Author's Note
So I work at Starbucks and people are literally the worst. Some guy started screaming at me because I made his drink iced and not hot. He told me that I was a stupid barista and that I should be fired. It was so hard for me to not tell him that he had watched me make his ENTIRE drink from start to finish. I even fucking told him that this was his drink and then he starts yelling at me. Like chill bro, it's just fucking coffee.
People.
With dinner time nearing, the head nurse, Judith, had weaned me off the herb painkillers that she had concocted for me. And with the pain killers slowly leaving my system the full effects of the crash were hitting me with even more force than it was earlier.
I was still on Whistle's herb and Agnius which helped with my pounding headache and the burning sensation running diagonally across my back, from where Khelar's tail whacked me this morning. But besides that, my muscles protested with every move I made, aching and cracking like I had aged ninety-years in two hours.
But by this time of day I had muscled up to the pain, forcing myself to pay no attention to it even though I so badly wanted to curl up into a ball and die.
Judith had discharged Ashton an hour earlier and I had grown bored with no dragon or boy to make small talk with. The two had been telling me about what it was like to be a dragon rider, and from what I gathered they weren't as bad as the mages made them out to be. But they had one high standard which I even the mages held to standard.
You had to be tough. If you had any weakness your instructor was going to force you out of it, whether you liked it or not. But they had their reasoning for it too. If you were in the middle of a fight and you had horrible cardio endurance, the enemy isn't going to pause and let you catch your breath. And their definitely not going to stop if you had a weak tolerance to pain.
I was perfectly okay with the whole if you break a leg keep fighting motto, growing up in a mage family they, and the community held the same sort of principle. So I grew up not telling people how I felt unless I was on meds. Then, I would spill the beans to a dragon in a freaking millisecond and then hate myself for doing it a few minutes later.
"Hey, Norah!" I turned my head from the mural of dragon riders to the large oak doors that opened. Cora, my apparent teammate came skipping into the nurse's office. Her overly chirpy attitude lite up the infirmary in a deep shade of red, much like the evening rays.
"Hi." I greeted, hoping she would try and contain her joy for the short time we were together. I still couldn't see myself fighting alongside this childlike girl. She'd seemed more like the type of girl that would trip on her own sword walking to the training grounds.
I sat up, making sure to do it slowly to not anger the giant bruise on my back. I haven't actually seen the bruise but Nurse Judith told me it was definitely there. A small wince left my lips when I sat completely upright. My gaze dropped looking down at my dark jeans and short sleeve shirt -- the clothes I had been wearing when the dragon crashed into me. My red coat which had also been on me when I was hit, was hanging up by the chair to my left.
Coming from behind me were the familiar clicks of the nurse's heels against the tile floors. I looked back at Cora as she approached the bed, her black hair swaying with her movements. "So, where are we off to?" I wondered.
Cora beamed one of her signature smiles. "I'm taking you to dinner." She said as Nurse Judith came around the foot of the bed, a clipboard and paper in her hands. She reached into her neatly formed bun and pulled out a pen while looking down at her board.
"Dinner? Sounds good."
"Okay, Miss. Crimson, I'm going to discharge you." The nurse began, her eyes on her clipboard. "But since you have some broken ribs and a sprained wrist, I'm going to write a note saying that you will be out of training for a week or so."
My eyes widened. An entire week of no training! I'm already going to have a hard time in training being a pureblood, and already humiliating myself on the first day of being on the island. But now I have to sit out for an entire week?! How am I suppose to prove myself to the dragon riders if they can't see me fight?
I assumed that nobody found me gaping at the nurse because nobody said anything. Cora just smiled while Judith gazed down at her clipboard with a bored expression. "I want you to take this in the mornings, it should last a few hours and will only dumb down that nasty headache of yours." Judith's gaze finally lifted to meet mine and she plastered on a smile that didn't quite met her eyes. She handed me bark wrapped in a soft cloth to munch on for my headache.
"You can study while your out. I'm sure your teacher will be fine with that and he may have you sit and watch the combat training." Nurse Judith told me, finally noticing my slack-jawed expression. But once I realized that someone finally noticed my dumb expression, it blinked away.
"You ready?" The nurse asked me and I nodded.
Not wanting to have the world spin around me, I carefully slide off the bed and onto my feet. The feeling of my muscles wanting to extend and bend taunting me to stretch, but I stifled it back, knowing it wouldn't end well for my sore muscles.
Nurse Judith gave me a wary once over. "How do you feel?"
I shrugged, pushing my agonizing pain aside. The mention of food made my stomach suddenly wake up and rumble. "I'm ready to eat." My hand went to my stomach hoping to somehow silence it but Cora chuckled. A glare hid behind my shrug feeling vulnerable to have people hear me hungry. But considering that I haven't eaten since last night I was surprised that the sounds of my angry stomach didn't go off when I got off the tram.
"I bet you are." The head nurse pressed her lips together, clicking her pen and scribbling down something on her board. "I'll let you three go but don't hesitate to come back here if you feel any pain. You're also on some of that Napsis bark right now, so your pain isn't as bad as it will be in the morning so be ready for that."
My head bobbled at her warning before glancing at the large oak doors, eagerly awaiting the freedom that lied between me and those doors.
With that, Cora was quick to shove me out of the infirmary, putting her hands on my back as the large doors to the nurse's office closed.
I winced when Cora hand touched my back. She immediately retracted her hands, giving an apologetic smile as she quickened her pace to match mine. "Oops, sorry."
"It's fine," I said, giving a shrug and then looking ahead of me. My tone was neutral but kind, not entirely in the mood for conversation due to everything around me swaying. "Do you know where to go?"
Cora's apologetic smile morphed into a guilty grin as we traveled down the hallway. "No."
Giving a deadpanned expression I sighed. "You know, we could have just asked the nurse, right?"
With stone that curved to a rounded point, the hallways we were in were almost identical. Long rows of hallways, leading off into unknown places stretched to as far as the eye could see. With stained glass windows that curved at the top overlooking the entire island and its people.
The tall skyscraper buildings once came into view again as well with even taller mountains that had finally showed their true selves. I had only seen small parts of the forests from the tram, but never thought they were this big and so plush with trees.
"We could of." Cora began, her smile widening as she turned her head to me. "But where's the fun in that?"
"It means we can eat sooner and not wander around like idiots." I exasperated, eyes wandering around the corridors for a sign or dragon rider. Judging by the lack of students and riders I imagined that everyone was at the cafeteria or wherever riders ate at.
She chuckled as we turned down a corner, she said the hall looked familiar but seriously, ever room looked exactly the same. "You're certainly more talkative today, aren't you?" Right as we came around the corner I spotted a dragon rider dressed in all green. He wore a similar uniform to the one Cora was wearing, but hers was dark orange with a red stripe going across her chest. But they both also had the dragon rider insignia on the upper part of their chest. "I guess. We can ask him for directions."
Cora sighed dramatically and slouched as we neared the young rider. "Hey." I greeted, making the boy jump and turn to us. He rubbed the back of his neck, giving a sheepish smile. "Oh, hi, I didn't see you guys there."
"Your all good." Cora beamed with a bright smile.
"Can you tell us where we go to eat?" I asked politely, giving a small smile.
He nodded and pointed to the hallway diagonal to him. "Go down that hall and then turn on your second left and then right and right again."
Cora and I both smiled, seeing that we weren't that far from some food in our stomachs, but as we took our first step the boy stopped us. "Hey, you're the girl that almost got killed by a dragon, right?"
I froze, pausing mid-step before Cora and I turned to face the brown haired boy. Rubbing the back of my neck I gave a guilty chuckle, not knowing if this was a good thing. "Uh, Yeah."
"I'm Richard." He grinned, reaching his hand out towards me, to which I quickly met his with my non-bandaged hand. "You know it usually takes people a few days for that to happen. I think you broke a record."
"Norah." I introduced myself and Cora, feeling a slight pain shooting up my spine I inhaled deeply. "Really, I broke a record?"
His hand fell to his side while chuckling, "Yeah, everyone's heard about the Crimson who almost got killed by a dragon. And I think you broke a record by-y-y... I think two days. I mean you were almost killed within —what? Twenty minutes or something?"
When he mentioned my last name I had to stifle back a frown. I didn't realize everyone already knew who I was and I didn't know if I should be mad or happy. But either way, I was going to pretend like I didn't hear my name.
"Sixteen to be exact." I folded my arms over my chest, biting down on my tongue as my ribs cracked. A bark of laughter rang around the hall from everyone but me. I knew it would hurt too much to do so. "Oh, well excuse me. Sixteen minutes."
"You know I'm on her team," Cora said like being on a team with a pureblood was something to be proud of. It wasn't.
"Well then you guys better watch your backs. You never know when a dragon will use her as target practice." He winked with a wide grin.
I frowned not knowing if that was a threat or a joke to a dragon almost killing me this morning. But if this guy was threatening me, boy did he have something coming. Even if I was basically a bag of broken bones, I could still kick this guys ass. But I rolled my eyes, playing if off before thanking him for his help and then bidding our farewells. Cora and I then spun around and made way for the Cafeteria.
The rest of the walk was made in small talk, with Cora leading the conversation and me making small noises to let her know I was paying attention. I had to admit to myself even if I didn't like it, the chirpy girl was actually growing on me.
Cora rushed forwards, bursting through the thick door which seemed to be twins of the infirmary doors. A gust of wind met my face, blowing my long brown hair behind my shoulders. The cafeteria we had entered was teaming with students, all looking to be about their early twenties. As my eyes scanned the large sea of people I found it weird how I hadn't seen a single person past their thirties. But then I remembered Ashton telling me that dragon riders stopped aging in their mid to late twenties or early thirties because of something to do with our planet.
Cora tapped my shoulder and I turned my head to her. The tall fragile girl who looked like she couldn't even hold up a sword, pointed across the sea of students to a small group sitting at the edge of one of the many rows of tables. "That's our group."
"Really?" I asked, peering off to the direction of her eyes. "You met them already?"
She nodded and the two of us made our ways to the two other students. "Yep."
As I studied the small group which only consisted of one male and a female, they both seemed rather nice. The dirty blonde boy looked like he could definitely handle his own. With his short hair flicked upwards at the front of his head. He sat there, his hazel eyes starring boredly at the brown haired girl who rambled on about something that I could barely hear past the gossiping students.
The two suddenly snapped out of their owm little world. Their heads turned to Cora and I as we stood near the head of the table.
"Hey, guys, I brought Norah back alive." The black haired girl teased while I, over here tried not to drool over the man's bulging biceps and perfectly chiseled jawline.
The brown haired girl who wore identical clothing to Norah and the man smiled at me. "Hey, Norah, heard you had an exciting day today. I'm Lydia."
I inhaled lightly, remembering not to overexpand my lungs. "Yeah." I exhaled. "It was definitely thrilling, even got the marks to prove it." My voice, filled with humor that masked the burning pain running along my back and the pulsing headache that pounded behind my eyes and my head.
The man scoffed, flicking the food on his plate with a fork. My brows began to knit together, as to why this man was giving me a rude gesture. "Hi, I'm Norah." I greeted again, thinking that he would introduce himself.
"I know." He grumbled while shoving a piece of meat into his mouth. He and Lydia both had identical trays of food, filled with white mush and some type of meat. It definitely wasn't the food I was use too or the food that would have been served at the mage academy my parents had planned to send me into.
"This is Easton." Lydia introduced the man, giving a wide eyed glare, almost like she had talked to him before this. Maybe this was a normal thing for him to do?
"It's nice to meet you guys," I said, glancing at Easton who then again shoved another piece of meat and mush into his mouth. It was like he was purposefully shoveling mush into his mouth as an excuse to not say anything.
Cora put a hand on my shoulder as she looked towards the two. "I'm going to show Norah where to get the food." She told them, and the two of us walked off towards the other side of the room where a large line of students stood ready with empty trays.
"What's his problem?" I muttered, looking to Cora.
She sighed giving a glance over her shoulder to make sure we were out of hearing distance of the two. "Easton, he's a pureblood. His parents were famous dragon riders that fought in the Dragon Wars."
"Ah." I said, nodding slowly. Purebloods were incredibly rare and I wondered why in the gods out of a hundred newbies they would place us together. I should have known that this was too easy, to have everyone just accept the pureblood mage, well, I guess I tainted the bloodline. "That explains it."
She chuckled lightly. "Yeah, apparently the 'new life' part didn't get to him. But he's a nice guy I promise, he just needs to warm up to you." She said as we came to the wall where the students were lined up. She pressed her back against the brick wall while I stood perfectly straight, years of my mother's habit ingrained in me.
I raised an eyebrow, humor in my brown eye. "He's nice?"
She nodded. "Yeah, and I have a feeling that our teacher tomorrow is going to favor him because of his parents."
My head cocked in curiosity. "Who were his parents?"
Her jaw dropped to the floor, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Seriously? You don't know who they are?"
As we progressed through the line I shook my head. "Mages don't like dragon riders so they found it irrelevant to teach me about famous riders."
She hummed, her forehead creasing in thought before jolting to life, a smile in her face. "But hey, don't get too down about it. He hasn't met you yet, I'm sure once we start training tomorrow he'll see you for who you really are."
"Remember, I can't train with you guys," I told her, the urge to hunch over and bring my palms to my face grew stronger. If Easton was anything like my family he was going to make my life hell. I, Of course, would do my best to be nice, but I already could picture the two of us class. I refused to let myself fall victim to some jackass like him.
After that, we made small talk and got our dinner. We walked back over to the table and I sat down next to Lydia while Cora sat beside Easton. The four of us made small talk, while Easton would talk to anyone besides me and when he did talk it wasn't anything more than a grumble or growl.
When we finished our meal which tasted worse than it looked, we went to our dorms next to the great hall, and that was just the beginning of the surprises.