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Wilbber nodded. “They always say that a riders life is one of strange luck. Given how you hated your government classes I can just image how you find court life. Have a safe run, and see you when you get back.” He turned and went in, letting her go on to the landing field.

Devlin finished up the train run and waved at Hank then nodded to Steve. “I need to go let my folks see that I am alive. I called them when we got back last night, but that wasn’t good enough. My mother is just sure that the rain washed me away. I take it that it was heavy here all day Saturday. Some of the streets flooded, or at least Susie says they did. Then they want to hear more about the trip, than I was able to say last night. So I must beg off supper tonight, if I may?”

Steve nodded. “That’s fine, I just didn’t want you thinking that you had to stay away because Gale is in the field. It has to be a bit strange to you. You barely know us at this point. I don’t know why none of them joined in before.”

Devlin said. “The only way anything will change is by getting to know each other. Yes it is a bit odd, but I imaging no more so than it is for any. I want to know those in sis’s life, and I am glad she is letting me be a part of her unit. Her not being here isn’t going to keep me away. I will be there tomorrow, and know that Hank or Vale will be at my apartment just to be sure of it. It doesn’t bother me any that you are with my younger sister and are older than me, if that is what you are worried about. You are bonded and therefore age doesn’t matter.”

Steve said. “It has to be a bit troubling, I know it would have upset me to find my little sis had taking up with some strange guy five years older than me, with unnatural hair and eyes I had never seen the like of before. I know that my people are no longer even a myth in your land. Yet you handled it a lot better than I expected. I truly forgot that I didn’t have my illusions in place when I came out of the tent. I am impressed you didn’t scream.”

Devlin shrugged. “I knew that you were using illusions before you landed. I can’t see what is under them, but I can tell they are there. Yes I was a bit shocked but I knew it wasn’t some monster that had replaced you. No matter how sure poor Donald was it was so.” He smiled a bit. “See you in the morning.” He started back to his place. Yes it had been a bit startling when Steve had come out of tent with blue hair and long eyes that were silver in place of white.  However I had expected the eyes, if not the hair. I just don’t know how to tell either of them that I know she found the Lost city and that it is the Emperor of Night who’s son you are. I just worry what it means that he is coming out to the summit. Or perhaps this isn’t the first, for all it seems so to me. After all your court vanished even from the history of the Great War, they all say the southern troops were under Idras’ leadership. However Gale did mage to get Graint to admit the office books were wrong about that, that the Night Empire was real. It could be though that they have been posing as Idras at some of the meetings. Yet Steve made a point of saying that his parents would be coming with Idras’ leaders, so that doesn’t work. No point in worry about it, it will all come out when and how it does.

He got to the house and went in. “Hi all, sorry training went a bit late and then I had to explain I couldn’t come to the common for supper tonight. Steve is worried I will feel wrong about hang out with them as sis is out on a patrol. I think I have him convinced, but taking supper with them tomorrow should settle it.” He went on in smiling a bit. “Turns out Steve is five years older than me and I am supposed to be upset by that. Then to where they had been apart so long the retired early, of course. It is just silly. The only help for it is getting to know each other. How much of your morning was messed up? I missed a class, but got in extra study time for the test in the next one.”

Erin said. “It was a bit startling, but at least we know now what the alarm is. I hope your test went well. You can’t have done much studying over the weekend. How was the camping trip and where were you? Most have not been to close as you said you just had rain in the night. It was a bad storm here, strong winds and rain all day Saturday, there were power lines down and three uprooted trees in town. Come on and eat, you have to be hungry.”

Devlin smiled and took a plate. “I am not to sure just where we were. It was in a forest, on a mounting in an area that had been patrol not to long before. Something was said about Pikes but I don’t know if that was the place or a gang that had there. It was a long weekend and the only books I had were the few I had with me when Gale pulled me out of class. Hank saw to packing my camp gear and books were not considered important. That said it was a nice break and I was ahead anyway. I was a bit off on the best place for my tent, but Hank said that he was sure I would have it down by the next trip, which I am expected to do my own packing for. So I am going to have another set of lessons, then Wednesdays training will be held in a field as the dragon are going to be involved. We did have some wind, but it wasn’t too bad there was enough rain to cause a few run off streams to form, but they were dried up by noon.” That is the best way I can think of to explain it for now. It is going to take some working up to. If I ever tell you just all that is going on. I just don’t know how well you will take knowing that I am getting lessons from the dragons as well as the riders. “And there could well be other times. So when my phone is off just assume I am around them, as it seems to affect cell reception.” Sounds good to me, after all magic does affect tec.

Wallace said. “So what did you miss with your tent? I hope Hank has better luck teaching you what a pack should look like than sis did. At least she isn’t going to try again. I wonder if mine would pass yet. Don’t know if I am willing to find out.”

  Devlin said. “It is Hank’s place to see to the packs and tents, and yes he did set up her tent. I am sure she hates it, but she understands that he needs to do it. She did tell the new members that they would be setting up their tents next time so had best pay attention to how it is done. As there will be times when the grounders are not with them, for they are set up to function as a unit on their own as well. I failed to see one of the small dips and so came close to putting one side of my tent in a place that would be likely to flood. It didn’t, as there wasn’t much run off, but still it was embarrassing. However I was better than a number of others. This was the first time most of the new ones had been in a real forest. Some were worse off than Sara who had only ever put a tent up in a groomed yard with servants doing most of the work.” He shook his head. “They all were informed they will be spending an hour each day setting up and taking down tents until they know how to do it. Sara just has to do it on Wednesdays, and will be getting packing lessons on Tuesdays. My packing lessons will be after supper on Tuesday and Thursday and I need to take those meals with the unit. Hank didn’t say when we would work on the tent, but anyway training is tuning into a bit more than just running the course. Not that I didn’t expect it. After all there is no way Sis will let me get anywhere near a battle until she is sure I know what I am doing.”

Robin said. “I can bet on that. She is going to see that you leave here with what she feels is fit gear and build a sold shelter out of branches that only a dragon or bonded will see. So what are the dragons like and this Steve? I know they are bonded and so he won’t be too bad, not that he would ever get away with hurting her even without any bonds involved. Still it is just odd to have no idea even what he looks like. He was likely at the course but there were a few new faces there.”

Devlin smiled and took out his phone. “Forgive me, but the only way to answer that is to show you the pictures I have. Even then it isn’t close to good. The dragons come in every color you can think of and then a few more.” He pulled up the first of the group photos and set his phone on the table.

Willber shook his head. “That is too small to see, we will be here all night trying to work out what it is. Can you get them up on the big screen?” One of the boys grabbed the phone and was getting the pictures up as he finished asking.

Devlin said. “Now first one is of the whole field. There was more than Sis’s unit there, that is why it is a bit unclear, the next one is better, it is her unit and I was close to them.” The picture changed. “That is even better than I had hoped. You see now why I said the pictures were needed. I just didn’t know how to explain all the differences. Dragons are as different from each other as humans are. I know the books said so, but I didn’t realize just what it meant. It is not only color but shape and hides as well. There are some that fur, feather, scales and some that a mix of all.” He let them go thourgh the groups. Then took a breath. “Pause it, if you can. I am not too sure. Well see none of those is Storm, he was in the air just then. This next is him landing, but. Well it should have been alarming, yet it wasn’t. though I was surprised by his coloring. Given what Robin had said I was expecting more of a metallic look.”

They gasped a bit as the rainbow mountain appeared and then again as the next picture showed Gale next to it. Making it clear just how big Storm was. Devlin said. “Now you see why I couldn’t say what he looked like last night. I just don’t have the words. He is considered a gold dragon, for all he is a rainbow. The gold comes in mostly in his claws, but also the background of his fur, if you are close. No I didn’t ride him, but I will once I am a bit more used to them. I was on Riverstone, that blue and brown one there, which was large enough. They are both fully grown but from different areas.  I fear I didn’t get any pictures of Steve’s bonded, Silversmith but she does have a good deal of silver in her rainbow, and is just a slight bit smaller than Storm, but you only notice it if they are close to each other.”

They all started talking at once. “Wow he is huge. None are small, but he. How do they even? And you are going to ride on him? The other one looks scary enough to get on. Why haven’t they been seen? When can we meet them? We can can’t we, or would that be wrong? I don’t know is it safe for us to visit the campus, that part of it do you think? That is if they are on campus. I don’t see why the boys hadn’t seen them if they were. Where would something that large hide?”

Robin said. “I was sure that he would be gold. So just why? Well I Imagine the answer will come in time. Dragons reach their full growth after two hundred years but typically bond around a one hundred. If most there are fully grown then that means the dragons bonded late or the riders are far older than most collage students are. Just how many are there? That is more than was at the training I think. So Steve dragon is named Silversmith. That explains the name of his unit, as much as the silver would. Just what color are his eyes and just how much older is he? You would be fine on campus, but the dragons haven’t been seen at all. So must be somewhere else.”

Devlin shook his head a bit. “It was a large area off by the woods that we went to, so not close to the buildings. The trees likely help keep them out of view.” Well that was where we were head, for all that is not where we were as the gate. However it is where we landed and there were other dragons there. “The dragons will start being seen more next week. They don’t want to scare the freshmen too badly and know some will be. For all they do see more dragons here then we do at home there are some places that just aren’t accessible to dragons. Then there are students from all over and Lighton isn’t the only land that doesn’t see dragons much away from the Air bases. Storm said it would be another week or so before he popped in, but he would try and make an appearance when the boys are training, but he wants to wait until the others have been seen a few times. That way it should cause the ones on the course to do less damage to their selves.” That caused a bit of laughter.

Ellen said. “Storm said? How? Oh through the bond, of course. I forgot that the dragon bonds let them speak to each other. I wonder how long it took Gale to get used to that. It has to be strange to hear others like that.”

Devlin felt it was best to just let it go, leave it up to the dragons to explain that. They wouldn’t believe it anyway. What to say about Steve? It was tricky. “Well he said that he was five years older than me, but that could have been out of worry I would be upset if I knew his age. With riders it is hard to know, and doesn’t matter. He is taller than sis, his hair looked to be blond and his eyes an ice blue, but there were illusions on him, and some others. His unit has fifty riders which is the normal size for a full rider unit, only half or there about are taking classes. Sis has twenty in hers, but only fifteen come to campus regally. The others find the city troubling. I think that if the illusions were to drop there would be a number of elves in both units, but it is just a suspicion at this point. I am not sure how to ask. I am hoping that as they get to know me better they won’t feel the need to hide.”

Wallice said. “So then you don’t know. Drat I was hoping you would have found something. More so after seeing the pictures. I mean Storm is clearly one of the old ones, but which, and where did they meet? If only we knew for sure what color Steve’s eyes are. Then with the attachment to Idra’s royal army, it might not be. However I just bet he isn’t elfin, but Altatin. Don’t you?”

Devlin smiled a bit. “Well um now as I said he is using illusions, but there are times when illusions can be forgot. Like say when you are not fully awake, or forgot you took them off. That sort of thing. After all it had been a few weeks so they were a bit rushed getting to breakfast that first morning. Sadly Donald was, and possibly still is, convinced that some demon had replaced Steve in the night. I mean the blue hair likely would have done it, but sparkling sliver eyes, with ice blue rings truly put the kid over the edge. Needless to say he left to find a different unit, but then Sis expected him to do so, if not quite like that. She thought the tent would see to it, but he did make it through the night. For all he was demanding a bed and a cabin when we first landed.” They all looked at him. “Now I have no idea if he is Altatin, or just a bit of mixed ancestry, but well I would say it is indeed a possibility. Of course that is another reason he is worried about my find it strange to be around him. therefore I can’t probe too much. Not until I have him convinced that it doesn’t mater. However he did say his family was coming with the Royal part from Idras. So I think it safe that he is not from there, so that I was wrong in thinking Sis’s home was there. Yet it is close I think.”

Wilbber shook his head. “Come now, the lost city is a fable. Just like dragons speaking this language. Don’t be silly. Yes there are elves, mostly across the sea, but a few settled here by the mountains. However there is nothing to the other races. You all know your history. I thought you had out grown those fantasies.”

Rebecca coughed. “Um, you weren’t home that visit. I forgot that. But well. Graint is old enough to remember the second Great War and knows some that remember the first. Well Gale has no problems trying out truth spells. So. Well he admitted under one that the Altatins had indeed taken part in the war, for all they were deliberately removed from the office records. However the dragons’ ability to talk was still firmly deigned and that was asked more than once. I still wonder if he knew the spells were there or not. He was smiling the whole time, but it was a full spell, and I don’t think he was able to fight it.”

Willber was a bit red for he had caught Gale trying it a few times and forbidden it. He felt it was an abuse, for all sis never used a spell to compel the truth, just to identify it. Erin said. “That time he asked for it. He was showing the kids spells and asking them to try them. He really should have known she would jump on it. I think he wanted it, for all he tried to say that wasn’t what he showed her the spell for. I wonder just what he knew then and knows of her now.”

Devlin knew, but still. “I wonder why he was so convinced that no dragons could talk. I mean there are clearly a lot of different types. I do think he was a bit surprised that it was the Altatins that sis asked about. I think he was expecting more questions about his dragon. Yet as he opened the door he didn’t see any reason to be upset about it. He likely could have countered the spell that he had shown her if he had of wanted to. He never seemed to mind answering any question, even if it was the tenth time he was asked. Did you know that sis even got him to play with us? I also caught him checking out one of her monster hunt maps. Don’t know if he tried to follow it, but he was looking interested in it. I think he had some idea of where she was going to be. For all she still finds it too much to take.”

Wilbber nodded. “She looks good, it is clear the role fits her. She said she would try and come by when she gets back, but isn’t too sure just how much time she will have. The summit is going to keep her busy. Not only with the events she has to be at but she expects that the unit will be sent out a few times. I hope that it won’t interfere with your classes to much.”

Devlin said. “The main events will be during the two weeks we are on vacation, so that will help. I don’t go out with them unless it is a safe run, so going active will have no affect on me. If the Steve isn’t here one of the other captains will watch the course, and I know the route for the morning run. So the classes shouldn’t be a problem, but I am likely to have even less free time. Sis said that she would try to keep me out of the events, but there are likely going to be times I have to be at one and there might be some I want to attended, therefore I will be getting a formal uniform in a few days. As that will see that I can get into any of them, and she expects me to use it.” He shook his head a bit, it truly was a bit much.  I take it she has gotten told off for buying tickets instead of just using her position. Steve said that it truly does worry people if they don’t see some offices at events. Makes them worry that there is trouble close. Seems silly to me, being used to hearing office called out for using their titles for gain, but guess that is another difference, one I am glad that we have. I don’t think it is right that someone gets something because they have a uniform or a title. It is hardly fair to those that pay for it. Now events that are free, that I can see a bit better or if it was done to honor them, but to just push their way in to a paid event, that I don’t agree with.

Wilbber nodded. “You had best get back, I bet you have some reading to do and it is getting late. Now don’t worry about trying to fit us in. You need to be involved with life on campus, that is what you are here for. There is no need for you to be scrambling to get over here.”

Devlin shook his head. “Truly it isn’t that hard to come over here. If there is something going on then I don’t, but checking in one night a week is not an issue and it is good to have a meal I know I can eat but didn’t cook. Still I had best be going.” He stood up and started to the door, then turned back. “Wallace how are things looking with the Stars, is it looking real?”

Wallace said. “I have agreed to visit there compound and tour the barracks. I want to talk it over with Father a bit more, but I think it is turning into something that I have to do. That needs to be done. They do not have mages and train to fight in areas where dragons cannot. Those are skills our army would be interested in. You have a good night.”