The chill wind of vintr rips its way through my thin clothing as I sit in the small cell with my arms hugging my knees to my chest. I feel a weight on my shoulders and I look up to see my brother without his jacket and I start to pull it off but he shakes his head.

    “Come on Cyndo, you’re gonna get sick.” I say fretfully as my older brother sits on the other side of the cell in the same position as I am.

    “Don’t worry about me Amris. I’m more built to withstand colder weather. I mean look at you, your just skin and bones.” Cyndo says as he rubs his hands together to warm them up and I feel useless to help him. The sound of heavy footsteps has my heart racing against my chest, Cyndo jumps up and faces the Enforcer with rage blazing in his lilac colored eyes.

    “Cyndo Wingar, follow me.” The Enforcer’s hard voice has a fresh set of goosebumps erupting all over my body as he opens the cell door with a shrill screech of the metal against stone. Cyndo stiffly walks out of the cell then the Enforcer roughly grabs his upper arm so he can’t leave while he slams the door shut. “Someone is going to be here for you later Amris. Try not to cause any trouble or the consequences will be far from desirable.” I watch as he pulls Cyndo away from me and I bury my face in my knees and cry heavily at our situation.

    “You know, crying in front of company is unlady like.” A new unknown voice makes me lift my head up and when my eyes clear I see a very pretty lady with silver hair smiling at me.

    “Wh-who are you?” I shakily ask as she slides open the haunting bars that block my freedom but the woman holds out her hand to help me up.

    “My name is Myssha Dara and I’m in charge of the Dragon Care Unit. Just like the name suggests, we take care of the newborn dragons until they are old enough to be recruited into the war.” She explains sweetly as she leads me to where I will be working from now on. We walk through the double doors to reveal a whole array of different colored dragon eggs with various of intricate designs as well as different kinds of people. The only thing they all have in common is that they are all females but the races vary from Elfs to Dryads.

“Why are there only females? Are men not allowed to be in here?” I ask as I watch all the ladies work with the newborn dragons and others take care of the eggs by polishing them and keeping them warm.

“No, men don’t have the same nurturing touch we women do. Besides they would be tempted to kill them anyway.” Myssha says and her face hardens like she is imagining one of the dragons being killed physically sickens her. Suddenly a baby red and gold dragon lands on Myssha’s shoulder and nuzzles her neck affectionately. “Oh! Hello Nix!” she says brightly, her earlier disgusted and somber look vanishing from her face.

“Who’s this little guy?” I ask, trying to ease some of the tension hanging in the air, while reaching my hand out slowly to let Nix get used to me. The red and gold reptile coos softly as he rubs his head against the back of my hand and I look up at Myssha to see her smiling.

“Nix is the baby dragon I take care of. His mother was killed in the war before his egg was ready to be brought here so I kept it in my room until he was ready.” She says lovingly as she stares at Nix who is still perched on her shoulder and I notice Nix’s scars.

“Hey Myssha? What happened to him?” I ask cautiously as I keep my eyes trained on the scars running along his neck and body.

“Nix has trouble bonding with other dragons his age. Well come on! Let me show you what egg you’ll be taking care of!” She says enthusiastically as she pulls me to the hatching area and my eyes widen in awe as all the colorful eggs spread out before me. We stop in front of a deep purple egg with teal and silver swirls all over it so I reach out to trace the intricate designs but when I make contact a familiar feeling washes over me.

“Wow, what was that?” I ask her without taking my eyes off the beautiful specimen in front of me, completely mesmerized by the egg.

“Well I guess we found your egg.” She says as she gently rests her hand on my shoulder then I reach out and grab the egg carefully. The egg shakes slightly in my hand then a sort of cracking noise resonantes in my ears and I feel my heart rate quickly speed up.

“I barely touched it!” I cry out but Myssha just chuckles behind me only causing the panic to increase because she isn’t telling me what’s going on.

“It’s ok Amris, the egg is perfectly alright. It just means it’s ready to hatch soon.” Myssha says soothingly as she puts her hand on my shoulder to comfort me in motherly way that fits her really well.

“Oh, I’m sorry for overreacting.” I apologize quickly, in fear of being punished by the Enforcers or worse, Cyndo being punished in my place.

“You were scared, it’s a reasonable response.” She coos softly then stares at me for a moment with an unreadable expression. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone like you before. What’s your race?” Myssha asks sternly and I panic at the sudden change in behaviour from the silver haired woman standing in front of me.

“U-uh,” I start but get cut off with a forceful exhale from Myssha as she, once again, rests her hand on my shoulder but a different feeling fills me from this contact.

“I’m sorry, that was incredibly rude of me. It’s just thoughts pop into my head and I just blurt them out. I hope you didn’t take any offence to that.” She apologizes quickly and bows at her waist in some sort of apologetic gesture, making me uncomfortable.

“Myssha! Where have you been?!” A woman yells as she runs up to us, her teal hair streaming out behind her, suddenly she trips and falls on her face.

“Are you alright Asta?” Myssha asks as she helps her apparently clumsy friend stand up then dusts her off with a few quick swipes of her hand.

“I’m fine!” She says cheerfully, completely unfazed by her face plant onto hard stone ground, then she looks at me with a huge smile. “A new recruit! I guess this is where you’ve been Myssha. I hope you have been a delightful guide to her Myssha, we’re still working on your filter ya’ know.” Asta rambles on and I can’t help the small giggle that leaves my lips watching these two interact.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. You guys are so funny together.” I explain the best I can without trying to sound rude to the two beautiful women in front of me but I guess I need to work on my filter too.

“It’s quite alright Amris, Asta and I have known each other for a very long time.” Myssha tells me while the less mature one of the two bounces beside her silver haired boss who is smiling at the energetic elf.

“Yea, Myssie and I are best friends!” Asta exclaims as she latches her arms around Myssha’s shoulders and rests her head on the junction of her neck and shoulder. A small smile crosses Myssha’s face as her friend beams about their friendship in this dark and unforgiving place.

“You two really seem to enjoy each others company. Even in a place like this.” I say soberly as I scan the cave like room with a sense of despair washing over me as I fail to remember life outside these walls.

“Amris? Are you okay dear?” Myssha asks cautiously as she reaches for my arm but I quickly back away from her reach before she can touch me.

“I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed, that's all.” I reassure them then look down at the egg in my arms that I haven't felt until now.  The feeling the egg emits makes the desolate feeling go away and replaces it with a sense of security for an unknown reason that I figure it’s best not to question it.

“Are you sure? You look a little pale.” Asta asks as she brings her face closer to mine but I pull away and look at the skin on my arm then chuckle.

“I’m always this pale, same as Cyndo.” I tell them reassuringly which makes Asta back off a little but not a lot because she still is staring at me. Asta’s eyes narrow slightly at the mention of my brother’s name and I quickly become nervous I said something wrong.

“Who’s Cyndo?” Asta asks in a suggestive tone but I quickly shake my head when I catch on to what she is guessing Cyndo is to me.

“No, no, no! You’ve got it all wrong! Cyndo is my brother!!” I exclaim loudly which makes the egg shake slightly in my arms and Asta giggles where Myssha’s face turns a bright red in color at her friends suggestion.

“Is he cute?”

“Asta!” Myssha scolds her surprisingly inquisitive elf friend who shrugs before crossing her arms over her chest then starts to pout.

“I’m just looking out for you Myssha, you haven’t had a boyfriend in ages.” Asta whines then a loud chiming rings out through the compound and Myssha looks at me with sadness in her lovely blue eyes.

“It’s time to head back Amris, I’m sorry.” Myssha says then reaches for the egg that is still held securely in my arms but when she tries to take it the egg shakes violently. “What on Earth?” She hands me back the egg and it stops shaking then she stares at me with wide eyes.

“I guess the egg is going with Amris.” Asta says cheerfully with her vivid green eyes bright with happiness as she glances at her more serious friend.

“It can’t, she has a brother and the eggs can’t be around males.” Myssha says sternly, Asta grabs onto her arm and pulls gently.

“You can’t take it from her, it might break with all that shaking.” Asta whines as she looks between the egg and I as if trying to convince Myssha with her eyes but then a rough looking man walks up to us.

“What’s taking so long Myssha? She is supposed to be heading back!” He yells then moves to grab me but Myssha smacks his hand away before he can reach me which earns a low growl from him.

“Don’t touch her! She has an egg and you’re not even supposed to be in here Malic.” Myssha growls at the large man with unwavering eyes that seem to challenge him to argue with her over this matter.

“She is supposed to be heading back to her cell. I was sent to take her back.” Malic says sternly but he takes a step back and I can clearly see the power Myssha holds over him so, naturally, I’m curious as how far her power goes.

“I will escort her when we have this situation handled and I will personally explain to Lord Ragnar what the delay was about. So you can leave now.” Myssha says while staring down Malic and with that Malic growls then leaves us to figure out what I’m supposed to do.

“Myssha?” Asta asks her obviously powerfully persuasive friend but she backs away when Myssha lets out a stress induced sigh.

“Here is what we are going to do, Amris is going to stay with me until the egg hatches then she will be assigned a room of her own so the baby can grow.” She says then signals for me to follow her so I quietly fall in step behind her with a nervous glance over my shoulder at Asta. She gives me a thumbs up as we walk through the double doors, blocking her from my sight as the close behind us which induces a slight anxiety to build inside me.