A Dragon's Rider (Edited)

Chapter 1

"Liora! You'll be late if you don't get up right now!"

I sigh and slowly crack open my eyes, wincing against the harsh sunlight drifting in from an open window in my caravan. Today is another Choosing Day. I get to watch 5 more boys meet their destinies as dragon riders while I'm stuck here, becoming the 'perfect housewife'. In my village of San Marral, sons were valued over daughters because they were able to provide for their families and men could do the hard labor associated with my rural agricultural village.

I dragged myself out of my warm, red, woolen blankets and over to the small wooden chest at the end of my bed. The trunk contains all of my belongings, 2 rough tunics, 2 pairs of pants, and a pair of soft ankle boots. At the bottom, my hands found the soft, stretchy material of my performance costume. Dyed a psychedelic mix of green, yellow, and red, the costume was my favorite of all my clothes. It made me feel a sense of pride to see the handmade cloth wrap around my body though it showed a great deal more skin than a normal outfit. The colors represented on the cloth match the beads and ribbon carefully braided into small sections of my golden hair. The organization of the decorations show other performers who I am, what I can do, and what group I belong to.

I grabbed my stretchiest pants and the top of the costume. Sliding into the clothes, I was satisfied that the outfit was comfortable enough for me as a performer as well as not too 'scandalous' for people in the village, I walked over to the small white clay pitcher of water by the mirror on my wall. A small splash of water over my face serves as a good wake up call to the importance of the day. Choosing Days only happen once a year and it's mandatory that everyone in each village attends. Walking out of my caravan I stretch, feeling satisfied with the pops in my shoulders and back.

The frigid morning air is refreshing as I walk along the caravan circle. All performers live in one as it allows us to have the greatest amount of flexibility for living arrangements when traveling. Quickly moving to the middle of the dirt circle I call home, I find my family eating breakfast around a small campfire. Hearing boisterous laughs coming from the circle, I smile myself and sit down on the end of a log near my adoptive parents. I don't have any memories of my real parents but Kate and Roe have treated me well. The two women are the leaders of our performer group and their love for one another is what I imagine fairytale love looks like. Even at the age of 40 and having been married for nearly 20 years, they still look at each other with as much love as the first day I met them.

I accept the offered bowl of rough porridge flavored with cinnamon, honey, and milk. The honey is a rare treat reserved for birthdays, anniversaries, and Choosing Days. I eat fast, finishing before most of the others and setting the bowl down in a wooden pail filled with water. Our group takes turns doing chores and I'm lucky to have today off. I nod to the group before starting the walk to the town. We choose to live away from the hustle and bustle of San Marral, instead of living near the edge of a forest backed by a stream. My large steps quickly cover the 1/2 mile to San Marral and I'm soon faced with the busy streets of the village.

In the town square, I can see the village men have erected a small, wooden, stage-like structure with a podium in the middle.

Every year, all the village's boys between the ages of fifteen and eighteen come out on May 17 to the Choosing Ceremony. An official dragon rider will also be there. With him, he will have Paragorn's Stone. Each boy will touch the stone in turn. If the stone lights up, they have magic. Green is a nature-wielder, blue is a water-wielder, red is a fire-wielder, and purple is an air-wielder. Those are the most common. Yellow means a wizard, orange is a shapeshifter, and white is a mind-wielder. The rarest is gold. If the stone shines gold, you are a dragon rider. There has never been a female magic-wielder, much less dragon rider. Well, there might have been but no girls are ever tested so no one knows. The ceremony takes place in all the villages and cities of the world. Five boys are selected from each as dragon riders.