Chapter 14: School

~~ Delta - Jan/03 - (Earth - July/2095) ~~

Off to school, we went.

We were surprised to find that we were housed in what was known as the Wizards Dorm. Lee had arranged for Snorre, Yves and Janta to have the room next to ours so we could share babysitting duties. The sitting areas had an adjoining door, and I don’t think it was closed the whole week we were there.

We had set up an adapted baby’s playpen on our side that also had their hotbed, and that’s where they were put when we were busy. They were fine with this, and I guessed baby dragonets were used to their carer being absent for periods of time when out hunting.

Plus, they had each other, and we had found some suitable toys to keep them entertained. We had soon learnt not to give the anything covered in fur or with stuffing as it got ripped to shreds in minutes. Then we had to clean up the mess.

Someone gave them a leather-covered mechanical mouse that bumped around inside of the pen. They loved chasing it and pouncing on it, just like the kittens that they represented. We all made sure to spend time with them before and after classes.

We’d cart them around with us, as they seemed to like our company and it helped strengthen our paternal bonds with them. I never got the impression that the babies were unhappy with this new family arrangement. They were always happy to see us and to be with us and were just as glad to spend time with each other as well.

It was an exhausting week for James and me. Lee put us through our paces, and we both realised we had a lot to learn and yet we were amazed by what we had already learnt. Snorre and Yves had taught us a hell of a lot more than we had both realised.

We were more than happy to keep them as part-time teachers when they came to the site with us in the future. The classes with Justin and Kim were frustrating and awe-inspiring, particularly to me.

I determined that I still had a few old prejudices to let go of, concerning magicians and wizards. The first time I managed to rearrange a rock into its core elements was mind-blowing. I think I sat there looking at the little piles for ten minutes, in disbelief that I had actually done this.

I shivered at the thought of what the wrong sort of person who learned this skill could do with it. Kim came and sat beside me, and I felt a calming force being directed at me.

“Yes, it is a very potent spell and could be used to create great destruction. But it can also be used to create such beauty.”

She picked up several pieces of coal and a whitish rock and added them to my piles. She then placed her hand over them, and it glowed. She lifted the hand and then removed it. I was staring at a 10cm high replicate of Ash. It was breathtakingly, beautiful and very detailed.

I looked at Kim in awe. She smiled at me, “A memento to remind you of the beauty of creation, that I believe you are capable of achieving.” She gently touched my growing tummy and smiled a beautiful smile at me.

“Now, they are the most magnificent creations we women can make. Two fine, strong people they will be. With you and James as their parents, they will know of love and sacrifice and the importance of family.”   

She got up and left me. Ash crawled out of her pouch and came to investigate the little statue. She had wanted to go with me this morning, and I had given in. I was amused as she stalked around the statue and sniffed at it. She nudged it several times and made little noises at it.

I believe she came to the conclusion it was harmless. She looked at me and squawked. She was hungry, and it was lunchtime. I had no idea how she communicated with me, but she most certainly did.

I agreed with her, and she crawled back into the pouch and turned around then peered out at me. I had to laugh. She was a smart cookie, my little dragonet. I dropped the strap over my head and one arm and then settled the pouch in front for travel.

I told Ash that we would be meeting some of her relatives today and this seemed to intrigue her. I informed her that Bellna, Drako’s big sister, was coming to meet them. Ash hadn’t met Drako yet.

Drako had been visiting the relies the first couple of days of our training, so I was interested in how our dragonets would react to Lee’s dragons. I’d had Jill compare their DNA to the dragons, and we had determined that they were related.

We all met up in the dining room. A special area had been set aside for when the Dragons visited so they could eat with us. We dumped our babies out on the table, and Drako joined them.

Bellna looked down over them. She stood over 3m on her hind legs and was twice as big as I believed our dragons would grow. I was tickled pink to be meeting a real dragon. She was beautiful with her soft-looking greenish scaled skin.

Soot distracted me as he hissed at Drako and shook his wings in agitation. Bellna gurgled out what I was to learn was a dragons laugh. ‘He is a feisty lad. He is telling Drako to back off that they are his girls,’ she said into my head.