Chapter Text
"Hmm?"
Kishiar is distracted by a soft clanking sound as he's getting ready for bed. Expecting to see a lost button or perhaps a missing coin, he is surprised to see that a small dessert spoon is sitting on the floor near his foot. Make that three spoons, as he sees two more under the dresser, another dessert spoon and a larger one for soup. One of them still has a trace of the chocolate pudding they'd served for dessert. How had those gotten there?
Kishiar glances over towards the bed where Yuder is already sleeping. The dragon had complained of a headache right after dinner, turning in early and hadn't stirred since. Kishiar finds it highly unlikely that one of the servants would have randomly left dirty spoons on the floor by the dresser, but then again, he's not sure why Yuder would have either. It is a strange little mystery, but one that can wait until morning. Kishiar puts the spoons on top of the dresser so no one accidently steps on them and climbs under the covers. The dragon is still in her female form, which is a little unusual, since Yuder is more accustomed to his male body and often changes back whenever no one else is around to see. Kishiar hopes it's not a sign that the dragon is sick with something, as her body feels slightly warmer as well. If it persisted in the morning, he might have to call the royal physician to check. Or would Kanna be better? The former princess knew the most about dragons after all, having read all of the books that Yuder's grandfather had left behind.
Yuder is already up and about the next morning by the time Kishiar awakes, which is a relief since she seems fine. Oddly though, their dresser seems to have gained a new footstool, a pair of candlesticks and a bottle of perfume that Kishiar is certain were not there the night before.
"Um, Yuder, where did all of these things come from?" Kishiar asks, gesturing towards the mystery objects. Now that he's standing, he can also see a roll of carpet tucked neatly in the far corner.
The dragon shrugs, "Maybe the maids left them here?"
Kishiar raises an eyebrow at that suggestion, but doesn't argue. Instead, he reaches over to pick up the spoons from the night before, "In that case, I'll just ask one of them to put everything ba-" He barely lifts the spoons off of the dresser's surface before Yuder slaps them back down. The dragon stares at her hand in surprise, as if she didn't expect it to do that.
"... is there something wrong?"
"...no, it's fine. Sorry about that. I don't what came over me," Yuder says, but her hand remains pressed on the spoons so he can't pick them up again.
Even though Yuder insists everything's fine, Kishiar notices that the dragon keeps an eye on him the entire time he's dressing, and tenses slightly every time he moves a little closer to any of the objects that suddenly appeared in the night. Something is definitely going on, and Kishiar has a feeling that the royal physician won't be the one able to answer that question.
"Several strange objects appeared in your room last night?" Kanna asks. The former princess turned royal librarian, is standing atop one of the library's rolling ladders, but she climbs down immediately after hearing Kishiar's question.
"Well, strange to be found in our bedroom, but rather mundane, otherwise," Kishiar replies. "Three spoons, a couple of candlesticks, a bottle of perfume, a footstool and a piece of carpet to be precise. " Kishiar even knows where the piece of carpet came from, judging by the missing section in the hall leading to their room.
"Hmm, are the spoons, candlesticks and perfume bottle all sparkly? Or at least shiny?" Kanna asks. She's wandered over to the section where she's shelved Yuder's collection of books from his grandfather and scans their spines, looking for a particular book.
"... yes. The spoons and candlesticks are all polished silver and the bottle is made of crystal."
"Hmm," Kanna finds the book she's looking for and flips it open, "When's the last time you saw Yuder shift forms?"
The last time? Yuder definitely hadn't shifted the night before, but had it been going on longer than that? It is hard to say. Kishiar had been busy for the past week with several foreign dignitaries visiting the palace, so he hadn't been able to see his wife as often as he would have liked, but now that he thinks about it, the dragon had always been in her human female form whenever he'd seen her. He thought that the dragon had just shifted during the times he hadn't seen him, but what if that wasn't the case?
"At least a week ago; I can't remember exactly when."
Kanna seems to have found the section she's looking for, her finger tracing down the page as she quickly reads, "Increased appetite?"
Kanna looks up to see Kishiar raising an eyebrow at her, "...right. Yuder can already eat an entire banquet - table included - by himself on a normal day, if we let him." She looks back down at her book, "Hmm... any headaches or fever?"
"Last night he complained about a headache. And he did feel a bit feverish... is it something serious?"
Kanna glances up from the book and an impish smile appears on her lips, "Well... that depends on your definition of serious." She flips the book around so Kishiar can see the pages, "If I'm correct, then I believe congratulations are in order. Yuder is probably in the very early stages of pregnancy."
"That's... a bit more than you mentioned, your Highness," Kanna observes.
The two of them are standing in the crown prince's bedroom. Yuder is absent, but there is a conspicuously larger pile of objects in the corner by the dresser. Kanna surveys the collection and gives a sharp nod, "This definitely looks like the start of the nesting urge."
"Nesting urge?"
"Aside from food - which Yuder doesn't need to stock up on since he no longer does his own hunting - pregnant dragons hoard three things in their dens," Kanna explains. "Sturdy building materials to section off the nest," she points to the footstool which has now been joined by what looks like several garden stones that still have dirt on them, "Soft bedding materials," her finger moves to the carpet roll that has now multiplied into three, along with a tapestry that had disappeared from in front of the one of the entrances to the servants' corridors, and what looks suspiciously like someone's wig. "And lots of sparklies for the baby dragon to play with and teethe on once they're born." Kanna's finger now points at the haphazard pile of loose change, mismatched earrings, various cutlery and candlesticks. "It's an instinctive urge, not something that's taught or can be controlled, so you can expect the pile to get a lot bigger. Oh, and dragons tend to be very touchy about their hoards, and only get testier the later into the pregnancy they are. It's best that you don't touch anything, if you can help it." Kishiar remembers Yuder slapping the spoons out of his hand when he tried to move them... then looking genuinely surprised at having done so.
Kishiar surveys the room they are standing in. The bedroom reserved for the crown prince and princess is by no means small, especially if Yuder's nesting instinct decides that the connected sitting room is included as part of the 'den'. But given how quickly the 'hoard' had grown in the past few hours...
"Oh dear," Kishiar sighs, "I have a feeling it's going to start getting very crowded in here, shortly..."