“That is true.” Darolyn nodded.

“But they weren’t Riders. They weren’t wearing any wings on their shirts.” Gwinn argued.

“But they were trainees and you should treat them as Riders.”

“Oh.” Gwinn dropped her shoulders. “Then I guess you’re going to reprimand me.”

“No. I wasn’t.”

Gwinn did a double take. “Wait. What?”

“I was going to ask you why you did that.”

“He pushed Morwena down.” Gwinn said simply.

“I didn’t ask you what happened. I saw the whole thing. I want to know why you did what you did.” Darolyn clarified.

“I don’t know. They made me mad. They had no right to do that. She was…and they.” Gwinn was having trouble explaining herself. She wasn’t really sure why she felt the need to help Morwena.

“Then let me ask you a different question. I know you don’t care much for Riders but I’ve noticed that you don’t care for people at all. Why don’t you like people?”

The question caught Gwinn off guard. She had not expected Darolyn to be that observant. Gwinn assumed all Riders were dense but, she recovered herself quickly and answered. It was an easy question. “Oh well, I don’t know. They’re rude, mean, uncaring, selfish… Shall I go on?”

“It seems to me that you don’t like people because you’ve never met any good people.”

“Maybe that is true. When I find some good people, I’ll let you know.” Gwinn added with a smirk.

Darolyn looked in Morwena’s direction and rolled some thoughts over in her mind. “I’m not so sure you don’t care.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The truth is, people don’t care about me and I don’t care about them. That’s the way it has always been.”

“Uh huh,” Darolyn said like she didn’t really believe Gwinn. She was about to leave but then she stopped and added, “Please do yourself a favor and try to stay out of fights.” Then she was off.

Gwinn kicked the remains of the broken crate. That was easy for Darolyn to say. She didn’t have people trying to pick fights with her all the time. Gwinn went to the training field after that but she was still in a bad mood.

She got there late and Torston teased her. “What’s the matter? Did you get lost without your furling?”

She glared at him. “Shut up. I’m not in the mood today.”

“That’s nothing new. You’re always in a bad mood.”

“Then why don’t you shut up whenever you’re around me. It would save us both a lot of trouble.” She snapped back at him.

“All of you, pay attention.” Darolyn shouted above them all. “After today you will receive a short break. The graduation ceremony is in a few days and we will stop all training until after the ceremony.”

Yes, Gwinn thought, a break from this incessant training.

“You are required to attend the ceremony, even if you are not graduating. I expect you to be there first thing in the morning wearing your full dress uniform. You must be there to support your fellow Riders.”

Gwinn groaned. She didn’t want to support the Riders or go to one of their rituals. The ceremony was for them not her. No one would be disappointed if she didn’t show up.

Darolyn looked pointedly at Gwinn. “I expect to see all of you there.” She repeated.

Gwinn remained in a bad mood for the rest of the day. They got off early and she was finally happy about something today. She hurried back to her room and avoided everyone on her way. She’d had enough of all of them for one day.*

Gwinn spent the next few days trying to find a reason not to attend the ceremony but nothing had come to her. It was the morning of the ceremony and she was getting desperate. She didn’t have much time left to figure out an excuse. Mona had dropped off her dress uniform the night before. Gwinn laid it out on the bed and she stared down at it.

“I don’t want to put that thing on.” It was even bluer than her training tunic. It was stiff with a line of gold buttons down the front and a set of silver wings embroidered on the left side. Full Riders wore golden wings. She looked at it with loathing. It represented everything she hated; rude, arrogant, ungrateful Riders.

“But why?” Merith chirped. “I think you’ll look good.” She was hanging upside down from a pedestal that sat on Gwinn’s bedside table.

“I don’t want to be a Rider and that thing will make me look like one.” She paced back and forth across the room. “I need to find a way to get out of this ceremony.”

“You could pretend to be sick.”

Gwinn shook her head. “They’ll see right through that. What if I just don’t show up? What’s the worse they could do to me. Throw me out?” She chuckled. “That wouldn’t be so bad.”

“No, I don’t want you to leave.” Merith waved her feeble little arms.

Gwinn smiled at her. “That’s kind of you to say but I don’t think any of the Riders will miss me.” She spun around and fell back onto the bed. The uniform fluttered up and settled back down beside her. “Why do I have to go? I don’t want to support the Riders.”

“Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

Gwinn sighed heavily. “Yes it will. I think I’ll stay right here all day.”

There was a sharp knock on her door and Gwinn sat up. “Who could that be?” She whispered under her breath. Merith shook her head. The knock came again and Gwinn tried to ignore it. Maybe they will go away.

No such luck. The door swung open and Gwinn jumped up. Darolyn strode into the room and gazed at Gwinn with a scrutinizing eye. “You are not dressed.”

“Um…I was working on it.”

“Were you?”

“I was.” Gwinn nodded with defiance.

“I’m not so sure you were. In fact, I don’t believe you were planning to put it on at all.”

Gwinn crossed her arms and set her jaw. “You don’t know what I was planning.”

“I do know. That’s why I came here to make sure you get to the ceremony on time.” Darolyn told her.

“I don’t need your help.”

“Apparently you do because you’re not even dressed and we don’t have much time.” Gwinn had no response so Darolyn added. “I’ll wait in the hall. Put on your uniform and let’s get going.”

She didn’t give Gwinn time to argue. She shut the door and left Gwinn alone in the room with the uniform. “Argh! I don’t want to go.” She picked up the blue trousers and put her leg through. “Why did Darolyn have to show up?” Gwinn grumbled. She buttoned the last buttons of her tunic. “There, it’s on and I look stupid.”

“You look good.” Merith chirped.

“Shut up.” Gwinn snapped.

The door swung open again. “Are you ready?”

“No.”

“You look ready.” Darolyn said.

“I look like an idiot.”

“No. You look like a Rider.” Darolyn corrected her.

Gwinn frowned. “That’s what I mean.”

Darolyn grabbed her by the arm and drug her to the looking glass on top of Gwinn’s dresser. “Look at yourself. You do not look like an idiot.”

Gwinn looked at her own reflection. The sight was strange. She had never imagined herself wearing a Rider’s uniform. She recognized the streak above her forehead and her thick braid of hair but everything else was different. The stiff tunic made her shoulders look straighter. It made her look like she had more strength than she felt and she could have sworn she was taller. The blue even brought out the color of her eyes. They were brighter like a burning sapphire.

“Do you even know what the blue stands for?” Darolyn asked her.

Gwinn shrugged. “I don’t know. I think is has something to do with the sky.”

“No. That is not it at all. It stands for Truth, Wisdom and Valor. We are messengers of the word. We carry people’s words and we carry their hopes. We cannot take that responsibility lightly. We have to carry the words with wisdom and protect them with valor. That is our job and our purpose and that is why we wear blue. That is what we stand for.”

Gwinn looked at herself again. She had never thought of the Rider uniform in that way before. To her it had always stood for arrogance.

“I don’t know why you dislike the Riders so much.” Darolyn continued. “But no matter what the reason, someday you will have to figure something out for yourself.” She paused. “What do you stand for?”

Gwinn had no comeback. The question made her uncomfortable. She had never thought about it before and she had no idea what she stood for. “I don’t know.” She mumbled. “I’ve never stood for anything before. I never had to. All I had to do was make it through one day at a time.”

“Come on. You don’t have to decide right now and we don’t want to be late.” Darolyn led the way and Gwinn drug herself along.

The ceremony was taking place at the practice field but when they got there, the field was completely transformed. It didn’t look like the place she came for training every morning. There were chairs set up across the lawn and bouquets of flowers adorning every row. The bouquets were full of moon flowers that had a pale blue shimmer, white lilies and blue violets. There was a platform set up at the end of the field. The balcony was the only thing between the platform and the drop off. The platform was overloaded with more bouquets. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make the field look good.

Darolyn led her to a spot behind the chairs. “I want you to stand here with the other trainees for the duration of the ceremony.” She told Gwinn.

“I don’t know why you are so adamant about this. I don’t need to be here. You can have your ceremony without me.” Gwinn stomped into place where Darolyn had directed her.

“I don’t know if you have realized this or not but you are the only Rider of the only Airwolf. People want to see you. They are excited to see you and they want to see you fitting in with the other Riders. It will give them hope and peace of mind. That is why I am so adamant. You are important and that’s why you need to be here.” Darolyn crossed her arms and waited for Gwinn to make a snide remark but nothing came.

Instead Gwinn gave her a look of confusion. “I’ve never been important to anyone before.”

Darolyn’s hard expression softened and, she uncrossed her arms. She placed her hand on Gwinn’s shoulder. “Well, you are.”

Gwinn froze. She didn't know how to react. This was a completely foreign concept to her. Was Darolyn being serious or did she want something? It was so confusing. Am I really important?

Darolyn walked off to perform other duties and Gwinn waited for the other trainees to show up. There were more trainees than she realized and several faces she didn’t recognize. There had to be more classes than the one she was a part of but she supposed that made sense. Kellin said he was still a trainee but she hardly ever saw him.

Torston was there of course. “I’m surprised to see you here.” He said to her.

“I’m surprised to see you too. I didn’t know they let cowards in.” She snapped back. The other trainees snickered at Torston and Gwinn smiled. Finally, someone wasn’t laughing at her.

“Laugh it up.” Torston said. “We’ll see whose laughing when I’m First Rider.”

“Keep dreaming.” One of the other trainees said.

Gwinn laughed. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who thought Torston was an over confident jerk.

Darolyn walked passed them and shouted. “Everyone line up. The ceremony is about to begin. Try to look as respectful as possible because someday this ceremony is going to be for you.” They wasted no time lining up in orderly rows for her. They might detest Darolyn at times but no one wanted to disappoint her.

The ceremony proceeded on schedule. It was the first ceremony of any kind that Gwinn had attended. Before this day she had only witnessed events from the shadows as a lowly servant. This was all very interesting to her even if it was a Rider ceremony.

People from Aerion filled up the chairs. They waited expectantly as the procession made its way up to the field and through the middle isle. The trainees being promoted to full ridership were the first ones in line. Gwinn strained her neck to see Kellin at the front of the procession. He was the only person she felt like supporting. The full-fledged Riders filed in behind the graduates. Marshal was the last one in the procession. It was his rightful place as the First Rider. Gwinn rolled her eyes. He was not the person she would pick to be First Rider, far from it.

After all the Riders took their seats the ceremony continued. Several people stood up and gave long speeches. Gwinn tried to keep herself from yawning. She had always imagined these events to be more exciting. Apparently, she was wrong. Another person stood up to give a speech. She groaned and somewhere to her left there was a cough. The trainees who were being promoted stood up and Gwinn gave a small sigh of relief. Maybe this was almost over. Darolyn, as the head trainer, stood with them. She pinned a small pair of wings on each of their shoulders. Gwinn could see Kellin smiling even from her spot in the back row as Darolyn placed the pin on his chest.

The crowd applauded for each one of them. When they sat back down Gwinn thought it would be over but then someone got up to give another speech. It was an older man with a cropped beard. Great, Gwinn thought. My feet are getting sore. I hope he talks fast. He began his speech and spoke a bunch of Rider jargon. She was barely paying attention. The man kept speaking but then he stopped in mid-sentence. He was interrupted by a loud screech that rang out across the field. Everyone looked up. More screeches rang out and joined the first one.

Gwinn’s jaw dropped. There was a flock of creatures tearing across the sky heading straight for the ceremony. They were purplish grey with leathery skin. The skin extended over their wings and body. They had no feathers but, they soared easily through the air. They didn’t have a nose. Instead, they had a long pointed mouth and a long skinny tongue. The screeches had come from those mouths.

The beasts dove straight toward the platform and the speaker darted off to the side quickly. The crowd scattered and several screams erupted from different places. People moved in all directions as the creatures dove. Gwinn didn’t know what to do or where to go. “What’s going on?” She asked the other trainees.

Some of them were already running away. “They’re dactyls.” The boy closest to her said. “You don’t want to get caught by one of them.” Then he ran off.

“Wait, where are you going?” She reached toward his retreating back. Then another loud screech drew her attention. A dactyl flew low over the platform and spit a yellowish substance at the Riders who were sitting close by. There was more screaming and more panicking from the crowd. They tried to run away faster but, it only led to more chaos. The other dactyls made flyovers and spit their venom at the crowd.