CHAPTER ONE: THE NESTING GROUNDS

Aladar listened as Neera finished telling the story of her and her brother. Aladar now knew why Kron had turned out the way he had. "Ayla still lives here then?" he asked his wife.

"From what I heard. She's not around very often though." Neera replied.

"When was the last time she was here?"

"A few days before we got here. And we've been here about a month."

Their eggs had just hatched. They had eight children of their own plus two orphans that they had adopted. They were all quite a handful. Luckily, he found that he was good with kids. One of the children was getting dangerously close to the water; as none of the children, save the two adopted orphans, could swim yet, Aladar quickly rushed and grabbed her before she could get in over her head.

"Stay away from the water until you know how to swim!" he scolded his daughter.

"Sorry." she replied.

"Wonder why she's been gone so long." Aladar asked Neera.

"Well, apparently most of her eggs had been destroyed in the second attack on the Nesting Grounds. But one vanished. She'd always assumed that some predator had taken it. You see egg thieves also broke into the Nesting Grounds this time and she assumed that they had taken the last egg. However, within the last year or so, from what I've heard, she's been having dreams of her long-lost child returning to her. Over and over. So eventually she began to set out to look for the last of her family. You see, with her husband Kanca being dead and most of her eggs destroyed and her adopted children, Kron and I, being gone for so long, she really had nobody left. I imagine she's desperate to find some ray of hope left."

"I don't think she should be gone that long. Perhaps she ran into trouble."

"Perhaps. But what can we do about it? We're a little busy with ten kids in case you didn't notice."

"I'm sure Uncle Zini would love to help."

Sometime later, Zini, who didn't much like the idea, asked "Why are you looking for her again?"

"Old friend of Neera's. She might have ran into some kind of trouble."

"She's been gone about a month. She could well be dead."

"We've got to know. She helped raise me." Neera replied.

"Your kids, they're nest trained, aren't they?" Zini asked hopefully. Neera shook her head.

"Nope, only the adopted ones."

"You're kidding me!"

"I thought you wanted to have kids."

"I need a girl first."

"Your recent prospects didn't work out?"

"Nah. They thought I was weird."

"Well, they're right." Aladar laughed.

"Hey!"

"I found another group of lemurs recently." Neera said.

"You did?"

"Yeah. They seem shy, and I had to chase after them. Their leader talked to me. Her name is Raj."

"The same Raj that helped hide you and Kron when the carnivores attacked?" Aladar asked.

"It would seem so. She was just a kid then but now it seems she's an adult and the leader of her group."

"Why didn't you mention these lemurs before?"Zini asked.

"I'd forgotten about it?"

"Forgotten? How could you forget?"

"It's easy when you have ten kids!"

"Could you take me to them now?"

"Yes."

A short time later, Aladar, Neera, and Zini arrived outside what looked like a large rock at the edge of the Nesting Grounds. "I don't see anybody." Zini remarked, looking around in confusion.

Neera moved aside some moss, revealing a hole in the rock wall"In here." she said.

"Anyone there?" Zini called out.

"Who's there?" came a reply.

"It's me, Neera."

"It didn't sound like Neera just a minute ago."

"I brought some friends." A female lemur came out of the hole. She was flanked by several other lemurs. "Zini, this is Raj."

Zini's first thought about Raj was that she was very good looking. "Is she single?" he whispered to Neera. The iguanodon nodded. "All right!" he cried. The lemurs stared at him. Zini laughed nervously. "Umm, hi, my name is Zini." he said.

"Hello Zini; pleased to meet you." Raj said.

"So, Raj, how long have you been in charge here?" Zini asked.

"Since my mother passed last year."

"Sorry to hear about that." Neera said.

"Well, at least she had a long life." Raj sighed.

'Raj, Aladar and I were going to look for Ayla."

"She's gone far and wide looking for that lost child of hers based on nothing more than some silly dream." Raj sighed.

"I know. But she's raised me for years. I've still got to try and find her."

"But what about your kids?"

"I was going to leave them with Zini here."

"I didn't agree to that!" Zini whined.

"You wanted to find a girlfriend and I found you one." Neera said.

"Come on, Neera, I'm not sure she'd…." Zini began.

I'm open to possibilities." Raj interjected.

"I have lots of possibilities." Zini replied, grinning.

"Well, have fun with the kids Zini." Aladar said as he and Neera walked away.