The Sun, The Moon, The Dragons.

Chapter 2: Friarridge

The smoldering sun beams down on everyone causing many to sweat, Lark has never minded the heat however, on the contrary actually, she has always preferred it over ice and snow. When the sun glares down on Lark her red hair glows in the blazing sun like a rampaging wildfire.

After a long hour of standing around chatting with the other sixteen years olds the ceremony begins.

"Please, quiet down." A husky commanding voice speaks from the stage to the groups left. "The 'Glowing' ceremony is to be respected and no interruptions are allowed. One by one the 16-year-olds will come up to this bowl and cut a slim line on their hands. Their blood will then drip into this bowl and if they are a dragon rider the blood will turn into a galaxy of gold and silver then a face will be shown. This face will be your Isalor, your most trusted friend. The blood will then disappear and the cut will heal, if you are a rider please then come forward and the Isalor will repeat the ceremony and either be a dragonless Isalor or the rare occurrence of an Isalor with a dragon. Any questions?"

No one speaks up so a muscular female rider steps up to stand beside the male rider, "I am Miss Gravelia and this is Mr. Tavil and our dragons' Sulfate and Hemplale." She gestures to the two dragons behind her in turn.

Miss Gravelia gestures for the first kid to walk up, his blood stays red and disappears then his hand heals and he heads off stage. This continues for about an hour before Zim is called up on stage. Turning around she nervously smiles at Lark before walking on stage. With Lark's reassurance she takes the knife in her right hand and slices her left palm. Her crimson red blood falls down her left hand and drips a few times into the large bowl in front of her, the blood ripples and smoothes out. Everyone watches to see what's going to happen, so far this is the most that the blood has done. It swirls around in the bowl before settling down again, the blood quickly drains and Zim's hand knits together healing. Her shocked face looks over at Lark who is unsure what to say.

"This girl appears to be an Isalor, we will wait until her rider is found." Mr. Tavil glares at the crowd before gesturing for Zim to stand to the side to watch from the stage.

Next up Lark walks up onto the stage, Zim crosses her fingers and watches Lark, hope glittering in her grey eyes. Lark carefully studies the blade before her eyes flicker to her hand and up at Zim, her head bobs encouraging Lark to continue. Lark breathes in and holds her breathe before quickly slicing her hand, she flinches at the sting of the air on the cut before turning her hand over to drip her precious crimson blood into the bowl. She watches as her blood drips into the bowl a few times covering the bottom before pulling it away and watching the bowl again. She hopes that she is the rider, she won't be able to continue living with Abe without Zim there with her. The entire town is watching her blood, it shimmers a few times before glowing gold and silver. The blood sparkles in the hot sun and quickly begins to swirl around to reveal a face. The slanted silver eyes and black hair represent Zim perfectly. The two girls jump up and down with excitement. Neither can believe their luck, Lark is finally leaving the cruel adoptive father after years of enduring his wrath.

"It seems we have a rider and her Isalor!" Miss Gravelia smiles warmly at the girls, "Please move to the side next to Mr. Tavil and wait until the end of the ceremony."

The ceremony continues but Lark can't pay attention, instead, she's making a mental list of what she will be needing to take with her. Over by the edge of the stage, the riders' dragons are sitting watching to see who will be the next riders. Sulphate is Miss Gravelia's dragon, she is yellow coloured with shimmery silver scales intertwined throughout her body. The huge beast has coal-black eyes and is smaller than Hemplale by about half. This makes it seem as though she is probably more agile and a faster flyer however isn't as physically strong. Hemplale on the other hand is a massive brute, his dark grey scales gleam in the sun and he stands tall about the height of a 2 story building. The brute's eyes are blue like the night sky, he's watching Lark closely as though identifying whether she and Zim are threats. Hemplale could easily carry 5 people while Sulphate could carry about 3. Their huge heads swing taking in every sudden movement but their gazes keep returning to Lark and Zim, the two girls stand on stage with huge smiles. Lark is lucky to get away from Abe and have her best friend there with her.