The very next day I went back to the hatchery. When I had said "Training starts tomorrow." I had meant it. We were going to hold a funeral for Darsk later that day, but for now... I had to start training. It was what Darsk would have wanted. Zarr was waiting, and I couldn't stand him up.
Where we were training was the hatchery, but it was a separate room from where I had met Zarr. Honestly? I had no idea what to expect. So I guess I was surprised when all I found was a roof with hoops dangling from the ceiling. We were that important.
Zarr seemed happy with the setup though. He was weaving in out of the wings. He wasn't bragging when he said he was a good flyer. When I looked at Zarr a little closer I noticed something. He was well... bigger. Almost adult size, and now he was big enough to ride. In three days... he had grown to the size of a mini-van. Though while he was flying all over he noticed me. Which meant I had to stop staring, and start talking.
"Oh... hi." he said.
"Hey..." I said. "Wasn't expecting this."
"The training room?" he asked. "Yeah, I guess they decided that having a dragon rider wasn't as important as they thought."
"Why?"
"Probably because yesterday you showed up on the back of a Dragon and they shot at you."
"Yeah, not a single person in that crowd thought 'Oh wow! She's on the back of a Dragon! Maybe they aren't as bad as we thought!' So then why are we still doing training if we're not going to 'mend wounds'?"
"They're probably going to put us on a battle field."
I was actually kinda surprised, he hadn't just grown, he had also matured.
"I'm sorry about Darsk." he said. "I wish I had gotten to known him better."
There it was, the grey cloud in the room. I was trying my best not to break down, but I was failing miserably.
"It's okay." I sputtered. "We better start training!"
I tried to perk up, and managed to fake it, so Zarr lowered himself to the ground, that way I could get on.
"Okay, here's the trick." he said. "I have to be blindfolded while you guide me through the rings."
"All right... where's the blindfold?" I asked.
"It's over there by that harness... you'll need the harness too... this means you'll need to get off me."
"Awwww..." I joked.
So I slid off his back and to the ground where I grabbed the tools. And after fiddling with them for an hour we were finally ready to go.
"All right." I said. "So I guide you with my voice?"
I was sitting in the harness on his back while he struggled to see through the blindfold. The harness was clinging to me tight which meant if we crashed, we both went down with the ship.
"That's exactly what you do." he told me. "We begin whenever you're ready."
"Okay then. Up!"
He flew up and through the first ring
"Down!" I shouted!
He flew through the second one.
"Alright. Down! Up! Left! Left! Left! No wait I meant right!" but it was too late. We crashed head first into a wall!
"Sorry!" I said.
"It's fine, I have tough scales. Let's just try again."
Because of my screw up we had to start from the beginning, which was a pain.
"Start with... Up! Now Down!" he flew through both rings with ease. "Down! Go up! Left! Another left! Right! Left! Right! Up! I meant right!" but again it was too late, and CRASH!!! his head met the wall!
"One more try!" said Zarr.
"Fine." I grumbled. "Up! Down! Up! Down! Left! Left! Right! Right! Up! Now a down! Now right! A left! One more! Down!"
We landed on the ground as lightly as a Dragon can land.
"Huh." said Zarr. "We aren't dead."
I just ignored him and asked: "Will we be able to use reins next time? It's kind of hard to stay on."
"Yeah, they just want us to listen to each other while flying. Especially since you can see more one my back than I can."
"Makes sense." I said.
We were both quiet for a minute.
'
"This was fun." I said.
"It was."
"I have to go. I can't be late."
"Thanks for coming." he said.
"Next time?" I asked.
"Next time."
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