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Have you ever wondered what flying feels like? Well, take falling, and then reverse it.

Because falling sucks, and flying is great, you know? Falling is where you die, and flying is where you live. Falling; down. Flying; up. Reverse.

These are the kind of thoughts that race through my head as I fall to my death. I don't know how far I am from the glistening underground lake I had seen from solid earth up above, but I know I've been in freefall for at least three seconds. And that's a long time, when you think about it.

Well, in any case, it's a long time when the next second is potentially your last.

I squeeze my eyes shut tight and prepare for the impact that would shatter every bone in my body, trying to dissociate like I had always done with arguments. But it doesn't work.  Of course not. Not when I actually want it too. Nothing ever does.

So my eyes are still squeezed tight when the impact comes—except my bones don't shatter. Theres no searing pain and then nothing; just the air getting thrust out of my lungs and giant claws wrapping around my body. Wait—what? The claws are gone before I can register what just happened and I fall the next few feet into the water below, which is surprisingly shallow. I flail around for a moment before breaking the surface, wheezing as I try to recover my breath, and rest on my knees. The water is freezing—as you would expect from an underground lake—but the fact that it goes all the way up to my chest doesn't help.

I sit there for a moment, wondering how I'm still alive, as I sputter and cough and wheeze. And then I hear a voice. A cold, low, feminine voice that is humanoid yet otherworldly at the same time.

"Get up. You look like a dying fish."

My first thought is to be offended. My next thought is, what the hell?

"Are all humans this slow? I said get up."

I slowly get to my feet and raise my eyes from the surface of the water. Giant eyes, each as big as my torso, glimmer at me from the dark. Except these eyes aren't golden, as all dragon's are. They're blue. A cold, cunning blue, pale like my own yet a hundred times more intelligent.

"I'm glad you realize that, Wisteria Colland. I see you're not as idiotic as you look."

"Excuse you?' I sputter. "I don't know who you are, or why your eyes are blue, or why you're even down here, but that, I might say, is rude."

The dragon, which I still cannot see except for its large glowing eyes, lets out a chortle that I can only translate into laughter. "Of course you don't know who I am, child. Hardly anyone does. But I suppose you have to know what I look like eventually."

There's a shifting of the air around me as the dragon moves. And then I can only gape as she comes into view.

I don't know what I was expecting—maybe a blue, or even a black. But the scales of this dragon are nothing like anything I've ever seen.

In the sunlight shining far above us, opalescent scales shimmer as it reflects off of the great dragon's head. She's huge—larger than any of the dragons at Presentation. Suddenly, I think back to my dream. The silver glistening wisp that was always there, no matter what was happening. "That was you?"

"I did not voluntarily enter your dreams, child. I knew there was a human that I would bond this year, but I did not know who. Or why. But that is irrelevant. My name is Saoghaleile, but call me Saoghal. Now get on."

"What?" I nearly shriek.

Saoghal gave me a withering look as if she was questioning her entire life's choices. "Unless you would like to stay down here?"

I look at the dragon, before glancing up at the large hole above. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," I grumble.

Saoghal steps further out into the sunlight, revealing the upper half of her body. A row of spikes bristle along her spine, unlike any dragon I'd ever seen before. Her horns are long and lethally elegant, much like Sgaeyl's in the way they curve out and then back in in a majestic sweep.

Her face is narrow, and small, glinting pure silver scales are scattered all along her body throughout the shimmering opalescent ones. Beautiful.

I study her foreleg and shoulder for a moment, before splashing out of the lake and preparing to scramble up onto her back. Saoghal eyes me with those cold blue eyes, and I can tell how utterly unimpressed she is with me. Well, screw her.

"You forget that I'm in your head now, child."

I blink. Whoops.

"Whatever," Saoghal says, almost rolling her eyes. "Get on. You don't have all day." 

So I run. Just like the ramp, I try telling myself. But Saoghal's scales are nothing like the wood of the Gauntlet obstacle. Maybe in angle, but everything else? No way. I find myself being infinitely glad for the rubber soles on my boots, giving some amount of traction as I scramble onto Saoghal's back unceremoniously. Her scales are impossibly slippery. I wonder if everyone's dragon is like that, or if her scales are different in more than just color. I seat myself between two of her spikes, finding a position that gives me the most grip. I grab the spike in front of me, it's length about as long as my arm and just as wide.

"Alright, you can go n—oh shit!" Saoghal had gathered herself beneath her and shoved upwards. My knuckles turn as pale as her opalescent scales as they grip the spike in front of me, my muscles straining against the effort of keeping me seated. Out of instinct. I squeeze my thighs and knees. After a moment they start burning from the exertion.

Saoghal shoves her way through the hole, which is just a tad too small. Earth rains down on either side of me as her wings crumble the edges of the opening. Once we're out in the open air, Saoghal pauses. Her scales, nearly blinding now in full sunlight, are even more striking. The sun illuminates the underlying colors beneath the pale silver, pinks and blues and greens.

Suddenly, an angry roar splits the quiet calm of the forest. Saoghal's giant head swings toward the direction of which it had come from, and I follow suit. My eyes widen when I see the giant Red Swordtail from Presentation stalking towards us, his pale yellow haze fixed on Saoghal. Although, I suppose he's not as giant compared to the white dragon which I sit upon.

The red bares his teeth viciously at Saoghal. She growls impatiently back, wings sweeping off to the side that reminds me of the way people wave their hands around during an argument.

"Everything alright?" I ask quietly, and immediately the Red Swordtail's eyes swing towards me as they had done yesterday, narrowing. Only this time, there's no burn, no tug. Just his eyes on mine. This time I have the sense to avert my gaze.

Saoghal hisses once at the red dragon, and he reluctantly pulled his gaze away from me. "Stay put and stay quiet. This will be over in a moment." I obey.

A few moments and several angry snarls and hisses later, the Red Swordtail bares his teeth and launches into the air, soaring off into the distance. 

"I am going to fly now," she warns without any explanation of what just happened.

"Oh, now I get a warning? Thanks a lot!" I reply sarcastically, but my head is still spinning from the strange interaction .

"Stop shouting." I roll my eyes, but my attitude is quickly vanished when Saoghal gathers herself again. But when she shoves upwards this time, she stays up. Giant wings spread out on either side of me, the membrane between the long, branch-like limbs of her wings almost translucent. Once Saoghal is level, I allow my grip on the spike in front of me to loosen.

I let out a laugh of pure joy. The wind whips my hair around, and I don't bother to worry about the hell of a time I'll have getting all the tangles out later.

The feeling of freedom that washes over me is something I've never felt before. Of all the times I've thought about flying, my imagination has never come close to this.

I work up the courage to remove a hand from the spike in front of me, running my hands along Saoghal's scales. I decide to try speaking to her through thoughts, the way she does with me. "What was that about?" I ask.

Saoghal doesn't reply for a second, before her low feminine voice slithers into my head. "Just Lasair overstepping his boundaries. Do not let it bother you, child."

"He was going to bond me, wasn't he?"

"You caught his eye at Presentation, yes. But there are others he noticed. He will bond this year yet, don't you worry."

I ponder that for a moment. "Can't say I was terribly worried," I reply. Saoghal just huffs out a breath of steam.

"We are approaching the humans," Saoghal says. I can see the gathering of riders in the distance, and dragons swarm off to the side or sit next to their riders. Most of the cadets have bonded. "Hold on."

"What are you going to do?" I ask, but comply quickly. Saoghal doesn't answer.

Instead, she pumps her wings five times, gaining  at least a hundred feet with those simple movements. I'm fairly certain my lungs and my stomach were left behind. We're trailing through the clouds now, and the thin air is already getting to my head. "I don't think I can stay up here much longer without passing out, Saoghal."

"The clouds are low today. You're fine."

I roll my eyes. But then, without warning, my dragon—my dragon—folds her wings to her sides and we fall like an arrow, whipping through the air at impossible speed.

Right when I'm sure we're about to splatter onto the hill side, Saoghal snaps out her wings and we slam into an abrupt glide. She then lands gracefully next to a huge black dragon.

I'm frozen on her back. I don't even register the dragon's scales. My throat is raw from screaming and I'm surprised I'm even conscious at all.

But then Violet calls my name. "Wisteria!"

I jolt out of my frozen state and unwrap my stiff fingers from around Saoghal's spikes. I'm vaguely aware that everyone is staring. Not at me, but my dragon. I jump down from her shoulder and immediately fall into the grass. "Shit," I groan. "Shit, shit, shit."

"So, is dying fish just your resting state or is today special?" Saoghal drawls.

Without thinking, I swing my middle finger around at my dragon, who huffs. "That was not even a difficult maneuver. You are being dramatic."

"Dramatic?" I yell. "You just dove from like a million feet in the air at a million fucking miles! Maybe it's fine with you, but I am not accustomed to that! Warning, next time!"

Saoghal snaps at me, her huge jaws coming within feet of my face. "I did warn you. What do you think going higher up meant?"

"I don't fucking know!" I flop backwards into the grass, and Violet kneels over me.

"Wisteria," she murmurs urgently. "You have to get up."

I groan, but allow her to help me to my feet. I vaguely notice Maize standing at the feet of a Red Swordtail—Lasair. So he had bonded after all. But my mind is preoccupied. I take it the enormity of the black dragon standing over us. Only slightly bigger than Saoghal, the black dragon peers down at me with an expression of either contempt or concern. He then turns to Saoghal and hisses at her.

Yet again, I watch as two dragons hiss and snarl and snap at each other, back and forth. "Do they...know each other?" I ask, eyebrows raising.

"Looks like it," Violet mumbles.

"Wait—is that your dragon?" I ask, incredulous. "The Black Morningstartail? The one Kaori said wasn't bonding?"

Violet's face breaks into a grin. "Yeah," she says. "Tairn. And that...is Andarna."

My gaze shifts to the small golden dragon from presentation, who sits between Tairn's front legs as he argues with Saoghal. "Two?"

"Please," Violet laughs. "You can't be too shocked. I mean, your dragon is white!"

I don't have time to respond before my name is called furiously. "Wisteria Colland!"

And when I turn to look, a crowd of at least fifteen senior riders are heading towards me. All of them with looks of either awe...or rage.

. . .

So, Wisteria finally has her dragon! What do you guys think of their relationship so far? Is Wisteria in trouble?

For anyone wondering, Saoghaleile means "another world" or "otherworldly" in Scottish Gaelic :) if anyone can tell me how to pronounce that correctly, that would be amazing as well! I wouldn't want to be completely butchering it 😂