Sisu Lays an Egg
"Why would you come to me," Raya asked, "and not one of your brothers or sisters?"
Sisu looked at Raya curiously. "Brothers and sisters are for trust and saving the world, you don't lay eggs in front of them, that's embarrassing."
"And yet you'd come to me?" Raya asked.
"You're not a dragon, you're more like a pet." Sisu replied, "you wouldn't be embarrassed if you had a baby in front of a cat."
"I would hope there wouldn't be any cats anywhere near me if I ever give birth," Raya retorted.
"Hey, I've talked to Namaari's cats, and I can tell you, they aren't that bad when you get to know them." Sisu informed Raya. "I didn't know who else to come to, so I decided, hey, why not let my bestie be my nursemaid."
"Okay," Raya said, "I'm not sure I'm qualified, but I'll do my best." Raya paused. "Once you start laying, you're probably going to want something to ease the pain."
Sisu looked at Raya "Phft!" Sisu suddenly snorted, "Egg laying doesn't hurt, that's just something mother dragons tell their children to make them feel like they have to listen to them, it's not like it'd really be like that."
Raya looked at Sisu unconvinced, "Well, do you want me to get you anything anyway, just in case?"
Sisu sighed, "To be honest, human medicine doesn't really work on dragons, but like I said, it's probably not something to worry about anyway."
As Raya went to check on Sisu's body to make sure everything was looking alright, she couldn't help but wonder, "Who's the father of these eggs?" She asked.
"Father?" Sisu thought, "There is no father. Dragons don't need to be coupled with somebody to lay eggs, they just won't be worse anything."
Raya blinked, "So you're doing this for nothing."
Sisu shrugged, "It's not too bad, just lay the eggs and then move on with it, what could be simpler?"
But it wasn't more then a moment after these words came out of her mouth that her belly jolted, the first contraction hitting. Sisu gasped, grabbing at her belly.
"It's alright," Sisu gasped, "Just give me a moment."
But then the next contraction hit then another, their repetition rippling like waves through her lower abdomen.
"Okay!" Sisu cried, "I take it back! This hurts! This really hurts!"
And then the contractions hit full force, Sisu's feet dropped out from under her as she collapsed to the floor, howling in agony.
"OW! PAIN! STOP PAIN! STOP! OUCH!"
The pain in her body was too much to bear, like nothing she had ever felt before. At least when Namaari had shot her, she had faded out almost immediately, this she couldn't escape from.
Sisu cried out, desperately wanting to escape her life. She remembered the sacrifice her brothers and sisters had made for her to use the Gem, and the journey she had traveled with Raya, this was a HORRIBLE ultimate fate for a dragon so prestigious!
Raya got a wet cloth to soak the sweat from Sisu's head with. Sisu moaned, in desperate agony.
"Can't you use on of your powers to do something about this?" Raya asked.
"What would I use," Sisu gasped, "Turning to a human? This egg is already too big for my dragon body! Besides, I got my powers from my siblings, without the Gem, I'm useless!"
The contractions hit with a new force, Sisu cried out into the sky in extreme agony. "There's too much pressure! There's too much pressure in my back half! Just let it out! Oh my poor body! I can't take it! How could the world curse such a girl like this! OWW! MY FEMININE SIDE! WHY ME!"
Raya looked at Sisu, hunched over onto the floor, hind legs raised, and felt a flash of concern, not sure what else to do.
"When they named the lands of Kumandra, they should've covered more ground than Tail, because that's not what's hurting right now! I wish I could say it was my bum, but it's much worse than that!"
Yeah, that wasn't an aspect of dragons that all of Kumandra needed to concern themselves with when naming their continent.
But that didn't stop Sisu as she continued to scream about all the places she hurt. Raya winced, by the time this was all over, she would know way more about dragon anatomy than probably any human needed to know.
But Sisu was suffering. And what did she do to deserve it? Nothing, she was just a dragon living life as normal when the world decided to give her an egg, one she had nothing to do with, but still had to deal with the consequences anyway. She could be spared the shame of sharing such things at the top of her lungs.
"Please forgive me for all this," Sisu finally gasped, panting with exhaustion, squirming on the ground as extreme pressure continued making its way through the back of her body toward her tail section, "I know you didn't need to hear all that."
Suddenly, Sisu gave another gasp followed by a moan, her eyes squeezing shut with all their might. Raya checked; the egg was almost fully done. Sisu cried out again. "Oh. My v-!"
But before she could finish, another contraction hit and Sisu cried out as the egg tumbled free into the world.
Sisu lay on the floor, gasping for breath. Raya came up beside her and rested a hand on her head.
"It's alright, it's over."
As Sisu's breathing evened out, she let out a deep breath.
"I guess you were right, the world's not always a perfect place to live in," Sisu admitted.
Raya sat on the floor next to her, hand still on her head. "Maybe not, but you were right about one thing, now that you're done laying, you're free to move on."
Sisu nodded, "I guess. Just what now to do with these eggs."
Raya cracked a mischievous grin, "I'm sure our friend Boun would love to make a spicy omelet with it."
Sisu stared at Raya, "Oh wow, I almost thought you suggested a food item worse than your jerky."
"I did," Raya stated, crossing her arms.
"Uh-uh, no way are you eating my egg," Sisu said, shielding the egg with her body "That's just wrong."
Raya let out a laugh, "I was teasing you Sisu, I would never actually have eaten it."
Sisu looked at Raya long and hard. Finally, "I knew that. Just what is it with everybody and omelets these days?"
Raya shrugged.
"Well anyway," Sisu went on, "I'm going to move on and forget this egg thing ever happened. This world is too interesting for such a thing to happen to one like me. Am I right, or am I right?"
Raya just shrugged.
Of course, Sisu would never truly forget something that intense, but she was quickly able to put it behind her and continue to see the world in a more positive light. Even though such painful things could happen to some for no reason at all, that wasn't the entirety of it, and even though the negative surely existed, Sisu knew that from experience, the positive did too, and Sisu would always choose to look at that.