Nira sat at the table at the shop, Eclipse on the ground beside her. The shopkeeper was out, leaving her to watch the place. She didn't know why he bothered, because nobody ever came in. How he even was able to keep a business like it was unbeknownst to her. As long as I can get that saddle, it doesn't matter how he keeps it. She thought to herself.
After about an hour, he returned, clutching a sheet of paper. Beneath his hood, which hid his face, it was obvious that he was reading it.

"Hmm, not much has changed." He murmured.

Nira caught a glance at the paper, noticing that it was the official event list for The Test. She had mentioned the fact that she was training for it earlier.

"So, how good of a rider are you?" He asked, not looking up from the sheet.

Nira shrugged. She really was a pretty good rider, but if she told him that, she'd come off as vain. If she said that she wasn't good, he might believe her.

"Oh, stop. Stop trying to look selfless and tell me." He insisted.

"I'm pretty good. I practice a lot." She said with another shrug.

"That's good. Well, it's time for you to go. Get in some practice!" He told her.

She nodded, and strode out the door. Eclipse followed, tucking in her wings tightly to fit out the door. Nira mounted up, and they soared off towards the lake, where Skandar was waiting and skipping stones.

"Ready for more training?" He asked, standing up.

"I hope so." Nira laughed.

"It's better than nothing! Well, since there's no practice in dragon showing, I think that we should skip to Flameshot Accuracy." He suggested.

"Sounds good. Is that what this wonderful painting is for?" She asked, pointing to a boulder that had a bullseye messily painted on it.

"Yes. It's such a shame to shoot such amazing artwork, though." He joked.

"I don't know if I can do it. It's just so beautiful." She said, shaking her head in mock sadness.

Nira grinned, climbing onto Eclipse. Skandar shook his hands, stopping her.

"Wait, remember? This is a no-rider event!" He reminded her.

She sighed, sliding back onto the ground.

"I was hoping that you forgot." She sighed.

Skandar laughed.

"Well, apparently you can't even stand next to the target. But this is training, so we should start out like that." He said with a nod.

"Alright. Good thing that I taught her to shoot on command before this." She laughed, walking beside the rock.

Eclipse positioned herself away from the target, smoke pouring out of her nostrils in preparation. She stamped her silver feet in excitement.
Nira pointed to the target.

"Shoot!" She shouted over the distance.

Eclipse opened her mouth, a blazing blue fireball escaping it. It flew through the air, landing on the stone beside the target. The boulder was large, and the target didn't take up the whole thing, so they were lucky and it didn't light the trees on fire behind it.

"Don't worry, Eclipse!" Nira shouted.

Eclipse purred, swishing her large tail. She raked her claws against the dirt, ready to shoot again.
After a few hours of practice, she had started to actually hit the mark. On her final shot, she got a bullseye. And then she ran out of fire.
The golden light from the sunset reflected in Eclipse's shining scales. Nira ran across the ground, hugging the dragon around the neck.

"You did a good job today." She told her.

Eclipse purred, nuzzling Nira on top of her head.
Skandar walked over, patting the silver dragon on the nose. Eclipse snorted in greeting, a puff of blueish smoke rolling out of her nose.

"You and Eclipse have been working really hard for the past week. Maybe you should take a break." He suggested.

"Goodness, that would be great. My whole body hurts from all of this training." She laughed with a sigh of relief.

"Tomorrow, you have off work, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. I don't have to go on Saturdays." She told him.

"Meet me by the lake in the morning. Don't go hunting." He instructed.

He didn't tell her anything else about his plans, and Nira didn't ask. It was obviously some kind of a surprise. She wondered about it for the entire flight home, leaning on her back and staring at the stars. It was a beautiful night, and after she had put Eclipse in her stall, she just stood there and stared at the sky.
The song of unseen bugs, and the occasional shriek of a far off dragon lulled Nira to sleep that night.

Do I update too much? Are my chapters too short? Because I'm pretty sure that what I'm doing is pretty annoying. XD