After school, I hurried home to grab a snack before work. Ashyr was there when I ran in.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" she asked as I darted into the kitchen. I grabbed a couple of bananas and ran back out again.
"I'm late for work," I answered, heading for the door.
"And what exactly do you do at this work? You never talk about it," she added.
"No time," I shouted over my shoulder, already halfway out the door. After that, I sprinted to the alley with my clothes, then to the stable. Even so, I was still late. All of the dragons had been picked by stable hands except for two. Seeing as Firehorn was one of the choices, I picked the other- Leera. Right then, all of the dragons were in the exercise enclosure while we stable hands cleaned their stalls. I started mucking out Leera's stall right away, hoping for an early night. Being a class 7, though, meant that Leera was bigger, would take longer to brush, and had a huge stall to clean.
After I'd finally carted what seemed like an ocean of soiled straw out to the compost heap, I was at least done with that. I tossed a leg of smelly barrelback meat into Leera's trough and headed out to get her, swinging a thick chain in my hand. She wasn't on the boulder this time, and Firehorn had taken her place. He was muzzled, though, so I wasn't too afraid about being burned to a crisp. Getting another cut wasn't beyond possibility, though. I found Leera standing by the fence, her scales glittering like emeralds in the sun.
"Come on," I murmured, reaching for her metal collar. She looked down at me but didn't move, so I had to jump up and down until I managed to get the chain through the hook on her collar. Once it was on, she walked well enough, following close behind me. I felt almost like a rider, with a majestic beast like her following my every whim. It would be so amazing to ride her, but of course, only riders could ever do that.
As soon as I had Leera in her stall, I took off the chain and retrieved an armful of cleaning supplies from the tack shed. Someone was waiting there for me when I came back.
"That doesn't look like a horse," Ashyr commented. I froze.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded.
"I was just curious why you never talked about this place. Mom'll have a fit when she hears," she answered, leaning against the stall door.
"Don't you dare tell," I growled, fists clenched at my side.
"If you want to ensure my silence, you'll do my chores from now on," she answered, arms crossed. "And my homework."
"Fine. Anything else?"
"That's it for now. And don't forget to clean out the chimney extra well," she said. "Ta ta." With a wave and a smile, she left. I sighed, then went into Leera's stall. She peered down at me as if she somehow knew what had happened. I set down the cleaning supplies, then grabbed the bucket of soapy water with my tail and a rag with my left hand.
"Do you require assistance?" I turned to the stall door and saw Tawny standing there.
"You can't possibly be done with your dragon already," I said.
"The dragon I was assigned with caring for was only a class 5 and therefore had less surface area than yours. I completed the task of cleaning her scales a few minutes ago," she explained.
"Then I'd love the help. I have to get home early to clean the chimney." I made a face at the idea. Tawny didn't seem to notice and picked up the brush. I dipped my rag into the water and started scrubbing the armored plates covering Leera's chest. Tawny brushed her side while I did.
"What is your class?" she asked after a minute. I smiled at hearing the common conversation starter.
"I like the larger classes, like six or seven, but I don't like how aggressive they are," I answered, moving aside so Tawny could brush the chest plates I'd already scrubbed. "What about you?" I asked.
"I prefer class fives. They have sufficient bulk to be at least somewhat of a threat to larger dragons, but they could hardly be considered vicious. Also, they are more numerous, which grants a higher likelihood of one choosing you or I." She moved to the side and stood on her tiptoes to try and reach the plates on Leera's neck. I worked my way down Leera's tail.
"You really think we have a chance?" I asked, reaching Leera's delicate tail fins. I knew there was at least a small chance of anyone being chosen for a rider, but I wondered if Tawny knew more about it than I did.
"The instinctual force that governs a dragon's choice has not been proven to be partial to one species or another, even though it appears to prefer cinems and wizards. Besides, even the smallest of chances remains a chance." I guess that was supposed to be comforting, but it didn't keep me from worrying about having to stay here in Marysburg if I wasn't chosen. The draft was taking so many people my age and older, and if I was going to war either way, I'd rather be chosen and do it as a Rider.
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