Rose was finally 13. That meant she would know if she was meant to be a Dragon Rider. That meant she was changing.
All children underwent change at the exact same time: as soon as they turned 13. Rose turned thirteen, and almost immediately, her hair started turning blonde and her eyes were turning blue. She was excited. It was the first step to becoming a Dragon Keeper.
Before school was over for the year, all the 13 year old children gathered up in the castle courtyard, wrapping themselves in their warm, long red winter cloaks to keep the cold away.
The young teens huddled close together, listening to the king call out names to go with their said families.
One by one, a child left the group, going to find their families. Rose looked around and realized Avalon was gone, but Benedict was still with her.
She looked around and saw Avalon next to Ms. Damours, her arm around Avalon.
Rose didn’t understand at first, and then she noticed that both Avalon and Mr. Damours had the same hair color and understood. Avalon was Ms. Damours daughter. Which was fine, but it must've been strange for Ms. Damours to be teaching her daughter and watching her grow up.
Soon, there were only about 8 or 9 kids left in the courtyard, Benedict and Rose included. Luckily, Rose didn’t see Benvolio, so she didn’t have to put up with him anymore.
Rose put up her hood to protect her ears and face from getting cold, and as she put it up, she glanced behind the king and saw Destrian staring at her, wearing fancy and warm looking clothes. She got a slight stab like thing in her heart and thought she was jealous of how warm he looked.
Rose and Benedict stayed standing there until the king looked at the 8 or 9 kids and told them that there are separate rooms in the castle that are available for the children if they choose.
About six of the kids went up to the steps to go into the castle with the king, while Rose, Benedict and one other person stayed behind. Rose looked and saw that that person was no other than Benvolio. She groaned in despair.
What if he’s a Thatcher? Rose thought sadly.
Benvolio walked up to Rose and asked to talk to her in private. She agreed, confused.
As they walked away from everyone, Rose looked back and saw Destrian running down the stairs, seeming to run towards Rose. She felt the same stabbing sensation in her heart. She realized it didn’t hurt, but felt a little good.
Once Rose and Benvolio were in a small alley away from everyone, Benvolio turned to Rose and said, “I really like you.”
Rose looked at him, shocked. He made fun of her every chance that he got, which was all the time.
Just as she was about to say something, Destrian came up, panting from running, and said, “Rose, I need to tell you somethi- Benvolio, what do you want from her?”
“I wanted to make her mine, you got a problem with that?” Benvolio asked, testing Destrian.
“Yes, actually. I do have a problem with that,” said Destrian, getting his breath back and standing between Rose and Benvolio, seeming to protect her. Rose then realized what those “stabs of pain” was actually her developing feelings for Destrian.
Benvolio curled his hand up into a fist, and Rose jumped between the two, trying to stop Benvolio from punching Destrian; he ended up punching Rose in the face, directly on her left cheekbone.
She fell to the ground, landing on her elbow, scratching it and making it bleed.
The first to make sure she was ok was Destrian, getting down on his knees beside her, resting his hand on her shoulder. Benvolio just stared down at her in horror.
