Golden Gem - Chapter One

         The dragons are ever-watching. At least that's what Surry was always told whenever she complained about needing to work. The scrapping of bristles from her broom is the only company in the smoke haze filling her father's bar. Tonight was mercifully quiet, indulging her in the wistful longing to be off and away to some party or event. In fact, if her father wasn't off the island right now, she'd be at one such party right now. One of the girls of her talents academy, Erabelle, was celebrating her coming-of-age right now in an excessively expensive party. Surry leaned on the handle of the broom, catching her worked appearance in the reflection of the window. Outside was dark enough to take in the girl staring back at her. And how much she was not dressed up in a glamorous outfit like she wanted to be. Instead she was in just a normal tee shirt and jeans, since the bar tended to be pretty unforgiving to her clothes. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Surry sighed into the empty bar before moving along to finish her sweeping. She only had to get through a few more minutes and then she could lock up and hurry to try and catch at least the tail end of Erabelle's party. A quiet tinkling came from the front door, signaling someone new. As Surry looked up to greet them, she found herself staring at someone shocked stiff at seeing her. They were garbed in nothing but black, hood and sunglasses hiding their face with a duffel bag on their shoulder. Their face darted towards the register and Surry's eyes followed.
         "Oh no you don't!" Surry snapped. The words cut the air and seemed to break the spell over the room. Both rushed towards the register but Surry was quicker, slapping the broom handle against the would-be robber's head as they tried for the money. A few more well-placed smacks caused the robber to drop their bag as they tried to defend from the blows before scrambling out of the building and off into the night. Surry chased closely behind to reach the door, locking it up immediately instead of pursuing the person. Back pressed against the door, Surry slid to the floor as she panted from her heart racing against her chest. "By the Dragons," she whimpered, realizing that person could have had a much more potent weapon on them than her flimsy broom handle. As her breathing and heart began to calm, her eyes rested on the discarded duffel bag. The more she stared at it, the more she grew curious to see if anything resided within. Checking that the door was still locked tight, Surry drew herself to her feet and slowly made her way over to the bag. It sat zipped closed, though it was easy to tell there were items inside. None of the lumps and bulges seemed like a weapon, so Surry took a breath and opened the bag's main zipper. Inside was a variety of jewelry and money bags, marking that person she ran out as a thief and pickpocket. But the most curious thing in the bag was what looked like someone's golden heirloom. Well, it looked more like an egg. Reaching into the bag, Surry drew out the curious item to better look at it. Indeed it looked like an oversized egg, requiring both of her hands to hold it. It had quite a bit of heft to it, belaying its assumed material of creation. It's perfect surface held her entranced, causing her to turn it over and over in the search of even the slightest imperfection. Her search caused her to not notice the egg growing warm in her hands until she stopped with her examination. With it sitting in place, it started to become a bit too warm. Surry set the item on the counter, curiosity growing over how quickly it warmed from her hands. Giving a shake of her head, Surry returned the egg to its nest of pilfered goods and zipped the duffel bag tight. She tested lifting the bag, finding herself just barely able to lift it. After going once more over the bar and emptying the register in the safe, Surry hurried off home with the duffel bag.

         Sunlight flooded the room with a cozy warm glow as Surry buried herself deeper into her covers. Trying in vain to drift back into the confines of sleep against the waking melody of the sun, she finally flung the covers away to sit up in her bed. The first sight to greet her eyes was the curious golden heirloom egg. The events of last night came back in a crashing wave, causing Surry to audibly groan. Shaking her head, Surry made her way over to the egg. Its smooth golden surface was cold to the touch, quite different from how it felt last night. Maybe that was just from the adrenaline still pumping in her veins but she could have sworn it was almost hot in her hands last night. The curious item kept her gaze as she moved around to start her day. Through dressing and combing and checking messages, Surry's eyes always found themselves drawn back to the egg on her dresser. She couldn't keep it. She knew that much. She had to figure out who owned the content of the duffel bag from last night. Keeping something like that would draw the ire of The Purple. Surry's nose wrinkled as the thought crossed her mind. She didn't really give much agency to the gods but some people were very devout. Kind of like how her father made sure to keep them on his tongue.
         "Alright you," Surry intoned as she scooped up the egg. "Let's get you back where you belong to." In her hands, the egg sat quiet before it jumped a little. Surry gave a startled squeak as she quickly moved to keep from dropping the egg. It grew warm again in her hands as it jumped again. "Hey!" she snapped at the egg while trying to keep her grasp. "Cut that out!" She pondered the item as it continued its futile escape from her hands. "You must be one of those enchanted heirlooms..." Which mean this was definitely something she didn't want to be found with. Anything magical was prohibitively expensive, considering those who could work magic were so rare. She rapidly stuffed the jittering collectible into the duffel bag and sealed it within. Now what do I do? she questioned to herself. Going to any authority with this much ill-gotten gain would bring up huge questions. Even if she was never the one who took it in the first place. Maybe... Maybe she could pay attention when she went out for her weekend errands today and overhear if anyone locally was robbed last night. Pleased with such a decision, Surry stashed the duffel bag deep into her closet and hurried off to get started.
         Her trip into the market was cut into immediately by running into Erabelle. The girl's eyes were rimmed red and she sniffled as she stood beside her parents and some of the local authorities. As the adults conversed, Surry waved to Erabelle in the hopes of talking with her. Erabelle may have been a snotty spoiled brat but she would never ruin how she looked to blackmail someone into doing what she wanted. The red-rimmed girl spotted her and turned her nose up at Surry. But after regarding the state of the conversation beside her, sighed and walked over to Surry.
         "And what do you want this morning? Can't you see I'm very busy?" Erabelle ground out, glancing back towards her parents. Surry took that chance to roll her eyes before slapping on a concerned smile when Erabelle's focus returned.
         "I was actually wondering about that. You don't look so well. What happened?" Surry questioned, continuing to show concern for the brat's issues. Erabelle's eyes grew as she took in a deep breath.
         "It's simply horrifying!" she wailed. "As I was celebrating with everyone who was anyone last night," she stopped a moment to give Surry a glance. Surry sighed on the inside, realizing Erabelle had noticed she was absent. "Some horrid individual snuck into our home and robbed us! They made off with quite a bit of jewels and money. As well as my prized possession!" Surry's stomach sank as she opened her mouth to ask about it. But Erabelle didn't give her the chance. "I will have whoever stole my precious egg strung up for the birds to peck on!" she finished with a shriek. Her parents and the official looked over to what was causing her distress. After a dramatic sigh, Erabelle turned to Surry. "You wouldn't have happened to see anything last night, would you? Considering you weren't at my party at all..." Surry vigorously shook her head.
         "I was tending the bar for my father. Only thing I saw last night were smoking drunks," she replied, quite ready to get out of this situation. Erabelle huffed, turning away from Surry once more.
         "Then you're wasting my time," she flippantly remarked, strutting back over to her parents to dab at her eyes with a tissue offered to her. Surry sighed aloud, glad to be out of the conversation with Erabelle. If it wasn't for the fact missing the party last night would hurt her social standing, she would have avoided it regardless of needing to work. There was no love lost on Erabelle. Giving her head a shake, Surry worked quickly around the market to get her shopping done and get home.

         Surry could hear the rattle of the egg from her room as she walked into the house. Setting her purchases down, she made a beeline for the closet she hid it in. No unexpected visitors graced her room, much to Surry's relief. But opening the duffel bag revealed the egg almost vibrating in a little divot of gold and jewels. With a sigh, Surry lifted the egg from the confines of the bag and held it close. This was Erabelle's egg. It had to be. But why should she return it? Not that Surry had much care for the egg. It was just a hunk of gold after all. But Erabelle... Maybe it was about time she lost something. Surry shook her head against the thought. No, that wasn't right of her to do. Just because she pretty much couldn't stand Erabelle, it wasn't her place to keep what was actually Erabelle's. With a wistful smile, Surry looked over the egg one last time and started to nestle it back into its bed of treasure. Only she never got the chance to finish what she was doing. The egg rocked out of her hands, bouncing onto her carpet as a quiet cracking sound could be heard. Surprise quickly turned to shock as a large crack raced across the surface of the egg right before Surry's eyes. But it's just a hunk of gold, raced through Surry's mind as a spider web of smaller cracks spindled out from the first one. She fell backwards with a flump and landed on the carpet, utterly spellbound by what was happening to this heirloom egg. A faint scratching noise could be heard before something pushed through the form of the egg. A small glittering thing that almost looked like a talon. But suspicion became fact as more egg fell away to reveal the needle point talons of a small claw as something was working its way out of the egg. It tore at the shell, exposing more of itself to the midday light. The way it glittered, Surry was quite sure the egg was turning into whatever this was, instead of this being hatched from the egg. A second claw popped out, working fervently at its weakening prison. There was no mistaking now. Whatever was coming out was made of gold. There was nothing else in the world that looked like these claws. A sharp crack could be heard and the egg's shell crumbled away. Everything seemed to stop as Surry took in the sight of what had just tumbled onto her carpet from the confines of the egg. Her eyes widened as the sun shone off the golden scales and skin while it shook itself. Eyes of molten gold regarded her as it turned to face her.
         "He-llo?" came the tiny squeak of what could only be... a golden dragon.