Indeed, Tessa was not impressed with the effects of the [Breath Of The World] spell.

It worked exactly as advertised, but she had not signed up to be laying eggs. Especially not Behemoth eggs of that size. And the pleased look on Thor's face as he slept was not putting her in any better of a mood.

Thanks to her training, she knew that it was leftover pregnancy hormones, but she really did want to slap that smug smile off his face.

With Thor pulling her into a group, it shared his regeneration skills with her, so there was no need to call in the healers. But not needing to call in the healers did not make up for surprise childbirth in egg form.

No matter how pretty they were.

Deep in her mind, draconic instincts to protect the nest were stirring. They were similar to the motherly instincts of most other species, but as a Red Dragon dragonkin, her instincts were much more violent toward anything that threatened her clutch.

And that was saying something, given how violent the average dragon was about threats to their eggs.

Karl scanned the Tiny World, and saw that the Dragon Eggs were happily absorbing all the energy that they could get. They were close to awakening, and the change in the world was enough to trigger the effect automatically as they approached the limits of their development in the shell.

Watching them gave Karl an idea.

The Haint and the Sword of Champions both had life and soul energy stored. If he targeted a few of the most promising eggs, he might be able to push them to a whole new level.

The extra energy should be able to push them right to a bottleneck, and then they would advance not long after hatching.

Not a change in species or potential, but a head start on life.

It would deplete his stores, though.

With that in mind, Karl decided to save it for Tessa's clutch. The other dragons were all foundlings, and he had given them the best possible opportunities, but Tessa's were family.

Family always got special consideration.

Dana was with Ophelia in the kitchen, where a small group of Elves were gathered, arguing about whether today was a birthday, a holiday, or a special event.

All of them called for different menus, apparently. But the day could be counted as all of the above.

That was causing some contention, as simply making everything was too much for the time that they had, and the more time that they spent discussing it, the less time that they had to actually make the food.

They were not the only ones with plans, though.

Button was awake, and she had managed to wrangle one of the Elves who was supposed to have a day off from the kitchen into a devious plan to teach her how to make breakfast burritos.

In her mind, they were the perfect food, combining meat, eggs, vegetables and bread into one convenient envelope, putting them one step over pizza, which was messy and cheesy to eat when it was hot.

But the goal was not just to get her favourite food whenever she wanted it.

No, she knew that the eggs were hatching, and this was her first and best chance to recruit more agents of chaos in her petition to add a third breakfast burrito morning to the meal schedule.

If she got enough votes, surely she could manage it.

By the time that Karl made it downstairs, the meal plan for the day had been settled, but everyone was in a state of panic, ensuring that all the eggs would have a responsible adult around when they hatched, that there would be fresh food for all the baby dragons who might arrive today, that there were rooms ready for all of them, and that someone was watching Cara.

No way was the badger not going to try something today.

Little did they know, Cara was not just a mere Chaos inciter. She was also a most cultured Chaos Enjoyer, and she was greatly enjoying this day.

She didn't need to do anything at all to introduce chaos into their day, so she could just lay back and watch it happen.

Having a guardian just meant that she had someone to drink with.

Meanwhile, Remi had grand plans.

She had a potion specifically for helping Dragon Eggs advance in Rank, not just in potential, and they had already tested it for side effects when they were

travelling back in time to help Princess Rue.

She would have to convince someone to let the little ones drink the potion, as they were too close to hatching to absorb it through the shell, but that shouldn't be too challenging once the kids got settled in.

All that she needed now was one week to make all the potions she needed.

It was a massive batch, that was for certain. But she had plenty of all the ingredients growing in her space without even touching what was in the Tiny World. That had to count for something.

There was so much potential here, hundreds of dragons just ripe for

introduction to the larger world of magic.

And once they were introduced to the joys of magic, they could be introduced to Alchemy, the greatest branch of practical magic. That was when the real

action started.

It would be amazing to have her own disciples.

Instead of correcting the wayward sisters, Karl decided that he would start with the ones who were actually behaving for a change.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease, but that would leave the well-behaved siblings neglected with as loud as some of the others were. So, Karl started with Leo, as Thor was still guarding Tessa's clutch while they slept. The little turtle was just drying himself off after a nice swim in the lake, and putting on his new Tricorn hat.

"Headed somewhere?" Karl asked the excited young Turtle.

"Off to school. It starts in thirty minutes, and I haven't gotten to show any of my new friends the neat stuff I got from the dungeon yet.

They're going to love my hat."

Karl laughed at the pure joy on the turtle's face.

"How about I walk you to school today? Then there's no way they can accuse

you of lying. I'll be right there to set them straight."

"Oh, thanks! I think Cara is planning to skip today. There is too much happening

for her to focus."

"Just don't model your attendance after her, and you should be fine. It's good that you're the reliable student."