Ruby and I had made it to the Varden. Finally. After all the time it took us to journey from back home. It was good to be here. We weren't there for long when we began our training. Elva, our trainer, was tough, but she knew what she was doing, and I trusted her.
She had her dragon, Amestar, train all of us Riders' dragons. It was hard to keep the link between me and Ruby and concentrate on all that Elva was teaching us, but I was managing well enough.
She had us partner up and spar. I was partnered up with a young lady named Ray. She was a nice lady, and I was glad she was my partner. She really made me work, which would only benefit the both of us in the end.
We had finally advanced enough that the enchantment on our swords that kept us from hurting each other was taken off so we could spar like in a real fight. "There is space to improve, but I am impressed at the skill some of you showed. The rest of the evening is yours, make sure you are well rested for tomorrow. It will be a long day, if you are tired. I suggest you all go get food from the kitchens, for you and your dragons," Elva told all of us.
Suddenly, I could hear a giant roar and could see Ruby and the other dragons making their way back. "Make sure," Elva said, "that you talk with your partner about what you learned today." I ran to Ruby's side and stroked her long neck. "There are dragon holds at the top of the mountains, each one has 2 beds, one for a dragon, and one for a rider, pick one you like, and you will live there. Tomorrow be back here, same time. You may go." Elva bowed. One by one, everyone left.
I want you to meet a friend I made, I told Ruby.
She looked around at all the riders trying to guess which one I was referring to. Who is it? she asked.
I turned and found Ray with her own dragon. "Ruby! I wanted to introduce you to Ruby, my dragon."
Ray smiled in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Ruby. This is my dragon, Rain."
I beamed up at the giant, male dragon before me. "It's a pleasure," I nodded to him.
Ruby and Rain seemed to already be acquainted, so that was nice. As we made our way to the dragon holds, I turned to Ray, "Want to room next to me?"
~.~
In the morning, we were told to move rocks with nothing but our feet. Ray and I were practicing next to each other, and I wasn't accomplishing much. Suddenly, a fellow rider, Akkar, I think was his name started complaining of a burning sensation. After Elva came and helped him, he had used a little magic to move the pebble into the air before it fell back to the ground.
"Akkar just preformed magic," Elva explained to the other riders, "you must feel this burning, it almost feels like you're going to explode. You must find that part inside of you, doing pointless tasks is what the riders long before us used to do to their student riders. It taught discipline and how to reach that point. After you find that point, you must either say a magic phrase, or let it fade away. If you use magic, you will instantly feel weaker." Gestures toward Akkar, who was now sitting. "If you try to go back in time, bring back someone from the dead, and countless other things, you will instantly die, for no one has enough energy to sustain that magic. Magic uses energy. I don't want anyone doing any magic unless it's in front of me for a while, got it?!"
We all nodded. Who would want to go against Elva? I turned back to the rocks and tried to focus on them, but I wasn't feeling any burning sensations anywhere.
You got to concentrate, Ruby reminded me when I sighed in exasperation. Really focus. There should be nothing else in you head.
Then, it might help if you weren't in there as well, I teased her.
Ruby went silent then and waited and watched me. Taking a deep, steadying breath, I tried again. After a few moments, I could feel a slight sensation, but nothing that could move much of anything. I glanced over at Ray, and I saw the rock jumping before it fell back to the ground and stayed there.
"Wow, great job, Ray!" I complimented her.
"Thanks. It's a lot harder than you'd think, isn't it?" she replied with a smile.
I nodded and went back to practicing. This time, I could feel the burning a little more intensely, so I whispered the words Elva had told Akkar to say, and the stone moved into the air until I was so overcome with happiness that my focus broke.
That was great, Kia. But, you let your emotions overcome you focus, Ruby told me honestly. I liked her honesty. It kept me grounded; it kept me focused on the task at hand.
But, at the moment, I was too happy about actually performing magic to really care at the moment.
Continue?
There. I finally posted. :) I hope it's ok.
