"Shit!" Charlie was never going to play with that Chinese Fireball ever again. Jamaya, the newest dragon to come to the reserve was a rather temperamental Chinese Fireball. Everyone hated her but Charlie had just thought she was misunderstood. He went out of his way to be nice to her, to play with her. And what did he get? A huge, very painful, burn down his entire left arm. Jamaya was officially evil.
"That's what you get when you play with Fireballs," Reese said barely concealing a smirk. Melissa Reese is the main healer on the reserve. She is a big, burly woman in her early fifties and she knows her medicine. She is always constantly yelling at Charlie whenever he does anything rash. Which, needless to say, is most of the time.
"She was lonely," Charlie protested. He winced as Reese applied a green salve to his arm.
"That's just what she wants you to think. Personally, I'd stay away from that one," Reese warned.
"You say that about all of them," Charlie reminded her.
"You would say the same thing if you had my years of treating dragon inflicted injuries," Reese reasoned.
"And yet you're still around," Charlie said with a grin.
"Well someone has to take care of you idiots," Reese joked. Charlie's laugh turned into a grunt of pain when the salve finally started taking action. The green paste had suddenly turned bright blue and his arm ached.
"What in the name of Merlin are you doing to me?" he demanded to know. "This is not how you usually heal a burn!"
"I know I know," Reese said looking irritated. "It's some new fangled way that Graham is making us try." Reese rolled her eyes as she said this. Steven Graham is the healer in charge down on the reserve. He is always experimenting with new healing techniques that usually don't work. He's a nice guy but his always-happy disposition was constantly bothering the other healers. He never gets mad or panics…not even in a crisis.
"Well it doesn't bloody work!" Charlie growled. His arm was in a serious amount of pain.
"Suck it up Weasley," Reese said as he glared at her. "If this works right that burn will be gone by tomorrow."
"And if it doesn't?" Charlie asked. Reese just shrugged her shoulders. "Brilliant," Charlie remarked sarcastically.
"This isn't my fault," she said defensively. "Quit playing with dragons and you won't have this problem."
"Never," Charlie replied with a grin. Reese just rolled her eyes at him.
"If you don't start to think while you're on the job you're going to be out of commission much sooner than you'd like," Reese said with a gentleness that had been absent in their previous discussion. Sometimes Reese gets a little maternal with the dragon keepers.
"It looks like we might all be out of commission a lot sooner than we'd like," Jake Henderson said walking into the infirmary. Jake Henderson is Charlie's best friend on the reserve. They were partners in training and stayed close afterwards. Jake is a tall, fit, blonde haired guy. He always has a huge smile plastered on his face. Out of everyone Charlie knew Jake had the best disposition by far.
"What?" Charlie asked in surprise. Reese whipped around in shock and stared at Jake open-mouthed. As much as she complained about the keepers and their injuries she lived for her job. She loved it. Jake just shook his head and sat down. Reese kicked the chair right out from under him.
"Speak Henderson," she ordered. Jake glared at her as he picked up his chair. "They're sending the committee here," Jake said glumly.
"The committee? What committee?" Charlie wanted to know.
"The Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Reese sighed.
"They're saying that there are too many dragons in the area and they want to cut back one reserve," Jake told them.
"What?" Charlie and Reese exclaimed at the same time. "Three representatives are supposed to arrive tomorrow around noon. They are staying here for two months to inspect and write a report," Jake explained.
"And they're picking us?" Charlie wanted to know.
"Not necessarily," Reese said with a hint of desperation in her voice.
"The Department is sending out five different teams to five different reserves," Jake revealed. "How do you know all this?" Charlie asked his friend.
"I was filling out some paperwork about that Ridgeback and I overheard Wentworth and Michaels talking about it," Jake revealed. Eric Wentworth and Colin Michaels were keepers a couple years higher up than Jake and Charlie. So naturally Eric and Colin were privy to a lot more information.
"I can't believe they're going to try and shut us down," Charlie groaned. "And my arm hurts. Today sucks." "Today does suck," Jake agreed with a sigh.
"Would you two quit acting like hormonal teenagers?" Reese exclaimed. Both boys looked at her in surprise. "We are one of the best reserves on the continent! They are not shutting us down. When those representatives come here they'll see that we're the best and they won't be able to shut us down."
"Why is Charlie's arm blue?" Jake asked.
"Failed experiment," Charlie shrugged.
"Oh yeah, we're the best," Jake said sarcastically. Reese shot a glare at him. She looked like she wanted to kick the chair right out from under him again. "What?" Jake asked defensively.
"We're the best but you guys have to believe that if those representatives are going to," Reese instructed. Jake looked a little taken aback but Charlie just smiled.
"You think my arm will still be blue tomorrow?" he asked her. Reese just looked at it before letting out a deep sigh.
"Screw Graham," she said applying the old-school salve. Charlie felt an instant relief as the salve cooled his arm. It was still blue but it didn't hurt anymore. He smiled up at Reese appreciatively but she just frowned at him.
"You two better get your acts together," she scolded.
"Yes mum," Jake called out to her as he dragged Charlie out of the infirmary.
Once they were out of her earshot Jake began to talk to Charlie in a rapid hushed tone. "So they're sending three representatives," he began.
"Do we know who they are?" Charlie asked.
"I heard it's two guys and a girl. They're not too high up in the Department but high up enough to definitely influence the decision. Anyway, they're supposed to get here tomorrow afternoon. They're staying for two months," Jake told Charlie.
"You've said all this already," Charlie pointed out.
"I know I know I'm just trying to remember what I left out before. Oh right, Schmidt is assigning one of us to each of them. We have to show them around and make them think this place is great and all of that," Jake informed him.
"Which is going to be impossible," Charlie pointed out.
"Not impossible…just really hard," Jake sighed.
"C'mon Jake there's a reason those guys work for that Department," Charlie insisted. It was somewhat of an unwritten rule that anyone who worked for the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures either loved or hated magical creatures. It was about a fifty-fifty chance that the reps they got would hate magical creatures.
"I know we've had bad experiences with Department Representatives in the past but maybe it will be different this time," Jake mused. Charlie shook his head. They both knew that it would not be different this time around. They were only kidding themselves if they thought otherwise.
Charlie could not sleep at all. He tossed and turned throughout the entire night. All he could think about was the imminent arrival of the Department representatives that could ultimately ruin his life. Living on the reserve had only been his dream since his third year at Hogwarts. If the representatives decided to shut the reserve down everything he'd worked so hard for would be destroyed. Charlie wasn't about to let that happen. He would just have to show the representatives how incredible the reserve was.
By the time Charlie managed to shut his eyes it was already three in the morning and he had to be awake in four hours. Life on the reserve started early. He woke up at seven every morning and he was a late riser. Most of the other keepers woke up around six. They all stumbled into the cafeteria on their own time; breakfast was served from 6:30 to 7:30. After eating they got their assignments for the day and went to work.
When Charlie rolled out of bed at seven he was exhausted. He wished that he could sleep in for once, but that would mean missing breakfast. Skipping meals wasn't really an option for Charlie. If he didn't eat he was grouchy. So Charlie regretfully got dressed and managed to make it into the cafeteria with fifteen minutes left to eat.
"You're later than usual," Jake said to him as Charlie made his way over to their usual table.
"Couldn't sleep last night," Charlie told his friend as he went off to find something to eat. He settled on some eggs and toast before going back to sit down.
"Did you see this morning's assignments yet?" asked an irate Lea Cooper. She was the only female keeper on the reserve that didn't look like a boy. She had unruly dirty blond hair and never bothered to keep up her appearance. Jake was desperately in love with her nevertheless. She came in the same year as Charlie and Jake and the three of them became fast friends.
"No why?" Charlie replied stuffing the toast into his mouth.
"Neither of us is on the schedule this morning!" she exclaimed angrily.
"What do you mean?" Jake asked in surprise.
"Not you Henderson," she said to him, "Me and Charlie."
"Why not?" Charlie wanted to know.
"I have no bloody idea," she answered. Lea looked seriously mad. It was rare to not get an assignment. Usually only people who made serious mistakes and were being punished for it didn't get assignments. "Let's go find Schmidt!" she suggested sounding quite murderous. It was too early in the morning; Charlie didn't have enough energy to get angry so he just followed her wordlessly.
"I'm sure it's just a mistake," Jake suggested. He was always optimistic.
"It better be," Lea growled. Charlie followed her through the cafeteria until they found the table where Russell Schmidt sat with the other reserve supervisors. He was relaxing and clearly enjoying his breakfast. Charlie felt bad for the bloke because Lea was about to ruin a seemingly peaceful moment.
"What gives Schmidt?" she asked without even greeting him. The man looked up from his meal to see Charlie and Lea standing in front of him.
"Excuse me?" Schmidt asked.
"Why did you leave me and Weasley off the schedule this morning?" Lea demanded to know. Charlie had to hand it to her, she was very assertive. Schmidt looked quite relieved to hear that was all she wanted to know.
"Don't get too worried Cooper," he said with a laugh. It was weird to see Russell Schmidt laugh. He was a rather tall and stern looking man. His hair was graying in several spots and he had stress lines on his face. He was only in his late forties but being the boss on the reserve was a stressful job. "I'm sure you heard about the Representatives coming."
"Yeah we did," Lea said nodding her head.
"Well I met with the board and we decided it would be more personal if we assigned a keeper to each rep. We're gonna have the rep shadow our keepers to learn more about the reserve. I chose you, Wentworth, and Weasley to work with the reps. You didn't get an assignment this morning because I have no idea when they're going to arrive and I want you guys here when they do." As soon as Schmidt gave this explanation Lea's anger evaporated.
"Wait…a representative is going to shadow us?" Charlie asked in shock. He couldn't even begin to guess why Schmidt would have chosen him.
"Yes Weasley that's what I said," Schmidt said shaking his head at Charlie. "I know it's early in the morning but do try to keep up."
"I guess that's acceptable," Lea sighed. She clearly couldn't make up her mind whether she should be flattered or not that Schmidt had chosen her to work with the representatives.
"You two hang around here after lunch and we'll take about this with Wentworth," Schmidt instructed. Lea and Charlie nodded before going back to their table.
"So what's the verdict?" Jake asked curiously.
"Apparently we're going to work with the reps so that's why he didn't give us an assignment," Lea explained. Charlie just nodded, far too tired to say much of anything.
"That's cool. I guess I'll see you guys later," Jake said as he picked up his garbage and threw it out. He made his way out to the fields to get to work on his assignment for the day. Charlie and Lea stayed seated and watched as the cafeteria emptied around them. When the last of the keepers had finally left for the day Charlie, Lea, and Eric Wentworth went over to join their boss at his table.
"So what's the plan?" Eric asked shortly after they were seated.
"We are going for the personal feel. That's why we're assigning each of you to one of the representatives," Schmidt reiterated the point he'd made earlier.
"Do we know who the representatives are?" Lea asked.
"We've got names. Jessica Sloan, Robert Sloan, and Chase Roland," Schmidt told Charlie and the others. "Jessica and Robert are brother and sister."
"So who's assigned to who?" Eric asked the question that was on all of their minds. Schmidt waved his wand and summoned some papers from his office.
"Wentworth you're assigned to Robert," Schmidt said handing Eric a stack of papers. Charlie assumed the packet contained some information about Robert Sloan. "Weasley you're assigned to Jessica and Cooper you're with Roland." Schmidt gave Charlie and Lea their respective packets.
"Random question but why isn't Lea assigned to Jessica?" Charlie asked. "Wouldn't it make more sense to put the girls together?"
"That's what I thought at first too," Schmidt said nodding his head. "But the board felt that based on the information we have about the Sloans you and Wentworth should be with them."
"What information?" Lea asked curiously.
"No clue," Schmidt said shrugging his shoulders. "To be honest I think they want you to er, use your assets to convince Roland to write a good evaluation." Lea rolled her eyes upon hearing this.
"And I suppose they want Charlie to manipulate the girl into writing a good evaluation as well," Lea remarked.
"It would be ideal," Schmidt nodded his head.
"What are we going to do with them exactly?" Eric asked. Charlie briefly wondered if he was offended that he didn't get picked to "manipulate the girl" as Lea put it. Charlie never really thought of himself as the manipulating type. He was surprised that Schmidt and the rest of the board picked him.
"Well when they first get here I think a tour would be a good idea," Schmidt told the group. "I'll lead it and everyone can stick together. Then for the next two months they are just going to shadow you. The point is to get them to see the reserve from the viewpoint of the keepers."
"So we have to do our job with a bunch of strangers following us around?" Lea asked scornfully.
"Well hopefully they won't be strangers soon enough. That's the whole point of this system," Schmidt pointed out. In theory, Charlie thought it was a pretty good idea. "So tour when they get here and we'll go from there."
"What are we supposed to do until they get here?" Eric asked.
"You can go back to your tents for now I suppose," Schmidt told them. He himself went back to his office. Charlie, Eric, and Lea walked back to the living facilities on the reserve.
The living facilities on the reserve are nicknamed Tent City. The area in which everyone lives is about the size of a Quidditch pitch. The tents are set up in a circle along the perimeter and the middle is left as an open field. The biggest tent is the main area. No one lives inside of it. The inside is just set up as a lounge and anyone can go inside. There are several smaller tents in the circle; one for healers, one for administrators, one for interns, one for keepers, one for experts, and one for whoever else happened to be living on the reserve.
When Charlie first found out he would be living in a tent he wasn't exactly thrilled. But the tents are truly magical. They appear to be small and ordinary on the outside. They are a boring beige color and the only decoration is a black number on the front. However when you go inside the tent transforms into a vast and spectacular place. The interior reminded Charlie of the Gryffindor common room back at Hogwarts. There was a lounge area decorated with comfortable furniture and random items like a chess set and broomsticks. There are several corridors branching off of the main room. Each leads to an area that has about six doors. The doors lead to bedrooms. On the reserve everyone can have their own bedroom.
Charlie, Lea, and Eric all live in tent five; the keeper tent. They ducked under the flap and appeared in the common room. Eric sat down on a couch and Lea flopped into the chair next to it. Charlie joined them.
"I can't believe Schmidt expects us to just sit around until those reps get here," Lea complained. "We could be doing something else with this time."
"I know," Eric agreed. "I was really making some headway with the Ridgeback." Eric loved Ridgebacks. Anytime one got sent to the reserve he tried to get assigned to it. Charlie didn't really have any strong feelings about the matter. His arm was still blue thanks to his encounter with Jamaya yesterday.
"And I can't believe we have to let them follow us around!" Lea added. "I don't want to have to work with some random person breathing down my back."
"It's going to be annoying," Eric agreed.
"Well it's that or no job at all," Charlie sighed. If Schmidt's plan didn't work the reserve would close down and they would all be out of work. They had to make the best of the situation. He really wished Lea would stop complaining.
"Good point," Eric conceded. Lea frowned but she couldn't deny that Charlie was right. "I'm going to take a nap until they get here," Eric said getting up and disappearing down the hallway where his room was located.
"I think I might too," Lea muttered getting up as well. Charlie just stretched out on the couch. With everybody out on their assignments and Eric and Lea in their rooms the lounge was silent. He could rest just as easily there as he could in his room. Charlie had barely closed his eyes when Schmidt came bursting into the lounge.
"Weasley where are Wentworth and Cooper?" he demanded to know.
"In their rooms," Charlie said sitting up.
"Tell them to meet in OB1 in ten minutes," Schmidt ordered. "The reps are going to be here in half an hour." Charlie nodded. OB1, aka office building one. There are only six real buildings on the reserve. One is the cafeteria. Then there are three research buildings and two office buildings. Charlie knocked on Eric's door first.
"What's up?" Eric asked opening up his door.
"The reps are gonna be here in half an hour. Schmidt wants us in OB1 in ten minutes," Charlie passed on the information.
"Wow, I guess we should get going then," Eric said coming out of his room. They went and got Lea before heading over to the buildings. The three keepers could barely talk as they walked. Charlie was nervous and he was sure his companions were as well. He couldn't help feeling that the future of the reserve rested in part, on his shoulders. It was up to him to show this Jessica Sloan person how great life on the reserve could be.
"Get in here quick!" Schmidt said opening the door to the first office building upon their arrival.
"What's with the urgency?" Lea asked sounding somewhat amused. Schmidt was beginning to look rather flustered.
"I just want to make sure you guys are ready," he said while fidgeting nervously with the collar on his shirt. Charlie could tell that he was nervous.
"It will be fine," Eric didn't look bothered in the least.
"They'll be here in fifteen minutes," Schmidt ignored Wentworth and kept bustling around in his office. "Wait in the lounge!" Eric, Lea, and Charlie left Schmidt's office and walked down the hallway to the lounge area. There were only ten offices in each building and most of them went unused. It was a mystery to Charlie why the even had a lounge in the office building to begin with. No one ever went in there besides Schmidt and the other administrator guys.
"Do you think Schmidt is overreacting?" Lea asked the boys.
"No," Charlie said at the same time as Eric said "Yes." Charlie and Eric just looked at each other and shrugged.
"Well which is it?" Lea prodded.
"The way I see it is there really isn't that much we can do to influence these people," Eric sighed.
"But we can influence them still," Charlie added.
"I'm nervous," Lea admitted. Charlie was shocked to hear her say that. Lea was the kind of girl who didn't like to show her weaknesses. She always played up her strengths; being one of the only girls on the reserve she had to.
"Me too," Charlie told her.
"You guys shouldn't be," was all Eric seemed to be able to say. The three of them were silent for a couple of minutes. Charlie heard voices down at the end of the hallway.
"That must be them!" Lea whispered anxiously. Charlie shifted in his seat nervously. Even Eric seemed to be a bit on edge.
"And this is the lounge," Schmidt was saying. Eventually Russell Schmidt appeared with three strangers following him. "These are the keepers that are going to show you around for the next two months." Charlie looked up at the representatives. They looked so out of place in their neat business attire.
"Hello," Eric finally said, breaking the momentary silence.
"Robert Sloan this is Eric Wentworth. He's going to work with you," Schmidt said to the group of representatives. A dark-haired man, presumably Robert Sloan stuck out his hand for Eric to shake. He looked friendly enough; at least he was smiling.
"Nice to meet you," Eric said professionally.
"You can call me Rob," Rob or Robert smiled.
"Chase Roland this is Lea Cooper," Schmidt motioned to Lea who appeared at Charlie's side.
"I'll be showing you around," Lea told the other man. He was taller and light haired. Charlie felt bad for Lea. Chase didn't look anywhere near as friendly as Robert had. But Charlie did his best not to judge the representatives by their looks.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Chase said to Lea as he shook her hand. Lea smiled back and Charlie could have sworn he heard her let out a sigh of relief.
"And last but not least, this is Charlie Weasley. Weasley this is Jessica Sloan," Schmidt finally introduced the last representative. Jessica was intimidating looking to say the least. She had the same dark hair as Robert but it was pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head. Her face resembled Robert's but she lacked her brother's friendly smile. She was petite looking and didn't seem pleased to meet Charlie at all.
"Er, hello," Charlie muttered. He then mentally cursed himself for being so awkward. He figured they should probably shake hands since everybody else had. "It's er, nice to meet you," he said extending his hand. Jessica glanced down at his outstretched hand as if she were criticizing it. Charlie was suddenly aware of how calloused and worn out his hands were. He half expected her to not take it. However she extended her incredibly small hand and surprised Charlie with a firm shake.
"Well now that we've gotten introductions out of the way I suppose we can take a tour?" Schmidt offered brightly. Charlie looked over at his boss. The smile on his face was a little forced but genuine nonetheless.
"Alright," Jessica said pulling out a clipboard with parchment and a quill. The other two followed suit. It became apparent that she was the leader amongst them. Charlie groaned to himself. It was just his luck that he would get assigned to the most important person.
"Alright let's head to the fields first and work our way back," Schmidt suggested as he led the way out of the office building and onto the reserve.
Charlie barely had any idea what Schmidt was showing the representatives. Charlie wasn't exactly paying attention to where they were going. He was more focused on the reactions of the representatives. He watched their faces for scorn or approval. He tried to guess what their observations were as the reps recorded their first impressions of the reserve.
Chase Roland, the blond guy, seemed skilled at keeping his face expressionless. He took all the information in while remaining perfectly impassive. Robert Sloan seemed to always be smiling. However, Charlie couldn't tell if he was smiling because he genuinely liked the reserve or because he was laughing at how awful it was. Rob's sister, Jessica, seemed to have a permanent frown on her face. She narrowed her eyes at Schmidt's every word. She wrote notes, no doubt scrutinizing every aspect of the reservation. Charlie was going to have his work cut out for him.
After showing the reps the fields, research labs, and office buildings Schmidt led the group to the cafeteria.
"It's just about noon," he informed the group.
"Lunchtime," Eric said as his stomach growled a little. Robert laughed good-naturedly.
"I think we should stop the tour at the cafeteria and eat lunch with everyone," Schmidt offered.
"Sounds great," Lea said enthusiastically. Maybe, a little too enthusiastically because Jessica seemed to be narrowing her eyes again.
"Eat with the reps at my table," Schmidt whispered in Charlie's ear. The group made their way inside the cafeteria. They got their food and the reps took even more notes. Eric led the way over to Schmidt's table where they all sat down.
Across the room Charlie could see Jake looking at them curiously. He shrugged his shoulders at his friend who sighed and went off to find other keepers to sit with. Charlie watched as Robert, Jessica, and Chase each examined the food being served before putting some on their plates. Robert looked down at the food with a pleasant expression. He eagerly added food to his plate. Chase was more hesitant, picking and choosing what looked safe. Jessica was the least enthused. She observed the food in the cafeteria with narrowed eyes. Charlie saw her glance at Lea's tray before adding some of what Lea was eating to her plate.
He could already imagine what their critiques of the food on the reserve would be like. Eventually everyone was seated and eating. The usual swell of chatter in the cafeteria picked up and it felt like just another day at lunch…almost. Charlie was unnerved by the presence of the three representatives. He knew Lea, Eric, and Schmidt were as well, even though they all tried to hide it. Everyone was freaking out just a little bit on the inside.
"This is where we have all of our meals," Schmidt was saying. "We have excellent cooks on staff who prepare the food for everybody on the reserve."
"What do you do with the leftovers?" asked Jessica Sloan. Charlie noticed that she had taken out her notepad and was writing down her observations. She now had a pair of glasses perched on her nose as she wrote.
"Save them," Schmidt told her with a shrug. The cafeteria was open twenty-four hours. Although there were only three meals served a day the cafeteria remained open and stocked with various food items just in case someone got hungry and needed a snack. Schmidt was busy explaining this to Jessica and Charlie felt a little guilty. Schmidt had assigned Jessica to him. Charlie should be the one fielding her questions. It was part of his job now. But Charlie was rather unnerved by Jessica Sloan. He didn't know what to make of her. Charlie felt completely ridiculous being intimated by a girl. He was a Gryffindor and a Dragon Keeper for crying out loud. He shouldn't be intimidated just because a beautiful girl has the power to destroy his very way of life.
Jessica had finished questioning Schmidt, put away her glasses and notepad, and returned to her meal. She was now listening to Robert and Chase's conversation looking very intent. Eric was trying to act like he was a part of the conversation so Charlie and Lea figured they should do the same.
"Do you get injured a lot?" Chase asked Lea. Lea looked surprised at being addressed but she recovered quickly.
"It depends on what dragon I'm working with. I just bond better with some of the breeds so those don't injure me as much. But I have gotten my fair share of injuries. It's not a problem. We just head straight to the infirmary and Reese or one of the healers can fix us up," Lea explained.
"Our healer team is great," Charlie agreed.
"You would know," Eric joked. Charlie smiled good-naturedly as Lea explained the private joke to the three newcomers.
"Charlie gets hurt just about every day. He's got more injuries than every keeper in my year put together," Eric told them.
"That's an exaggeration," Charlie tried to defend himself while laughing. It was somewhat true. Charlie got hurt a lot more than the other keepers. But that was only because he did things that everyone else was too scared to even attempt.
"Barely an exaggeration," Lea sighed shaking her head. "He only gets hurt so much because he's the bravest. Weasley does what the rest of us don't want to even try." Charlie smiled at her, grateful for the compliment.
"Is that why your arm is blue?" Jessica asked him.
"Er, actually that's a healing experiment gone wrong," Charlie admitted. He felt as though he could read Jessica's thoughts. She would no doubt be mentally deciding how to describe Charlie's blue arm in her reports. Charlie could just picture it now: Romanian Reserve-inadequate healing techniques. Keepers are often disfigured due to failed experiments.
"What happened?" Jessica continued her questions.
"The healer in charge, Graham, really loves to experiment. Only he doesn't always think all of the experiments through. My arm got burned yesterday and we were experimenting with a way of making burns heal faster but not using a salve," Charlie attempted to explain his blue arm. Jessica nodded and didn't say anything else on the subject. Charlie half expected her to pull out her notepad and start scribbling away about failed healing techniques but she just went back to eating.
"I think the tour is pretty much over," Schmidt said to the three representatives. "All that's left is the actual dragons and our quarters so I'll be heading back to the offices. Wentworth go find Michaels and show Mr. Roland that Short-Snout he's working with. Cooper you can head out to the Longhorn. Weasley, I think Henderson could use some help with the Fireball."
Charlie inwardly groaned. The last thing he wanted to be doing was working with Jamaya. Of course, it was just his luck that he would have to show Sloan one of their most dangerous dragons. She was going to think he was completely incapable of handling dragons. At least Jake would be there.
Charlie looked over at Sloan. She was looking up at him expectantly. Charlie noticed that Lea and Chase were already gone and Rob and Eric were getting up. He sighed.
"Er, follow me this way," Charlie said to her. Jessica and Charlie threw out their trash and put their dishes away. Then Charlie walked over to where Jake was sitting.
"Jake this is Jessica Sloan, one of the representatives from the Department. Miss Sloan this is my friend Jake Henderson," Charlie introduced the pair of them.
"Nice to meet you," Jake said extending his hand for Sloan to shake. She accepted and nodded her head in acknowledgement.
"Schmidt said to go with you when you head back out to Jamaya," Charlie told his friend. "The Fireball's name is Jamaya," he informed Sloan who just nodded.
"Alright," Jake said getting up, "Let's get going then."