“Now docking at: port A” said the shuttle’s computer, “welcome to Planet 87-E, also known as Caeli, home of Hyacinth McCarthy, executive manager of the irrigation department at Terra Inc.” 

​

“Gosh, stop talking,” said Star, the only other living thing in the empty shuttle compartment, which looked much bigger than it actually was, due to just how empty it was.  Her violet scales contrasted violently with the white and grey of the room. She flicked her tail impatiently, making the black chains around her ankles rattle.  “I want to be outsidealready.”  Her scales were dull, I observed.  Presumably from being inside all the time.  They were, however, the only dull thing about her. “Have you ever been outside Iris?” Her eyes flashed as she turned to me.  

​

“Me?” I said.  Despite the fact that I was the only person in the compartment to talk to, I was still surprised to be spoken to at all. “Oh, yes.”  My companion had been very talkative the whole ride, surely, I had been spoken too more today than I had been in the past five years. 

​

“The first time I was outside was when they took me to the shuttle.” She beat her wings in excitement, filling the compartment and pulling on the metal clip that held them closed at the wrist as she tried to open them.  

​

PHHHHSSSH

​

Pressurized air rushed out of the compartment as our human handler opened the door.  She grabbed the chains that lead from the collars around our necks and yanked us onto our hind legs and outside.  The humans liked us to walk on two legs.  I didn’t mind, I was comfortable walking on four or two, but I had noticed that walking on two legs made it harder to walk quietly.  Light from the sun of solar-system 87 shimmered and danced off of my white scales, and turned blue as it fell through the blue-green membrane between my wings.  Our claws clicked on the metal of the port floor, which quickly turned to grass.  It felt nice on my talons, and the sun felt nice on my scales.  As I stretched my arms up towards the sky, teal sparkles reflected off of my underbelly and shone all over the grass, Star, and our handler’s face.

 

“Wow!” Star leaned close to me and whispered loudly, thinking the handler couldn’t hear, “Your scales are so shiny!”

 

“Hush up!” our handler hissed, “And watch your blasted shiny scales!” She lifted her arm to shield her eyes.

 

“Sorry ma’am,” I said softly, lowering my arms.

 

“Stupid dragons with their stupid teeth and their stupid…”  The handler continued to mutter about how stupid we were as she led us to an elaborate building.  The walls went on farther than I could see.

 

“Is this our new master’s house?”  Star asked, her eyes sparkling.

 

“Yes.” The handler said shortly, not bothering to look at us.

 

There was no more conversation until we reached one of the side doors on a part of the house made of brick.  A man wearing a loose and comfortable looking uniform leaned against the wall.  A guard?  He stood and saluted as we approached, standing stiffly when he saw Star and me.  I glanced at the bat on his bel.  It had blue rings around it near the end.  A stun stick.

 

“These the new servants?” He asked, looking me up and down.  He wrinkled his mustache at Star when she smiled at him.  Our handler nodded at him and the guard opened the door for us.

 

Inside, my claws clicked against the dark wood floor.  The handler glared at star as she ran one hand along the trim halfway up the wall, which separated the dark red paint on top from the wood paneling below.  The hall was lit with orange light from the lamps along the wall, and it was warm and welcoming.  The handler opened a door a little ways down the hall and shoved us inside. A wooden set of stairs that creaked when stepped on led down to another floor.  The handler went in behind us, closing the door.  

 

Down here, it was much more dimly lit, and the walls looked more like those of a stone tunnel than a house.  We were brought into a room with old chains piled by the walls.  Two older dragonesses stood there, smiling.

 

“Hello!” Said the red one, “Margret and I will be taking care of you here, dears.”  The scales around her eyes had grown soft and were crinkled with smile lines.

 

Margret’s scales were a faded orange and sagged around her facial features and joints.

 

The handler yanked the shackles around our ankles and wrists, throwing the chains against the wall with the others.  She left only the clips holding our wings closed and the collars around our necks.  She slammed the door as she left.

 

“Oh, finally, she’s gone.  I find that one in particular to be completely insufferable.”  Margret sighed.  “What are your names, dears?”  She smiled at us again, her wrinkled skin covering most of her eyes.

 

“Don’t be so rude about the humans, Margret what if they were to hear us?” the red dragon said.

 

“Oh come on, Devlin, it’s fine.  It’s not like she’d be able to hear us over how loud she’d slammed the door, besides I’m sure she rushed back upstairs as quick as possible to get away from us.  She says it ‘smells’ down here.”  The orange dragon laughed. 

 

“I’m Star!”  Star exclaimed bouncing up and down, “And this is Iris!”  She continued, pointing at me before I could introduce myself.  I snapped my mouth shut again and nodded. 

 

“Well, it’s our job to teach you how to serve properly here.” Devlin smiled again, causing her scales to crinkle more.  They both seemed to smile a lot.  

 

“I’m sure you two will be much easier to train than the last two that had to be sent away, they walked on four legs, they were practically animals!” Margret said.

 

“They were just brought up wrong, that’s all.”  Devlin argued.

 

“Well if-” Margret started back, but Star interrupted her.

 

“You’re supposed to be teaching us?  And how come we’ve got collars and you don’t?”  She pulled at the metal collar around her neck.

 

“Oh, that’s because you’re newbies and so it’ll be easier for them to catch you if they need to punish you.”  Margret waved her talon dismissively. 

 

“Punish-?” I prompted, but Margret kept talking.

 

“We’ve got to teach you the layout of the house, how you’re supposed to walk and act, and what’s expected of you here.”

 

“You’ve got to know what your jobs as servants are, and when to speak-” Devlin continued.

 

“Only when spoken to.”  The orange dragon clarified.

 

“Right, and generally you’re not supposed to ask any of the humans any questions, come find one of us to ask.”

 

“Unless it’s, ‘Can I do anything for you sir?’” Margret interrupted again.

 

Devlin shot her a glare and went on, “But for now, we’ll be showing you to your room and answering any questions you have.”

 

“What’s our master like?” Star asked immediately as Devlin opened the door into the servant’s hall.  

 

“Oh, he doesn’t interact with us much.  He usually has one dragon with him to do whatever he asks, but lately he’s been growing tired of his personal servant.” Margret led us out into the hall.

 

“Poor Sylvia.” Devlin said.

 

“Is she going to be replaced then?”   Star tilted her head as we followed the older dragons past a kitchen.  Hot air wooshed out at us from the door as a dragon in an apron inside rushed past with a casserole in her talons.

 

“Yes.  In fact, he might pick one of you to replace her.  And then she’ll be sent to work in the kitchens or serve tea to guests.” Margret nodded.

 

“He’ll want to see both of you, because you’re new.” Devlin added. 

 

Star gasped.  “Really?”

 

I remained silent, but I was wondering the same thing.  A master who wants to see his servants? Most of the other things they’d said made sense: Don’t talk unless spoken to, collars to make it easier to punish us… I’d never been punished before, thankfully.  But… I’d never heard of a master who wanted to meet his servants, even if only once.  

 

Devlin and Margret explained all that was expected of us at the house as they led us to our room.  There were two beds with plain white sheet on either side of the room and a long wooden desk in between them.  Other than these and the lamps on the wall in the four corners of the room, it was barren yellow stone.

 

“Get some rest, girls, the master will see you in the morning.” Devlin closed the door.

 

“Wow!” Star stretched her arms up and opened her wings as much as she could with the clip holding them closed.  “I can’t believe we get to meet the master!  I also can’t believe you didn’t say anything that whole time we were talking with those two, don’t you speak?”  she laughed, sitting down on the bed closest to the door.

 

“I can’t believe it either.  And, I’ve always been taught to stay quiet and out of trouble.  So no, I don’t really speak that much. Usually masters don’t like it when their dragons talk to them.”

 

“Huh.”  Star lay down on her belly and pulled the blanket up to hold in her talons.  “Good night.”  She said, closing her eyes.

 

“Good night.”  I lay down on my bed and spread out my wings before falling asleep.  This bed was much more comfortable than the cave floor and pile of blankets we had at my last home.  It was like a human bed, but a bit bigger to fit a dragon’s wings.

 

*        *         *

 

“Get up, get up get UP!”  

 

Cold talons clasped around my back legs, and then there was a thud as I was yanked out of the bed and onto the stone floor.

 

“STAR!”  I squawked, flapping my wings to get my bearings.  I got to my feet and looked at her.  “What was that for?”

 

“WE’RE MEETING THE MASTER TODAAAAAAAY!” Star thumped her tail against the stone floor and beat her wings.  “Isn’t it uncomfortable to sleep with these?”  She tugged at the cold, black metal collar around her neck. 

 

“It’s fine.”  I turned my head as Devlin opened the door.  

 

“Come on girls, he’ll be on the ground floor any minute now to see you.” She said.

 

“Yes ma’am!”  Star darted over to the door to go with her.  I followed.

 

Once upstairs, Devlin lead us to a large room.  Gold sunlight fell through the windows and onto the velvet-y carpet.  There was a fireplace in one wall, and dark wood and velvet furniture at the edges of the room, leaving lots of floor space.  A grandfather clock near the door we entered through told us it was nearly six in the morning.  

 

A man in a crisp suit with slicked back hair walked over to us.  He walked around us, looking us up and down, and then poked at Star’s ankles with his cane.  “He’ll be here in just a moment.  Stand up straight!  Wings folded, and talons behind your back!” I quickly conformed to his instructions as Star struggled to figure out what that meant.  The man poked her with the cane until she was standing correctly. 

 

Just in time, he backed away as a tall man with grey hair came through the door on the other end of the room. He wore a dress shirt and a grey vest and a dragon with silver scales followed him.  Her hands were folded neatly in front of her and she barely glanced up at us before looking down at the ground.  The man walked with his head held high and a smile on his face. 

 

“Good morning, Viktor.” He nodded to the man in the suit.

 

“Same to you, Mr. McCarthy.”  The man nodded back.

 

Our master strode over to where we stood, smiling coldly.  “Greetings, new servants.” He said.

 

Both of us remained silent.  Mr. McCarthy briefly glanced up and down Star’s form and then moved on to me.  He took one of my talons and held it up to examine the palm. 

 

"I’ve never seen a dragon in this color.”  He said, dropping my arm and walking around me.  He wasn’t very tall; his head barely came up to my shoulder.  “What is your name?”

 

“Iris.” I said.

 

“Hm.  Have you ever seen a dragon with such pearly white scales, Viktor?” Mr. McCarthy said, taking the edge of my wing and pulling it out so he could look through the membrane stretched between the digits. 

 

“No sir.”  Victor replied.

 

Our master let go of my wing and walked towards the door he had come in from. “Thank you, that will be all.”  He said as he left.  The silver dragon followed him.

 

Star immediately exhaled, lowering her shoulders and shaking out her wings.

 

“Come on dears.” Devlin said, opening the other door.  Star and I followed.

 

Once out of the room, Star whispered to me excitedly, “I can’t believe he talked to you!”

 

I looked at the talon Mr. McCarthy had looked at.  

 

“Perhaps he’ll want to make you his personal servant,” Devlin said, leading us back downstairs.  “What an honor.”

​

...to be continued