“Next Potential, please!”
A young man moves the curtain from in front of Julia’s desk and takes a tentative step inside. His green eyes are both hopeful and strangely defeated as he clears his throat, rolling the papers in his hands into a tube.
“Th-this is the right booth, right?” he stutters. Julia nods gently and motions him inside, pushing a stack of paperwork out of her way.
“Indeed, do you have your ID and Questionnaire ready?” she asks, motioning to the ugly red chair in front of her desk.
The young man quickly comes in and hands her some papers, sitting down in the chair in front of the desk. He awkwardly folds his legs around him, making him look a little like a folded origami frog. His knees almost reached his chin, and she couldn’t help but suppress a laugh.
Instead Julia smiles at him, then looks down at the papers. She looks over his hardly legible handwriting and pulls out a fresh copy of the Questionnaire. “Our computer won’t be able to read some of these answers, I’m afraid your pen ran a bit. Do you mind if I re-ask you some of these... David?”
“S-sure”. David says nervously, wringing his shirt in his hands.
“Perfect!” She quickly rewrote his answers onto the fresh sheet, asking questions whenever she came to one she couldn’t easily read. “
So, you’re living in a small woven wood hut. Would you be willing to move into fireproof housing if your Potential is a fire-dragon, at least temporarily while you both learn how to control your magic?”
“Yes, that would be fine. I would prefer to move, actually, but no stone houses are available in my area.” He shifted, looking a little uncomfortable in the too small chair.
“Hmm.. That may be a bit of a problem, but I’m sure we could figure something out even if you have to temporarily leave your area. What about your schedule? Could you completely switch to a nocturnal schedule if your dragon needs it?” She held the pen up, waiting for an answer.
“I’m sure I could, but that question wasn’t on the Questionnaire?”
“No, just curious. So far your answers seem to be pointing towards one of the nocturnal species, so I want to be sure.”
“C-can I ask a question?” He blurted out, then stubbornly met her eyes as he slowly went red in the face. “Why do we do this? Aren’t we destined to find our dragon without help? I shouldn’t have to pay fees for finding them!”
“You’re right, you and your dragon are destined to meet, but not everyone does. That’s why these questionnaires are so important.” She pushed back in her chair and went to the filing cabinet in the corner. “Without them, we couldn’t quantify your data and tell you the most likely place your dragon is. Yes, we have dragon eggs from all over the place, but that doesn’t mean that other places aren’t more likely to have more of the species your questionnaire points to.”
Julia pulled out one of the forms and sat back down at the desk. “Plus, we are a small, back woods Hatchery, so we don’t have as many eggs as bigger Hatcheries.” Julia filled out the form in front of her, looking at his Questionnaire and other papers. “And without the fees, we couldn’t upkeep the Hatchery, and most of the eggs would end up cracked and dying. We no longer have a large population of wild dragons to keep them, since they are endangered in this area. Plus, how would you like it if someone came into your home and took your baby? Even if your baby turned out happy in the end?”
He looked down at his hands, turning an even brighter shade of red. “O-Oh.”
She smiled gently at him, tapping her pen on the desk. “It can be hard to understand, I know. But trust me, this system was made for a reason.” She put all the forms on a clipboard and got up. “Now, right this way, please.”
Julia pulled back the curtain from behind her and walked purposely forward, tugging her gloves further up her hand. She motioned him into a large room, which held a few dozen eggs and a number of people wandering around. Each egg was on cushion designed to keep them warm on a long shelf, protected by individual glass coverings that easily swing open. She gently touched one of the white columns supporting the roof, motioning David forward.
“Wow,” David said. “For a small Hatchery, you guys have some nice stuff.”
“We just upgraded this spring, actually. I finally convinced them that we needed to only keep the eggs warm, not the whole room, so we no longer heat the room to a cozy 125 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, if we filled out your Questionnaire correctly, I believe we start over here...” she trailed off, moving forward.
She led David around towards the back row, then stepped aside so he could pass in front of her.
“Julia! Mike! You can take a lunch break after your current Potentials!” the Matron shouted across the room.
Julia waved her hand at her and watched as David began closely looking at the egg in front of him. “This one is pretty,” he said, almost as an aside, touching the glass. It was a brilliant blue with purple flecks and a green undertone, about the size of his head.
“Yes, but I don’t think that one is Calling you, is it?”
“No,” he sighed, turning to the one behind him. This one was a deep grey, with fiery red underneath the scales on the outside. This one was much smaller, around the size of a fist. Julia smirked slightly as she saw his frame go ridged.
“Would you like to Attempt this egg?” she asked, already opening the glass.
“No, not really. I don’t want a smaller sized...” but it was too late, she already opened the glass and stepped back, leaving it open for him. He reacted immediately, leaning forward gently cradling the egg. A dim light started glowing from his hand and spread to the egg, and David jumped back, pulling his hand to his chest.
“No! I’m supposed to have a bigger dragon! Not a tiny, worthless, pathetic worm!”
Julia smacked his arm with her clipboard and called the Matron over with a button on the side of the row. “All dragons are amazing, and size doesn’t determine their magical power. You’ll be fine.”
She left him there as the Matron took over with instructions on how to carry the egg to the Incubator, and sat down next to Mark in the back room. Unfortunately she didn’t bring lunch, but the Matron always made sure the back room was stocked with snacks and freebies from the stores near the Hatchery. She turned to ask Mark what he had for lunch, when the smell hit her.
Instantly, her face soured as she looked at the abomination he had in his bowl. “That stinks!”
He shrugged, shoveling something that looked and smelled suspiciously like swamp water into his mouth. “Tastes fine to me. What’s up with the blue shrimp?” he asked, nodding to the monitor in front of them.
Julia snorted as she grabbed one of the freebie bags of chips from the table, looking at the label from Ray’s Groceries. “Small egg, big personality.”
He nodded, then guffawed as the Matron hit him again. “Idiot. Those type never reach their full potential. It’s kind of sad how they hold themselves and their dragons back.”
Julia thoughtfully ate a couple chips as they watched David being scolded. Several other volunteers were moving with their Potentials through the eggs, no one else seeming to find their calling. Mark slurped up the last of his “soup” and stood, stretching. “Urg, sitting at that desk sucks!”
“Ha, I got at least another 15 minutes.” She said, then paused, looking at the monitor.
“Wait,” Julia said, getting up and moving closer to the monitor. “What’s that guy doing here?” she pointed to a man over by the bigger eggs.
“Dunno, probably looking for his Potential, like everyone else here?” He went to mess with her hair, but she ducked down and got closer to the screen.
“His Bonded light is so bright I can practically *see* it through the screen! I’m positive he’s already found his dragon.”
“HA!” he laughed, poking her in the head instead. “I knew I would figure out how you did it! You can see people’s Bond lights!”
Julia turned and looked at him, raising her eyebrow. “Then I guess everyone is Bonded and we can all go home, hmm?”
Mark’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, “No, but...”
“You’re the one that taught me that expression when I first started working here.” Julia laughed, turning back to the screen. “Something just seems fishy about him. He holds himself like he’s missing a weight on his shoulder, where a dragon would usually sit. See? He’s overcompensating over to the left? Not much, but just enough to be noticeable.”
Mark bent down next to her and looked at him. “You know, we are due for an Imperial Test soon, they could have come early. Nice catch!”
Julia shook her head, but stayed silent and instead walked back to her bag of chips. “Maaaybe. But you should mention it to the Matron, since I’ll be leaving tomorrow and won’t have to deal with the fallout. He is with Anne.”
“Ooh,” Mark said, stealing one of her chips. “Eloping with your boyfriend?”
“No, off to greener pastures. I’ve been volunteering here for a long time. The Matron already gave me letters of recommendation and Proof of Test completion forms, but we were short today. So I stayed another day.”
“You’ve only been here a year, that’s not a long time. That’s twelve volunteering jobs. You could stand for a couple more. Plus, I’d miss you.”
“You also already have your dragon. I’m still looking. And, I’m not that miss-able.” She smiled up at him, but his brows were furrowed and he seemed to be looking past her.
“You know,” he started, paused, and started again, sitting down on the table. “You really don’t have to leave. Not permanently. You could stay here. Come back here. Everyone likes you. You don’t have to wander anymore.”
Julia shook her head and pulled out another chip to examine it closely. “I was never really one to put down roots. I’m a drifter. Maybe that will change when I find my dragon, I won’t endanger it if it’s some form of regional dragon, but I’ve never really wanted to settle down. There’s just too much to see, too much to do. Too many dragons to match,” she smirked slightly, then put the chip into her mouth, deliberately crunching it as loud as possible.
Mark just sighed. “If you’re sure. You don’t have to, but I’ll respect your decision.” He jumped up and stretched. “Just don’t leave me with clean up duty tonight.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, babe.” She waved as he headed back to work, turning her attention back to the monitor and emptying the rest of the chip crumbles into her mouth.
When he appeared on the monitor, she got up and threw away the bag as she moved to the fridge, opening it and taking her half-empty water out from earlier. The Monarch’s Thumble was laying on it’s bed in there, and blearily opened it’s eye at her. It’s colors changed from a muted green to a deeper turquoise as it woke up.
“Oh, hello. Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb your nap. Just grabbing my water. Go ahead and go back to sleep.”
The dragon curled around it’s favorite marble, laying it’s head back on it’s tail to protect it. It’s colors started fading almost immediately, and Julia closed the door to turn off the light.
She looked around the slightly disorganized chaos, gently running her hand down the old, leaky fridge. “I’m going to miss this place, more than any other Hatchery I’ve worked at.” She quietly walked around the counter, reorganizing things and laughing softly to herself. It would be back to it’s old mess next month, but she wouldn’t be here to clean it.
She shook herself gently. “Okay, back to work.”
She ran her hands along the wall as she walked, gently trailing them across the rough stone, before crossing the room and lifting the drab green curtains that blocked out the outside world. Sitting down and shuffling some papers while picking up her pen, she called out to the next in line.
A little girl peeked around the curtain and then looked back where Julia couldn’t see.
“It’s alright, you can come in. First time here?”
The little girl stepped in shyly and nodded. “I had to come for a school assignment, but I’m scared. What if I don’t find my dragon?”
Julia smiled and motioned her closer. “That’s okay, I still don’t have my dragon. If you don’t find them here, that means you get to go on a great adventure to find them. Now, if you hand me your papers and sit down, we’ll see if your Destined is here or not.”
The little girl pushed her glasses up and walked forward, thrusting the papers at Julia and sitting down quickly. Julia looked over the forms and tapped her pen against one of the answers.
“Okay, just a few clarifications then we can get you out there... Bianca” She said, grabbing the white out.
“It says you don’t like warmth. Is that hot conditions or even warm conditions?”
“Neither. I like it around 50 degrees F.”
“Okay, but you like the day time right? And snow?”
“Snow is okay, but if I didn’t like day time I’d need new friends, so I like the day because of my friends”
“Fair enough. Okay, let’s get you out to go look at these eggs. If you would follow me...” Julia got up and held up the back curtain for Bianca. She stepped through, gasping.
“Wow! There’s so many eggs here!” She covered her mouth and went red, seemingly embarrassed by her outburst.
Julia laughed. “Yep, and each one has a story. Each one has a person, who is looking for them. My job is to match people and their dragons, so that no one is ever alone.”
She motioned to Bianca and moved up to touch the white column and look over the room. “Although this is a smaller Hatchery, there are tons of eggs at other locations. Which is why you can’t be afraid. If your dragon isn’t here, then you’ll just have to continue your journey.”
Bianca nodded, still looking a little awestruck. Julia gently squeezed her shoulder to bring her back to Earth, then lead her towards most of the bigger eggs. She walked to the very back corner and turned right.
“Let’s start here. You want to look?” Bianca nodded, moving forward and looking at a bright red egg. She pressed against the glass slightly, as if trying to get closer.
“That one’s a Greathide. Isn’t it pretty? They have really cool, thick hides which allow them to live in just about any environment, but they really do well in colder environments.”
“Wow! What about this one?”
“That one is a Long Finned Fleahi. I’m afraid they are warmer dragons. They are big, skinny, and kind of vicious. Really cool though. This one is greener than any I’ve seen in a moment...”
“Oh, but I don’t like the heat. Maybe this one?”
Julia smiled, bending down and looking with her. “Yeah, this one is really cool, and likes the cold. I think you’d be perfect together. Want to Attempt this one?”
“I-I don’t know. I’m kind of scared.”
“It’s okay to be scared, but don’t let it stop you,” Julia said, opening the glass. “You don’t know what you may miss if you do.”
Bianca leaned in almost unconsciously, gently placing her hand on the egg. A brilliant light flared around the egg and her hand, then disappeared suddenly. A heat wave wafted out of the glass, hitting Julia and seeming to cling to her like a fever.
“Woah, what was that?” Bianca asked, moving forward protectively but taking her hand out and shaking it like it was burned.
“I’m not exactly sure, but I’m new here." Julia looked around, spotting the Matron too far away from her desk to hear the bell from the button. “Let me go get the Matron. Do not pick it up, you don’t want to crack it.” Julia waited until Bianca nodded, then quickly walked over to the Matron.
She gently pulled her sleeve, turning her attention from Mark while trying to not seem panicked.
“We may have a problem, I don’t know. I’ve never seen this happen before,” she whispered, tugging on the Matron’s sleeve again.
The Matron waved Mark off and fell into step beside her. “What happened? Where is your Potential?”
“I had to leave her with the egg. Don’t worry, she wont do anything to possibly damage it." She quickly continued before the Matron could lecture her about proper protocol. “Instead of a slight light acknowledging they are Bonded, the whole egg lit up, as did her hand. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it makes me uneasy, somehow. There was a heat wave too. It was warm, almost sickly feeling. It just struck me as wrong.”
The Matron frowned, but didn’t say anything until they made it back to Bianca.
“Child, what happened here?”
“I found my dragon! It was really cool! We both lit up, the egg and my hand! It hurt my eyes, but it only lasted a moment. And it got hot, but hopefully it still likes the cold. I wish it was still shining. I want to show everyone,” she frowned, then looked up from where she had been staring at egg. “Oh, you’re the Matron. You’re supposed to help me Bond and take it to the incubator, right?”
The Matron nodded, meeting Julia’s eyes. “Go pull the footage for me, will you? I”m going to help this young lady.”
Julia nodded, heading back to the break room. Josh and Anne were sitting at the table, lounging until it was time to pack up and snacking on leftover chips and stale bread.
“Did you guys see what happened with my Potential?”
“Yeah, you mean the light? Was that her Bond light? She must be really powerful!” Josh said as he slathered mustard on a piece of bread.
“I don’t know... I don’t think it is. Something is giving me a bad feeling.” She walked over to the monitor and stopped the recording, plopping a new cd in before writing the date on the one that came out.
“You’re always over-exaggerating. We all know the best magicians have the brightest Bonds.”
“That’s not true, nor is size the indication of magical power. Xavier the Great was an amazing magician and was super powerful, but his Matron debated whether he was bonded to his Thumble for a long time.”
“Exception, not rule.” Anne said, getting up and throwing away her napkin. “I’ll be so glad when you’re gone. You can’t even find your own dragon, and you’ve never matched anyone, and I bet this one is a false positive. You’re a joke of a volunteer.”
Julia shrugged, tucking the cd into a pouch and writing a note of the rough time the incident happened. “Maybe so, but my stats aren’t your problem. Besides, we all know Mark is a better match maker than you are, going by stats.’
“No, mine are better than his. I don’t even need to check his.”
“Look again hon, I think you’ll find different.” Julia turned and winked at her, walking out with the cd before Anne had a chance to respond.
Grinning over her small victory, Julia met the Matron on her way back from the incubator. “Here’s the cd. And talk to Anne and Josh, they both saw the light.”
The Matron rubbed her temples. “That’s going to be a headache. And you’re not going to be here long, are you? That was your last Potential?”
“Yeah, I’m going to start sweeping and cleaning out my area so I don’t run into Anne again.”
The Matron tisked. “You two should be getting along by now. You’ve been at it forever.”
“Since I first got here a year ago,” Julia chuckled. “I don’t think she liked me from day one.” She grabbed a broom from the supply closet.
“Anne and Josh think it may be her bonded light, but it was like it emanated from the egg, not her hand like normal. Something doesn’t feel right about it.”
The Matron nodded. “Indeed. Their bond isn’t particularly strong, nor does what you’re saying seem right. I will keep a close eye on them for sure. Now go clean,” she said, gently pushing Julia towards her desk.
Cleaning up her area didn’t take long, although she was almost caught hiding Mark’s forms back in his office. Anne came out of her curtains and narrowed her eyes at Julia, but she ignored her and went back to cleaning and Anne didn’t press.
And Mark just needed a little help buffing up his numbers anyway.
In the end, Julia didn’t even have a box of items to take with her. She had a small black plastic dragon egg from when she was a child she stuffed in her jacket pocket, a notebook, and a collection of novelty pens she never used that was bundled with a rubber band.
She put these things by her purse in the cubby, then went to help clean up the main hall. Everyone else put the eggs in the heated vault where the Matron lived and took care of the eggs while Julia mopped the floor and shined the glass containers. Many of them had face and hand prints, and one looked like someone tried to clean it them self, but instead smeared it.
“Hey Julia, what’s this?” Mark called across the room, over in the back right corner. Julia dropped the rag into the bucket and started walking over.
“Pretty sure its an egg, Mark.” She stopped joking when she saw his face and hurried over to him. “What’s wrong?”
“No, no, no. Look, it’s green. Like, this was supposed to be a black egg with a red undertone and now its an ugly green.”
Julia bent down and peered in to the glass. “You’re right, it looks almost fuzzy? I’d get the Matron in here stat, this doesn't look good. I’m not an expert on egg diseases, but anything sudden onset is usually bad.”
Mark took off to get the Matron while Julia looked closer without actually picking up the egg. The green had almost taken over, except for a small spot right at the bottom of the egg. It was an ugly brown-green and looked like a dying moss on a tree trunk. Looking at the other eggs next to it, they were also covered, although that growth was slower and only a light dusting seemed on them.
“This doesn’t sound good.” the Matron said, coming up behind Julia.
“It doesn’t look good, it’s spread. See?”
The Matron cursed as they looked at the eggs. Several of the ones still on display had the dusting, while others right beside the egg didn’t seem touched at all. “This is some form of outbreak. I’ll get in touch with other Matrons and see if they know anything. These poor things wont be able to leave these display cases until we can see how contagious it is.”
The Matron sighed, rubbing her temple again. “Today has been a day, hasn’t it? Finish up cleaning the cases not infected, then you may leave early today. You have a big day ahead of you. Good luck on your journey, child.”
Julia hugged the Matron. “And pleasant days here, Matron. Hopefully this is as simple as a new form of white spot and you just need to dip them in a salt bath for a few minutes.”
