As the wealth of a person increases, so does the suspicion that a person harbors secretly against her fellow human. Criella and Clicques, friendly though they were to customers, had begun to argue among themselves.
Each thought that the other was planning to take over the entire store or, even worse, steal all the jewels and run off to Mexico. Criella was especially suspicious, because while Clicques cut and polished the jewels, she had the perfect opportunity to simply slip the gems into her pocket.
After one particularly fierce fight, Criella took half the jewels and walked away from her partner Clicques. Neither one shed a tear, but both were equally miffed because they hadn't been able to claim the whole amount of jewels.
Clicques was unable to continue the jewel business alone, so she closed the store and moved to a smaller apartment, working part time shifts in grocery stores and fast food joints. She had her half of the jewels put on a chain and wore them hidden around her neck.
Criella, with her people skills, endeavoured to become a waitress, and did pretty well by herself. She was hired at a fairly fancy restaurant, and the jewels were chained and wrapped around her wrists, in plain sight, catching the light and jealous customers' eyes.
Both of them still worked the museums and jewelry stores at night. They even started burglarizing people's houses.
One week, a new museum advertised a simply splendid display of gems, all colors of the rainbow, polished to perfection.
Of course both Clicques and Criella read about it in the paper.
Criella grinned toothily, already planning her grand escape and how the newspapers would scream.
Clicques smiled secretly to herself, confident and thinking of how to slip in quietly.
That night, both wearing their signature colors in darker, muted shades, Clicques and Criella snuck into the museum.
It was eerily dark inside the museum; the crowds of schoolchildren, photographers, and general citizens were gone. The lights were off, and only dimly glowing red lights acknowledged the security system's awareness.
The jewels were located in the center of the building, and while Clicques slowly but surely inched her way along the walls, carefully lifting her feet high when passing through a doorway so as not to set off the alarms, Criella, although watching for the telltale red beams, sauntered quickly but casually through the museum's countless exhibits. The only common factor between the girls was the obvious confidence with which they held themselves as they crept towards their perfect burglary--and fame and fortune.
They reached the room at the same time, and, without thought, bounded toward the center item, a gigantic diamond that rotated slowly on a pedestal. It was unguarded, for, though the girls did not know it, they had unwittingly manouevred safely through the treacherous traps set for thieves to reach their goals.
Two pairs of hands reached out to snatch the gem. Two looks of mutual surprise were reflected on the thieves' faces; two girls narrowed their eyes and began to wrestle over the gem.
As they rolled, they managed to hit one of the countless little red beams, and the lights began flashing on and off, alarms shrieking. Like startled deer in the headlights, the girls were not able to move until they heard the whining sirens of police cars screaming a few blocks away. Exchanging a glance, they realized that they couldn't pull it off alone, not in their present situation. Clicques tucked the gem into her pocket, while Criella, always the more dexterous of the two, climbed the pedestal, opened a vent in the ceiling, and pulled herself, then her partner, up. After a brief embrace, the two girl-thieves crawled quietly through the vents to freedom.
Laughing hysterically with relief and fear, the girls sucked in great mouthfuls of air and began to run. Nobody saw them escape...
Almost nobody.
Having gotten but a few blocks, the were suddenly confronted with a large creature, and screaming, they tried to turn and run but were plucked from the streets by the thing and put upon its back. The thing, which appeared to be a dragon, had another human on its back, a woman who turned to the girls with a smile as the dragon lifted into the air.
Clicques and Criella clung together as the woman began to speak.
"I am Rubiae, and this is Maoith," she said, indicating the green dragon, who made a sound in her throat that made the girls tremble.
"We saw you making your getaway, and Maoith told me that you simply must be taken to Danach..where, of course, you'll have to give up your..skills," she coughed, "but you'll be given the chance to imprint dragons, such as Maoith here."
"Excuse me," cried Criella, "but where exactly is Danach? I mean, I've never heard of it.."
She was silenced as Maoith went into an icy parallel, and hadn't the heart to continue when, to her surprise, they emerged onto a whole new world.
Later, the girls were given a room--a cathair, as was explained to them--and then were sent off to separate dragon agencies at first--Criella to the Lian dragon Nook, and Clicques to the Gem Dragons--both places that quite suited the girls' area of interest. Once Criella received her miniature Lian dragons, she would meet up with her friend at the Gem Dragon Agency...
What next?