Chapter four

I stepped forward, unsure, then stopped and took off my ring and threaded it onto the necklace, then stepped right up to the first egg. The heat from it made my forehead bead with sweat and my hair stick uncomfortably to my neck; I pulled it back with a leather band, and then wiped my sweaty hands on the pleats of my dress.

I reached forward slowly, my hands shaking, and muttered a quick prayer to the goddess Nuratie. I placed my hands gently, reverently on the hot shell.

The swirling colours of the shell slowed in their movements discernibly, then recovered, and continued in their frenzied pace of colour. Each egg I came to had the same reaction as the first egg.

I got to the 48th egg, and still nothing happened, and I started to panic, tremors going through my body, and a nerve wracking thought flew through my head:

What if I'm not meant to bond?

I froze in my footsteps to the 49th egg, thinking that the possibility of bonding to a dragon in here, was close to nothing, and then I shook away the thought and continued to the egg.

I stood dumbly in front of the 49th egg, my thoughts focused inwards, as I had approached the egg I had experienced a glowing sensation in my abdomen, and I suddenly felt hopeful, if this wasn't a sign then what was?

I stretched my hands forward, and my fingers touched the shell, tingles shot through my hands and up my arms. I placed my palms flat on the egg and the reaction was instantaneous, the swirling florescent colours immediately withdrew to the point that my hands were touching the egg, the colour that was revealed was a dark blue green shell. The shell darkened perceptively and kept darkening until it reached such a shade that it appeared black.

All of a sudden I couldn't feel the black shell beneath my fingers, the shell had become undulating smoke, rising and dissipating into the air above me.

The dragon, my partner, was a black Krarn, I tentatively reached out and stroked its muzzle, its skin felt like silk beneath my fingertips, and I breathed a sigh of joy, it filled my heart almost overpoweringly. And as I stroked down the muzzle once more, its eyes opened, and I felt whole, its eyes were a beautiful indigo colour with gold flecks dispersed through.

'Greeting Reya, partner, you are bonded to me, my name is Xzeren.'

"Xzeren" I whispered his name, it felt right on my tongue. I stepped forward and put my arms around his shoulders, he was so beautiful. I hugged him close to me.

A chuckle echoed in my mind.

'I hear what you think Reya, thank you for the compliment'

I smiled laughingly and pulled back from him.

"Oh well, I have nothing to hide from you"

Suddenly my mother was beside me, with the beautiful woman that showed me in.

My mother pulled me into her arms and dissolved into tears on my shoulder.

"I l-love you R-rey-a, I'm so so-sorry I didn't t-tell you before. Your in training for the w-war for four years, and I w-wont be able to s-see you, until yo-you're a proper d-dragon rider"

I patted her back reassuringly "I'm sorry too mum, we'll be able to write, you'll hardly notice I'm gone, I'm quiet enough." She laughed at that, and pulled back, wiping her eyes. "Okay, we'll write, I'm going to miss you like crazy though! I'll send a few clothes of yours to the dragon hall, I expect you'll need them, and I'll send some money too, I brought quite a bit with me."

"Thank you mum, I love you, I'll write when I have the chance."

Somewhere close by a dragon bugled loudly and I jumped in surprise

'It is the queen Liana, announcing our bondage and my birth, no need to worry, there will be celebrations tomorrow, we will have to attend, it may be the last time you see you mother for a long time'

I waved solemnly good-bye.

"See you tomorrow at the celebrations?"

"I wouldn't miss it ever, Reya"

The golden haired woman cleared her throat pointedly and I jumped in surprise, I had truly forgotten she was there.

"Congratulations Reya, what is your dragon's name?" she asked.

My face coloured slightly and I replied in a small voice.

"His name is Xzeren, he is beautiful."

'So are you, Reya, more beautiful then you think' He murmured softly in my head, I turned to him with tears in my eyes and I embraced him again.

"Thank you" I whispered, my throat clogging up with unshed tears

'Thank you Xzeren, I have everything I want in my life, you are perfect, and I love you'

I thought it in my head, hoping he could hear. In response, he brought his head down to my cheek and rubbed it with his own; I closed my eyes at the gesture, it felt so loving. He pulled back and nuzzled my forehead before he stood up straight again, and then he spread out his wings, they were huge! As an egg it had stood to the height of my nose, but now Xzeren stood a head above me

The woman cleared her throat again and smiled at me understandingly.

"I am Kara, rider of Liana; we should get you settled at the Dragon Hall."

'Are you hungry Xzeren?' I thought, my suspicions had been aroused when I had heard a loud rumble in my head.

'Very, I will get food at the Dragon Hall, so may we go?' He replied, a hint of humor in his reverberating voice in my mind.

"Of course" I said, to both Kara and Xzeren, and then turned towards her as she started walking; my mother had left earlier when we had said our goodbyes. Xzeren ambled after Kara and I followed him.

I studied him as I walked, he was the first dragon I had ever seen, and I was extremely curious of how big he would get, because krarn's grew larger than any other breed, but it took four years for dragons to reach their full size, that meant a lot of time for growing, and I was slightly apprehensive of just exactly How big he would grow, but I had nothing for a reference to know what to expect. I sighed mentally

'What's wrong Reya?'

'Nothing much, I'm just frustrated about how little I know about dragons' I replied.

'You'll know more than you want to soon' And I heard him chuckle darkly in my mind.

'I don't think that would be possible, Xzeren, I am truly and utterly obsessed' I added a joking tone to my thought, and Xzeren roared with laughter in my head, 'It wasn't that funny!'

'Oh but it was Reya, you meant to jest, but I see in your mind just how completely true your statement is'

Kara's voice over rid my next thought to Xzeren "Reya, I want you to meet Taythoras Gorantom, he is the overseer of the dragon hold and he takes care of everything here, be sure you treat him well, and I'm going to have to go now, but you will see me now and then, study hard Reya, this isn't something to be taken lightly, you are part of the next generation of dragon riders." She laughed sadly and the tenor of her voice sent shivers running up and down my spine, I said a quiet goodbye as she left and turned to look at the overseer, Taythoras.

He was a handsome looking man in the prime of his life, with dark brown hair and warm brown eyes; he was very tall, even behind the desk cluttered with papers he sat behind.

He rose and strode towards me holding out his hand for me to shake.

"Hello Reya, truly a pleasure for you to be here, we'll get along fine as long as you're not a trouble-maker." I shook his hand hesitantly.

"I do try not to be" He grinned at me and let go of my hand.

"That's good, now, I will show you your room, and introduce you to the other students here, there are thirty two of them, not including you." He turned to Xzeren, "And what is your lovely dragon's name?"

"His name is Xzeren" I beamed proudly at him and he crooned at me and readjusted his wings.

"What a beautiful eye colour he has, it's a blue purple colour, but its more blue, and he has gold flecks in them, rather unique wouldn't you say?"

"I haven't seen any other dragons yet, let alone their eyes." I looked at the floor as I was walking beside him, embarrassed, it was an interesting shade of white, and it had a blue tint and had pearlescent veins through it, marble no doubt.

"Ah, well, dragon's eyes are usually black, red or yellow, sometimes orange, but I have never seen a dragon with any other eye colour. What egg number was he?"

I pondered it for a second and replied in a strong voice "forty-nine"

"Oh, he is one of the unknowns"

"Unknowns?"

"It means we did not have a history of whom his parents were. He was one of the oldest eggs in the hatchery, we only started recording who the parents were in the last hundred years, and he was there before that." He sighed.

"A mystery to be solved, well, these are your rooms, there are heated sands for Xzeren, and the adjoining door leads to your room. Although, most students choose to sleep with their dragons, I'll send one of the students up here when their lessons are done, I believe your luggage has arrived already, good day to you." He gave a short wave and walked back down the corridor at a stately pace, I kept watching him until I lost sight of him when he turned the corner.

Authors note : Hey, I'll probably be another couple of days for the next chapter, sorry, hope you like this chapter, and if you do, Please review, pretty please, I'm dying here, have people read it and not comment, I keep wondering if its bad or something, please review, constructive criticism welcome. I'm thinking about morphing celebrity faces together to make my characters in the story, I just have to find the proper people first.

Please please please review!

~Kyrina

Oh and by the way, just to clear up any confusion, I stated previously that there were twenty one dragons, and now I'm saying there are thirty two students, well the twenty one dragons are the dragon riders, while the students are, well, students, I'm not going to count them together because they aren't dragon riders. cheers