Chapter 2

As the class filed out, L'ary instructed Seriam to stay behind. With a sympathetic glance from deep-brown eyes, Caesey left the class to go assist with the dragon-healers, the task set to the rest of the candidates.

"Yes, sir?" Seriam stood, her stance straight, and her hands clasped loosely behind her back.

"Seriam, you need to pay attention. I know this is boring for you, but if I let you get away with poor behavior that sets an example for the rest of the class. An example I don't want set."

"It's just, I was thinking about the gold egg, and all of the silly girls that are being dragged out here just to give the bronze riders someone to-"

"Watch your tongue!" L'ary snapped, his eyes hardening. "Those girls are candidates, just like you. I won't have you belittling them."

"And that's what I was thinking when you called me up to the board. That I am less than those pretties, because they may succeed where I'll fail." She tried to look stoic, burying her feelings deep down inside, affecting a casual attitude about her potential failures. But she ruined it by breaking eye contact and staring miserably at her bare feet after that.

L'ary tried to hide his surprise. For all her sixteen Turns, Seriam had always been exuberant, jumping at any opportunity to show off. He looked upon her sun-bleached hair, pale gold streaks mingling with darker browns. Her skin was tanned from all of the hours that she spent outside, from climbing the cliffs up to the Watch stones, or going dragon-diving while helping to bathe the dragons. Her body, although full-figured, wasn't fat. Instead, it was muscular. And she had indeed followed in her family's footsteps by being a bit on the short side. But Seriam had never been one to let being short slow her down, and to hear her give voice to doubts like those she'd just uttered…

I think it is good for her. She needs to grow, and this is a good first step. Dorianth's deep voice soothed L'ary, jumping to a conclusion that he had just realized he had been heading for all along. Could you imagine the messes she would've gotten into if she had Impressed her first time, three years ago?

I was mildly relieved that she didn't Impress that time. I would've had her marked down as having only a 50 percent chance of surviving training and Threadfall then. But you're right, she has grown up quite a bit.

Seriam stood, staring at her naked toes, wondered if maybe it was because she was too brash, too loud, and what dragon would want a runty tomboy anyways? Maybe it was just as well, this way she could climb the cliffs and sail the seas when time allowed. She wasn't tied to a walking appetite, or to mating cycles, or to fighting Thread, or anything. And she just wasn't worty anyways, she'd never found a clutch of firelizard eggs, and she couldn't even hear dragons anyways…

"Girl, you know my feelings on your chances of impressing." L'ary's voice broke into her rebellious and dark thoughts, his eyes soft with compassion. "Your dragon just hasn't hatched yet. Don't give up. And keep an open mind, your lifemate may come from an unexpected quarter. Now go, there are firestone sacks waiting to be filled."