Insignia: Scars of Lumierna

Twenty-One

The sun pierces through the treetops raining down on Stirling and Ignis in scattered storms. Stirling's light-colored eyelashes rest on his cheekbones while he lies with his back against Ignis', letting the dragon's stride null his mind. It had been a few weeks since his mother's passing. She had missed his fourteenth birthday by only a few days.

That last day surges in his mind flooding his thoughts like water invading the boat that is meant to keep the sailors afloat through a crack in its walls. It is a constant reminder every time he closes his eyes. The image of her smile while she slips into her never-ending sleep. The last words she had said to him, the promise he had made.

He remembers sitting there until his father finally walked into the room to offer him lunch. He remembers seeing the tears his father shed; he had never seen his father cry over anything. His father always came off as the type of man who could shrug off any emotion.

He had seen what true love was that day. The way his father broke before his mother was as if half of his soul was tearing from his body. The way he stroked her hair before losing his composure. Stirling agonizingly let his mother's hand go as his father took his place on the stool. He didn't know how to comfort his father, so he had left. He left his father alone in his most vulnerable time to wallow in his own sorrows. With tired and tear-burned eyes, he fell asleep curled up in a ball on his mattress in the corner of the room.

Ignis strolls through the forest to their usual hiding spot on the bluff overlooking the class by the canyon. There, already lining up along the edge of the canyon was the group of students they have been watching for years. Their dragons waiting patiently behind each of them.

He cautiously lies on the ground trying to not stir Stirling who had fallen asleep upon his back. With a sudden jolt to the right, Ignis throws Stirling to the ground. He hits the patchy grass hard, waking him up in a panic.

"What! What's going on?!" He spins around in urgency trying to get a sense of his whereabouts.

"SHHH! You're too loud. Now, take a look at that," Ignis says, motioning over at the class lined up. Stirling crawls his way across the ground pulling aside the leaves to peek through the field maple.

What he sees on each dragon is a saddle. Wyvern saddles are different from horse saddles. There are straps looped around the neck and tail attached to the seat resting between the wings starting at the base of the neck. The saddles' cantle is also more extreme; it cups the lower back, helping keep the rider from sliding or falling backward. The horn of the saddle is less defined though, just a small bump for support but low enough it is out of the way when the rider needs to lean close to his or her dragon while diving or for other quick maneuvers.

It does not need to be pronounced since it is not used for attaching ropes or any other equipment. Items tend to be hooked out of the fighting zone on the back of the cantle. There are also no stirrups. A rider's legs do not dangle over the sides of a dragon. This could cause an increase in the probability of injury to either partner or cause drag while the dragon is trying to gain speed.

Instead, they have their legs bent and tucked up close to them in specialized holders they slide into but aren't tied down for quicker departure. Then each rider wears a designated harness with a latching hook that will attach to the dragon's saddle to keep him or her from falling off.

"Are they going to finally fly out into the canyon?" Stirling asks excitedly.

Ignis shrugs and responds sarcastically, "I don't know, maybe they are just wearing the gear to try it on. Come on, of course they are going to fly into the canyon."