Events of Arrival

Episode 1: Ancestry

"Oh."

"Yeah. I have about fifteen of the little bastards, and the ones that do what they're told only do that because they're too young and helpless to sass me."

"But it's them that opens the portals, not you?"

"Mm-hm. There's a mental link in there somewhere that lets them know when I need them to come to me, but I really don't know how it works. So there's that."

"Does anyone really know how dragons work?" Parrisol asked, a grin on her face. "Jade told me you're applying for the Dojo roster. That's pretty cool."

"It's the only reason I'm here at all. Without the Dojo, there's no reason for me to even be in Cier."

"Lots of people think that way these days."

"Do you?"

Parrisol paused. They'd been walking at a brisk pace, but now Calder had to slow her gait to stay beside Parrisol.

"No, I don't think so. I came here for Nemesis' help."

Calder shrugged when nothing more was explained. Whatever it was, it wasn't her business. "Is sparring allowed?" she asked when they were moving again.

"Nah. But showing off our powers is." A smirk crawled across Parrisol's face, which Calder met and returned.

"I'm starting to like you already," she responded, pointing halfway in her companion's direction. "Fields?"

"Actually, the training room is nice and fireproof. And air conditioned. And right here." She opened the door they'd conveniently stopped in front of. "And... seems to be empty. We have the whole place to ourselves!" Calder stood in the doorway for a moment, watching as Parrisol held her arms up in the air and twirled around in the vacant room.

Calder was starting to think she'd been assigned to a psychic. But strode in after Parrisol anyway.

The training room wasn't much more than a sealed, windowless box. There were closed doors on most sides, but other than that the room was barren and covered floor to ceiling in some nameless material that certainly looked fireproof. It was probably blast-proof and bullet-proof too, if Calder was to understand the capabilities of the strike team.

She shrugged and tested its mettle. Over the next minute, she ramped up the temperature of her flames, starting with low, reddish orange plumes that filled half the room and ending with sharp spouts of bright, harsh yellow that left her wheezing and winded. But the mysterious material that made up the walls and floor and probably ceiling failed to yield.

There were now a variety of brand new scorch marks in the spots that had worked as targets. Calder smirked in approval at her signatures. Her gaze moved to Parrisol, who was summoning little balls of violet flame in her palms and extinguishing them in a rhythmic fashion. Upon realizing she was being watched, she summoned one more fireball and tossed it straight up to collide and explode against the ceiling in a little violet plume.

Calder's eyes followed the purple until it disappeared, and then she returned a squinted gaze at her supervisor.

"Exactly how many tricks do you have?"

Parrisol shrugged. "Let's just say I've got more than only dragon blood."

Calder didn't really know how to react to that, other than to accept it and move on. She shrugged, and Parrisol kept talking.

"I work at the Grand Library in town, and my shift starts in half an hour. But since I'm also in charge of you..."

"I have to come with you. Fantastic." Calder butted in after Parrisol trailed off, pointer fingers lingering in Calder's direction. "How long's the shift?"