The morning was announced by the rising sun. I woke up slowly and instantly forgot where I was. The muddy walls of the pit rose two feet high, with little to hold on to. I sat up straight and tried to put my memories of yesterday in their proper place.

"Good morning."

I was startled to see Kindle's painted deer skull pop up. He chuckled and took off the mask. "Sorry, standard procedure!"

He began to untie the palisade of bamboo that served as a door. After he had finished, I climbed out of the pit and stretched. Lying on the ground like that all night is bad for your joints. I rubbed the sand off my knees and looked up at Kindle. He was waiting with his arms crossed, and when I looked up, he pushed a piece of bread into my hands.

"Eat on the way, there's lots to see!"

The camp was huge, even more so than I had anticipated. First of all, Kindle showed me the kitchen, the fire pit and the storage shed. Then we crossed the pitch and walked along a narrow, paved path through the jungle. "We have only one rule here in the forest," Kindle said. "Never, ever go off the path." When I asked the reasoning behind it, he had already continued his walk. I had to start trotting to keep up with him. We came to a smaller clearing with a small barn and large dens carved out of stone. A boy of about twenty was busy with a bellows, pumping hot air into the caves. He was wet with sweat and his face was covered with soot. When he saw us, he stopped his labor, took a deep breath and waited patiently for us to join him. Kindle shook hands with the young man. Under his dark brown skin, you could see his clearly defined muscles. "Nena, this is Rexus, but everyone calls him Rex. He's one of our strongest warriors and he's one of the Dragon Breeders, alongside Rellian." Rexus nodded briefly. "You're that Earth girl, right?" I nodded back, "That's right." From one of the dens came the sound of a breaking eggshell. Rex's inscrutable gaze brightened and a smile slid across his dirty face. I stood on tiptoe curiously to look into the hole. Rex walked over to a table, put on thick gloves, stuck his hands in one of the holes and carefully pulled them out. When he withdrew them, there was a pile of scales in them. He signaled to me with a nod and I cautiously approached. The baby dragon was the size of a bicycle helmet. It was snow white with small black spots on its back and blue spines. Kindle also came closer. It was quite touching to see that such a big guy like Rex had such a big heart. He was 'the dragon's mother'. Kindle stared at the creature, "This is the first wind dragon since Eimid!" Rex nodded and his gaze narrowed, "That poor beast has been incredibly depressed since Azrael's death." A short silence fell and we watched in amazement as the dragon cub stretched and then happily curled up in Rex's hands. Rex went to another den and placed the dragon cub ultra-carefully in a nest. Then he walked to the barn and came back with a new egg.

Kindle turned to me. "In a month's time, five seven-year-old boys, future riders, will be assigned their dragon. They must take turns communicating with ten dragon cubs to see which breed suits their ways best. Come, I'll show you the other dragon nests.

We were back in the heart of the village in fifteen minutes. Kindle guided me through the commotion. I felt glances pierce my back. By the looks of it, there weren't too many lads who seemed to trust me yet. Without looking back, I followed Kindle to the back of the tree. What I saw there was incredible. Ten feet away from the tree, a wall towered above the village. It was not as high as the Dragon's Hall, but still, I had to admire the impressive buildings, habits and creatures that resided in Eastborne. I looked up at the monstrous rampart. Hanging from the sides were a kind of cocoon that reminded me of a mix of a beehive and a bird's nest, but tailor-made for flying fire-breathing reptiles that could level an entire house with one breath. I suddenly felt very tiny and, judging by Kindle's wide grin, that was exactly what he wanted. He looked up as a red dragon poked its head out of one of the nests. I recognized it as Iserth, my guide's riding animal. The beast roared happily at the sight of its master, waking up many other dragons. An angry roar rose up from the dens. Kindle grabbed me by the arm -I was startled by his touch- and we ran off, away from the dragon brawl his fire dragon had just unleashed. Actually, I had to laugh about it.

We walked along the water. Kindle began his explanation, "You know, we are not the only guild here. Spread all over Ecra, there are actually a total of five guilds." He paused for a moment, and sat down in the grass. "Green, Blue, Yellow, Red, and Brown are the colors we use."

"Are there adults there too?", I asked curiously. "Nope, only kids. Anyways, I don't know when people are adults, but we're not until 25. And hardly anyone survives until that age." He seemed to get emotional for a moment, but his gaze hardened back. "The big cities kicked us out like we were trash." He pulled his knees to his chest, let his chin rest on them and gave a deep sigh. I didn't know what to say. So the adults just left these poor young people to their own devices?

Kindle looked at me. "It all started with the great Vortex", he began. "Life-threatening monsters attacked villages in an attempt to get to the children, their only food. So many people died. The adults went to live in the three largest cities and made sure that nothing or nobody could get in or out. And we were outside." He waited until I looked at him too. "The force field protects us from the Vortexiae. They can't get on the paths in the Jungle. That's why we have to stay on the paths. Life is good here, as long as we are careful."

In the distance I saw the mountains of Brukanth, which I had seen on a map this morning. For a moment Kindle and I listened to the rustling of the trees, the whispering of the wind. "If this is my new life," I began hesitantly, "I have no objection." The corner of Kindle's mouth twitched slightly and he gave me a faint smile, "Just wait until you start your training tomorrow, then maybe you'll think differently. Just imagine if Aros puts you in with the Grunters!" I looked at him strangely. He wasn't going to go over the ranks until tomorrow, and the only groups I knew were the farmers, the dragon breeders and the dragon riders. "Those are the ones who do all the dirty work: you know, cleaning up dragon poop and stuff..." He raised his eyebrows: "In other words, the perfect job for you, Ziggy!" I made a face and he got the giggles. "Ziggy?", I asked him, half laughing, half confused. "yeah, it's because you trot in a funny manner. Zig-zag style. Aros and I started using it for you, to not raise suspicion among the boys." I laughed, then remembered a question I had yesterday.

"About Aros...what was up with him yesterday? Why'd you call him...I can't remember, you called him by another name, and he sounded all weird."

Kindle slowly sat up straight again. "Ah...I'm not sure if I'm supposed to talk about it. Not yet, maybe soon. You'll know eventually."

He looked at me again, stood up and held out his hand. "Come on, let's go. There's a party planned tonight, as a welcome."

I didn't even realize how quickly time had passed already. Kindle helped me get up, and we went back to the rest of the village to help with the preparations. I felt honored that they were throwing a party, as if I would really become a new fully qualified member. That's how Aros had decided things to be.

The evening fell after a long afternoon working with Kindle. We had been busy gathering wood, the only occasion on which we were allowed to leave the paths in the forest. Everyone was therefore armed to the teeth.

I was glad we didn't spend all our time out there, it only made me nervous.

Suddenly we heard guitar music near the open spot in the forest where the fire pit was located. Kindle pulled me along for the umpteenth time that day and we smilingly followed the path through the forest, with some of the remaining boys, to a campfire where most of the boys were already present. Some of them I already knew: Rex and Aros were with Rellian, the other dragon breeder. He was playing songs on his guitar, accompanied by some lads who were enthusiastically singing out of tune. I turned to Kindle and poked him in the stomach: "Do you really think Aros wants to make a Grunter out of me?" He laughed loudly: "No, the Grunters, that's just for the little ones we don't know how to handle yet." Then he nodded to a small group of kids having fun. I guessed they were on average ten years old. I wondered how long the oldest guild members, like Aros and Rexus, had been here. My thoughts were interrupted, however, when I was noticed by Rex, who started whistling playfully when he saw Kindle, who was just about to whisper something in my ear. Aros looked up absent-mindedly and gave us an amused smile. He didn't seem to be fully in the party mood, although he did seem very content. Rellian also noticed me. "There's our greenieeeee!", he shouted. He sounded like he was already drunk.

I laughed and joined the boys. This was going to be a fun night.