Chapter Text
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was bored . She sighed, resting her cheek on her folded arms as she stared out one of the large windows to the right of the room. It was such a beautiful day, blue skies as far as the eye could see and not a cloud in sight. She would much rather be out in the woods that bordered Dracadia, breathing in the fresh air and soaking up nature as she sketched more of the local fauna, than be in a stuffy classroom watching an old movie she had seen countless times. They showed the movie every year, from the time a child started school at five, up until that child graduated at eighteen. Which luckily meant she only had one more year to go and she would never have to see this blasted movie again.
Marinette had to ponder if they showed this stupid film in other kingdoms just as frequently, or if it was a special sort of torture reserved purely for members of the Dracadia Kingdom. She supposed it kind of made sense to show the film here more frequently than in their distant neighboring kingdoms, considering as far as anyone was aware, Dracadia was the only Kingdom that still possessed a bonded pair of Dragons. The movie was informational, she could admit that much. It was about Dragons, naturally. Their anatomy, the process of bonding with another dragon and becoming a brood pair, the process of imprinting on the human who would eventually become their rider. Most dragons had, unfortunately, gone extinct hundreds of centuries ago during The Great Cull, and it was only thanks to a handful of rebels that dragons even survived to this day.
The details of the story were pretty foggy, having been passed down from generation to generation, but the gist was that a band of rebels who didn’t agree with the current monarch's decision to cull the dragons chose to ally themselves with said dragons. Those rebels would later become the first to not only ride a dragon, but to be imprinted upon by dragons. Those rebels were, supposedly, the ancestors of the Couffaine family, Dracadia’s current Monarchs’. Marinette didn’t know how much truth there was to the story, or how much of it had been embellished. All she truly knew was that she was bored and would really rather be doing anything else at that very moment.
“Isn’t this so cool?” Alya, her best friend and table mate, leaned over to hiss in her ear. Behind them, one of the other students shushed her but Alya paid them no mind. Shifting her head, Marinette met her friend’s excited hazel stare and arched one eyebrow inquisitively.
“The movie?” She asked incredulously. Alya had only lived in Dracadia for a few years, so she hadn’t seen the movie nearly as many times as Marinette had, but still. The movie was a snoozefest. It was long, overly informational, and the narrator's voice was the most unanimated monotone Marinette had ever heard in her life. There was literally nothing interesting about the movie outside its topic and even that was portrayed in the most uninteresting way imaginable. Alya rolled her eyes dramatically and shook her head.
“Not the movie. The Hatching Ceremony! It’s only a few days away!” She practically squealed, almost vibrating in her seat from excitement.
“Alya, watch the movie,” their teacher chastised, causing the auburn haired girl to sink guiltily down in her seat. It did not, however, stop her from continuing their conversation. She just lowered her voice as she continued.
“It’s said to be the biggest one of the century! Can you believe the Dragons laid five eggs this time?”
“I wonder what they plan to do with the other three,” Marinette mused thoughtfully. Normally, dragons only laid two eggs in a clutch, and on the very rare occasion they laid three. The House of Couffaine wasn’t very big, consisting only of Queen Anarka and her two children, Prince Luka and Princess Juleka, after the late King’s untimely demise. He had passed away roughly a decade ago when a strange illness had swept through Dracadia. Queen Anarka already had her own dragon, Liberty, from the previous clutch and no two dragons had ever imprinted on the same human.
“I have a friend who works in the Castle, and he told me that a Prince from a neighboring Kingdom was being offered one,” Alya said excitedly.
“And the other two?” Marinette asked, her heart going out to the little Dragon who might not have a rider of his or her own.
“Apparently they’ve selected three Ladies of royal descent who have no claim to a throne to see if the dragons imprint on any of them. Whoever the Dragons choose, one will become our next Queen.”
“Wait, what?” Marinette’s brows rose in surprise at that. She didn’t know a whole lot about the Royal family, but from what little she had gathered, the Queen was very against normal traditions. Queen Anarka had been in an arranged marriage herself and while she always said in interviews that she had grown to love her husband when interviewed, she had also said on a number of occasions that she would never ask the same of her children and planned to let them marry either for love, or not at all if they chose. What had made her change her mind? Surely a couple extra dragon eggs couldn’t be the only reason… right?
“That’s what I heard. My friend even said he might be able to get me and a friend front row seats to the ceremony… if you're interested,” Alya waggled her eyebrows playfully. Marinette had never been to a ceremony before, since the last one was a few years before her birth and those dragons had imprinted on royals outside Dracadia, given Queen Anarka hadn’t produced an heir yet at the time. The hatching and imprint ceremony were open to the public but with their status as commoners, they would be lucky to get nosebleed seats. No commoner had ever gotten a front row view before.
“What about the Guards?” Marinette asked, dubious, but Alya just waved her off.
“They’re going to be more focused on the Ceremony and keeping the Dragons and their eggs safe! They won’t even notice us,” she promised. Marinette worried her bottom lip between her teeth, thinking of all the many ways this plan of Alya’s could go wrong and yet… It was tempting. She had only ever seen dragons from afar, soaring high in the clouds above or leading a royal procession through the town’s square with the Royal Family sitting tall and proud astride their backs. Never had she seen a baby dragon, however. Those were closely guarded within the walls of the castle, hidden away from harm until they, and their chosen riders, were strong enough to protect themselves. Since the unionization of Dragons and Humans, it was rare to find people who still actively hated the Dragons, but they still existed and there were rumors of factions of Dragon Slayers lurking in the shadows, just waiting for an opportune moment to strike.
“Alright, I’ll go,” she finally agreed, the once in a lifetime chance of seeing an actual baby dragon far too great to pass up. Alya squealed excitedly, earning an immediate reprimand from their teacher that had both girls sinking lower in their chairs and murmuring apologies. They didn’t speak for the remainder of the class period, but as Marinette tried to refocus her attention on the movie, she found her head filled with images of cute baby dragons with scales like silk and eyes like jewels.