Though everyone expected all the eggs at Euphony's clutch to bond, having been told how many there were erroneously (that G*non. He just couldn't count at all could he!) there was indeed one egg without a slated candidate to stand.

She didn't care. In fact she was thrilled. Thrilled and a half. Because that meant that she could go out into whatever world she pleased, loudly, and find whatever it was she was looking for. Even in the egg, Accelerando knew she would have to search long and hard for anyone capable of keeping up with her. So when the hatching happened and there she was looking at a less-than-thrilling batch of folks (some of whom were already out the door with their own bond in her siblings) she announced with a bounce that she was out the door and wasn't going to let the screen hit her butt on the way out!

Over time, Accelerando realized that her search was going to have to be broader than just on the world where Cy was situated. In fact it was almost inappropriate that she look there. After all, her parents flew far and wide, most of her siblings would wind up on different widly varied worlds. Why not her?

When she'd practiced enough, a difficult task because she hardly had a good attention span, Accelerando learned how to teleport through the barriers between worlds. Perhaps she landed in another time, or on a planet far distant, or even one in a parallel universe. It didn't matter to her - only that she move.

Move she did. Until one day, short of her first year of life by days, she found herself on an 'Earth' that was habited by other dragons - though not naturally. While traveling in the Nexus between worlds, she had finally realized how to spot places that had others of her kind on it, by the glow of spirit bonding.

This place, she saw it from such a distance that it was a wonder the place wasn't covered in dragons already. There was a beacon, a kind of ... bug zapper of a thing, attracting dragons from any world that could acces the Nexus.

Leaving a few in the dust, admittedly, but there were far more dragons, apparently, that could travel the Nexus under their own power, than those that could not.

So Accelerando headed toward the eerily glowing light that was Alabaster Tower in the city of Talon, California, USA, Earth (variant).

***

In the eight or so years that Alabaster had played host to the dragon beacon, there had been some improvements made to the top of the tower. It was already among the very tallest on the west coast, let alone one of the taller buildings near Crescent City - with flight paths out of the way, Talon and its sister cities could afford to build up wherever property values wouldn't be crushed by the shadows.

The top of this building then, became a terrace. With the influx of interesting off-world technology - magic- Engel and his group of spies, engineers and thieves (no, really? thieves? who'd have thought? ... oh yeah some of those came from other planets) made improvements to struts and platforms. Plus, they managed to put a size-dilation device near the beacon. Dragons might circle the place in the air at full size, but when they entered its intimate airspace - they shrunk. Leaving the terrace into the elevator shaft, their riders would be returned to normal size to interact within the building.

All this, Accelerando didn't know yet. But she would find out - look at all the dragons out there already! A batch of them, colorful and some quite large, steadily circled the Tower. It was almost like Cy Dragonstake in that regard - they had a territory to patrol and a place to return at the end of their shift. Clever!

She liked clever. Accelerando could hardly contain herself when she joined them. She burst into loud song, a chirping welcome ditty that made the other dragons look up and notice her. Of course, by her own design.

"Hello!" She called, and realized that not all dragons could speak vocally. She switched to mental dragon-speak. Addressing the half dozen dragons that belonged to one or another of the groups of people in the city below, Accelerando enjoyed a conversation that was mostly one-sided. She announced herself, told the folks there to prepare for her arrival - which they did - and landed on the terrace thing to greet a white-haired human and his attendants.

She stood tall, enjoying the attention once more. This time, she felt that she would stay for a longer time than her prior few days or a week or a month at most.

This place, almost felt like home.

***

"I never thought I'd see this," a woman said, her male companion chuckling a bit. They both had brought dragons to the Tower in response to Engel's advertisement in the Entertainment Journal they both read regularly. "She's perfect!"

"But for what?" Asked Kimball, the man. His gentle cream-colored Ryslen dragoness above gave a croon from her perch. Grace's red from a prior clutch joined her. "Seriously," Kimball asked.

He turned to Accelerando and Engel, "if you were looking for something to replace that reality-show," he said - not wanting to recount why that show had been cancelled because everyone on this half of the planet knew that much - "I think you've got a winner. Maybe it's time for the first dragon to be the host of a show?"

"I would love to!" Accelerando said, prancing in a circle. "It's wonderful! Thank you!"

"We ... haven't ... decided yet?" Engel started to say, but by that time the brightly colored dragoness was skipping around deciding what kind of stage she should use, and whether people and dragons or just people, or just dragons, would be part of the show.

The humans shrugged, and began writing up contracts. Couldn't do this without union help anyway.

***

"Here she is, Accelerando!" Called the emcee, throwing his arm toward the big curtain. A semi-circular stage was where the dragons would come on and 'perform' - while the humans had a slightly smaller and more intimate area below. Far from singing and dancing and hoping? These performers would be all but guaranteed a spot on the radio, television, wherever. A talent search for the dragonry bound.

The show was funded entirely by Alabaster, since no one else in their right mind had a clue what to do with it. Engel's money had come from ... well, other sources, but he was an entertainment lawyer by trade - he knew how to make a city love its stars. He knew that soon enough, this would be a worldwide sensation.

Accelerando knew it long before he did.

Maybe she would find the right person to bond. Maybe she no longer worried about that. Here she was surrounded by the very best and brightest talents. Exactly where she belonged.

Accelerando

Female, red-marked yellow

While it was clear that the Show - So You Want To Ride A Dragon - was a smash success from the start, Accelerando wanted more. She wanted to make sure that the people - and the occasional not-quite-person - who went to a dragonry actually did okay. Follow up shows, special interest pieces and the like, were all things that she suggested and were put into action almost immediately.

Engel seemed quite surprised that she was able to forecast so well what would be good for ratings. It was obvious that she wasn't doing it purely out of the goodness of her heart of course.

Yet she seemed to be, and that was what counted in terms of ratings and popularity. She played this game remarkably well.

Occasionally the show would play host to a hatching, go off world, or even have one right there at the soundstage. There were plenty of ways to get that done, including magical ones. One such hatching was at Mirus, though you couldn't call it a 'hatching' so much as a 'presentation of young' - Mirus females gave live birth, not laying eggs.

And though there were some technical difficulties broadcasting from that far away (and dealing with the lack of true electrical connectivity) the show was a strongly viewed one.

Mostly because of what happened to Accelerando.

She was happily chittering away about who was coming and going, taking these lovely little furry offspring away to their new homes. Then, one particular hatchling wobbled out from under his mother's protective wing and raised his head to give a long, piercing cry. Even Accelerando knew what that cry meant - he was desperate to find his bond. His one. He was hungry, afraid.

But he wasn't alone. He tripped on a big pile of sand that another of the hatchlings had dug up in his own haste to find a sponsor, Accelerando swept toward the little furry ball of fur and sand, and proceeded to begin cleaning him up.

"Oh we can't have you looking like this," she clucked. "We don't even know what color you are!" She got enough of the muck off the fresh hatchling and to her surprise discovered he was a richly bronzed shade, but his wingsails - all four of them, were a brilliant fire-color traditional for the drak breed of his sire. The drakling looked up with clearing eyes, blinking away the rest of the sand.

"mine!" he said clearly, and then more loudly, "MINE!" He clung on to Accelerando, which shocked the crew as they filmed. But what shocked them even more was that she returned the favor. She seemed really... attached.

"Accelerando?" Said one of her camera guys. She finally tore herself away from the hatchling, who was now getting a bit antsy for food.

"Yes?" She said sweetly. "Oh! Well! I want you all to meet Z'mariaaw ty Miashaw Alamyr - I know that's a lot of name for such a little hatchling, but he'll grow into it! He's going to be my co-host when he grows up!"

NEXT!