By the time I make my way back outside, calm enough again to face the others, Neil has returned and is chatting with Astralux, who has a leather saddle tied to her back between her wings and close to the base of her neck. They both pause and look at me.
“Find the restrooms alright?” Neil asks.
“You mean the one in my bedroom?” I ask.
“Oh no, there’s a couple of restrooms on the first floor, so you don’t have to go all the way up to your room.” Neil gestures with one hand, at the Wards’ Palace, his other hand holding a large sword against his shoulder that would take two hands to wield for most men. “If you go straight in and to the left you’ll find the two restrooms.”
I completely missed them. “Oh,” I say sheepishly.
Neil holds out the massive sword to me. “I’ve got a number of tests for you to try out. First, we’re going to test out your innate ability with weapons.”
I take the large sword with both hands. Although the weight isn’t bad, it’s so bulky and tall compared to me I’m afraid swinging it will send me flying off my feet. I give it a tentative swing.
“Go on, like you’re attacking someone!” Astralux says.
I flinch. Gripping the sword tighter, I give it another awkward swing.
Chuckling, Neil beckons to me. “I didn’t think that one was going to work for you. I just wanted to see a petite woman wield a claymore.”
His humor sets me at ease, and I smile a little as I hand the large sword back to him. This time Neil hands me a club, a polished wooden stick a little longer than my arm with a heavier, rounded end opposite the handle.
“Give that a try.”
Swinging the club doesn’t seem as strange to me, but maybe that’s because the lack of sharp edges on it makes me feel a little better about wielding this against someone. I could hope to not do lethal damage to them with this. I also could, however, and as a result it still makes me sick in my stomach as I swing it around.
“Alright.” Neil takes the club from me and hands me a longsword. “Now this one.”
After an hour or so of trying various weapons, and feeling failed at all of them, Neil nods his head as he puts the weapons aside, looking over them. I glance at Astralux, but she’s just watching us, as if deep in thought.
“Next,” Neil says, “is a writing and reading test.” He points me to a desk and chair set under a canopy, where a number of books have been placed. “Let me know what you can and can’t read, and I’ll have you read a few out loud.”
I find the books in Haufig and read these aloud to Neil with ease. But there are several books in a language I’ve never seen before, and I ask Neil about these.
“We do a bit of language training,” Neil says. “Since not everyone on Drakonia speaks Haufig.”
“Oh, that’s really neat,” I say, excited to learn.
The reading test is a breeze, and Neil laughs after I’ve only started to copy the first line in one of the Haufig books, which details diplomacy. “Your handwriting is as good as the book’s! You can stop.”
I smile, feeling a little relieved that I’m not completely failing all of the assessments. I stopper the ink bottle, eyeing the books before I look back at Neil. “So what’s next?”
“Actually, before we end for today,” Neil says, “I had one item to teach you. This isn’t an assessment.” He walks me over to where Astralux is, the dragon watching us curiously. “I want you to practice getting on and off Astralux’s saddle.”
I stop mid-step. “We don’t have to fly yet, do we?”
Neil stares at me, but Astralux sighs heavily. “It’s alright, we won’t fly yet,” she says.
“Okay.” I walk up to Astralux’s side, noticing that there is a two-rung ladder hanging down from the saddle. This means that, from what I have learned, by pushing off the back spine of her front left leg, I can easily reach the lowest rung. I push off and grab the ladder, pulling myself up onto the saddle and swinging my leg over.
Neil chuckles heartily. “Well! I was going to walk you through it, but you already know how to get up.”
“Estelle had to ride me bareback, through battle,” Astralux says. “That’s why she knows how to climb up. But she’s afraid of flying.”
“Ugh, that does sound terrible.” Neil pats Astralux’s side, looking up at me from the ground. “Now how about coming down?”
Down I’m less familiar with, but I take a guess and reverse my actions, swinging my leg over and climbing down the ladder. I stumble a bit when I step on the back of Astralux’s leg spine but I’m able to land on my feet.
“Okay, so if you need to step down on the leg spine,” Neil says, “remember that its angled. This means that stepping on it with your left leg means you’re going to push away from Astralux’s head. Once you’re comfortable enough and in most terrain, you should be able to drop from the lowest ladder rung, as Astralux’s not too high. But there’s no reason you have to do that except for speed.”
Seeing Neil waiting expectantly, I turn and climb back up the saddle and then dismount. My “beginner’s luck” now past, I slip on Astralux’s leg spine on the last step and topple to the ground with an “Oof.” I look up to see Lyssa and Blythe are watching me, Blythe has his hands resting atop his head, his expression concerned. He and Eclair share a look. A sneer on her face, Lyssa rolls her eyes.
“This is the tough part,” Neil says, “when you start internalizing what you’re doing but you haven’t practiced enough to be good at it. Just hang in there through this part of your training, and always remember that you are improving, even when it doesn’t feel like it.”
Neil’s right—the more I practice climbing up and back down, the more awkward it feels. Not helped by Lyssa’s spiteful gaze, which I try hard to ignore. I don’t know what “pacifist” action I’ve taken that upsets her, but her anger feels unrelenting.
“Alright,” Neil says when I teeter my way to the ground. “That’s all the tips I have for saddle mounting. At this point, you’ll just have to keep practicing.”
“Thank you,” I say.
“You’re welcome! I have my meeting with Veremund and Mortimer, so you can take a lunch break and then spend your afternoon however you like,” Neil says. “I don’t think you’re going to be given Ward tasks just yet, since we’ll want you to focus on your studies. And at some point you’ll have homework and specific maneuvers to practice, but for now, just practice mounting the saddle and then get some more rest. We’ll finish the assessment tomorrow.”
“Okay.” I glance over at the books at the desk not far away, thinking I might spend my afternoon reading outside in the sun.
“Undabouclier and Mortimer are headed this way,” Astralux says.
I follow her gaze to see Undabouclier circling down. Lyssa, Blythe, Giftigbun, and Eclair, who had resumed their practice, all pause as the large dragon lands, surprisingly lithe despite his size and build.
“Neil,” Mortimer calls. “We’ve got a bit of a problem.”
“What’s going on?” Neil walks closer, as does Astralux, perhaps out of habit of being involved. I walk alongside her, Giftigbun meeting us there.
“Trolls,” Mortimer says.
I shudder.
Neil frowns. “Since when are trolls an issue for us?”
“Since they’ve organized themselves into groups and are climbing up all sides of the mountain,” Mortimer says, rather solemnly.
“Groups?” Giftigbun asks.
“How many are we talking here?” Neil asks.
“Amon reported at least fifty spotted so far, but there could be more.”
I share a wide-eyed look with Astralux.
“If you can cover the east side,” Mortimer says, “that will help us cover more ground.”
“I want to help,” Lyssa says. She, Blythe, and Eclair have come closer, Blythe’s eyes as wide as saucers.
“Stay in Adytol,” Neil says. “You can provide backup.”
Lyssa’s face falls but she nods. “Yes, sir.”
“Where—” Astralux stops, glancing at me. I see her squirm on her feet and realize she wants to help, but she’s trying to respect my newness.
I take a breath. “How about Astralux and I spot from the air?”
Mortimer and Neil look at me in surprise. “Are you ready to fly?”
“If it would help, I’ll do it,” I say.
“Well, it would definitely help,” Mortimer says. “Then Amon and Andeuten could help fight.”
“Alright.” I go over to Astralux, whose tail is patting on the ground excitedly. I climb up into the saddle, swallowing as the fear in me rises. Lyssa’s glare isn’t helpful, and I look away from her.
“Don’t worry,” Astralux says. “It’ll be much better flying with a saddle.”
“Just hold on tight to the saddle horn,” Neil says.
“Oh you don’t need to worry about that,” I say. My knuckles are already white clinging to the saddle horn.
“And Astralux? No fancy dives,” Giftigbun says, a wry tone in his voice.
Astralux gives a snort. “I think I might give Estelle a heart attack if I did.” She spreads her wings and bounces on her feet as a breeze blows under her wings. “Ready?”
I press my knees into Astralux’s side, clinging to the saddle horn. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Astralux takes off with a bound ahead of Undabouclier and Giftigbun. Her wings beat heavily and then she bounds up, my heart leaping as well, as she takes off. I breathe slow and even as we rise into the air, peering down. And then I slowly relax as the wind blows across my face.
They were right—now in a saddle, I feel much more secure and comfortable on Astralux’s back. With my feet in the stirrups and the saddle horn to steady myself, even Astralux’s angle as she rises in the air isn’t bad. This is nothing like what I experienced the last time we flew together. I smile a little, looking down at Adytol in the beautiful sunshine, spread along the side of the mountain.
“See?” Astralux glances at me with one eye, smiling. “Not so bad now, is it?”
“This is much better.” I tentatively lift a hand, feeling the way the wind pulls at my arm. If Astralux were diving I’d have to be careful, but rising like we are the wind resistance isn’t bad at all. So much easier than before. And, as a result, beautiful, as I stare out with my improved vision.
“You’re a natural,” Mortimer says loudly over the wind noise. Undabouclier and Giftigbun have been slowly rising up after us, and they smile at me. “You don’t even seem phased.”
“This is so much better than the last time I flew,” I say.
We hear a horn sound from Adytol and all of us look down. I can see a handful of large, humanoid shapes of the yellowish-green skinned trolls climbing up one side of the mountain towards some more rural homes. Thorn and Vitegadium are already there, flying out from a hidden spot and sending one of the trolls tumbling down the mountain.
“Neil, you two head to the southeast, between Thorn and Volkan.” Mortimer points to another group of trolls climbing up. “I’ll let Amon know they can help us fight. Estelle, you just need to alert us if there’s more trolls, or if anyone’s in trouble.”
“We can do that,” Astralux says. I hear a bit of disappointment in her voice—she wants to fight. Me, I’m glad to be assisting in a non-battle way.
“Alright, Ariadna be with you!” Mortimer and Undabouclier fly off northwest, while Neil and Giftigbun fly southeast.
I peer around, spotting where each Ward pair are, and where all the trolls are. Hearing Astralux sniffle, I glance around the side and see that the brilliant white dragon’s blue eye is glistening. “Astralux?”
“It feels good to fly with my bonded again,” Astralux says. “And to be a part of the Wards, once more.”
I smile and pat her neck. “Let’s scout around.” Feeling her muscles tense up, I cling to the saddle horn with both hands. “And, just warn me what you’re about to do, until I get used to this.”
Astralux chuckles. “I can do that.”
Tamara Rivers 
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