Tiptoe awoke with a start. The egg flopped against her side and startled her. She perked her head up, smiling as she watched with fascination. She watched the egg wiggle, then begin to crack, then a tail! Popping out of one of the cracks, a bright red tail poked out and she looked thrilled. Thrill turned to great confusion when out popped another tail, this one in a yellow color. Two? Not unheard of, but certainly not expected. The egg cracked further and, in one fell swoop, split in twoand two salamander babies fell apart from each other. Tiptoe blinked, then beamed a bright smile, proud of her two babies and amazed by how different they were. One a bright firey red color, the other a bright yellow, both so dear to her already. She pulled them closed and snuggled the squirming salamanders, thrilled that she was able to help them hatch.

A Voice from Deep Below had recently taken up tea-drinking, finding the right plants for the right brew was incredible, and with that, he decided that he wanted a salamander to call his own. What's better than brewing your own drink at home, without needing to find a friendly wild one.

It was just his luck that he had found an egg on one of his walks by the riverside to listen to the voice that hums from deep within the water, almost like a gift from the deep one, and so, he had worked hard on making a cozy little temporary home to try and hatch the little thing. It would be best for a fire salamander, he knew, but with how close it had been to the waterside, he would have to wait and see if luck was on his side - he had made the nest soft, warm and dry, like he had been told before.

Patience, he knew, was needed, and so, he started hunkering down in his cozy little spot, ready to defend this little egg with whatever he could do.