Hajin opened his eyes to find two enormous pink eyes staring down at him from six inches away.
The cub crouched on the mattress was a ball of white fluff roughly the size of a large dog. Its ears were too big, its paws were enormous, its stare absolutely terrifying in the pale gray dawn light.
Shell fragments glittered gold across the blanket, the fever that burned him all night gone without a trace.
'That's the egg. It's a lot more egg than I remember.'
"How long have you been staring at me?" he croaked, to nobody in particular.
"Six hours, I advised against waking you," Aria answered in his head, sounding almost fond.
"Hey there, little guy," he said, lifting one hand slowly, "I'm not going to hurt you, we're friends, I promise."
The cub tilted its head one slow degree at a time, like a mountain deciding whether to move. Then a small round paw rose, drew back, and swung with the quiet certainty of a falling tower.
"Wait, don't—"
