Part 1



To Selbat, Father of the Egg Family, being entrusted with disposal of the unsuitable eggs had always been an honor. He had carefully, in the past, broken the egg open and mixed shell and contents into the compost pile that Muldat used for the community garden. The protein enriched the compost mix and made it nutritionally dense which allowed adequate crops to grow in the poor soil.This compost was necessary to the survival of all the humans in their community because they fed on the crops that Muldat grew.

It actually started with an accident, this small egg that incubated in the compost pile. He had placed it for breakage carefully and then they were attacked. Unthinkingly he covered the egg with the compost and when he went back to break it a few days later, he found that it had life inside of it. In all conscience he couldn't break the egg, although he knew that was supposed to happen. The egg was too small and unacceptable to Selina the Egg Mistress and while he agreed with her, once it had a dragon growing inside of it, he could not bring himself to break it and destroy a dragons life.

Selbat led a double life for years because of the tiny female dragon that egg finally hatched. He named her Doris when she hatched although he didn't know why. She was so tiny, and Doris seemed to fit somehow. He nurtured her and raised her away from prying eyes as she grew into young female dragonhood. Even went so far as incubating another similar sized egg in the compost pile hoping that a boy dragon would be produced. Doris needed a companion and he got lucky and hatched one for her. All those years and the deceptive life he's had to lead in order to insure the survival of Doris and her now husband Zack. He named him too and had no idea where these names came from. Some imprinted memory perhaps? He never knew, only now he had a serious problem. Doris had babies, and somehow he needed to find someplace for them to live.

He never thought of himself as a rebel, but that one act, the one time he couldn't break the egg, made him one. Some rebel, he thought. All he wanted to do was find a home for Doris, Zack and her brood and he had no idea where to start. He could confess his wrongdoing and be banished if that was his fate, but what then would happen to Doris? He would not be allowed to take her and since he had no experience with such an event, he had no idea what the council would decide to do with her. Banish her? Or would they put her to death? What a mess he'd made of things and nowhere to ask advice. He loved that little dragon, she was the sweetest little thing and although he wasn't her biological father he was her father and no one would ever understand that.

The news coming from Laytons Rage was not always good. It appeared that Selina and Muldat had their hands full with the population there. The dragons appeared to be happy for the changes but the humans were not all inclined to trust Muldats word. Who could blame them? They had known nothing but dragons who were mean and despotic, putting to death the much weaker human population at a whim. They were afraid of the larger dragons and many would not come down from the mountains to return to their homes. The rebel leader, one Jacob by name was someone he believed he knew, and somehow believed that the answer to his problem was Jacob.

Part 2



When Jeremy and Travis went down the mountain to see what was going on in the town, Jacob gathered his family and friends to explain their absense and to sound out his friends as to what they thought they should do. It wasn't that they enjoyed life on the run in the mountains, nor did they distrust all dragons, just those from Layton's Rage. They were still discussing the events when Jer and Trav came back up the mountain with food and the Egg Mistress or whatever it was that she called herself. "Go back to live in Layton's Rage, I don't think so" was his response and that of some of the other men and women. She talked a good deal, but their experience was with Daniella and the "wicked ones" as they liked to call some of the dragons. Life was hard, but at least they weren't residing in the belly of some hungry dragon. It didn't go well, not well at all.

It was decided that Jeremy and Travis would take those that wanted to go, down the mountain, and leave the others to make up their minds as to what they wished to do, or when they would join the community if that was decided. As soon as the party heading to the community was out of eyesight Jacob rounded up the stragglers and they left the cave that had been home to them for so many months. They weren't going to trust Selina, she knew where they were hiding and that was more than they cared for her to know. They had a months worth of food, plenty of water and they intended to put as much distance between them and Laytons Rage as they could. They had no idea what direction they were traveling in, and that it would bring them to the valley closest to Fenton's Earth. It was there that Jacob found Selbat, and Doris.

Actually it was Jacobs son who found Doris. Matthew had wandered off as young boys do. He came upon the ruins of an old farmhouse that was the home of Doris and her brood. By the time the rest of them found Matthew, he and Doris had become fast friends. He was playing with the youngun's when his father found him and Jacob instinctively knew that this was a good thing. He didn't know how it was going to be good, he just knew it was. Seldom did Jacob pray, life had been too hard for them to spend much time in prayers, but if he had prayed Doris would have been what he prayed for. If he had known such a thing existed. Another thing he would have prayed for if he knew it still existed was the suggestion of fertility that this section of the valley contained.

When he questioned Doris and Zack, they had no real knowledge of how meadow grass had started to grow. They only knew that to avoid detection all these years they had used this area as a waste site and had buried it to avoid detection. Over time the grass had begun to grow, thick green and sweet smelling grass. If grass would grow, so would crops, and if the body wastes of Doris and Zack worked to fertilize the land as it appeared to have done, then plenty of food could be grown for the inhabitants of this farmstead that might soon become a village. If Doris and Zack had lived there for years undetected by the inhabitants of Fentons Earth, then so could he and his family and friends. He would discuss the situation with Doris' father Selbat, work out some type of agreement that would benefit everyone concerned. As far as anyone knows, he found these tiny dragons and no one needed to be any wiser. Now he needed to climb the mountain and talk to Selbat