Mercedes leaned closer, bending down to get a better look.
"…Strax… she's so small…" she whispered, still incredulous. "I mean… very small. Compared to the size of the egg, it doesn't make sense! The egg was gigantic, it looked like a huge monster was going to hatch, a creature the size of a horse—and—"
She gestured, lost in the comparison.
Strax leaned in calmly, watching the hatchling sleeping soundly, her breath condensing the air into small, crystalline sighs.
"Small, yes," he agreed, but there was conviction in his voice. "But not out of weakness."
Mercedes blinked. "Then why? This seems… wrong."
Strax lightly ran a claw over the second shell, now just glistening fragments.
"Probably," he began, "the egg was less a cradle… and more a reservoir."
"Reservoir?" Mercedes repeated, frowning.
"Of energy." He touched his chest, where his mana still vibrated erratically, as if his body were readjusting after having given away so much power.
