Chapter One

100 years later…

A girl of eighteen years splashed her bare feet in the cool stream and laughed as the fish darted away. She sat on the river bank and kept still as she waited for them to return. One my one, gold and orange specks appeared from the darkness, making their way cautiously to her toes. None of them dared to go farther than a foot away, having learned from the previous adventure. But, suddenly, a flash of gold and blue darted from the bunch and tasted some of her big toe. Before she could try and catch it though, it darted away just as fast.

I need to better my reflexes, she thought, wiggling her toes in the water. She waited, hunched over and ready just in case another one became brave to taste and see for itself. Soon, another one did dart up, but before it could get away, the girl pounced. She punctuated the water with her speedy hand and grasped the fish, bringing it up from the water. She brought it up to her face and looked it straight in the eye.

“Next time, Mr. Fish,” she scolded, “don’t be so curious. You know, curiosity did kill the cat.”

She wagged her head back and forth and let poor ‘Mr. Fish’ go back to his home.

“Eryn,” a familiar voice said, “why in the world were you talking to a fish?”

The girl turned around to see her friend Mae, fifth descendent of Core, Dragon of Water, standing there with one brow raised.

Eryn smiled. “Because he was being too curious for his own good. And why in the world and you standing there acting like I’m crazy?”

Mae dropped her brow and sat down beside her friend, smiling. “Because, maybe you are and I just need to remind you.”

Eryn rolled her eyes, then changed the subject. “So how did lessons go?”

Mae sighed, frustrated, then flopped down on her back. “Horrible,” she moaned.

“How so?”

Mae closed her eyes.

“Mae…what did you do?”

Eryn’s friend sighed. “I flooded the training area with a tidal wave.”

Eryn went quiet for a second, then suddenly burst out laughing.

“It’s not funny!” Mae protested, leaning up on her elbows with a slight smile on her mouth. “Master Lore was really upset. I almost ruined all of the equipment.”

Eryn’s laughter slowly subside to bursts of giggles. “Oh,” she comforted, still smiling, “it’s okay. At least no one was killed.”

“Almost.”

Her smile vanished and her maroon eyes became wide. “Who?”

Mae flopped back down on her back, not wanting to remember. “Thorin, Grimbo’s son.”

Now Eryn was really shocked.

“He was the one who started it in the first place,” Mae continued, running her hand through her medium cut, blonde hair.

Eryn waited. She knew she didn’t have to ask why. If Mae wanted her to know, she would tell in her own time.

“We were practicing together and he called me stupid for not making a water sphere correctly. Said I was using too much energy. I told him to leave me alone and I knew what I was doing, but he wouldn’t and just kept bothering me. Finally, I just blew up and lost control…” she sighed. “He’s with the Healers now and there was nothing I could really do to help, so I came and found you.”

“Mae,” Eryn said, gently grabbing onto her hand, “I’m sorry. Thorin can really be irritating at times. I’m sorry you had to put up with him. Is there anything I could do to help?”

Mae shook her head sadly. “Master is going to Abnidai to see what my punishment should be. I’m thinking he’ll probably condemn me to mortal life or hang me or something.”

Eryn chuckled. “I don’t think it will be that severe since it was partially Thorin’s fault also.”

“We’ll see.”

-:-0-:-

Later that afternoon, Eryn went over to Master Lore, Mae’s teacher, and tried to confirm that it wasn’t all of her fault.

“She was concentrating and Thorin threw it off,” she explained.

Master Lore nodded, serious. “I know that Thorin was part of the cause and he will receive his punishment once he is fully healed, but Maegan will not go without hers, either. Part of her teachings is to not lose focus or control of the element; she should have known what to do under the circumstances.”

Eryn nodded. She was taught – and mastered – the same thing. “I know, but can you not be too severe on her? She works really hard and loves her element. I would hate to see her lose it.”

Master Lore nodded. “So would I, young Dragon, but her fate lies in Abnidai’s hands; only he knows what will happen.”

Eryn nodded solemnly and watched the Water Teacher return to cleaning the wet equipment. Then she went to find Thorin who was with the Healers… he was going to get a nice talking to.

She moved out of the training area and through the forest, making her way to the large tent that served as the practice field for experienced and inexperienced Healers. Soon, the cream colored quarters with the Healers sign appeared, and Eryn made her way inside. Yup, Mr. Thorin sure was going to get a nice lecture…that was for sure.

Making her way down the hall of the mostly empty cots, she searched for the confounded blonde, running what she was going to say through her mind. Finally, she spotted him in one of the last rows.

Now what was the point of putting her all the way down there? she stopped and asked herself. It just makes if harder and longer for a person to get there.

She shook her head then crossed her arms, continuing to his cot.

“Thorin,” she started when she reached his bedside, “son of Grimbo, Dragon of Water, I am appalled at you.”

Thorin turned his sea green eyes up at her and furrowed his brow in confusion.

“Eryn?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”

She rolled her eyes. “To give you a lecture, of course.”

“A lecture,” he repeated, dropping one brow so the other remained up. “Now why would you give me a lecture?”

Eryn tapped her foot. “You know perfectly will why,” she said impatiently. “It’s not like I didn’t hear about what happened this morning.”

Thorin rolled his eyes, obviously disgusted with the whole situation.

“It’s not me you should be giving a lecture to. It’s Maegan. She’s the one who made this whole mess.”

Eryn, arms still crossed, sat down on the next cot. “I don’t think she was telling herself she was stupid over her shoulder, or making herself lose concentration.”

“She should have known how to end the spell,” Thorin countered.

“You should have known not to bother her. Does it not say that in the Guide?”

Thorin closed his mouth tight and averted his gaze to the ceiling. The Guide was what all of the Masters used on Dragons in training. It was a book of rules that one must follow in order to become a good Dragon.

“Ha!” Eryn pointed. “You broke the rules!”

“She wasn’t doing it right!” Thorin defended. “She could’ve gotten hurt or even killed with the amount of energy she was taking from her body! You don’t know what was going on, Eryn. You weren’t there. Don’t try and act like you know everything. You don’t.”

She fell silent. What Thorin said left her speechless and hurt, but somehow, she knew the words spoken were true. She hadn’t gotten both sides of the story.

Mae and Thorin were partners. Partners had to share energy in order to work a spell.

“You gave most of your energy so that she wouldn’t get hurt, didn’t you?”

Thorin closed his eyes. “She’s weaker than I am. She probably would’ve died.”

Eryn’s eyes became wide with realization. “Y…you could have died, Thorin. You risked you life for hers.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t tell anyone else, okay? It could get her into more trouble. She doesn’t need that.”

Eryn looked at him with gentile eyes. She could tell there was more than friendship in his mind. “I won’t. I promise.”

“Thank you.”

She smiled. “You need some rest. I’ll leave you be.” She stood and walked out of the room, astounded by the new information.

Thorin was in love with Mae.

Well folks, here's the next chapter! Sorry the Prologue was so short and horribly written. I promise I'll fix that soon.

So, to the reviewers:

Sting Ferdinand: Heh, sorry about the confusion...as said above, I will fix that soon! Oh, and what's the alert list do? -I'm so stupid...haha-

maxnotevoltage: Well, I'm kinda thinking about taking bits and pieces of the Bible that I love and incorporating it in my story. I have no idea where that will lead me, but with God's power, maybe I'll actually finish something other than poems! -and wouldn't THAT be a blessing!-

Love to all, and thank you so much for reviewing! I hope the next chapter will be up soon. I've allready started writing it, but, heh, just need to finish it!

Much love and see you until next time,
W4J