"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Bloe exclaimed, her white-striped tail splashing in the water. "You have no idea how grateful I am."

Watching Bloe's children, three young draconic tark'ee, scramble around the beach, Spring thought maybe he could guess. With how energetic they were, he was glad to have Milli and Hivoo with him to help watch the kids. Caring for them alone sounded exhausting. Hivoo was already chasing after one of the wiggly whelps, trying to keep him from getting too far away.

Bloe waved one draconic wing. "I'll be back in a few hours, and I'll be bringing dinner! Be good, you three!" she called. Her whelps chorused "yes mom!" back, and with that, she slid into the ocean and was gone.

Hivoo returned carrying the whelp she'd chased down and deposited him on Milli's back, where another was already doing her best to climb the larger draconic's neck. Spring glanced around quickly as he realized the third was missing, only to see a red tail-tip disappearing behind a rock. He leapt after him, scooping up the child as he was halfway into the waves. "You have to stay here," Spring reminded him. "Your mother will be back soon." The whelp pouted, but did not try to escape, only looping his tail around Spring's arm as he carried him back.

The coral-colored whelp had managed to climb onto Milli's head and gazed down at her with curiosity. "Why aren't you as long as momma?" she asked.

Milli chuckled. "People grow to different sizes," she explained. "You might grow up to be as big as your mom….or even, shorter than me!"

"No!" the whelp cried, aghast, and shimmied back down Milli's neck, apparently attempting to escape the horror of growing up short. Hivoo and Spring couldn't help laughing at the sight.

The mud-colored whelp that Hivoo had brought back wavered upward, and Hivoo held out her arms in case the little draconic wanted to be carried again. He did, and gratefully climbed back up. He gazed up at Hivoo for a moment, and Hivoo tried to start a conversation, asking how he liked living in the ocean. Instead of replying, however, he rose up and chomped firmly onto the tsabhua's horn. "Ack!" she cried. "Hey, no biting! Let go!"

While Milli tried to find where the coral whelp had gone and Hivoo tried to get the mud whelp off her nose, Spring spotted his own rose-colored whelp eyeing his face. "Don't," he warned the kid firmly.

The rose whelp blinked, then asked, "Why do you have so many legs?"

Spring sighed. "Hivoo and I are tsabhua, not draconic tark'ee like yourself and your mother. We're hexapods. It means we have six limbs," he explained.

"Hexapods…." the kid murmured, then added, "But why?"

"Because we're born that way," Spring replied simply. "Why do you have no legs?" The whelp appeared utterly stumped by that, staring off into the distance as he contemplated the possibility of having legs.

Meanwhile, Milli had found her errant charge and Hivoo had successfully freed herself from the mud whelp's tiny teeth. She stood panting for a moment, and after she regained her breath, suggested, "Why don't we play tag instead?"

The kids loved the idea, and all six were drawn into running around on the sand, dodging over and around rocks and driftwood. The morning was quickly turning into afternoon, however, and the sun beat down on them, increasingly hot. Within an hour, the three whelps were worn out and too warm to continue playing.

When Bloe returned, she found everyone in a pile on the beach, fast asleep. They had all sat down for a moment to rest, and the constant rush of waves had lulled them, turning the break into a full-on nap. She laughed a little to herself, and set about preparing a late lunch from the food she had gathered while out in the ocean.

Milli was the first to wake, sniffing carefully as she eased her head out of the pile. Spring was next, as one of the whelps rolled over onto his face. Soon all three were awake, charging forward to greet their mother. Bloe wrapped them in her wings, greeting them and asking how it had gone. Spring sat up blearily, blinking in the afternoon light, while Milli slithered closer to the dinner Bloe had made. Hivoo, too exhausted by the whelps' antics, remained asleep on the sand.

The dinner, as it turned out, was delicious, the whelps munching happily away and the adults chatting. With how hungry the kids were, almost all the food was devoured, but Bloe was careful to save a little bit for Hivoo when she finally woke up.