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A Dragon Comes Calling

At the top of the village very close to the edge of a large copse of trees are the shrooms of the Pigment Contractor. Arret, his wife Yvenne and their daughter Sujay lived comfortably in a small purple capped shroom. Their home was much smaller than the surrounding shrooms which were used by the dragons as part of their pigment contracts. Theirs was a tidy home with two floors and a room in the cap which Sujay had for herself. The surrounding shrooms were in various stages of growth, the green capped with red spots was being used already for contracts, the others, a blue spotted shroom with an orange cap and a blue spotted one with red cap were not yet fully grown they were still rather spindly and although one was taller that the contracted mushroom it had not yet filled out or grown doors, windows or separate floors to enable business to be conducted.

Dragons are generally drab creatures, being of just one colour and that usually somewhat muted as part of the evolution of natural camouflage. However, being vain creatures they strive to enhance their looks by using pigmentation contracts. Brightening the colour of their skin and adding patterns the most common of which are spots in contrasting colours. The dragon will find a shroom keeper and negotiate with him as to what colourings the dragon would like and what it is willing to offer in return, usually protection, warmth and fertilizer for the shroom. The pigment contractor is a skilled man, the shroom provides him with various items which enables him to make pigments which are unique and will enhance the dragon’s skin with the colours chosen. The secret of just what is in the pigments is a well-kept one and is passed down from the master to only one apprentice who will be in training for several years before he or she is allowed to practice their art. A dragon will need to find a shroom with which it is compatible and may need to try several times before it can find the one shroom with which it can bond successfully. This is the first job for the keeper; the introduction of the dragon to the shroom; if they are compatible then a contract would be drawn up. If they were not compatible then the dragon would move on to another keeper and their shroom. Once a compatible shroom is found and the contract is agreed the dragon will start to visit the shroom regularly until the skin colour changes become permanent, this will vary from dragon to dragon and it sometimes takes a very long time. The pigments used will differ from Dragon to Dragon and will take into account age, size and weight. One Dragon cannot use the pigments made for another Dragon as this may cause harm. An inexperienced keeper with only 20 or so years’ experience will usually only have contracts with one Dragon at a time. However, with experience many keepers and their shrooms will use multiple contracts and have many Dragon customers, catering for their every need.

Arret was a very experienced keeper and had started his apprenticeship when he was just 15. He was very talented and within 9 short years he was allowed to practice his art. His natural affinity with both shroom and dragon were known of far and wide and he actually had a waiting list of dragons wanting to use his services. Shortly after he finished his apprenticeship and had enlisted the help of his first shroom, a dragon came calling. This was the start of his long successful career. Only a year later he met and married Yvenne who helped out as much as she could although she was never allowed into the upper rooms of the contracted shroom as this was where the mixing of the pigments was carried out, and Arret could not share those secrets not even with his wife. A further two years on Sujay was born, right from the start she seemed to have her father’s affinity with both shroom and dragon. She was just a toddler when a dragon visited to negotiate a contract. Her parents tried to keep her away from the dragons who called as although were not a threat to her she was such a tiny thing and they were so large, they could have caused her harm unintentionally by either treading on her or catching her with their long and winding tails. However, as the dragon settled down to the negotiations with Arret, Sujay toddled out from under her mother’s watchful eye, suddenly a loud giggling could be heard and when Arret looked up from the contract he was carefully scribing he saw his daughter swinging on one of the loops in the dragon's tail. Arret rushed to his daughter and tried to pull her away but she clung to the dragon, wailing at the top of her voice as he tried to prise her fingers away. The dragon chuckled and bent his long neck around so that he could see the tiny child. As he came nearer Sujay let go of the tail and reached out to grasp the dragon’s snout, Arret stammered an apology trying to remove Sujay but the dragon gently reached out just the tip of his tongue and tickled her feet. Sujay laughed loudly and snuggled into the dragon’s snout, cooing and gurgling as she stroked the scaly skin. The dragon was so taken with her he offered her a flight just as soon as she was able to ride on dragon back. This was the start of a long friendship between Sujay and the dragon and as soon as she was old enough she became her father’s apprentice, learning the secrets of the pigments and assisting her father with all aspects of the Pigment Contractors art. An added bonus was that Sujay was sweet on Tewman the local smithy and if she could work up enough courage to actually speak with him and hopefully develop a relationship with him, then not only could she offer her love and companionship but once she finished her apprenticeship she could offer the fiery breath of the dragons she contracted with to assist with the heating of his forge or the smelting of metals.

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