It had steadily been growing darker as we had eaten, and lanterns had been lit around the room and placed on the tables. Academy Leader Silver picked one up and raised his voice. “If all the candidates and the guests would join us to make our way to the Ceremony Grounds.”

The staff members instantly started muttering.

“Weren’t we supposed to be heading to the Chapel?”

“No, they changed things back again. They’re keeping the introduction of the dragonets in the original time slot and having the purification ceremony after the end.”

“Even later than that. There’s a bunch of preparations that still need to be made, apparently. The ceremony itself isn’t until the second hour.”

> Not as late as it sounds. On this world, it would have meant the second hour after sunset, not the second hour after middle of the night.

“Seriously? Some our guests have been travelling since dawn.”

“Their attendance isn’t required. No-one’s attendance is required. Except, I guess, Minister Greenfield. If they want to go to bed early, there is nothing stopping them.”

I was delaying, but I wasn’t the only one. Lilianna had approached me rather than head towards Academy Leader Silver.

“It seems very late to be tackling those steps in the dark,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” said the staff member – I really had to find out his name, it was getting embarrassing not knowing – “They’ll take you through the inside route.”

There was an inside route. Of course there was. These people risked death by great heights for fun. Why wouldn’t they scamper along cliff edges even when they had a more reasonable alternative? Lilianna looked relieved at the news, and I agreed with her. We were given lanterns of our own and hustled into following along. The trip was through the courtyard and then all the way through the ground floor of the dormitories.

“Ah, Minister Greenfield?” asked Assistant Oxenden tentatively when it became clear he wasn’t just heading to his own rooms. “This is just a viewing for the candidates.”

“I want to see what all the money has been wasted on,” said Minister Greenfield. “Or do you have something to hide?”

Minister Greenfield didn’t give Assistant Oxenden a chance to answer before moving past him with his assistant. Academy Leader Silver glared at Minister Greenfield briefly before deciding to pretend he didn’t exist. We walked through a newly constructed door that unexpectedly led into the roof of the new section. We were standing on a raised deck with another spiral staircase. Below us was an arena of sand, lit by some torches hammered into the sands. In the flickering light, I could just make out baby dragons happily digging around. The deck we were on was lit only by our own lanterns, throwing odd and uncomfortable shadows through the columns and trusses.

“This is the viewing platform,” announced Academy Leader Silver. “The guests will stand here while you are bond to your chosen dragon below.”

“Very impressive,” I said, when it became clear that he had been waiting for some sort of reaction. “What a clever design to allow people to watch without interfering with the process.”

I did not tell him it looked more like a set piece in some horror movie. Perhaps Phantom of the Opera. But perhaps it would look less oppressive in the daylight.

“Isn’t it?” agreed Academy Leader Silver. “But onto the important things. Tonight is your chance to meet the dragonets and get a feeling for their personalities, prior to the formal selection process tomorrow. The candidates and the candidates alone may proceed down the stairs.”

Academy Leader Silver and Assistant Oxenden remained at the back, coming very close to blocking the stairs from Minister Greenfield. The teenagers had also deferred to let us go first, which left us in the uncomfortable position of heading towards dragons without any meat shields.

“Did anyone tell us how we’re supposed to approach a dragonet?” I asked Lilianna. “Without getting our fingers bitten off, hopefully?”

“Slowly,” replied Shanelly with a laugh from just behind us. “Dragonets are usually happy to be touched anywhere around their head, or down either side of their spines, but avoid their bellies until after you’re bonded. But don’t worry about your fingers. While some might bite, they really can’t do much damage at their age. It’s their tails you have to watch out for.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Thanks, er… Student Oakswell?” I asked.

“Candidate Shanelly,” she corrected with a smile. “I’m not a student quite yet, and I won’t be referred to by surname alone until I marry and use my husband’s.”

“Thank you again, then, Candidate Shanelly,” I said. “Your information is invaluable.”

“Suck-up,” said Candidate Bethany under her voice.

“Oh, give it a rest, Bethany,” said Candidate Shanelly.

“Yeah,” chimed in one of the boys. “No one asked you, Brain-dead-any.”

“Candidates!” reprimanded Assistant Oxenden.

Assistant Oxenden slipped past us to lead again when we reached the bottom of the stairs, but he disregarded the argument and the insults. Either he hadn’t heard the exact words they’d used, or it was not something he thought appropriate to pursue. Under the circumstances, I had no choice but to follow suit. The teenagers themselves, even Candidate Bethany, were easy enough to distract with the dragonets. Assistant Oxenden coaxed each dragonet forward and show us how to handle them. After the teenagers had a chance to meet each dragonet, they were sent back up the stairs to their parents, and perhaps to bed. I was deeply jealous. Instead, we filled the time until the ceremony playing with the dragonets. Which I had to admit wasn’t an unpleasant way to spend time.

The animals struck me as oversized huskies. Perfectly excited to do what you wanted, as long as that was exactly the same thing they wanted to do. Utterly impossible to convince to do something else. Even the song of their people was surprisingly similar – a deep trill that all the dragonets joined in enthusiastically. They were oddly adorable, and unexpectedly scent free.

I settled opposite Lilianna, scratching alongside the spine of a unicorn dragonet, named for the very restrained horn just above his nostrils. The line of spikes turned out to be much softer than I had expected, so the pleased wriggling didn’t risk my fingers.

“It’s a pity they won’t stay this size,” said Lilianna.

We sat with the obvious concern between us. I couldn’t tell you what terrible luck – or perhaps it was a divine punishment – had resulted in two heroes out of three being so very unsuitable for the task of being dragon riders.

“Perhaps it will be like a plane,” she said at last. “You know, like how once you get high enough, it stops being real, so skydiving isn’t terrifying.”

> Plane doesn’t refer to a region of reality, but to a type of mechanical spirit boat that can only travel by air. The use of the word may indicate that that Hero Lilianna also comes from a technological world, but it could also be an artifact of the translation magic.

“I’m sure,” I agreed.

I didn’t believe anything of the sort, and I knew she didn’t either. Even if she learnt to tolerate being in the air, there was take off and landing to consider. And it was one thing when we had still thought the rider would be securely strapped above the dragon, but dangling below, with nothing but air underneath? That was a few steps up the difficulty curve.

After a period that I couldn’t judge, but Assistant Oxenden must have been able to track, we left the dragonets behind as well. The viewing deck was completely dark when we came back up. I wondered how long Minister Greenfield and his assistant had waited before giving up. If Minister Greenfield had been hoping for a private conversation with one or more of the heroes, that was a positive sign.

Assistant Oxenden must have noticed me looking around. “Minister Greenfield has volunteered to do the Purification Ceremony himself. We’ll see him at the chapel shortly.”

“How long is Minister Greenfield staying here at the academy?” I asked casually.

“Only another four days,” said Assistant Oxenden, and then under his breath, “Thank all the gods.”

The trip the chapel was an easy one, at least in comparison to every other journey, but it was a long day. Only knowledge that it was the very last thing I needed to do that day that kept me going. The ceremony was more interesting than I had been expecting, however. Knowing it was an all-faith church, I had predicted either bland truisms about ‘the gods’ in general, or a long list so that no god would be left out. Instead, the service was broken up into three distinct sections, each calling on a particular aspect of a particular god or goddess. The purifier of all things received the most time. Next was a god I recognised as the ruler of the sky, was now invoked specifically in his role as the protector of dragons. It ended with an appeal to the god of children and students. And the requests weren’t generic ‘look kindly on us’ wishes. They were precise, and detailed, and included dates and times. Each step of each one included drawing a symbol on the chalk circle. It had looked haphazard, but as they final appeal completed, it came together in a unified whole. It felt more like casting a set of magic spells than anything I associated with religion.

Afterwards, Minister Greenfield moved to the middle of the courtyard, greeting people as they streamed out. I hesitated. Was it perhaps worth it to hang back a little, and see if we could have that conversation? I made eye contact, trying to determine his intentions.

“Shall we proceed to our final meeting?” asked Minister Greenfield, clearly including all the heroes, and half the rest of the crowd in that ‘we’.

Our final meeting? The last event was supposed to be the last event! Any other day I would have pushed back, despite my need to maintain my reputation. Enough was enough, surely. But it was the very first day. You couldn’t complain on the first day. But I would not be waiting afterwards in the hopes of chatting to Minister Greenfield. Four days would be enough time. I would make sure of it.

Memo to self: find alternative occupations or opportunities

Step 1: come up with excuse to speak with Minister Greenfield in private.

Step 1A: find out when he is due to leave before he leaves in four days