The Last Dragon Riders (Part One)

Dragonry

The next morning Ralem woke to the soft creak of the floorboards as Jaydon tried to creep out to breakfast. Ralem sat bolt upright in bed, so fast that it made black spots parade over his vision. But one thing was painfully clear to him; “Jaydon, what on earth do you think you’re doing?”

            “Going to eat breakfast,” Jaydon replied, the door flung open.

            Ralem frantically gestured for him to close the door, “Jaydon! You’re in your underclothes!” A lady outside the door promptly thudded to the floor at his audacity. Jaydon closed the door, raising a skeptical eyebrow, “You humans and your clothes…”

            Ralem ignored the comment, “Take some of the clothes in the drawers; it’s not good for us to be wearing the same thing,” he instructed, getting out of bed himself. They both got dressed (Jaydon needed a little direction on what matched) and the dragon made for the door. “Not yet,” Ralem argued, pointing to a sturdy oak chair, “Sit.” Jaydon obediently sat down. Ralem fumbled through the drawers until he found a brush. “You need to look at least a little presentable among the royals. We’ve looked like peasants for far too long.” Jaydon grumbled under his breath as Ralem ran the comb through his hair which was awful bed-head.

The real incentive to change Jaydon’s hair and clothes was not fully because of the presence of the royal family. Most of the reason was so that people could tell Jaydon apart from himself. He didn’t want people mixing them up when Jaydon did something…dragonish.

He debated how to make his hair different. He tried to change the part but there was no difference. Now he wished he had hair long enough for a ponytail or something. He tried many different styles, most of them ridiculous, others wouldn’t stay. Jaydon patiently endured the torture, adding an occasional “Ouch!” “You’re ripping my hair out!” and “Ah-ah-aahh!” Every time Ralem had finished what he thought to be a great hairstyle, he looked in the mirror that hung in front of the oak chair. “Why do we have to look exactly alike?” he moaned. Jaydon looked at him miserably, his eyes imploring. Finally Ralem gave up and the dragon bolted out of there before he could change his mind. With a sigh, Ralem brushed his own hair quickly before following his dragon to the Great Dining Room.

            When he sat down at the table, Arianna smiled brightly and declared, “The hairstyle you did to Jaydon is most interesting.”

            Ralem personally thought it was pretty great. He refined Jaydon’s spiky hair with two fingers while the dragon began to eat, “What do you mean interesting? See, his hair is spiky because he has spikes as a dragon.”

            “Ralem, I hate to break it to you but hairstyling isn’t one of your strongpoints,” Lauri said from across the table, trying to hide a smile.

            “It isn’t,” Jaydon agreed glumly.

            “Hey, whose side are you on?”  Ralem asked his dragon.

            Jaydon raised a skeptical eye, “Remember when you did Sarah’s hair?”

            “Ouch,” Ralem said as he recalled the event. He had tried to do his sister’s hair for her 10th birthday and they ended up cutting most of her hair off (to her great dismay) because he had knotted her long black hair so tight that not even his mother with her nimble hands could untie it. “But that was when I was like six!” he protested, wishing that his dragon did not have his memories.

            “I know! I can do your hair! I have just the idea!” Arianna proclaimed as she jumped up and grabbed Jaydon’s arm. The poor dragon had just enough time to grab another fruit tart before he was whisked away.