'Wild magic sounds dangerous,' Ragin stated as his dragon recounted the events of that morning to him.

They were sitting by the large section of the river, under the same tree that Ragin had found the previous day. Akaysha was gorging herself on a large plump deer she had managed to grab on the way back from her training, while the rider had contented himself with a bread role with some odd tasting leafy salad. He wasn't that hungry, and this would be enough to get him through until dinner at the very least.

'I know, but at least we know a bit more about it now,' she replied after a pause, not really focusing too much on the conversation.

'Yeah,' he agreed, thinking carefully through what he had just learned, sorting all the information into his mind.

'Though what has me the most curious are our masters,' the dark dragon continued, holding the corpse with her claws and pulling her head back with a leg gripped in her teeth, struggling to pull the limb off, 'Ebrithil Sashi didn't say anything more about her unique bond with Logan than what I showed you.'

'Well, they'll be meeting us here soon so we might have a chance to ask them this afternoon,' Ragin finished up the last of his role and got to his feet, stretching his arms above his head.

He was a little stiff after the sparring he had done that morning. It hadn't been that difficult but numerous fights over the course of the day, no matter the ease of them, was enough to wear anyone out. That being said, he probably could have still kept going for another couple of hours without really feeling the effects at all. Most of the fight he had participated in ended in a couple of short blows as he easily slipped over or under any of his opponent's guards. Sure, they were all slightly better than the average opponent, but, besides the urgal, none of them had really had experience with weapons before they had become a dragon rider. That didn't stop them from wanting to take him on however, and it was only after he had defeated each of them numerous times had they decided to give up and finish up for the day.

The rest of the afternoon, Ragin was told, would be spent with their 'masters' Logan and Sashi. Apparently there were still some other things that they both needed to be tested on, though what Ragin didn't know. Akaysha had already been through numerous exercises to gage her skill, and he had demonstrated a number of different techniques through his swordsmanship. Maybe they were going to be doing magic or something. That would be interesting topic, considering what Akaysha had already learned.

A thump of wings behind him caused him to look back and see the large golden form of Sashi landed on the ground. Logan was on her back and quickly swung down with a smile on his face. His golden sword, Kuldr, clanged against his leg. Ragin had frowned when he had learnt the blades name, as it literally meant 'gold' in the ancient language. It wouldn't be how he named his weapon when he finally got it.

"Good afternoon. You are here early," stated the golden rider.

Ragin shrugged, "It seemed a waste of time to go into the mess-hall to eat, especially when Akaysha had just caught her meal and had to eat outside anyway."

The other four new riders and their dragons had gone inside to eat their lunch before heading off to their respective teachers. During this time was when they learnt a lot about the other side of being a dragon rider, the more diplomatic and peaceful approaches than raising a blade. While fighting was an important part of their job, it was by no means the most important.

Ragin turned to look back over the river. A movement to his right caused him to look and he was slightly surprised when Logan sat down right next to him, looking over the lake with a slight smile on his face. Ragin eyed him slightly warily, before turning to look over the river as well. It seemed they would wait until Akaysha finished her meal. She was in no way hurrying to do so.

"Akaysha told me that you are able to use wild magic," Ragin said eventually, wanting to confirm it himself.

"So she told you about that did she?" he said.

"Did you expect her not to?" Ragin questioned.

"No, a dragon and rider should share everything with one another," the golden rider said.

The thief grunted in response, "I would like to know how you are able to use it."

"Is that important?" Logan asked.

Ragin hesitated at the question. No, it wasn't really important, but he was curious. He wondered if this secret was something that he could exploit as well. It would be useful to be able to gain access to these insane powers. He would be careful with them of course, as it wouldn't be good to destroy himself in the process, but it may help with his eventual escape. He didn't really want to admit that to Logan however.

The golden rider sighed, leaning back on the palms of his hands and looking to the sky, "It is a biproduct of the unique bond between Sashi and I. Her egg was not originally meant for a dragon rider, and instead used her own magic to create the bond we share. It made for some differences between the normal rider's bond and our own."

The thief glanced back at the Sashi, who was watching them silently from behind.

"Alright, I've answered your question, now you can answer mine," said Logan with a slight smile.

"Fair enough," grunted Ragin.

"You're not fully human are you?"

The dark rider hesitated a moment, slightly surprised at the question, "I do have a bit of elven blood, yes."

"I thought so. So, are you a half-elf that has changed their appearance, or something else?" asked Logan.

This time Ragin laughed, "No, I am not a half-elf. My father was though, so I guess you could say that I am slightly elvish. I have been told that I have some of their qualities."

"When you fight it shows," Logan mentioned, not surprised.

'You never told me you had elven blood,' Akaysha said in his head.

'You never asked,' he replied with a slight smirk in her direction.

The dragoness snorted and stood up from where she had been laying, swallowing the last portion of the animal corpse she had been eating. There was nothing left of the deer except for the blood stained grass that it had been laying on.

'Alright,' she declared to all three of them, 'I'm ready. What are we doing this afternoon?"

Logan turned toward her, "After evaluating you and your rider this morning we have been given a good estimate of what we need to teach you and how much you have yet to learn. Ragin, in terms of skills and knowledge, you exceed all other trainee riders and perhaps even a number of fully fledged riders. If this is all we looked at you would already be graduating and going on missions and generally serving the world. However, you lack the rather important ability to be able to rely on others."

Ragin frowned, "I fail to see how that is an ability at all. I have gotten through many difficult situations through my own prowess."

"I know, and while in the Black Hand you likely excelled because of this. But you are a dragon rider now. You are no longer working alone, and it is important to learn to be able to work with others."

The dark rider narrowed his eyes, but didn't respond.

"And Akaysha," continued Logan, "With your magic, you are likely the most powerful being in these mountains currently. I doubt a single one of us would be able to stand against you if you chose to fight us, however, without your magic you are not as strong as the other dragons. You are slower, weaker and easily exhausted. This is likely because of the lack of training you have had since your hatching, and is a simple matter to fix. Your confidence also needs some work as, compared to others of your kind, you are hesitant and easily flustered, unless of course Ragin or yourself is threatened."

Akaysha lowered her head slightly, and Ragin could feel both surprise and anger at the brutally honest words. There was also a flash of guilt and worry as well, but they disappeared before Ragin could see where they had come from.

"All this comes to the final thing in which both Sashi and I have noticed over our brief time with you. The bond between you two, the most important part of being a dragon rider, is weak."

Even Akaysha let out a low rumbling growl at that comment. Ragin was quickly on his feet, gripping his sword, "How dare you! I have never been so close to another!" he exclaimed angrily.

Logan didn't seem at all perturbed by Ragin's outburst, "I don't doubt that. But that doesn't say much, does it?"

The thief hesitated, "I have known her for as long as she has been alive. I know everything about her."

"Oh, is that so," the golden rider grinned, "Then you know her true name?"

Again Ragin found himself silenced, struggling to come up with a reply, "I didn't know knowing each other's true name was necessary for having a 'strong bond'."

"It isn't," Logan replied, "But you said you knew everything about her. You don't know her true name, so you don't know everything about her."

"I don't even know my own true name, yet I know a lot about myself that no one else knows. I don't see how that is relevant to me knowing her or having a strong bond."

"That is true. But how much do you really know about Akaysha, Ragin?" Logan began, before turning to look at the starlight dragon, "And you Akaysha, how well do you know your rider?"

The dragoness continued to remain silent but Ragin wasn't letting the matter go, "I would think we know each other quite well. Far better than you and Sashi would know us."

This time Logan didn't reply, but met Ragin's angry gaze with a calm and knowledgeable look that eventually caused the other rider to turn away, gritting his teeth.

"What you need to learn Ragin is that you and Akaysha are no longer separate entities. The moment Akaysha hatched for you, you became one being, one soul. There is no stronger connection than the one between a dragon and rider. The rest of your lives will be spent together, and should one of you die, the other would be destroyed. You are as much apart of one another as your scales, or hair."

"You make it sound as though we should have no separate thoughts or ideas," Ragin muttered.

Logan chuckled, "As much as a heart and mind have different interests and ideas, so to does a dragon and rider. Yet both are required for the body to run. But the mind doesn't hide anything from the heart, nor the heart, the mind."

"So what? We are supposed to share everything with one another? What about our privacy? Our own secrets and dangers that are apart of everyone. Are we supposed to reveal those as well?"

Logan raised his eyebrow, "So you keep secrets even from Akaysha?"

Ragin closed his hand into a fist, remaining silent. Behind them the younger dragoness shuffled a little awkwardly, looking to the ground with a far off look. She knew that Ragin was keeping secrets from her, but she was also keeping secrets from him. Aside from that time the night after she had hatched, he didn't know about the times she had dove into his mind looking for information, nor did he knew about the desperate want to be able to stay with the dragons and their riders. To learn more about her own kind. Even so, she felt the need to defend her rider's decision, even if she didn't agree with it.

'Ragin wants to protect me from the horrors of his past,' she said, 'And there are things he couldn't reveal to me even if he wanted to, due to the oaths he has sworn.'

The golden rider nodded his head slightly, "I understand this reasoning, but there are no horrors of the mind that a dragon and rider's bond cannot overcome. You are not the only rider to have a troubled past Ragin, nor are you the only one that has had a questionable one either."

"Are we done here?" Ragin asked suddenly, his body tense and his face blank.

Logan hesitated. There had been something he had wanted to do with the two of them, but it seemed as though they weren't ready for such a task. The gap between them was further than he had realised, and it seemed that even with the rather mellowing talk he had given them they were refusing to budge. Even Akaysha was defending this crack between them. Finding himself without the answers he turned his mind toward his own dragon and silently asked her.

'What do we do Sashi?' he asked.

'Leave them for now, my rider. Such an exercise would leave them unwilling and unresponsive. They are still young. Let them grow. They will eventually come to learn what it truly means to be a rider and dragon,' responded the golden dragoness.

'Very well,' he turned his attention back to the rider and dragon in front of him, "You may be dismissed for the day. Meet me again tomorrow, same time, same place."

Ragin bowed stiffly, "Yes Ebrithil."

With those words he swung toward Akaysha and leaped to her back. After a quick unwitting glance at her rider, the starlight dragoness took to the sky with a flap of her wings, heading back toward their cave inside of New Doru Araeba.

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Hey guys! New chapter! Sorry it took me so long. It's a bit of a shorter one this time. The next chapter should be out as soon as I can get it. Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. See Ya!

Pennator^^