One winter day, the sky was fleeced over with yellowish-white clouds and rain was splattering everything.
It was on days like these that Theo used to sit inside the castle with Chadwick, toasting bread in the fire. Nimue was always quick to scold when Chadwick let his catch on fire, laughing uproariously, and Theo would jump back from it.
Amusing that fire used to be so dangerous to me, Theo thought. The lick of a flame against these scales could do little harm to me now.
The rain started to thicken into slush, and finally it crystallized into beautiful clusters of snow. As this came about, Theo noticed pupils gathering apprehensively with their mentors.
What’s going on?
“The first snow of the season!” she heard a young dragon whisper to a friend. “It’s time! Can you believe it?”
Everyone’s eyes were turned on the firesap plants.
Small snowflakes drifted down like thousands of tiny, doves’ feathers, melting on contact with the dragons. Light snow frosted the ground, blending everything into a scene of white.
One mentor stepped up and invited his pupil forward.
Blinking a snowflake out of his eye, the pupil moved willingly towards the firesap plants, stopping right before a mound of amber. Everyone watched as the pupil bent down to lick the firesap. His head shot up immediately afterward, eyes widened with surprise. He exhaled, marveling as sparks mixed with the snowflakes in front of his face like fireflies amongst pure white moths.
Another pupil approached and the first moved back to the outskirts of the camp, posture straight in perfection. More and more pupils came, including Sky’s, and returned to the audience, expressions astonished at their new found strength.
“You should join them,” Jacinth startled Theo. “Go on. Receive the Gift of Fire!”
“Accept the firesap? Me?” Theo inquired. “But I’m not a pupil.”
“You don’t have to be. Just so long as you’re old enough, you’re free to accept the firesap at any time.”
Theo held her breath as she considered her choices. I’m a dragon now, she told herself. I should fit in.
“You know what,” she decided suddenly. “I will.”
“Then go,” Jacinth breathed.
Theo swallowed, feeling each pair of eyes that swiveled on her as she walked forth.
“Wait for me, River,” someone called out and Theo stopped to see Sky bounding to her side.
“You haven’t accepted the firesap yet?” Theo asked, realizing she’d never seen Sky breathe fire before.
“No,” Sky said, “but I’d like to do it with you now.”
They halted before a clump of amber latched onto a branch, which bent outwards, only to penetrate back into the tangle of thorns. One liquid bead of firesap was on its seemingly still roll down the amber, glinting in the winter light. Theo looked to Sky, bowed her head, and licked it.
The breath was taken out of Theo. The feeling was stingingly painful, yet she liked it. It was invigorating, pain shooting down her throat, but with every pulse she felt more powerful.
Sky also bent and raised her head a moment later. Theo could see what she herself felt expressed in Sky’s eyes.
They looked at each other joyfully.
I’m a dragon at the fullest now! Theo thought as the two of them walked back to meet Jacinth who puffed her chest out at them.
“Let’s see it,” she whispered to Theo.
Theo lifted her head to the flurried sky and blew softly. Beautiful flames unfolded from her mouth, creating a momentarily empty space between snowflakes. They cast a glow in Theo’s eyes. It made her feel gifted.
Sky also experimented with her new talent. Touching her muzzle to the ground, she cleared the thin layer of snow away from the grass underneath, smiling in admiration.
“Look,” said Jacinth. “This is unusual.”
Theo saw a number of dragons her age and older step forward to accept the Gift of Fire as well.
“Fallow, Heather, Sandpiper, Fledge…” Jacinth counted off the dragons that followed after Theo. “Pintail, Lapwing, Turnstone…I’ve never seen this happen before. Usually those who refuse the firesap at striker age never end up accepting it at all.”
“I wonder why,” Theo pondered out loud. “But surely, the more firebreathers the merrier.” She smiled along with her friends, watching as the ceremony came to an end.
. . .
Days later, Theo spotted Wycker enter Camp to say something to Adder. Adder nodded, and Wycker turned to depart, glaring at Theo as he always did when he passed her.
I’m not going to stand for his silent judgments anymore, thought Theo.
“Hey, Wycker!” she yelled. “Why don’t you come over here and tell me what your problem is?”
Wycker stopped in his tracks, turning his head to look back at her through the corner of his eye.
“Well?” Theo snorted, more belligerent than she’d ever been in her life.
Lichen crept up to Theo. “Don’t anger him,” he implored. “He’ll only get worse.”
“I don’t care,” Theo grunted. “I’m sick of the way he looks at me.”
“But-” Lichen started, but Theo cut him off.
“Come on, Wycker!” she called, dauntingly. “Face me. Why do you hate me so much?”
Wycker whisked around, stalking closer to her until his face was but a talon’s width away from hers. Lichen cowered back, seeing that his begging was of no use now.
“Don’t anger me,” Wycker warned.
“I’m a dragon at the fullest now,” Theo said haughtily. “Start respecting me like one.”
Pure loathing pierced from his eyes, but Theo wasn’t going to submit. Not this time.
“You are not, in fact, a dragon ‘at the fullest’,” Wycker contradicted her, just loud enough for her to hear. “Tell me you don’t still think of home, your childhood, your first life. Tell me you’ve given it all up.”
“Of course I have,” Theo retorted, but she began to question the words even as they left her mouth.
He must have read the doubts within her eyes. “Sure you have,” he retaliated and walked away.
He’s wrong, she told herself. He doesn’t know me. Theo slunk down, glowering at everyone as she noticed them staring. They should all mind their own business, she thought angrily. If they all just-
Cutting her thoughts short, she took a deep breath to cool her temper and left, knowing well that she was being watched as she went.
. . .
Theo thought a hunt sounded like a good way to help her forget her anger. She prowled around the best hunting places until she spotted a deer.
It pleased her greatly when she managed to catch it, breaking its neck as all dragons knew worked best. The deer was a triumph for her and she found that her interaction with Wycker was nothing more than a fading memory of the past.
The pink flesh of the carcass was a composition of flavors that slithered down her throat.
After her delightful meal, she walked along a small cliff, mostly hidden by bare trees and shrubbery. As she heard the sound of dragons crashing through the forest, she peered down.
She could hear Sky shouting encouragingly, and the voices of her excitable pupils answered. Flashing through the trees, Theo could see a reddish deer racing desperately onward, the three dragons gaining on it quickly.
Sky’s two pupils were on either side of the animal by the time they dashed into Theo’s full view, just below her. It looked like one was about to try taking down the deer when all of a sudden, everyone halted.
The deer was crumpled on the ground, but neither of Sky’s pupils had killed it. Instead, it was Lynx, who had been hiding out between two boulders of the cliff, waiting.
“You-” the male pupil heaved, shock turning to anger. “You killed it! We were chasing it and then you killed it!”
Lynx smirked at the enraged young one, who bared his teeth with miniscule ferocity.
Sky’s female pupil slumped, whining with disa
ppointment.
“Come on,” Sky exhaled, herding her pupils away. Theo saw her glare at Lynx as she passed, her eyes as cold and sharp as icicles.
How rude, Theo disapproved, watching as Lynx crouched down to feast on the deer, unashamed. How can he do that to the little ones?
She caught up to Sky on their way down a slope.
“Hey, I just saw what happened,” Theo told her. “I can’t believe that!”
“I know,” Sky mumbled. “I really thought the pupils were going to catch their first deer today…Now, with all the noise we made, there’s no way we’d find another deer within miles of here.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Theo sympathized with her. I should have saved some of my catch for her and her pupils.
Theo spent the rest of her day with them, talking to Sky.
“Who mentored you?” Theo asked her. “Surely whoever it was must’ve been great, considering what a good mentor you’ve turned out to be.”
Sky laughed. “Actually, she wasn’t. My mentor was very distant and unconcerned with me or anyone else.”
“What?!” Theo was perplexed. “Then why did you choose her?”
Sky grinned. “Because she was the best flyer I’ve ever known,” she answered. “I still remember the first day I saw her at the falls…No one could outfly her.”
“Oh.” Theo smiled. “So she’s the one who taught you how to fly so well.”
Sky tilted her head hesitantly. “Yeah, well…she didn’t really teach. I mostly watched and hoped to learn.”
“Then you must be a natural!” Theo exclaimed. “You’re the best flyer I know. And the best mentor.”
Sky smiled and ducked her head. “Thank you.”
“So…” Theo searched for another topic. “Do you have a mate?”
“Yes.” Sky perked up. “He’s rather shy of others, but I love him all the same.”
“That’s sweet,” Theo responded.
“Why don’t you tell me more about yourself?” Sky prompted. “Who mentored you? You know, I don’t recall ever seeing you as a pupil or a frisk…Where have you been all your life?”
Theo tried not to let her smile drop, but this was the conversation she had hoped to avoid.
Would Sky resent me if she knew about my past? Well, I can’t lie to her. Theo grimly decided she’d have to tell the truth. At least Sky’s pupils were dozing now, exhausted from the strenuous and unsuccessful hunt.
Hesitantly, she said, “I actually joined the Colony at striker age.”
“Interesting,” Sky commented.
Theo then proceeded to tell her all about her past. How she was a human treasured by the kingdom of Wystil…How she got caught in a flash flood one day and had to be saved by Damon with the firesap fruit…How everyone in Wystil was misled into believing that the dragons had taken her captive…
The whole time, Sky listened, an amazed look on her face. When Theo could think of nothing else to add, she quieted, waiting to hear how Sky would respond.
After a few moments of silence, Sky breathed, “Oh, River…Or should I say Theora?! I had no idea what a story you have behind you! It’s simply…incredible!”
She’s taking it well. Theo was relieved. “Yeah.” She gazed up at the white winter sky. “It’s been chaotic, to say the least.”
Sky nodded, understanding. “I can’t even imagine how difficult it must’ve been…or must be,” she corrected herself. “What- what do you think the future holds for you?”
Theo looked back down at the frosty layer of brown leaves under her feet, shaking her head. “I try not to think too much about it, in all honesty,” she admitted. “I’m just glad to have friends like you and Jacinth…It really does help.”
“Of course!” Sky agreed. “Friends make just about everything better.”
“I can’t say that I disagree on that,” Theo concurred, yawning. The venison from earlier that day was just now hitting her, making her tired. She looked at Sky’s two pupils, who napped a few feet away from each other, looking like a couple of spent puppies.
“What are their names, anyway?” she asked, nodding in their direction.
“They haven’t chosen any yet,” Sky answered. “It’s common for pupils to go without names for quite a while.”
“Oh? What do you call them then?” Theo inquired.
Sky smiled. “You two…Hey, you…I don’t know! But it’s not too confusing.”
“If you say so,” Theo responded, shaking her head, amused.
I would never mentor a pupil.
The female of Sky’s two pupils stirred, opening her precious, childish eyes.
“What is that sound?” she piped quietly, raising her head.
“What sound?” Sky asked. She and Theo quieted to listen.
At first, Theo heard nothing but the regular sounds of the night. Then, from the distance, a very distinct, familiar sound grew louder and she smiled. It was Clyde singing.
Sky looked elated. “Why not find out for yourself?” she encouraged. “Actually, go on and wake your friend,” Sky tried to indicate the other pupil and Theo stifled a laugh, “-and you two can investigate together!”
The little one turned her head towards the second pupil and crawled to him, saying, “Wake up, wake up,” in a gentle voice.
Drowsily, the male also awoke and the two disappeared into the woods, following the fluctuating, melodic tune that carried through the freezing night air.
Sky looked at Theo ecstatically. “Clyde’s going to help them choose names right now!” she exclaimed. “Right when we were talking about it, too.”
Theo stared after the two pupils. “Are you sure they’ll be alright on their own?” she worried. “Shouldn’t we follow them?”
“Nonsense,” Sky shook her head. “Clyde makes it easy for anyone to find him- they’ll be fine!”
. . .
Sky spoke the truth. When the pupils returned that morning, they proudly bore new names. The female presented herself as Plover, and the male declared himself to be Chestnut.
Chapter 10