It had been quite a while since I have seen my rider. The pure joy of seeing him again fluttered my heart. Thinking back to the first time they meet she realised all that they had been through was not going to end here. It was a wet rainy thursday evening at the dragon nursery. The hatchlings were told that their was a new rider who was supposed to come see us today and choose one of us but, he probably wouldn't come because of the rain.
It was such a stupid excuse to keep us waiting. The fact that a little rain would stop someone from coming to see the pride of Aris was absolutely ridiculous and even a bit insulting. With that news the little ones scattered back to their typical areas moping. I didn't very much care about the riders. They never paid attention to runts like me. Why should I care at all if I was never even going to be picked. Though what came next was a little unlikely event. Riders never ever came on rainy days so when we heard the scraping of the hinge door we just assumed it was just the usual den cleaner. I expected to hear his voice talking to the "Caretaker," as they were called, so when I heard a mature but still a slightly timid voice it peeked my interest.
Who could it possibly be? The inspector was not due for another week. The Caretaker we knew named Chaleska came in and called us around. I still stayed at my perch on the high rock as always. I could hear clearly enough. "As it turns out younglings the rider rode on horseback all through the day and night to come to you all. He is waiting to come see you all so I expect the best from you all, considering the effort he put to get here." As practiced for this kind of thing the little dragons lined up for inspection. All but me of course. I didn't ever care to show by this point. After the first 27 times I've gone through with it and not even a single glance was given to me. I gave up and just did what I wanted.
The rider walked in and was quite a shock on his looks. Usually it would be big burly men or the dangerous looking ones who showed up. None of this applied to this rider. He was quite a scrawny thing. Not too scrawny just skinny. Not what we expected. "Hello young ones. My name is Iven. I come from the western farming land and applied to the Meras academy. I know I may not seem like much but I trust you will all give me a chance." He walked down the line looking carefully at all the lined dragons. "You all look so incredible, I don't know who I could possibly pick one from all of you." Though the rider didn't look as strong as others he was quite aware of his surroundings. His incredible awareness was how he graduated the academy in the first place. So when he heard a soft snort of annoyance come from another direction to his right he quickly turned his head to look for the source. He spotted a young dragon, smaller than the rest, with sky with slight shading scales, a light yellow underbelly. She was glaring at him with a sense of distaste.
"Well now, who is that shy young one acting all tough and uninterested over there?" Caretaker Chaleska came over to Iven's side and spoke calmly. "The female that has caught your eye is known as Aris. She has been here quite a while, five months if I remember correctly." Iven raised an eyebrow and eyed him curiously. "Really now? That's quite a long time for a housing in this busy city." "Well you see," he paused, "she was quite excited at the prospect of picked when she first got here, but soon after many riders came by and gave not even a glance at her she has become more secluded. Every time after she has just laid in that spot and watched. Though I'm quite surprised you noticed her. I heard about you keen senses through the report but they never said you were this sharp." Iven chuckled and grinned, "It's not that impressive. All I have to do is let myself go and then it kind of comes to me. Anyway do you mind if I have a word with her?" Nodding to the direction of the dragoness. "Well, I suppose you could. Though she is shy, she does have quite a feisty side." The Caretaker said cautiously.
"I'll be fine. How much trouble could one dragoness be?" He said with a smile. As he walked around the rock he found the rocky slope to the top. "I will never understand why they have these huge rocks and structures for the hatchlings and only the stables for the mounts." Iven muttered under his breath. As he climbed up. He found a small plato to sit on near the top. Iven looked over at Aris now in a lower growling position. "Now now, I've climbed all this way up here to see you and your just gonna be all defencive? The least you could do is give me the courtesy to see you." She huffed and laid her head down on the rock. Though she was being stubborn he was more than ready to take the challenge. " You know I think we should go to the crystal room to get a link crystal. That way we can have an actual conversation and not just the stubborn grunts you keep giving me."
Iven got up and walked to the edge of the rock with a slight shake of his head. Turning to the confused dragoness he winked and lend back off the ledge into a free fall. Aris squeaked and rushed to the edge only to see the teen finishing a flip and land into a backwards roll. He looked up at her and gave her a smiling grin. "I knew you cared for me, even if it's just slight curiosity. Aris gave him a glaring look that could only have meant one thing, "show off." Iven only replied with a bigger smile and a beckoning. She backed up a bit, scraped her claws along the rock a few times, and then charged at the ledge leaping with three flaps of her wings and a slight glide the landed next to the teen. Iven laughed giving a slow exaggerated clap. "Impressive, I think we are going to get along just fine, don't you?" As they walking down the corridor the same Caretaker that had first met the soon rider to be staring at them from a door came out from a door that was likely to be the kitchen if the smell of cooking meat was a tell tale sign.