the silent reprimand twitching his lips. Yet, unexpectedly, he changed his mind. An’s eyes twinkled with golden sparkles as he watched ens on both sides of the road chant Hail, Lil! as they passed. He looked amused, perhaps even proud, assuming he allowed such feelings to invade his heart.

Ninna continued to hold the gilded cage above her head screaming Hail, Lil! in unison with the roar of the crowd, the royal ride glided silently. Even some of the iggs carrying the litter chanted, much to An’s amazement, his eyes widened as he watched them. Participation without a command… He thought, Now, that’s the true Order! Perhaps I should mention this to the Council when we meet. Ninna could see it now, An was proud, but was it with Lil, with her, or with himself? Most probably the latter, she was not certain. Still, eliciting an emotion from An was worth a celebration in its own right. The thought of it made Ninna so elated, that she felt like taking off and taking flight. The moment was hers.

As the royal procession made its way down the causeway, the towers lining the street were getting lower. Now Ninna could not see neither the beginning nor the end of the road, as the glowing orange haze had swallowed it completely. Her hands were growing tired from holding up the cage, but she was determined to persevere. Sweeping the pain away from her senses, she smiled and chanted restlessly Hail, Lil! when a fresh wave of roar rolled over the royal litter. The sky above was full of swirling golden motes giving a magical feeling to this moment. Even An looked relaxed now, nodding in approval. Finally! Ninna thought happily, At last, we both can feel! This is what happiness is. This is it! She thought, trying to etch every detail of the moment in her memory.

The way fate has it, everything good is bound to end. As the royal procession approached the edge of the One City, the lofty towers of ens gave way to shacks and hovels of iggs, which piled together in a confounding disorder on both sides of the road. Red mud squelched beneath the feet of the porters, sucking on their toes loudly. Countless iggs packed both sides of the causeway, bunching in odd packs. Ninna could see their sullen faces, some covered with red mud, some pockmarked with blue spots, some with swollen half-shut eyes, others missing teeth or claws.

“You better return to your seat, Ninna” An’s voice sounded strained, he didn’t bother hiding his concern, “These ones do not partake of the Tree of Life. They may not share in the joy of life as much as we do. The Order knows, I try to lift their burden, but there are so many of them, and the Sacred Grove is too small for all Ones to share. Not all can be ens, Ninna.” he continued talking to himself, “Please sit.”

Ninna obeyed. For once she was glad to comply as the tension in her arms was unbearable by now, every muscle in her arms throbbing with pain. The mist was rapidly condensing into droplets. It almost felt like rain, except that the droplets hovered, milling in confusion rather than falling down to the soaked ground. Ninna heard a loud splash behind the litter, and then another one closer. As if someone was hurdling mud at them. She turned back to look. The royal guard was following them not far behind, twelve soldier ens brandishing bronze spears tipped with firestone. One of them was dragging something off the causeway, Ninna could not quite make out what it was.

Beyond the hovels of the iggs Ninna could see the moss patches with dark figures swarming around some large machine. Clearly, not all the iggs dropped their duties to watch the royal hatchling parading through the city… Here the moss patches stretched as far as the eyes could see, although the eyes here could not see very far because of the ubiquitous orange fog awash with the eternal glow.

“Best we turn back now”, An commanded the porters just in time, as out of nowhere a huge shadow emerged from the mist and rain blocking the way, an abandoned harvester. By sheer luck, An’s command came just in time to avoid collision as the porters struggling with inertia managed to slow down the litter turning it around.

Ninna thought she glimpsed movement, but the eternal glow here was somehow dimmer, making it difficult to see. This is strange, she thought. By now the orange condensation was thick on her and An, making their gowns stick to their wet bodies. Large auburn droplets covered Lil’s tiny head, his narrow black tongue darting at them periodically. Ninna saw the soldier ens running towards the harvester, shouting. Someone fell, someone was poked with a spear and dragged away. An didn’t turn his head to look, choosing to act unconcerned. “Chaos is the friend of iggs” she heard him mutter. “Go faster!” He barked a command at the porters perhaps too harshly. Ninna had never seen him lose his temper like this before. She did not need to be told that something was wrong as she could hear shouts and screams fading in the distance as the soldier ens were busy fighting at the harvester. That was when it struck her: they were alone among the iggs now, with only twelve porters to keep them company, and they were iggs as well. She clutched Lil’s cage hard, a fear crept up upon her like a wildcat on an unsuspecting prey. “Faster!” she screamed, but no use, the porter iggs were running as fast as the thick red mud allowed. One porter in the back had slipped and fell, knocking the other one off his feet, both were quickly swallowed by the orange fog. Ninna could only hear a few distressed grunts followed by eerie silence mixed with the rhythmic squelching of the running feet. Before she could realize what was going on another dark shadow emerged ahead. Another harvester? No, it was a giant long wagon fashioned for transporting moss, which someone set across the road, deliberately blocking their way. It was too late to break. The porters in front tried to steer the litter away, but it was no use, the inertia of their run was too great, and the best that they could do was to scuttle sideways as the litter impacted the transporter on its side. One of the carrying poles snapped and a huge splitter narrowly missed Ninna, another bounced off An’s calcified scales tearing his wet robe apart but failing to penetrate his body.

The sudden stop jerked both of them violently, Ninna’s fingers opened, the cage had slipped from her hand and came tumbling into the mud, Lil squeaking inside. “Lil!” cried Ninna, horrified.

Before An could stand up and free himself from the rubble that fell into the royal litter from the transporter, something slick and round came down onto his helmet with a hollow thud leaving a huge dent just below one of the horns. An roared and lurched from his seat, sending the debris flying in all directions. Ninna was wedged in the mud behind the crashed litter, crawling towards the cage with squeaking Lil inside. But where is he? The gelatinous fog swirled and licked everything, patching her eyes with droplets of auburn goo. She heard a squeak. “Lil!” she cried, trying to stand up.

“Stay down!” someone yelled at her, but she couldn’t tell who it was.

An’s roar filled the air. Ninna turned her head and saw small dark figures launching at the massive touring shape of the One in Command. Rats! They looked like rats to her. An’s body thrashed violently as he twisted and turned, sending them flying as he was beating off wave after wave. Yet they kept coming. Too many! She thought, forgetting about Lil for a split second, as she was enchanted by her husband’s fury. She could tell that he could not see his attackers and was reacting to them like one would to mosquitoes: when they bit he swung, catching them by the dozen, his tail a giant mace. His enormous size and thick scales were an undeniable advantage as Ninna saw scores of dark shadows lying motionlessly in pools of blue blood, her husband’s doing. Thank Order iggs are forbidden to have arms! She thought when the fear suddenly returned to her as she remembered Lil. “Lil!” she cried again standing up. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around she saw an old scrawny igg nin holding the cage. All covered in red mud, Lil was squeaking frantically, a small patch of skin on his back was raw and bleeding from the impact. The crone stretched her wiry hands handing the cage to Ninna before disappearing into the swirling fog. “Long life to you!” yelled Ninna into the fog, but nobody answered.

Suddenly the air above them became alive with searchlights and gusts of wind from flyers as reinforcements arrived. The iggs have scattered as ens descended from the flyers forming a perimeter around Ninna and An. Igg bodies were everywhere, drowning in red slush. So much for the celebration! thought Ninna. She sat down in the mud and laughed hysterically, clutching the cage. Nobody seemed to pay her any mind until Enra came running and pulled her to her feet. “Come with me, Your Hollowness”, he commanded, grasping her firmly by the arm and pulling her towards one of the flyers. She looked back, searching for An. “His Radiance will join us later”, he reassured her, smiling charmingly the way he always did. “He has the battle to command”, he added as he ushered her into the safety of the craft.

As they were lifting off, Ninna glanced down and saw a large searchlight spot with An’s towering figure at its center talking to a few soldier ens surrounding him, giving orders, no doubt. Ens came and went running throughout the site of the skirmish. The scene was growing smaller and dimmer as the flyer left for the royal palace. I am safe, she thought, An is safe, Lil is safe. She looked at the cage she was clutching. The youngling was still squeaking faintly and squirmed, clawing at the muddy rods. She did not want to let go of him. Ever. She knew she had to talk to An about Lil, but what were the chances that he’d listen? Still, she had to try.

Ninna did not remember how they got to the royal palace, but she found herself standing in the Apex of the Fifth Eye with Ninra by her side, stripping her torn gown away and wiping mud off her skin. Ninra’s face was pale, her expression worried. “I am glad you are unharmed, Your Hollowness” she said as she was cleaning her scales. “You need a proper bath, I will prepare it.”

“No! No bath now. Where is Lil?”

“He is with the Keeper”

“With the Keeper? So soon? It’s not time yet!” Ninna was about to protest, but Ninra reassured her.

“Then Keeper’s here, he will not go down to the Nursery until he has An’s leave”.

Ninna felt a wave or relief roll over her body and fainted, her limp figure sliding silently into the nest, a single forgotten white chip of a shell biting treacherously into her skin.

When Ninna regained consciousness she found herself in the presence of her husband. Much to her surprise, An looked more alive than he remembered him. He was different, even changed, his eyes glowing with excitement, his air pouches pulsating rapidly. For the lack of a better word, he looked… happy. An was dressed in a shiny black combat suit that clung to his scales like paint, a firestone-tipped dagger hung menacingly from his belt, sheathed.

The Keeper stood next to him, his look as insolent as ever, waiting.

“It’s time”, An said, “Bid your farewell to Lil before the Keeper takes him to the Nursery.”

Ninna’s heart sank. “An, Your Radiance!”, she tried to protest, “I beg we talk about this!”

But there was no use. “We talked about this before, Ninna, and many times we did.” An came closer and helped Ninna to her feet, “My answer is still the same…”

“The Order of Things demands it!” she finished the sentence for him, mocking him sharply straight to his face. “Chaos take your order! Is the Order more important to you than… “ she was searching for words, “than me? Or Lil? Your own flesh and blood!”

An raised his hand, his invisible power silenced her feeble pleas. “You saw the chaos by the harvester, Ninna! Didn’t you?” his voice was reprimanding her but only mildly, “You saw it with your own eyes! Do you want us to live like… like iggs? Is this what you want, Ninna?” He came up to her point blank and took her with both of his huge hands, but gently. He tilted his head down and looked into Ninna’s eyes almost tenderly, his voice soft: “The Order of Things is the only thing that keeps us away from them! You know it, Ninna. You know it. The moment we forget it, chaos will take over and you will beg for order, but by then it’ll be too late. Lil goes to the Nursery.”

“But…” She did not want to relent, but there was no use, her body sagged in his arms limply and he let her slide down into her nest.

“With any luck, we’ll have him back after the Coming of Age…” An paused.

He said we! Ninna did not miss it. This one word meant so much to her. Something’s changed. He said we! Deep down he cared, she knew this now. Stubborn as he was, he cared now, cared for his son and heir Lil. She knew it now, she knew! Lil will be his heir. He must be.

“… if he survives… “ An added automatically, without giving it much thought, old fool, why did he say it? But it was too late, Ninna was agitated once again, crying uncontrollably, the stress of the events piled up on her abruptly, like the abandoned harvester emerging from the fog.

For once, An felt ashamed for his lack of consideration and tried to reassure her, “I know he will, the Keeper here will make certain of it”, he gave the Keeper a heavy look.

The Keeper looked like he couldn’t care less. He’d seen countless farewells and was no stranger to nins’ tears and other fits of womanhood. His skin was thick, and he was an igg, besides.

“As Your Radiance commands”, was the Keeper’s reply as he approached to collect the cage. The youngling inside was clean, the scab on his shoulder patched.

“Wait!” Ninna quit sobbing and stood up. She approached the cage, squatted, and slipped a finger through the rods to run her claw over Lil’s head rubbing him between his eyes. “I will see you again, darling. Show them who you truly are, the future En Most High, the One in Command!” Lil murmured something indiscernible in return, circling her hand.

The Keeper cleared his throat, picked up the cage, and disappeared into the darkness of the corridor making his way towards the elevator without as much as saying another word. He knew his job and knew it well.

“Promise me”, Ninna spoke to An, “Promise me one thing!” she demanded clutching An’s hand and bringing it to her chest.

A flutter of confusion ran across An’s face, “Promise you what?”

“That you will discuss the matters of Inheritance during this cycle’s council”.

“Ninna!” An rolled his eyes, “Not this again! Enough, I said enough!” he stormed out of the room, his battle robe glistening deep violet in the dim illumination of the hall.

His ghastly exit left Ninna smiling. She knew that despite the harsh facade and fierce act, he actually might listen to her this time.