Atotoztli gingerly attempts to pull her chess book out from under her psywurm, but it won't budge.

"Zugzwang," she pleads.

The little blue furry creature stretches and yawns, then turns over in his sleep, now even more firmly ensconced upon the book.

Atotoztli frowns. She is a young imperial dragon, but still quite long, covered in bright red gems with a cool light blue, almost white, splotched body and delicate, red striped wings. She is stretched out among the pillows covering the floor of a gigantic library that has been carved out of the limestone. Books and scrolls line every wall and are practically overflowing from the various wooden bookcases scattered throughout the room. Covered brass lamps provide light. Across the room, another psywurm, Ko, stares in an intent silence at a finely crafted wooden Go board covered by a couple dozen black and white stones. Next to Atotoztli sits Tahirah, her arcane sprite, who now puts down the book she had been engrossed in.

"I have a book you could read," offers the magenta-colored sprite with long antennae. She roots through her pile of books and hands Atotoztli one of the few without a suggestive painting on the cover.

"'Reedcleft Heights'?" Atotoztli asks, as she looks over the book and settles back down onto the pillows, finally giving up on dislodging her psywurm. "Is this going to be like the last one?" she asks somewhat sceptically.

"I think you'll like this one!" Tahirah says with a smile.

"I guess I'll give it a try."

The two of them sit together, reading their books, while Zugzwang continues to nap.

After about half an hour, Atotoztli puts down her book with a sigh.

"Keep going. It gets better." Tahirah offers.

"It's not that, Tahirah. It's just... Well, I wonder if I'll ever find a mate of my own."

"You might meet more boys if you left the library every once in a while."

"I don't think I'm going to meet many boys out in the desert. Unless you mean Saguaro."

"I was thinking more along the lines of an elegant soirée on the Mirrorlight Promenade, beneath the stars, attended by only the most dashing and exotic of dragons." Tahirah gets lost for a moment imagining the scene.

"They must have overlooked sending me an invitation," says Atotoztli.

"I bet Ázeth could get you invited!" Tahirah is not deterred.

"Somehow, I doubt those dashing and exotic dragons would be terribly interested in me."

"Yeah, cause you'd just sit in the corner and read the whole time."

"I wish I could see into the future so I'd know where to look to find the dragon that's right for me. I'd rather not waste my time attending stuffy parties full of posturing and gossip."

"Well, there's always CRUSH," Tahirah suggests.

"Crush?" Atotoztli asks.

"Cave. Rot. Underwater. Swamp. Hive. Those are the places you might live with your mate! Here, I'll show you how it works." Tahirah flitters up into the air and returns with a sheet of paper, a quill, and a jar of ink.

"Rot?" Atotoztli folds her ears down.

"You know, like in the Scarred Wasteland. I hear it's really disgusting there."

"You know that's where I was born, right?"

"Maybe I should go take a bath." Tahirah scooches back from Atotoztli.

"Tahirah!"

"You know Toztli, it's just one out of five possibilities."

"I'm not liking my odds when the second best answer implies I'll be somehow living in a hive of fae dragons."

Undeterred, Tahirah writes down the letters 'C', 'R', 'U', 'S', and 'H' at the top of the page. "Tell me the names of two boys you like."

"I thought that's what this CRUSH was supposed to tell me?"

"You have to come up with options first. It'll help you choose from them. But okay, I'll start. Fabio," she says as she begins to write his name.

"He already has a mate!" Atotoztli objects.

"I'm sure he could make room for another," Tahirah muses to herself with a wistful sigh as she decides not to finish writing his name down. "How about Tlazolteotl?"

"So does he! And why do you keep trying to pair me up with old ridgebacks?"

"Well, since you don't seem to know any boys you like, let's try this a little differently. Tell me two kinds of dragon you might like to end up with."

"Imperial, like me, I guess? And..."

"Snapper!" Tahirah exclaims and writes it down on the left side of the paper after 'Imperial'.

"Guardian." Atotoztli decides she better give another answer before Tahirah keeps going.

"And Ridgeback!"

Atotoztli sighs, but she knew that was coming.

"Alright, what element do you think he'll have been born under?"

"Lightning?" Atotoztli suggests.

"Says the dragon who didn't want to go looking for boys in the desert!" Tahirah teases.

"And Shadow? My sister lives in the Shadow Lands and it doesn't sound so bad."

Tahirah writes both down in a second column on the left side of the page and then adds 'Arcane' and 'Ice' beneath them.

"Why haven't I read about this 'CRUSH' in any of my books? Are you sure you're not just making it up as you go?" Atotoztli asks as she watches Tahirah.

"Of course not!" Tahirah objects. "It's too powerful a divination technique to risk writing down. Imagine what would happen it if it fell into the wrong hands!"

Atotoztli continues to look at Tahirah skeptically.

"Alright, Toztli, now tell me two familiars you think your mate might have."

"A Naga?" Atotoztli suggests, thinking of her friend Ázeth's familiars. "Hmm. A Cloud Chaser? Those are pretty."

Tahirah writes 'Naga' and 'Cloud Chaser' down on the right side of the page and then adds 'Poisonous Toridae' and 'Parasitic Fungus' underneath."

"I'm really glad you've got my back, Tahirah." Atotoztli does not seem to be excited about the last two familiars despite Tahirah grinning widely.

She then finishes by writing the numbers '1', '2', '3', '4', and '5' at the bottom of the page.

"And that's how many hatchlings we'll have, I suppose?"

"In your first clutch, yeah!"

Atotoztli shakes her head. "So what next?"

"Close your eyes. I'm going to draw a spiral in the center of the page and you tell me when to stop."

Atotoztli does as she's told and waits a little while before saying, "Stop."

"Now I count up the lines and..."

"Five." Atotoztli interjects before opening her eyes.

"I told you to keep your eyes closed!"

"I did. But I could still hear the sound of the pen. It makes different sounds on the paper when you hold it at different angles. Thought I'd help out by counting as you drew. Besides, I like the number five."

Tahirah shakes her head and then starts counting out loud, "One, two, three, four, five" She crosses out 'H', the fifth item on the top row. "One, two, three, four, five." She continues around the right side and crosses out '5' on the bottom row. "One, two, three, four, five." She counts across the bottom and up the inner column on the left side and crosses out 'Ice'. "One, Two, Three, Four, Five." She goes up the inner column and then the outer column on the left side and crosses out 'Guardian'.

"Wonderful," Atotoztli exclaims. "My mate will be a Lightning Snapper with a Parasitic Fungus familiar and we'll live in a swamp and have two hatchlings."

"Actually," Tahirah responds, "we haven't found out the answers yet. I'm crossing out every fifth item and then whatever's left in each set is the answer. Don't be so pessimistic!"

Tahirah continues counting out fives around the page until only one answer remains in each row and column.

"So, Toztli, it seems that you will live in a Swamp, your mate will have a Parasitic Fungus familiar, you'll have two hatchlings together, and he'll be... a Snapper from a Lightning clan. Oh. You already figured all that out in your head, didn't you?"

"Mmhmm," says Atotoztli. "It's basic modular arithmetic, Tahirah. But I don't see how it's going to predict my future."

"You never know. Might want to have seconds at dinner tonight - I hear snappers like their females on the chubby side!"

"Should I go a few weeks without bathing to encourage the parasitic fungus as well?"

"Oh Toztli, honey, it's just a game. You shouldn't take it too seriously."

The click of stone on wood echos across the room as Ko sets down a black piece on the Go board. Zugzwang, awakened by the sound, hops up and stretches before slowly sauntering over to the board. He finds Atotoztli already there and rubs up against her side. She reaches out a hand and scritches him lightly with a claw, all the while lost in thought and intuition, absorbing the position of the stones on the board and pondering the myriad possibilities of the many stones to come.

(© 2013 Cassander)