Chapter 1
“Of course it will be an elder,” the baker said, “They raised her. Why would she choose anyone else?”
Perdita listened to their discussion from the corner of the building. She had only come to steal a pastry, not to hear adults planning her future. With a frustrated noise, she turned away and marched off to find her friends.
She knew that she had to choose a mentor before the next day, but none of the elders appealed to her. They were old, and slow, and she doubted that they would even live long enough to see her finish her training. As she walked through the town in the early morning light, she listened to everyone talking, waiting for some information she could use. Everyone was talking about her birthday tomorrow, it seemed, and the attention was infuriating. All she’d done was not die; Why did that warrant so much fanfare?
Eventually, she found what she was looking for, in a couple of women, barely finished with their own training, whispering in a mocking tone.
“Have you seen him lately?” One of the girls sniggered, “Hard to believe he’s related to Ari. He looks sick.”
“I know,” The other girl faked a sympathetic tone, “When we were kids I had the biggest crush on him. All he cares about is that stupid pool though. I just came back from hunting with Ari and he’s already there.”
The first girl broke into laughter, “Does he even have a life?”
Perdita smiled as she walked calmly past. So that’s where he was.
The Great Hall loomed over her as she came closer, blocking out the sun. It was made of a smooth, dark wood, and the lack of windows meant that the interior was lit only by lanterns, even in the middle of the day.
She stepped onto the cold stone floor, almost wishing that she had shoes for the first time in her life. She fiddled with the edges of her dress as she passed each of the rooms. They were just as dark and intimidating as the main room, with the tall, arched ceiling and lack of natural light. In fact, that morning, it lacked almost any light at all, except for a single lantern at the far end of the hall, where she could hear the gentle sound of water and rhythmic breathing.
Perdita stepped closer to the pool, watching the fish swim about and admiring the carefully tended flowers along the edge. Although she made no sound, and never even looked at him, she knew that he had noticed her.
“Do you need something?” He asked irritably, looking up at her with dull and distracted eyes.
“Sorry,” She smiled gently, “I know you were meditating...” She paused, watching his face. She had to admit, the girls were right; He looked sick. His skin was pale, his hair much darker and lacking the ginger that ran through each dragon’s human form, and there seemed to be nothing but skin hanging off his bones. His cheeks were hollow and his neck strained, but she relaxed as she saw the kindness in his eyes.
“I need advice,” She finally admitted, “I don’t know who to pick to be my mentor.”
Cato leaned back on his hands, turning his face up to the stained glass in the roof, which let a hint of blue light filter onto the meditation pool. “Well,” he started slowly, “First I guess you have to think about what you want in a mentor. Do you want them to be kind and gentle, or do you want someone who will push you? Then think about everyone in the village that meets that criteria.”
Perdita settled down beside him, dipping her feet in the cold water and letting the fish nibble at her toes, “Well I want someone nice, but not too demanding. I want someone who will let me grow in my own time, not drag me along at their pace, but also not just let me not do anything... But none of the elders are like that!” She flopped down against the stone, letting the chill slip through her thin summer dress.
Cato smiled at her, “You know you don’t have to pick an elder, right? There’s a whole village to pick from! As long as they’ve finished their training, they can mentor.”
Perdita looked at him with distracted eyes. “You’ve finished your training...” She muttered, thoughtfully.
Cato scoffed, “Yeah, but who would want me as a mentor?”
Perdita made a sound of agreement, but her mind was already wandering, “What if... What if I pick someone who doesn’t want me?”
Cato’s face grew dark as he leaned forward to watch the fish, “It’s the biggest insult, to reject a mentorship. It’s not happened many times, as far as I’m aware, and the town loves you. You won’t have to worry about that.”
Perdita watched him in silence for a moment, before speaking, “You were rejected, weren’t you? Ari told me about...”
Cato suddenly drew a breath, slapped his knees, and stood up. He turned away to blow out the lantern, “That’s nothing for you to worry about. It’s a nice day, so why don’t we head out for a walk? You seem like you could do with getting out of town for a bit.”
Perdita’s eyes widened in disbelief, “You mean you’re going to take me out into the forest? But that’s not allowed until I have a mentor!”
Cato shrugged, “Not if you don’t say anything.”
Perdita lept to her feet, flicking water over the stone and darted to his side by the doorway.
The town was protected by a barrier, which canceled all magic upon entering. This kept all newly hatched dragons in their human form until they were old enough to control their fire. The Great Hall was set right at the edge of the barrier, so that once one stepped onto the grass, they were free to use their magic. Perdita had never been allowed to leave the town, and she had thought that visiting Cato in the hall had been bad enough. Cato stepped over the threshold, and turned back to look at her, a challenge gleaming in his eye. Would she dare?
Perdita stared down at the edge of the hall. The stone abruptly cut off, with a step down onto the grass. She had looked forward to that single step her whole life, and part of her thought that she hadn’t yet earned it. But, she reminded herself, what difference is one day?
Perdita took a deep breath, clenched her fists, and gently set her foot down on the soft, damp grass. She didn’t know what she had expected, but for some reason, the lack of anything disappointed her.
“So, can I turn into a dragon now? Can you show me?” She bounced over to Cato, who simply shook his head.
“That’s for your mentor to teach you,” He said, “We’re just going for a walk.”
She sighed, looking away. She turned her attention to the trees looming over her, casting shadows over the grass. She turned to look back at Cato, surprised to find that he’d vanished. She spun around, suddenly frightened to be alone, without the protection of the barrier. She began to step back towards the hall, when she heard his voice from above.
“Not giving up on me already, are you?”
She looked up to see a tiny red dragon, roughly the size of a cat, beating its disproportionately large wings above her. She smiled, holding an arm out for him.
He landed gently on her arm, wrapping his long tail around her wrist for stability.
“Ari wasn’t lying,” She giggled, “You are tiny!”
“Of course I am,” Cato said, puffing his chest out proudly, “Makes me better at getting through the trees.”
She admired his confidence, as he crawled forward to lay across her shoulders. He was less than a third of the size of a normal dragon, and most of that size came from his abnormally large wings and tail. She could remember as a child, hearing about how no one thought he’d ever fly, but he’d managed. He learned a new way, to accommodate for his deformities, and had become one of the most agile flyers because of it.
The two of them walked in silence for a while, simply breathing in the forest air and appreciating the near silence. Perdita had never been so alone, and yet so comfortable.
Eventually, however, she decided to break the silence.
“Hey, Cato,” She almost whispered, suddenly aware of how loud her voice was, “We’re forest dragons, aren’t we? I heard some elders a while ago talking about the ocean dragon tribes, and something about the grass dragons?”
Cato lifted his head and nodded, “There’s lots of us out there, but we rarely have any contact. Something big must have happened for the elders to have heard about the ocean tribes. They’re a long way off. But to answer your first question, probably.”
“What do you mean probably?” Perdita stopped to look at him.
Cato paused, before jumped from her shoulder to a nearby branch, where he sat, his wings folded neatly and tail coiled around the branch. “What do you know about your heritage?” He asked gently, with the sort of tone she was familiar with adults using when they have to tell a child bad news.
“I know that I’m an orphan,” She said, crossing her arms defensively, “And that’s why the elders raised me.”
Cato shook his head, “Then you would have gone to your next relative. But you have none here. Have you never wondered about that?”
Perdita paused. She had pondered, once, as a child, about why she didn’t have any cousins or other relatives, but she had dismissed it as something she would learn when she was older. After a while, it was simply how it was, and she forgot to question it.
Cato saw her thoughtful expression, and settled down on the branch, as if to tell her a story. “Thirteen years ago, tomorrow, late at night, a baby was found, in the middle of town. You were wrapped in a blanket beside the fountain, sleeping soundly until we started talking.”
“We?” Perdita prompted, “Were you there? Were you old enough to even remember?”
“Ari and I were sneaking out that night, to see what the hall looked like. We were just kids, but old enough to understand that a baby needs parents, and old enough to know that there were no new babies in the town. We took you to the elders, but they never found where you came from. We know you’re a dragon, that’s easy enough to see, but what kind of dragon is a mystery. You might be a forest dragon, like me, but you could be from the ocean, grasslands, mountains, anywhere. No one knows, and neither will you until you unlock your dragon form.”
“If I turn out to be something else, will they send me away to live with my own kind?”
Cato hesitated, as though unsure if he should be honest. “Banishment is uncommon, but not unheard of. Though for someone who has not yet finished their training to be banished, they would have to commit a great crime. I can’t imagine that they would cast you out just because you look different. I wouldn’t worry about it, if I were you.”
Perdita was about to reply, when Cato suddenly sat up, his face turning to the path ahead of them. He flicked his tail for her to be silent, before scampering up the tree and out of sight. As she waited anxiously, she heard the voices in the distance. Quiet, and muffled at first, but quickly growing louder. She heard the rattle of wooden wheels on the path, and the rhythmic clipping of a hooved creature.
Before she could react, the wagon was already in sight, and the travelers’ conversation came to an abrupt halt. One of the men hailed her, a broad grin on his face as he pulled the wagon up beside her.
“Well hello there little miss,” He said cheerfully, tipping his hat slightly, “What brings a pretty thing like you out these parts? I wasn’t aware of any town nearby.”
Perdita stared at him for a long moment. He carried a strange new scent, and his accent was unlike anything she’d heard in the village. It didn’t take her long to recognize him as one of the fabled humans that she had grown up hearing about. Creatures who lacked any magical ability at all, and yet were a dangerous enough foe for her ancestors to learn how to mimic their form in order to hide.
“My village isn’t far, but they don’t take to strangers well,” She said, folding her hands neatly behind her back, “I would advise that you don’t try to find them. They’re only trouble. Just keep on this path, stay to the right, and you’ll be fine.”
It was at that moment that she saw the other inhabitants of the wagon, including two women and a young boy, peering out from under the cloth.
“You sound funny!” The boy cried, pointing a finger at her, “I like you!”
Perdita shook herself slightly, trying to stay calm as she tried to work out why these creatures were so feared by her people.
Seeing that she was uncomfortable, one of the women seemed to think that it was talking of her village that scared her, and not the child, and so took it upon herself to comfort Perdita.
“You poor thing, a troubled village you say?” The woman knelt down beside her and rested a hand on her shoulder, “If you don’t think you’re safe, you’re more than welcome to come with us. We’ve left a bad town too, and we’re looking for a new home.”
Perdita stepped away, fighting to keep her fear hidden, unable to find words to refuse.
She suddenly jumped as a twig snapped behind her, revealing another man. He was tall, and layered in thick muscle. His long red hair was pulled into a rough ponytail, as though he had tried to make himself presentable, but gave up half way through. His dark green eyes emanated a fury unmatched by anyone Perdita had seen, causing the woman to stumble back in fear. The man twirled a long dagger as he took another step towards the wagon, motioning for Perdita to leave.
Overcome with relief, Perdita broke into tears, latching onto the man’s shirt and burying her face in his side. The man seemed to forget to be intimitating, as he knelt down to look Perdita in the eye.
“Are you ok?” He asked gently. When she nodded he smiled, resting a large hand on her ginger hair, “Go find Cato, and head back to the village, ok? You shouldn’t be out here, but I won’t say anything if you don’t. Deal?”
Perdita smiled at him, wiping her tears away, “They didn’t try to hurt me,” She explained in a shaking voice, “They just wanted directions, I think, but I just-”
The man laid a gentle kiss on her forehead to silence her, before sending her into the trees behind them. She hesitated only a moment before charging away. She ran blindly through the forest, until she was dragged to a stop by a hand around her arm. She allowed Cato to pull her in, and they sat in the dirt for what felt like hours.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” She finally gasped, burying her face into Cato’s shoulder, “Why did I act like that?”
Cato tightened his grip around her, and she suddenly wondered if this was what it was like to have a parent.
“You did nothing wrong. I’m sorry, though. I know that I used to scare you with those old stories about the humans, but they aren’t quite as bad as that anymore. Most of them don’t even know we exist. I’m sure they had no intention to hurt you. They probably thought you were a lost human girl.” He slowly pulled her away, staring intently into her eyes, “I’m sorry. I never should have brought you out here.”
“You’re right about that, at least,” an angry voice snapped. Perdita turned to see the man again, standing a short way off with his arms crossed and his furious eyes nor directed at Cato, “What were you thinking?”
“Ok, Ari, I know it was wrong, but how could I know that they were coming?” Cato argued. He tried to sound defensive, but they all knew that he didn’t believe it.
Ari strode closer, placing a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder. Perdita was unsure if it was supposed to be a reassurance, or a display of dominance. “I should tell the elders about this. Taking a child, so young that she doesn’t even have a mentor, out of the village, alone, and then promptly abandoning her when trouble arises, is probably the worst thing you could have done. Not only are you to blame for leading her out, but she will be blamed too for following you. For that reason, and that reason alone, I shall hold my silence. But if you pull a stunt like that again, I won’t be there to save you. You may be my brother, but it’s time you started acting like an adult, and take responsibility for your mistakes. You can’t go running to me every time you get in trouble. We aren’t kids anymore.”
Cato slowly nodded, admitting his defeat. Satisfied that the message had gone through, Ari turned him towards the village and lead him away. Cato paused to help Perdita to her feet, and the three of them walked home in silence, never to speak of that day again.
