That day, after settling into our room, a spacious place with only one room, one bed, and a hollow spot for what I assumed was for dragons, Vascar and I started to explore the huge city of Ilirea. I felt like we had barely seen the beginning of the city's wonders.

There was a fountain that was made of such a brilliant green stone it seemed to shine as bright as the dragons, then when I walked closer to it, it turned to a bright red. Looking down I saw a piece of stone that read:

"The mood fountain of Ordain, each color represents how you are feeling at the moment.

Green means calm,

Blue means sad,

White means confused,

Red means nervous,

Yellow means happy,

Orange means excited,

Brown means hurt,

Black means dying,

Test it if you dare?"

After I read that, I realized that it was right, but turned away, fearing another reading.

The rest of the city was filled with things just as wonderful; a garden larger than my whole town, with flowers of every shape size and color; a stable of horses with any type of horse you could imagine; and the hustle and bustle of everyday life just made it seem so alive!

But, it was not long until it was time to go to this hall Alaric spoke of and choose my masters. Or have my masters choose me.

~*~

Holding Vascar within my arms, we walk through the echoing halls with marble floors, fantastic sculptures of dragons and warriors with long swords, and paintings made with great skill. I can't help the way my fingers and stomach tremble with nervousness. What if none of them want me? Where will Vascar and I go then? Back home?

Those questions run through my head as a walk up to two massive double doors. Through them is the hall Alaric spoke of. Should I just turn around and walk away so the can't reject me?

No. I will not prove my father right. I am a girl and I can do this.

Taking a deep breath, I place Vascar on my shoulder, put both my hands on one of the doors, and push with all my might. It swings open with surprising ease. Must be magic.

Striding inside and looking around, I see a row of thirteen large chairs set in the middle of the room. And right behind each is a large dragon. They we massive and of all different colors. Looking to the chair second from the left, I see Alaric smiling at me with Lokor sitting behind his chair, his metallic scales shining in the light like the most polished armor.

In the middle chair sat an ancient looking wise elf with the biggest dragon behind him. The dragon was white, the same color as the sword that lay across the old elf's lap. After I noticed him, I also realized that everyone in the chairs had swords that matched their dragon's scale color.

From left to right, the colors of the dragons were, a bright pink, a silver, a dark blue, a light red, a pale yellow, a dark purple, the largest white dragon, a brown, a bright gold, a light green, a turquoise blue, an emerald green, and a burgundy red.

"Welcome Talia!", said the elf in the middle, "my name is Vrael, I am the leader or the dragon riders and before you are the elders. Tonight you shall be meeting you master for the first time."

Turning to the other people sitting in the chairs he says, "does anyone want to make a claim?"

A claim? What was I a piece of meat they were bidding on? If I wasn't so nervous of being denied I would have protested.

Slight murmurs ran through the chairs and most of the elders turned towards their dragons and had silent conversations. I noticed that the first one to turn back around was the elf sitting in front of the golden dragon. He notices me staring at him and flashes a kind smile.

Finally when all of the riders had turned back around, Vrael says, "those who would like to claim, make yourself known now."

One person, two people, three, four, five! Five people stood up, including the golden dragon rider and Alaric.

Vrael nods his head, then says, "Impressive, you should be proud young rider. Now! How to decide which shall become your master. I know who is the most experienced if you would like to know, but not now! Elders, try to convince her."

First was Alaric, his speech was good, but I felt that we would be better off friends, not student and master. Next was the rider with the light red dragon, a female, who seemed to just not fit my personality. After that was the dark purple dragon, also female, but she seemed too tough, and she seemed like the type of person who wouldn't mold to my learning styles. Next the brown dragon and his male rider, but he seemed to cocky, too full of himself, as if he expected me too pick him. Of course, I kept all my comments to myself, not wanting to sound rude. Finally, all that was left was the golden dragon rider.

As he cleared his throat to start speaking, I could tell that it was him I would want to be my master. Then he spoke, "hello Talia, I am Oromis and this is my dragon Glaedr, or should I say I am his person? It is hard to say with dragons", here he pauses as the golden dragon called Glaedr rumbled deep in his chest, then he continued saying, "if you choose me, I shall train you to be the best that you can be, and we agree that we think that can be a lot. So the choice is yours, and I won't lie, I hope you choose me."

With that he sits down, and crosses his hands kindly. Vrael nods his head at Oromis before turning to me and saying, "well Talia? What do you think? Have you chosen your master?"

Before I could doubt myself and change my mind, I quickly nod my head then say softly, "y-yes, I have."

"Good! Good.", Vrael says loudly, then asks the question we were all waiting for, "and who have you chosen?"

Looking down the line, I see Alaric's hopeful face and almost feel guilty when I mumble out, "Oromis."

The council murmurs once again when I make my announcement and I catch little pieces of "of course" and "most experienced". The look on Oromis's face is one of gratitude.

"Well, I think that is all", Vrael says, looking around at the rest of the elders to see if they have any objections, then continues, saying, "ok, we shall give you some time to greet your new masters! Good luck Talia, we shall be keeping a close eye on you and your dragon. What is his name by the way?"

"Vascar", I say breathlessly, still shocked by the outcome.

"Vascar", Vrael repeats, testing out the name with a smile before saying, "then welcome to you too Vascar. And the best of luck to the both of you."

With that, he and the rest of the elders, not to mention their dragons, stand up and head towards the door. It s quite frightening as the dragons that tower over everyone, walk over me as if I wasn't there. Once they all clear out, I am left alone with Oromis and Glaedr.

Striding towards me, Oromis greets me with a huge smile then says, "we shall start our training tomorrow at dawn. Have you been enjoying the city so far?"

"Y-yes", I stutter, thrown off by a question that involves my opinion, "there are a lot of fascinating items."

"Yes they are quite wonderful, but it gets cramped here after a while. I prefer the open skies, don't you Glaedr?"

He replies with just a puff of smoke shooting out his snout. Then I feel a presence on my conscious as a deep rich voice speaks in my mind.

'Talia, I am Glaedr. I look forward to teaching you and the youngling tomorrow at dawn. There, Oromis and I will test your abilities. Get good rest for tomorrow will be a trying day.'

'Thank you.... Master', I say in awe.

Glaedr's golden eyes peer right into my soul as he says, 'when you address Oromis in I from now on, you should use the word Ebrithl, not master. It is more formal_ do not apologize you didn't know.'

'Yes Ebrithl.'

"Well", Oromis says happily, "on that note, we should be leaving. Have a lot to prepare for now. Good day Talia and we shall see you tomorrow. You may meet us here."

"Yes Ebrithl, good day to you too."

And with that, Oromis and Glaedr walk out the double doors into the halls beyond. I stand there a minute, deep in thought about what had just happened. It seemed so unreal.

Turning and striding out the doors, I almost run straight into Draumrhjarta, who seemed to be waiting at the door.

"What happened? Who is your master? I've been waiting here forever! And coming from an elf, that's saying something!"

I laughed lightly before telling him about everything that had happened in the Hall. I told him of my worries, of the masters I had to choose from, and about the talk I had with Oromis not five minutes ago. By the end, it looked like he was in shock.

"Wow, I wondered when Oromis came out, but I wasn't sure. You're really lucky! Oromis rarely takes on students and when he does they become the best of the best! He must think you're something special!", he said with a wink.

I just shake my head and laugh as we start walking down the halls towards the streets outside, our voices clashing loudly in the echoing hallways.

All I could think about, no matter what the topic of our conversations were, was that this was it. This is the real deal. Vascar and I were about to become real Dragon Riders and be trained by the masters. And by the way Vascar was jabbing my ear off with thoughts and feelings, I could tell he was just as excited and anxious. He couldn't wait to be as large as Glaedr. And I couldn't wait to fly. All I knew was, I couldn't wait to start training.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

AN: DIDN'T I TELL YOU WE WERE GOING TO SEE SOME FAMILIAR FACES??? GOTTA TRUST ME!!!! WELL NOT MUCH TO WRITE EXCEPT THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD!!!!! THANKS FOR STICKING WITH ME!!!! AND PRETTY PRETTY PLEASSSSSSE

READ/comment/VOTE!!!!!!!

YES I MEANT TO DO THAT HAHA

THANKA YOUUU

~Bert