Riley weaved her way through the crowds of Dras-Leona. It wasn't difficult to go unnoticed during the morning rush, the streets of the market dense with vendors as they were, and even more so with customers. The apple and the meat pie went missing from stalls without much notice, but the coins jingling in her pockets were sure to be missed a good sight more. Dras-Leona had grown to a truly enormous size over the past few years, however the thieves and pickpockets of the city had not grown in proportion. As such, no one took too much care in protecting their purse from the quick swipe of a concealed knife; something Riley had grown quite good at.
However, the morning crowds were not as thick as they normally were. Today it was the city center that would be filled to bursting, and Riley found herself staring at the tail end of a line that couldn't have been less than a mile long. After a few unsuccessful attempts to jump the line, Riley accepted her lot and kept to the far back of the line. And for the next few hours, she waited.
"Aren't you a little old to be waiting in line for the egg?" the boy behind her couldn't have been more than 10, a mop of brown hair covering most of his face before he brushed it aside.
"Last time I checked the Riders didn't judge you on your age," Riley spat back, "Besides if they'll take a child, they'll take me.."
"Not likely. They probably won't take in no beggar off the street. 'Specially not no thief," The child spoke with real vitriol in his voice, which Riley did her best to ignore. He was only a child after all.
The rest of the hours, nearly three, passed slowly. Riley would come nearer the stage and then further away, following the curving line of people that often doubled back on itself with no real rhyme or reason. But now she could see the final stretch. The stage was in front of her, and upon it were the eggs. Two dragon eggs, sent by Eragon's Riders to Dras-Leona to divine the next members of their order. One egg was a deep violet, the other marble white.
The line devolved more into a crowd than any order as it finally approached the stage, and Riley was able to slip ahead, closer and closer to her goal. The carrier of the eggs, a kindly looking woman and her guards, looked weary, and very very hot. But as Riley emerged from the crowd, the woman's face brightened, and she beckoned Riley forward.
Riley grabbed hold of the first egg, the violet one. She felt its weight as she brought it closer to her chest, but it was quickly removed by the woman, who handed her the white egg whilst clicking her tongue. The white egg felt heavier than the violet, and it was warmer. Riley stared at it intently and noticed the lances of white that veined the egg, barely a shade off of the rest of the shell. It was only after nearly a minute that she noticed some vibration in the egg. It shook as she cradled it in her arms, and she set it down on the wooden floor of the stage and stepped back.
The egg rocked back and forth, rolling nearly to the edge of the stage before a small crack appeared in its polished surface. The crack grew, and before long a piece of the shell was knocked out completely. Once the surface was sufficiently pockmarked with holes, the dragon began to make his way out. A triangular head, followed by a long serpentine neck emerged from the shell. The body of the creature was lithe and thin, its legs wobbling and unsteady. Its tail was long like a whip, nearly the length again of the dragon's whole body. Claws dug sharply into the wooden stage, and its wings were long and wide with leathery, almost translucent skin. A think line of small spikes ran down the dragon's back, and its chin and brows ended in sharp points. The dragon had a distinct lack of scales, instead covered in skin the same color as its egg, lacking the luster and sheen of the shell.
The dragon shook itself vigorously, throwing aside any liquids or pieces of shell that hadn't fallen off already. Only then did it notice the crowd, scrunching its neck and folding in its wings. It rotated until it caught Riley in its gaze and stopped cold, staring squarely and intently at her. The cones of its eyes were white, the only colors within them being the inky pupils in the center, no more than a dot.
Riley dropped into a squat, reaching out towards the dragon, and the dragon reached out in kind, stretching its head far forward and touching its snout to the palm of her hand. In that second, Riley went deathly cold, as if all of her blood had frozen and thawed in that fraction of a second. There was pain in every part of her, and she fell backwards off the stage as the world went dark above her.
When Riley came to she was staring at a high-hanging ceiling, a pillow and bed beneath her. A heavy weight rested on her stomach and chest, she looked down to discover the dragon lying on top of her, its white eyes staring unblinking into her green ones. She lifted her arms above her head and stretched while sitting up; the dragon jumped down from atop her, now much more sure on its feet. The creature flapped its wings twice, slowing its descent. When she dropped her arms, she noticed the scar.
In the center of her palm, exactly where the dragon's snout had touched her, was a large scar. The raised ridge of skin was long and twisted around on itself, and it had a silvery sheen to it. The dragon let out a noise not unsimilar to a cat's purr as she ran her fingers down the length of the scar.
Now that the initial shock of the dragon hatching was past her, she took the time to examine it more closely. As it yawned she saw rows of short teeth, sharp as the point of a dagger. The claws were larger, two inches long at least, and serrated on the undersides.
Riley stood and soaked in the room. It was sparsely decorated, the only thing worth looking at was the view. The window opened to look out over all of Dras-Leona. In the town square far below the lines had dispersed and the wooden stage was being deconstructed. After taking a long while to admire the view over her city, she grabbed the clothes waiting for her on the bedside table, a shirt, trousers, and leather boots to replace the ragged clothes she had been wearing for longer than she would rather admit. She pulled her hair into a loose bun and opened the door to the next room.
The door glided open on silent hinges. High-backed chairs formed a semi-circle around a large hearth set into the wall, a low table in the center. The walls of the room were lined with books of all sizes and colors, not that she could read any of the titles. A man sat in one of the chairs, his face buried in a particularly thick tome.
Before Riley had a chance to say anything, the dragon placed itself at the feet of the man, biting at the metal toes of his boots, "I'm glad you've finally decided to join us," the man stood and closed his book, "I'm Keiran."
"Riley," she said, knocking on the doorframe, though he probably already knew.
Keiran stood nearly six feet tall, and had a strange resemblance to the woman that hard guarded the eggs on stage. He had the same facial features, kindly and welcoming and comfortable. When Riley questioned him on the subject he responded, "That would have been my sister. We've been travelling through Alagaësia for nearly three years now."
"So you're Riders then? Where are your dragons?"
"Unfortunately not. I'm no Rider. In fact, this is the closest I've been to a dragon near on twenty years," Keiran reached down and brushed his hand over the dragon's head, "I'm best described as a recruiter. I wander Alagaësia and find the newest members, you'll be trained by a proper member of the Order. I'm sure that eventually our duty will fall to novice Riders, but for now it's only Nephenee and I."
"Where is she? Did the other egg hatch?"
"No, you were the only one we found that would hatch an egg. Nephenee has already moved along, our next stop is Teirm I believe. I'll be staying behind to tutor you, make sure you can read, write, and conduct yourself properly."
The dragon had moved on from Keiran and had settled itself along the fire, stretched out not unlike a cat, "When will we know what gender it is?"
Keiran considered the question a moment before answering, "I'm not sure. I'm sure it knows, it just can't speak to us just-"
"It can speak?" Riley interrupted.
"Yes, dragons are incredibly intelligent creatures, perhaps far smarter than humans. If we work with it, perhaps before we leave for Illirea. It'll likely choose a name for itself soon after."
"What about scales? I thought dragons had scales."
"Oh they'll grow in soon enough I'm told. Within the first few weeks, or so I've been told."
"You've never seen one grow before? What about the others you've recruited?"
"Well," Keiran took a pause as if to deliver terrible news, "The truth is, I've only ever seen three, and none of them while they were so young. There has only been one other recruit in the past 30 years, and he was recruited by the Elves."
Riley's heart fell at the news. She had imagined a whole city of Riders and Dragons where she might receive her training.
Keiran placed a hand on her shoulder, sensing her disappointment, "Go and get some real rest. I'll be here in the morning so we can begin our lessons."
But Riley couldn't sleep once she returned to her room. Her mind raced with possibilities. Who would be training her? Who was the other member of the Riders? How old was he? Her age? Where would her training take place? All these questions and more flew past in her mind like the wind during a storm.
It was late when she finally drifted off to sleep, but it felt different somehow. She was still lucid, aware of her the room around her. The dragon, resting once more on her chest, was a bright light in the darkness of the room, and Keiran seems to glow so brightly that he shone through the wall. Her own body was beneath her, glowing brightest of all. Once she realized what she was seeing she woke with a start, the dragon widening its mouth in an impression of a yawn and starting her down. Sweat had begun to bead on her brow, and she silently wished that the dragon was able to speak to her now, so she might have someone to confide in about her nightmare.
Brushing the flank of the dragon, feeling the leathery skin under her fingers, she drifted off once more to sleep.