Maela

“I’m telling you, Francois. We could be big. We could be the biggest show of all time!”
Maela hopped from foot to foot.
All over her apartment floor lay magic kits, ranging from bouquet-producing wrappers to stacked-card decks.
“I mean, a true sorceress being a magician?” Maela beamed brighter as Francois grumbled. “Who could resist?”
The two had long been friends, but lost track of one another for a while. Maela had joined Starshade’s workforce as a maitre d’ for The Swan, the fanciest restaurant in town.
And apparently, Francois had found employment as a shady, back-alley sorceress. Hey. To each their own.
“What makes you think I know how to handle this stuff?” Francois scoffed.
“Haha. Well. I just, uh…assumed you cold.”
“Uh huh.”
Maela blew out a large breath. “Guess I should’ve waited to book that stage, huh?”
“Oh?” Francois became very still.
“Yep. Your name’s up in lights.”
“What?”






Francois was a mysterious, quiet dragon, hard to get to know. As a sorceress, it never bothered her. She hadn’t revealed her powers to her talkative grade-school friend Maela, and now she knew why.
The stage Maela had booked had her name on it. It opened in three days.
Swearing frequently, Francois spent those three days practicing the same card, dice, bird, flower and flower-squirting-water tricks.
Four hours before the show, as Maela hastily applied her own makeup, Francois hurled the Svengali deck to the floor. “I can’t do this!”
“I can just get on the stage and start tap-dancing,” Maela murmured. “Their tickets are non-refundable for a reason.”
“No,” Francois muttered, biting her nail. “No, no. The show must go on. I’ll give them a real one, that’s all.”
She was startled and embarrassed a bit when Maela hugged her. Blushing, she shrugged her off.
“Ok, but no more hugs.”
“No promises.” Maela smiled.

No one at the Brite-Land Theater knew just how the Mysterious Franny did her special effects, from the storm-cloud that gathered above everyone’s heads, to the electric dragon who peered through a portal in space, to the white flames that danced harmlessly over their scales.
But all agreed during the after-party at The Swan that it was a magical evening indeed.

--bio thanks to Caelyn--