Wisteria Colland has prepared her entire life for the Rider's Quadrant. Why would you go into infantry or the scribes when you could have the chance to bond a dragon? But things aren't as simple as Wisteria had hoped when she gets herself tangled up...
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Threshing. That's my first thought when I wake up in the morning. My dreams had been filled with dragons—most of them trying to kill me, but woven through them was a strange opalescent shimmering. Not a solid shape, exactly, more of like a wisp, hovering in the background.
I don't think anything of it as I grab an apple from the cafeteria. It's all my stomach will be able to hold. I notice that I'm one of the few cadets grabbing anything to eat at all—most of us first years just sit at the tables looking queasy.
I sit down with Liam and the rest of my squad. He slings an arm over my shoulder. "You ready for today, Ria?"
"Hey, that's my nickname for her!" Sawyer and Ridoc protest at the same time. Liam gives them a shrug of his shoulders and a grin.
"As ready as I'll ever be," I mumble back, staring at the apple sitting on the table in front of me. I couldn't bring myself to touch it, and I wonder why I grabbed it at all. Maybe just to make my stomach think that I had eaten something this morning.
"You know which one you're going for?" he asks, shaking me a little.
I slump forward, my head falling onto the table in front of the apple. "No," I grumble. "Yeah. I don't know. There was this Red Daggertail that was staring me down during Presentation. Might look for him."
"Nice," He replies, gently sitting me up. "Hey, Ria, you're going to be fine. You're one of the best in our year! No dragon would pass you up. They'll probably all be fighting over you."
I scoff at that and give my friend a sidelong glance. "Please," I say, a smile parting my lips for the first time that morning, "we all know that they're going to be flocking to you, Mr. Fastest Up the Gauntlet." Liam rolls his eyes.
I catch Rhiannon giving me a suggestive look and I subtly flip her off. I manage to not remove Liam's arm from my shoulders, however.
After breakfast, we all make our way up the stairs to the side of the Gauntlet. I can see Liam giving the obstacle course something of a wistful glance and I have to raise my eyebrows, shoving him a little. "You would really rather go up that than the stairs?"
Liam raises his eyebrows right back. "I'd probably still beat you to the top," He teases. "You be careful about shoving me, Ria. Remember who's closer to the edge here." Right. One shove from Liam and I'd probably topple right off of the stairs and fall to my death. That would be depressing. "Rider's Quadrant cadet falls to her death off of the stairs next to the Gauntlet, not the Gauntlet itself." That would make for a good article.
"Point taken." I raise my hands in the air in compliance.
Finally, we reach the valley where Threshing will take place. It's heavily forested, leaves halfway between summer and autumn wave at us in a way that's almost beckoning. Enticing us first years into its welcoming branches without a clue whether or not we'll fly out of there or die. It's entrancing, the way they move in the breeze, and I find myself unable to move my eyes away.
