Burning Embers

4

After a long hot shower in my bathroom, I wander into the communal dorm "snack stash"; grabbing some beef jerky before crashing into my bed, body aching. Despite the thoughts racing through my head, I'm out quickly.

When I wake up in the morning, the sun is long up, and Clarie has barged into my room, a glass of water in her hand.
"Don't know what made you sleep so late, but we gotta get up and going to train."
She hands me the water as I sit up, brushing my hair out of my face.
"Whole campus is talking about Xander and Finn."
I look up from the water glass.
"What do you mean?"
She starts.
"You don't know? I thought you would, since everyone is talking about Finn with his arm around you."
She grins and I stare at her, my eyebrows crinkling in disbelief.
"Anyways, Xander is in the infirmary, unconscious. Apparently he got beat up. Everyone thinks Finn and him got into a fight."
I shake my head, pulling on my uniform.
"I haven't heard anything about that." I say as she holds open the door, and we head to breakfast.

Clarie holds the door for me as I slip into the dining hall, meeting Finn's gaze before quickening my pace to the food.
"I'll see you at the table." Clarie says behind me, whisking utensils off the counter and strutting over to her steaming bowl of porridge.
I scoop some into my bowl, brushing past Finn's table, pretending I don't feel his gaze burning into my back as I plop down at ours.
Marina, another rider in my squad, grins at me as I sit down.
"Are you ready to take Firstwing in a couple of days?" She asks, stirring her porridge with a smile.
I force a laugh.
"Hopefully."
Clarie bumps me with her shoulder.
"I'm training her, so she has to win."

Later, I'm in the Roost, pulling on my fireproof armor and saddling Zafira, when I hear heavy footsteps behind me. Zafira's crest flares and I turn around, nearly coming nose to nose with Finn.
He opens his mouth, probably to say something sarcastic, but I cut him off.
"Thank you." I blurt out again.
He blinks twice.
"I already told you, you don't need to thank me." He says harshly, Zafira rumbling a growl in her throat. He brushes past me, and I secure the girth on Zafira, before rushing after him to the armory.
"Did you beat Xander up?" I ask, and he cuts me a glance over his shoulder.
I continue striding alongside him, waiting for an answer.

Finally, he stops and turns around, and I almost run into him.
He wordlessly pulls down the collar of his shirt, exposing a throbbing purple and green bruise, staining the pale of his collarbone.

I gasp, reaching out and brushing my fingers against it, and he moves away.
"You didn't have to do that." I tell him, eyes still wide.
He makes a face, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
"Yes I did. Someone had to teach him a lesson." He lets go of his shirt.
"Clarie is waiting for you, you better go." He says briskly, pulling my armor straps tight before urging me out the door.
And he's right.
I jog back to the Roost, swinging onto Zafira. I pat Falkor on the nose as we clabber past, up to one of the ledges to take off. I gently pull on the reigns, and she stops on the edge, wings held aloft. I hurriedly strap my ankles in, and pull on my helmet, flicking the visor down. Then I nudge Zafira with my heels, feeling her excitement as she launches into the air off the platform, beating her wings. We spiral into to the sky, and I spot Claire and her dragon a bit away, Clarie waving.
I spin Zafira around, and we race toward them, as they fire spiral higher, shooting flames down at us.

After 4 days of training with Clarie, I train with Airan and her dragon Lithiaz on the last day.
It's technically a rest day, so we take it easy, with me and Zafira lazily spiraling into our signature barrel rolls. Airan sur Lithiaz swoop after us, shooting ash.

Afterwards, I strip out of my flamesuit, hanging it to dry of sweat, and scrub Zafira down with soapy hot water. After that, I run to the freezing store room, grabbing her a bucket of the highest quality fish we have. Tomorrow is a big day, after all. While she eats, I curl up in the tent of her wing.

I don't know how long it is later, but I wake up to Finn standing over me, Falkor perched on the wall behind him.
"It's dinner time."
Zafira is curled around me, so I have to carefully extract myself from her warm scales, with no help from Finn, of course.
He watches me struggle for a minute before he turns and saunters back down the hallway, leaving me to smooth my hair and wash off in the Roost (super sketchy) showers.

I jog into dinner 5 minutes late, sliding in next to Airan.
"So," She says, chewing thoughtfully. "Ready for the big day tomorrow?"

I grin in response, my mind flashing to blue eyes.
"As ready as I'll ever be."