When we first brought Echovern home from the Echo River, I never imagined our sanctuary would end up filled with tiny hatchlings running across the floors and mimicking everyone they heard. For weeks the underground base echoed with squeaky croaks, splashing water, and Aura Beak getting bullied by babies half his size.

But today was adoption day.

Since we’ve been hiding from the Council of Elders, we couldn’t use the Cross Sigils Outpost anymore. That place has been abandoned for a long while now, and honestly… returning there would’ve been too dangerous for everyone involved. So instead, we opened the hidden sanctuary itself to trusted caretakers from across Nibiru.

I was nervous at first.

The sanctuary is our home.

Our safe place.

Letting strangers inside while the Council hunts us felt risky, but the moment the guests arrived and the hatchlings waddled over to greet them, all that fear started fading away.

Each baby found someone.

Ripple bonded with a young boy almost instantly and followed him everywhere.

Mossfin curled up beside an older couple from Verdent Stock like he had known them forever.

One of the little troublemakers kept copying Luna’s voice and got named Grumble because of it which honestly fit perfectly.

Watching Echovern interact with her babies before they left nearly broke me. Every hatchling returned to her one last time before going with their new families, and she gently touched her snout against theirs like she was saying goodbye in her own way.

I think she understood.

That we weren’t taking them away from her.

We were giving them a future.

Afterward we held a huge Verdent Stock picnic inside the sanctuary beside the aquatic pond. Lantern Glyphs floated overhead while everyone shared food, stories, and laughed at the babies causing chaos. At one point Ripple fell directly into a bowl of fruit and copied a scream so perfectly that half the sanctuary panicked.

Even with the Council of Elders still out there somewhere… tonight felt peaceful.

For the first time in a long time, the sanctuary didn’t feel like a bunker or a hiding spot.

It felt like a home filled with life.

And as I watched the new caretakers leave with their adopted Echoverns safely in their arms, I realized something.

Maybe protecting Glyphs isn’t just about catching them.

Maybe it’s about making sure they’re loved long after they leave your care.