Present day
Valaris
It's time, it's the day.
I put the last book I wanted to take in my bag, I took everything I needed to have if I was to be chosen, I know I'm not gonna be, but you never know, I have food, my clothes, daggers and bows because that's what I'm best at, I took the armour that my dad made me, it's not as protective and resistant as Kayla's, he knows that I won't be selected too, my family is so certain that the masters of dragons is not gonna chooses me, that they didn't even prepare food for me, they prepared only for Kayla, I was forced to prepare my food myself, I don't want to be chosen, I love my life at oathdow, I have my family with me, I have my books that'd take me in more adventures than one, I want to graduate and became a literature teacher like my mom, I know I'm not born to be a soldier or a rider, no dragon is going to choose me, everyone know that, I know that, like I said I don't want to go, but a tiny part of me can't help wish that the general's dragon would recruit me, so I can surprise everyone and prove them wrong.
I may be short, my body is not as strong as everyone else, I'm not good with swords, I may not be able to keep my seat on a dragon back, but I'm not weak, I can handle myself, or I think so, I'm really good with a bow, and daggers, I have a really good aim from a far distance, I'm smart, I was always the first in my class, well sometime I was second after Arshad Sayfan, even his name make me want to punch something, he's been my rivals ad nemesis since I can remember, he's going to be chosen that's for sure, he's the best in the village in absolutely everything that concerns physical training, my dad adores him, even if he know that we don't stand each other but he invites him for dinner every time he has the chance I think he do that just to torture me cause those dinner presume to Arshad being perfect in front of my parents with his gentlemanly act that are absolutely fake, but make my mom swoon every single time, my sister who try to start a conversation with him because she absolutely have a crush on him, I have been disgusted by my older my sister in many ways, but she never made me want to puke more than when I saw her move herself closer and closer to him and batting her eyelashes every time he glances her way like she couldn't be more obvious, last dinner whish was two days ago, it was the day we received the letter announcing that the general's next stop is oathdow, my dad invited him to celebrate the fact that they're going to be riders, they're going to bond with dragons, and they'd go to war to defend valaris our kingdom, I wasn't included, only Arshad and Kayla, because there's no way the little short bookworm Idrees, who can't even hold a sword with both hands because it's too heavy for her will go to war, it's not even a question, I'm going to stay here and become a literature teacher end of story, which is for the best, I think.
In the middle of slipping my boots, I heard the siren go off, I took a deep breath, it's time, I can hear the huge wings of the master of dragon's batting the air, coming toward us.
_ Idrees it's time, Kayla is already outside. Called my mom from downstairs.
I finished dressing quickly and looked at my room, at my big bookshelf that covered most of the walls, at my big comfy chair in a corner that my dad made just for me so I can read my books, oh how I loved that chair, I looked at the desk beside the door where I spend so many nights until sunrise studying so I can be better than Arshad, a weird feeling sank to my stomach but I ignored it, my eyes fell on my bed, it was covered in a brown comforter with little books printed in it that Amel my best friend made for me for my eighteenth birthday, how many night did we spend laughing and crying and gossiping in that bed me and amel, I breath it all in, the smell of books and lavender entered my nose, the lavender smell because of the lavender flowers that I have on my desk, it's Arshad who put them there every single day and he didn't miss this day either, I still don't know how or when he do that even after 5 years of him doing it, it all started when we were on a school trip and we came across a huge field of lavender flowers, everyone was mesmerized, the girls started picking the flowers, smelling them, and putting them on their head, like a crown, not me, all I did was scrunching my nose from the smell, I hated the smell of lavender, I wanted a crown of flowers too because it was so pretty but I couldn't support the smell, and of course arshad noticed, he noticed everything, so from that day on, he made it a mission to himself to drop four lavender flowers on my desk every single day, without being seen, not once, the first days were hell, I did everything to stop him, I even told my dad when I became really desperate but he shrugged it off, my books smelled like lavender , my whole room smelled like lavender, I smelled like lavender, when I go to school, every morning, Arshad come up to me and sniffle me , and then he scrunched his nose as an imitation to me scrunching my nose, the audacity, then he say with the most disgusting tone he can muster.
_ Why do you smell like lavender Idrees?
And every single morning I glare at him like I want to kill him, because I wanted to.
But then I get used to the smell, I started liking it, and I started going to sleep and expecting the flowers on my desk, sometimes I betray myself and caught myself smiling at them, which was what I did this time, I'm going to miss it, I'm going to miss HIM, the second that the thought entered my head, I got it out as fast as possible, with second thoughts, I took the four flowers and put them on my bag already full, I looked at my room one last time, and tried to memorize everything in it because what IF.
I'm opening a new chapter in my life if I was chosen or not, and I think I'm ready to meet the new me.