Dan had never remembered a time where he was so excited. Ann Gouster, the female Rider, had come to talk to his parents. He had been told to go to his room, and would be called if he was needed. Dan had tried to start a book, one he had been waiting for the scribes to finish for months. But even a new book about the origins of magical creatures couldn’t stop Dan from pacing his room, his green eyes gleamed with excitement under his newly cut black hair, wondering what was going on downstairs. At first glance, you knew that Dan spent his time engrossed in books. He was lanky, had a long torso and arms, but was the most uncoordinated person when it came to anything in motion. Dan tripped over his own feet when dancing at court balls, couldn’t hold up a sword at all, and almost got himself trampled when he tried to ride a horse. But none of that mattered now, because what was going on beneath his feet.
“Beneath my feet!” Dan exclaimed, clapping his hands together. He quickly looked around his room, searching for something. That was nearly impossible in Dan’s room, which was covered in papers, books, scrap metal, and all sorts of useless junk.
“A cylinder!” Dan found his prize underneath a pile of metal scraps he had gotten off of a vender in the flea market in the high town. Dan found the thinnest part of the floor, and placed his cylinder so that the open end was face-down. He placed his ear against the other part, and could make out some of what the adults were saying.
“…And I think Daniel might be a good possibility. The time is coming for a new generation to take control of the kingdom’s safety, and the best way is to start fresh, with both ends of the scale coming together to join forces. Just today Rider Corand found a girl who might fit the need, and we have been keeping track of Daniel’s progress, and I think he is the one we need.” Rider Gouster was anxious, no matter how hard she was trying to conceal it. Dan was trying to understand what she was getting at. New generation, safety of the kingdom? Of course Dan was smart, everyone told him that, even though he explained he couldn’t help it. He just loved knowing things, no matter how quirky or strange they were. Dan focused on the conversation, he was missing it.

“I understand your point Rider Gouster, and I respect that, but you simply expect we are going to just hand our son over to you with no warning? I don’t think my husband and I can do that. We understand this is important for Dan, but what about us? As soon as he goes with you, he can never come back to his life as it is now. He will be to busy with his studies and duties to visit.” Take Dan away from his parents? What was going on? What was his mother referring to. Wasn’t Dan already busy up at the castle with his studies with all the scholars and scribes there?

“I can assure you that Daniel will have spare time in which to visit you. Arrangements can be made, and you will see your son, I promise. But I do suggest you take into account how valuable Daniel will be to his kingdom, and how much more he will learn in the field, hands on, and social growth. I don’t mean to pry, but how many of Daniel’s friends come to visit him regularly?”
That make Dan focus. He was always so busy, that he didn’t have many friends. No close friends, that is. By the silence from his parents, Dan knew they were either embarrassed or thinking this over carefully.
“Perhaps this will be good for Dan, Margaret. Maybe we should give this a chance, and see how it works.” Dan’s father was talking directly to his mother. Dan was worried, even though he had no idea what this was, he wanted to go with Rider Gouster, and hoped his parents would let him go.
“Well,…” His mother was deliberating. ‘Please say yes, please say yes,’ Dan chanted silently in his head.
“Maybe you should let Dan decide himself, he has been listening the whole time.” Rider Gouster said, and Dan could hear his parents stand up. He stood up quickly from the floor, and a few seconds later, his father opened up his door.
“I didn’t mean…. I was curious….I thought…” Dan stammered, trying to come up with a good excuse. His father shook his head and smiled.
“Daniel, creative, resourceful Daniel, I should’ve known. You heard most of the conversation, you might as well be a part of it.” His father held open the door while Dan, red-faced with embarrassment, walked down the stairs to the main room where Rider Gouster and his mother were sitting in the black chairs beside the work table. Dan silently took the seat at the table next to his mother, looking down in his lap. He didn’t look up until his father sat down and Rider Gouster started to talk to him.
“Daniel, as you probably heard, I am offering an extraordinary opportunity for you. I am offering you the chance to come study with me and Rider Gouster in the art of magic. There are more details, but I cannot disclose those details to you unless you accept. I am sorry for the secrecy, but it is necessary. The one thing you must know before you make your decision is that once you continue down this path, you can not come back.”
Dan had no idea what this was, or why or how he came to be chosen, but what he did know was that Rider Ann Gouster was offering him the chance to go with her and study with the other Rider, in magic, no less! There was no way he could say no.
“I accept your offer Rider Gouster, it would be an honor.” He said without giving it another thought. To his surprise, Rider Gouster gave him a small, apologetic smile.
“I had a feeling you would say that.” She whispered softly as Dan turned to his parents.
“Mother, Father, can I go? This is the opportunity of a lifetime! Study magic with the best in the kingdom, how can I say no? Please?” Dan was begging, he couldn’t miss this chance at doing magic, something some students dreamed of doing their entire lives.
“Are you sure he’ll be able to visit us?” His mother said directly to Rider Gouster.
“Every week, in his time off if you want.” She replied matter-of-factly.
“Well,” Dan’s parents looked at each other, “Dan, I suppose you’d better go pack your bag” Finished his father.
“Only bring clothes that you can absolutely not live without.” Instructed Rider Gouster as Dan his a jump for joy. “You will not have much room for much else. Every thing will be collected later, so pack only clothes.’” Dan scurried off to his room to stuff as many clothes as he could find into two of his biggest bags.
  As Dan looked for the most essential things he would need, he tried to clean up, or at least organize his room. All of his notes and papers he piled up on top of his text books that might or might not be taken to his new location. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to bring, but he figured that whatever he needed, he could come back and collect in his free time, whenever that was. Ten minutes later, Dan dragged the suitcases downstairs to the main room.
  “I will wait outside,” Rider Gouster said to Dan. She turned and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her.
  Dan turned to his parents. Before he could speak, he was wrapped up in a huge bear hug from his mother. “I love you, don’t ever forget that,” She whispered in his ear. After a minute of crying into his shoulder, she let him go. Dan looked at his father and saw so much pride in his father’s eyes that he was struck for the first time that he was leaving. He might not sleep under this roof again, all because he had been offered the chance to study magic with two people he had never known. He hugged his father, and his mother once more before heading out the door to where Rider Gouster was waiting for him.
  Upon seeing him, she took off walking at a pace that Dan had to almost run to keep up. They walked for a few minutes, going around the south side of the castle, a direction Dan knew led to the Rider’s place. Dan didn’t know what he had expected, probably some explanation of sorts, but Rider Gouster was stone silent. This woman didn’t match what people had said about her. Dan had heard that she was a talkative, sharp woman who kept to the rules, but was always ready for fun, as long as it was the right time. She was known for being a diplomat and often helped the king in foreign matters. Rumor was that she had been close with the king growing up until she had become a Rider, and then became an advisor to the court, along with her Rider duties. But whatever Dan had expected, it was nothing to this silent, withdrawn woman who didn’t so much as look at him as they continued to the black cylindrical building known as the Rider’s Keep. As they approached, Dan noticed that the building had a strange feeling, almost like it was...alive.
  “Buildings aren’t alive,” Dan said skeptically, “are they?” he finished turning to Rider Gouster. She smiled and opened the door for him. As Dan walked into the building, he saw a room much like his own. Red carpeting, green walls that were barely visible under all the stacks of books, paper, and instruments that were everywhere. Open books littered the floor, but there was a definite path to walk through. In the center of the mess was a table with a tall, commanding man that Dan guessed must be Rider Jon Corand. As Dan walked in, he looked up from his work, and Dan saw that Rider Corand had dark brown eyes that, when Corand looked directly at Dan, made him feel like he had just been washed with a cool stream of water, and burned with an intense fire, all at the same time.
  “Welcome, Daniel.” Rider Corand said in a voice that truly made Dan feel welcome, or at least more comfortable.
 “Please, just call me Dan, everyone else does.” Dan hated his given name, it sounded to formal. He watched as Rider Gouster crossed the room and took a teapot off the fire that was flickering quietly in the corner of the room. With just a glance at the cupboard, she made four cups fly out of the cupboard and place themselves in an orderly fashion on the table. She made her way through the piles of books and papers, and poured tea into the four cups. Only then did Dan notice that there was a girl sitting at the table. She had been so silent that he had looked right over her. She had blond hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in years, and she was covered in dirty rags. She was an unhealthy skinny, and she was shaking so much, that Dan was afraid that she would drop anything she picked up.
    “Dan, please have a seat. Jon and I have lots to explain to you and Thalia.” So that was her name, Dan thought, as he placed himself in the only open chair. Rider Gouster offered him a cup of tea, and he took it. As he sipped it, Dan felt a wave wash through him, comforting, settling his nerves, but he felt his mind sharpen, and he felt like he had just woken up from a good night’s rest. He could see that the tea had also calmed Thalia, making her shake less, but she was still twitching.
   Rider Gouster took a breath before starting. “I am not quite sure how to tell you this, so I will try to make it as simple as I can. You were both brought here for different reasons, reasons that neither Jon and I can understand, but we do know we are supposed to teach you.” She looked at them both intently, as if hoping to make them understand. “As you already know, we are Dragon Riders. We are responsible for the peace keeping in this kingdom, and Fate has chosen now for our Dragons to have eggs. I can not tell you how the Dragons knew, but they sent Jon to the lower town today, and told him to bring home the first child that ran into him. Thalia, you are that child.” Thalia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Ann turned to Dan.
   “I was told to go to the castle and talk to the scholars there to find the most promising student. They all suggested you. So here you both are. You cannot help that you are here. The Dragons choose you because they saw something that no one else will ever be able to see. You are the next Dragon Riders.”
  Dan was astounded. He had never in a hundred years expected this. This was by far the best thing that had ever happened to him. He was pretty sure his eyes were as big as saucers, but when he glanced to see how Thalia was taking this news, she was just hugging herself, twitching in her seat. He turned to Rider Corand and Gouster.
  “Your telling me that we’re going to be like you two? Rider Gouster, I don't know what to say.” Dan stammered. He looked from Rider Gouster to Corand
 “You may start with calling us by our given names. I am Jon, just as you are Dan. We are all equals at this table, and will treat each other as such. Understood?” Jon spoke this quietly, but it was projected throughout the whole room. Something about the way he spoke, with so little effort or sound, made Dan immediately see that Rider Corand, -Jon, he corrected himself,- was not a man at be crossed. Dan nodded silently, and turned his attention back to Rider Gouster, Ann, that was going to be weird. He wasn’t used to calling adults by their first names.
  “Dan, I know you excited and anxious to begin, but Jon is right, the four of us are equals there. You both come into this with no experience, and its our job to teach you. And the lessons start now.  First lesson: Call me and Jon by our given names, and we will call you by yours. Understood?” She looked directly at Dan.
  “Second: You do whatever Jon or I instruct you to do. We know what’s best, and we will always keep you safe, so no matter how counterintuitive the order is, you do it.” This time Ann(that was so weird) looked at Thalia, and Dan guessed that she either had hard time following orders, or she had safety issues.
 “All other rules will become clear later as we start going. The last thing I thing I can offer you is do not, I repeat, do not, lie to us. We will always know if you are up to something, and we have stronger magic to tell if you are being truthful. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, if you would both follow me please.”
       Ann stood up and made her way to the door, Dan following close behind. When she reached for the door handle, she turned around and looked back at the table. Dan looked too, and saw that Thalia was still sitting there, staring at her tea cup, like it was about to explode all over her. Jon stood up, and put a soothing hand on her back. Dan couldn’t hear what he said, but it obviously made Thalia more relaxed, and Jon gently helped her out of her seat, and as they walked to the door, Thalia covering her face with her hands, Jon nodded to Ann. Dan could tell there was something very wrong with this girl, but he didn’t know what. Whatever it was, Dan had no time to deliberate about, because as soon as they were out the door, Ann beckoned him to join her, and for the second time that day, they fell into step, but this time they were headed towards the woods.
   Ann walked for a few minutes, and Dan could tell she was thinking hard about something, and finally she turned to Dan and spoke.
  “Dan, you might as well know that Thalia has a very-um-difficult time trusting people, and she has had a rough childhood.” Ann struggled to find the right words.
 “Is that was she was so...twitchy and silent?” Dan asked carefully, hundreds of questions burning in  his mind, but he knew to keep silent and let Ann answer them as she saw fit.
 “Yes and no. She has lived on the streets for as long as she can remember, but she has been abused, almost starved and beaten countless times. So please be careful about what you say to her, and don’t be surprised if she doesn’t answer. Until she gets comfortable with all three of us, I don’t think we’ll be hearing much out of her. Don’t crowd her, let her have space, and don’t force her into anything. I don’t know how she might react to any of that.” Ann sighed, looking worried.
  Dan didn’t say anything, wondering about Thalia. He felt almost guilty for what his first impression had been. She obviously wasn’t just some street orphan that Jon had picked up off the street.
  Dan was so busy thinking about Thalia that he didn’t realize Ann was leading him into the woods until they were in the thick of trees, where barely any light got through.
 “Where are we going?” Dan asked, a little fear creeping into his voice. Ann looked around, as if looking for something, then turned to Dan.
 “You need to find something.” She said simply. “You are going to lead me there.”
 “How?” Dan asked, sounding like a complete idiot.
  “By following your instinct. A good rider doesn’t always need magic or brains. Sometimes good instinct can help more than all the magic in the world.” At this point, Ann stopped talking, showing that she would not say another word on the subject.
  ”Find something, but only with instinct.” Dan started talking to himself like he always did when he was trying to figure out a problem. He was silent for a couple minutes, just taking everything in, that day had been so strange. Being offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance, then told he had to call adults by their first names, and then a girl who was scared of everything, and now he was supposed to find something based on instinct? What was that even? Dan looked around, deciding that he had to find something, he might as well start somewhere. But where? He turned around, looking at all the trees around him, pressing in on him, it was almost claustrophobic.
Then, out of nowhere, a warm wave hit Dan from behind. He spun around, looking for what had hit him, but he saw nothing. A couple seconds later, a wind whipped at him from behind. He looked at Ann, but she was just standing, watching him, smiling encouragingly. Whatever had sent that heat and wind, Dan had a strange feeling in the back of his head that he had to find that. He walked in the direction that the waves had come from. After a few minutes, the same waves hit Dan, but from the side. He switched directions and went that way.
As Dan walked deeper into the woods, he couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever had sent the waves was the thing he was supposed to find. And whatever could project waves of head and wind that far had to be pretty powerful. But Dan was so curious that he had to find it. Shoving his fears down, he continued deeper and deeper into the woods.

A ways away, Jon had given Thalia a similar talk. She was still shaking with fear, and Jon had knelt down to her level, and said, in his most soothing, calming voice,

“I know your frightened, but understand that no harm will come to you while I am around.” This made Thalia breathe deeply, and relax more, but she still could not shake the feeling she was being lead on. “There is a reason you were brought here today, and now you must seek out the thing that brought you here. Follow your instincts, and you will find what you are looking for.”

At that point Jon stopped talking,and Thalia could tell he wasn’t going to talk again. Whatever he had been talking about, she had no idea. Jon was a man of few words, she could tell. After she had blacked out, he had come up to her room to check on her, and revived her with his touch. He had taken one look at her, and brought her downstairs, shaking his head and muttering to himself about Ann being irresponsible and not knowing how to treat a person off the streets. He had sat her down at the table and tried to calm her by giving her food and water. She hadn’t responded well, and after a while, Jon just let her sit in silence, by herself with her thoughts.

Remembering that, she turned around, trying to figure out what she was supposed to find. Maybe if she pretended to act like Jon wanted her to, after she failed to find whatever she was supposed to, he would let her go back to where she belonged. The Lower Town. But something about the way Jon and Ann talked to her made Thalia feel warm inside. SHe’d never been welcome anywhere before, and they found some reason to believe that they were supposed to be nice to her. She wondered why anyone, especially the two Riders, would want anything to do with her. She was just a street orphan who was dirty, and unwanted.
As Thalia tried to figure out why these two could possibly want her to do anything, a present washed over her, like water. She immediately forgot all that she had been thinking about, and whipped around, trying to figure out who had dumped a bucket of water on her head. Jon hadn’t moved an inch since telling her to find that thing, and no one else was around, so it must have been her imagination. But then something else pressed against Thalia. It wasn’t like the pressure of the Pulse that had made her faint earlier, but this pressing was like the leaves of fall with the dirt of the ground. It felt nice, and Thalia found herself, enjoying the experience. But then it left, receding into the forest like an ocean wave. Thalia ran after it, running like she had this morning. She didn’t know why, but she did know that whatever it was, it made her feel good and safe. She had to get that back.
The faster she ran, the faster the wave of comfort receded. Thalia ran through the woods, jumping over branches, bushes and logs in her way. Thorns and leaves ripped at her skin, leaving scratch marks, but she didn’t care. That feeling of comfort and safety kept her going. She had never felt that way before and had to get it back. She ran and ran until her legs gave way underneath her. She looked up, expecting to be alone in the darkest part of the forest, but instead she was in a clearing, a ring surrounded by trees, and in the middle, two stumps with a rock on each. One stump held a rock that was fire-red, with black cracked patters on it, the other was green as grass, with yellow streaks all around. Both eggs were big, about the size of a human baby, but oval and shining like a star that had been magnified a hundred times and contained in a small space that was cramped, so that the energy contained in the rock was about to burst open and burn everything within sight. Thalia had to shield her eyes against the green rock, but the feelings of comfort that had hit her were radiating from the red rock. She picked herself up off the ground, dusted her legs, and slowly walked over the the stump. She cautiously placed her hand on the rock, not expecting anything. Thalia was suddenly enveloped in feelings of comfort, success, warmth, but there was an underlying something of aggression, something that she had never felt before. Her greatest fears were brought up before her eyes, and she saw them all pass by quickly. Thalia tried to pull her hand away from the rock, but she couldn’t. It was as if the rock was holding onto her, and wouldn’t let her go.
‘Don’t be afraid.” a voice said. The rock was speaking to her. ‘No harm will come to you. I promise you that much. You are the one I have been waiting for. You are my Rider, Thalia Banespeak.’ There was no voice that Thalia heard, it was all in her head.
“How do you know me?” She wondered in her head. The voice heard her.
‘I knew you before you were born, Rider Thalia. I have felt you grow up, and now we are united at last. When I am born, we will become a great pair, and you will see me as I truly am.” The voice replied.
“Who are you?” Thalia asked, beginning to get curious, and worried about how this voice had seen her grow up on the streets, fighting for her life.
‘I have no name, that is a gift you will grace me with Thalia, but I am a Dragon, one of a long history, and I choose you to be my Rider because I know you will be great for the kingdom.”
“Me? I am nothing, I am worthless, why would you choose me, of all people? I am a street orphan. I’ve grown up trying to survive on nothing but the hope that something would be better.”Thalia tried to reach out and hear the voice again, but it was gone. Whatever dragon voice had been inside that egg was gone now, and wasn’t answering.

Thalia took her hand off the egg, and stared at its red and black patterns. She traced her finger over the black cracking pattern that was on the blood-red egg. Was this really holding a baby Dragon? Thalia carefully picked up the egg, and to her surprise, it was warm. There was life in there, and now she was responsible for it. Thalia glanced around, hoping to see someway out of the clearing, and saw that during her talk with her dragon, Dan and Ann had entered the clearing, and Dan was looking over the green-blue egg, practically drooling with excitement, his eyes bursting out of his head. Thalia ducked her head, and saw that Jon had also entered. He had probably followed her while she was running, or he already knew that they’d end up here. Thalia decided it didn’t matter, and still carrying her egg, she slowly walked over to Jon, and with a nod, showed him her egg. There was a questioning look in Jon’s eyes, but Thalia didn’t explain. She didn’t trust these people, no matter what they said. The only person she could trust was her dragon growing in her arms, she was sure of that, even though she couldn’t explain to herself why.
Ann joined them, giving Thalia an approving look, and when Dan came up to where they were standing, they all started walking back through the thick of the woods to the Keep.
As they walked, Thalia got the feeling that all four of them were uncomfortable with this. It made her feel better that none of them knew how to act around the other three, but she sensed that Ann and Jon were talking, but without any words. They were glancing at each other ever so often, with different looks. Ann gave Jon a questioning glance, then a few minutes later, he whipped his head around and stared at her like she was crazy. Watching them from the back, Thalia could see them tense and relax as their silent conversation shifted from one end of the spectrum to the other. After about fifteen minutes of this silence, Dan broke the silence with a question.

“How did we know to find these dragon eggs?” Jon and Ann spun around so fast, it seemed like they had forgotten that Dan and Thalia were there. Thalia flinched as she saw the fire in both their eyes, but it disappeared in a second. Her guess about their argument must have been correct. Ann answered Dan’s question as Jon turned back around and kept walking

“Its hard to explain Dan, but the simplest thing I can offer to you is that your eggs knew you were coming, and so sent out energy that followed your trace and then hit you. Sort of like a dog finding a scent, but with invisible forces.”
“That explains why I kept feeling like I there was heat and wind at the same time. but you didn’t react.” Dan said, as if that explained everything. Thalia was completely confused. Heat and wind?
“Yes, halfway there,” Ann kept talking as she started walking, Thalia and Dan following. “ The eggs that you are holding choose you to be their Rider, and so when they sensed that you were close, or in the forest, they sent out their ‘strengths’ which is what you felt. Dan, you said you felt heat and wind, so that must mean that your dragon is strong in the areas of Fire and Air, or it means that it knows you are strong in those areas, and your dragon is strong in the others.”
“But how does it know that?” Dan asked, amazed. Thalia had been wondering the same thing, and was glad that Dan had asked the question. Then Ann launched into trying to explain why and how a Dragon knows your strengths and weaknesses. Thalia was completely lost, but kept walking, trying to follow along, when all she could think of was ‘If dragons know your strengths and weaknesses, why did my dragon talk to me? Am I some sort of madman?’

Dan and Ann turned and stared at Thalia, shocked. For the second time that day, Thalia realized she had spoken aloud. Dan looked even more amazed than Ann did, because it was the first time he’d heard her speak.
“Well, Thalia, I don’t know why your dragon would speak to you, its highly unusual. All dragons do speak to their rider’s through the mind, but to do that while still in the egg is highly uncommon.” Ann was deliberating, but finished on a weak note. “You are lucky, you have such a smart and advanced Dragon. And Thalia, you are not a madman. Your dragon choose you for a very special reason, and I”m sure that will become clear as you begin your studies with Jon and I.”

Ann said no more to either of them because they had reached the edge of the forest and were close to the Rider’s Keep. Thalia saw that the sun was setting behind the castle. She hadn’t realized how much time had passed from the morning in the streets, that was this morning? It seemed like days ago.
Days ago. Thats the last time Thalia had eaten. She was ravenous, and there were delicious smells coming out of the Keep, taunting her nose. Ann lead them to the door, and as they walked in, Thalia saw that Jon already had supper on the table. Stew and a mixture of cooked vegetables with bread and butter. There was even milk for Dan and Thalia. Thalia had never seen such a good meal in her life.
Jon looked at them, with their arms full with their arms full of the eggs they had been carrying since the clearing, and motioned to the fire. Dan hurried over to the fire and placed his egg as close as he could without being burned himself. Thalia followed in suit, reluctant to let her egg go. In the forest she had felt protected by it, and letting it go, even for a good meal, was hard. But the other three were watching her, so she placed her egg next to Dan’s, stood up, and sat down in her earlier seat at the table.
When all four of them had sat down, Jon looked at all of them in turn and said one sentence.
“We are lucky to have each other.”
Ann picked up her spoon and started eating. Dan practically dove into his food, and Thalia took a cautious spoonful of stew into her mouth.
She had never tasted something so good. The vegetables had been cooked just right so her teeth sunk right through them, and the broth was warm and filled her empty stomach like nothing she had ever known. The bread was crispy and soft, and Thalia ate until she was stuffed.

“You both must be tired, you’ve had a busy day” Ann said when they had cleaned up from the meal.
Thalia was used to being tired, but Dan obviously wasn’t, because he was being extremely sluggish. Ann sent them off to bed, showing Dan his new room, and Thalia to hers. Thalia expected to feel the Pulse again, and lit a candle to keep the darkness out of the room. Thalia wanted to think about what had happened that day, but as soon as she lied down on her bed, the only thing she could think of was sleep and that she’d never had a better meal in her life.

Fire cracked and snapped around the whole house. Beams were turning to coals in minutes. There had never been a heat so intense. Flames leaped and ran through the room like rabid animals. The smoke was so thick that it was impossible to see. On the hottest and heaviest day of the summer, a fire blazed out of control in the Lower Town, and it was no normal fire. It had a personality, flicking its red-hot fingers near where Thalia was lying, taunting her and receding. Thalia struggled to get free, but her hands and feet were tied tightly behind her, making escape impossible. She tried to scream for help, but she was gagged, making breathing hard. The slavers who had been planning on selling her had disappeared, leaving her victim to the fire. No one would save her, Thalia knew, no one cared about a lowly street orphan. Her life meant nothing. The flames were getting closer, she could feel their burn on her skin. Flames were wrapping them selves around her body, hotter and hotter…
“Thalia! Wake up!!!” Someone was shaking her shoulders. .she was going to die…”Thalia!”….no one would save her…. “Its just a dream! Wake up!!”
Thalia sat straight up in bed, throwing her arms out, accidentally smacking Dan across the face, knocking him down. She was drenched in sweat, her hair sticking to her back and face, her bedding was soaked, and her pillow was askew, as it it’d been over her face. Her candle was burnt down to the very wick, and her sheets were wrapped tightly around her. Despite being so hot, Thalia started shivering uncontrollably.
Dan stood up slowly from the floor, and looked at her, concerned.
“Are you okay?” He asked hesitantly. After a moment of her not answering, he started towards the door.
“I was in the Streets, I was eight.” Dan turned around. Thalia spoke if she was in a trance, not even looking or acknowledging him, staring straight at the wall ahead of her. “Slavers had captured me, and the inn they kept me in burnt down around me. The owner’s wife reduced me and took me in, but he kicked me out not the street when he saw I didn’t have any money.” Thalia returned to her regular stone like silence, and Dan quietly slipped out of the room and went back to bed, but he didn’t get any more sleep that night.

At first meal the next morning, Thalia was sullen and looked like she hadn’t gotten any sleep. Dan guessed that she had been to scared to go back to sleep after he woke her up. He remembered how she had been screaming only hours before. He was surprised that Ann and Jon hadn’t heard her, but he was closer to Thalia than they were. They were in the top of the Keep, and Dan and Thalia were on the first level. The second level, Dan had guessed, was for studying and other work things.

There was a dead silence over the table, Jon sipping his tea, and Ann studying Dan and Thalia over her grilled eggs and toasted bread. Wanting to break the silence, Dan cleared his throat.
“Ann, what are we doing today?” It sounded stupid, but he had to say something. It worked, Ann turned her attention to Dan instead of Thalia, who was moving her food around her plate.
“I was thinking about that last night Dan, and I think the first thing we have to do is to build a safe place for you to hold your eggs. So, if your both done, just grab your eggs, and we’ll make a pit, build a cage for your eggs to grow in, and make a big fire to…” Thalia went stiff at the mention of a big fire, dropped her fork, and tears welled up in her eyes. Dan could see all the emotions fight across her face: rage, anger, fear, worry, and then tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I’m… I’m sorry.” she breathed, then bolted out the door. Ann stood up to go after her, but Jon put up his hand and shook his head.
Jon turned to Dan. “What was her dream about?”
“You..How did..” Dan looked at both of them, amazed. But of course, how could anyone not hear her scream last night? They just let Dan deal with it because he was closer. Dan cleared his throat.
“She didn’t explain it much, but she said that she was captured, and then her captors ran away, and the inn where she was being held burned down. She was rescued, but thrown out when she couldn’t pay the bill. After that, she wouldn’t say another word.” Dan finished, anxious under the intense stares of the two adults.
“The Lower Town Fire.” Jon murmured. He and Ann exchanged glances, and Ann nodded.
“Raged out of control, spread through half the city, magicians were called to put it out. It was a magical fire and couldn’t be traced to any one location. Very mysterious, believed to have been the work of a Dark sorcerer. That was four years ago, she would’ve been eight?” Ann wondered, a very conceded expression on her face. Then she turned to Jon. “You don’t think…” She whispered.
“It’s a possibility.” He replied, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Then thats why…oh my goodness. This will be difficult for everyone.” Ann looked like she’d just seen a ghost, she was so pale.
“Whats the problem?” Dan asked, unable to understand any of their conversation.
“What Thalia dreamt about is the magical fire four years ago. She was eight at the time. Thats when children with any possible magical powers are brought to the castle for testing. Thats so they are found before its to late. Sometimes we miss a few kids, and we missed her. You both have powers, even if you don’t know it yet, and because Thalia was exposed to a magical fire element, especially such a powerful one, its scared her for life.” None of it made any sense to Dan, but from Ann’s voice, he knew it was bad.
“She has a dreadful fear of fire, and it will get in the way of training. Change of plans for today,” Ann said, looking at Jon again. “ We are to try to get her comfortable with fire.”
“Ann..” Jon said warningly.
“Dan, on the second level, there is a room labeled Fire. Go in there, and find the can labeled ‘Fire Balm’. Also grab fire sticks, you know what those are right? Good, and we’ll need blankets, those are in there too, and…”
 “ANN!!” Jon said with so much force that Dan fell out of his chair in surprise. Jon might have had a commanding presence, but Dan hadn’t thought that he had a voice to go with it.
“She does not want lesson devoted to fire. That will shut her out completely. We continue with the incubators. I will go find Thalia.” Jon swept out the door, and it wasn’t that the door closed behind him that Dan realized they had no idea where Thalia had gone. He hoped Thalia hadn’t run off back to the streets, then picked himself up, turned to the table, and helped Ann clear up from the meal.

Thalia had no idea where she was running, but she knew she was running away. Her legs carried her faster and faster, pounding the ground as tears streamed down her face. She was scared of the dream, of reliving it four years after it had happened. She feared that people would come and capture her, take her to a place, then throw her out. This pattern had happened to many times, and she didn’t want to be hurt again. Jon and Ann seemed different, like they actually cared what happened to her, but she knew in a week or so they would be bored of her, and she would be back on the streets. This made her cry even harder. Then she remembered the Dragon’s voice inside her head. ‘You are safe here.’ What was that supposed to mean? No where was safe. The only way to be safe was to keep moving and keep a low profile. What would she do when she was out of here? Where would she go? Back to the streets, no doubt. Maybe this time she could join a gang. She was small enough, maybe she could be a distraction for robberies.
Thalia was so busy thinking that she didn’t even realize she was headed towards the ocean until she felt the water on her feet. Looking down, she saw she was standing in a foot of water. Sweating and panting, she stood there, taking in the smell and sight of the ocean. The sky was overcast with the morning fog rising up from the water, but the sun peaked out behind some clouds, making the water look as if it was covered in diamonds. Waves rolled in, crashing against the rocks, and the water sprayed up twenty feet, then rained down in a beautiful spectacle, making rainbow on the rocks. The water lapped against Thalia’s bare feet and calves, with a steady rhythm of the ocean’s energy coming in and going out. It was soothing, just listening to the waves crash on the beach, feeling the undertow pull at her feet and coax her out into deeper water. She felt all the ocean’s power, pulling it in a hundred different ways and pounding anything in its path to sand.

Thalia extended her arms, closed her eyes, and breathed deeply. She imagined she was the ocean, roaring over the fire that had almost took her life that one night. If the ocean had roared over the city, the flames would’ve been quenched, and then she could’ve escaped before the slavers found out, or the inn keeper yelled at her for eating food that she had no way of paying for. If she was the ocean, all her enemies would be turned to pulp. The ocean always had life, and came in and out, no matter what. How she wished she could be the ocean. The only things that ever made sense in the world was the ocean and land. They were steady, predictable, constantly there. Nothing else was. The air blew which ever way it wanted, and fire, Thalia blocked that from her mind. She was at peace in the water, no where else, and nothing would stop her from enjoying this one moment of bliss.

“Thalia.” Reluctantly, Thalia came out of her trance, lowered her arms, and turned around. Jon was standing there on the beach, looking at her intently.
“I…had to clear my head.” She spoke to her feet, suddenly realizing that she had no shoes, and was still in her rags from the previous day. No doubt that Dan had all sorts of clothes from his parents, when she had none.
As if in response to her unspoken wish, Jon pulled out a pair of sandals, and a white work shirt and brown pair of trouser pants. He held them out to Thalia, and smiled encouragingly when she looked at him in disbelief.
“It is our duty to provide for what you cannot supply.” He said simply when Thalia ran out of the water and took the clothes from him. He turned around so she could dress, and when she had changed, and her rags were in a pile beside her, Jon turned around and picked them up.
“I am going to dispose of these.” He said simply and set them down, and backed away, Thalia behind him. He glanced at her, then at the clothes, which immediately burst into flames. Thalia grabbed Jon’s arm, knowing that the fire was going to reach out and burn her. Jon looked down at her, and took her hands off his arm, prying them off, because her hand had turned white.
“It won’t hurt you, I promise.” He comforted her, patting her hand, took a deep breath, and kept talking.
“Thalia, you are going to start your incubator today. You don’t have to use any fire, just build the frame, and the fire will come later.” She nodded. Jon put his arm around her shoulders and lead her in the opposite direction of where the pile of rags was smoldering on the beach. Before she left, Thalia glanced back at the clothes, and all that was left was a pile of coals that would be washed away in the incoming tide.

The area where they were to built their incubators was a field. It was a good distance from the Keep, but close enough so that if anything was needed, it could be attained in under ten minutes. It was behind the castle, and close to other arena’s that Thalia guessed were used to train knights and squires, apprentices, and soon, she thought, dragons with two twelve year olds on their backs. Thalia pushed any thoughts of that out of her mind, she needed to focus and get through this, whatever it was. Dan and Ann were already there, Ann coaxing some coals to burn underneath a big slab of granite. Jon strode over to her, and pointed at the coals, said one word, and they got significantly hotter. Dan was trying to make a pile of rocks, but having no luck because he kept drooping them , and from the look on his face, he couldn’t pick them up again. Thalia took pity on him, and walked over to where he was and picked up a slab of rock and piled on top the others he had stacked up. He looked at her, sweat dripping down his face
“Thanks a ton.” He said, panting. Thalia had no idea why he was sweating like a pig. The rocks weren’t heavy at all. She looked at him skeptically, but just then Ann called them over.
Jon and Ann stood facing them, their faces unreadable, and they began to speak.
“You have both been chosen for a very important purpose.” They spoke simultaneously, which was hard to listen to, it felt like pure pressure on your ears. It was difficult enough listening to them individually, but together, Thalia barely resisted the temptation to cover her ears.
“For resins unknown, you have been chosen by dragon eggs to be the next Riders. Do not take this lightly,” They both looked directly at Dan, “This is and honor and responsibility. To properly become united in mind with your dragon, you will be responsible for the care and raising of your dragon. The first duty to accomplish this is to build the incubator where your dragon will hatch. YOu must inscribe your weaknesses and strengths into the stone. All your fears, embarrassments, accomplishments, hopes, dreams, you must tell your dragon so they can know you better than anyone else. If this does not happen, your dragon will not be receptive to your requests.” Thalia saw Dan shudder beside her. She guessed that some Rider’s had ended badly due to this.
“For this to properly happen, you must first hatch it, and this is done through an incubator that you will make on your own. You will find all the supplies you need in those two piles over there,” They pointed at the same time. “And tools are set up at the two stations.” Thalia craned her head and saw two identical stations set up with an assortment of tools at each. “If you need any assistance, ask, and it will be given. But be warned. There is only so much assistance you can be given.” Jon and Ann stopped talking, and seemed to come out of a trance. Thalia wasn’t sure how or why she thought that but it didn’t matter, because this was just another one of their attempts to show her that she was welcome. Thalia had to hand it to them, they were doing a good job of getting her ‘adjusted’. This was just a stage, Thalia knew. She was just waiting for them to get to the point of throwing her out. If this was how they were acting after a day, she guessed they’d be done with her by the next week.
But this incubator sounded counteractive to what would actually happen, Thalia thought as she walked over to the station where she saw her dragon egg. Why would someone be so kind to her, and even give her an egg that talked to her, if they weren’t going to keep her? It made no sense. Thalia picked up her egg, and traced her fingers over the complicated and overlapping patterns. Thalia was so confused, she didn’t know what to think. Her gut was telling her not to let her guard down, because that was when she would get hurt.
“You won’t be hurt. I promised you that.” It was the voice again! Thalia almost dropped the egg in surprise.
‘Why are you in my head?” Thalia asked. ‘Your not even real yet.”
“I am real, Thalia Banespeak, just not yet born.”
“But you can’t be. This isn’t true. I am going to be thrown out into the Streets again after they get tired of me. You can’t exist.” This was freaking Thalia out.
‘I may not be breathing yet, but I can assure you, I am real as I will ever be. Let me prove it.” Then without warning, Thalia felt a flood enter her body through her hands. It was a memory flood, images flashing through her mind of her own past. Running away countless times, getting caught and beaten even more times, starving and begging off people in the market, watching and loathing every royal and privileged child that she saw, trying to make friends who just took advantage of her skills, being taken in my orphan houses and ‘hospitable’ families, then being thrown out over unexplainable circumstances. Those odd experiences that she couldn’t explain. Starving and then finding a way to get food, being in dire places and then getting out.
“I know all about everything you have ever done, Thalia. I choose you to be my Rider because I knew you had potential to be great. All I ask is that you trust me when I say that these people will help you. If you cannot do that, then you have failed before you have even started.” The voice left as suddenly as it had come. Thalia stood there, hand poised above her egg, not moving. For some reason, she felt connected to the voice that was in the egg. Somehow, she trusted it. Why, she couldn’t decipher.
She looked around at the area where she was supposed to build an in-cube-a-tor, whatever that was. Deciding she had to start somewhere, Thalia put down her egg on the work table, cleared space for stone, and rearranged the tools into two groups: the ones she’d seen before and the ones that looked dangerous. She walked over to the rock piles and picked up two blocks of stone that looked promising, and laid them down on her table. She looked at her egg, then at the rock slabs, and was lost. Thalia walked back over to the rock piles, and noticed a couple piles of stones that were sitting beside the big piles. Some stones were blood-red, others ocean-blue, some clear, and some were green and brown. She grabbed a small assortment of them all, and walked back over to her workspace.
Jon and Ann had made some comment about strengths and weaknesses, and so Thalia just started playing around with the stones and put them in different patterns and designs. She knew she was good with water, it had calmed her earlier, and she was good at evading and escaping people. But how was she supposed to show that, and her dragon, or whoever the Voice was, already knew that. Thalia arranged the blue stones in a way that reminded her of waves, calming and soothing with an undercurrent of power.

She turned around to see if anyone was anywhere close so she could get them to help her understand this process, one had still on her stone. Jon and Ann were digging a big pit in the end of the field, and Dan was busy making his incubator. As Thalia looked, Dan took two slabs of stone, held them, and put his hand over them. He took his hand off, and Thalia expected to see the stones fall, but instead, they stayed up, and they were cemented together.

Thalia did a double take, and looking closer, she could see that he had melted the stones together. She watched carefully as he did it again with another stone. He ran his hands over the two stones, and they melted under his touch, and cemented together. Thalia looked up at his face, and saw he was concentrating hard, his eyes scrunched up. How had he done that? Thalia wished she could put her stones together like that.
She turned around, amazed that Dan had been able to do that, and saw that her blue stones had melted into the big stone. She pulled her hand away, and let out a gasp. It was louder than she had expected, and Ann hurried over to see what was wrong.
“What happened?” She asked, concerned. Thalia just pointed.
“Oh, you’ve discovered how to melt rocks.” Thalia was shaking her head. “Oh, well, its fairly simple. You arrange your stones so you have them how you want them to look, then you keep your hand over them and wish them together. Almost like talking to the rocks, but you have to be polite, otherwise they won’t respond.”
Thalia picked up the brown and green rocks she had piled up, and nervously arranged them in the image of a tree. Feeling silly, she placed her hand over the image, closed her eyes and wished them to combine. Not knowing what else to think, she imagined the green rocks melting into the granite, and then all the slabs of granite going together in a box formation, with all the comforting images of what she could do well. She saw a great picture of what she would make when she was done.
Opening her eyes, Thalia saw that she hadn’t just combined the green rocks and the granite. She had made the whole box of the incubator, and it had all formed around her egg. She glanced at Ann, who was looking at her work approvingly. Thalia suddenly felt drained, like someone had taken all of her energy at once. She wobbled and almost fell, but Ann caught her under the arms.
“Whoops! I forgot how taxing magic can be if you haven’t used it before.” She helped Thalia regain her balance. “It requires lots of energy, and needs reserves to work properly. You’ve done enough for one day, and oh my goodness! Its almost noon! I lost track of time, you spent almost and hour in that trance putting your incubator together.” Ann rushed off to get Dan to stop working, and by the look of his face when Ann lead him over, he’d used quite a bit of magic. His face was drained off all color, and he held his arms like they were full of lead and too heavy to life. Dan dragged his feet, and looked like a deadman. Thalia hoped she didn’t look that bad, but she felt awe full, like she could sleep for a year and still be tired. Was this how magic felt? How did anyone deal with it, and why would they want to always feel like this?

Thalia had no idea, nor could she explain to herself what had happened when she used magic. She had just imagined something, and the image had been so strong that it had just…happened. Ann helped them get their stations organized, and then helped them walk to where Jon was digging the pit. One look at Dan and Thalia, and Jon dusted himself off, put down his shovel,and they all walked back to the Keep for the noonday meal.

The meal was quiet as Dan and Thalia tried to get over the magic drainage they had both experienced. Dan kept shoving food into his face like he’d never been fed. Thalia guessed she couldn’t’ve looked much better, because no matter how many plates of vegetables and meat, slices of bread, or pieces of fruit she had, she still felt hungry. It wasn’t like the other times she’d been close to starved, because those times she’d just gotten been able to fill her stomach. This was different. The food she ate was just gone. Thalia kept eating, and after more food than she’d ever eaten in her whole life, Thalia began to fill up. She also noticed that the tea that Jon had made had replenished her energy, mostly.
When she finally finished, she saw that Ann and Jon had been finished for a while. Dan had also noticed this, because between mouthfuls, he managed to ask questions.
“Why do I feel like I’ve had all my energy taken away? All I did was melt rocks together, nothing compared to what great magicians do.”
“Its a fairly simple answer, Dan.” Ann answered. “ You have never used magic before, so therefore, the amount of your energy needed to make those magical events happen is greater than experienced magicians. Once you get used to doing magic often, you’ll build up reserves of energy and not as much energy will be spent. For now, you are restricted to small magic tasks, but you do need your energy, so eat as much as you need.” Dan finished up, and Thalia stood up and grabbed her dishes, and went over to the water bowl and cleaned off her plate, thinking about how drained she had been before eating. She knew reserves were hard to build up, because she had been building up reserves of energy for years, for running away from all the owners of shops in the lower Town. She had done one act of magic, imaging things to go together, and she had been drained of all of those reserves.
“This afternoon you start your magic studies with the scholars of the castle.” Ann informed them, cutting off Thalia’s thoughts. Dan’s face light up so fast, it appeared that he would go through the roof.
“They are going to teach you the basics of magic theory, and the logic behind magic use, the history, ecetra.. Jon and I can’t teach you any of this, so until you build up more energy to use in magic, we can’t run you into the ground. I know its sudden, and all of this is a lot to take in, but it needs to get done soon, so we can focus our energy and time on your dragons.”
Thalia’s mind didn’t comprehend any of this. She was still stuck on the fact that she would have to be in a room with scholars and smart people her own age. What if they found out…

“I can’t read.” She said that part aloud, to herself mostly, but also as a question. Ann went stone-silent, looking at her like she’d just offend Thalia in the most awful manner. Dan looked shocked, like she’d just grown two heads, and Jon, well, he didn’t look surprised at all. Nothing seemed to faze him, Thalia noticed.
“I’m so sorry Thalia, I didn’t realize. I…I’m sure the scholars can find something for you to do, and if not… then I suppose,...” Ann stumbled, obviously not knowing how to deal with this new prospect.
“We’ll teach you ourselves.” Jon finished for her, giving Ann a penetrating look. He said something through his eyes, and Ann’s expression changed from puzzlement to optimism.
“Of course, Jon and I will teach you everything, including basics.” Ann then busied herself with searching for books, paper, and drawing boards. Jon cleared the table from the meal, with Dan and Thalia helping clean up, then cleared a huge pile of books from a small table and pulled it up to the big center table. Ann disappeared upstairs for a few minutes, then came bustling down, her arms filled with goods. She spilled the huge books, pages of blank paper, ink bottles, quills, white grains sticks and green drawing boards.
Ann stood up, and mentioned for Dan and Thalia to sit down. Thalia hesitantly took a seat amazed that Ann was actually going to try and teach her to read. No one had ever done that before, but Thalia also put her guard up, because something didn’t seem right here. She was not staying here, no matter what anyone, even her dragon said, so why.. These people will help you… The voice echoed in her head. Thalia didn’t trust Ann or Dan, she still wasn’t sure if she trusted Jon or not, but she did trust the voice, so she’d deal with it.
“So I guess we need to start at the very basics with you, Thalia. Dan,” She said, opening a book, flipping pages to find something. “Copy this passage, paraphrase it, and write a short analysis of it and how it relates to our studies of magic.”
Dan began scribbling furiously with his quill, and Ann turned to Thalia. “I honestly don’t know how to tackle this.” She confessed quietly, so only Thalia could hear her. “I suppose we could start with learning the Alphabet. The alphabet is a way of communicating. With the alphabet, you can communicate without speaking a single word, all through paper.” She picked up a book with a title on it. “By knowing the alphabet, we can make words and have them make sense. This book, for example, reads The Rider’s Learner. I know that because I know how the alphabet works, and from these marks on the book, I can tell what word those letters make and how to pronounce them. Do you follow that?.” Ann tried to explain, but she might have made the table understand better, because Thalia looked at her like she was talking a different language.
Seeing this, Ann tried a different tactic. SHe pulled out a paper from under a book and made marks on it, then turned it so it was facing Thalia.
“These are the first three letters of the alphabet. This is A,” she pointed to a triangle with a line through it.
“This is B,” she pointed again, this time to two balls piled on top of each other,
“C” This one looked like an unfinished circle.
“These letters are in different words, but have the same sounds. For example,… A is in the word dragon. dr-A-gon, hear the ‘ah’ sound? Thats the letter A, and thats the sound it makes. B is in Baby, Ba-By, with the ‘buh’ sound, understand?”Thalia didn’t understand, but she nodded anyway. These sounds and letters didn’t make sense to her, but glancing at Dan, his quill working furiously as he hunched over the page, they apparently had some meaning.

All afternoon, Ann tried to get Thalia through the Alphabet. She tried to get Thalia speaking the words and sounds back to her, but Thalia would speak one word, then get red-faced and stop talking. Dan copied, analyzed, and applied many passages from books, and that seemed to shut Thalia off even more. She was embarrassed she didn’t know anything, and that Dan could read and already had years of education that she didn’t. About mid-way through the afternoon, Ann sent Dan away with Jon to work on harder things, but she didn’t say what.

She continued going through the alphabet, and when she finally did, she asked Thalia to repeat the letters she remembered. Without thinking, Thalia repeated the whole alphabet back to her without missing a single letter, or batting an eyelash.

“Very good Thalia! I didn’t know you had such a good memory! Fantastic!” Ann looked reenergized after three hours of struggling through the alphabet. “Do you remember what they all sound like?” Thalia slowly shook her head, but Ann wasn’t convinced. She looked around the room.
“Book. What letter makes the “kuh” sound?”
“K.” Was the immediate reply.
“How about the ‘buh’ sound?”
“B.”

And so it continued throughout the rest of the afternoon. Ann quizzed Thalia on the sounds and their letters. As She asked questions, she kept a tally of what they were doing, Thalia noticed. Ann would ask a question, then write something down and ask another one. It wasn’t until Dan and Jon came down from the upstairs level and started a fire that Thalia noticed that the sun was setting an it was getting dark. Ann seemed to be impressed with the improvements that Thalia had made in that afternoon, and got up to clear off all of the papers and books she had used with Thalia. She was looking at something, when a spark ignited in her eyes. Ann turned to Jon, wide-eyed, and said:
“ Where are Galen and Aaloni? They’ve been gone for a few days now, and I haven’t been able to reach either of them.”
“I’m sure they’re on their way back. They know their eggs are near to hatching. They wouldn’t miss Hatching for anything.” Jon spoke with confidence that seemed to put Ann’s mind at rest. Dan looked at them with a questioning look in his eyes, and then at Thalia, silently asking her if she had any idea what they were talking about. Thalia busied herself with the papers she’d been studying as to not get involved in the conversation.
“Excuse me Ann, but if you don’t mind me asking, who are Galen and Aolani?” Dan asked cautiously, not wanting to offend either of them.
“Our Dragons.” Jon answered in a tone that seemed to answer of Dan’s unspoken questions. Jon turned to the cupboard where he took out spices, knives, and a small, battered recipe book. After flipping through it for a second, Jon found what he wanted and walked into the back pantry.
“They left for an important mission, and they’ve been gone for over a week.” Ann still looked worried. She looked down for a moment, then put on a brave smile, and had Dan and Thalia set the table for the evening meal.

When he went to bed that night, Dan’s head was still buzzing from the things he had learned that day. He had done his first magic, and learned loads about the history of magic, Riders, and evil magicians. Throughout the whole afternoon, Jon had lead him through dozens of books, having him take notes, and testing his knowledge on the history of it all. Dan noticed many things during that time, most about the way Jon acted in response to different things. Any question about how magic worked, and Jon would change the subject. Dan also noticed that Jon only said the very minimum. Strong and silent was how Dan classified him. But even though Jon had said very little, Dan felt like he understood more when Jon didn’t speak. It was almost as if his tone of voice, his body language, and eyes said it all for him.
Dan thought of one passage he had been studying, about a particular magician and hadn’t quite understood his reasons for starving himself to study a particular reaction in the magic, and Jon had said one word: Understanding, and Dan had understood all of it.
As he lay in bed thinking about it, Dan glanced over and saw the history book he’d been working out of on his bedside table. He hadn’t finished a passage, and just as he reached over to pick up the book, he heard voices outside his door. They weren’t Jon or Ann, and Thalia didn’t talk much at all, so it couldn’t be her.
Dan carefully climbed out of his bed, and tiptoed over to the door. The voices were there, but they were inaudible. Dan quietly opened the door, and peaked out into the hallway, but none was there. He closed the door, confused. He looked around his room, but there was nothing there. Again he heard the voices, inaudible, but there. Dan walked around his room, listening closely. He walked in the direction of the voices, and found himself at the window. The voices were loudest here, but there was no way to open the window, because it was built into the side of the Keep. This was because, Jon had told Dan, so that heat, magic, and dangerous gases wouldn’t escape. THere was strong magic protecting the Keep, and so the windows had to hold it all in, and protect the people on the outside from dangerous magic and spells. Dan tried to look down as best he could, and saw little people outside the window.
“Pixies!” He breathed to himself. They were five inch tall miniatures of humans, if humans were stick skinny, had two inch wide sparkling wings that were as long as their body, had huge ears, almost bigger than their heads, and were filled to bursting with magic. Pixies were known for their healing skills, and were also mischievous creatures, but for some reason that pricked the back of Dan’s brain, these pixies weren’t here for either of those reasons. So then why were they outside his window?
One of the pixies, wearing a brown leaf-shirt and grass pants spotted Dan watching them, and pointed to the other pixies. They all saw him, and their faces brightened. They flew straight towards the window, and just as Dan thought they were about to splatter on the side of the Keep, they were in his room.
Dan did a double take. Then even more surprising, the pixie that had spotted him started speaking.
“Greetings Daniel Wilmont. I am,” The pixie uttered a sound only pixie hears could understand “... of the pixie realm. I have come to congratulate you on your acceptance to this highly regarded position.” He looked at Dan, expecting some response.
“I wasn’t accepted to this position.” Dan said confused, what was the pixie talking about?
“Ignorant child. Have you not been listening to your masters? You were chosen to be the next male Rider, a great honor not to be taken lightly. My fellow chamber members are here with me to inform you what you accept by continuing your studies. By continuing with what you are currently doing, hatching a dragon, you are pledging your life to the peace and protection of this kingdom. The dragon you will hatch will be your other half, and you and your partner , Thalia Banespeak, will continue the work of Annatha Gouster and Jonathan Corand. You do not know this yet, but you have a great career ahead of you.” At this point the pixie searched around in his bag that was at his side, looking for something. He pulled out a small flask, a tiny thing that Dan could’ve wrap his hand around.
“There is little I can tell you, but take this,” He said, offering the flask to Dan. Dan took it and saw it was filled with pink-blue liquid.
“It will assist you in the healing of Thalia Banespeak.” The pixie said. Dan looked at him, shocked.
“What are you talking about?” He asked, bewildered.
“Thalia Banespeak has been seriously injured by malicious people her whole life. If she is to fulfill her full potential, she must first be healed of all previous encounters with evil. It blocks her thinking, makes her fear everything, so she can not discern the line between good and evil. The healing we pixies will administer to her is a sedative that will begin in her dreams, and calm her mind, and relieve her unconscious fears, and those will transfer over to her conscious behaviors. Be warned. This process takes many months, and we pixies ask that you have patience, as this must be done carefully and with precision. It is the only way to ensure that she can achieve her full potential.”
“Why did you come to me? I mean, why not Jon or Ann? They would be better to ask about this.” Dan’s conscience was telling him something sounded wrong about this.
“You are the one who will be working with Thalia Banespeak for the rest of your lives. Corand and Gouster would say that it is better to let nature run its course, and let Thalia deal with her problems on her own. They would want to help her without using magic.” The pixie spoke in a voice that sounded like he hadn’t had good encounters with Jon and Ann in the past.
Dan deliberated over this proposal.
“Thalia defiantly needs help. But its not up to me to decide if she should be healed like you are offering. Jon and Ann knew more about Thalia than he did, and if they knew better, then maybe you should let them try their way first.” Dan told the pixie, who looked like his heart had just broken in two. “So thank you, but I don’t think Thalia wants strange pixies invading her mind when she’s scared of her own shadow.” He offered the pink flask back to the pixie, who put his hand up.
“Keep it. If you ever change your mind, just place a drop of the potion in the corner of her eyes, and we will feel the potion take effect and come to help with the rest.” With this, the pixies turned and flew out the walls of the Keep like they’d come in.
Dan stood there for a minute, taking in what had just happened, then went over to his wardrobe, took the potion and stuffed it deep into the drawer. He wasn’t using that any time soon. Thalia was already over her head in just learning her letters. She didn’t need ‘healing’ put into that anyway.
Besides, thought Dan, climbing back into bed, Thalia lived on the Streets her whole childhood. She’d survived without help, and now she had help, whether she accepted it or not. She was tough, Dan was sure of that. She could handle anything thrown her way, even if it wasn’t the best way. Dan rolled on his side, deciding that Thalia could look out for herself, and the pixies were wrong about her.

“HHHHHHHEEEEELLLPPPP!!!!!” A few hours later a scream pierced Dan’s ears. It came from the room across the hall, and Dan jumped out of bed. It was Thalia, he knew in an instant. The scream came again, and it seemed like she was in pain. Dan rushed out the door, across the hall, and burst into her room. For the second night in a row, Thalia was twisted in her sheets so she couldn’t move, but she was still thrashing around. She was screaming for help, and crying at the same time. She didn’t have any candle or light in the room, but her pillow was over her face, but it didn’t seem to be affecting her voice. Dan grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her.
“Thalia! Wake up! Its only a dream! Thalia! WAKE UP!!!!” Thalia’s eyes snapped open, and she saw him standing over her. She was still shaking violently, and tears were streaming down her face. It didn’t scare Dan that she was crying, or that she hardly talked, but could scream that loudly, or that this was the second night in a row this had happen. No, what scared Dan most about Thalia now was the look of pure fear and panic in her eyes, like someone had tried to take her life. Dan slowly helped her pull out the sheets that were wrapped so tightly around her. Dan wanted to ask about her dream, but he knew that she had had the same dream.
Once Thalia was untangled from her sweaty mess of sheets, Dan looked at her face, trying to judge if she’d calmed down. That look she’d had early was replaced by hopelessness and anxiety. She looked almost like a lost puppy, who had never known the love of a family. Then it struck Dan. Thalia had never had a family. She didn’t know what love felt like. All she knew was abuse, hardship, and poverty. People had never been kind or sympathetic to her. That dream she’d had, about the fire, was proof of that. If she truly had as much magic in her as Jon and Ann kept saying they did, then the innkeeper, or whoever reduced her, would have seen this and taken her to the palace. But instead they threw her out on the streets.
“What happened to your parents?” Dan immediately wished he could swallow his words as soon as they left his mouth. Thalia started crying again, and this time she put her head in her hands, and her whole body was shaking. Not knowing what else to do, Dan sat beside her, and put his had on her shoulder. She stiffened abruptly and turned to him.
“Listen, I’m sorry I asked, but I know you’ve gone through hard times, and this is totally new for you, but I’m here for you. I sound like an idiot most of the time,” Thalia sniffed, “but we’re in the same boat here. We’re supposed to help each other out. I ‘m not much of a deep emotions person, but I can talk and sound stupid, it that helps.” At this, the corners of Thalia’s mouth turned up. This encouraged Dan.
“You know, it sounds stupid, but I think this building is alive.” He hoped this would get a laugh or smile out of her, but instead she turned dead serious. Wiping tears off her face with her sleeve, she spoke in a shaky voice.
“It pulses.” She pointed all around at the walls and door. “Everywhere.”
“No way!” Dan was relieved that she’d stopped crying. “I thought I was going crazy. Its like a constant pulse through the building like a heart, almost.”
“It pounds on my head, trapping me.” Thalia whipped her nose, and imitated with her hands.
“Not trapping, more like pounding on your head with a jackhammer.” Dan pretended to hit himself with a hammer. This managed to get a chuckle out of Thalia, and a small smile remained on her face.
“Between us, I think this building’s full of magic to make it hard for magic to escape. Jon told me thats why the windows are build directly into the walls. I think it also makes it harder for bad guys to get in. Imagine,” Dan said jumping up, trying to cheer Thalia up even more, “ a evil magician prowling around at night, seeing the Keep, creeps up, thinking to break one of the window, creep in and steal as much as he ca, but then he touches the side of the Keep, and gets shocked!” Dan acted it out, jumping back and shaking his hand. Thalia managed a giggle, and Dan noticed she had a nice smile. She looked considerably better when she smiled. Dan continued to act crazy and bounced around her room, making her laugh and forget her dream.
It was getting light out when Dan finally stopped. Both he and Thalia were rolling on the floor, clutching their sides, rolling on the floor laughing. When they finally had a handle on themselves, Dan stood up and pulled Thalia to her feet. She had a huge smile on her face, and if he hadn’t known better, Dan would’ve thought that she was a generally happy person.
“Thank you Dan.” She said seriously. “For making me laugh. I forgot how wonderful it feels.”
“Your welcome. Between the two of us, you needed it.” She smiled, and Dan noticed that she actually looked optimistic about the coming day.
“Hey, are you hungry? That laughing gave me an appetite. Race you downstairs.” Dan ran out of the door, Thalia following close behind. They raced down the stairs to the main room where Ann and Jon were already sitting, pouring over books. They both looked up as Dan and Thalia pounded down the stairs. Dan expected to be reprimanded about running down the old weak stairs, but Jon and Ann took one look at the smile on Thalia’s face, then at Dan, and raised their eyebrows.
“Whats this about? Its early.” Jon asked, glancing out the window. The sun was just peaking up over the horizon. Dan opened his mouth to talk, but was cut off.
“I had a nightmare, and Dan cheered me up.” Thalia said. She still had a smile on her face, and the three others stared at her. Dan was gaping at her. True, they had just spent two hours laughing in her room, but still.
“So thats why we heard all sorts of noise. I figured it was something like that.” Ann said. “ Do you two want morning meal?” They both nodded. Ann laughed then set them a place at the table. As they ate, she explained the day’s plan.
“ I think today’s plan looks something like finishing up your incubators, and then studies in the afternoon.”
“Squires start training today.” Jon interjected, and Ann looked at him.
“Is it too soon?”
“Dragons hatch in a month after incubator is constructed.” Ann deliberated for a minute.
“Okay, I lied. We’re going out to work on the incubators, then as soon as your finished with those, then we’ll go see about physical training with the pages and squires of the castle.

After their morning meal, Dan and Thalia returned to the field where they had been the previous morning and continued their work. Thalia had the basic structure down, but she just had to put the finishing touches on it. Dan saw her talk into her incubator, then close the top and place it in the pit Jon had finished digging. Dan turned to his incubator, and looked it over. The outside designs had stayed, and they looked great, in Dan’s mind. He opened the top of the incubator, and looked in on his egg. He placed water and earth stones in around the egg, closed his top, and picked up the whole thing. Dan carried it over to the pit, and Jon helped him place it in the pit next to Thalia’s. Jon placed wood around the incubators, and straw on top of it all. With an intense look at the straw, flames leapt up and ate at the wood and straw like hungry animals.
The four of them watched the flames burn. Dan looked over at Thalia, and saw that while she was still shrinking away from the flames, she wasn’t about to faint or run away. When the flames had burnt down to coals, Jon instructed them to cover the pit with dirt, so Dan and Thalia grabbed the shovels that were beside the pit and threw dirt on the coals.
“Those coals will keep them warm for a month. Then when they are ready, they will hatch.” Jon explained.

By the time that all the tools, extra rocks, and benches had been cleaned up from the field, it was almost time for the midday meal. When Dan complained that he was getting hungry, Ann looked at him funny, then mentioned for him to follow her, and walked towards the woods. They hadn’t gone far, before Ann stopped at a bush. She pulled a container from her robe and handed it to him.
“Okay, Dan, survival skills first. What berries and roots are edible and which will kill you?”
Dan just stood there. He had never learned this. His mind began racing for any information on roots and berries that the scholars had mentioned. Beryl, a scholar of earth, had mentioned something about this before, and he struggled to remember what she had said. He closed his eyes and focused.
While Dan’s mind tried to remember the components of a poison and how to spot it, Thalia had followed them into the forest, and took a container from Ann, and seemingly picked a bunch of berries without thinking, and avoided the ones that were poison. Only when she tapped Dan’s shoulder did he open his eyes. She offered him the container.
“Sometimes instinct works better.” She picked out a plump blackberry and popped it in her mouth. Dan was dumbfounded, and taking pity on him, she pointed out the berries and roots that were edible. It was fairly simple, Dan realized. The ones that were edible had a different look and feel than the poison ones. Dan still was amazed that Thalia knew more about it than he did.
“Where did you learn this?” He asked as she pouted out a red berry under a bush that he never would’ve spotted.
“When your starving, you learn to find food.” She said simply.
After they had eaten their fill of berries and roots, Ann lead them out of the forest and gave a container to Jon.
“Training starts in an hour, I asked the training master.” Jon stated.
“Are you absolutely sure about this?” Ann questioned, a concerned look on her face. Jon just nodded, and Ann turned to Dan and Thalia.
“I guess your starting physical training earlier than I expected. The basic training that you need will be taught by the castle training master, and it will give you an opportunity to meet the squires that you will be fighting alongside later on. I ask that you try not to start any fights and be aware that the squires will not like Rider’s apprentices, so be careful.”
Jon started walking in the direction of the castle, and they hurried after him. Dan wondered what the training would be like, and if he would be any good at it. Dan wasn’t known for his physical abilities, he could barely run in a straight line. The one thing Dan didn’t want to do today was kill himself, or worse, embarrass himself beyond usual measures. But, Dan thought to himself, its only training, how bad could it be?

It didn’t hurt that much… it was worse. Dan had never felt so sore or worse in his life. Every time he moved, his muscles screamed in pain. He couldn’t sit down, his but wouldn’t let him, and his legs were about to collapse. When they had walked into the Keep after training, Jon and Ann took one glance at Dan and Thalia, then set to work making solutions and bandages to help them. Dan couldn’t remember a time where he felt so stiff, loose and awful all at the same time. As he sat down slowly, He went over the afternoon in his head.

Jon had left them with the meanest looking man Dan had ever seen.He had a thick build, with legs and arms bigger than anyone’s Dan had ever seen. Dan was pretty sure this man ate a whole cow for a lunch, and could snap his arm in two. This man was Gacjock, the training master of the knights and squires. Dan had heard about him. He could make full grown battle hero knights cry with his workouts, and rumor had it that he could do all of them without sweating. Looking at Gacjock, Dan fully believed them. He looked at them both greedily, like he wanted to kill them, and would enjoy doing it. Beside him, Dan felt Thalia loose all her confidence that she had, and return to instinctive running away mode.
“So you two are the new apprentices, are you?” Gacjock asked in a rough gritty voice. Thalia managed a nod, her legs shaking, and her body stiffening.
“Yes sir,” Dan answered, not sure how to address this man.
“Good, so you have makers. Before we begin, let me make something very clear.” Gacjock bent close tho them, his arms crossed. “Your masters might see it fit to baby you with special treatment, but here, you are in my house. You do what I say, and exactly when I say it. I will not listen to complaints, and if you are weak enough to complain, then you will answer to me, and I will make sure you curse the day you were born. Understand?” Dan and Thalia nodded, both sure they had never been more scared in their life.
“Now,” said Gacjock, standing to his full height. “are you ready to enter Gacjock’s house of pain?”
Pain didn’t even begin to describe it. For a full hour, Gacjock made them do arm, core and leg strengthening exercises, starting with two handed full body raises, then one handed. Two and one handed bar pull-ups, side raises with bags of weight on their hands, and then to the core. He had them do planks, and added bags of weight after they had been doing it for a few minutes. Dan was spitting sweat out his mouth, and his eyes were stinging with the salt. The core exercises were awful, having to wit up in a v-position for minutes on end, and do full stand up cur-ups, and alternating types of planks. Legs included sitting against a wall with their hands up, one leg out, and bags of weight on their laps. After Dan thought he was about to collapse, Gacjock took them off and made him stand up. Thalia looked as tired as Dan felt, but she perked up when Gacjock said they were about to go running. The squires had been trickling out the castle at this point, and while Dan and Thalia tried to get a breath of air, Gacjock introduced them to the squires.
“These are the new trainees, the Riders apprentices. They came here to train with the rest of you lot, and they are not going to be treated any differently, then the rest of you, I can assure you that. The only thing you have to worry about is them getting pushed harder to catch up. This is Dan,” Dan smiled weakly. “And this is Thalia. Everybody on the line, a 2 mile run around the grounds, then battle training. The last person to cross the line has to answer to me.” All the squires rushed to the chalk line drawn around the edge of the station.
“GO!!!” They all took off sprinting. Dan was barely able to keep up, but he saw Thalia running with the rest of the squires. Of course all of her running away from people in the Streets would give her an advantage over him, but he didn’t want to be last. Dan put on speed, and was able to stay with a few of the lagging squires.
Fifteen minutes, Dan crossed the line where everyone was finishing, and was glad to see that he was not the last one. The unlucky squire who did was subjected to body raises with another squire standing on his back, and was the first one to spar with Gacjock. Dan had never sparred before, but he felt sorry for that squire, but was glad it wasn’t him.
He and Thalia were put into a group that was less experienced, and were given staffs by Gacjock’s assistants. They showed the group different holds, attacks, defenses, then paired them up to duel. Dan was paired with a boy about his own age and weight. The squire had dirty blond hair, a lean build, and you could see every muscle in his body. He looked to be in great shape, and when he attacked Dan with his staff, Dan could see that he was.
Dan parried and defended himself, trying not to be hit on the fingers. He shifted his hand position multiple times, but he was never quick enough. After a while, Dan got tired of being hit on the fingers, and went on the attack. He hit and went at his partner’s open side, and struck him down. One of the assistants came over, and raised his eyebrows in approval.
“Do it again.” was all he said before moving on.
After what felt like hours of being pounded on, Dan had collected so many bruises he couldn’t count them all, and his muscles felt like noodles. The assistants called for them to stop, and then Gacjock spoke.
“Before I sent you all on your way to laze around the rest of the day, I have a little competition.” This sent murmurs though the crowd of boys. Dan was not excited, because he didn’t think he could handle anymore workouts. But Thalia, Dan noticed for the first time since he’d started sparring, looked excited about the aspect of competition.
“My assistants and I will pick out pairs of you to spar, and the first person to get hit will be taken out. You will then match up with another person, and the pattern continues. The losers will do weight sits while the competition finishes up.” A collective groan went through the boys. “Quiet! Do you all want to do ten minutes of weight planks tomorrow?” Gacjock threatened them. The boys all shook their heads.
Pairs were matched up and the sparing started. Dan, not wanting to do weight sits, fought with all the energy he had left. Nevertheless, after only five minutes, he was hit, and the blow was so strong that he fell down, and got up dizzily.
“Hobart! Your out!” Gacjock bellowed. Dan reluctantly ran over to where the other unfortunate squires were doing weight sits. He sat against the wall, and an assistant put a bag of sand on his lap. Dan almost collapsed right there.
As Dan sweated out all the liquid he had left in his body, he watched the rest of the squires and Thalia spar. Thalia was a whirl of motion, not staying in the same place to long. She would move from person to person, and before the squire had a chance to put up his staff, she would knock them down. It was as if all of her emotions were coming out in this competition. When a squire had enough energy to block a few of her attacks, she would back off, and let him tire himself out, then smack him smartly across the chest, then leap over him and take the next squire before they had time to react. Dan watched in amazement as she moved with such grace, like water. She was barely sweating, and Dan could hear everyone else around him panting. Thalia didn’t seem to affected. In almost no time at all, Thalia had reduced the number of squires significantly, until it was just her and one of the older squires locked in a huge spar.

The squire was obviously loosing, throwing attacks and trying vainly to get at Thalia with moves that even Dan knew wouldn’t work. Thalia was so light and quick that she just danced out of the way, toying with him so he got extremely tired. He finally made a stupid move that Thalia glided out of the way of, and then retaliated with a blow that nocked the poor guy out cold. Thalia looked over at Gacjock, silently asking if she was in trouble, but Gacjock was silent. She looked at the row of squires, who were all gaping at her. She placed her staff up right, and waited for a response. Dan could see in her eyes that she was expecting to be reprimanded, but Gacjock was a complete loss for words.
“I think we’re done for today.” He finally said. All the squires gladly took off the weight from their laps, and Dan did so, realizing only then how stiff and sore his legs were. They were on fire, and his knees felt like rusty old metal.

Thalia was still standing in the center of the field, holding her staff, when Dan walked up to her. He was grimacing in pain the whole time he was walking, each time his leg hit the group,a shock of pain wen up his leg. When he was beside Thalia, she fell into step with him. Dan noticed that she didn’t seem to be in any pain.
“Are’t you sore?” He asked. She looked at him incredulously, and shook her head slowly, like he she was puzzled why he was.
“YOU!! Rider Apprentices!” They heard Gacjock’s booming voice behind them. Dan grimaced, but turned around, as did Thalia. They saw Gacjock storming towards them. When he was just feet away from them, he peered into Thalia’s eyes.
“Where did you learn to fight like that?” He was madly trying to keep his temper in check, but his eyes were on fire. Thalia’s legs started shaking, and her voice was shaking.
“I…I don’t know. I guess its from…” she trailed off.
“What!? Where did that talent come from? You don’t just show up for my training session and defeat my best squires.”

“ Well…I…” Thalia was searching for the words, as Gacjock was staring her down, expecting an answer. She looked at Dan and back at Gacjock, then around at the squires who were watching his outburst at them. Dan saw tears of anxiety whelming up in her eyes.
“She learned it because she had to survive. You would too if you lived in the streets your whole life.” Dan said, saving Thalia the explanation. Gacjock turned to him, then glared at Thalia.

“Is this true?” He said harshly. Dan thought it was more harsh that needed, but didn’t say anything else. Thalia nodded, unable to say anything.
“What seems to be the problem?” Said a voice behind them. Dan spun around, grimacing in pain as he did. It was Jon, and Dan almost jumped for joy.

“I was just wondering where your young apprentice got her fighting talent. She took out all my advanced squires. This young man was just informing me that she got it surviving. Is this true?” Gacjock seemed afraid of Jon for some reason.
“Thalia?” Jon asked her directly. She looked up, still on the verge of anxious tears. “Do you want to explain?” She nodded, but said nothing. But Dan and Jon understood what she wanted.
“Master Gacjock, Thalia will explain her talent in due time. But as of today, I feel that you have scared these children enough, and I am taking them home now.” Home, right now, that sounded like the best thing in the world to Dan.
Jon led them away from Gacjock, who stood there, gaping at their retreating backs, then spun around to yell at the watching squires. Dan made a face and it stayed like that the whole walk back to the Keep. Thalia seemed to be fine, but refused to say anything to either of them.
Now Thalia was sitting across from him, nursing her battered and blistered hands in the warm salt water that Ann put in front of her. Dan massaged his throbbing legs, but it didn’t do much good because his arms felt like noodles. Ann put a cup in front of him, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“It does get easier. I promise.” She looked at Thalia, who was staring at her lap, and moved to comfort her.
“Why is Gacjock so mean?” Dan asked. Ann put her arm around Thalia’s shoulders and spoke comfortingly to them both.
“Its the only way he know how to train people. He doesn’t like the Riders because he feels we give you an advantage over the squires, and he has always resented Jon and I. He doesn’t understand how we work.”
“He didn’t understand either of us.” Thalia whispered. “He was mean and thought I had cheated to win his competition.” Tears were running down her face, and her voice wavered.
“How did you tell?” Dan asked her. “All he asked her was where she learned to fight like she did. Everyone was wondering that.” He told Ann.
“I felt it. He hates us. Thats why he pushed us so hard all afternoon.” Thalia was crying harder now, and put her hands on her head. Dan wasn’t sure what to say, so he just let it be, and tried to relax as much as he could, which was hard considering every muscle and bone in his body ached. He picked up the cup that Ann had put in front of him. He sipped it, and suddenly he felt his body being relaxed, and repaired at the same time.

Ann sat with Thalia for a while, then stood up and went to the fire. With her bare hands she reached into the flames and pulled out round, flat rocks that were in the fire, and wrapped them in cloth. She handed them to Dan and Thalia. Dan accepted his, unsure of what to do with it.
“Put it anywhere it hurts.” Dan did the first thing he thought of and put the stone on his leg. The heat soothed the pain and made him feel better. He was beginning to feel like the day had all been a really bad dream when Thalia spoke.
“I learned to fight with a staff in the streets when I was part of a gang. The only way to protect ourselves was to learn to defend and attack with what was available. Why does he think me a cheater when I only did what I know to do instinctively?”
“Thalia, as soon as he realizes what you’ve gone through, he’ll understand. Jon will explain it to him tomorrow, and if he does anything to you, just let us know, and we’ll deal with him.” Ann had a strange look on her face, like Gacjock was a sore spot with her. Dan noticed her change in expression.
“Why do you not like him? Why is he scared of Jon?” Dan asked. Ann’s face was a mix of of emotion. After a minute, she stood up.
“You two have had a busy day. I think you should go rest in your rooms before evening meal.” She ushered them to their rooms before rushing down stairs. Dan’s legs and back and arms were so stiff that he could barely move. When Ann left him alone in his room, he contemplated the conversation for a few minutes until he was sure Ann was downstairs. Then he walked across the hallway to Thalia’s room. He opened the door cautiously. He saw Thalia sitting with her back to him, staring hopelessly out the window.
“Thalia? You okay?” He asked cautiously, walking to the edge of her bed. She turned around slowly, and Dan could tell she was deep in thought. She shook her head slowly.
“Can I help you with anything?” She didn’t answer, just turn back around. Dan was about to leave when she began to talk.
“I just don’t understand whats wrong with me, or with us being Rider Apprentices. Why should we be any different, and what happened between Gacjock and Ann and Jon?”
“I don’t know.” Dan said with a lot more confidence than he felt. He moved and sat down beside her. “But what I can guess is that we have to just accept that he dislikes us, and work extra hard to prove to him that we have as much right to be there as anyone else. Show no weakness, and give it everything.” Thalia nodded silently, and then Dan stood up and walked out, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
That evening meal was silent, and even though Dan barely had enough energy to lift his food to his mouth, he had questions burning in his mouth. Dan could tell there was a tension between Jon and Ann, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Neither of them were talking to each other, but they were staring into the other’s eyes, their eyes and bodies ridged, like they were arguing. HOw did they do that? Dan wondered.
“Dan, Thalia, we owe you an explanation.” Jon finally spoke. “The reason why Gacjock hates us.”
“When we were about your age, we started training same as you. Gacjock was jealous that the training master then treated us better then the squires of the time. So, when he became Training Master, he made sure that every knight and squire he ever trained was scared to death of us, but treated us with the upmost respect. It drives us crazy, but there is nothing we can do about it.” Ann finished, not looking at anyone. That was the only conversation the whole of the meal.

Later that night, Dan lay in bed, thinking. In the span of three days, he had been introduced to a new world, met pixies and people with complex histories. If this was how the whole of the training was going to be, then it was going to be interesting. That he could tell.

The next month was one of the best and worse Thalia had ever known. Over that next month, she learned her letters, learned how to read and write, and learned the histories of the magicians and Rider of the last thousand years. Dan was way ahead of her learning wise, and she worked extremely hard to catch up. She learned how to write long passages from the books, and also how to analyze and support what she was saying. Ann and Jon were impressed with her progress, and Dan helped her as much as he could, but no matter how hard he tried, Dan just seemed to confuse her more whenever he spoke. Thalia knew his heart was in the right place, but he just wasn’t cut out for the teaching part of training.
Physical training was going okay. Gacjock was mean and nasty to everyone, but his favorite thing to do was to make Dan and Thalia’s life miserable. When he realized he couldn’t do anything that made Thalia complain or scream in pain, he made the sessions ten times worse for everyone. They did 5 mile runs twice daily, sprints over and over again. They fought with staffs for hours on end, and when anyone complained or winced at a broken finger or hand, Gacjock would insult them to the point of tears, then force them to do one arm body raises with sandbags on their backs. By the end of everyday, Thalia was exhausted, and she felt like she got a good workout everyday. Dan, on the other hand, was miserable after their training sessions. Things didn’t get any better for him, and everyday when he woke up, Thalia was sure he looked more sore and stiff every morning.
Then one morning at morning meal, Ann made a startling announcement.
“I think its time you both started learning magic. Thalia has caught up with her letters and book learning, so I think its good to start. After all, your eggs will be hatching soon.”
Thalia looked up from her meal. It had been three weeks since they had begun, and Thalia had barely thought about the incubators and the eggs inside them.
“When do you think they’ll be hatching?” Dan asked excitedly. Thalia had noticed that he always wanted to learn something new, and wouldn’t stop until he had accomplished his goal.
“I can’t answer that for sure Dan, but you need to learn to know when they will be ready, which is why you need to learn the basics of magic.” Clearing up their plates, Ann continued to talk. “There are four basic elements, and you both know, Fire, Water, Air and Earth. They are all closely related, and you can’t have one without the others present in some form. We’ll start with the basics of the four, and then slowly work our way up to the more advanced magics.” Ann looked at Jon, who was flipping through a book. He met her eyes, then turned to the fire and put it out with a glance from his eyes.
“You will start with lighting a fire, making a feather float to you, forming a water ball, and shifting dirt.” Jon started. “Now, a fair warning to you both: magic is very complex. Do not expect results like with your incubators. The success with those came from your dragon’s advanced magic, and the fact that Ann and I were there to supervise and make sure all the magic went the way it was supposed to. This magic is all you, and it will take lots of energy. You will get tired quickly, and that is normal. Because of this, you are taking the morning training session, and we will focus on magic during the afternoon. We don’t want to drain you before you deal with Gacjock.” With that, he sent them to the training field, with just a promise of magic that afternoon.
Despite what Jon had said, Thalia knew why they were taking the first training session of the day. Jon wanted to give them an incentive to get through this morning. Thalia decided Jon was physic. Because that day was horrid and difficult, more so than previous days. Gacjock decided that he was going to make them fight with practice armor on, and gave them all weights.
“These are to wear all the time.” He said, handing out the waist-bands. “There are pockets where you will attach your weights, and you are not to take them off. There is magic on them that will tell me if you take them off or not.”

Thalia put on hers, and felt the magic in them. She looked over at Dan standing next to her. Do you feel that? She mouthed, and pointed to her belt. He nodded. Magic. Unfortunately, Gacjock saw their exchange.
“What are you two whispering about?” He growled. “Speak up. Anything you say here is for everyone to hear.”
“I was just asking Dan if he felt the magic in these belts, its quite strong.” Thalia said cautiously.
“Well, since you seem so keen on the belts, Apprentice, you can be the first to fight with them.” He thrust two squares of lead clock weights into her hand. Thalia attached them into their pockets, and picked up a staff. She knew this was just one of Gacjock’s bullying methods for her and Dan. But she didn't see anyone else that she would fight. She was about to look at the long line of squires when excited talking broke out amongst the crowd, and she saw Dan’s face go white. She looked behind her, and she saw Gacjock standing there, his massive hands wrapped around a staff. HIs hand was so big on the small staff that it looked like he could break the wood between his fingers.
Without warning, Gacjock attacked Thalia. She blocked his downward strike with her staff, but only just in time. He pressed all of his weight on top of his staff, pressing Thalia down. Before he could bend her backwards, Thalia sprung up from the ground, planted her feet on his chest, and pushed off as hard as she could. She managed to knock the breath out of him, and did a quick backflip so she wouldn’t get hit by his staff as it went flying in his surprise. Thalia landed in a courting position, and watched Gacjock retrieve his staff, while trying to regain his breath. She was ready the next time he came at her, and she kept moving, knowing the only way she could stay on her feet was to be quick and out-step him. Every time that Gacjock came at her, she would block and then move away so that he couldn’t wear her down with brute strength. He started to realize this, and pointed this out.
“Scared Apprentice? Scared that I’ll hurt your precious frame?” He taunted. Thalia didn’t respond. Taunts wasted breath, as did talking. And it distracted you from the battle. True enough, as soon as he started taunting again, Thalia saw he left his lower right side open, and she directed her staff under his, and jammed it up into his gut. Then she jumped and spun around to his back side, and kicked off his back as he doubled over, and pushed him into the dirt. He got up, red-faced with embarrassment, and attacked with renewed vigor. He slashed at Thalia with anger, and didn’t think at all about what he was doing.
Thalia was able to go on the attack a bit more, finding the gaps in his defense, and because he was so angry, was able to use that against him to make him reckless. As she landed more and more blows, Gacjock got more and more angry and reckless, so he made more and more mistakes. Thalia sara huge whole in his defense, and went for it. She feinted to the left, and he went farther than anyone would normally go, trying to stop her, but she got under his arm, and plucked his staff from his hand with a flick of her wrist. The staff went flying in the air, and she leaped to grab it, then tucked the ends under her arms, and pointed them both at Gacjock. He was panting, and clearly embarrassed.
“Cheater.” He said, snarling. “You used magic when you know you weren’t supposed to.” Thalia started to protest, but Gacjock started to yell. “HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT NO MAGIC IS ALLOWED ON THIS FIELD!!!! THOSE BELTS WERE TO MAKE YOU SLOWER, AND THEREFORE STRONGER, BUT YOU BEWITCHED THEM TO MAKE THEM LIGHT!!!” Thalia opened her mouth to protest, but Gacjock spoke over her, shaking in rage. “You….and…..you.” He pointed at Dan. “Five weights….all….the….time….” His assistant gave them the weights, and Thalia reluctantly put them on in front of everyone. The squire’s mouths dropped in shock. NOt only had someone beaten Gacjock, but they had been assigned the most weight a squires could carry on their first day of having the belts. “Now….go…..run…ten…miles” Gacjock was shaking so bad that Thalia was afraid he was going to punch her.
Thalia didn’t need to be told twice. She took off before anyone could react, and went to the longer loop around the castle that they did on their five mile runs. As she ran, Thalia felt anger boiling deep in her gut. If Gacjock didn’t want to be beaten, then why did he fight her? He knew that she was good, and apparently, better than him. She’d been fighting people like him her whole life. She was fighting with her instincts, which where to beat the opponent at all costs. He knew that, and yet he still expected her to just pretend to be a weakling and let him pick on her. She might be the only girl, Thalia thought, but she was the best fighter out of all the squires, and the best runner. The only thing she wasn’t good at was weights. Thinking of them, Thalia looked down at her belt of weights. As if it saw her looking at it, the belt got suddenly heavier. Thalia slowed down tremendously, her legs feeling sluggish with the added weight. She was three miles into the run, and she felt like she was at the tenth mile, running as fast as she could. She only had seven left, she could handle a few extra pounds. Thalia turned her thoughts to other things, like the fact that she and Dan were starting magic after training. That was exciting, but Thalia had her doubts. She wasn’t having her fire dream anymore, but she didn’t care for fire much. There was some seed against fire planted in the back recesses of her mind, but when she looked for it, Thalia couldn’t find it. The only explanation she could offer to Dan or Jon when they asked about it was she couldn’t tell them what it was exactly. She disliked the aspect of air because it changed to much, blowing however it wanted. Water, although it could change and blow, had a steady and calming affect, like the day she ran to the ocean. Thalia smiled remembering. It seemed like so long ago now, but it had only been a couple weeks.
Thinking back on it, Thalia realized just how far she’d come in a very short time. She could now read and write, she had more confidence, and even though she didn’t like talking as much as Dan did, she felt comfortable with Jon and Ann. She even had begun to trust Jon, Ann and Dan. They had never given her a reason to not trust them, and Thalia realized she had begun to accept that more and more.
A shock went through Thalia’s side as her side cramped up. Strange, she thought, I’ve never had cramps before. She was at seven miles now, and doing a body check, she determined that the cramp was coming from whatever magic the belt held. There was something strange about these belts. Hers was strangely heavy, and her legs were feeling it. She was speeding up, but her legs were warm, like they were burning almost. Thalia was done messing around. She needed to find someone to get this straightened out, so she put on a burst of speed. In reaction to her speed, the belt seemed to add weight, and Thalia’s legs were now burning with pain. She was at 8 miles now, she could handle it. She was halfway around the big loop, so if she cut through the grounds, it would be two miles back to the training field, and she’d be done. She cut onto the castle grounds, and started running straight at the castle. Nine miles, almost done Gacjock’s punishment for doing what she was supposed to do, what irony.
Thalia crossed the white line in the field with an expression of accomplishment, and then jogged over to where Gacjock was instructing the rest of the squires and Dan on how to fight with staffs and weights. By the sound of the grunts and yelps from the squires and bellows of Gacjock, Thalia guessed it wasn’t going so well. She rounded the corner of the field, where they were all fighting in pair, Gacjock moving among them, yelling and pointing out mistakes when someone slipped in their footing, or didn’t move their hands fast enough.
Seeing her, Gacjock’s face twisted into a snarl, but then struggled to remain blank as he yelled at her to grab a staff and pair up with someone. Thalia grabbed the closest staff, and jogged over to where one of the squires was standing alone, trying to look busy as he went through forms, focusing on his grip and footing. As Thalia approached, he focused more on his task and tried to ignore her.
“Would you like to spar?” She asked, getting into position. Since there was no one else available, she figured he would say yes immediately.
“You beat Gacjock.” Was all the squire mumbled.
“And that deems me unfit to spar?” The squire said nothing. “I beat Gacjock because he was overconfident and I saw through his defenses. I was no more skilled than he, only smarter.” The squire ignored her. Angry at being denied a spar, Thalia glanced around for another partner. She saw Gacjock coming towards them, looking like he wanted retribution. Thalia tried another tactic. She turned back to the silent squire.
“Whats your name?”
“Darien” He said almost with regret
“Darien, are you afraid of being beaten by a girl?”
That did it. Darien whipped his head up, eyes filled with hurt. Thalia had damaged his pride. He attacked her without restraint, not afraid to kill her. For the second time that day, Thalia saw his weaknesses. Darien was right-handed, she could tell, because he only attacked from the upper left. every time he cut at her, he attacked from the upper right striking downward. Thalia could easily slip around his defenses, and attack his left side. Because he was unaware of this point, Thalia toyed with him, letting him get close to landing a blow, but then counteracting with an upward left jab at his stomach. She continued to exchange blows for a while, and didn’t concentrate on landing blows, only on trying out different styles of attack and defense that she had seen when she was younger.
After they had been sparing for about fifteen minutes, Gacjock called for a five minute warning, and then Thalia got serious. She landed a blow on Darien’s left side, then before he could react, did a roundabout and struck him on the shoulder, then did an uppercut and hit his left hip. Three blows in less than thirty seconds. Darien barely reacted, until she placed her staff vertical, and gave him a look of satisfaction did he realize that his hip and shoulder were smarting with the impact of her blows. She extended her hand to shake and compliment him on his sparring, but Darien walked right past her to put his staff away.
That was rude. Thalia thought. She shrugged and went to put her staff away, she couldn’t help it if badly trained squires had poor sportsmanship.

As she and Dan walked back from training, Thalia could tell they were both about to burst with excitement. Dan was so excited that he wasn’t lagging and limping like he usually did. Thalia always felt sorry for Dan, because he had come into training so badly out of shape, and he had no coordination to speak of at all. Thalia had noticed that during the spar, she had been a little slower than she would have liked, and now as they were just walking, Thalia could tell the extra weight was taking its toll. Her walk was slower, and each step more laborious. Dan didn’t notice, he was struggling under the weight of his own belt. The Keep seemed so far off, but it was just right there, in front of them. Thalia couldn’t understand how something could look so close, but be so far away.
“These weights, thats the problem.” Dan answered her unspoken question. He must have been thinking the same thing.
When they finally reached the doorstep of the keep, Ann almost ran them over in her rush out the door.
“Oh, there you are! I had begun to worry, but thats okay. Here’s some water and cheese-oat bread. Come with me now, we can’t waste a single second.”
Dan and Thalia wolfed down their food and water as Ann lead them hurriedly towards the field where their incubators were buried, Thalia noticed. Ann let them sit down at a stone table on the edge of the field, and hurried over to help Jon pile up a bunch of logs. By the looks of the field, it seemed pretty normal, but Thalia felt some sort of undertone, like the pulse she had felt her first day. She staunched up her eyebrows, trying to figure it out.
Ann and Jon walked up to them, and started talking simultaneously. Thalia had figured out that when they did this, they were teaching her and Dan something very important. They never spoke at the same time otherwise, just in the case of teaching.
“The time has come for you to learn the intricacies of magic. There are four principle areas in the study of magic: Air, Earth, Fire, Water.. All other divisions of magic are subdivisions of these four main areas. To start your learning, you will begin with accomplishing simple tasks in all four areas. First you must know this: magic is energy. It comes from the world around you, and from yourself. To make magic work with you, you must reach out with your mind consciously and subconsciously. This will allow you to flow you energy into what you are trying to accomplish. We will begin with a feather. Your task is to lift up the feather and move it a foot in the air and set it down again. Begin.”
Thalia wasn’t sure what either of them meant by reaching out with her mind, but nonetheless, she tried. She imagined what had happened when she had melted rocks together. So she tried that with the feather. She imagined it floating up, and then setting itself back down. She watched the feather intently, but it did nothing. Thalia was momentarily confused, but then she tried extending her hand and imaging the same thing. THat did nothing. But Ann and Jon had said something about the mind, and reaching out. Again, Thalia extended her hand, and focused intently on the feather. She imagined all the energy in her body, al the energy she had used to run the ten miles and defeat Gacjock in sparring, into making that feather lift off the ground and move up a foot. She felt the energy flow out of her fingertips and into the feather’s fibers. She felt her energy lift the feather off the table, and she tried to make it move up a foot, but it didn’t want to go more than an inch off the table.
“Great job Dan, Thalia, Look at you!” She heard Ann exclaim. Thalia’s concentration broke, and as she did so, so did the energy flow through her fingers, and the feather floated to touch the table. Thalia looked at Ann and Jon. Jon nodded his head in approval, and Ann tried to explain to Dan how that had worked.
“Dan, you see, the energy from your body flows out of you, and into the thing you are trying to accomplish, in this case the feather, and because you know what you want that object to do, it follows your command and…”
“You imagine what you want the feather to do, then concentrate and it lifts.” Thalia cut of Ann, knowing a simpler explanation would work better.
“Well put Thalia. But I must remind you that magic is very draining when you are first learning, so when you get tired, let Jon or I know and we will stop. If you are not careful, you could overextend your energy sources, and then you could die from exhaustion. It has happened many times before. Now why don’t you try it again?”
Thalia and Dan tried again. This time Thalia managed to make the feather float a few more inches before setting it back down. This time she used the same amount of energy as she had before. After Ann made her and Dan do it a few more times, Thalia was able to use just enough energy to not drain herself, but was able to make the feather float the foot of the table. When Ann let them stoop, Thalia fell back against her chair and let out a huge sigh. Her energy felt completely drained out of her, and she felt like she was sluggish and could sleep for days. Her face was sweat-streaked and hot because of all the energy she had used. She saw Dan was the same way, which made her feel better, they were both at the same level here.
“I have to say,I”m impressed at your progress. Both of you.” Ann complimented them. “I think you have the concept down, so we’re going to try something a little harder.” She motioned for them to follow her, and walked over to a pile of dirt sitting a few yards away from the table. Ann sat down, and Thalia and Dan followed in suit. Jon followed them both, then he and Ann talked again.
“This next task is to make a ball if dirt from this pile. To accomplish this, you must use the skills you have just learned in order to lift up the dirt that you want to make the ball, then bring them together and form them into a ball. This is significantly more challenging than your first task, so know that it will take some time for you to do this.”
Thalia wasn’t sure what this ball was supposed to look like, but she didn’t have to worry. Jon and Ann extended their hands, and two lumps of dirt rose off the pile. As Thalia watched, the lumps formed into balls, spinning around like someone was rolling them between their fingers. When Jon and Ann were finished, there were two perfect ball of dirt. They fell back onto the dirt pile, braking apart as they hit the pile.
Thalia extended her hand once more, wanting to do the same thing that Jon and Ann had done. She reached out with her magic and her mind as one, but found that her body did not have as much energy as she did when she had started. This was silly of course, and explainable by the fact that she had used up energy with the feather. Thalia proceeded cautiously, not wanting to expend all of her energy the first time she tried this. She lifted a small pile of dirt off the pile, and then Thalia was stuck on what to do. She imagined the other balls forming, being rolled by invisible hands into a perfect round ball.
Thalia reached out her other hand, and made a motion that she thought was rolling a ball between them. She ran her magic through her hands at the dirt, not knowing what else to do. SLowly, the dirt followed the motion that her hands were doing, and the ball slowly began to change and take the shape of a ball. Thalia kept rolling her hands, and the ball spun faster and faster, taking shape. She concentrated harder, and the next time she looked at the ball, it was perfectly round and matted in the right form. Thalia drew the ball towards her, and felt it in her hand. The ball was course and gritty, like the dirt that it was made of.
Thalia slowly turned the ball over in her hands, amazed at what she had just accomplished. The dirt crumpled as she did so, but Thalia didn’t care. When all the dirt had crumpled under her fingers, Thalia felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into Jon’s eyes, seeing a hint of pride in them.
“Good work Thalia. Can you do the same thing with another bigger ball?” Thalia thought for a moment, then nodded hastily. She extend her hand yet again, and pulled together more dirt this time. She concentrated, and after a few minutes, had the same result with a bigger ball.
“Now make it fly around.” Jon challenged her. Thalia imagined the ball sailing around, just like she had with the feather. The only problem that she noticed was that it was much harder to accomplish with a heavier object. Thalia struggled to get it off the ground, but it was much easier to keep moving, as long as she outwitted gravity with her magic. Thalia made the ball to a couple loops in the air, then let it hover a few feet off the ground. Jon tapped her shoulder, and pointed. Thalia saw where he was pointing and a mischievous smile cam across her face. She stood up silently, and gathered up momentum in the ball, like pulling back a slingshot, then let the ball go. Is hit Dan in the center of his back, with a aloud smack., and the ball turned to dust on impact. Thalia and Jon immediately turned to the ground, Thalia forming a new ball, and Dan looked around, puzzled. He seemed oblivious to the huge brown spot the dirt-ball had left on his clothes. He glanced questioningly at Thalia, then turned back around. Thalia was trying hard not to laugh, but smiled contently.
Thalia found that it was much easier for her to form something out of dirt than it was to control the air and wave paths of flying objects. Dan on the other hand, seemed to be fine with air, and struggle with earth. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Ann and Jon had them do various exercises with air and earth. They had to make various objects fly certain distances, and form different things with earth-materials. Sometimes Ann would make them combine their skills, making a pan of dirt fly from one area to another. Thalia’s favorite exercise they did that afternoon was when she and Dan were given free reign to use their skills to accomplish a seemingly impossible task: transport themselves from one end of the field to the other without walking.

“Work together.” Jon and Ann had said, then had retreated to the side of the field to observe.
Dan and Thalia turned to each other, confused on what they were supposed to do. Thalia looked at their resources. The air, their magic, and the earth. Not much to transport two people. They could try to lift themselves up into the air, but that required to much energy, and Thalia was almost completely spent. Ann had been keeping tabs on them all day, and Thalia felt like she was done. BUt if Ann thought they could do this without killing themselves, well, then maybe she was right.
“We can’t lift ourselves up…can’t walk…we could make the earth move under us…..too much energy…make air balls and…no, air doesn’t form in balls…dirt balls…air moving…” Dan was talking to himself, like he always did.
What did we learn today that would make this easier? We learned to make dirt balls, to move things with the air, and how push objects with air…Thalia thought, and then it struck her the same time as Dan.
They both turned to each other, knowing in an instant they had the same idea, and both set to work hastily. Thalia made as many, compact dirt balls as she could, then with Dan, she managed to keep them all together with her magic. Careful to spread out his weight, Dan got on the platform of dirt balls, and helped Thalia up without breaking her concentration. They stood side by side on the platform, and with Dan pushed the balls they were staring on with a gust of wind. Thalia didn’t worry about what he was doing. She could feel herself moving on uneven dirt balls, and was worried she might fall. She concentrated on not falling, and keeping the balls together, which was hard. THey all wanted to break apart and roll freely wherever they wanted. And by the laws of nature, they should’ve been able to. OUTwitting the laws and physics of nature was a lot harder than Thalia had expected. With her magic, she reached out and surrounded every ball with her presence. Then she pulled them together and held them
like that. As the balls moved, they tried very hard to move away and to break free, but Thalia was determined not to let them go. As Dan pushed them father and farther over the field, Thalia strained more and more to keep control. Her energy was draining out of her faster than water down a drain. She didn’t think she’d be able to hold it much longer when they crossed the line, and Thalia let all the magic go. The balls crumpled under her and Dan’s weight, and Thalia fell over onto the ground, falling on all fours, panting, sweat streaming down her face. Dan didn’t look much better. His face was a green color, and he was shaking terribly.
Jon and Ann ran over, trying to calm down their breathing, and then helped Dan and Thalia onto their feet, and walked them over to two stumps. Jon offered them water from a water skin, which Thalia downed in a couple gulps. She peered into the skin, searching for more water, when Jon took it out of her hands, looked at the sack, them smiled and handed it back to her. Thalia glanced into the sack, and saw the water had been replenished. Jon did the same to Dan, and when they both had had their fill, they sat there, limbs feeling like noodles and lead at the same time.
“Well, Thalia, Dan, I have to say I’m very pleased and impressed with your progress today. Not many magician students can transport themselves, even after years of teaching. You both exhibited creativity, and worked together. I think its best if we leave off like that for today.”
 Thalia and Dan nodded, unable to do much of anything else. They stood up, and Thalia almost fell over, but caught herself. Dan wasn’t so lucky. He landed flat on his face in the dirt, and the water skin he was holding spilled all over the ground. Thalia would have laughed, if she had any energy left. As it was, she managed a feeble ‘ha ha’ before she dragged her feet over to help him get up. Dan seemed to weigh as much as a building. Thalia just noticed that she was still wearing the weights from the training session. Thalia fumbled with the buckle, and the weights fell to the ground. She suddenly felt like she could walk for the first time. She felt like she had just floated up a foot from the ground. She and Dan slowly plodded their way back to the Keep, and Jon and Ann picked up their weights, and followed them.
When they got back, Thalia could barely manage to lift her fork up to her mouth, but she somehow managed to make it up to bed. Thalia thought that her bed had never been more inviting, and she was asleep before she hit the pillow.

After his highly exciting and draining, Dan didn’t want to be woken up during his only small period of sleep and recovery but sadly, dragons don’t seem to care.
Daniel Hobart. A voice echoed through Dan’s room. Dan sat up straight in his bed, and whipped his head around his room with a tense stare.
Daniel Hobart. The voice came again.
“Who's there?” He asked the dark wall.
I am Galen, Dragon of Jonathan Corand. Dan’s eyes got big as saucers, and he stopped trying to find the source of the voice.
“Pardon me, Dragon Galen, I did not know…”
 Speak with your mind, Apprentice. I can not hear your quiet voice. Reach out with your mind, and find my presence.
Dan had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but he tried the same thing as he had done with the magic earlier. To his surprise, he felt the great dragon, and other presences. The dragon must have sensed his surprise, because Dan felt the dragon chuckle, a deep throated chuckle, that reunited through Dan’s mind and spoke.
Every person on this planet has a mind they can use, and could talk if only they knew how. But that is not what we are going to discuss. You and Apprentice Banespeak have an important task ahead of you, and it is Dragon Aolani and I who will guide you through the next few months. You will be called upon to do difficult tasks that you will not be able to do, and you will always be exhausted, but I remind you that you choose this, so this is your one and only warning of what is to come. The next leg of your training will be one you will never forget.
What about Thalia? Does she get a warning? Dan felt like he was slighting her. Dan felt the dragons’ mind smile.
Dragon Aolani is taking care of her. Your masters and I are not worried about Thalia. She is used to surviving exhausting and horrid conditions. We are worried about you, being sheltered all your life, and not used to having the responsibility of a young dragon on your shoulders. Be prepared, Daniel Wilmont.
What? That took Dan by surprise. Our dragons are hatching soon? He asked hurriedly, but the Dragon’s mind was gone. Dan had a million questions, but he fell involuntarily back on his bed, asleep.

Water splashed into Dan’s face, jolting him out of bed. He turned over in his bed sputtering, but turned to far, because next thing he knew, he was on the floor, with his blankets twisted around him. He stood put, trying to get untangled, and saw Ann and Thalia doubled over, clutching their sides laughing. There was a bucket next to Thalia’s feet, and there was no water in it.
“What was that for?!” Dan asked, annoyed.
“Its almost midmorning Dan. You’ve been asleep for almost twelve hours.” Ann said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“But…” Dan tuned to the window. It was true, sunlight was pouring into the room, blinding Dan. He was still very irritated, and turned back sharply to Ann and Thalia.
“ Was that really necessary?” He asked, shaking water off of his limbs.
“Why don't you try to dry ourselves off with magic?” Ann suggested. “Imagine being dry, or imagine a heat drying off your clothes and the things around you.”
It sounded silly, but Dan was so embarrassed at having water dumped on him in the morning, he tried it. Dan imagined an intense fire producing enough heat to dry him in a second. He felt the warmth of its flames inside him, and ran his hand over his arms and torso. When he opened his eyes, Dan found he was completely dry. Dan turned and saw that the moisture on the sheets were evaporating into the air.
“Well done Dan. Now, I have a couple jobs for both of you. Thalia, I want you to go get water from the firmer, but don’t use the bucket. only magic. Dan, you are going to go downstairs and make us a good steady fire that will burn all day for cooking purposes. Magic only, both of you, and don’t forget to put on your training weights. Gacjock wouldn’t be happy if he found out you were skimping on those.
Thalia happily ran out the door, and Dan quickly followed, wondering how he would get a fire going that would stay the same temperature all day. Apparently, Jon wasn’t giving him any breaks, Dan found out. Jon hadn’t replaced the wood store, and so Dan had to first go get wood ‘using magic’ as Ann kept reminding him. Dan used the levitation skill he had learned the previous day to get enough wood into the fireplace, then to put the wood in place. Dan knelt down next to the wood, wondering what would make a steady fire. Coals gave off a steady heat, so maybe if he could get the wood to coals, then it would work.
Placing his hand over the wood, Dan let energy stream out of his hand, and made it so the wood burst into flames. For some reason, even though his hand was in the middle of the flames, they didn’t bother Dan in the least. Dan tried to control the flames and get them down to coals. This was a little more difficult than the wind or earth, because the flames kept leaping up when he didn’t want them to. After a little struggle though, Dan was able to get the flames down to a steady heat. He poured enough energy into the wood so it had enough fuel to keep going throughout the day, and then he stood up. A sudden light-headedness hit Dan in a wave, but he guessed it was from the intense heat, and sudden depletion of energy.
Thalia burst through the door, red-checked, and frantic. She looked like she’d just seen a voice.
“Two dragons just landed in the field, and they spoke to me. They said something about the eggs hatching now, and their need to be here.”
Jon was coming down the stairs with a pile of books, and Ann was preparing the meal, and they both froze.
“What exactly did they say?” Jon asked slowly, his voice full of tension.
“The time has come for the hatching to begin. Our need here is to great for the Riders to ignore.” Thalia stated what they had said, and Dan’s guess was that it was word for word.
Before he could move,Ann and Jon were out the door, rushing over to the field. Dan and Thalia stayed where they were, stunned by Ann and Jon’s unexpected movement.
“Should we go see whats wrong?” Dan suggested, and Thalia nodded vigorously.
They ran out the door, after their masters, and by the time they got to the field, Ann and Jon ware gone.
“Are you sure they were here?” Dan asked Thalia, but she didn’t answer. He looked at her, expecting an answer, but she was shaking uncontrollably. “What?”
“They…They’ve gone.” Dan wished she wouldn’t state the obvious, but she kept talking. “THey, they’ve left us. I knew they were going to leave us, and I let myself believe that they actually cared. Why did I let myself believe that?” She was crying now, tears running down her face. Dan had no idea what she was talking about, but he tried to look around for some sign of them. Where could two Riders and their dragons have gone?
“Thalia! Look, up above us!” Thalia looked up, and they saw two very big dark shapes flying in circles around the field. Dan guessed that they were the dragons, and that Jon and Ann were on their backs. Thalia stopped crying, but it looked like she had retreated within herself. Dan sighed inwardly. It would be a while before they could get Thalia back. Turning his head up to the sky, Dan watched the two dragons circle each other, and he guessed that there was a serious discussion going on between the four of them. Dan wondered if it would be proper for him to listen in, but thinking back to the previous hours, Dan guessed they would feel him, and that, he decided, wouldn’t be the best way to find out what they were talking about.

What Dan didn’t know was that two hundred feet above him, was that the fate of a him and Thalia was being debated and tossed about, along with their dragons. In the minds of all four of the dragons and the riders, a shouting match was taking place.
‘Its to soon!’ Ann exclaimed.
‘ They’ll learn fast enough. You two did.’ Galen replied with the same intensity. ‘The time has come for them to know, its been a full month. Aolani and I have been off fighting political battles with the magical creatures of the North, but they are not to be tricked. They know he is rising, and he is searching. You know what he is after.’
“Ann, honestly, I love you, but how long were you going to convince yourself you could avoid this?” Aolani purred.
‘longer than this’ Ann murmured in despair. ‘They’re so young…’
‘And unexperienced. Which is what he wants! DOn’t you see, this has to happen now. We cannot let Dan and Thalia get caught up in their learning. We have to make sure they know exactly what brought them here, and why they’re in so much danger.’
‘Ann,” Jon put in, “they have a point. I spent hours trying doing research for Galen and Aolani while you were busy, but nothing I could come up with could counter the centaurs points. The stars are in the critical position. If it is to happen, it must be with in the next year.’
‘Its just to soon.’ Ann replied softly. ‘Thalia is just opening up to us.’
‘It must be done.’ Galen said, almost with regret. ‘I have explained to Dan that the next months will be difficult, and he seemed to understand, or he tried to.’
‘He’s a good kid.’Ready to take whatever we throw at him.’ Jon speculated. ‘Thalia…she’s started talking and coming out of her shell more, but I don’t know if she entirely trusts us yet. I wanted to make sure we waited until she was ready…But now I see thats not true.’ No one said anything. ‘There is no other option that I can see. Ann, Galen, Aolani, we must proceed with the compromised plan.’
‘I wish there were another option. Thalia does seem like a kind girl. I have seen into her past, and I do wish that no child would ever go through that.’ Aolani said sadly. Their discussion, Galen and Aolani swooped down to the field.

Some might find it extremely intimidating when two fully grown dragons swoop down to where you are standing, but Dan found it fascinating. One dragon was thirty feet long, with blue scales, and defined muscles that rippled with every movement of its wings. The dragons’ wings were almost transparent, the same color as its scales, and when the wings flapped, a powerful gust of wind was directed at Dan’s face. The other dragon was just as imposing and powerful, but with a green body, and a slightly daintier body, with smaller legs and longer torso, about thirty five feet. The green dragon had a tail with spikes at the end, and Dan hated to think what could be destroyed with the power behind a blow like that.
Thalia was still sniffing beside him, but she was as awed but the dragons as he was, and was inspecting them with the same interest he was. Dan noticed that with the light of the sun behind them, the Dragons looked very impressive and imposing. As did their Riders. Jon climbed down off of the blue dragon, and Dan concluded that that the blue dragon must be Galen. That meant that Ann was on Aolani, the green dragon. Dan felt pleased with himself for figuring that out, but his pride quickly died down when he saw the solemn expressions on Ann and Jon’s faces. Dan didn’t even know the dragons, and he was pretty sure they had unhappy expressions on their faces.
Jon and Ann walked towards them, and the dragons followed. When they were right in front of Dan and Thalia, they stopped. Thalia was looking at them like they had saved her life.
“You…didn’t leave?” She asked. Then she surprised them all. She stepped to Jon, and gave him a huge hug. Jon hesitated, then wrapped his arms around her.
“Thalia, we would never leave you.” He comforted her. “We are not like the people on the Streets.” Thalia looked up at him, with tears in her eyes, but this time with tears of joy. She let go of him, and then gave Ann a hug too.
“I thought…When I didn’t see you, I thought you had left me out like all the others.” Thalia explained to Ann’s shirt.
“Thats the last thing we would do, and even if it was the only option, Jon and I wouldn’t do it.” Ann patted Thalia’s head, then Thalia let go, keeping her composure, but looked a little scared under the intense stare of two full grown dragons.
Greetings little ones. A voice different from Galen’s entered Dan’s mind. Thalia heard it to, because she stared back at the dragons. I am Aolani.
And I am Galen. Galen entered Dan’s mind.
We are two of the few dragons that remain in this world. Our Riders Ann Gouster and Jon Corand are your masters. As are we. Continued Aolani.
We have been away on important business, but now are back to help with your confutation of training, and to assist with the upbringing of the soon-to- hatched dragons. Galen took over for Aolani. They seemed to trade off as easily as Jon and Ann did. Jon and Ann have informed us of how you are progressing, and I am pleased that you have been progressing as you have. However, there is a matter of upmost importance that needs to be taken into account when thinking about your continuation of education.
Please understand we do not wish this upon you, it is only unfortunate that it has happened at a most inconvenient time, and we must press on urgently, and you must double the speed of your education and training. Aolani sounded pitiful. In order for us to explain this fully to you, we must be able to talk freely with our minds so we might all know what is being presented. Dan and Thalia, I ask you both to reach out with your mind as you would for magic, and we will let you in to our presence.
Dan reached out the same way he had with his magic, and immediately felt the all-knowing, powerful presences of the dragons. He sensed that they were experienced in the ways of the world, and that when they spoke, you listen, or suffer the consequences..
Daniel Hobart, Thalia Banespeak. Legendary names in the making. Galen said.
‘What? Legendary? But Thalia and I haven’t done anything, unless you count performing a couple magic exercises.’ Dan said, skeptical that he had heard Galen at all. He let it go though, because the others were listing intently. Making sure she had every one’s attention, Aolani started speaking.
‘It has been known for sometime that when the next generation of Riders came about, there would be a problem that cropped up. The elders of the North did not know what, when or where that problem would be, but they did know that something would happen. As time went on, and no new Riders popped up, the elders began to relax. But then Ann and Jon were born, and Galen and I knew that we had found our riders. We were eggs at the time, but when a dragon’s rider is born, the dragon can feel it, and gets close to their Rider. As we grew up, the elders were concerned that the centaurs had misread the stars and planets, something that would be detrimental to their reputation, but then it happened that an evil magician turned up. His name is Zanomel Gragojer, and he terrorized the world like no one had ever known. He placed entire kingdoms under his control, and conquered cities without any effort at all.’
‘It wasn’t until the few free kingdoms and all the free magicians, Riders and magical creatures formed an alliance did Gragojer finally fall. But it was at a terrible price. We lost all the elder riders, and most of the magicians. As we returned to our respective kingdoms, Gragojer’s followers spread rumors that he would rise again. Although these were just rumors, and even though the war had just been won, the people of the kingdoms wanted proof that Gacojer would not rise again. So they sent magicians and their kings to the centaurs to ask for an answer. To everyone’s surprise and despair, the centaurs said they could not give a clear answer. The stars had been tricky to read, but they promised an answer within a month.
Its a funny thing fear, it has a way of ruining good things. People were scared to death of Gacojer and everything he stood for. They waited for the centaurs’ prediction, and were soon given their answer. Their prediction was that there would be two Riders who would make the kingdom whole again. Unsure if this was a good or bad sign, people soon forgot about it. And now we reach the present day.
We have reached a point with the centaurs in analyzing the stars that we can determine that you, Dan and Thalia, are the two Riders who will bring about peace and order to the kingdom. We do not know what that in tails, but the four of us are determined to make sure you are absolutely ready for whatever comes your way. Your training starts today. You must be ready when your eggs hatch.’
‘Wait’ said Thalia. ‘How can you be sure that this Gacojer is rising again?”
Dan’s mind was suddenly flooded with images and memories. He saw the war that had gone on, all the bloodshed and good people lost. He felt the pain of watching so many innocent die when it was preventable.The watched the whole war take place before him. He saw the centaurs’s charts, and the confusion on their face as they read off the prediction, which was mumbled and unclear. He saw the fear on the people’s faces as they waited to hear what the Riders had to say. Then he was thrown into a dissuasion where it was revealed the rumors about Gagojer had been proved true. The evidence of his tomb empty, the dark magic he possessed bringing him back to life, or that he had not been dead, but wounded so bad that made him go into retreat.
Then the memories were gone. And all doubt about Gagojer’s existence was erased from Dan’s mind.
‘But Thalia and I are just kids. How can war be the ones who will bring peace, as you say?” Dan ventured a question.
‘That is just it Daniel. We do not know for certain. But all we can do is hope that the prophecy is false and you are not the ones they are talking about.’ Aolani said. ‘But for now, all we can do is train you as hard as we can to prepare you for whatever is ahead.
Dan was released from the grip of the Dragon’s conscience, and found himself flung back into his body. He staggered back a couple steps, regaining his balance, feeling odd to be back in his own body. He glanced at Thalia, who had a harder time recovering than he did. She was trying to walk, but was dizzy and stumbled. Dan grabbed her arm and steadied her out. She looked at him and grimaced.
“Is it supposed to feel like this?” SHe asked him, putting a hand on her forehead.
“I think its different for everyone.” Dan replied.
Ann and Jon were walking towards them. They seemed different with their dragons with them, more confident in their step, but also looked genially happier and more relaxed. Until that moment, Dan didn’t realize that they must have been under a ton of stress, with this on their mind, and with him and Thalia, it must have been a lot to handle.
Jon motioned for he and Thalia to follow them, and Jon led them to the edge of the field.
“You’ve learned the very basics of the four elements, and now we are going to build on that and begin more complex acts, and begin to teach you spells. Spells are a way to instruct your energy to do a particular thing, and saves you the time of formulating every single step through plain magic use. However, spells cannot be used for everything, and are not shortcuts. magic still requires energy, and we start with Air. Dan, would you please get me that log over there?” Jon pointed, and Dan saw a huge log that must have weighed over a ton. Dan nodded grimly, and began to focus on the log. He envisioned a strong wind picking up the log and making it float towards him. Dan extended his arms, and acted as if he was picking up the log. Watching the log as he did so, Dan acted rolling the log towards himself, and the log rolled through the air. Sweat coated Dan’s face and arms as he did, and he could feel the weight of the log in his arms. Dan brought it to a halt in front of himself, and let it hover for a couple seconds before letting it settle gently on the ground. Thalia had gotten tools and books from the Keep with her magic, and she seemed to be as bewildered as Dan felt.
The dragons had followed Ann and Jon, and were watching them all with rapt attention.
Dan, set fire to the log. Thalia, when he sets off the fire, try and contain it so the flames do not spread. Instructed Galen. With a nod from Thalia, Dan reached out to the log, and coaxed heat from his fingers to the log. Then he fed fuel from the log to the fire, and with in a couple minutes, the log was completely on fire. But the flames were only leaping a few inches off the wood. Dan looked at Thalia and saw her making a shield around the entire log, making the flames stay with in the log, or close to its bark.
Dan, quickly, collect a pile of dirt and hover it over the log. Dan hurried and focused on collecting every dust particle in the field, and it soon made a mound of dirt hovering over the flames.
“Thalia, let go of the shield!” Ann yelled. Thalia did, and the heat of the close flames made Dan squeeze his eyes shut.
NOW! Galen commanded. Dan let the dirt go, and it extinguished the fire on contact.
“Thalia, wash away the dirt and make sure there are no more coals.” Ann instructed. Dan watched as Thalia turned her intense stare to the pile of dirt, and out of her hands came spouts of water that washed over the dirt and burnt log with such force that any warmth in the log didn’t stand a chance of staying. The water rolled through the dirt, and reduced it to a pile of wet mud. Thalia let go of the water spouts erupting from her hands, and all the water slowly seeped into the ground.
Very well done. Aolani stated. Go to the mud. Dan and Thalia slowly approached the massive muddy mess, cautious of what they were about to be asked to do.
Together, using each other’s strengths and weaknesses, repair the log. Said Galen.
“What?!!!” Dan and Thalia shouted together.
You only burned the log. You changed the physical aspect of the wood. Using the ashes and the magic you have preformed, you can undo what you have done and reform the wood and the log. That was all the help Galen gave them.
Thalia and Dan looked at each other. They had never heard about this in their studies. Dan saw a look in Thalia’s eyes that told him they had to try. She grabbed his hand, and spoke to him, but without her voice.
Dan, we have to try together. I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but I think it has to do with combining our magic, and energy.
Dan nodded his agreement, and they reached out both their powers so they were connecting and intertwining. Dan and Thalia picked up all the ashes, and wet dirty pieces of soot. Dan and Thalia slowly put it all back together, piece by piece, ash by ash. Thalia squeezed all the water out of the wood that she could, and Dan used as little heat as he could to evaporate the rest of the water. They repeated the process many times, putting the log together ash by ash, piece by piece. It took them a good hour to do it right, and when they were done, the log was in the same condition that it had been when they started. When the last ash had been put into place, Thalia and Dan fell over on the ground, gasping for breath, and drenched in sweat.
“Dan! Thalia!” Dan heard a voice call out to them, but his ears were ringing so much he couldn’t tell if he imagined it or not. Dan’s vision had black spots, and his mouth was sand dry. Dan felt a hand on his back , and a cup was offered to him. Dan took the cup and drank greedily. When the cup was empty, it was taken from him, and then a bag was given to him. Dan opened it with shaking hands, and saw there was a biscuit of sorts.
“Eat it.” Jon instructed. He handed back the cup. Dan took the biscuit and ate it with shaky hands. Immediately, Dan’s strength returned, and he was no longer shaking, or had spots in his vision. Dan was still tired and exhausted, but he didn’t feel like he was about to faint. He smiled weakly at Jon, who pulled him up into sitting position. He let Dan sit there for a few minutes, catching his breath.
Good Job Dan, Thalia. You have done a very good job today. You have surpassed your energy supply, and it is time to return to the Keep for the educational part of you training. Aolani said.
Thalia just managed a nod, as did Dan. Once they ware able to walk, they stumbled back to the Keep, where Dan and Thalia spent the entire evening being rigorously tested and taught by Galen and Aolani about the history and theory of magic. By the time they were dismissed to bed, Dan thought his brain was going to burst, and his brain felt like mush. He couldn’t remember the difference between the Great war of 485, or why the Island Distrot was banned in the 600’s. All he knew was that he had never had any schooling like what he had just experienced and he was excited, and scared about what he would be put through in the next month.

“….So this is why Umbigle the Ugly was called the worst king the world has ever known. He had a horrible history with everyone, and the kingdom was not sad to see him go. The only good thing he ever did for this kingdom was teach the other kings what not to do.

Moving on to the history of the dragons of the 9th century, there were a few skirmishes scattered around the kingdoms, but there wasn’t much in the realm of wars, and the like. This is why we don’t have a huge database to pull from when it comes to wars and strategies. But what we can glean from studying this century is the magical advancements that were made. For instance, the concept of mind speaking was one of the biggest discoveries of the century. We now almost take it for granted, but the magician Nahir reasoned that if we can transfer energy into physical being and usage, then the same theory could be used with humans and minds. This took many years to perfect, but now we know that reaching our with your mind can easily put you in contact with people around you, without using one word. Other famous magicians and Riders from this period include…” Thalia was trying to get down notes and pay attention, she honestly was, but after days on end of these same lectures, she was getting bored. She and Dan were still allowed to go to physical training with Gacjock, and the training sessions seemed to be a break, which Thalia thought ironic. Whenever she was with Ann, Jon, Aolani and Galen, they did nothing but beat history and the theories of different types of magic and magic uses into her brain. Thalia had found it interesting for the first few days, but it was all starting to bleed together. She could do her schedule of every day in her sleep, which she sometimes did. Wake up, eat, go to training with Gacjock, come back to the Keep, eat, and spend the afternoon being lectured on the principles of magic and its history, and possibly do some magic, eat, study more, and go to sleep.

It seemed like Ann or Galen would be talking to her in her dreams one night, lecturing her on something, then Jon and Aolani the next, or some combination of the four. But today, Thalia noticed that Ann was talking about something Thalia had had a dream about. Thalia flipped back through her notes. Ann hadn’t said anything about the 9th century yesterday, unless Thalia was loosing her mind, which was entirely possible.
“Ann?” Said Thalia, interrupting Ann mid-sentence. Ann looked up from the book she was lecturing from.
“Yes, Thalia?”
“ Did you talk about the 9th century yesterday?” Asked Thalia.
“No, I don’t believe so. Let me check…” Ann flipped through a few pages. “No, I did not. Why do you ask?”
“Well,” Thalia was confused. She had heard about this before. “I feel like I’ve heard this before, but I can’t remember where.”
Thalia thought she saw a smile flicker over Ann’s face, but it disappeared and Ann retained a confused look on her face.
“I don’t know where you would’ve heard this Thalia. This is the first time I’ve introduced it, so it doesn’t make sense that you would know about the 9th century magicians, hardly anyone does.” Ann turned back to her book and continued her lecture. She and Aolani took turns giving the lectures, and Ann was almost done with hers.
“Lets see,… oh yes. The ability to contact other people with your minds was not fully pick up until the next century, and that was when it was used with Riders and Dragons, who were then able to communicate easily, and the occupation of speaking the dragon language died out, as the Dragons could teach it directly to people. But with the ability to speak with your minds, your conscious becomes vulnerable, and so protecting it became much more important. People had to protect their minds and ideas against the evil of the world, or those who would try to invade. Even dreams had to be guarded, and people were trained to protect their minds, or put up ‘guards’ as we now call them. These guards work even if you are asleep, and if done properly, can keep you from loosing memory as you age, and even help retain information and help you stay sane if you are ever attacked by a powerful magian. They are especially helpful when you sleep, because they don’t allow information to seep out of your brains.”
“Thats where you told us about it!” Thalia exclaimed, jumping up. Dan and Ann looked at her like she was crazy, and Jon casually looked up from his work in the corner.
“You’ve been in our dreams teaching us when we’re asleep! That’s why we’re moving along so fast, because you’re teaching us while we’re asleep, not just when we’re awake. You just said that minds retain information when you’re asleep. So, you’re teaching Dan and I while we’re asleep!” Thalia was extremely proud of herself for figuring this out, but none reacted. Ann said, very plainly and calmly.
“Thalia, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Thalia gave her a questioning stare, and she saw in Ann’s eyes that she was right.
Aolani continued the lesson then by showing Dan and Thalia how to make mental barriers around their mind.
This is very useful during battles with an enemy. And when you get good at this, then you can share a connection with your dragon, each other, and still protect you mind. Now put your magic into a wall around your conscience, and I will try to penetrate it.
Thalia did what she had been learning how to do. She took her energy from her body, and made if flow up to her head. She imagined her mind, all the memories and experiences she had, and she imagined a shield around her mind. What she felt was a covering falling over her head, but inside. LIke there was something between her scalp and brain. It was a weird feeling, but Thalia felt like it was a shield.
Then Thalia felt something pressing on her shield, like a weight with pressure behind it, but not as forceful. It felt like a personality, and it Thalia decided it was Aolani. Thalia pushed back with her shield, and there was a force battle going on between their consciences for a few minutes, before Thalia couldn’t hold her shield any more, it was draining her, and she let go. She felt the dragon enter her mind, and leave.
Thalia opened her eyes, and saw Dan seemed to be having the same feelings she was.
Good try Apprentices, you got the basic idea, but try not to use to much energy. When someone attacks your conscience, you want to be able to not let them in, but you don’t want them to know that. Try to make a thinner shield, and don’t try as hard. Make it strong, but almost invisible.
Thalia tried again, and the next couple hours was Aolani trying to get Dan and Thalia to make strong barriers around their minds. As they got stronger, Aolani pressed harder on their shields, always breaking their defenses, then pointed out what they did wrong, and made them do it again.

Once more.Aolani said after about twenty tries and fails on both Thalia and Dan’s side. Thalia quickly constructed her barrier, light but strong, and prepared herself for the attack that Aolani was about to launch on their conscience. Aolani began attacking them, but immediately withdrew within a few seconds. Thalia wondered if this was just a tactic, because the previous time Aolani had withdrawn from their minds, she had come back and attacked them in full force. But this time she was completely gone from their minds. Thalia lowered her barriers, and glanced at Dan. He shrugged, telling her he had no idea what had just happened.

Thalia turned to Ann and Jon, who had moved to the corner and worked with Galen while Aolani had been teaching them, and Thalia was not calmed by what she had seen. All the color had disappeared from their faces, and they both looked like they had seen a ghost.
“Both of you, follow me. Now.” Jon and Ann stood up and stood out the door. Thalia and Dan followed obediently, not knowing what had come over them. Jon looked straight ahead as he lead them, and Ann didn’t say a word, and both their whole bodies were stiff, which was very unlike them. Jon led Thalia and Dan to the field where their magic training had taken place, and stopped directly in front of the pit that held their dragon eggs. Galen was already standing by the pit, giving it a reproachful glare. Aolani was pacing around a distance from them making huge imprints in the dirt with her feet, she was stomping so hard. Jon and Ann engaged themselves in a stare with Galen, and Thalia guessed they were having a silent conversation that Thalia and Dan were not included in.
After a few awkward silent moments, Jon turned to Thalia and Dan, with a scowl on his face.
“I have good news and bad news for you both.” He said sadly, his scowl disappearing. “The good news is that your eggs are hatching.” Thalia and Dan turned to each other, disbelief and excitement showing in their faces. “ The bad news is that the reason for this is sorrowful. Dragons only hatch when they find their Riders, as you know, but the also only hatch when their assistance and Rider are needed. For unknown reasons, you eggs are hatching. We have no reports from the Centaurs and elders of north, so we can not be sure what this means, but we do know that something is coming soon.” Thalia tried to concentrate on Jon’s words, but her dragon was truly hatching? It was unbelievable, and she couldn’t hold in her excitement. Jon saw this, because he smiled sadly, and stepped back.
Apprentices, said Galen, This is a new beginning in your lives. When your dragon climbs out of that pit, you have taken on a whole new set of responsibilities, and that Dragon will be you best friend and companion for the rest of your lives.

As you have learned, Ann continued, speaking through her mind instead of voice, Dragons must hatch by themselves, and climb to the top of the pit alone. This ensures they have the strength to survive They must do this alone to clean themselves of the egg, and to prove their strength to the world. Be patient. You dragon will search for you mind when it hatches, and you may encourage it to get to the top of the pit, but do not lend it some of your magic. That is considered disgrace in the Dragon race, and is unforgivable to anyone who tries.
Thalia understood, and she and Dan moved to opposite sides of the pit. Thalia sat down and prepared to wait it out. Dan however, paced about,as he always did when he was nervous. Thalia was to excited to speak, and didn’t want to break the silence, so she reached out with her mind.
Dan, you okay? Dan jumped a foot in the air, he spun around,and his eyes landed on Thalia. She smiled, and spoke again.
You seem on edge. What are you worried about? Aren’t you excited for your dragon?
I guess, Was Dan’s reply. But worried too.
About what?
Everything, I guess. I”ve never had anything like a dragon for a pet before, and a dragon isn’t a pet. Have you been listening to the lectures? Dragons sound like such a responsibility, I don’t know if I’m ready for it.
Dan, I’m sure that whatever work comes along with having a dragon, you’ll be able to handle it. We’re both in the same boat, so don’t worry about it.
But did you hear what Jon said about them being born for a reason? What if they were born because some evil magician is rising, and we need to beat him? We’re only kids, and we don’t know much of anything, what if we die? Then what?
Dan, Thalia was laughing, Whatever Jon meant by that, we can deal with it later., okay? I’ve never had anything this exciting happen to me ever. So lets enjoy it, okay? We are about to meet our dragons! What could be more exciting than that?
Ok, I’ll try to be excited. Dan withdrew his mind, and Thalia left him alone. She knew she’d want to think, and so she meditated.

Meditation was something Thalia had learned in the streets by a fortune teller who had taken her in for a few weeks. She crossed her legs, sat up straight, kept her eyes forward, and began to breathe and count. She counted to 6 as she breathed in, held her breath for 6 counts, and let it out for a slow count of 6. She repeated this pattern, and was soon relaxing and calming her nerves. Her mind strayed, and she began thinking about what her dragon would look like, and what its personality would be. She thought back to the previous month when her dragon had contacted her mind, and spoken to her. Would that be the same dragon that climbed out of the pit, or was that the dragon’s fully grown mind speaking to her. Galen had given a lecture about dragons having their minds fully developed in the egg, but then their mind goes to blank when they are hatched, and they must retrieve all the information that they lost, which sometimes takes their whole lifetime. What would her dragon be like? How long did it take for it to grow up?
Thalia meditated on this for a while, when she felt a tickle on her mind. It was as if a feather had been placed in her brain. Thalia acknowledged the tickle,and she tried to reach the person on the other end. She slowly began to realize that the presence she felt was that of a newborn, her dragon. Thalia was certain her heart skipped a beat, she was so happy. There were no concrete thoughts portrayed through her connection, but there was defiantly something there, emotions. She felt a mash of emotions through her connection, and she was able to determine that there was desperation and fear there. She reached out with her mind, and felt the presence shrink back from her mind’s touch. Thalia pulled back and put herself in her own mind. She sent positive thoughts through the dragon’s connection to her, and she kept getting desperate emotions and she kept encouraging the dragon to come out. Thalia watched the dirt on the pit with great anticipation. She felt the baby dragon getting closer to her, and she began to see the dirt move in the middle. Inch by inch, a claw became visible, then a paw, and then an arm, then the other arm, and a head. A purple head, no bigger than the size of Thalia’s hand popped out of the ground. It had a small, barely visible row of spikes on the top of its head. Its nose and mouth were sticking out in a way similar to a horse’s head. It had no ears, but Thalia knew that a dragon has ear holes on the sides of their heads, covered by a tiny flap of skin. Right beside it, a red head was burrowing its way out of the pit. The purple head turned its eyes in Thalia’s direction, and its eyes bored right through Thalia’s soul. This was her dragon. It managed to scramble the rest of the way out of the pit and walk gingerly over to her. It had a body similar to Galen’s, solid, and legs and wings were skinny, and a tail that was about half of its body length. But Thalia didn’t care that the dragon was covered head to claw in slime and dirt, or that it fell over on to her lap when it reached her, all she cared about was that she had seen her dragon, and it was the one thing she had ever had in her short life. It was perfect. He was perfect. Thalia just knew that her dragon was a male, but she didn’t know how she knew.
“What will you call him?” Jon asked, walking up beside her, offering her a cloth to clean him with.
“Xenophon.” Replied Thalia confidently, thinking of the voice this dragon had contacted her with the month before. She carefully wiped off the dragon, and picked him up gingerly from her lap, where he was now asleep, with a content look on his face.

At the Keep, Thalia and Dan washed their dragons with water and a cleaning solution that was able to take off the slime, which was very stubborn and didn’t want to come off. Thalia tried not be to excited because she didn’t want to disturb the precious magical creature that was sleeping soundly on her lap.
She looked at Dan, who was trying hard to examine his dragon’s wings without moving the baby dragon, but eventually gave up because the dragon wouldn’t move.
Ann handed them both a wet cloth to finish wiping them down. Thalia stroked her dragon’s head and body, wiping the last of the slime of its body. She felt the tiny scales under her fingers, and the webbed cartilage of the wings, and pliable bones that moved however they wanted. She couldn’t get over the fact that there was a living breathing creature on her lap who’s chest was rising and sinking slowly as it breathed in and out.
“Thalia, Jon said you had already named your dragon?” Ann asked, and Thalia looked up, barely noticing her.

“Xenophon.” Thalia whispered, as if afraid to wake him.
A regal name, Apprentice. Galen commented. It will serve him well.
“What about you Dan?” Ann turned to him.
“I’m not sure. I was thinking Dilys, but I think Konstanze.”
“Its up to you, Dan.” Ann said softly.
“Konstanze.”
Konstanze, you have been named. Aolani said. There was humor in her voice when she spoke to Dan. Interesting choice, Apprentice. Konstanze means stubborn.
“I know,” Dan said. “When she was crawling out of the pit, she refused my encouragement, and now she makes it hard to clean her. I think it will fit her well.”
“Just realize that dragons grow into their names, Dan.” Jon said, as he prepared their meal. “It will be interesting to watch both of your dragons grow into their names. Thalia, you know that Xenophon is a foreign voice, correct?”
Thalia was slow to answer. “I named him because he spoke to me when he was an egg.”
Jon almost dropped the plate he was holding. For the second time that day, the color drained out his face.
“What?” Thalia asked. “Is that not normal…” She trailed off when she saw Ann’s face, the color of snow. Her hand was at her mouth, and she looked like someone had just killed her.
“Oh…no…..this means….its really…he is……Jon….what do we do?” There was a desperate note in her voice.
“We just continue as we have.” Jon’s voice sealed the subject, and Ann switched the topic to more pleasant things. They ate supper, and Ann instructed Dan and Thalia to make fires in their rooms, and place their dragons right beside the fire so they could stay warm throughout the night.
“It’s al about warmth. For the first few weeks, they will have to be constantly warm, other wise its harmful to their health.” Ann told them. She shooed them off to bed.
As Thalia coaxed her fire up to a flame, she kept glancing at Xenophon. He was so beautiful, and he was all hers. He was no bigger than her arm, and light as a feather, and Thalia already knew she had a strong connection with him. It took her a moment to realize that even though she had barely known him for more than a few hours, she loved him. As that settled in, Thalia realized that she liked the feeling of loving someone. With that happy thought, she settled into bed.

Two hours later, Thalia was rudely awakened by something wet and slimy in her ear. She leapt out of bed, putting her hand over her ear, and saw that Xenophon was beside her pillow, looking at her with huge black eyes.
“What was that for?” Thalia asked. Xenophon gave her a look with his huge eyes that told her many things. He was completely innocent, and wanted her attention. Thalia sighed, and sat down. Immediately, Xenophon scrambled onto her lap and wrapped himself up in a ball. Thalia started to stroke his scales absentmindedly, and he began to utter a sound that Thalia could only compare to a purr. It was a sound uttered from the throat, and made a rumbling noise, that made his throat wiggle so much it looked as if his whole neck and head were vibrating. Thalia laughed in spite of herself, he was so cute. Xenophon lifted his head and stared at her in bewilderment. Then he jumped up on all four legs, making Thalia jump a couple inches. He leapt of her lap and onto the floor, and the walked over to the door. He fell a couple times in his attempt to get there, but then he butted his head against the wood, as if trying to knock it down. Thalia quickly went over and picked him up in the middle.
“What are you doing?” She asked, half laughing as Xenophon shook his head. “YOu can’t break through a door, you’re just a baby. You’ll hurt yourself.” Than a thought occurred to her.
“Are you hungry?” She asked. When Xenophon just looked at her, she reached out to him, and showed him an image of a piece of meat. He struggled so hard to get out of her arms, Thalia almost dropped him.
“Okay!” She said, trying not to drop him. “I’ll feed you!” She opened the door and set him down on the stairs, and walked down the stairs. Xenophon tried to climb down, but ended up jumping from step to step, with the occasional fall on his face. Thalia couldn’t help herself from laughing, he was just so cute. When they finally reached the kitchen, Thalia was surprised to see Jon and Ann already there.
“I…Xenophon needs food.” She explained as Xenophon ran from cabinet to cabinet, looking at them with amazement.
Jon smiled. “I know. We’re just waiting for Dan. From what I felt from Konstanze earlier, she was hungry, and she isn’t going to be nice about it…”
“AARRGUUHH!!!!” There was a scream from up stairs. A few minutes later, Dan came running down the stairs, scratch marks all over his face and arms, his clothes torn in a few places that looked like it had been done by very small and dull claws. Konstanze was behind Dan, sliding from step to step, a smug look in her eyes.
“She scratched me! On my face, arms, my bedsheets are ruined!” Dan turned to Konstanze, and she smiled innocently at him. “Why’d she do that?”
“Its personality, Dan. Xenophon woke Thalia up with a tongue in the ear, and Konstanze woke you up by scratching you, as we knew they would. Dragons have an extremely high metabolism as younglings, and so they must eat continuously. There is a store of dried meat strips in the cabinet under the wash bin, and you will have to feed your dragons every few hours. Bring them down here when that happens, and feed them one strip at a time, and also give them water with a mixture of dried herbs. Ann and I will show you tomorrow how to make all the foods your dragons will require, but for now, mild and meat will do.”

Ann got out a packet of meat, and two small bowl. Thalia got out a jar of milk from the box that was magically kept cold. Thalia poured milk into the two bowls while Ann cut the strips of meat into thin sections. She handed them to Dan and Thalia, and they fed Xenophon and Konstanze. Xenophon ate his hungrily, and kept begging for more. It took a good ten minutes of feeding before he showed any signs of being full. Thalia would dangle a strip of meat in front of him, and he would jump up and grab the meat and smack it between his lips as he ate it up. When Xenophon had had enough, he went to the bowl of milk and slurped it all up.
Dan wasn’t having such success with Konstanze. Whenever he offered her a piece of meat, she would grab it, and almost bite his fingers, or she would refuse to eat it. It took him much longer to feed her than it took Thalia to feed Xenophon.
“I”ll leave all of this where you can find it.” Ann said, putting the meat and milk away, but easily accessible. “Dragons need to be fed about every two or three hours. I don’t know how fast your dragons’ will grow, but know that they will want to be feed in a while. For now, just try to go back to bed.”
Dan didn’t need to be told twice. He ran up the stairs, Konstanze bounding after him, like she was playing a game of chase. Thalia walked up the stairs, Xenophon trailing her, looking extremely satisfied. Thalia opened her door and climbed into bed, and Xenophon hopped up beside her and balled himself, and fell into a deep sleep.

“Goodnight Xenophon.” She smiled, and turned over, pulling her blankets over them both.

When she woke up the next morning. Thalia was tired and grumpy, but she tried not to let it show. Xenophon had gotten her up three times that night to be fed, about every hour and a half. Every time, he would jump on her shoulder, and lick her with his tongue. Thalia didn’t mind him waking her up, but she didn’t enjoy waking up covered in dragon saliva.

Thalia dragged her feet down the stairs to the kitchen, and got out the meat and milk. She began feeding Xenophon, when Dan and Konstanze came down. Dan was covered in scratches, on his face, arms and his clothes were practically in tatters, some of the scratches were bleeding, and he looked ready to collapse with exhaustion. Thalia raised her eyebrows, and she looked at him with worry. He stumbled over to where she was feeding Xenophon, and clumsily got out a bowl and filled it with milk. He had dark purple circles under his eyes.

“I didn’t get a single wink of sleep. Konstanze wanted to run around all night, then she wanted more food. Every half hour I was down here, and she kept bitting me and scratching me when she wanted something. Do you know how much dull claws hurt?” He asked, rambling on and on. Thalia tried to be sympathetic, but she wondered why Konstanze was being so mean to him. Dan sighed, and looked like he was about to break down and cry.
“I’m so tired, but every time I tried to go to sleep, she attacked me with her claws, and wanted me to play with her. I can only do so much, and we’ve got training today, and I don’t think I”ll be able to get through it without falling asleep, and then I’ll get in trouble, but I can’t sleep because then Konstanze will scratch me, and…” Dan continued like this for a few minutes. During this time, Thalia finished up feeding Xenophon, and grabbed a couple cups from the cupboard and filled them up with water, which she quickly boiled in their cups with magic, and added a teabag to each.

“Dan, its okay.” She comforted, handing him one of the cups. He nodded his thanks, and drained the cup, but he looked better for it.
Ann and Jon came down a little later, and at that point, Konstanze was done eating, and had decided she wanted to make a mess, and was knocking over all the books in the room, and ripping out pages, and tearing at things with her teeth and claws. papers and books were strewn everywhere, candles and magical instruments were on the floor, and Dan and Thalia were in the middle of it, trying to catch Konstanze and clam her down.
“FREEZE!” Jon bellowed, seeing the mess. Magic caught everyone mid step, making them freeze in place. Thalia found she couldn’t move her legs or arm, only her head. Dan and the dragons seemed to be caught in the same spell.

“What is going on here? Dan, Thalia, explain please.” He said, his voice immediately calm, which scared Thalia more than if he had yelled at them.

“I fed Konstanze, and then she went crazy. She’s been doing this all night. I don’t know why she’s so out of control, but she likes to tear and rip anything in sight apart. She has a ton of energy after eating, and so this is how she expends it.” Dan explained, trying not to glare at her in the process.
“She has energy, thats good, we’ll just talk to her about whats okay to do with it, and what not to do. Its okay Dan, I”ll take care of it.” Ann assured him. Dan nodded and Jon released the spell that was holding them all. He walked over to the mantle, and picked up KOnstanze from where she was, and walked outside with her.
Seeing Konstanze leave, exhaustion over took him, and Dan collapsed to the floor in a dead faint, and began snoring.

“Over exhaustion.” Ann said simply, giving a quick diagnosis. “Here, help me lift him.” She grabbed him from under the arms, and Thalia lifted his legs, and they walked up the stairs, and laid him in his bed.
“Couldn’t we’ve just used magic to do that?” Thalia asked. She was confused when they used magic and when they didn’t.It never seemed constant.
“Somethings you use magic, and some you don’t. You don’t fight with magic, most of the time, and when dealing with sleeping people, magic is best left alone. I understand what your asking, and the best answer I can give you is that we are teaching you to use magic, so we use it for simple tasks, but that doesn’t mean you should use it for everything. Sleeping people have a conscious more active than when they’re awake, and it means that they are more magically active when they are sleeping, so any magic used is picked up by them.” Thalia nodded, not fully understanding, but followed Ann down stars, and helped her get the meal ready.

As they were setting out the bread and fruit for breakfast, Jon came back in with Konstanze under his arm, looking extremely satisfied with herself.
“I talked to Galen, and he and Aolani have agreed to take Konstanze and Xenophon for a few hours while Dan and Thalia are at training, and discipline them in Dragon Conduct, as they put it.” He put Konstanze down on the floor, and she shoot off like a bullet towards the stairs.
“Oh no you don’t.” Ann said and under her breath, she murmured a quick spell, and as Konstanze pounded up the stairs, she hit an invisible wall, and fell back a couple steps. Konstanze got up, confused, and tried to continue up the stairs, but again hit the invisible wall, and turned around and stared at Ann, bewildered.

“Dan just got to sleep. I know you think its funny, but he’s extremely tired, and I”m going to let him rest. You are not to bother him until he wakes up. Understood?” Ann instructed sternly. Konstanze put on a pouting face, and climbed up to the last step before the wall, and curled up in a ball, so that Dan would have to get over her before going downstairs.

Thalia was glad she didn’t have to deal with such a temperamental dragon. As she ate, Xenophon leapt onto her lap and tried to bite her food. She let him get a couple bites, but carefully guarded everything else.
“You already had your food.” She pointed out. Xenophon looked at her with innocent eyes, and then licked her face. Thalia laugh
Thalia was about to ask if she should wait for Dan, when a yelp came from upstairs, and Dan thudded downstairs a minute later. Konstanze looked up expectantly, and Dan just saw her in time to avoid stepping on her.

“What happened? What’d I miss?” He asked, a look of horror on his face, like he’d just failed a test.

“Hurry up, we’re late for training.” Thalia said, and grabbed an apple and tossed it to him on her way out the door. Xenophon followed her, and she reached out to the dragons sleeping behind the Keep.

Is it okay if Xenophon comes to training?
Yes. He needs to see how you work. We have contacted Gacjock, so he should not give you trouble. Keep the dragons, Konstanze in particular, away from the arena, and instruct them to stay where you place them. Aolani said. Thalia turned to make sure Dan had heard. He had, as he was trying to run away from Konstanze, who was nipping playfully at his heals. Thalia kept pace with him, which was easy as he was trying to eat, keep from being bitten, and get to training all in the same minute.

As the field came into view, Thalia started searching for a spot that would be far enough away. She spotted a big boulder, and pointed it out to Dan. He nodded, understanding, and Thalia led them all over to it. She told Xenophon and Konstanze that they were to to move from the rock, and not to bother her or Dan while they were training. She made sure they understood, then put a spell around the rock just in case. By the time that Thalia and Dan got to training, they were ten minutes late, a felony in Gacjock’s eyes. He didn’t even ask for an excuse, just made the whole group of squires do a hundred full body raises then sprint every time they ran across the whole field after doing three miles. He made them do that at least three times, and everyone was furious at Thalia and Dan when they were done. The only good thing that distracted them was Gacjock made them move on to sword fighting.

Thalia was excited to learn this, but she was thrown off when they went through drills with the swords. She didn’t know what to do with her other hand, and she finally figured out to use it to balance herself, and then was slicing through the air with grace that surprised even herself. The drills were tedious, but Thalia began to see how you could wield a sword and not kill yourself. She even switched to her other hand easily when Gacjock instructed them to. By the end of training, Thalia was in a great mood, partially because she’d had a good workout, and because Gacjock hadn’t tried to kill her or Dan.

“Wilmont! Banespeak! Gacjock shouted their names after they had put their swords away.” Thalia grimaced. Well, it was wishful thinking. She jogged to where he was standing, and folded her arms across his chest, mimicking him. Dan came up behind her, and from her mind, Thalia reached out to him, and could tell he was ready to collapse again.

“Well?” Gacjock looked for an explanation in Thalia’s eyes, but she replied with a blank stare. She’d played this game to many times before. She knew exactly what he wanted to hear, but there was no way he was going to get it.
“Our dragons hatched yesterday, Sir. We were late because we fed them this morning. It won’t happen again.”
Gacjock was taken aback. “See that it doesn’t.” He dismissed them, and Thalia and Dan sprinted for the boulder where Xenophon and Konstanze were sitting, not giving him a second glance.
Chapter 9. Dan

“I’m sorry,” Dan apologized, as Konstanze put on a pouting face. “We have to go to truing, or get killed by Gacjock. What would you do if I was killed?” From the look on her face, Konstanze appeared like she wouldn’t mind if he was killed, as long as she approved of it.
Xenophon, on the other hand, jumped into Thalia’s arms like a puppy, and snuggled into her arms like she’d been gone forever. Dan envied Thalia, why did Konstanze have to be so stubborn? As if in response, a look of smugness fell over her eyes.
Oh, stop that. He said with his mind. She turned to him, and then stalked off towards the Keep, tail in the air. Dan followed reluctantly, as Thalia and Xenophon played a game of chase on their way back.

Jon was waiting for them outside the Keep. He handed Dan a slip of paper and a brown cloth bag, and glancing at the list, Dan could see it was a list of chores.
“Ann made up a list of errands for you two to do this afternoon. This bag is for all of our errand purchases. Ann, Galen and I will take Xenophon and Konstanze, and get them into training. Aolani will be available if you need assistance. Xenophon, Konstanze, follow me.”
Jon walked off, the two dragons reluctant to follow. Dan took a good look at the list.
Using Magic
clean up the mess Konstanze made this morning, and organize the books
clean the outside of the Keep
gather wood

Not Using Magic:
go into town buy assortment of vegetables, fruits, more grains from market,
and get more meat from the butcher, tell him I sent you, he’ll know
buy three yards of leather from the tanner, any brass buckles, and straps he has
bread, Thalia knows where to go
bandages, slave , more herbs for tea,paper, ink, quills

All the money you need is under the water basin.

Thalia turned pale when she read the list. She handed it back to him, and headed into the Keep. He followed, and they saw for the first time the damage that Konstanze had inflicted. It looked like a tornado had gone through, then a hurricane, which wasn’t far from the truth, Dan thought. Thalia looked at him, and he shrugged. Without speaking, they joined their minds and began to work. They reached out with their minds, and using the air around them, they manipulated it so that it swept and picked up all of the papers and books and placed them in their spots on the shelves. Thalia worked on getting them to go in alphabetical order, no small task with the hundreds of books before them, and Dan held them up until she was able to place them in the correct order. When that task was finished, they moved on to the single papers and gathered them up, putting them in some order, and then into a folder that Thalia found. Dan uprighted the candles, and after a half hour of putting everything in its place they were finished.

Thalia, not wasting any time, immediately walked outside, and extended her arms. Dan wasn’t sure what she had in mind, so he reached out with his magic and added strength to whatever she was doing. A torrents of water streamed down from the top of the Keep, drenching everything in water. Any dirt on the sides didn’t stand a chance against Thalia’s supernatural cleaning powers. As the water receded, Dan realized this was the cleanest he’d ever seen the Keep. It was sparkling in the midday sun, and it looked polished,and not as scary as he had thought of it when he first arrived.

Thalia stumbled, but stayed on her feet. “Maybe we should grab something to eat before we go down to the market.” Dan suggested, and she agreed. Dan made them sandwiches, and they ate them on the way down to the market. Dan brought the bag that Jon had given him, unsure of what use it would be, especially because it wasn’t very big.

Thalia led him into the upper town, and stopped under a small overhanging and turned to Dan.
“I think it would be best if you let me do the talking.” That was all the explanation as she lead him through the dusty, light-brown streets of the town.

They first stopped at the healing center, where the caregiver there gladly gave them what they wanted when they said Ann had sent them. She didn’t ask questions, just gave them what they wanted and sent them on their way. Somehow Dan was able to fit everything she gave them into the sack Jon gave him, but there wasn’t much more room.


Thalia lead Dan towards the market, but down all sorts of side streets, as if she was trying to stay hidden from someone. She walked out of an alley into the market, where Dan was bombarded by sounds and smells. There were bright colors everywhere he looked, and he could hear people talking excitedly, all around them there was movement, and people bustling around.

“Thalia? How are we supposed to find everything in this mob of people?” Dan asked, trying hard to keep up with her in the crowd of people. She stopped, looking around.

“Follow me.” She picked up her pace, and was soon weaving in and out of the people so fast that Dan had to run to stay with her, knocking over people as he went. He apologized multiple times to numerous people, and they all scowled at him. He finally caught up with Thalia when she stopped at a vendor for vegetables.

“Thalia, we don’t need all of these.” Dan complained, as she handed him a mound of vegetables. She shook her head, Trust me, let me do the talking. Dan shut his mouth. He’d never heard her use that tone of voice.

Thalia turned to the vendor. “How much do I owe you Om?” She addressed him as an old friend. Getting a good look at the man, Dan could see he was old, his eyes glossed over, like he was blind, and his back hunched, and his fingers arthritic and scraggly.
“Thalia darling, how are you? I heard horrible rumors, that you’d been taken to the Bears.”
 “No, Om, I wouldn’t let something happen.”
“Good, I always knew you were a sensible girl. Now, what do you need today?” Thalia told him the vegetables she had taken.
“Well, thats a high order from you Thalia, but I expect you’ll pay it off. Now lets see, that would account to…” He paused, doing the figures in his head. “Twenty bronze coins, that should be easy enough to work off, for a hardworking girl such as yourself.”

Thalia dug through the money bag, and handed him a gold coin. Ten bronze coins made a silver coin, and ten silvers made a gold coin, so she was giving him three times of what he asked for.

“Thalia! Wherever did you get this coin? I thought I taught you not to steal from others!” The man looked ready to cry with disappointment.
“No, Om, I would never steal, you know that. I was taken in by the Riders, and I am now their apprentice. This is pay for all the kindness you showed me throughout the years.” Thalia said.
Tears welled up in the old man’s eyes. “Thalia, darling, I can’t accept this, its to much..”
“Its not enough, I wish I could still help you here, but I have more duties elsewhere. But I promise to come back and visit. I’ll even bring my dragon, if that would make you happy.”
“That would make me very happy,” said Om, as if dreaming. “I’ve never met a dragon before.”
Thalia turned to Dan, but not before placing two more gold coins on the table where Om would find them, but not know they were from her. Dan followed Thalia, glancing back at Om, who was looking at the sky, as if dreaming of meeting a dragon. As they went from vendor to vendor getting things, Thalia greeted everyone as a friend by name, and paid them double if not triple what they asked for.
“Hadwin, I didn’t know you took over for your father, is he okay?” Thalia asked one boy who was about their age, a fruit vendor.
“He’s the same, no better, no worse, and we can’t afford a healer, so we’re stuck with him in the same, uncorking state.” Hadwin said. Thalia immediately dug through the purse and pulled out a gold coin, even though she only owed him a silver coin. His mouth dropped, silently asking her how she’d gotten the money.

“I’m a Rider Apprentice now, Hadwin, its our job to care for the less fortunate. I fell into good hands, and your father was always kind to me. Take the money and get a healer.” Hadwin stood there gaping at their backs as they left.

After they had gotten everything they needed at the market, Thalia looked at the list. She took a deep breath and walked down a street, took a couple turns, and lead Dan to a bakery. They stopped in front of it, and Thalia shivered, as if remembering a bad memory. Then she smiled, and turned to Dan.

“Have you noticed fear has a funny way of ruining things?” Dan said nothing. “I used to love the smell of bread.” She didn’t finish the thought, but pushed open the door, and looked around. A bell tinkled as the door swung shut

Dan could tell she was struggling to deal with emotions, but he didn’t know why. He looked around at the hundreds of loaves and roll of bread on the shelves, and wondered what Thalia had been talking about. Personally, he had always found bread to be delightful, and the smell often calmed him, because that was what his mother had fed him when he was upset and stressed out.

Dan’s thoughts were interrupted by a burly man come out from the back of the bakery. He had a huge apron on, and was Dan’ vision of an executioner. Huge shoulders, arms that looked like thick branches a torso bigger than a barrel, and legs that reminded Dan of tree trunks. THere was no trace of fat in his body, and the muscles on his arms were extremely defined. Thalia grimaced, but then put on the blank stare that Dan had seen her use many a time. She showed no feeling at all, just a blank impasse. The man noticed Dan and Thalia standing in the middle of his shop.
“What do you want?” He asked in a booming voice, with extreme annoyance, he obviously thought them beneath him. “ I don’t give charity, only business.”

“We are not looking for charity, sir,” Dan said, trying to come up with something more intelligent to say. “I am Dan Wilmont, and Rider Ann Gouster sent me to pick up bread, and Thalia,” Dan motioned to Thalia. “Led me here, so I am assuming you make the best bread around. “ The bakers’ eyes fell on Thalia, and a spark ignited his eyes.

“WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT COMING BACK INTO MY SHOP!!!!!” He bellowed, making the floor shake.

“YOU LITTLE WITCH!!! YOU STOLE FROM ME!! WHAT DID I TELL YOU I WOULD DO TO YOU IF YOU EVER SHOWED YOUR DIRTY LITTLE FACE IN HERE AGAIN!!!!” He pointed a shaking finger at her, and slowly advanced towards her. Thalia was doing her best not to be intimidated, but she was struggling with her emotions.
“What…do…you…have…to…say…for….yourself.” It wasn’t a question, more of a demand. Thalia took a deep breath, and began to speak with an authority that Dan had never heard her speak in before.

“As it does not concern yourself, I suggest that you remove your finger from my face.” She stared pointedly at his finger, which was inches from her nose. “The man who escorted me away from your sorry face two months ago was Rider Corand, as you well know. It does not concern you, but I am compelled to tell you that during these past two months I have been working to become a Rider Apprentice. Not that a simple minded baker could understand the complexities, but I now have a place to call home, and two terrific teachers who have taught me about honor, and respecting others. I have learned much, and I am no longer the street rat who’s magic got the better of her. You have no quarrel with me, as I have no quarrel with you. I strongly suggest you let my companion buy his bread, and leave us to our duties, as I am sure you have many.”

No one spoke for a full minute. The baker and Dan were stunned at Thalia's speech. Dan had never heard her speak more than three sentences at a time, and this was beyond anything he had thought her capable of. She spoke with a tone of voice that put the baker in his place, but did not disrespect him.

The baker straightened awkwardly, walked over to a shelf of bread and picked up two big loaves. He shoved them at Dan. Dan looked at the prices, and paid the man in exact coins. Then Dan took Thalia’s elbow and lead her out of the shop and onto the street. Once they were a safe distance from the baker’s shop, he turned to her.

“Where did that come from?” He asked incredulously. “That was amazing, I didn’t know you had that in you.”
She looked at him, with a questioning gaze fixed on him, “ Remember how I said fear has a funny way of ruining things?” Dan nodded. She shrugged, and turned to continue down the street. “Hows everything fitting in the bag?”

Dan looked down at the bag he was carrying, surprised. Everything he had put in there that afternoon, and there was still space for the bread. When he reached into the bag, Dan could feel all of their purchases , plus more room. He looked at the bag, then bag inside it. The bag shouldn’t even be able to hold a loaf of bread, much less all of the things Thalia had bought that day.

“Thalia!” Called out a group of kids, all about ten, and covered from head to foot in rags. Their faces were streaked with dirt, and so was there hair and arms. They looked more like the color of the houses or the road. Thalia spun around, and she looked so happy, Dan wondered if he’d ever known Thalia before this.
“Kabet! Lars! Peter! Mary!” She shouted, running over and giving them each a bug hug.
“What happened to you?!We haven’t seen you in two months! We thought you’d been captured, or worse, taken to the castle for execution. What did you do?” They were all asking questions at the same time.
“Guys, guys! Calm down!!” Thalia laughed. She pointed at Dan. “He and I were chosen to be Rider Apprentices, and I was taken off the streets.” She let that sink in, and the four of them stared at her in disbelief. Then

“No, seriously Thalia, what happened?” Asked the smallest and dirtiest child, Mary? Dan wasn’t sure, they all looked the same to him.
“Okay, the truth is that I was put in a foster home, and I’ve been adopted. He is my brother.”
Right Dan? She added silently, raising her eyebrows for him to play along.
“Oh, yeah, my…parents recently decided they wanted a girl, and so we got Thalia.” The four kids were staring intently at him, but then changed their stare to Thalia again.
“So are you coming back to the streets?”
“I don’t think so, Kabet.” All their faces fell. “I’ll visit when I can, but I don’t think it’ll be very often. Here, this should tide you over the winter.” Thalia pulled out the rest of the bronze and silver coins in her pouch, and handed them to the tallest boy. “It’s the least I can do, but it should help. Don’t spend it all at once, Lars. I’m counting on you to take care of them now, okay?” She searched his eyes, and he nodded.

Thalia gave them all a hug, and then turned and started walking towards the castle, tears in her eyes. She didn’t look back, and the four kids disappeared as fast as they could.