Dawn's Light

Chapter 6

Despite accidentally making a wrong turn, Celia and Verbena made it to their first day of training, though they were still late.

"Celia, Verbena, you're late." The instructor stated and stood straight with his hands behind his back in a mimicry of Guild Master Orthos that paled in comparison to the real version. "I hope you have a good reason." Celia also noticed that his voice was smoother in comparison to Guild Master Orthos's rougher voice.

"Sorry Master Peteah." Celia unhooked her feet and slid off of Verbena's back. Once she was on her feet, she bowed a bit. "But I was summoned by Faction Master Jak Leei for Verbena's harness fitting. Because of her petite dimensions, he had to create a new harness from scratch."

'Petite? Does that mean small? Not small, strong.' Verbena snorted in annoyance.

Master Peteah, the instructor, huffed slightly. "And why didn't you get your harness yesternight like everyone else in your class?"

Celia blinked and swallowed nervously as she frantically searched for a way to phrase what she and Verbena had done without sounding lazy or idiotic. "Verbena and I were traversing the lower tunnels to see the underground lake."

He paused and pondered her response. "Though it is beneficial for your dragonet to learn places where it can hunt, the fish population will still be there another day. Because you were late, you've earned four laps around the obstacle course!"

"All right," Celia moved to climb onto her dragonet.

"On your own feet." He stated and froze Celia in her tracks before she could hook her foot into Verbena's harness. "It was your fault that you two are late, so you run."

Celia blinked, then looked to the obstacle course that ran through the tunnel branching away from the entrance. Typically, the obstacle course was for dragons, but she had to face the consequences for being late. Once she gathered her thoughts, Celia ran towards the course.

Thankfully, the hurdles were low for the young dragons to get used to jumping with riders on their backs, so Celia, with a bit of effort, could jump over them herself. She went over a hurdle, then jumped another hurdle, then knocked down another hurdle, then ducked under a bar marked with down arrows, then jumped over a small gap, then fell onto her butt when she slipped, then stood to her feet, then dove through a large ring, then weaved through agility bars, then ducked through a tube, then slipped into a hurdle and fell over it.

After she stood back up, she jumped onto a balancing beam and followed it to where it ended at the end of the tunnel. All was left was to sprint across the room where everyone was waiting and back to the beginning, at which point it became too monotonous to think about more than once.

Celia breathed in ragged breathes as she finished, then walked back over to the group, thankful that neither Persephone nor Han was laughing at her fate. Because of their lack of action, they were kind in Celia's mind.

Once she was back to the group, Master Peteah nodded in approval. "Good, you have a strong spirit that won't give up."

He turned his focus to the entire group. "All right, Initiates, today we make sure you know the basics. We will start with properly harnessing yourself." He calls over his dragon from where it had been watching from where he was laying on the other side of the room. "I will demonstrate for you with my dragon, Fen, so pay close attention. I'm not going to mount my dragon over and over for you."

The circle-spotted tawny drake stood and padded over to his companion. The large dragon was calm as he stood alongside his rider with his wings particularly raised to better display his harness.