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Chapter Text

CHAPTER ONE: UNFAITHFUL

"When can I go take an egg?" Orni asked her father and mother. "I wanna go take an egg from a nest today. Can you go help me?"

"No, Orni, you're not ready yet. They'd catch and kill you," her mother replied.

"When will I be ready?" Ori asked.

"Not for some time, I mean a long time, several cold times," her father replied.

"Can you at least get me an egg to eat? Get me two if you can," Orni said.

"I will try."

Orni's father left while his wife and kids stayed at home. It was already dinner time and past sunset. Thus, their mother already tired and not fully alert, thus missing Orni as she snuck off to watch her father. Surely it couldn't hurt to watch how to take eggs from a nest and not get caught. It might even be helpful.

She soon found her father. He stealthily approached a nest, where the parents were nearby, but preoccupied grazing on leaves from a tree. The Threehorns wouldn't notice him if he was careful. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven eggs were grabbed, one by one, until her father had as many as he could carry. Orni was impressed, amazed that someone could take over half a dozen eggs with the parents so near, and make a clean getaway. She continued to follow her father, but was surprised when, instead of heading back toward their home, he went a different way. Orni wondered if he was going to steal more eggs, though she wondered how he could with both his hands so full already.

Her father didn't approach another next, however, but soon, after travelling for over 15 minutes, came to a female Egg Stealer, who seemed to have been waiting for him. She didn't appear startled upon his arrival and actually seemed happy.

Orni gasped as her father gave this female one of the eggs he had taken. Those were supposed to be for her and her family. Orni felt uneasy about all of this. Orni didn't know why her father was with this other female. Perhaps she was some friend of his. But something felt wrong about all of this all the same, though she didn't know what. She did, however, realize that, being gone so long, her mother might wake up and find her missing. For the moment, dismissing the issue of her father's odd detour, she quickly ran off home. Luckily, her family was still asleep when she got back and only just woke up as she arrived. "Orni, where were you?" her mother asked, yawning and stretching.

"I, er, needed to pee." she lied quickly.

"Ok. Next time wake me before you leave."

"Ok."

Despite her father only being about 20 minutes away, it was nearly an hour and a half after she had left her father that he got back. "I got an egg for each of us." he said, handing out an egg to each of his three children and one to his wife, keeping the fifth for himself.

"You were gone a while. Had trouble?" his wife asked.

"Yes, Threehorn chased me and I had to run for it. Luckily, I didn't drop any of the eggs." he said.

Orni wondered why her father was lying. The Threehorns hadn't noticed him at all and he had gotten seven eggs yet only had brought back five.

"I bet Threehorns could never catch you, because my daddy is the greatest runner in the world!" one of Orni's siblings said.

"That's why they didn't catch me," he laughed, patting his son on the head.

"Why did you stop to give an egg to this one woman?" Orni asked.

Her father turned pale. "What are you talikng about?"

"I saw you get seven eggs and you stopped and ate one with this one woman. I then left and came bakc home but you must have stayed there for a while."

"Orni, I thought you said you just left to go pee?" her mother asked. It was clear that she was alarmed by what her daughter was suggesting.

"I, er, wanted to watch dad catch eggs. He got seven of them and then went to this one woman and then they each ate an egg."

"She's making stuff up! I did no such thing! Don't tell lies! How dare you make up such a lie?! You are so grounded!" he snapped at his daughter.

"Why am I being grounded?" Orni asked. "You're the one telling lies. The Threehorns never saw you and you got the eggs pretty quickly."

SMACK! Her father hit her right in the face. "That'll teach you to tell lies about me like that! No supper for you!" he snapped, taking the egg, which she had been about to eat, away from his daughter. "Bed, now!"

However, his wife rounded on him. "Why would Orni make something like that up, Ornimimo? She's too young to think of things like that." she snapped.

"Well, ok, I did give it to an old friend of mine. Lost her mate recently and suffering on her own. I thought she could use an egg. And as for eating an extra one, why not, I'm the one who got the food tonight," he said defensively.

"According to Orni's story, you would have been at her place for quite a while after Orni got back. That's quite a long time for just giving her an egg."

"Ok, so we chatted some." he said, shaking with nervousness.

"Kids, leave the room while your father and I have a nice long chat." she said to her children. Orni and her brother and sister left the cave they were in and headed to another section. They, of course, could hear arguing, though they were too young to know what it meant. They were certainly alarmed when it turned to actual fighting with claws. Finally, Ornimimo had had enough. "If you won't trust me, then I'll leave!" he snapped.

"Fine, get your sorry tush out of here! And leave the kids with me! I'm sure you have more of your own anyway, now out before I kill you and feed your carcass to Sharpteeth," she snapped.

"Fine, Mimusa, have it your way. Try and support the kids all by yourself. You'll come crawling back to me!" he snapped.

"The Bright Circle will freeze over first!" she snapped, literally shoving him out of their cave. it was dark now and he ran off into the night, never to be seen by his wife or kids again.

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CHAPTER TWO: ABANDONED

Despite Ornimimo having lived a lie for years, as Mimusa soon discovered, he ended up being right about one thing: Mimusa struggled to raise the kids on her own. Orni suggested that she could help her mother take eggs.

"I'm afraid it's too dangerous dear," her mother said.

"I saw how daddy did it. I can..." Orni began.

"Don't EVER mention your father again!" her mother snapped.

As time went on, things grew worse. They had enough food to live, but they were becoming malnourished. Though they ate other foods, eggs had been such a part of their diet, that Mimusa had devoted most of her food gathering efforts toward egg stealing. Also, her mate's betrayal had caused her to start to come unhinged mentally. This was making her less adept at stealing eggs and there were a few times a week that she had been unable to take anything, narrowly avoiding being killed by angry parents. Of course, they could have gotten other food, and they did what they could to get it, but Mimusa had been good at taking eggs and was too proud to cut them out of her diet. Unable to get enough food where they were currently at, her mother moved them to another area, but they had problems getting food there as well.

"This is all Orni's fault! If she hadn't caused a fight between our parents, then we wouldn't be in this mess now!" Orni's brother snapped at her one day.

"Well, it's not my fault!' her sister snapped. "Why did you have to sneak out anyway? And you still don't know enough to get us some eggs! Your whole little adventure was a big waste of time that only ruined our lives!"

"I do so! Mom just won't let me prove it."

"Why don't you go get one yourself and prove it?" her other brother snapped.

"Fine, I will! And when I come back with the eggs, I'll stick them up your tush and make you lay them!"

Orni's mother was off getting eggs. She thought that perhaps she should watch her mother first before attempting it on her own. After she saw her mother do it, perhaps this time she'd know enough to do it herself.

She, set out, eager to prove her brother wrong. However, she quickly realized that she didn't know where her mother was. She guessed that it was at a nearby nest but she didn't know which one. She went to one that had three-toed footprints. Her mother wasn't there, but neither was a dinosaur parent. There were half a dozen eggs there and the nest seemed to be unguarded.

Seeing nobody around, Orni slowly moved toward the nest. She was getting closer and closer. She still saw nobody around, but feared that they could be near and she not see them. Her panic got the better of her and she bolted right to the nest. She seized three of them, which was as much as she could carry, as the eggs were pretty big, for her anyway. As she began to run, however, the mother, who was returning to the nest, spotted her. And unfortunately for her, the mother happened to be a very angry Deinonychus.

Orni ran for it. The Fast Biter matched her speed. Orni stumbled on a rock, splattering the egg and breaking it open. She quickly got back up and ran for it, still carrying the other two eggs. She would have been killed, had not the mother paused for a few moments to stare in horror at her broken egg before angrily resuming the chase. As it was, Orni was able to get into a small cavern that was far too narrow for the Fast Biter mother to push her way through, not that she didn't try. As the mother repeatedly rammed the opening, rocks and dirt began to fall inside, scaring Orni. The young Fast Hand (as her type of Egg Stealer was called) began to look for a way out that wasn't the way she came in. Luckily, she found a way out, though it was narrower than the way she had come in and she barely, just barely, squeezed through. She arrived back her nest, tired, but triumphant.

All three of them gasped. "You aren't going to actually stick those up my tush, are you?"

Her other siblings held him and lifted his tail. Orni was actually about to do it when their mother walked in.

The mother, who was carrying two eggs herself, gasped in shock that Orni was carrying two eggs as well. She almost dropped her own eggs. "Where did you get those?* she demanded.

"I stole them from a nest," Orni replied proudly.

"But do you have any idea what laid those eggs?" Her mother asked, not sounding nearly as amused as her daughter. In fact, she sounded very serious and grave.

"Yes, a Fast Biter. She chased me and I accidentally dropped one of the eggs, but I still got away."

"Don't be so sure. They could have found your scent and followed you here." Orni's smile disappeared as quickly as Sam Bankman-Fried from the country after the collapse of FTX.

"Oops, I hadn't thought of her following us back here. I guess we're going to have to move again," Orni sighed.

"This means someone is going to have to stay up and keep watch incase fast biters come for revenge. I am glad you got us more food, but it just might turn out to be our last meal. Have you heard the tale of what happened to the mate and offspring of your uncle?"

"I have an aunt and uncle?" Orni gasped

"Not anymore. No one of that group survived to tell the tale. The fast biters had them flanked on all sides before they knew they were there. They never stood a chance!"

"If no one survived then where did the stories come from?" asked Orni's older brother.

"Me! That was my sister and her mate. I saw it happen from a distance."

"I guess since I messed things up, I should be the one to keep watch," Orni sighed.

"That's right dear. Also, because you were so stupid, I also think it fair that you don't get dinner tonight!" and without another word Orni's mother snatched the two eggs from her and gave them to her older brother and sister. She then gave her younger sister one and kept the other two for herself.

Orni was peeved that she was being starved and made to keep watch when all she had tried to do was help. "What if I have to pee?" she asked.

"It's dark out so nobody will see you."

"Maybe the Sharptooth won't bother to try and find us. Maybe mom was just being paranoid," Orni said to herself.

She waited hours and no Sharptooth came. She fell asleep in the middle of the night. Around morning, the mother Sharptooth, who had been searching for Orni, found their home. They would have all been killed had not Mimusa happened to have woken up. She saw the Sharptooth coming. She grabbed her kids and, though it put her in danger, she grabbed the sleeping Orni, and just in time, for the Fast Biter snapped her maw where the young Fast Hand had just been.

"Mom, what's going on?" Orni asked, alarmed that she had been in her sleep by her mother.

"Sharptooth!" was all the reply she got, and, quite frankly, it was good enough. The family kept running for hours. Finally, they were able to escape by hiding in a cave behind a waterfall. They had gotten a minute's head start over the Fast Biter after she had tripped over a fallen log and had been down enough for the family to get out of her sight.

"That was close!" Orni sighed in relief.

"You're a terrible watcher!" her brother snapped at her.

"I'm just a kid. What could I do against a Sharptooth anyway?" she asked.

"You could feed yourself to it," her older sister replied.

"But wouldn't that hurt?"
Her sister ignored her foolish question. Her older brother, however, remarked "At least then there'd be one less mouth to feed."'

"What, I got you food last night and got none myself. You ungrateful, mean, sharptooth-breathed, ugly, dirty, pathetic..."

"Ok Orni, we get the point," her sister laughed. "You're mad at him."

Things went rapidly downhill over the next several weeks. It was clear to Orni that her siblings blamed her for their parents splitting up and, also, she assumed, they were jealous of her ability to steal eggs so well at her age. Even Orni's mother seemed to be growing increasingly cold toward her. Indeed she had. Not only was she beginning to associate her problems of getting by on her own with Orni's discovery of her mate's infidelity, but she also felt that Orni was foolish to be wandering around on her own, as she had those two times, as well as blamed her for the near miss with the Fast Biter.

One day, they were traveling again, looking for a new place to live, when they encountered another Sharptooth, this one a large Ridgeback Sharptooth.

The Sharptooth was nearest to Orni, with her siblings about 10 feet in front of her. Orni's mother grabbed her younger sister, who was the slowest and most in danger. Orni begged for help, but her mother ignored her, figuring she wasn't worth possibly dying for. Orni panicked as the Sharptooth neared and obtained a burst of speed that she didn't think she was capable of. Still, her family was out of reach. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and the earth opened up, barring her way to her family. She ran into a crevice, hiding from the Sharptooth until she gave up looking for Orni.

Orni felt terribly sad and angry. Sad that she was alone and angry that her mother had left her for dead. And she was hungry too. She wandered around and found a nest of eggs. Unfortunately, it was the nest of the Sharptooth who had nearly killed her earlier that day. However, this Sharptooth was asleep. However, feeling hungry and angry at the Sharptooth for separating her from her family, Orni ran to the nest and grabbed all three of its eggs and took off with them. She ate them all, getting her revenge on the Sharptooth. Sated for food, Orni wondered what she was going to do now.

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CHAPTER THREE: ORNI ALONE

Orni had rested for the night, having cried for hours before finally falling asleep. When she woke up the next day, she was saddened to find that it had all not been a dream and that her family really had abandoned her.

When she woke up the next, she was saddened to find that it had all not been a dream and that her family really had abandoned her. She searched for her family, looking everywhere for them. At one point, she saw her own shadow and thought it was her mother. "Mom, wait up!" she yelled. She ran toward the shadow, but it seemed to be running from her. Finally, as she reached a dead end, she found that what she thought was her mother's shadow was really her own. She was truly and utterly alone. "Fine, I don't need her! I don't need any of them!" she pouted. A minute later, she shouted "I don't need any of you! I can survive all by myself! I hate all of you!"

She quickly realized how foolish she'd been to shout while out in the middle of a desert. Her outburst had attracted the attention of a pack of Sharpbeaks. "Kaw-kaw-ranh-ranh-ranh!" they all let out a hunting cry. One Sharpbeak would not have been a match for a Fast Hand, even a young one like Orni, but a whole pack could certainly rip apart and devour a child.

Orni knew that she couldn't possibly hope to get away from creatures that could fly, and fly fast, so she grabbed the only thing nearby that she could think to use as a weapon: stones. As she let fly the first stones, Orni realized that she had another talent besides taking eggs: she was a good shot. The first stone sailed right at the neck of a female Sharpbeak, striking her hard and snapping her neck. Another stone hit a Sharpbeak in the wing so hard that it broke and he fell to his death. The other ones that were close enough were also injured, but not killed. Soon, the pack realized that they had underestimated the Fast Hand and retreated, carrying off the injured members of the hunting party while leaving the two dead ones behind.

Orni felt pleased with herself at fending off the Sharpbeaks. Her brother and sisters would have believed that those Sharpbeaks would have killed her. Even she herself was still amazed that she had been able to fend off so many. She stared at the dead bodies. Her teeth were ill-equipped to tear and cut meat like this; the most they could handle were snapping shells, crawling slimies (snails), and maybe a partially developed critter in an egg. However, her cunning mind began to hatch an idea. Perhaps even if the dead Sharpbeaks couldn't be food, they could help her get some.

Orni saw some Tickly Fuzzies in the distance. One of them was a female. She didn't think that this female would be able to stomach both of these Sharpbeaks, but maybe, just maybe, this female would be a mother and take the food back to her nest. Orni knew that this type of Tickly Fuzzy laid eggs, just like dinosaurs and pterosaurs. She stood there for a moment, wondering if she should risk stealing eggs with a sleeping parent present.

Deciding that she needed some food and that now was a good time to get some, she tiptoed toward the nest, slowly inching toward it. Still, the mammal slept on. Orni slowly and quietly took each of the six eggs, one by one. When she had the last one, she slowly crept out of sight. The mother woke up soon after Orni was gone, but she'd had a head start and quickly hid inside a tree trunk, having climbed up several feet into the air. In here, she ate some of her catch, planning to keep the rest till later. Orni began to feel that, despite her young age, she might just be able to make it on her own.

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CHAPTER FOUR: FIRE!

A few days later, Orni's fortune had changed. She'd had a harder time finding eggs. She had found some eggs just now, but the mother, a Flyer, had come back as she had grabbed an egg. The creature had tried to claw out her eyes, but missed, tearing out her shoulder. Orni had fled as fast as she could, dropping the egg as she shielded her face from attack. So now, she had no food and was putting some leaves on her bleeding shoulder in hopes of making it stop bleeding.

Something began to eat the leaf she was using as a bandage. She turned around to see a Spiketail. She glared at the creature in annoyance. "You know, I was using those to stop the bleeding, you stupid pointy-back! They won't taste very good!" Orni scolded the Spiketail.

"Good, I hope you bleed to death! The world needs less Egg Stealers!" the creature retorted.

"I won't. Just go away!"

"You're right. That would be waiting too long. I'll squish you myself right now."

Orni ran for it, going as fast as she could. She quickly outdistanced the lumbering Spiketail, who shouted "And don't ever come near here again you foul creature!"

Orni soon found more leaves, which she wrapped around her bleeding shoulder. "Stupid Spiketail! I hope the next egg I find is a Spiketail egg!" she fumed. It wasn't her fault, after all, that was she born to eat eggs.

Unfortunately for her, she not only didn't find any Spiketail eggs that day, but she found none at all and, begrungingly, ate some plants, which, due to the recent drought, tasted awful.

The following night, Orni, still not having any eggs, was looking for a place for cover. It wasn't raining, though the sky had many clouds and it seemed some kind of storm was brewing. She hoped it would bring rain. Not only was she hungry, and tired of eating dry plants, but she was thirsty as well. There were only two watering holes around, and they were both guarded, and the dinosaurs near it didn't want an Egg Stealer to drink from there.

KABOOM! Thunder rumbled in the sky. KABOOM! More thunder, this time with visible flashes of lightning overhead. However, no rain came, only more thunder and lightning. "I wish it would rain!" she sighed.

KSSSSSSSHHHT! A bolt of lightning shot from a cloud, slamming into a tree and breaking off flaming shards of wood. The tree, which was old, and also dry from the drought, quickly ignited. The fire soon spread to nearby trees, creating a rapidly-spreading inferno.

"EIGGGGH!" Orni shrieked as a flaming branch narrowly avoided hitting her in the head, instead striking her shoulder, the very same one she'd bandaged the day before.

The falling branch ignited brush nearby, setting the area ablaze. Orni had rested in a forest area at the edge of the desert she had crossed. She had thought this area would show more promise than the desert, especially with the lack of rainfall. However, now, with an inferno behind her, she realized that maybe she should have tried her luck with the desert instead. Coming to this forest at this moment didn't seem a very good move on her part.

As she ran, she began to hear an ominous sound that she was sure wasn't fire. PSSSSSHHHHT! A tree exploded, sending flaming debris everywhere. It had been sap boiling that she'd been hearing. The sap had boiled to the point that it burst the tree apart. As she picked up speed, nearly falling over a smoking log that lay her in path, more trees exploded behind her. She had to get out of here or she'd be fried to a crisp!

She decided to run toward the desert. There was nothing there to burn, after all. As Orni ran, several dinosaurs of all types ran by her: Flatteeth, Sharpteeth, including a large Strongbiter, a few Bothteeth, and even some other Egg Stealers. None of them really paid her any heed, as they were preoccupied with escaping from the raging inferno.

As she ran, she tripped. This allowed the fire to get very close to her. It had now cut off the path she had planned to go to get to the desert. So she ran the only way she could. This way, she soon found, led to a dead end, overlooking a cliff. However, as the fire neared, she figured that she might as well fall to her death as be burnt alive and so leaped over the edge, shutting her eyes as she jumped. Mercifully for her, she landed, not on sharp rocks, nor even hard earth, but into water, having been lucky enough to land in a lake below. She opened her eyes, realizing she had not died.

It hurt when she hit the water, her ankle being sprained. However, despite not knowing how to swim, she desperately paddled her arms, trying to stay afloat. She went under several times and her head began to feel light from lack of air. Finally, starting to sink, she grabbed onto something floating in the water. It was a tree branch, still hot to the touch from burning above, but having cooled in the water, it was no longer too hot to touch. However, that didn't mean it didn't hurt, as it soon scalded her hands. Still, she was able to use this large branch, almost half her size, to pull her up to the surface. She was now close to shore and kicking her legs, though her ankle was sprained , and swung her arms forward in a stroke, making it to shore, where she collapsed.. Thankfully the fire didn't come this way, but she didn't know that, deciding to head out, even with a sprained ankle, until, after twenty minutes, she felt she could go no further. She rested in a cave beside a waterfall, hoping it would be a deterrent to the fire if it came that way. She helped relocate her ankle by pressing it against a rock, though it still hurt terribly. With her hands blistered, her shoulder cut and burned, her ankle sore, and her body exhausted, Orni quickly fell asleep.