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The first wave came—not violent, not weak, just a sure tightening that moved like a band and then released with a deep, satisfying ache. She exhaled and nodded, eyes steady. Kai flowed aura through their joined hands, not pushing, only easing, widening. The cradle answered with a gentle glow.
Eggs came like moons laid out of light: opalescent, warm, new. Kai received each with both hands and set them in the ring of silk freshly spread in the adjacent cradle. He did not count aloud. He did not need to. The system kept the figures; he kept the reverence.
[Ding! Laying sequence: active. Transfer rate nominal. Aura sheath available—apply?]
"Yes," he thought, and a thin veil of his red-gold settled over each egg in turn, sinking through shell, marking brood as his without stealing what was hers. Her authority as an egg layer.
