Hiya! Sorry my chapters have been short. I have ADD, so I can't pay attention to anything for very long so I've been skipping out on a LOT of description. If I stop posting chapters, it's because of school, homework, sports... Regular stuff. Or I forget, which has been happening a lot more lately... If I repeat anything, or spell something wrong, that's just how GOD made my brain. And now... Inhale, Exhale, Repeat and enjoy reading!

Chapter 5

"I don't want to leave you." I say to my mother, hugging her fiercely and burying my face in her long, wavy brown hair. She smells like flowers, dust, sweat, and sunshine. We're standing in the doorway of the home my family and I was born in. The old, crumbling, one-story house with the beautiful garden, tenderly cared for by mother, in the front growing proud, front and center. The week allotted for goodbyes had passed by quickly, filled to the brim with tears, memories, and well-wishers.

"Make me proud Dae." She says. At 5 feet five inches I'm an inch taller than her, even though I'm only thirteen. She's the shortest on her side of the family. I refuse to thing about who gave me the other half of my genes, that in some way I might be like Him.

"I will mommy." I say, reverting to what I called her as a small... well, small-er, child.

"Have grandchildren before I die." She says, still clutching me. She's only 41 and looks like she's 30, but behind her eyes is experience, sadness, an age that came too early.

"No promises." I say teasing her. "I have eternity now. What's the rush?"

"The rush is that I want to see my grandchildren!" then she pauses for a second. "But wait for marriage." she adds. "I want to see your wedding too."

"Mother! I'm thirteen!" I say, flabbergasted.

"In a few more years, you'll be of age. The shiny boy looks nice." She says, teasing me back, letting me go and gesturing in Rekkr's general direction. He blushes a shade similar to a beet and turns away. How did he hear that? He's 100 feet away!

"Stop that!" I whisper in her ear, smiling.

My mother faces me again, her expression filled with sadness, pride, frustration and a thousand other expressions. "Promise your mother that you will always come back?" she says, almost pleading.

"Try keeping me away! I have Silfr, I can go anywhere!" I say, placing my right hand on top of Silfr's head, right where the Gedwey Ignasia shone on my palm. She had grown quickly in one week, quicker than normal, and was up to my waist in height. She's been flying a lot lately. She and I were so proud the first time she flew without falling. I had tears of joy running down my face, and she roared so loud, a cloud of birds shot out of the trees from as far as mile away. Well, she can't roar yet, but she can be loud when she wants to.

Mother looks sad."That's what I worry about." She says. At this point, we both have tears running down our faces.

My little brother Grytr pops in between us, coming from somewhere within the house. He was carrying something.

"Dae, you can have this." It was his dagger. My mother bought it for him for his 5th birthday and he hasn't parted with it since. It was about 7 inches long and had wicked serrations on the bottom two inches.

"Thanks. I'll kill all the bad guys with it." I say, tickling his sides and making him laugh. When I stop, his smile drops and tears start to run out of his dark brown eyes, eyes that match mine. All of my siblings looked like me. Every time I look in the mirror, I'll see Grytr, Thalia, and Area.

Grytr goes and sits down next to the garden, smelling one of the roses. I watch him. I remember doing that same action, pricking my finger on a thorn, cutting a rose for mother.

I notice Rekkr walking towards us, the Silver-blue eyed messenger that I was going to follow to the place where I'd learn about how I'll spend the rest of my life.

I'll get to meet other dragons! Silfr says excitedly through our mental connection.

I'll get to meet other riders. I reply, brightening at the prospect.

"I trust you have all of your belongings?" Rekkr says when he comes to a stop in front of my mother and I. His face is emotionless, but his eyes looked as if remembering a past experience, as if he was grieving. I grab mother's hand and hold on to it tightly, nodding my head, not trusting myself to speak. I remember packing my things into my bag. My few clothes, the sparkly rocks Jefi gave me, a clay figurine of a cat made by Area, a twine necklace threaded with a key to who knows what from Jefi's mother... which I am currently wearing... I don't remember putting it on... and a brown-haired, faceless doll from Thalia. I go and pick up my brown, homemade bag. The bag was a gift from mother. I slung it onto my back and walked over to mother, hugging her harder than ever, a fresh wave of tears on my face. Then I let go. I let go. My mother kisses me on the forehead, her entire body starting to shake. She sits down on the dirt and watches as Silfr and I walk away with the silver haired boy.

We walk without speaking to each other to where the elves had taken up camp, about two miles from my home. Okatr and Groa were sitting on a rock with their legs crossed, staring at each other and flinching occasionally, concentrating intensely. By this time, all tears and emotions were shut in a tiny box in the back of my head, locked up with a key until I was alone. Then I will consequently scream and cry and act the two year-old I yern to be.

I spin all the way and scream then I notice what, or rather who, was inches from my

greetings. A deep male voice resonates through my head. The owner of the voice was about as tall as Rekkr, with silver scales reflecting living things with a bluish tint, and non-living objects akin to the way a mirror would. His eyes were twin sapphires, seemingly endless tranquil pools of knowledge. He was magnificent, almost as beautiful as Silfr. You could see his muscles underneath his scales, not an excessive amount but just enough there to let you know he's strong. His wings were sheets of living metal foil bound to his thick, intricate hide with scales of a perfect mirror.

"I may have forgotten to mention my scaly parter of heart and soul." Rekkr says as he sits down on a nearby rock. His face is completely calm with a smidge of amusement clouding his perfect façade. "I think you may have already met, but I'd like you to meet the over-glorified lizard known as Arget." He sits for a second, looking thoughtful. "Well, re-meet, not meet, because that would not make sense, but in a way it would make sense, but not at all because... now I'm saying because too often and..." I tune out his ramblings on using proper grammar and watch as Arget backs away from me, his graceful, powerful limbs moving toward his still babbling rider and plopping himself down on the dirt, creating a miniature biege dust cloud.

He's a dragon. Silfr's feminine voice says in my head, quite dazed at her first sighting of another of her species. And... He looks like me. She says, her tone changing from shocked to excited in the span of a single lub dub of a heartbeat.

You look far more beautiful. I say through our bond, imagining the thought traveling through an imaginary chain. Your body is more sleek, more built for speed and maneuverability. She puffs up with pride, and then curls up next to a rock across camp from Arget. She watches him with her firey orange eyes, not missing a move he makes.

I turn witin myself and have a personal conversation. This is going to be interesting.

Yeah, it's still a short chapter, but I've kinda latched onto a mild reading addiction, averaging three books per day. Plus teachers love homework... not all teachers, (Excuse the stereotype) just my teachers. Gotta love school. I apologize for not updating sooner, and please give feedback! Thanks!