The week went by in a flash. Soon enough, the people of the phoenix clan crowded around the main building in the middle of the forest, waiting for their newest member to hatch. Grandelder Lan Jing and the other Elders were standing in front of the compartment, looking on with smiles on their lips.
Finally, there was a faint sound from inside the egg. Everyone fell quiet and watched on with bated breath, their gazes trained on the pearl-white shell.
The same sound rang out once again and then once more, and finally, a faint crack appeared on top of the egg. The room fell quiet for a moment and then, there was once again the sound of a beak hitting the shell, and the crack in the already punctured shell enlarged. The egg cracked down the middle and finally, a fluffy head pressed against it, already exposing a few whites feathers.
The smiles on the Elders’ faces brightened and they couldn’t help but step a little closer, not wanting to miss even the smallest detail.
The little phoenix pressed its head harder against the shell, hitting it a few times in an attempt to get out. Unfortunately for the little one, it wouldn’t budge. It stemmed its whole body against the shell once more but the crack didn’t seem to want to budge. The little head was retracted and for a moment, nothing happened.
One of the Elders couldn’t help but inch closer to Grandelder Lan Jing and lowered his voice. "What’s this? Did they give up?"
The Grandelder shook her head. "They are probably just a bit tired. Have you already forgotten how it is to come out of your shell? It’s hard work."
The little phoenix indeed rested for a while before finally using its beak again to hack at the shell. This time, a few more cracks appeared, and finally, when it pressed its head against the shell once again, putting its whole weight into the movement, the egg finally cracked open.
Some of the Elders laughed while the little phoenix tried to poke its head out. Well, halfway through, it got stuck. It made a distressed sound and then wriggled around, messing up the white feathers on its head.
Grandelder Lan Jing raised her hand, covering her mouth to try and stifle a laugh. The other Elders weren’t as polite and just laughed outright. There were always a few phoenixes who would manage to do something like this but they hadn’t seen it happen for quite some time. And a phoenix that was able to hatch after just seven days … they had probably expected something slightly different.
The chick finally managed to retract its head and then carefully picked at the shell again, making it crack on the other side as well. Finally, a chunk of the shell fell down, opening up like a door. The chick made a happy sound and then tried to rush out, only for one of its wings to be stuck at the side. It stumbled down, halfway landing in the nest while the rest of its body was still stuck in the egg.
This time, even Grandelder Lan Jing couldn’t help but chuckle. She really would’ve liked to go forward and help a bit but this was something that a freshly-hatched chick needed to do on their own. There was no help allowed.
The little chick tugged and tugged and finally, the wing came undone. The chick stumbled down and fell into the nest while one feather remained behind, stuck to the edge of the egg.
"Aiya!" Grandelder Lan Jing and the other Elders couldn’t help but feel distressed for the little one. To rip a feather out like this on the day you were hatching definitely wasn’t a good feeling.
The little chick shook itself, fluffing up its feathers before getting to its feet. It curiously looked around and jumped onto the rim of the nest. Then, it fluttered its little wings a few times and jumped down, its form glimmering in the air.
"Oh, no!" Grandelder Lan Jing hurriedly reached out and grabbed it, catching the little chick between her fingers and making sure not to let go. "Little one, you’re a bit too early for that. Wait until we’re in the valley of the dragons. You can take on your other form as soon as we’re at your husband’s place."
The chick looked up and called out in distress, clearly not happy with this treatment.
Grandelder Lan Jing could only sigh. "Looks like this is a naughty one." She shook her head and then motioned for the Elders to go to the door. In any case, it was best not to keep the little phoenix in this form for too long. Who knew when it would get any ideas?
The Elders left the building, changed their forms, and then soared into the sky. They flew over to the valley of the dragons as fast as they could. The sooner they arrived, the better. Freshly-hatched phoenixes could be quite difficult to handle so it was best to hand this one over to their future husband as soon as they could. That way, nothing would go wrong. After all, while the dragons were able to choose their partner when they were still in the form of an egg, things were different for the phoenixes. They would need to choose their partner after they had hatched and took on their other form for the first time. So at that moment, there better shouldn’t be anyone else around.
Soon enough, the phoenixes could see the valley of the dragons in the distance. Grandelder Lan Jing looked over at the mountain where the eggs were kept and motioned over for the little phoenix to take a look. "That is where you were being kept when you were still an egg. It’s the place where your husband went to find you. You’re really lucky. It seems your egg was lost before but he still managed to find you despite that. It shows that the fate that the two of you have is quite good. You’re one lucky little phoenix."
The little chick turned to look at the mountain as well and tried to flutter its wings. Unfortunately, despite having changed form herself, the Grandelder was still holding onto it tightly. The little phoenix dejectedly hung its head and looked down instead, trying to find something interesting to see.
Soon enough, it spotted the valley. The chick blinked its eyes and then chirped, looking up at the Grandelder. It was clearly asking just what it was that could be seen down there.
Grandelder Lan Jing chuckled and then circled above the valley once, slowly descending. "That’s the valley of the dragons where your future husband lives. You’ll be able to take a look around with him tomorrow. Today, we are going to hold the wedding ceremony for the two of you."
The chick happily chirped once again, looking forward to the ceremony. In any case, the valley looked quite interesting and now that they were getting closer, it was able to see more. The little phoenix looked from side to side, spotting many houses and a lot of people that were standing in the middle of the valley.
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