#alawys

And will you tell us about the eggkeeper? That kinda sounds like dragonguard...

Basket End is a place! It's the last dwelling on Weaver's Way. Look for the big silver-swirly arbor with the blue roses on it, in the front garden. I made it special, long time back. It seemed only fair to brighten their garden with such a lovely piece of intricate metalwork in exchange for the finery they made for Runaan and me for our wedding. Blue rose petals are part of the color dying process they use, so my arbor is basically a display rack! A very swirly display rack.

You want to know of Alawys, the Silvergrove's eggkeeper? The eggs they keep are usually quite a bit smaller than any dragon's egg I know of, but every now and again, someone brings them a much bigger one, and they always know what to do with it.

See, the duty of the eggkeeper, or the Keeper of the Fallen, as their formal title goes, is to tend to eggs which have fallen or wandered from their nests. Alawys wanders the forest after wind storms, looking for eggs whose nests were blown down. But anytime elves are out and about and come across a lost egg with no one searching for it, they'll carefully tote it back to the village and hurry it to the eggkeeper. And Alawys always knows what each egg needs to stay safe and healthy.

Sometimes, they even know where the egg's parents are! Those are the swiftest and happiest of endings. But often, there's been some kind of tragedy, and the egg needs help to survive. Alawys makes sure the egg has a healthy environment to grow in, whether that's warmth, or darkness, or soil, or the underside of a magic flower petal. If they can, they'll escort the egg back to a safe environment outside the village.

But some eggs need incredibly specific conditions, and if no parents and no such spots can be located, then it's up to Alawys to recreate those conditions inside their home. It's not built much different from other Moonshadow homes, but we all call it the Eggshell, because Alawys always saves a little fragment from the eggs that hatch successfully, and they press it into the outer wall of their house. Over the decades, it's become a beautiful jewel of rainbow hues and textures, a testament to hundreds of lives saved and celebrated.

Some of Alawys's fosterlings scamper off as soon as they can walk, crawl, fly, or roll away, but many return whenever they're nearby, just to see how their elf parent is doing. They'll bring them little gifts sometimes, too! So if you're ever in the Silvergrove and you see a small flock of birds swirling around a soft, green-eyed elf with three ponytails braided with freshly beak-picked flowers, that's Alawys. Be sure to greet their fosterlings when you say good day! Alawys always likes that.