Aurora and the Golden Machine

Chapter One

Aurora slowly flipped the pages of an old book about the mysterious Siberian tundra. She likes to read about faraway places and spends the majority of her free time in the school library at Durham University. The massive bookshelves, filled with volumes of knowledge, fill up the halls and their presence reassure Aurora into feeling comfortable. Even though she has spent over a year in Durham as a boarding student, Aurora has not really gotten to know the other girls in her class. In fact, the librarians and their owl dæmons are more familiar to her than the girls sitting next to her in class.

To sit at the reading desks, beneath the gothic arched windows with stained glass inlays, is Aurora's favorite pastime. Whenever the sun is shining through, those windows light up and color her world. This day, however, heavy rain was hitting the colorful glass and the sun was hidden by the looming rainclouds. It could be that the weather was what bothered Aurora's dormouse dæmon, because Poniriá scuttled around and ran up and down Aurora's shoulders, crossed the reading desk, hopped in and out of Aurora's bag, and back to anxiously scouting from the shoulder position. His fur was a reddish amber tone and perfectly matched Aurora's own hair, even if she felt, or rather wanted, nothing else to match with her dæmon.

"Slow down and quit bothering me!" Aurora snapped at Poniriá. Oh, why did he have to settle as a useless little mouse? Aurora greatly admired Igerol: the Bengal tiger that is her brother Atticus' dæmon. Perhaps a powerful dæmon would have helped her to feel more confident and have more spring in her step as she walked the corridors in Durham.

"What's on your mind?" Poniriá wanted to know. "Why are you feeling so sad?"

Aurora let out a sigh and thought back to easier times when Pon could still transform and truly match her feelings. Poniriá knew that Aurora was unhappy with his settled form, but they were both proud and unwilling to speak of it.

"Never you mind, Pon," Aurora said to Poniriá and focused her attention on the book about Siberia once more. She thought about when her parents returned from their expedition to the vast tundra, and showed her sketches of indigenous peoples and maps of previously uncharted territories. Aurora had been intrigued and asked them so many questions about the exotic lands they got to see. The following month, her mother and father had left to trek the dense jungles of Sumatra in search of forgotten temples. Aurora would like nothing more than to follow in their adventurous footsteps, but how could that ever be done with a dormouse as the accompanying dæmon?

The fact that Aurora and Atticus' parents' expeditions kept them away from England for long stretches of time, meant that they were basically brought up by their grandfather Benjamin. Living in a small cottage by the river Wear, Benjamin and his otter dæmon seemed to be very content with their life. He also liked to tell Aurora that she needed to accept herself and Pon for what they were:

"You'll be no happier with a different dæmon, 'cause you can never change what's in your heart, child." Benjamin tried to reassure his grandchild on many occasions.

As her grandfather was growing older, Aurora was now living at Durham boarding school full time, and only going back for visits to the cottage during the holidays. The physical distance between them has affected their once-close relationship, and Aurora felt like her grandfather had no idea of the insecurities, lack of friends, and teenage troubles she struggled with at school.

"Here, hold out your hand," Benjamin had urged Aurora on her last visit. "I want you to have something special." As Aurora opened her palm and found a handful of metal dice, he saw the puzzled look on her face, and Benjamin went on to explain.

"Nobody knows for sure what powers lie dormant in the metal, but they can be an aid whenever you decide on your future." Her grandfather seemed satisfied enough when she accepted the gift and placed the dice in her pocket.