Rhiannon - Dragonrider

Chapter Fourty One - Zalibar's Treatment for Depression

The next day, I could barely drag myself out of bed. Dee kept me supplied with food and company but even her relentless cheerfulness couldn't break through the thick blanket of hopeless misery which covered me.

Fortunately, that meant I missed the victor's ceremony, down in the Henge. The sight of Carodoc's body, lying broken and unmoving in the sand, had stripped me of any sort of feeling of celebration, leaving me totally empty.

Of course, Rhiannas was more than happy to take my place.

He returned from the ceremony in an impossibly cheerful mood - I'd never known anything like that from him before. He told me that, from now on, I was allowed to wear the slashed sunrise House insignia – an almost unknown honour for a tyro.

His mood was almost too much for me and it took all my self-control to stop myself from exploding and letting him know what I really thought about it all. Instead, I swallowed my feelings, hiding them behind a delicate mental shield. I just lay there, secretly grinding my teeth and pretending to be totally exhausted, until he left me in peace.

That evening, when Rhiannas was out on patrol, I walked down to the mews to see Liberty. He, too, was starting to recover a bit of strength and I decided we could go back to Zalibar's School the next day.

On my way back, I dropped in on Psion, who was down by his cave, as usual. "I am delighted to see you again, Young Mistress," he told me. He hopped up onto a boulder and started doing his preening thing and gave Liberty a sort of mental nod, giving him permission to curl up in his favourite sunny, sheltered spot to snooze whilst we talked. Meanwhile, I collapsed onto a convenient rock.

"Though I perceive that the victory does not lie easy on you," he added.

I managed a bit of a nod as he wrapped me up in this funny mental hug thing.

"With your permission, Young Mistress, I would extract your recollections of the race straight from your mind."

"Do you have to?" I replied with a bit of a sigh.

"Have to? No. But it would allow me to better appreciate your abilities and hence serve you more effectively in the future."

I stared into his golden eyes for a bit. "OK then," I said at last with a sigh.

So I got to watch the whole thing over again... but at least he had the good taste to skip over the horrible bits with Carodoc.

"I have no need to tell you that it was an extraordinary accomplishment, do I?" he said when he was done.

I shook my head. I suppose he was right, really, but I was having a fair bit of trouble thinking about it like that.

I just sat there for a bit, kind of enjoying his mental hug thing. At last I gave another sigh. "I should be getting back," I told him, calling Liberty over. The lean black dragon reluctantly uncurled and came over to join us. I didn't make him lie down for me though - our bond had got even deeper with the race and I didn't think I'd ever be doing that to him again.

Psion gave me a bit of a mental boost as I hopped up onto the larger dragon's shoulders. Then he sent me on my way with the words, "Your mother would be proud of you beyond measure."

I guess that was true too, really, but somehow it didn't make me feel any better.

Of course, as I landed Liberty in a corner of the quad, everyone gathered around us, cheering and clapping. It was a struggle but I managed to give a bit of a smile as Zalibar strolled over. He congratulated me and casually told me that I'd been promoted to prime. He let the applause go on for a bit but he must have seen how uncomfortable I was because, before long, he sent everyone back to practice.