3. Rising Up

Ariana paused to regain her breath outside the classroom door, turning the handle slowly to avoid making noise. There was no point; all eyes were on her when she slipped inside. 

"Welcome to class, Ariana of Anves." The basic magicianship teacher was the same long-lashed woman that had teared up at the bonding ceremony. Now her fair eyebrows were knit together in slight disapprobation. "I assume you got lost. We were just discussing the birth and early care of the various races. Please take a seat." 

Ariana ducked her head and dropped into the nearest seat. She had not, in fact, gotten lost. She'd figured out where all of her classrooms were last night; actually, she had come upon full-fledged Guardians doing weapons training on the academy green and had gotten so absorbed in watching them spar that she had lost track of time. 

As the teacher (Ms. Jien, Ariana read on her course outline) began to speak again on the length of time dragon eggs spent in incubation, Ariana studied her surroundings. The students sat on benches behind rows of tables that spanned the width of the classroom. Ms Jien, wearing blue again, leaned back against an ornate wooden desk at the front of the room. A conspicuous blue tail betrayed the dragon sleeping under the desk. Ariana recognized the girl sitting one row in front of her; it was the she who had picked first at the ceremony. Her fox kit was tugging on her shoelaces, unraveling them, and scooting back before pouncing high in the air, landing on the laces and biting them with an adorable little growl. The girl ignored it at first while she was busy writing notes, but finally bent down to quietly scold the infant, tucking her thin red hair behind her ear when it fell over her face. 

To her right, a group of girls sat close together, whispering and giggling occasionally, thus earning themselves a glare from the teacher. The girl who sat in the middle of them did not take part in the conversation much, but she occasionally gave a smile and light response, at which all the girls would giggle eagerly. With her blue eyes and raven hair, she was a startling beauty, and the way she held her head high proved her awareness of the fact. 

Looking around behind her, Ariana caught sight of Nique sitting alone in the back row. There was no paper or book in front of him; he simply stared at the black granite tabletop, cheek in one hand. 

"Those of you who chose dragons, please take out your eggs and try to determine which of the four elements it controls," Ms. Jien urged. Ariana pulled her egg out of her pocket and rushed to pick the Care of Young Dragons textbook out of her sack. There was a rustling of paper as students turned to the correct chapter, and Ariana tried to peek over to see what page she should be on, to no avail. The red-haired fox girl was coolly reading her own textbook, twirling a pen in one hand.  

"Psst," Ariana hissed. The girl didn't turn around, and Ariana racked her memory, trying to remember her name. "Eyrie," she whispered. The girl turned in her seat, eyebrow raised in slight annoyance. "What chapter is it?"

"Nine," she said flatly, and turned back around. Ms. Jien noticed and gave Ariana a look of mounting disappointment. 

Dragon eggshells are usually the same color as that dragon's scales. Thus, the color of a dragon egg is the best predictor of which kind of elemental magic that dragon will possess as an adult, the textbook read. "Fire is crimson, earth is black, water is blue, and air is white," Ariana muttered, turning her egg over in her hand. She read on, but she couldn't find anything about other colors or elemental magic other than the statement, Other types of dragon magic are known to exist, but they are extremely unusual  and not all are verified. 

"It doesn't say what yours is, Liohna," one of the girls to her right said. "Why is your egg green?"

Ariana snapped to attention, stretching her neck to see the dragon egg in the palm of the prettiest girl in the group. She held it up so her friends can see, a smug smile tilting her lips. 

"Which is the most powerful type of magic, besides phoenix-fire?" she asked.

"Fairie," answered a girl in a white lace summer dress. The fairie child sitting on her shoulder nodded enthusiastically. "They have the ability to combine elements any way they want to and can do practically anything." 

"No," said another girl in the group. "Fairies' magic is more adaptable, but if you're talking about raw power, the simpler dragon magic is stronger." She tossed her hair. "I chose fire dragon because everyone knows it's the best." 

"But that's where you're wrong," said Liohna, giving her friend a gentle (but, Ariana thought, a little condescending) smile. "Before coming here I talked to some people who know a lot about dragons. Most dragons are of only four types, because the gods of fire, water, earth, and air made them."

"We all know that," said the girl with the red egg. 

"But what you don't know is that not only those gods made dragons. Lots of minor gods helped make them too. That's why there are other kinds of elemental magic occasionally born into the dragon population." 

"Wouldn't those kinds be weaker, then, since they were created by minor gods?" 

"Sometimes, sure. But a few of the most famous dragon-human teams of all time used rare elemental magic. Most aren't as strong as fire dragons can be, but if they are trained well rare dragon teams can become exceptionally strong. So," Liohna cast a sly grin around herself and dropped her voice, making Ariana have to edge closer. "I made sure there were some rare dragon types at the selection." 

"What?" the girl in white gasped. "The presentation of the races is run by the Council of Arkan! How could you have--" 

"Stupid, her mother is on the Council, don't you remember?" The tallest girl in the crowd rolled her eyes. 

"Ex-act-ly." Liohna tilted her green egg so that it caught the light. 

"So what kind of magic does yours do?" the girl with the red egg asked eagerly. Liohna shrugged. "You don't know?" The girl sat back with a huff at the anticlimax. 

"I did say they were rare," Liohna said scornfully. "Nobody has cataloged the other kinds of elemental magic. We'll have to find out when it hatches." 

"Interesting." Ariana jumped at the voice next to her ear. Ms. Jien was standing over her. At first she thought the teacher was commenting on the girls' conversation, until she realized that she was looking at Ariana's egg, which still rested in her open palm. "May I have a look?"

"Um, sure." Ariana handed over the egg, feeling strangely vulnerable as she did so. 

"Gray!" Ms. Jien said, almost to herself. "I've never seen this before." A thunk sounded under the teacher's desk as the blue tail disappeared, and then the entire dragon emerged and waddled over on his lizard-like legs. Ms. Jien made eye contact with the dragon and was silent for a while, having an inaudible conversation. Finally, she turned back to Ariana. "Make an appointment with the academy archivist after school and have him examine your egg." 

"Ok," Ariana said, gratefully taking back her egg and holding it close to her belly. The whole class was staring at her again. Eyrie, who had been so dismissive earlier, was now looking at her with open interest. 

Ms. Jien moved on to other students, eventually reaching Nique. Ariana expected her to scold him for not having his book out, but she only asked how he was doing and if he needed anything in an especially gentle voice. He responded by muttered something inaudible, and Ms. Jien walked away with a last pitying glance. Liohna and her group rolled their eyes dramatically. 

"Poor boy," Liohna crooned at him when Ms. Jien was out of hearing distance. "Saddled with the fate of screwing us all over." Her girls twittered. Nique looked up from the desk long enough to shoot her a hate-filled glance. 

Ariana felt her rage at the way both the girls and the teacher were acting rise. How close she had come to being in his position! They could be treating her that way right now. Why was everyone being so unfair? 

"B***h!" she snapped at Liohna. The entire group of girls turned toward her in shock. 

Liohna's beautiful cheeks flushed red. "Who do you think--"

Ms. Jien rapped loudly on her desk, calling the class to attention before the argument could break out. The entire group of girls fixed Ariana with murderous glares before turning toward the front, leaving her wondering if she shouldn't have said that. 

"Class, what I am about to say is very important," Ms. Jien was announcing. "Remember that you are psychically linked with your partner. What happens to your partner happens to you. If your human trips over her shoelaces and breaks her ankle," she pointed at the frisky fox kit, " you will feel the pain." The fox drooped its overlarge ears. "If your dragon egg is crushed," she gestured to include the whole class, "you will die. Do you understand?"

 The heavy silence of the classroom was an answer in itself. Ariana cupped her hands around her egg and swallowed. "Good. Class dismissed."

The students packed their books in sober silence, and Ariana slipped out of the classroom before Liohna and her pack of girls could remember they were angry at her. 

Ariana took her lunch outside and sat under a tree, wondering what kind of dragon would hatch from her egg. To her surprise, she found herself suddenly accosted by a fox kit. It climbed onto her lap and jumped up, setting its tiny front paws on her belly. "Oh-- hello. Do you want my sandwich?"

"Mind your manners, Essel." Eyrie stood over them, lunch in hand. "May I sit down?" The fox kit obediently slinked off Ariana's lap. 

"Oh." Ariana couldn't have been more surprised. "Sure, if you want." 

Eyrie sat crossed legged on the grass and swallowed a bite of her lunch. "I've been studying dragons recently, and I'm very interested in yours. I'd like to go the archives with you if you don't mind."

"Um. Ok." 

"I also think calling Liohna a b***h was pretty cool of you." 

Ariana couldn't help laughing, but Eyrie was serious as she gestured across the green. "Looks like Nique is getting picked on again." 

A group of boys from Ariana's preparatory school were shoving Nique around and taking his lunch; they were the same group that had always terrorized the weaker students at their school, she supposed. She winced as he tried to grab for his food, as he always did, giving the boys a good laugh. Then she heard his voice rise in desperation. "Give it back!" His face showed real fear.

Eyrie gasped. "They took his egg!" A flash of crimson in the hand of one of the bullies proved her right. The boys huddled together, passing the egg around and looking at it, shoving Nique away if he got too close. When he hit one of the boys (uselessly) in desperation, the leader of the group raised the egg over his head. 

Ms. Jien's voice echoed in her mind. What happens to your partner happens to you. If your egg is crushed, you will die.

"Give that egg back!"

Reviews

[aj milton]

I have enjoyed reading this. You leave plenty of hooks to keep the reader wanting to know what will happen in a number of possible threads.

I felt it had a modern flavour, but also some shades of classic "dragon" material such as Anne McCaffrey. And I mean that in a complimentary way.