When the last of the candidates had bonded, the rest of the audience rose, clapping, the two of them following suit. Mullen glanced over at the jump-suit clad Earth dragon, then at the guests and new riders as they began to filter out of the courtyard. Shoky grinned down at him, then smiled in sympathy as he grimaced. "I guess it's finally over," she said.

"Yeah..." Mullen replied, suddenly nervous.

"Wasn't it wonderful?" Shoky said, sounding more mocking then enthusiastic. "Weren't the dragonets radiantly avid about their choices? I can't believe it. An hour ago they were just plain old Avengaeans, and now... now they're bonded for life." She looked down at Mullen with wide, watery green eyes, looking for all the world like she were expecting something--until she broke into a snicker.

"Quit that," he said, feeling even more nervous then before.

"Oh you."

"Everyone knows that the new pairings are for the good of you Dragons," Mullen began.

Shoky nodded absently, "yeah..." She watched the human as he tucked in his chair, and gestured for her to come towards the stage with him. She knew that he was up to something... the air had that pre-musical air to it that she'd only ever expected from him.

Mullen glanced at her over his shoulder as he turned and strolled past the last of the tables, and up the first step of the stage. "Why, the cadets themselves, they'll be up for a promotion in a year or two, if they and their bonds work well together."

"Yeah... so?" Shokua raised an eyebrow at him. She stood at the base of the stage, waiting there at Mullen's gesture. She watched him continue across the stage, pause at the podium, (where the golden matron, Aloia, was tidying the last of the unused scrolls), and whisper into the Administrator's ear. The half-dragon looked from Mullen to Shoky and back, and then smiled brilliantly. Now what was that human up to?

"Hey Shoky," Mullen said, returning to her, hands behind his back.

"Yes Mullen?" She gave him a little questioning grin. He was definitely about to burst into song: his eyebrows were contorted in thought, as if he were trying to put words together in rhyme.

"I really love the.... skillful way..." he waved his hand, pausing for a moment, "you mocked the seriousness... of that ceremonious play..."

Oh really? "Oh Mullen," was all that she could say.

"The road was long and all rocky," he began again, this time in full song.

Aloia, watching on from the podium, added in with an amused "Shoky!" The Earth Dragon just watched, not sure whether or not to burst out laughing.

"But I took the time for the walk-y!" ("Shoky!") "Now's the time to give you my talk-y," ("Shoky!") Mullen leaned over and grabbed the dragon's half-raised hand, "Oh Shoky, wocky, I love you." He grinned evilly, and now Shokua really was laughing. Mullen stepped down from the stage, her hand still in his, and continued on: "Our relationship started out mock-y," ("Shoky") he said, stumbling over the last word, then continuing valiantly onward, "but over time we grew close as a lock n' key," ("Shoky"), "if there's a man who'd run away, it's not me..." ("Shoky!"), "oh Shoky, wocky, I love you!"

With a flourish, the human presented the bonding parchment that he'd snitched from Aloia, holding it up with all of its symbollic possibilities. "Here's the scroll to prove that I'm no joker," he backed up from her a step, letting go of her hand as he continued. "There's three ways that love can grow... That's good, bad, or mediocre..." kneeling now, he looked up at her dark face, "Oh S-H-O-K-Y I love you so!"

The dragon's jaw was slightly agape as she stared at the proferred scroll, caught between amazement and amusement. That particular piece of paper was about the same as a wedding ring, in human traditions, though much more final, of course. The fact that Mullen would go to such lengths... "Oh, you're more clever then I'd r'ckn'd" ("Mullen!" Aloia helpfully added, enjoying the whole show way too much,) the dragon tried, catching the urge to sing along. Not that she was terribly good with the whole rhyming thing... it was peculiar the way that the human could do it... in any case, she continued, "by getting a scroll and directen'," ("Mullen"), "you're far stretching plans and attention," She cringed, glancing over as Aloia gave the expected "Mullen!", and then shrugged, grinning. "I've one thing to say," she finished, hiding a laugh at his much too expectant expression, "and that's Mullen, I'm full-on in love with you too.... Oh Mullen," she shook her head, lifting her hand to take the scroll, which wavered slightly as Mullen held it up more earnestly.

"Oh... wocky," he cooed, trying to cover his nervousness. Her hand hovered mere inches from the scroll that would bind them for life.

The dragoness' smile softened. "I'm full-on..." she repeated.

"Oh... Shoky," Mullen interrupted, more serious now.

"In love with you..." she grasped the offered end of the scroll, and they both were blinded momentarily by the flash of white light, and the vague flood of emotions that accompanied it. Aloia, from the podium, actually let out a small "Awww." The whole process was so cute that it was almost sickening.

"I love you too," Mullen finally said, and now Shokua could tell that he certainly wasn't lying. She caught a hint of an idea in the back of his mind, and blinked. The urge to sing along was stronger then usual!

"There's one thing left to do!" They said in unison, the human adding a little flourish to the end.

Mullen, still clinging to the used scroll, shot to his feet, "And that's go see the place where you met me." ("Shoky!") "When we fought all those Demons so cocky," ("Shoky,") He grinned like a loon, remembering the terrifying time with a little fondness, now that he was padded from it with time, "at the time I was scared frickin' muchly," ("...Shoky," Aloia said, for a moment thinking that he might have a more convenient rhyme,) "Now I've one thing to say and that's Shoky, wocky, I love you! Shoky, wocky..."

"Mullen, I'm full-on," Shoky supplied, realizing that the musical outburst was winding down.

"Shoky," Mullen said, taking her other hand and holding it close, "wocky," he added, his voice devoid of mockery... "I... love... you." They finished, in unison.

Aloia sniffled from her podium, absently dabbing at her nose with one of her collected scrolls.

In this room, hunched over the seeing crystal with an expression of great concentration, sits a figure that shimmers with all the light of the sun, clad in robes and posessing unnatural (and unnaturally long) golden hair and irridescent paper-white skin. She -- for it is very distinctly a she -- turns slowly and ominously to face you, staring you right in the eye and clearing her throat.

"I would like... if I may... to take you on a strange journey." Asuka, for it can be no other than the Sun Goddess of dragons, reaches for a black-bound book, a glimpse of the cover revealing old filigree stating the single word -- 'Future' -- before she sets it down on her lap and opens it with a foreboding creak.

"It seemed a fairly ordinary night when Tom Mullen and his new bond Shokua Vallum, two normal, healthy (if a bit odd) young people, left Sanctuary that evening to visit Mullen's old fort." Flipping through the pages of the book, she reveals pictures of Mullen and Shokua, as well as detailed statistics and a map of a part of the Ansaras Mountains. "It's true that there were storm clouds, heavy, black and pendulous, over the forest through which their route wend. It's also true that Shokua's backup teleportation spell was old and worn-out, but they being normal, uh, newlyweds... well, they weren't going to let a storm spoil the rest of their evening, were they? On a night out..." She pauses for effect, tilting her head up so that the dim light casts her pale features into dramatic shadow. "It was a night out they were going to remember... for a very long time."

She turns slowly back towards the scrying crystal, and as she looks far into its milky depths, an image begins to become clear...