As they left the ‘visiter’ building and made their way across the fields, Hamish had stitched together a harness so that the egg could be carried against someone's body without the use of their hands. Hamish was taking the first shift carrying the egg.

"What kinds of animals lay eggs, anyway?" Hamish asked as they reached the edge of the farmland and entered the forest. "Birds, reptiles... fish, I guess?"

“Ain’t really any kind of rules when the fae make things,” Slone pointed out. “Gotta be prepared for anything.”

“I guess I just have to embrace the fatherly spirit of loving my child no matter what kind of monster it turns out to be.”

“Speaking of dads, Duran, you gonna try and track down your parents now that things are changing?” Slone asked.

Duran shrugged. “Is it bad that I don’t see the point? I was created as part of a breeding program. My parents never wanted me and I was taken from my mother at birth. They probably both have multiple other offspring. I wouldn’t want to place the expectation of being parents to a son they never asked for on them.”

“Might be they want that kid they never got the chance to know back,” Slone suggested. “Can’t say I know what it’s like to have a baby taken from you, ‘specially not in a situation like that, but I bet it’s rough.”

"Maybe," Duran said with a noncommittal shrug.

“What about you, Hamish?” Slone asked. “You gonna go visit your folks?”

“I probably should. Let them know I’m not dead. I’m not sure how they’ll feel about… well… a lot of things, really, but I’m also not sure I actually care that much. At this point in my life, they’re not that high on the list of people whose opinions I care about.”

“Well, hopefully you being alive is enough for ‘em, but I know it don’t always work out that way.”

“What about your dad?” Hamish asked. “I know your mums, of course, but I’ve never met your dad.”

“Ah, yeah, I see him sometimes. Stayed with him some of the time when I was growing up, and that was fine. Y’know, he has kids and they’re my half siblings, but Yore’s the only one I’ve ever called my brother even though he ain’t at all by blood. Used to think it was because we had a special connection even though I didn’t get to spend as much time with him as my dad’s other kids, but then when I grew up I realised, nah, it was just because nobody else ever called ‘em my brothers and sister. Maybe my mums did sometimes, I dunno, but nobody at my dad’s ever did. I was my dad’s son, but I wasn’t part of that family.”

Hamish gave him a sympathetic frown. “That sucks. I’m sorry they excluded you like that.”

“Nah. It’s fine, really. Werewolves do families in lots of different ways, and the way we did things sometimes just means that one parent’s not really your parent, y’know? He was only a part of things because my mums couldn’t just have a kid together. I had lots of people who cared about me, so you won’t hear me complaining.”

“You can be the egg’s dad too, if you want,” Hamish said. “Both of you. The more dads the better, I say.”

Slone laughed. “All right. We’ll love the little bastard, whatever’s in there.”

#

As the sun began to set, they found a clearing in the forest and set up camp for the night. Hamish was starting to get shivery without his coat, but they’d have a fire started soon enough and then they’d cuddle down in their sleeping bags and he should stay warm enough. Probably, anyway. Duran didn’t feel the cold, so he was hardly the best judge of such things.

Hamish had just started the fire and was blowing on it to encourage the embers when Cookie came over and flopped down in front of it. Her tongue snaked out of her mouth and idly flicked around in the dirt.

“Hey Cookie, I’ll give you a potato if you convince Kit to tell me what’s in this,” Hamish said, holding up the egg in his hand.

Without hesitation, Kit materialized in front of him. "First of all, she can't convince me of anything. She can't even understand you on her own. Second, I know you asked for four potatoes so that there would be one each and you're going to give her one no matter what. How many times do I need to remind you that I can read your mind?"

“Okay, but you’re here now, so… what’s in the egg?” Hamish asked.

“Back before the war, when I was but a simple human child, we had something called surprise eggs. Children loved them. Maybe a little too much. Anyway, there’s no more plastic and so no more surprise eggs, except for this one. This is your only chance to have a surprise egg, and I won’t take that away from you.”

“It’s nothing dangerous, then?”

“Well, let’s see. How much do you think I like you?”

“Kit, come on,” Hamish said, flashing Kit a charming smile. “Don’t be like that. You wouldn’t still be following us around if you didn’t like us.”

”That only means I like at least one of you, and at this point, maybe not even that. We want to get back to the other side of the mountains as well, and it's easier to do that with you than to travel alone.”

“One more question,” Hamish said. “Do you think I could get Cookie to incubate an egg?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Hamish tucked the egg against Cookie’s soft, squishy belly and she immediately rolled over to lay on top of it. “Huh. Interesting. I was a little worried she’d try to eat it, but I think it’s a bit big even for her.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate her ability to throat large objects, but she won’t. She won’t kill anything more advanced than a bug or a fish.”

“Ah ha,” Hamish said. “That’s information. My egg baby is more advanced than a bug or a fish.”

“You must be so proud,” Kit said and then immediately disappeared.

Hamish gave Cookie a pat on her tacky head. “You keep that egg warm. You’re also an egg parent now. I hope you’re ready for the responsibility.”

Cookie chittered and then opened her mouth. Her tongue was covered in dirt. She left her mouth open until Hamish went and got one of the potatoes from his bag and put it in. She swallowed it whole.

Slone lay down on the ground and pillowed his head on his arm. “I’m glad we did this together. I’ve had some adventures in my time, but nothin’ quite like this.”

“I wonder why the two sides of the range seem so isolated from one another if there are boats that travel between them,” Duran mused. “It seems as though it’s a whole other world.”

“Can’t say I know a whole ton about boats,” Slone admitted. “I don’t like ‘em, and a not-so-great thing about me is that I don’t usually know a whole lot about anything I don’t care about. Goes in one ear and out the other.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Hamish said as he laid out his sleeping bag next to Duran and crawled into it. “Hopefully we reach the coast by tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing the coastal town we’re trying to track down. The town around The Spire is the biggest settlement I’ve ever seen outside of human territory.”

“It’ll prob’ly be bigger than that,” Slone said. “You get out far enough, and there’re some pretty big places that can rival what humans have got going on. Maybe even some proper, big cities out there somewhere, but I dunno about that. World’s a big place and even I ain’t seen much of it.”

Hamish yawned and shut his eyes. “You know, this isn’t at all what I expected when we set out, but I’m glad it's where we ended up.”