Moonborn

Marcy

Evelyn woke in the confusion of half-sleep. Was someone breathing on her? Then she opened her eyes and came face-to-face with an over eager dragonet. With a yelp of surprise she scrambled backward, only to fall over on her backside and be pounced upon. She could feel in her mind the waves of excitement and impatience that she just wouldn't get up emanating from her dragonet. Evelyn laughed out loud, seeing such a strong resemblance to a child on Christmas morning. She humored her for a moment, pretending to turn her head to the side as if she were going back to sleep, while the dragonet continued bouncing on her chest, weighing almost nothing.

Finally Evelyn sat up, sending her dragonet tumbling to the hay. She squealed as she fell, her six limbs and tail tangling together until she looked like a ball of yarn made of dragon scales. Evelyn quickly sorted her out, painfully aware of how little she was as she maneuvered the delicate limbs. But she pushed the worry away, not wanting her dragonet to pick up on it. Instead she let thoughts of encouragement and love float to the surface as her charge finally sat up and sneezed the dust out of her nose. That sent her tumbling backward once again, and Evelyn started the process of disentanglement once again, laughing with joy and thoughts of Marvin far behind.

And so Aldebar found them on their fourth round of the game. He opened the door silently and watched them for a moment before Evelyn noticed that he was there.

She hurriedly picked a few stray strands of straw out of her hair as he chuckled heartily.

"Having fun?"

"Very much," she replied, dusting herself off. Her dragonet, curious, wandered over to Alsebar and sniffed at his toes delicately.

"I'm relieving you from babysitting duty," he continued, sitting down with some difficulty so that he could scratch the dragonet behind her ears. Her tail began wagging like a dog's, while her neck stretched out as she leaned into his hands. "Just for an hour," he added as he noticed Evelyn's panicked expression. "Everything is still in your old room. Go shower and change; it'll do you some good."

Evelyn still hesitated. She had vowed to never be separated from her dragon again, even for an hour, but she would be safe with Aldebar, and it had been a while since she had last been clean. "All right," she said finally, with some reluctance. She knelt down to give the dragonet a parting pat. "Just for an hour."

The hallway was eerily quiet outside. Normally it was busy with dragons and riders going in and out, but her footsteps echoed strangely in the giant hallways meant to accommodate several full-sized dragons with ease. Daylight poured from the crack between the roof and the wall, which had been constructed exactly for that purpose, yet it seemed dark and cold without anybody there.

It was a relief when she finally made it out of the dragons' pens and into the riders' quarters. It wasn't busy here, either, but she did pass a few people, who gave her strange looks but thankfully didn't recognize her. It was less open, too, so Evelyn don't feel like the only mouse in a hayfield that a hawk was circling over.

Finally she paused in front of the door that still had her name printed on the slot in front. She fingered the doorknob for a moment before she turned it and stepped back into time.

It wasn't dusty at all; Aldebar must have had someone clean it, though it showed no sign of recent human contact. She ran a finger experimentally over a small circular table in the front room, but it was spotless.

Most riders had suites of four rooms; a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and sitting or living room. Evelyn had transformed what was intended to be a kitchen into an indoor garden. She had taken most of her meals in the cafeteria, anyway, and the oven had helped keep her plants warm in the winter.

A quick peek into the sunlit room told her that all her dead plants had been removed, and there were a few bags of soil left by her stacks of mismatched flower pots. She thought longingly of getting her hands in the dirt again, but the prospect of a hot shower and her waiting dragonet dragged her off to the bathroom, where she washed off the last day's grime and tears.

Thirty minutes later, she had stepped out into the hallway again with her old riders' uniform on, feeling like a new person. She had just closed the door behind her when somebody said, "Evelyn?"

Marcy had been one of the first people to befriend Evelyn when she had first come to the Wings. It seemed only fitting that she should be one of the first she met on her second arrival. Arms were thrown around her in exuberance as Evelyn turned around and was caught in a life-squashing hug.

"I heard you had come back!" Marcy was grinning from ear to ear, her white-blond hair frizzy with static. "But I didn't believe it!"

Evelyn allowed her grin to match hers in width. "Neither did I. How much do you know?" she asked with a knowing smile; Marcy could easily be called the biggest gossip in the compound.

Marcy rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. No one can agree on what they think happened, except Aldebar and Marvin, and they're not telling. But it's true that you've been chosen?"

Evelyn smiled and nodded, tears of happiness coming to her eyes as Marcy hugged her again.

"I'm so happy for you," she murmured in her ear. "But I always knew deep down that you hadn't left us forever."

She straightened up and put her hands on Evelyn's shoulders, grinning impishly. "And now, you're going to come with me to my rooms and tell me exactly what happened."

AN: The fact that Marcy's and Marvin's names are similar is entirely coincidental. I might consider changing it to Macy if it is too confusing.