Zerine’s new room was…
“BOOKS!” Zerine nearly shouted as she opened the door. The curved room was roughly the same size as the one she had back home, but had an entire wall dedicated to bookshelves, which were packed with tomes.
“For someone who reads so much, that was so articulate,” Kamar said sarcastically. Zerine had been surprised to learn that Kamar’s mother was one of Marigold’s daughters and was going to be hosting them for the reminder of their time.
Fairies rarely had more than one child, so she was surprised they had an extra room. Then she learned Marigold was in the fairy leadership, so had the fairy version of a compound. It was smaller and in a tree, but had space for guests. They could have put her in a room that only had space for a bed and she would have been fine, but this, this will be perfect.
Zerine waved a dismissing hand in Kamar's direction, getting a giggle in return.
“It just came out okay,” she said, pulling clothes out of her spatial storage and putting them in the empty closet. “Are you certain that Fiamma and Varino won’t get into trouble going on tour by themselves?”
“I trust that whatever trouble they do manage I’ll know waaay before anyone else will,” Kamar replied, sitting on the edge bed.
“Right, mental communication is part of a familiar bond. Is it funny that I honestly forgot about that being a thing?”
Kamar snorted. “Not at all. I bet whenever you and Varino actually form that Union Bond you’ll have forgotten again.”
Zerine laughed. “Ha, yeah. But who knows when that will happen.”
Kamar winced, unseen by Zerine, who was now taking out Varino’s seemingly endless packed items. Mostly crossbow bolts and quintessence. Zerine not having her crest was a topic they usually avoided. Zerine would joke about it sometimes, but they could tell it was a sore, fearful, nervous spot for her.
“It will happen Zerine,” Kamar said, observing how her friend would react.
Zerine froze for only the briefest of moments, but kept unpacking. Silence fell for a few seconds that felt like they stretched for minutes. Kamar was about to change the subject when Zerine finally spoke.
“I know. I’m…just afraid that whenever it does, I’ll be left behind. Or I’ll somehow become a disappointment not worthy of the gifts I’ve been given or the training I’ve received.”
“I understand feeling the pressure of expectations both from those around us and those we set for ourselves. And I know that all too well. So, when I say that you’re overthinking this, you know that it’s coming from someone who has experienced this firsthand. And your parents and friends won’t just abandon you.”
“They did once,” Zerine said softly.
“Yeah, children can be selfish, idiotic, short-sighted pricks and yes, that can keep going as people get older, but you haven’t surrounded yourself with those types of people,” Kamar said, folding her arms. “Your instincts would have picked up on that by now, right?”
Out of her friends, Kamar had been the first to put it all together about Zerine’s instincts. And Kamar wouldn using about it till Zerine had explained it to her around her fifteenth birthday. But she had a point, especially after the trial Zerine would have easily picked up on the subtile emotional signals if she had chosen poorly in friends. It still didn’t get ride of the fear, but it helped, slightly.
“Your right,” Zerine said and sighed. “Sorry. I’m just worried.”
“Its out of your hands so all you can do is-”
“Keep working hard and doing my best,” Zerine finished, having heard this line from Zara, Raith, Ava, and now Kamar.
“Good. Now, if you're done, let’s go eat. And please don’t eat spirit manifestation fruits. Out of your usual craziness, that has me worried the most.”
“Those fruits are delicious. If you find something of equally delectableness, then sure I won’t eat that fruit.” Kamar sighed. “Must be harder than I thought,” Zerine remarked, with a grin following Kamar out of her room.
“Nooo, just…shit yeah. Those fruits are too damn good!”
***
Evidently Zerine’s and Varino’s fairy trainer named Vinessa had been sent out on fairy business. So, at dinner, Marigold informed them that the dragon riders would pick the two up early in the morning. The news excited both, but early in the morning for dragon riders meant before the damn sun was even up!
A bleary-eyed Zerine stood trying to stay standing while an ever eager Varino was exploring the clearing they waited in.
“Do you normally struggle to sleep?” Marigold wondered.
“Sometimes it-” Zerine covered a yawn. “It comes and goes. Definitely better than it was right after the attack.”
“Ah, I see,” Marigold said, sounding like she had delt with similar problems.
“Don’t S and Gold-rank mages stop needing sleep?”
“Rest turns into a deeper mediation at those ranks. And your reliance on it decreases as you rank up. There is little difference between F through D-rank for beings such as you. For spirits like Varino, only need to sleep every three days out of the eight-day week.”
So yes, Zerine thought.
“And as you find out early in life, our world isn’t a perfectly peaceful one and trauma like what you have dealt with is common. I’m not saying that to trivialize what you went through, but to tell you that there is support for you here as well.”
“Th-thank you,” Zerine said. She was going to ask more, but a sudden clap-like thunder announced an enormous dragon landing with a crash in the clearing.
Marigold didn’t react as a blast of wind slammed into them. As for Zerine, if Marigold hadn’t had an arm around her waist, Zerine probably would have been flung back. A startled Varino flew into her chest with an alarmed peep.
“Welcome recruits,” a Scalekin said, who had appeared in front of them without disturbing the surrounding air. Technically speaking, Scalekin is a generic term similar to humanoid and Beastkin. There are many types of cold-blooded sapient beings. There are those more salamander in appearance with long tails and smooth scaled skin. Then there are those that look like an alligator with a long snout filled with teeth and rough, strong scale hide. There were also those more frog-like and snake-like. As for the dragon rider in front of them, he was of the alligator variant, which was amongst the physically strongest out of the Scalekin races.
The dragon rider was tall, probably over six feet, and had dark green scales that nearly match that of his bonded partner, who was giving them a rather hostile look. His eyes, though, were a startling blue. An orange crest that was made of sweeping lines went down the front of the rider’s neck going under his…
Is he just wear armor? Zerine thought. From what Zerine could see, the rider had a chest plate with shoulder plates connected to it with strips of leather. His pants were a mix of leather and yet more plate armor. She didn’t see any signs of cloth under the armor other than the pants.
Varino waved from Zerine’s arms and chimed. Zerine tried really hard not to laugh as the rider and dragon did a double take, probably realizing that Varino was the new rider.
Varino hopped out of her arms and landed lightly, her cloak flapping behind her.
“Huh…Varino, I take it,” the rider wondered looking down at the spirit.
Varino nodded.
“Then you're Zerine,” his bright blue eyes flicking to Zerine’s.
Zerine bowed her head. “Pleasure to meet to you.”
“Huh, manners,” the rider said, then shock his head. “My name in Trade Common is Cassel. I will be your trainer so that someday you will be a credit to your wing.” He said this ignoring Zerine and only having eyes for Varino.
Varino whislted.
“she-”
“I have a translation ability,” Cassel said to Zerine before looking down at Varino. “A wing is your squad of riders and dragons. Once Bronte reaches mid C-rank, you and him will be assigned a wing.”
Varino pointed at Zerine and burbled like a stream.
“Hmm,” Cassel said, then made a sound almost like a growl or clearing his throat, but it wasn’t meant to intimidate or clear his throat. No, not at all. Zerine was certain the Scalekin had just made in his own language a snide comment about warm-blooded. Or something about dead weight. Or maybe both, yeah, probably both.
Well, this is going to be a thing. Don’t what type of thing, but a thing for sure, she thought.
“Sorry clearing my throat,” Cassel said, which made his dragon partner chuffed, disguising its laughter, but it was clear in Zerine’s instincts what both thought of her. A waste of time and space.
Well, you little mother fu- she thought.
“If she finds a partner that meets their criteria, then she’ll become a rider too. But as it is right now, she will not be assigned to your wing. Even if you form a Union bond, she would not be assigned a wing.”
Varino turned to look at Zerine, uncertainty in her gaze.
“It’s not for years, Varino. We’ll figure something out, so don’t worry about it,” Zerine reassured the spirit.
Varion chimed.
“Yes, really really. We still got our journey too, don’t forget.”
Varino smiled up at Zerine and turned back to the now confused rider and piped a firm flute note.
“Glad you're ready.” Cassel turned to Marigold. “We will bring them back this evening. The plan we settled on is four days here, four days with us for Zerine, and five days with us and three here for Varino, correct?”
“That is what the Lord of Water and Ava agreed to,” Marigold said, bowing her head.
“Right then,” Cassel turned to Zerine and held out a crystal. “Take this. Put mana into it and you’ll be teleported to our outpost where you will get gear.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I don’t-”
“Marigold will supply the mana,” Cassel clearly getting a bit impatient. Zerine quickly snatched the crystal.
Varino had small sparks appearing around her. Hinting that the spirit was not liking Cassel’s attitude towards Zerine. “As for you, Varino. You and I will go with Glemnar.” He jerked his head to his Dragon partner, who was still glaring at Zerine. “To the training grounds, where Zerine will be brought after she is ready. So, let’s go.”
The sparks had vanished right as Cassel spoke directly to the spirit. She looked up at Zerine, clearly nervous.
“It’ll be fine and I will be fine. See you in a bit,” Zerine gave Varino a bright smile she didn’t exactly feel as the dragon was still staring her down.
Varino bit her lip, then hugged Zerine's leg, then ran to follow Cassel, who had already turned away heading to his dragon. The dragon still hadn’t stopped its glare at Zerine.
You weren’t supposed to meet a dragon’s gaze, but this one was being fucking rude, so she glared right back at him and lifted her chin up. The dragon infused its gaze with willpower. Pressure fell around Zerine. She had been told plenty of times by Terri and the others how annoying they found this tradition of dragons.
“Just flare your aura and be done with the dick measuring contest then,” had been her suggestion, which got the dragons to laugh. But they had also made preparations to handle wild dragons or others who might not like her simply because she was connected to them. This meant she knew how to use her willpower to push back the pressure, if barely. At least it wasn’t his aura that she wouldn’t have been able to do anything to.
Their wills didn’t so much as clash as smash into one another. An invisible conflict that Zerine had no right to attempt. She was already stretching her willpower thin by making it affect the surrounding mana to free it of the dragon’s influence. Using it all around herself was pushing her limits, but she didn’t give a flying fuck about any limits at the moment. She was going to make it clear to this dragon she would not be a pushover just because she wasn’t bonded.
The dragon’s golden eyes narrowed, and it chuffed. Its willpower grew, forcing hers back, but by doing that, reduced the distance her will from her body, increasing the amount she could use in defense.
This tense stare down lasted for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. Sweat dripped down Zerine’s back, but she would not bend. Luckily for Zerine, this stupid, reckless move was interrupted as Cassel and Varino mounted the dragon. With one last chuff and warning glare, the dragon flapped its wing, launching them into the sky.
“Hmm, well, that was stupid of you,” Marigold commented like she was discussing the weather.
Zerine was breathing hard.
“That fucking asshole,” Zerine said.
“Yeah, better let that out before you get in serious trouble with your trainers,” Marigold replied, eyeing Zerine with…was she impressed? It was subtile, but Zerine could have sworn for a moment in her instincts there was pride for what Zerine had done, but Marigold regained control rapidly using whatever techqiune Ava and Sashi had come up with to mask their emotions.
“First, am I right that the little grunt that Cassel said was him clearing his throat was an insult about warm-blooded and me dead weight?”
“I think I translated that a little different, but something along those lines. I’ll add some language lessons to your work,” Marigold said.
Zerine sighed. “This is going to be a thing, huh?”
Marigold shrugged. “The dragon rider training is for Varino you don’t have to-”
“Nooope,” Zerine said. “I will follow throw. Even if I deal with those little fucking thoughts.”
“Ah, was it his words or emotions you focused on?”
“Both, I know, like four languages. Granted, the fourth is more like I learned swear words first,” Zerine said.
“You take after Raith a lot, you know that?”
“Don’t tell her. It’ll go straight to her head,” Zerine said, which got a laugh from Marigold.
“Alright, keep your cool, work hard, and see you at dinner. Kamar or Nerel will be here to guide you back. So,” Marigold took the crystal, which glowed brightly as she channeled mana into it. “Good luck.”
Zerine vanished in a flash of light.
Marigold sighed. “The Lord of Water could have said to be neutral towards her, not outright hostile till she proves herself,” she grumbled.
Granted, casting willpower over distance like that as a crestless is insane, she thought. The dragon had been clearly testing her, but when Zerine’s willpower was pushed back, it just kept becoming stronger and stronger.
She had to admit it was a dumb thing for Zerine to glare at a dragon. Maybe she had spent a bit too much time with Falkor’s hatchlings and some things rubbed off on her. She just hoped that the future tests wouldn’t cause too much trouble.
Although, this is Cal’s eldest sooo…yeah this is going to be rough for her. Not just her, but both of them, Marigold thought.
***
Zerine had appeared at the outpost. It was a plan looking two story building atop one of the mountains. Other than rocks and two riders, there wasn’t much to look at. To make it worse, it was a cloudy day, so there wasn’t even a view she could take in.
“Your clothes won’t work. You’ll want to store that cloak in your spatial storage necklace. Bob, did you do your appraisal yet?”
And apparently there was more wrong with her.
Two riders had clearly been waiting for her. One was a human, who was Bob Zerine just discovered. He had black curly hair, light brown skin, and bright green eyes. And the other was a Beastkin, but one of the lion verity. This meant, unlike Zara and Grace, who looked like a human with ears, tails, and with more hair that matched a creature, this Beastkin was a lioness. Meaning, take a lioness, put them on powerful bipedal legs, give them a lithe figure, cover it in golden fur, and you’ll have a pretty good picture of the woman now standing in front of Zerine.
“I’m Aaliyah, rider of the honorable Fafnir. Bob,” Aaliyah gestured with a clawed hand. Bob gave a friendly wave as he rummaged through a crate that had appeared out of nowhere. “He is the rider of the fierce, Arashi. You’ll meet both at some point.”
Aaliyah waved a hand and a small room rose out of grey the stone. She then pointed at it.
“Strip in there and we’ll get you clothes that won’t have you dying.”
“Um, okay,” Zerine said, really not having a clue what to expect out of the riders or this training for that matter. She entered the room and closed the door that exposed her head and feet, but covered everything else.
After striping to only the dragon skin shirt and underwear, Zerine wrapped herself in her Runic spider cloak. It was cold even if the tiny changing room blocked the wind. Boots were tossed under the door.
Not exactly giving me items in the right order, she thought, eyeing the boots. They were made from an inner layer of black leather. The outer layer had…Zerine sucked in a breath as she saw tiny black scales.
Are they giving me a complete set of dragon scale armor? she thought incredulously.
She inspected the boots further and saw that there were stitched runes all over the inner boat for temperature control, water resistance, fire resistance, of course, and more. The most notable part, other than the scales that she was quite certain were dragon scales, was a shell of matte black metal protecting the toes.
“My ability didn’t come up with anything that Cal wouldn’t already know by any ordinary appraisal,” Bob thought to Aaliyah as they rummaged in the crate. The crate only contained items meant for Varino and Zerine’s training, so they were stalling while Arashi went over her appraisal of Zerine.
“And will Arashi tell us if she finds anything?” Aaliyah thought back, pulling out pants and tossing them toward the changing room.
“Probably not-” Bob froze as he communicated with Arashi, who was currently flying far above them.
“She is aware of anything around her in a sphere around twenty feet,” Bob thought. “Arashi’s far more powerful ability hasn’t come up with anything else.”
“Well, Cal will be a bit disappointed by that, but let’s get ready to kick his kids’ asses,” Aaliyah thought, then tossed a long-sleeved black shirt, cloak, and paused as she picked up dragon scale shorts.
“Zerine, this will add itself to you dragon scale shirt so you’ll have to get used to that,” she said then tossed the under layer into the changing room.
Zerine sighed. She had been wrong about the dragon scale gear. It was just the boats and…shorts? How were these supposed to add itself to the shirt she always wore? Sighing again she pulled the pants off she had put on earlier and slide the shorts-
The thin dragon scale shorts flew up her legs, then extended, connecting to the shit. She felt an odd pulse of energy and now wore what she guessed was an under a suit of some kind.
“Huh, that was strange,” she muttered. She twisted looking around and found one problem. “How do I even get out of this!?”
“Hurry up,” Aaliyah said. She poked her head in and looked at Zerine, who was still inspecting the dragon suit, looking worried. “What’s wrong?”
“How do I get out of this?” Zerine wondered, gesturing to herself.
Aaliyah started to laugh. “Its soul bound. It’ll get absorbed into your soul shape if you want. It’s the same for your cloak.”
“I don’t think I can do that without a crest,” Zerine said.
“You should be able to do it with focused willpower. We can practice that after today’s training. So get dressed,” Aaliyah said, chuckling before moving back outside. She heard the lioness explaining to Bob, who also laughed.
“How was I supposed to know that?” she grumbled. It was probably a side effect of reading so much, people just assumed she knew something, not knowing that Zerine’s reading was rather hyper focused on topics she found interesting. Such as history, magitech, alchemy, and runes. Sure, she researched magical topics that she would come across, but soul bound items didn’t have much written about them.
I feel like I might be missing some commonsense here, she thought, amused that she hadn’t even asked, just assumed that soul bound items couldn't be stolen because they were soul bonded, not because the person could recall them to their soul.
Zerine came out of the changing room a moment later wearing a black long sleeve shift, pants, and cloak.
“Good, these are enchanted, so you won’t die during the training. So wear them all the time when you're with us. Also, we will want everything, but the shorts and boots back when your time with us is done, so return them in good condition,” Aaliyah said.
Like I could give the shorts back now that they are part of a soul bounded item, Zerine thought. Maybe Aaliyah thought she would need that clarified or something, but Zerine refocused as Bob spoke up.
“I’ll bring you to the training area. Varino should arrive there soon too,” Bob said.
The ground shock as Arashi landed nearby and chuffed at Bob. Zerine took in the dark red and orange scaled dragon. This time she didn’t meet the dragon’s gaze and bowed her head like one was supposed to when meeting a dragon.
The ground shook as the dragon moved closer and closer.
“Zerine, don’t move,” Bob said calmly.
She kept her eyes glued to the ground. Her heart beat picked up, but she wasn’t quite-
Warm wet breath hit her chest. Nope, she was definitely afraid. These dragons weren’t family and might be hostile towards her. What she didn’t see was the dragon eyeing her with curiosity. After several more sniffs and a chuff that had grey smoke cover her, Arashi backed away. She let out a breath she didn’t know she had held.
“Good, just good,” Bob said, clearly at a loss for words, while Aaliyah was heading towards the outpost and didn’t even glance back. “Well, better get you to the training area so-”
But Arashi moved a clawed foreleg lightly, clasped Zerine, who went straight back to staring at the ground. The ground suddenly was feet away as the dragon lifted her into the air. If Zerine was in her usual calm state of mind, she would have remembered that dragons don’t normally let people ride them. Only other riders are tolerated, barely.
Currently, though, Zerine was clutching a claw, repeating, “Oooh gods.” Over and over again. As the rest of her dangled in the air as they flew over the mountains.
“Just hold on tight. We’ll arrive there in only a few minutes,” came Bob’s voice as he shouted to his cargo.
“A few minutes!” Zerine shouted, her feet kicking in the air.
There was a rumbling above her, and she felt the dragon was amused by her antics, but wouldn’t let her fall. That was a relief, right? Then why was her heart still racing? Oh, yeah, it probably had something to do with her lower half being tossed around by guests of wind.
“Yeah, you're doing great,” came Bob’s shout.
“Fuuuck,” Zerine said under breath.
Was today just to remind me I’m a tiny insignificant crestless Celarian? Because it feels that way, she thought, clutching a claw with a death grip.
“List off the different types of dragons,” Bob shouted to her. Probably wanting to distract Zerine while they flew. It…didn’t work.
Wonderful, a test, she thought dryly.
“There are three variants. All are either serpent or four legs types. The miniatures make nests numbering around fifty and are cat sized dragons. Then there are the…shiiit!” Zerine called out. She was interrupted as a particularly strong gust made Arashi suddenly lurch upwards, leaving her stomach behind.
“Continue,” Bob called after a few seconds, where Zerine was totally not filling the air with expletives underbreath.
“The other variant ranges in size, but doesn’t reach the same size or magical ranks as others. They are called lesser dragons, but I hesitate to call them that,” she continued.
“Probably a good idea,” Bob said, and she could hear his grin.
“The last are true dragons and that’s all I will say.”
“Smart choice. Don’t want to accidentally insult Arashi now, would we?”
There was a rumbling above in agreement from the dragon and silence fell, which gave Zerine far too much time to take in the mountainside between her dangling feet. Luckily for Zerine, there wasn’t any strong breeze that threw her around for the remainder of the quick trip.
They landed on a rocky outcropping on the side of a mountain. Again Zerine wished she knew where they were in relation to the fairies, but it might be a secret. Instead, Zerine focused on how her legs were shaky, but she could stand straight and confidently. Or at least she hoped it looked confident. Her more obvious leg tremors had finally stopped only for her entire body to shiver.
“So wait here. Varino will be dropped off, then you both will have some training lead by Cassel,” Bob said, still on the back of Arashi. They took off, and Zerine staggered back from the gust of wind generated by Arashi's wings…four wings. The red dragon had four wings!
Zerine sighed, watching the rapidly shrinking dragon fly off, and waited. A few minutes later, a whistle sound started getting louder and louder. Zerine looked around, trying and failing to find what would make that sound.
She wouldn’t, would she? Zerine thought, then realized that was a stupid question.
Zerine looked up, shading her eyes from the rising sun. Sure enough, there was a tiny blue dot falling towards her. The sound was turning more into chiming and burbling sounds of laughter that she knew so well.
“Yep, called it. She always has to make an entrance, huh,” Zerine muttered with a grin.