Dawn's Light

Chapter 3

After the Choosing's closing ceremony and feast ended, a light blue rider named Jacob led Celia and Verbena to their room. After walking for a bit of distance, he stopped at one of the curtained rooms. "Sapphire Room 19,"  he pulled an old slightly tattered curtain with many repaired holes aside, "this is your room."

The metal plaque next to the curtain was labeled with a sapphire and the number nineteen which translated to the nineteenth room on Sapphire Path. "You're welcome to stay here, explore, or retrieve your personal items from your family cave, but remember to be on time for training in two nights." He smiled as Celia walked through the dragon-sized hole.

"Thank you," Celia said as she entered the room with her green dragonet. The room was small in comparison to the larger room Celia had grown up in, but this cave was for a single rider and a single dragon rather than a family.

In the far right corner of the room was a sack that was most likely filled with down feathers and dried plant material. On top of the sack was a single person blanket that looked like it was made from the same material as her cloak: dragon fur, more commonly called ejon. The sack and small blanket were there to serve as the place where Celia would sleep until she moved into a family cave if she ever did.

At the foot of Celia's bed was a slightly raised ledge with an old blanket on top. The space was called the dragon's nook and was in different places in the room depending on where the rock was naturally raised or where one was built when there wasn't a natural ledge. After years of use, the rock under the crumpled blanket had become depressed over time as many dragons over the years slept in it.

On the opposite side of the room was a pool of water fed by a spring. The cool liquid water flowed from the room before this one. After pooling the brick pool, it flowed out in a waterfall, then flowed across the room in a stream.

When it reached the opposite wall, it entered a hole that led into the next room that had the same kind of shallow pool made with bricks. To get over the narrow stream, flat pieces of grey stone had been placed as sturdy bridges in two places: one in the middle and one in front of the fountain for better access to it.

There was a chest near in the far left corner for personal items, which Celia would retrieve from her family room later. The stone box's lid fit snugly to keep the inside dry, but it was in two pieces. A jagged crack went down the rough center in a shape that reminded her of a stretched S.

Normally the lid was a bit too heavy for Celia, but with the lid cracked, Celia could easily lift the halves one at a time, though it was at the loss of the lid's waterproof quality. She could easily have one of the stonemasons make her a new lid, but Celia decided to leave it the way it was.

Verbena leaped onto Celia's sack and laid down on it despite being a bit too big for the bed. Her stomach was bulging slightly from how much she had eaten, but she purred in happiness instead of regurgitating the excess food or otherwise acting sick.

"Verbena! That's my bed!" Celia scolded as she approached the dragonet.

'Your bed is comfy.' Verbena purred and shifted slightly to get into an even more comfortable position. 'I don't wanna move right now.'

"Maybe your bed will be even more comfortable! It's even big enough for you to fit in!" Celia motioned to the dragon size blanket. "Huh?" She flashed Verbena an encouraging and slightly desperate smile as she gestured and pointed to the blanket she was supposed to be sleeping in.

Verbena did not take the bait. 'I don't wanna move.' She repeats in a sleepy and full-stomached stupor and opened her mouth in a massive yawn.

Celia groaned in frustration and rubbed her forehead. "Fine, fine, I'll just go get my stuff without you." To Celia's dismay, Verbena was already sound asleep and had not heard the human's temptations. "Now I really will have to go by myself," Celia muttered slightly, then smiled as the dragonet twitched and purred in her sleep. Because of their bond, Celia could glimpse the happy dreams Verbena was having. "I can't stay mad at you." She reached out and gently stroked the green dragonet's head and earned an even louder purr from her in response to the touch. "I'll be back soon" Celia promised, then walked over to the curtain blocking the entryway and slipped past it.