Ella Turner stood behind her desk and smiled at her students as they took their seats and prepared for the day. Each student had individual three-dimensional holographic communications technology built into their desks. The holocoms were all integrated into the advanced digital AI system that had been wired throughout the world.

After she had taken attendance, Ella turned to the holographic computer screen behind her desk and slid her finger over the control panel. She brought up the list of today's assignments for her students and she began the first lesson.

Her second-grade students were learning about the history of Draconia and its partnership with Earth. Thirty years ago, the alien race of dragon shifters appeared on Earth.

The Draconians had a genetic abnormality that favored male offspring. Because of this, the dragon shifters needed to mate with other races of women every five thousand years or they would become extinct. Earth was on a rotation with the Draconians to provide brides for their race.

Unfortunately for the Draconians, who had been involved with ongoing military struggles with their enemies, the Mulgor, they had not realized that humanity had advanced both technologically and sociologically since the last time they'd been to Earth.

The first time the Draconians had come to mate with human women, humanity had been primitive and had worshiped the dragon shifters as gods. Finding brides among humans had not been difficult five thousand years ago.

However, when they arrived the second time thirty years ago, humanity had not been as impressed. So the dragon shifters had to offer something in exchange for human cooperation in the mating lottery. That included offering a monetary incentive to the women who signed up for the lottery, and advanced technology for the people of Earth.

Ella continued instructing her students on the history of Draconian-Human relations. Thirty years ago, the advanced technology that the Draconians had offered humanity had backfired. It had been used in a destructive and negative way, requiring the Draconians to become more and more involved with the human race. Finally, after the Mulgor attacked the Earth, the Draconians were forced to help humanity rebuild their devastated planet.

“That's why we have the peaceful world we experience today,” Ella told her students.

“And why haven't you joined the mating lottery?” one of her students said as she raised her hand.

Ella thought about this question for a moment. She had grown up an orphan. She'd lost her parents after the Mulgor attack and had never known what it was like to live in a family.

All that time, Ella had been working for the betterment of humanity and had found a good fit for herself as an elementary school teacher. Because there was less and less need for brides among the Dragon shifters as Ella came into adulthood, there was less incentive to join the lottery. It simply hadn't been on her radar.

“I don't think that's an appropriate question for the classroom,” Ella said to her student.

“But don't you want to find a mate?” her student asked, making all the other second graders giggle.

“That is my personal business and I think we should keep it out of the classroom,” Ella said, trying to keep her cool.

She continued the day’s instruction with the math assignment on her schedule. Her students stopped asking questions about the mating lottery, and Ella tried to put the thought out of her mind. By the end of the day, the question from earlier still wouldn't leave her alone.

As she said goodbye to her students and left her classroom, Ella was in a state of confusion she hadn't experienced in years.

Of course there were still plenty of commercials on television and the Internet advertising the Draconian mating lottery. But for a woman like Ella, it just hadn't seemed like the most reasonable plan.

She walked through the glass-walled building under streaming sunlight, and then outside the front door of the elementary school. She continued to the hover bus stop and waited. With a sigh, Ella tapped her wrist holocom bracelet and brought up her 3D holographic communications system. She had no new messages.

A few moments later, the hover bus arrived and she climbed on board. The hover bus took off and navigated through the skyways between the towering buildings of new Chicago.

The Draconian reconstruction of Earth really had brought about a golden era on the planet. Everything was clean and technologically advanced. People had good jobs and plenty of food to eat. Environmental harmony had been restored. But no matter how good things were on Earth, Ella couldn't push her student’s question out of her mind.

When she arrived home at her little apartment that overlooked Lake Michigan, she sat on her couch and gave her apartment holocom the verbal command to turn on her television screen.

Sitting down on her comfy couch, she watched a reality TV show about a Draconian basketball player and his human wife. It was one of her favorite shows on TV. She had to ask herself why she enjoyed it so much, and her conclusion was that she found the basketball star extremely sexy. Like every other woman on Earth.

As the sun began to set outside the bank of picture windows overlooking Lake Michigan, Ella’s heart sank, thinking of the prospect of spending another night alone. She loved the children in her class and she loved children in general. But living a life alone on Earth was not fulfilling her most basic human needs.

Most human men were too involved in the pleasures of the new Earth to want to settle down and have a family. Ella had been involved in her career and pastimes most of her adult life. But today, for the first time, she was really beginning to think that she needed something more. Just then, a commercial for the Draconian mating lottery came on TV.

“Join the mating lottery and see the stars.”

Ella let out a deep sigh and flicked her wrist holocom. She navigated to the Draconian mating lottery website and began to fill in her information. A moment later, her holocom took a sample of her DNA and added it to the Draconian mating lottery database.

The way that mating worked for the dragon shifters was a lot different than how it worked for humans. Each Draconian had what they called a fated mate. A fated mate was the one person in the entire universe who was genetically perfect for the dragon shifter.

Ella had heard it said that fated mates were not only genetically perfect for each other but also spiritually perfect for each other. Ella didn't know if she believed such things, but over the last thirty years, every human woman who had been matched with a Draconian had experienced a deep spiritual connection with her man.

Within moments, Ella was given her match. She gasped and her hands started to shake with excitement.

His picture came up on the screen, instantly making her mouth drop and her eyes widen. His name was Shay, Water Prince of Galaton. The look in his moss-green eyes instantly melted her heart. She’d never felt such a strong reaction to an image of a man before.

Ella had never heard of the planet Galaton and quickly did an Internet search for more information. She soon learned that Galaton was a distant planet in the Draconian star system. It had been terraformed millions of years ago as a Draconian colony. Now, it was an independent principality ruled over by four princes.

Each Prince represented an element: fire, air, earth, and water. She’d been matched with the prince of water. His lands were a vast ocean on the western part of the planet.

The more Ella learned about Galaton, the quicker her heart pounded in her chest. How could it be possible that she, a humble elementary school teacher from Chicago, could be the mate of the water Prince of Galaton?

Almost immediately she received a text on her holocom.

“You have been matched with a Draconian. Please report to your nearest Draconian Consulate at your earliest convenience.”

This was all happening so fast. Ella had imagined that maybe she would be matched with one of the dragon shifters who’d been born on Earth in the last thirty years. There were plenty of them; the basketball player in the reality TV show playing on her screen was an example of one of them. Nowadays, most girls were being matched with dragon shifters from their home planet of Draconia and traveling through the wormhole to live there.

But instead of a dragon from Earth or Draconia, she had been matched with a man who was millions upon millions of miles away on a distant planet she’d never even heard of.

The more she thought about it, the more nervous she become. Ella didn't know if she was ready for any of this. Maybe it had been a mistake. Now that she had entered the lottery, she had to at least go to the consulate.

In the past, human women were required to spend at least two weeks with their Draconian mate before deciding whether or not they would stay with them. The Draconians had what was called a mating impulse or ‘thrall’ that, if not satisfied, would slowly drive them mad.

No woman had ever chosen not to stay with her mate. But how in the world would she ever spend two weeks with a dragon who was millions of miles away in space? It just didn't seem possible.

Ella rose from her couch and went to the kitchen to use the food replicator. She flicked her finger over the holographic control panel and programmed her replicator to make her a slice of pepperoni pizza for dinner.

A moment later, her pizza popped out of the counter on a plate, bubbling hot with melted cheese. She grabbed her dinner, went to the couch, and continued watching reality TV shows.

Ella ate her pizza and tried to decide what she was going to do. When she was done, she cleaned up and went to her bedroom. She had a big foam bed under her window that she climbed into. She was so confused she had a hard time falling asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see behind them was the sight of her prince’s moss green eyes, staring at her through the vast distances between them.