The Angel Mirror

Chapter 6 - The Departure

The same small sliver of light became a beam of sunlight in the morning that struck Zilder in the face, making for a very rude awakening. He could still recall the events that transpired the previous night vividly, and he couldn't help but dwell on the fact that she simply just...backed off when he asserted himself.

If he thought about it too much while staring at the ceiling from on his bed, so he got up and started going through his morning routine. Today's the day. He remembered, in all of the excitement he'd almost forgotten.

Almost, with a quick shower(which had gotten quicker than normal on the account of the disembodied giggling he heard), and a quicker dress up given that his clothes had already been picked out for him. A black shirt and slightly faded jeans.

Within the hour he was fully packed and fed and taking his lightly loaded pack out to the front yard, where his father was waiting with two dragons with saddles and flight gear. Just beyond the open gate there was a small crowd of people, presumably to see the two off.

Of course, a good amount of them were associates of Gale, friends of the family that Zilder barely knew even if they seemed to know all about him, heads of other clans and what no. There were some friends of Zilder's. Makoto was there, with a knowing smirk that said I'll meet you there soon enough.

He felt his face flush, but from that distance no one would probably notice on the count of his skin being as dark as it was. It wasn't every day that Zilder was practically forced to see the position he was born into, but this was definitely one of them. Even if he was born the youngest, he was practically a celebrity and he hadn't even done anything.

Or that might just be his father, he really was a celebrity, but there were at least some people there for Zilder, so that was enough to make him feel special.

"Are you ready Zilder?" Gale asked, looking at him expectantly. Zilder quickly nodded and made his way over to the dragon opposite his father's'. He knew how to ride, and it would be simple to follow his father to the capital.

And, of course, the dragon sensed that something was up immediately.

A low growl began in its throat when Zilder hopped up onto its back. The boy began stroking the dragon's neck, whispering reassuring words to calm the dragon down. It took less than a minute to stop the dragon from growling, and in that time Gale had already gotten ready. He'd seemly taken no notice to the growl, neither had the crowd since it wasn't high enough for them to hear it.

With a beat of its mighty wings, the dragon that Gale was riding started to ascend, and Zilder quickly spurred his dragon on to follow. A chorus a cheers rang out from the crowd and Gale waved back to them in response, and within seconds both of the dragons and their riders were in the sky.

It took a couple of minutes to get the height his father wanted, about twice the length of the highest trees of the forest that they were flying over. The silence didn't last that long after that, his father spoke, his voice perfectly clear despite the wind roaring in Zilder's ears. "Mind telling me what the growl was about?"

"What?" Zilder called anyway, his voice lost even to himself. He spent the next couple of minutes casting the spell that his father had presumably cast, to have his voice cut through the wind. In that time he had time to think of an excuse, as he hadn't been expecting his father to ask him about that at all. "I stepped on his wing when I was climbing up. Nothing to worry about." He assured, hearing another disembodied giggle, the first sound he'd heard out of her since earlier in the morning.

"Hmm..." Was Gale's reply, Zilder could see why Gale would be upset at his son making a rookie mistake, but that was better than the actual reason that the dragon growled.