Spring Eggs

[froglady]

Amardella woke to bright sunlight in her eyes. Drat. Staying up late into the night to see the meteor shower might not have been such a good idea. Luckily it was the weekend and she had no pressing obligations.

Besides the lovely spring sunlight, a warm breeze wafted through the open window, carrying birdsong with it. What a great day for a picnic! She busied herself gathering up plates, containers, a blanket and binoculars, then went to the canteen to rustle up some food. She chose some fresh berries, a fragrant pasty and some cut raw veggies. That would fill her up nicely, as well as satisfy her pocket pals, the Tropical Tarsier and Razan Minirrell she got from a jungle adventurer who occasionally had a drink or two (or three...) at Remy's.

Once she had her friends safely tucked into their pockets, she set out across the fields for the Stream. There was a nice spot on the banks where the trees overhung the water and the fields were just beyond, so she could indulge her birdwatching hobby on species from all the different habitats while chowing down on lunch. She spent an hour or more in happy observation of the local flora and fauna as the picnic dwindled.

Once she finished lunch, she folded the blanket and stowed it in the now-empty basket, then returned her companions to their respective pockets. As she was turning to hike back to the Keep, something caught her eye. There were always various eggs floating by, because that was the Stream's purpose, but these were different. They were lovely colors, constantly shifting and swirling. She picked up several and nestled them gently into her basket before heading back to her quarters.

As she entered the Keep, other magi gathered around, exclaiming at the fantastic eggs and wondering what might hatch from them. They rushed to the Stream to get some of their own. Every hallway was abuzz about the marvelous eggs.

Amardella ate some dinner and went back to her quarters. She was excited about the eggs, but she'd had a very tiring day and decided that it was best to rest tonight and tackle the mystery in the morning.

The next day she woke bright and early and rested. She rushed over to start figuring out what to do to care for the lovely eggs properly. Much to her surprise, the eggshells were all broken like they had hatched, but all that was in the basket was candy! Even the eggshells were made of sugar! She rushed to breakfast with her basket and found that everyone else had the same result. The candies were all different, but they were always the favorite kinds of each magi. Almost everyone had at least one egg full of chocolates, but some held jelly beans and some licorice allsorts. Some contained caramels and some marshmallows. It was more amazing than any creature would have been.

Since it was the height of the Spring festivities, the magi chalked it up to the magic of Spring changing some Stream eggs into Spring eggs and the event became a yearly tradition, with friends exchanging colored sugar eggs filled with candies every Spring festival.