After the Choosing's closing ceremony and feast ended, a light blue rider named Jacob led Celia and Verbena to their room. After walking for a bit of distance, he stopped at one of the curtained rooms. "Sapphire Room 19,"  he pulled an old slightly tattered curtain with many repaired holes aside, "this is your room."

The metal plaque next to the curtain was labeled with a sapphire and the number nineteen which translated to the nineteenth room on Sapphire Path. "You're welcome to stay here, explore, or retrieve your personal items from your family cave, but remember to be on time for training in two nights." He smiled as Celia walked through the dragon-sized hole.

"Thank you," Celia said as she entered the room with her green dragonet. The room was small in comparison to the larger room Celia had grown up in, but this cave was for a single rider and a single dragon rather than a family.

In the far right corner of the room was a sack that was most likely filled with down feathers and dried plant material. On top of the sack was a single person blanket that looked like it was made from the same material as her cloak: dragon fur, more commonly called ejon. The sack and small blanket were there to serve as the place where Celia would sleep until she moved into a family cave if she ever did.

At the foot of Celia's bed was a slightly raised ledge with an old blanket on top. The space was called the dragon's nook and was in different places in the room depending on where the rock was naturally raised or where one was built when there wasn't a natural ledge. After years of use, the rock under the crumpled blanket had become depressed over time as many dragons over the years slept in it.

On the opposite side of the room was a pool of water fed by a spring. The cool liquid water flowed from the room before this one. After pooling the brick pool, it flowed out in a waterfall, then flowed across the room in a stream.

When it reached the opposite wall, it entered a hole that led into the next room that had the same kind of shallow pool made with bricks. To get over the narrow stream, flat pieces of grey stone had been placed as sturdy bridges in two places: one in the middle and one in front of the fountain for better access to it.

There was a chest near in the far left corner for personal items, which Celia would retrieve from her family room later. The stone box's lid fit snugly to keep the inside dry, but it was in two pieces. A jagged crack went down the rough center in a shape that reminded her of a stretched S.

Normally the lid was a bit too heavy for Celia, but with the lid cracked, Celia could easily lift the halves one at a time, though it was at the loss of the lid's waterproof quality. She could easily have one of the stonemasons make her a new lid, but Celia decided to leave it the way it was.

Verbena leaped onto Celia's sack and laid down on it despite being a bit too big for the bed. Her stomach was bulging slightly from how much she had eaten, but she purred in happiness instead of regurgitating the excess food or otherwise acting sick.

"Verbena! That's my bed!" Celia scolded as she approached the dragonet.

'Your bed is comfy.' Verbena purred and shifted slightly to get into an even more comfortable position. 'I don't wanna move right now.'

"Maybe your bed will be even more comfortable! It's even big enough for you to fit in!" Celia motioned to the dragon size blanket. "Huh?" She flashed Verbena an encouraging and slightly desperate smile as she gestured and pointed to the blanket she was supposed to be sleeping in.

Verbena did not take the bait. 'I don't wanna move.' She repeats in a sleepy and full-stomached stupor and opened her mouth in a massive yawn.

Celia groaned in frustration and rubbed her forehead. "Fine, fine, I'll just go get my stuff without you." To Celia's dismay, Verbena was already sound asleep and had not heard the human's temptations. "Now I really will have to go by myself," Celia muttered slightly, then smiled as the dragonet twitched and purred in her sleep. Because of their bond, Celia could glimpse the happy dreams Verbena was having. "I can't stay mad at you." She reached out and gently stroked the green dragonet's head and earned an even louder purr from her in response to the touch. "I'll be back soon" Celia promised, then walked over to the curtain blocking the entryway and slipped past it.

After she glanced in both directions, Celia noticed he passageway was empty as far as she could see. Once she regained her sense of direction, the human turned towards her destination: her mom's family cave on Onyx Path. Most of the paths were wide enough for two dragons to pass by each other, but there were some places were the cave bottlenecked and only permitted one dragon at a time.

Thanks to the signs and her previous knowledge of the cave systems, Celia soon returned to the home she was raised in. Her mother's room was rather similar to Celia's new room, but the much larger room contained two dragon nooks right next to each other instead of just one.

Most family rooms had multiple human beds as well, but Celia's family cave only had two, one for her and the other for her mother. Her dad had died in an accident just before Celia was born, so Celia's mom had raised her alone. Unlike her mother's bed, which was in the main room, Celia's bed was in a second smaller room off to the side with its own curtain. The opening was only human size, which prevented the dragons from entering as well.

Celia walked over to the curtain and moved it aside. Beyond the cloth barrier, there was her bed and a chest, as well as a shelf who's the only inhabitant was a terrarium of gold and red glowing mushrooms. The simple arrangement felt like home to the human, but Celia had a new room with Verbena.

Celia wished she had brought a bag or something to carry her personal items with as she opened the dresser. Now that she was a rider, it seemed improper to wear the multicolored cloak made from whatever scrap thread colors that looked well together so she added it to the pile of clothes to be passed down to the next generation.

She did, however, keep her undergarments and the few sets of clothes that were worn under the cloak, such as shirts and pants. Celia stacked her clothes into a small stack, then used the sleeves and shirt tales of her two shirts to tie the package together. Once she felt like it was secure, she carefully placed the glass jar into the center of the bundle to keep it safe.

She slipped past the curtain and back into the main room just as a pale grey dragon walked into the room through the dividing curtain. Celia paused, then smiled in recognition, "hey Chrome."

The male dragon looked towards her, then approached the young rider, then lowered his head to her level. Chrome was the mate of Celia's mom's dragon, Nami. His rider had been killed in the same accident that had killed her dad. Since Celia's dad was not a rider, that meant there was an open space for a second dragon in the room, so Chrome moved in to be with his mate.

Celia reached out and stroked down the small feathers at the front of his feather crest that had a tendency to stick up straight rather than lay flat like they were supposed to. "Could pleas you help me take this to my new room?"

He paused and looked around the room, then back to the curtain as if he was in search of something or someone. After he had thoroughly scanned the room, he looked back to Celia.

Though she couldn't actually hear him like she could Verbena, Celia grew up thinking she could perfectly understand the dragons. Her belief was to the point that she thought this was how everyone heard dragons: through an imaginary language rather than literal voices. Someone had to explain to her how the dragons actually had a voice a rider could hear in his or her head. Celia's mom claimed she could hear both Chrome and Nami, then told Celia that she was too young to hear them herself.

"Nami's probably helping clean the Meal Hall with Mom." Celia stoked the space above his eyes. "And by cleaning, I mean helping to eat the leftovers." Since Nami was pregnant and would soon enter a nursery cave, she received the first opportunity to eat the leftovers from the Choosing feast. Expecting mothers received the excess food in accordance with tradition, which not only provided free food for them but also minimized the waisted food.

Chrome emitted brief snorts in a laugh, then nuzzled Celia as he purred. The human took that response as "yes, I will help you."  Celia gratefully smiled in the gladdening thought. She would not have to walk all the way back to her new room with her package, even if it did not weigh all that much. Validating what Celia thought as his answer, Chrome leaned down so Celia could mount him.

Celia offered her cloth bundle to the dragon. "Could you please carry this so I can stay onto your back?" She asked politely.

He bent down and gently used his lips to hold the package by two of the four straps holding it together. He was careful not to grip it with his teeth, as the sharp teeth in the front of his mouth would cut through the fabric if given the chance.

Once he felt like he had a secure hold on Celia's clothes, he looked back to Celia, who was sitting in front of the dragon's shoulder blades. Unlike most dragons, Chrome never wore a riding harness since he didn't have a rider anymore.

In order to hang on to Chrome, Celia gripped the longer fur on his mane with her hands and squeezed his sides with her knees. "I'm ready to go." Celia smiled a bit to the dragon. "Room Nineteen on Sapphire path."

The adult dragon nodded, then turned back to the curtain as he emitted a quick and deep trill, which Celia thought meant "hang on." After Chrome was sure that his passenger was secure, he walked towards the entrance of the room. Once he was past the curtain covering the dragon-sized hole, Chrome entered a brisk trot that so smooth it was as if Celia was riding a wagon instead of a dragon.

Celia was glad she already had experience riding on dragons from her mother's private lessons. Riding a dragon made the trip back much faster than on foot. Soon, they were back to Celia's new place of residence, where she dismounted and offered to take the bundle from him. "Thank you." She smiled a bit to Chrome after she took the package back from him.

Chrome nodded as he released the bundle of clothes. After he nuzzled the human in a farewell, the dragon bounded off to find his mate.

For a moment, Celia paused to watch the dragon leave, then entered her room again. To no one's surprise, Verbena was still sound asleep. After putting her clothes into the chest, Celia found a rock shelf she hadn't noticed before and put her terrarium on it. She glanced around the room. Now that it had all of her possessions were in the room, it felt much more like home. She yawned a bit, then gathered up Verbena's blanket. It was surprisingly comfortable, and soon, Celia drifted asleep.

~~~

The wind rushed past Celia's face, which prompted her to open her eyes. A surprisingly small green dragonet was beneath her, and Celia's gloved hands gripped the handles of a riding harness. A cloth protected her face from much of the fierce wind, while a sheet of curved glass with cloth padding around the edges protected her eyes. Celia's eyes widened in the realization that she was riding on Verbena. The ground was far below them, even the lone mountain that hid the underground town Celia was so familiar with.

Celia was lost in serenity until something bright white flashed by her. It shone brighter than the moon in comparison to the darkness of moonless night, but before Celia could ever utter a sound, it vanished beyond the horizon.

"What was that?" Celia whispered to herself, then jumped slightly as thunder boomed and rain somehow soaked her face through the supposedly waterproof cloth. In a bit of a scared and spooked panic, she mentally reached out to Verbena. Strangely, the dragonet she was riding on felt fuzzy and distant instead of the closeness the human normally felt around Verbena. The human felt lost and alone with her inability to find her new friend, but was thankful that she could still feel Verbena's presence, even if it was distant and fuzzy. "I wish I back with Verbena," she sighed.

Thunder boomed again as Celia's body spasmed in surprise and fear, but when the spasm-induced blink ended, she was back in her room, and her face was covered in dragon slobber.

'Celia!' Verbena barked in her face and licked her. 'Wake up!'

"Verbena, I'm sitting up. I'm awake." Celia sleepily groaned and wiped her face clean of slobber. "You don't need to keep licking me."

'Okay!' The dragonet nuzzled her instead. 'I wanna do something, but I don't know what that something is yet.'

"We can explore." Celia offered and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes.

'Explore?!' Verbena's eyes widened and she bounded in place while releasing excited barks. 'Let's go let's go!'

Celia smiled a bit as she untangled herself from Verbena's blanket and stretched. "All right, let's go." She climbed onto the dragonet's back and situated herself between the Verbena's shoulder blades. "How does that feel?"

Verbena blinked and looked back to her new rider. 'You're heavy, but I'm strong. I can do this.' Her tail wagged in excitement.

"Let's go then." Celia smiled and urged Verbena onward by gently pressing both of her hands, which were holding strands of her fur, into the base of her neck where her harness would be if she was wearing one.

Verbena was confused by the prompt but ran through the curtain anyway.

Author Note:

I hope you enjoyed Chapter Three of Dawn's Light! We're getting into the meat of the adventure, so everything will begin to pick up soon!

Feel free to ask questions, don't forget to vote and comment, and I will see you next week!