Tzan hugged her stuffed elephant, and wondered what would happen. She'd been told many times that she was talented, powerful, amazing.

She believed the words, but didn't really feel all that special. Yeah, she floated over the ground instead of walking, and yeah, she could sometimes talk to animals or plants or ghosts. But she actually knew a fair number of people who could also do those things.

None of them were born on Earth, of course. Well, no, that wasn't true. Tabitha was a mutant, she could suck powers from other people and use them herself. That was cool.

She'd never tried it with Tzan. And the dark-skinned girl wondered absently why not. Maybe because they were friends, and Tab rarely took anything without asking if they were her friends. But it might just be that these powers of hers weren't mutations. They were something else.

"Are they, Ganesh?" She asked the stuffy elephant, but it didn't respond.

One time, it did. But that was a long time ago.

She didn't really want it to talk to her again. Instead, she bounced him side to side, the yarn and stuffing trunk swinging opposite and making her laugh and feel like a little girl again.

She'd have to grow up, though - and soon. If what H'lis and them were saying was true, having a dragon bond to you was something far more than just finding a pet animal or buying a car. She knew that her parents would be thrilled and a half, but still... She felt a little outclassed traveling across dimensions under something else's power and not her own.

Tzan had done that, though. And she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that if they got lost, she could get back home regardless. The classes she was taking saw to that. Plus she could defend herself - the Dungeon Crawl class wasn't just fun and games, after all! They used real weapons and magic and stuff.

Absently smiling and humming along with an obscure Hindi Techno tune stuck in her head, Tzan wondered why she never volunteered to be the party's cleric even though she had a ton of healing powers.

***

"You don't have anything to take?" Asked H'lis, "you're going to need some--"

"I have a pocket universe in my pocket," Tzan said cleverly, tilting her head and opening up the little portal to her private stockpile universe. She pulled out a tshirt, a submachine gun toy, and two cd's before H'lis waved her off to the dragons and riders. Ixoh's golden queen Kiyath lay close to the ground so they could mount up.

They lifted into the air effortlessly and Kiyath glided over the school before they traveled between worlds. Then the blackness of the Nexus consumed their flight.

While Ixoh wasn't really bothered by the place between places, Tzan found that this motion-induced blur of ghosts, gods and timeless space was a bit unnerving. The portals she created were far more efficient than this place, she thought, because at least you didn't have to travel to get through it - you just were there.

They arrived at a place called Driolo, and Kiyath bellowed that they were on their way in. "Hold on, Kiyath likes to land kind of rough!" Ixoh said, and the queen angrily let off a trumpet. "Well you do! It's like you don't slow down! You just crash!"

And she was right: when they neared the ground, Kiyath just dropped like a stone and let her wings fold. Tzan got a great z-gee experience and clung on to Ixoh's slender waist until the 'ride' was over.

"Well here you are," Ixoh said. "If you need anything, you can get a message to any of us with your," she waved her fingers like 'you know, that stuff you do' and Tzan nodded. "Then I'll see you when you get back from the sands! I'll come pick you and your dragonet up, if you can't make it on your own. Remember, we're supposed to start training you when they're less than two weeks old."

Tzan nodded again, she had the full manual book that they'd prepared for everyone, one that H'lis was 'beta-testing' on this group. If all went well, he would use that as their official textbook for future classes. When they began to walk into the the school complex, Tzan realized that she felt very very small. The dragons here were beautiful, colorful creatures. She was greeted by an attendant who offered to take her bags before realizing she had none to carry.

"If you need clothing or anything," he said while guiding her through the place, "we have lots of extras."

"Oh I - I have my stuff, they... brought it here already," she said. She wasn't being entirely truthful - the riders brought the others their things, but she didn't need it. She wasn't going to just tell everyone that she could do the things she did. It might not be polite, they might not like it, or worse, she might wind up not being allowed to bond a dragon!

She didn't know yet what would be expected of her, in this dry desert locale. It certainly was different from either Carramba or her home.

"Well here is your dorm," the steward said after a brief tour that oriented Tzan around well enough. "Just ring the bell if you need something, and classes and dragon attending start early in the morning so I'd get some sleep if I were you."

"I'm used to it," Tzan said, with a big smile. She slipped into her room without him noticing that aside from the bed and objects that were common to every dorm here, there was no bag or suitcase...

***

Classes were focused, nicely intense for Tzan. Her attention span was longer than most of her peers, at least at home. The Ten were an exception - they ran the whole range from hyperactive Trudi to the nigh-upon maniacal singlemindedness of Tansie. On average, though, Tzan was proud of her association with The Ten. As Orange, of course, she was well respected.

While studying dragon anatomy and the care of hatchlings, comparing her Carramba High book with the one they had here, Tzan listened to some music - her cd player pluged into the socket that she'd managed to squeeze into the pocket universe that one time. The electric current was a little hard to keep stable but she got enough to have the convienences of home all in a little inter-dimensional portal.

In the evenings, she spent time walking around the school. The place was huge, very well made, but not packed with as many people as she expected of such a place. She'd usually take her meals back into her room, where she snuggled up with Ganesh and read more and more about dragons. Tzan would dream of them, many times. The colorful wingsails and markings of these dragons were something she knew would catch her mother's eye - as an artist she would adore them. Her father would admire their strength and composure.

Tzan slept in on the rest day, thankful for it at last. One thing she'd never mastered was how to stop time - even though she had good professors in the magic department who told her it could be done. Perhaps in Junior year...

It hardly came as any surprise to her that the blue dragoness named Zamaliss came to her side. Every few hours there was another student with a similar experience, during the course of one or two weeks. It was as though the eggs hatched whenever the right person came around. Others were clearly not 'bonded' to their dragon so much as bringing them to where they'd be most welcome.

Tzan looked at the bright eyes of the dragon and knew: Zamaliss was her friend for life. There was a quiet confidence within the hatchling's expression, though her eyes were merry and sparkled a sort of seriousness that led Tzan to believe they would be great together.

I am glad you think so, my friend, the dragoness thought. Her mental voice was surprisingly deep for a hatchling!

Tzan set about all the preparations that they'd need to work on, but this dragon would grow slowly, maybe more slowly than anyone else's in the Ten. Tzan thought about accellerating her growth, though wasn't positive it was the kind of thing she ought to try. After all she'd never really done that kind of thing before.

There is magic everywhere here, the dragon encouraged her, Zamaliss nibbling on Tzan's smock. You could ask someone to help you... I do not want to be a baby while everyone else is growing up!

"But I don't want you being all grown up and missing out on the things young dragons do..." Tzan said. There was so much to consider, here. Maybe she'd leave it for later. If it ever looked like Zamaliss was going to be slow or miss out on anything, really significantly, then and only then. It was never in question that she could do this thing.

She'd discuss it with the others, the Ten, and H'lis. Later on. When they were back at Carramba High. But for now, Tzan and Zamaliss were going to learn the basics of grooming! And next, another bunch of magic!

Lineage

Mates and Descendants