Jolie's Part of the Pond

Jolie swims up to the edge of her pond, and greets Viridia. The woman has a broad smile on her face, and Jolie knows something important is up. "There is a new clutch at Keltic Dragons, at last!" She says, and Jolie makes a humming sound. "Finally, maybe... Do you think they would allow me to care for an egg?" The water-zekiran asks. "I do believe so. We've never had a true water dragon, I wonder if you'd be able to swing that?" Jolie looks around, gazing at the water lapping up at the edges of their large artificial pond, and her faceted eyes sparkle in amusement. "I think I can manage to fix the place up for a water dragon..."

The activity around the pond increases dramatically after this visit. Because Jolie wants to make sure that whatever dragon that does come from a precious egg will be welcome -- water or not! She has the workers create for her a shelter near the soft silty-edge of the pond, where the egg will be stored while it is still unhatched. There too, a permanent plaque will be set up and etched in with information about the egg, dragon and such. "It's from Keltic," Jolie says to the stone-shaper, "So make sure you put that. And, leave room for the gender and the abilities... No one knows, right?" So the sign which is created and set onto the soft ground says: Glenn Dragon from Keltic Caretaker: Jolie of the Rainbow Sea Dragon Name: Gender: Type: Ability: "I guess all those things must remain blank until we know..." Jolie sighs. The others have gone through this too. But she looks around and sees that the work is almost finished for the shelter. Since she herself cannot come up on land, at least not and stand up, there is a little runnel of water around the egg, so she can tend to it. That runnel might help the little dragonet inside slide into the water, when they're hatched, too! Jolie becomes more and more excited about getting an egg!

Jolie proudly watched the egg as it cracked once, bumped twice, and then with its third swaying rocking jolt crumbled around a beautiful silver hatchling! The hatchling looked up to Jolie and could barely focus on the blue woman. It creeled out loud, its little mouth was wide open with a high-pitched call. "It's all right, sweet!" Jolie said immediately. "I know you're hungry and you want to be warm..." The mer-woman rose out of the water a bit, her faceted eyes glimmering as she offered the hatchling her first drink of rich "broth". It was a special invention, that one of the other dragon-caretakers had developed. It was warm, chunky with fresh meat, and had lots of vitamins in it. As soon as the dragon started to gulp down this brew, she quieted down, crooning a little now and then but mostly being silent. She fell to sleep not long after, rolling onto her back and curling her tail around her nose. Jolie put the large bottle-bucket down into its warmer, beside the egg area. Two attendants helped her pick the shell bits off the bedding and floor, so that the dragon wouldn't spear herself on them. Then, she turned to the sign which needed alteration. Glenn Dragon from Keltic Caretaker: Jolie of the Rainbow Sea Dragon Name: Ezust (meaning Silver in Hungarian) Gender: Female, Silver Type: still unknown - Jolie didn't paint that! Ability: Jolie pondered the last two, with her hand holding the brush over the sign carefully. She might have put "still unknown" over two parts, but then would have had to redo the sign! She looked at Ezust, smiled, and made sure the hatching room was warm enough.

Splash! Splash! Jolie laughed as Ezust tumbled from her nest into the shallow pond below. "Be careful silver beauty, I don't want you getting hurt." Will not get hurt! This is fun! Fun!! The dragonet had doubled in size, she was now closer to Jolie's length, and would be a long, slender dragon when she grew up. Jolie was very proud of the little girl, she'd already started speaking! Well, little words and phrases. But she was catching on quickly, and the other dragon keepers were pretty impressed. Purple Wisdom watched over the youngest addition and kept adding things to Ezust's collection of shiny things, books to look at, and flowers. Some time soon, Jolie thought, the dragons will accept her into the Dome, she'll be half grown so quickly!

The dragons in the Dome were quite happy to have a new addition, even if she only stuck her head out of the water for a few minutes at a time. Ezust certainly enjoyed her watery environment, and her caretaker was apt to enjoy it just as much with her. Jolie dove under, and pulled on the long silvery tail. Above the water's surface, Ezust's muzzle adopted a strange look. Excuse me, Wisdom, I must chase Jolie now. "You do that," Wisdom chuckled. The purple dragon glanced at his own caretaker, and they flew over head to watch the silver shape chasing after Jolie below. Will you slow down? You are quick, but you are no match for me! I have four paws to paddle with, and wings! And you only have one tail! Jolie gave off her bubbly laugh, and led the chase just as eagerly as she would if she was still a child!

It was no surprise that the big Glenn dragon named Ezust grew into a Water-type dragon! She enjoys her time alone in the bigger lake, but she usually finds herself comfortable in the smaller pond where her friends swim. I like it here, and I will keep my place warm. Do you like it here? "Of course I do," Jolie said. "After all, I had the place made for me and you..."

After becoming an adult, Ezust and Hullam and Jolie are participating in the Healing Den's Summer Swim 2002! There, all three expect to find appropriate mates for themselves. That's right, Jolie knows there are a couple shapeshifting dragons going to be present and she herself has the benefit of a strange mutation which allows her to... um, produce offspring with nearly anything.