I DO NOT: Own any of the DRoP series

I DO: Own the characters who are obviously mine

Chapter 3: Different Kinds of Pain

I awoke and scrambled up in the bed in the room that Rayne had told me was mine as I felt a pressure on my legs and looked down to see Daihanath sitting on them staring up at me. She was smaller than the other dragonets but was growing steadily heavier. It had been about two months sense she hatched and I had a lot to do during that time. I am hungry Courtney. Can we go get food now? She asked me.

"Yes Dai, we can go get food now." I said with a small sigh as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

Thank you. She said, Daihanath usually scolded me for calling her Dai, but she was ignoring it today, instead deciding that her growling stomach was more important, and jumped off of the bed. At first her leathery hide had appeared to be black, but after it had dried I had been able to see that it was a dark gold. Come on! I'm hungry! Daihanath said as she tugged me off of the bed.

I quickly dressed in trousers and a blouse before following her. The other female riders liked to wear dresses unless they were tending to their dragons, I although preferred to wear them all of the time. "I'm hurrying Daihanath! Just be patient." I huffed as I quickly ran a hand through my hair, "Would you mind if I bathed first?" I asked.

Food then bath! Daihanath exclaimed.

"Alright," I said with a sigh and slight smile as I walked out of the door and then led Dai to the hunting field. Once we got there I perched onto a rock and watched as Daihanath hunted, making sure she didn't eat to much.

"So why haven't you worn a dress sense you impressed?" A voice behind me asked, I looked around and saw R'yon with Beanonth following him. I huffed and stood up as Daihanath took down a herdbeast. This was her first catch today and I decided that I would allow her to have one more this morning. I turned and looked at R'yon as Daihanath finished her kill and began to stalk another one. I saw Beanonth go to join her in her hunt. "So, are you going to answer me Courtney?" R'yon asked again with a sigh as he leaned against a rock a few yards away.

"Why I don't wear dresses," I said as I began to walk over, "Is because I tend to -AH!" I exclaimed as I tripped and fell into him. He chuckled slightly and steadied me. "As I was saying, I tend to trip over nothing even when I'm not wearing a dress." I said as I blushed slightly and looked over at Daihanath and Beanonth who had successfully taken down three more heardbeasts. "Dai your only aloud one more!" I told her firmly as she began to dig in to one.

It's Daihanath She muttered in my mind, but I could tell that she would only eat one. She began to eat again, slower than the first time. I looked up at the sky from where I now leaned on the rock beside R'yon.

"Hey R'yon," I heard a feminine voice purr from the other side of R'yon. I peered lightly over R'yon to see Kyra smiling at him from the other side of the rock. I jumped as I heard Daihanath squawk and looked over to see a fairly large golden dragonet pushing Dai lightly away from her kill, although not eating it. Daihanath flapped her wings slightly and slunk back kover to her kill, only to be nudged away.

The kill was mine I heard her say to the gold who's response was to growl slightly.

"Kyra, control Lilionth." R'yon said calmly, "Daihanath had the kill first, and should be aloud to eat it."

"The little squirt should just do what Lilionth wants." Kyra retorted, "After all she is the future queen, and should be treated as such." I curled my hands into fists as she went on. "Where is the pip squeaks rider anyway? I bet she-" Kyra was cut off by R'yon coughing loudly, bending over so that Kyra could see me glaring at her.

"You bet she what?" I growled at her. I hadn't really looked at her before the impressing but now that I could I saw that she was stunning. She had soft, beautiful blue eyes and long blonde hair that was flowing down her back. The long white shirt that she wore brought out the wonderful cream her skin tone, and the dark trousers brought out honey tones in her hair. I could feel my self esteem lower a few notches. I definitely didn't have a chance with R'yon if she had set her sites on him.

Courtney? What is wrong? I don't recognize the emotion you're feeling. Daihanath whimpered slightly she slunk over to me carefully. You mad… but there's something else, a type of pain, that I can't figure out…

It's despair, and slight bit of rejection, Daihanath. Beanonth told her along with me after he realized that I was having a hard time placing the feeling as well. Courtney feels that she no longer has even the slightest chance with R'yon. She was feeling that she had a shot before, but lost it as soon as Courtney saw the other rider. I sighed and unclenched my fists. He was right, that was the feeling.

"You okay?" R'yon asked me as he noted me unclenching me hands.

"Yeah, I'm totally fine." I said trying to sound as normal as I could.

No your not, you are sad. Daihanath's voice ringed in my mind.

"Daihanath," I said with a sigh, "It's okay, don't worry about it." Daihanath turned and looked at Kyra, red filling her eyes that I knew meant she was mad.

~ I fixed a lot of things in this chapter, hopefully it sounds better? I fixed all of the spelling mistakes that I could find, if you see any that I didn't get I would appreciate if you told me. Thanks to all of those who reviewed this chapter and the previous chapter, this is a learning expierience for me, and I have learned a lot. I'm currently on the hunt for another DRoP book as I've only read Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon. And sense my sister's actually the one who bought them I'd figure it's best to let her finnish reading them before I reread them. I'm probably going to sort of rewrite the chapters I've already writen after I reread the three books I have..As always, reviews are welcome and thanks to all of those who reviewed the previous chapters and the first version of this chapter. ~