36. Aurora
AURORA
No one believed me about the golden egg.
All of us had spent hours in the Hatching Grounds, getting to know our eggs. Classes had been suspended for a time but at last Master Yarsmouth had shooed us out, saying, “Enough now. The eggs need to rest and gain strength so they can hatch.”
We would be allowed to visit once a day, he promised. Every First-year I knew was already planning when he could come back to spend more time with his egg.
Jorn-o and the rest of my friends gave me sidelong looks when I sat down at our table for lunch that day, but no one said a word.
“Tell me about your dragon,” I said to my best friend, hoping he would snap out of it. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
He frowned.
“I don’t know yet—you can’t tell until they hatch.”
“You can’t?” I asked uncertainly.
“No, of course not.” Leaper frowned at me. “Why? Did your egg tell you what sex it was?”
“Well…yes.” I shrugged uncomfortably. “She’s a girl and her name is L’eesha.”
“What?” Toady exclaimed and I saw him and Bugs exchange a skeptical look.
“You already named her?” Bugs demanded.
“No. She named herself,” I said, lifting my chin.
Jorn-o gave me a pitying look.
“Auri, you know that’s just not possible. At this stage, the drakelings are like babies. They’re not smart enough to say more than a word or two and they’re certainly not smart enough to think of a name for themselves.”
“A dragon would have to be some kind of genius to name itself while it was still in the egg!” Leaper agreed, frowning.
“Well she’s been waiting for over a century for her rider—I’m sure that gave her more time to mature,” I said, feeling put on the defensive. “Anyway, what did your drakelings say to you?”
Jorn-o shrugged.
“You know—the usual things. Sent feelings of hunger, mostly.”
“Yes, mine did that too,” I said, nodding. “She made me so hungry I felt like I could eat a horse!”
I was hoping for a laugh or at least a smile, but they were all still looking at me with pity and disbelief.
“Look, Auri, you don’t have to do this,” Jorn-o said in a low voice. “You don’t have to pretend that egg talked to you when everyone knows it’s permanently dormant.”
“I’m not pretending!” I exclaimed, frowning fiercely at him. “I wouldn’t lie about anything this important. I heard her in my mind, calling to me!”
“Yeah, sure you did.” Toady rolled his eyes.
“Look, just come clean, Runt,” Leaper said to me. “Nobody will blame you if you admit the egg didn’t talk to you now. But if you keep dragging it out, people are going to get angry.”
“So none of you believe me?” I demanded, looking around the table.
“Master Yarsmouth thinks you want a dragon so badly you’re making it up,” Jorn-o said in a low voice. “Maybe if you went and talked to the Healer, she could give you something to help.”
“That’s it.” I stood up from the table abruptly. “There’s nothing wrong with me,” I said fiercely, staring at each of them in turn. “And if my best friends at the Academy can’t support me, then I guess you’re not friends at all!”
Taking my still-full tray, I stalked away from the table.
I kept my head high, but inside I felt like breaking—like curling up in a corner and bawling my eyes out. I felt more alone now than I ever had when I’d first come to the Academy and hadn’t known anyone at all.
Why wouldn’t they believe me?
I put my tray through the slot and left, walking stiffly as though my body was made from glass and might shatter if I moved the wrong way. Inside I ached like I hadn’t ached since Auren had died.
In losing my friends, I had lost part of myself, and I didn’t know if it would ever come back.
But I knew something else as well—I would never disavow the little creature waiting for me inside the golden egg. She was mine and I was hers as surely as the sky was blue and the grass was green.
I knew in my heart we were meant to be together and would never, ever give her up!