The hike Derf led Magdalena on was an odd one, and really rather long. It wound its way through the populated area around the Temple, and the massive cylindrical living areas, and then up, up, up, to about the highest level that wasn't the docking bay. Then out again, where the temperature dropped and where few people trod. And all through the walk, Derfegertz never let slip in her near-constant chatter where exactly it was that they were going. Magdalena followed quietly, letting the younger young woman do most of the talking. Her mind had settled into a wary curiosity as they traveled, though it was drifting into exhaustion by the time they'd reached the top chamber. She was hardly Zion's strongest specimen, though she was better than some being a true-born, and it was difficult to keep by with the stronger Derf before too long. Magdalena had some pride, though, so she tried not to show her weariness, and at least the exercise kept her warm.

There was a portal there, a closed door heavy enough to deter the most determined mechanical or biological being. There they stopped, and Magdalena sagged against the portal frame, trying to catch her breath and suppress a stab of jealousy: Derf hardly looked tired at all.

"Here we are," Derf turned to tell her friend in a strangely hushed voice. "Keep quiet, 'kay? Cel's broody right now." Then back to the door the lanky youth went, twirling the well-oiled crank that worked its opening mechanism. Derf's warning was answered with a silent nod of acknowledgement and agreement, though her mind was again turning sluggishly over the strange situation she seemed to be in now, in a desperate attempt to ignore her burning lungs and her trembling legs. Cel? Cel's broody? What the heck does that mean? she thought.

Then the door was swinging open, and Magdalena didn't have to wonder anymore.

The portal entry revealed quite a sight. An old room, half-collapsed and so fallen from grace that it was impossible to tell its original purpose, had been mostly cleared of rubble, leaving the floor smooth. The roof was high and oddly vaulted, with no visible entrances or exits other than the one Derf and Mag had stepped through, and the light was so dim as to be near nonexistent.

But what truly caught the eye were the beasts therein.

A silver head and a bronze one both looked up quickly, the massive male bronze dragon surged to his feet while the dainty, snakelike moon-silver female crouched low and covered dully glinting silvery orbs with translucent wings. Magdalena's her gaze found them instantly and remained there, dark blue eyes wide and her tiredness completely forgotten. They were massive, at least twelve feet tall, maybe more, and colored like precious metals of silver and bronze. Magdalena's hand went automatically to her necklace, silver with flower-shaped charms of rare sapphire. They had to be the most amazing things Magdalena had ever seen. Dragons, she thought blankly. There really are dragons. And they're here in Zion.

The bronze one, larger, stared straight into her eyes and made what could only be a growl of threat, but Magdalena's eyes were drawn back to the silver one, smaller and covered in a darker metal, who crouched in its shadow. Crouched over three small-- comparatively-- round objects, cradled by ratty old blankets and protected by the silver dragon's paws. Eggs.

Sweet Jesus, they have eggs.

The bronze's rumble echoed around the cave-like chamber, but a much smaller, if sharper, human voice sliced the vibration like a knife. A Mexican-looking man, overlooked at first in lieu of the chamber's much larger and stranger occupants, stood quickly. "Who is that?" he asked sharply.

"Hey, no worries!" Derf called, trying to keep quiet while still being heard. "She's a friend."

Magdalena barely glanced at the speaker and his female companion before looking back to the dragons, unable to find her voice. You're beautiful, she thought-- thought at them, as if they could actually hear her. The bronze dragon moved again, settling down on its haunches carefully and its fierce gaze boring into Magdalena's. The silver's eyes also followed them, wary but not hostile-- Derf was moving, and Magdalena followed absently, one hand catching Derf's so she wouldn't fall or lag behind, as she knew she certainly would if she let herself. The eccentric operator of the Dragonchaser squeezed her friend's hand and slowed her pace a bit until they reached the ground level. There, picking their way through what little mechanical and rocky rubble remained, they made their way towards the dragons.

As they reached the floor of the chamber, the dark man stepped forward, disapproval in his eyes, and his quiet voice growled, "Jesus, Derf, warn us before you bring people up here. You know it's risky and Tech's in no shape--"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here, Coder," a high but weak voice interjected. "It's not my bloody ears that are sick."

"....Sorry." The man's hushed tirade cut short, and his brooding silence overtook him once again.

Magdalena let Derf speak to the tall, dark man, "Coder", torn between further admiration for the dragons and a rather healthy fear of a strange, angry man of whom the rumor-machines of Zion were saying very unflattering things. She hung behind her friend, keeping her eyes mostly on the dragons to avoid the glare of this Coder, a place she certainly had no complaints staring at.

Dragons, she marveled. Just like in old stories. Only here, real, alive-- and modified? She could tell, now that they were closer, that all the darker coloring on the dragons was metal. The machines really did build them... but they don't look like a weapon. I wonder why....

The voice and movement, causing Coder to subside, brought Magdalena's attention back down to the ground. The second person was rising, moving forward. Magdalena took a closer look at her, found her shockingly thin and almost ill looking, and couldn't be afraid of her. Nor could she hate her and believe the evil things being said about her. "Who are you?" she demanded simply of the Zionite girl, ignoring a sheepish Derfegertz's frantic attempts to interject on her friend's behalf. This was Tech, Coder had said, and Tech wanted to know her name.

Drawing up the pride in her self and her family that she still had, despite the presence of the possibly dangerous but still quite lovely dragons, and the more familiar dangers of an angry stranger, Magdalena met Tech's eyes with a lifted chin. "It's all right, Derf," she said without looking away. "I'm Magdalena Saint Clair, Zion-born. I've... heard about you." And here she faltered, for what she'd heard didn't match up with what she saw. Her eyes broke from Tech's to look back up at the dragons.

Tech's snort was weak, but showed her opinion of the whole matter at hand. Obviously, she, too, had heard the rumors. "I'm sure you have," she said quietly, her recently magnified frailty making her frank. When the Zionite girl looked up, Tech didn't fail to notice; nor did the silver dragon. Eyes that were shadowed similarly to Tech's, only much, much larger, met Magdalena's, but Tech cut in sharply, not liking what she saw. "And what are you doing here, Magdalena Saint Clair?"

"I brought her," Derf cut in. "To show her the dragons, and the-- the eggs...." She trailed off, disheartened by the disapproval Coder was still looking at her with. Tech, on the other hand, just shook her head.

Looking back down at Tech, in defense of her friend and herself, Magdalena said, "I don't think Derf would follow someone who was psychotic and delusional. I also don't think she would be part of a crew that harbors dangerous... dragons." It was amazing to say, and it fell off the tongue strangely naturally. She half-smiled. "Since I trust Derf, and since you do not seem psychotic and delusional, I have to believe that the rumor-mongers of Zion are doing what they do best: misunderstanding things."

There was a soft snort as Coder's low voice cut in again, abrasive through words only. "I think you overestimate Derfegertz."

"Hey," Derf protested, complaining at that unwanted qualifier.

"I see," Tech cut in, ignoring the sniping; the deadness in her eyes betrayed a void where her sense of humor should have been. "I'm glad one person out of the whole population of Zion doesn't think we're Machine tricks. But why did you come here, other than to follow Derfegertz?"

"Mostly because Derf brought me," Magdalena admitted, but as she said that, she knew there was more. "But I was very curious. I've heard so much, and I wanted to know the truth. Besides..." She looked back up at the dragons, again amazed by their presence. "...real dragons. They have to be the most amazing things I've ever seen."

Tech's hardness softened a little. "Mmm," she commented, though she was growing visibly tired. "Well. Now you've seen them. I'm sure you've got somewhere else to be."

Magdalena couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Tech. Her awakening must have been very difficult on her, for her to look so weak and unhealthy. The thought briefly crossed her mind that it had something to do with the dragons, but that didn't make sense, either-- how could the health of one creature directly affect the health of another? She was, however, prepared to do what the small woman said and leave, disappointing thought it was. Perhaps Derf would bring her back sometime, if they let her. If they trusted her anymore. Magdalena felt a twinge of guilt-- if they didn't, surely it would be her fault, not Derf's. She didn't have to follow her here. How many times during that long trek to reach this distant room had she thought about turning back, saying she simply couldn't make it, not matter how curious she'd been?

With a sigh of regret and a last look over the shining dragons, Magdalena shifted her weight, ready to turn--

:Tech,: a soft mental voice cut in, though all those on the crew of the Dragonchaser were used to it by then. Cel was speaking. :Don't be so hasty. She's the right age....:

The blast of unfamiliar thought burst into Magdalena's mind. With a swear word she didn't consciously intend to say, she clapped her hands to her ears in shock and irrational-- or perhaps quite rational, given the oddity of the sensation-- fear. The words didn't even register; Tech's exclamation didn't register, and for a moment all she could do was stare and try with all her might not to whimper.

:They need bonds, my love. They're Veran, and Verans need bonds.: The dragon's mental voice was unusually gentle as she doubly affirmed what Tech had not looked forward to finding out.

"I... know. I know. Oh.... but we have months, don't we?"

:One can never begin too early.:

The voice came again, Tech answered, and Magdalena understood-- it was the dragon! The silver one, speaking to Tech but audible to the rest. Her hands moved from her ears, though still hovered about her head, as she stared. The dragon curled her neck around Tech, partly blocking the little woman from view, and her mind-voice was gentle.

Then the words sank in past Magdalena's shock. Bonds? What does that mean? What is going on here? She felt like she'd been dropped, unwilling and uninformed, into one of her own daydreams.

Tech sighed, her eyes turned to her human companion. "Coder..." The big man nodded, stepping forward even as his female counterpart leaned back, going to sit back again before she fell over.

"Just how interested in these dragons are you?" Coder asked shortly.

"Interested?" she repeated weakly. "In the dragons? A lot, I guess-- who wouldn't be?"

"You might be surprised how many." Coder was short and to the point, though his gaze was simply penetrating. It was similar to how Derfegertz had looked at her earlier: seeming to assess her, measure her against some unknown scale. "Would you be willing to stand at the hatching of Cel's eggs?"

"Coder, she doesn't know what that means, don't ask her before explaining!" Derf herself whined, earning a look from Coder but little more, so the younger girl looked to Magdalena, scrambling to explain-- thankfully so, for Derf was right, and Magdalena had no idea what Coder meant. She turned bewildered eyes to her friend, dropping her hands finally. "Wait, Mags, see, Coder here is Key's bond - he's the big bronze one - and Tech is Cel's. It's sort of a mental connection, see? The dragons do it naturally at birth. But they have to. I don't know what happens if they don't, I've never been to a hatching, but... well, they need to have people, young people, at their hatchings to bond to." She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I'm coming to this hatching to bond a dragon if one wants me, but there's three eggs...." She left the sentence open, the invitation evident.

"That's what she meant by a bond?" Magdalena asked, her voice still feeling shaky. The dragons were no longer "its"; the silver one-- Cel?-- was definitely female, and now she could guess that the bronze one-- Key-- was male, probably Cel's mate. She looked back up at the dragons, feeling very confused and unsure. She knew that turning them down would not only hurt Derf in the eyes of her crewmates for bringing her here uselessly, it would mean she'd probably mean she'd never see the dragons again, and she would miss out on probably the only change she'd ever have to do such a unique thing-- not to mention prove wrong so many Zionites. How could a baby, even a baby dragon, be evil?

But she didn't know anything at about about all this. Her confusion ebbing into curiosity and a little of her regained dignity, she looked to Tech, hopefully the more sympathetic of the two adults, but found her still encircled by dragon neck. Coder was too imposing to question, so she turned to Derf-- safe, familiar Derf. "Tell me more?" she asked, sounding a little plaintive despite her attempts at appearing confident. She needed to know more before she decided; it was stupid to go into something uninformed, even if it sounded like the gift of a lifetime.

Derfegertz looked helpless, not knowing the answers to her friend's question. Wordlessly, she shrugged, and Coder in the background frowned. For long moments, the silence was oppressive as Magdalena looked from face to face and feeling as if she somehow shouldn't have spoken, until an unexpected party butted in, in her quiet voice. Cel.

:Young human girl... Magdalena, is it? You'd make a good Candidate for my children.: She sounded possessive, speaking of the eggs she was still covering with a wing, protective almost to the point of obsession. As are all mothers. :The bonding is... is... I don't know the words, but--: And then, there was an influx of information from the silvery dragoness into Magdalena's mind, emotions and sensations, a presence so overwhelming that Magdalena staggered back under the weight of it. She felt suddenly like only half of a whole, searching desperately for another mind aligned to her own. It was a terrible, lonesome feeling-- until she found another mind, a sense of completeness, and the echo of a bond that can't really be experienced secondhand. Even so, it was enough to ease the aching emptiness so that Magdalena could feel whole again.

:The bond is for life,: Cel finished quietly, thoughts coalescing back into words. The the sense of otherness withdrew as the emotions returned to words and became a separate, identifiable entity again, leaving Magdalena to remember who and what she was again. She felt breathless and unsteady, but at the same time she found that she understood, and knew more about the dragons from that contact than she thought such a short communion would allow.

"What would happen to me?" she asked, the first thing that came to her mind. "I have a ship-- would you ask me to transfer? I--" She looked again at Key, the larger dragon. "You certainly can't fit inside a ship, can you?" she murmured, incredulous.

:What you would do is up to you,: Cel said, and subsided, more interested in taking care of her ill bonded-- yes, that's what Derf had meant about Tech being Cel's bond!

It was Derf who reels in the slack again, unable to keep quiet for long in such a nervous atmosphere, answering with more practicality: "Yana'd want you on the Dragonchaser too, I think, if you'd want to transfer. And no, they can't fit inside, they fly outside, see? They're sort of... escorts. I mean, when they're babies they'd probably need to come inside, but...." She shrugged, trailing off again.

Madgalena looked from dragon to dragon to Derf to dragon again, brows knit. She could transfer, if they needed her... but she was best at opping, and that was already Derf's job. She was a decent mechanic, but this Yana person was already good at that. There wouldn't be anything, really, for her to do. But she could always cross that bridge if she came to it. They might not need her there, but rather on another ship, to prove that dragons were good rather than another trick of the machines. Since when did machines play tricks, anyway?

"How many people will be here?" she asked suddenly, an idea coming to her. "There are three eggs, does that mean you want three people, or more, in case none of those three is right for the babies?"

"Probably five or six," Derf explained, glad to be back in territory she knew the answers to. She'd been assigned to keep an eye out for potential bonders, so the dragons had told her what they were looking for long ago. "We want to give them as much selection as possible."

Magdalena broke into a smile; she knew how to make everything seem better to herself, to bring some security into all of this, and help the dragons in the process. "I think... I think I'd love to, it would be an honor and a privilege." She knew how to be gracious. And then she added, "And I bet my brother would be even more excited than me about something like this," she said. "He's always loved all the old legends about magic and magical-- beings." Calling the dragons "creatures" or "beasts" just felt wrong. And it was true, too; all the stories their mother had told them about the time before the reign of the machines, before even regular machines, Saul had eaten up and begged for more. "Is twenty too old?"

Derfegertz shook her head empathetically, grinning. "Nope! That's in the upper range, but that's still young enough. Oh, you think he would? Bring him here sometime, to meet Cel and everyone." Belatedly, she looked to Coder and the dragons for affirmation, and got a bit of a sour nod from the Mexican man.

"Perfect!" Magdalena clapped her lands lightly, feeling like a little girl again and no longer put off by Coder's dour looks. "Oh, thank you, all of you," she said, "I'm sorry I disturbed you all, but I hope I can help and take care of one of your babies." The last with a nod to Cel. "When will they hatch? I'll need to make sure I'm on leave at the right time."

Cel had to smile at that, in the way dragons do, her eyes warming and jaws relaxing. She spared another moment away from Tech to look at the human girl reassuringly. :In a few months. We'll call you before it happens, don't worry.: Coder rolled his eyes, moving back to Tech's side once the goings-on no longer required his presence, but Magdalena frowned faintly in thought. Being called before it happened was all well and good, but what if the ship was in the middle of a mission? Magdalena's logic reasserted itself, and she spent a moment thinking, planning. The Sangreal docked once every two or three weeks for recharging and leave time, Magdalena could just arrange to stay on for that particular month when the time got closer. Saul would be harder to arrange, since he was away for longer, but surely they could manage.

Further thought on the matter was waylaid, however, as Derf suddenly let out a squeal and threw her arms around Magdalena's waist and shoulders, startling the older girl out of her train of thought. "Oh, Mags, this is great!" Derf exclaimed, "We'll both be standing for the first clutch of free dragons born, ever!"

Magdalena smiled and put one arm around her friend's waist in return, her other hand on Derf's. "The first, really?" That was a historic event, all right. "I can't wait...." She just knew she'd spend more time thinking and daydreaming about what having a dragon of her own would be like in the next two or three months...