Test Kit
#71 of The Life and Times of Jarzyl Mintaka (Slice of Life Stories)
You ever find weird glowing crystals and wonder what they do? Jarzyl does. But she misses the obvious.
You ever find weird glowing crystals and wonder what they do? Jarzyl does. But she misses the obvious.
More worldbuilding, more super short slice-of-life story practice. The next story will be around four times longer.
Strolling into the kitchen, Jarzyl carried in her mouth the crumpled-up wrapper of a chocolate bar. The dragon fledgling trotted over to the waste bin and flipped open the lid to drop in the wrapper. Turning towards the sink, she used her tail to push the bin lid shut again, but she misjudged the force--the bin was almost empty, so it had little weight and she accidentally tipped it over.
"Oops." Jarzyl quickly put the bin back upright, then she picked up the chocolate bar wrapper and threw it away again. But there was a second piece of trash which had fallen out the bin--it was a circular chunk of translucent back crystal, cut roughly into a flattened oval, that was glowing faintly with white light from its centre.
Jarzyl's neck frill perked up from curiosity and she picked up the black crystal. It was small enough that she could close her paw around it in a fist completely, and it continued to glow faintly as she held it. In shape, this resembled a healing crystal--which were specially made crystals able to store healing magic in their lattices, to be released when a dragon needed healing.
Jarzyl's mother was a healer who worked in a medical centre, so it was no surprise to find a healing crystal. When not on duty, healers would store up any excess magic inside healing crystals, except that this crystal looked different, being much smaller and darker than the normal. Healing crystals also didn't glow--they released their magic as a wave of flowing sparks, but they didn't waste energy on glowing.
Also, you didn't just throw away healing crystals. They could be reused and weren't cheap to make, being careful cut from larger chunks of mineral. In contrast, this small black crystal looked rough and uneven, as if it had been made cheaply and quickly. Jarzyl peered at the crystal, wondering what it was.
At that moment, Atlas joined her in the kitchen. Her friend was walking carefully up on his hindlegs, carrying a glass with his paw. He put the glass down on the counter. "What's that you're holding?" he asked, noticing the small dark crystal Jarzyl was staring at.
"I don't know." Jarzyl showed him the crystal. "It looks like a healing crystal, but smaller and the colour is weird. Also it's glowing. Why is it glowing? It can't be for heating or lighting; it doesn't look like that sort of crystal."
"Curious. Where'd you find it?" Atlas asked.
Jarzyl gestured. "In the trash bin... My parents must have thrown this away? But what is it?"
The two dragon fledglings were then joined by a third--Caden. They were all supposed to be working on a group project for school together, but progress had been slow. "Are we taking a break already?" But when Caden saw that small dark crystal, she looked amused rather than intrigued. "Wow. You two have been busy, haven't you?"
Atlas and Jarzyl both looked at her. "What?"
With a grin, Caden nodded at the crystal. "Positive result. Glow means positive."
"Positive result for what? What's this thing?" Jarzyl asked.
Caden looked smug--she clearly had knowledge which the other two fledglings lacked. "You two really don't know? It's a test crystal."
"What does it test?" Jarzyl asked.
"Dragons. It tests dragons. Not all dragons, though." Caden pointed a claw at Atlas. "Not a test for the likes of him. But for you and me, sure. Now can you guess what it tests for?"
Atlas and Jarzyl glanced at each other. Atlas looked a little embarrassed and he didn't say anything. Jarzyl frowned at Caden. "If it's a test crystal for drakka... um... does it test if you're in a heat cycle? Like at school they mentioned there are these paper test strips that can be confirmation if we suspect we're going into heat?"
"Good guess. Close, but not quite. It's for after a heat cycle." Caden pointed at the small dark crystal. "That is a test crystal for confirming gravidity. It starts off charged with energy, with a special enchantment--it doesn't do anything for most dragons when you hold it, _unless_you're a drakka who's got an egg growing, then it releases its energy and starts to glow. It measures changes in magical affinity."
"Oh! Interesting. It must be a complex enchantment to work like that." Jarzyl stared at the crystal. "Right, of course. My mother laid an egg a few weeks ago. She must have used this test crystal just to confirm she was gravid." She looked up. "You guys saw the egg in the living room, right? It's in the nesting box. A big oval white thing. One day it might hatch. I don't think I'm going to be a very good sister." Jarzyl put the crystal on the kitchen countertop and went to wash her paws, then she scampered back to the living room.
Caden laughed. "Jarzyl's too pure. Bawdy jokes just bounce right off her. She's so innocent." She glanced at Atlas. "Oh! You disagree?"
Atlas blinked. "I didn't say anything."
"You smirked!" Caden threw a suspicious look at him. "Do you think Jarzyl is not innocent, for some reason?"
Atlas put on a flat facial expression. "I'm not smirking."
Caden glanced out the kitchen door, then she frowned at Atlas. "Hmm... Two of my closest friends, whom I have known and understood for many years, have some really intense vibes with each other."
"No comment." Atlas took the glass and filled it up from the sink tap, then he drank the water slowly. He looked closely at the faintly glowing test crystal as it sat on the kitchen countertop. "I've read about these test crystals in books and articles. But I've never seen one for myself."
"Me neither," Caden agreed. "I get the feeling that after my parents had me, they soured on the idea of raising more children. But Jarzyl's parents--they are still at it."
"Indeed they are." Atlas tilted his head as another thought occurred to him. "Wait. Jarzyl's new sibling's egg was laid a few weeks ago. So her mother would have gotten gravid starting... around a month ago?"
Caden nodded. "That's a reasonable timeline, yes."
"And this crystal has been glowing for all that time? Since the only real need for a gravidity test is at the very start, when there aren't any other obvious signs that a drakka has an egg growing. For a cheap disposable test, that's quite a lasting glow. Unless...?"
"I suppose so. Or are you thinking something else?" Caden's eyes widened as she realized what Atlas was asking. "Oh! Or maybe the crystal is still glowing because the test is recent. But that means... Hmm. Obviously it wasn't Jarz taking this test, unless you two have really beenkeeping secrets. But no. So it must be Jarzyl's mother?"
Atlas nodded slowly. "That's the logical conclusion. Have you seen the nesting box that Jarzyl's family is using? That thing can fit _two_eggs for incubation together. Jarzyl might just become an older sister twice."
Caden gestured at him. "Deductive. I am genuinely impressed by your deductive skill. Do you think Jarzyl knows? You think her parents have told her yet?"
Atlas shook his head. "She definitely doesn't know."
Suddenly Jarzyl's voice called out from down the corridor, in the direction of the living room. "Hey! Atlas! Caden!! Pyxis says this group project isn't going to do itself! And you two need to get your lazy rears back over here!"
A second voice then called out, sounding more apologetic. "That's not the terminology I used! But we should continue the presentation prep, yes!"
"Coming!" Caden yelled in reply. She whispered at Atlas. "Should we tell Jarzyl our suspicions?"
Atlas thought about this. "Nope."
END