Good Of The Wing

8

"Remember to listen here." Professor Kaori says as he stands at the front of the 147 of us first years that remain. "If a dragon has already chosen you, they will be calling." He taps his chest. "So pay attention to not just your surroundings but your feelings, and go with them." Then he grimaces."And if your feelings are telling you to go in the other direction, listen to that, too."

As I stand near Violet and Rhiannon, next to Ridoc and Sawyer. Tynan is somewhere near Barlowe. One sword at my waist, and all my daggers strapped to me. I take a deep, steadying breath. I'm glad I skipped breakfast. I don't want to be in the same boat as Ridoc, who did eat breakfast and is now heaving it back up.

"Nehemia, which one are you going for?" Sawyer asks me quietly.

"I'm not sure. I'm just gonna go with my feelings, like Kaori said, and go from there." I answer. I haven't told anyone but Bodhi about how it felt like my dragon wasn't allowed to be at Presentation. As a default, I just keep saying, I'll listen to that little voice in my head.

"Dain lost his vote when he tried to talk you into leaving." Rhiannon says to Violet. I only caught the end of their conversation.

"Aetos did what?!" I hissed, whipping my head to Violet.

She cringes. "Yeah. Ever since I've gotten here, he's been trying to get me into the Scribe quadrant. At this point it's just annoying as fuck."

I shake my head in disbelief. "I always knew Aetos was stupid, but... damn..."

Violet changes the subject by asking Rhiannon which dragon she might go for. "The green that was closest to me when those two went to sniff you." Rhiannon says.

"Well, it didn't eat you, so that's a promising start." Violet smiles. Rhiannon agrees.

"If you go in groups, you're more likely to be incinerated than bonded," Kaori continues. "The scribes have run the statistics. You're better off on your own."

I tune out for the rest of his speech. I just want to get started. I want to try to find my dragon. I can already feel the pull towards the massive forest. The trees are tall enough and thick enough to hide a dragon. I look towards the forest.

"Be careful." Rhiannon says to Violet as she pulls Vi into a hug. Just as I am pulled into one my Ridoc and Sawyer.

"Same goes to all of you. We make it out of this. All of us." I say as we pull all of us into a group hug. I take one last second to pull Violet into a hug as the others walk away. "You will make it to the flight field. You're the smartest person in the quadrant. I love you, Vi." I say, squeezing her one more time before pulling away.

"I'll see you in the flight field." She nods and walks away.

Turning to the forest, I take a deep breath and head in.

It's been a few hours and I'm still looking for my dragon. I didn't realize the forest was this huge. I pat my thigh one more time to make sure all my daggers are there.

"Nehemia Melgren." I freeze. Whipping my head around when I hear my name but see no one. Not a soul. "You are close. Just a little farther." The voice was deep and menacing.

"Who said that?" I ask. Before I could get an answer from that voice, a tig snapped from behind me, I turned and saw three cadets. One from each of the other Wings. I reach for my sword and a dagger, pulling them free. "And who sent you?" I ask the trio.

"General Melgren wishes to be free of the embarrassment that is you." the one from Second Wing says.

"Get in line." I say in a snarl.