The door of the antigrav lift slides open, and I step out into the hatching tower where I will complete my gestation. Through the wall of windows before me, I can see the late summer sea. A warm breeze blows through my hair and I take a deep breath of fragrant air.

I am alone for the transformation, as I have asked to be. My mates will attend to my dragon until my eggs are laid and hatched.

I slide my hand over my wrist com and deconstruct my clothing. Taking a deep breath, I walk barefoot across the floor, my curves undulating with my pace. I let out an icy breath and suck it back in before I will myself to shift.

My ice dragon form grows out of my body almost instantly. I am heavy with eggs, even in this much larger form. I find the thick, warm nest my mates prepared for me and settle in for the rest of my gestation.

My dragon mind is laser focused on the care of my young. The more intelligent bipedal mind relaxes into the mind of the beast. We unite in this beautiful moment of creation.

The weeks pass as my dragon tummy grows with the eggs in my womb. I feel the labor start early in the morning, a long ache that starts at the base of my tail and surges up my spine. I alert my mates through our mate bond and they come running to attend the laying. By mid-day, I have laid my first egg. A perfect oval: red and mottled black.

The rest of my eggs come throughout the day. My mates and medics attend me the entire time. When I have finally laid all six of my eggs, I curl up around them to keep them warm against my body. There is an egg to match each of my mates’ colorings, and one that matches my own.

The medics check the vital signs of each egg before assuring me and my mates of their health and vitality. I can barely hear the medics. All I can think and feel is my love and devotion to my eggs.

They are the most beautiful things I have ever beheld. I run my claw softly over their shells, scratching them with my talon ever so gently. I want them to know that mother is here.

In the following weeks, I only leave my eggs for brief moments. My mates attend to me the entire time, making sure I have food and water and that the nest is clean. They caress me and kiss me and wash my scales.

As they attend my dragon form in their bipedal ones, I develop a whole new appreciation for their care and love. With so much time in dragon form, my beast mind comes into balance with my bipedal one. I feel as if I am becoming a more whole being.

One day, I lift my head from where it was laid and see a growing crack in the red shell.

A piece pops off, narrowly missing my eye, and a little red claw emerges from within. My mates hurry to the room and watch in amazement. Soon all six of my hatchlings are poking holes in their shells. The first little dragon emerges from its egg when the medics arrive. It is fiery red with coal black eyes like its father.

I sniff my baby and know immediately that it is a girl. The mind of the scientist that had just been completely immersed in her hatchlings jumps to attention. My little fire dragon is a daughter. I lick the little creature as it crawls from its shell and spreads its wings for the first time.

The medics examine her vitals and are confident in her health. She is obviously a robust hatchling as she prances about the nest.

The next to emerge is an aqua blue water dragon. Another girl. My heart bursts with love for my two daughters. And the inner mind of the scientist reels with the implications. The third hatchling to emerge is a stone dragon, a little boy.

I look over at Donte as I lick our son with pride growing in my heart for my expanding clutch. The next egg to crack open reveals an ice dragon, with a little blue face, popping out of the egg. Her big blue eyes blink and she gazes at me questioningly. She emerges from her egg and begins to play with her siblings. Three daughters and a son. My heart explodes with pride and triumph. My fourth egg to hatch is a golden dragon who emerges on serpentine wings and hurries into Mother's arms.

This little bundle of light is also a female child. The last to hatch is the viper dragon. It emerges cautiously and quickly jumps behind the egg before prancing up to me. A son, and just like his father, Flume.

My mates gather around me, and I purr in contentment. When my babies look for their first meal, my mates provide them with slices of tender meat that my young quickly devour. It isn't until their first shift that they will be little bipedal babies that will want to drink milk from their mother's breasts. For now, they eat simple strips of plain raw meat.

My babies devour their first meal and come to cuddle in my arms. My head is so large, it is bigger than all of them put together. They purr against my scales, the feeling of it is pure serenity. I bask in the glow of their love and their need for me. I need them just as much, forever and always. It is only as I take in this love and adoration that I consider that I now have four daughters.

Two-thirds of my hatchlings are female.

After several days of laying with my new hatchlings who gorge on meat, the first of my little ones, the fire dragon, shifts into a bipedal baby. My dragon purrs at the tiny being.

It is time for me to re-take my bipedal form to tend my young. I emerge from the nest and shift, picking up the baby before even reconstructing my clothing. I climb into the nest with my daughter and put the babe against my breast.

My other little dragons climb onto my lap and purr against my soft flesh as the newly shifted baby gets a new form of lunch.

Another hatchling shifts, and another. I nurse each until they are full. Their fathers come quickly and rearrange the hatching room into a nursery.

Now that my time in dragon form has come to an end, I can reclaim my role as a lady of the house. My babies are all swaddled and sleeping in their cribs as I tie a fuzzy robe around my waist and gaze down at each of them, thinking up names. Matilda, my water dragon. Rosebud, my fire. Josephine, the ice dragon. Dive, the viper. Core, the stone dragon. And Larissa, my golden daughter.

My mates meet me at the door as they turn on soft music. We leave the nursery and they all hug me as I tell them the names I’ve chosen.

“Those are perfect,” Donte says.

“Beautiful choices. You’ve done so well with them, Joon,” Reese says.

“You’ve been an inspiration,” Mika tells me.

“I second that,” says Donte.

“I’ve missed being able to talk to you,” I tell them.

“We’ve missed you too,” Flume says.

“You can say that again. Without Joon around we’ve only had Reese’s poetry to keep us entertained,” says Uri.

I giggle, seeing not much has changed while I was gone.

Mika escorts me to my room and helps me into my bed. It’s the first time I’ve been alone in months. I feel relieved and lonely at the same time. I know I need the rest, but I miss my babies and my mates so much it takes me a while to fall asleep.

When I wake again, there is a meal set out for me and Donte is there. I climb out of bed and take a seat across from him at the table.

“All of Draxos sends their congratulations on the hatchlings. The Academy is thrilled at the outcome. The Senate has called it ‘the victory of our times’. Your parents are on their way to meet the new babies. And your brother Sysko is determined to get home to see you with his new bride.”

“Sysko is coming home?” I ask, taking a sip of tea. “I haven't seen him in so long. How can he leave the cyborg battle?”

“He will not be gone for long. He wants to show his bride Draxos and oversee the first tournament.”

“I can't believe a tournament for humans is already starting,” I say.

“The first one will happen when Sysko arrives with the human females.”

“And to think this all started with a passage we found in Tales of the Ancients,” I say.

“Our race now has a fighting chance to stand against the cyborgs. We have you to thank for that, Joon.”

“We did it together. The Bones of the Gods know, I couldn't have done it without you and the rest of my mates.”

“We aren’t a pure distraction, then?” he asks, smirking.

“Well, sometimes,” I say with a chuckle. “But mostly you are always there for me, keeping me balanced even when I don’t want to let you. I may have saved the Draxos from extinction, but I know that no matter what heroic acts I performed for my people, the love of my children and my mates is the most important thing in my life. Without it, I am just a particle lost in space. With the love of my mates and children, I am whole.”

“But it is awfully nice being called the hero of the generation, though, isn't it?” Donte chuckles.