AN: Gosh I was so bored today, here's the second to last chapter for the night, promise... maybe.. who knows...

Chapter 11

Ash knocked on the door and waited outside of A'ilarin's study. Jason peered over her shoulder. Soon enough they heard the Rider's voice and Ash opened the door. A'ilarin was seated at her desk, holding a picture frame in one hand as her chin rested in the other. She looked up and gestured with the frame for them to take a seat.

A pregnant silence engulfed the room as the teenagers watched the Rider. A'ilarin continued to stare at the photo she was holding. Ash shifted uncomfortably in her seat, Jason simply waited. They had no idea what to expect from this.

Finally, Ash couldn't stand the silence anymore and spoke up, causing A'ilarin to flinch at the sound of her voice.

"A'ilarin…what's going on?"

A'ilarin sighed and set the frame down her desk. From Ash's angle, she could only tell that it was a photograph of two people.

The veteran Rider looked over at the boy seated next to her student. "What is your name, child?" She said gently, tracing a finger along the picture frame.

"Jason." The boy said.

"And your dragon's?"

"Feuer."

A'ilarin nodded and they fell into silence again. She felt Ash bristling in her seat at being ignored. The girl was about to speak again but A'ilarin held up a hand to keep her quiet.

"Ash, now is not the time to rush me." She said sternly.

Ash closed her mouth and pouted, falling into to the back of her seat.

A'ilarin took another moment before looked at the two teenager once again.

"You two are aware that you are the next generation of Riders in the world. I have not hidden that fact, and I am positive Garrett hadn't either. Now that the three of us are here in one location, it is quite possible for the Governments to notice the amount of wildlife that disappear from the area. These woods are barely able to handle two dragons, let alone three. If I am being completely honest, we will more than likely have to relocate by the end of next year, and if we are proactive and conserve everything that we can, maybe we can delay it to the year after that."

A'ilarin took a deep breath and let out slowly before continuing. "Ash, what have I taught you about how the Rider Corps operated?"

Ash took a second to think about it. "They were assigned in pairs. One Rider would be a liability on missions, and three could result in more losses than they could afford. Two was the prime number. They basically lived, ate, and breathed together to ensure the optimal amount of teamwork."

"Good." A'ilarin nodded and held up the picture frame to stare at again. "Garrett and I were a pair. We were an active team for the greater part of the war. It wasn't towards the end, on our last mission together that we were separated and we lost contact with each other." Her voice wavered slightly as she continued to talk. "As soon as the war was over, I searched for my partner all the way up to the time where I found Ashley and Mercury wandering around in the wood-sea to the south of this area. I was returning from a self-imposed search and rescue mission and had just lost my pursuers before flying away on Nyetia."

She sounds like she almost regrets finding me in those woods…Ash thought to herself, watching how her mentor continued to stare at the picture in her hand.

After a moment, A'ilarin continued. "I do not regret not being able to search for Garrett and Nova the twelve years. I was able to raise a brilliant Rider in my stead. Ashley, I may not say it enough, but you are a brilliant Rider, and you give me hope for the revival of the Corps."

Ash blushed deeply at the praise. She had had no idea that A'ilarin felt that way about her. She hid behind her bangs as she tried to regain her composure. This night was just full of surprises.

A'ilarin smiled gently before turning to Jason, and changing topics.

"Jason, I can tell that you have a large well of magic, much like Ashley. Unfortunately, I cannot teach you anymore than you already know. I'm sure Garrett did as well. From experience, I can tell that you have a firm handle on it even though you of what you know has been self-taught. I will have to ask that you teach Ash to control hers. It has only been a month that she has awakened her magic, so we are still within the time window before it consumes her. You more than likely have another month left to help her."

Jason nodded and glanced at Ash. She was watching A'ilarin intently, she looked almost shocked that A'ilarin had mentioned her magic. The Rider was watching her student as well. Ash's eyes were swirling like twin storms and her jaw was clenched, as her blushed disappeared quickly upon hearing that request. Her mentor hadn't even begun to teach her anything about magic when she had enough to heal a broken bone. A'ilarin raised a brow, staring back at the girl. A moment of silence followed before Ash nodded, conceding to letting Jason to be her teacher on the subject.

"What I am going to tell you next will be hard for all of us. I'm not asking you to do this, I am telling you." She took a moment to each of their eyes.

"Both of you have so much magic, that what I have here for you to read will not be enough for you to ever completely make use of what you have. If it comes to the point where you both had read and mastered everything in the time it will take for the forest to no longer sustain three dragons, I will have to send you to the nearest Rider Elder to continue your education."

Ash narrowed her eyes, scowling. "And what? Are we simply supposed to leave you behind? You know I can't do that!"

"You can and you will." A'ilarin snapped.

Ash gritted her teeth and fell into the back of her seat again, crossing her arms and looking out the window. So much for the great parental moment barely a minute ago.

A'ilarin pinched the bridge of her nose between her first finger and thumb, sighing heavily. "I do not like the situation any more than you do, but it's for the best. Remember, Riders operate better in pairs. A trio is asking to be found."

"But still! We are both inexperienced compared to you! How are we supposed to find this Elder if we have never left this region before?" Ash argued.

"You forget that when Jason was with Garrett they were well outside of this region before Jason had made his way here without Garrett." A'ilarin reasoned.

"That's besides the point!" Ash ground her teeth. The lack of sleep was making her irrational, she knew it, but this wasn't something she was going to roll over and accept.

"How?" A'ilarin said cooly. "Jason has had encounters with the Governments before, he has some idea how they will come after you if you happen to be caught. He even escaped them. I'm positive that if the two of you work together, you will make an effective team."

"Tch…" Ash narrowed her eyes. "Big deal. He's seen the Governments up close and personal. He had Garrett backing him up. Garrett was a war veteran just like you."

Jason sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Yeah, I had Garrett and Nova there with me. But we worked together as a team, like the Riders would back in the day." He said tiredly.

Ash gave him a scowl. He wasn't helping her in convincing A'ilarin that she needed to come with them. Ash moved her glare to her mentor again.

"What I am trying to say is that, even though he has had some encounters with the Governments," She said, waving a hand dismissively at Jason, "Both you and Garrett are veterans of war, where we are both a product of uneasy peace. We haven't been forced to fight for our lives yet, not to the scale of which you were. It doesn't seem like this is a very wise idea."

A'ilarin put her elbow on her desk and let her chin fall into her hand once again. "Are you trying to insinuate that I am letting my emotions cloud my judgment, Ashley?" She said icily.

Ash shivered. She could count on one hand how many times she had heard that tone from her mentor, and none of them ended without her being able move the next day.

"N-not quit-te…" She stuttered as she shrank back into her seat, making herself as small as possible at the moment. She heard Jason snort quietly next to her, but now was not the time to give him a smart remark.

Her mentor locked eyes with her. "I'll have you know, that for the past week or more, I have already been considering leaving this place in search of an Elder to finish teaching you about magic. It is not a decision I have made lightly, and with certain events happening, they have only solidified my decision."

"You haven't even taught me any magic!" Ash exclaimed, exasperated.

Out of nowhere came a flying object that struck her in the middle of her forehead. Ash hissed in pain and held a hand to her head. Her eyes watered in pain and absolute frustration that her teacher was ignoring her. She was lucky that the object that had hit her was simply a paperweight, it could have been a letter opener or even worse, an actual knife.

"What the heck was that for?" She whined.

At this point Jason had a hand pressed to his mouth as he tried not to let his laughter escape him. Ash sent him a death glare, but that only made him laugh that much harder.

"For being an insolent brat." A'ilarin snapped, running a hand through her hair and taking a deep breath.

"I know I'm right…" Ash muttered under her breath, quietly enough that neither of the other two Riders could hear her.

"I have taught you magic, albeit in its simplest form. All the meditation you do is what has allowed you to get away with not knowing anything about magic to this point. In this world today, the Governments are constantly on the search for magic, and any spike in the readings they do across the countries could have alerted them to where we are." A'ilarin explained.

"So? My magic has been unleashed for a month now, why haven't they come looking for us yet?" Ash asked, still rubbing her forehead.

"Because while you have been at school, I have gone through the surrounding area and eliminated any Government officials that were searching."

Ash's and Jason's eyes widened. A'ilarin had held a deadly glint in her eyes when she had confessed to killing who knows how many people in the Governments within the last month alone. Both of the teenagers were left speechless.

A'ilarin cast her eyes upon the photo before standing it up and turning to the two before her. "This night has been long enough. Time for us to get some sleep. We will discuss this at greater length another time. For now, things will continue as normal, except I will be withdrawing you both out of school."

"Wait a minute!" The said at the same time, ignoring the obvious dismissal.

The Rider behind the desk simply raised an eyebrow.

"We have a close friend at the school, we can't just disappear on her." Jason explained.

"Right, she does have a right to know." Ash nodded.

A'ilrain thought about it for a moment, before shaking her head. "I don't think it is wise for you to tell her that you both will be leaving. It will look suspicious that both of you are leaving at the same time."

"Yeah, and so does pulling us both out of school at the same time." Ash scoffed.

A'ilarin steepled her hands on her desk. "You have a point." She turned to Jason. "You will continue to go to school for the remainder of the month. Ash will tell your friend that her parents have decided to relocate once more and is too busy with the move to come to school. You will continue to act as if nothing happened. Get off the bus at your normal spot and have Feuer bring you here."

Jason nodded, but Ash spoke up once more. "Why do I have to be the one not going to school?"

"After the argument we had at the beginning of the year, I am surprised that you have had a change of heart, Ashley." A'ilarin said sarcastically.

"Shove off, I just wanted to see my friend one last time before leaving her behind is all." She muttered.

"Either way, both of you won't be going to school tomorrow. It's well into the night and is almost morning. Both of you need your sleep. Ash, show Jason to a room."

And that was the end of that.

Ash stood up and made her way to the door and Jason followed after her quickly. They made their way through the house, going up one level. She showed him where the bathroom was located and then led him to where his rom would be. It was down the halls from hers, but the others that were on that level were full of more books and old broken weapons. Not exactly the ideal place to sleep.

"You can sleep here." Ash said awkwardly from the doorway. "Um…I might have clothes somewhere in the other rooms from the previous owners."

Jason raised an eyebrow at her as he made his way into the room.

She rolled her eyes at him. "They up and left everything here. When A'ilarin found the place it was abandoned with three horse almost dead from starvation. The people who were here left just about everything from clothes to farming tools. Much good that they do in a forest. Look, I'm sure you don't want to stay in those clothes all the time and unless you have an unlimited supply hidden somewhere, you're going to need more clothes."

"I'll be fine for tonight. Tomorrow I can take Feuer to my old place and grab them." He said.

Ash shrugged and left the room. "Well, see you when the sun is up then."

"Night."

Ash made her way to her room and got ready for bed. She was exhausted. From the training that she had done today and everything else that happened afterwards, it was a wonder that she was even still awake to dress for bed. Anyone else would have just collapsed by now. Ash crawled onto her bed, not even bothering with the covers and face planted into her pillow. On some level, she felt that Kate was going to kill her for telling her that she wasn't going to be able to come back to school. Especially since she "just recently" moved in. At this point, she had nothing else she could do. Despite what A'ilarin had said about her magic, she really doubted she only had a month gain control over it, it hadn't once spiked since the incident a month ago with the rogue Rider, Jason now, despite its growth.

To be honest, it probably had something to do with the fact that she had taken the time to unlock it after letting Jason's trap run wild through her on that first day. She hadn't told him about picking up the remnants of the traps when she was working with Nyetia, she didn't have the heart to. He had looked so broken and sorrowful for causing such an accident. Back to her magic, she was lucky that she had unlocked it properly on the first shot, or she could have died. With Jason as her teacher on the matter now, things were bound to get interesting. Ash barely knew anything about the boy, but he hadn't had the chance to figure her out for a while now, between school and her interactions with A'ilarin, he more than likely thought she had some personality disorder. She was quiet at school, and here she was let her temper run free. It had to give someone whiplash when dealing with her to some extent.

Ash moaned as she rolled over and stared at her ceiling. To say things just got interesting would probably be making a joke of the situation. Her thoughts swirled around in her mind until she finally fell asleep. The last look at her clock said that it was almost four in the morning. Today was going to be a great day.

Please R&R