After dinner, I tried to get in my room again. This time, Leera wasn't blocking the door. To my surprise, she wasn't in my room at all. I searched the entire top floor while trying not to seem too panicked. Sarafin finally caught me in the hangar room and made me explain what I was looking for.
"Leera," I answered, "she's disappeared."
"She probably left to fly for a while. Being a dragon, she can take care of herself. You shouldn't worry," he assured me.
"But she's run off. Why would she come back on her own?" I asked.
He gave me a strange look. "Rest assured, she will return. Dragons never leave their riders for very long."
I was sure that a dragon would never leave a pureblood rider, but a paltor one? Pretending to agree, I nodded and faked a smile. As soon as Sarafin had left the room, I transformed into a hawk and flew out through the outer doors. I didn't want to think about what would happen if I couldn't find her, but I couldn't help it. They would know what I was; I would have to run. Paltor man-hunts lasted for months and always ended in death.
I searched all over the island and through the forest beneath it for hours. Eventually, my wings started to blur, and I landed back in the hangar room just as I ran out of energy and transformed back to talme. My Alabri was completely drained, and I could hardly move from exhaustion. My thoughts moved at the pace of lead, and I barely managed to get back to my room before passing out on the bed.
All too soon, I woke up. When I saw that the light streaming in through the window came from the moon, I turned over and closed my eyes again. Just as I was drifting back off to sleep, I heard soft footsteps a few feet from my bed. Staying as still as possible, I kept my eyes wide open and tried to figure out what was going on. The footsteps came even closer, and I tried to jump out of bed. The covers came with me, slamming me to the ground in a tangle of fabric.
I looked up and saw that Leera was back, sleeping in her floor bed. The footsteps definitely hadn't been hers, and I saw the outline of someone standing by the end of my bed. There was enough moonlight that I made her out immediately to be Raven. She had a dagger in her hand.
"What are you doing?!" I shouted, kicking at the blankets. My fists were burning red hot beneath the covers, and I was afraid that I'd have to use them on Raven.
Before I could free myself from the blankets, Raven hurled the knife at me. A flash of movement hid her from view. Leera had leapt in between me and the blade. The fact that I was alive, not to mention that Leera had saved me, was surprising enough that I didn't move for a second. When I did, I finally kicked off the covers and stood with my glowing fists behind my back. I moved around to Leera's side, stepping into her floor bed. Raven had her hands raised, and Leera was growling at her.
"What is your problem?!" I demanded, heart pounding.
"I wanted to make sure you hadn't mind-jinked Leera. Obviously, you haven't," she answered, voice calm.
"And why would throwing a knife at me help you figure that out?" I asked, clenching my fists behind my back.
she rolled her eyes like it was the most idiotic question she'd ever heard. "When a dragon has just joined, they don't die if their rider does."
"So?" I asked. I'd known dragon and rider lifesparks fused a while after joining, but I hadn't thought that would ever lead to someone throwing a knife at me.
"So, if your dragon really had been mind-jinked into choosing you, she would let you die and break your bond," she explain.
"Are you insane? What if she hadn't moved fast enough?" I shouted.
"It's too dull to cut anything harder than warm butter." She scoffed at my look of disbelief. "See for yourself," she said, pointing at the blade with her foot. It'd apparently hit Leera's armored chest plates and fallen to the ground. I edged forward and picked it up with my tail, then held it up so I could inspect it. Raven hadn't been lying; it was duller than a bread knife. Still, that didn't make me feel any better about being woken up in the middle of the night and scared half to death.
"Don't you dare come into my room and threaten me again," I growled, tossing the dagger at her. She caught it and shrugged.
"Why would I? Anyway, you're not as bad as I thought. I guessed that you'd sleep through the whole thing," she replied, turning to leave.
As soon as she was gone, I realized that Leera was still wearing her saddle. After taking it off and collecting my blankets, I laid down in bed again. I was glad that I hadn't managed to completely lose my dragon on the very first day, but I couldn't figure out why Leera had saved me. Maybe protecting her rider was one dragon instinct she couldn't ignore, even if she didn't like me.
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