(credit to DireWerewolfGirl for this chapter!!)

tsunami was swimming to visit her mother. they were meeting on an island west of the palace. the current was calm and dragging her along slowly. she pumped her wings to move faster—she was getting a little impatient.

she started to pass a beautiful coral reef. it had coral of all colors of the rainbow and looked like a painting. she swam down to get a better look at the scenery and saw something out of place. it was light pink and egg-shaped. curiosity washed over her, so she pushed herself towards it and gasped with a swarm of bubbles.

it wasn't just egg shaped—it was an actual egg! there weren't any villages around here and the palace was still far. it was all alone. tsunami couldn't just leave it there, so she picked it up and kept swimming.

she eventually got to the meeting island and saw queen coral, who was staring at a small red hermit crab. she turned and saw her daughter. "tsunami! you're here!" her eyes trailed to the egg in the younger dragon's talons. "...what is that?"

"it's an egg!" she exclaimed. "i found it in a reef. it was abandoned and i couldn't leave a dragonet to die."

"are you going to keep it?" the queen said suspiciously.

"well... i don't exactly want to, but if i have to i will. maybe sunny will want them."

"you wouldn't be a good parent," coral said. she then sighed. "i will keep it, if you want."

"really?!" tsunami said hopefully.

"i am sure," coral said with more confidence. "it better be someone who can inherit the throne though!"

"will you take care of them even if they can't?"

"fine, fine, yes," she waved her daughter off with her wing and picked up the egg. it was warm in her talons and had a heartbeat. "it is so pink..."

"maybe they're special?" tsunami suggested.

queen coral brought the egg closer to her snout. "we'll call them... axolotl."