Dragon Rider in the Modern World.

Teaching and Christmas.

Valerie's POV:

Raven had convinced me that I should start teaching her about Dragon Riders. Amethyst wasn't old enough to fly with her yet, and she only glided a little sometimes. It would be about a month before she could. I decided that she should work on her connection, and sending pictures to each other. That had been the main thing I had worked on at her stage. After they mastered it, which really didn't take that long, I decided that it would probably be important to tech her how to protect her mind, or ignore someone trying to get in. If other eggs were hidden, and started to get discovered, then those people who became Riders, could eventually try to get information from us. It was also useful to ignore your partner when you needed to, as I did in class to not get distracted.

I told Raven to meet me at the clearing after her judo practice, and she showed up a while later.

"Today we are going to work on mind protection. I usually use it to ignore Isaldrí during class, so I can concentrate, but I think that eventually it will be a lot more important. Think of it as a kind of Occlumency. Try to empty your mind, or only focus on one single thing, and do not get distracted by it. I'm going to try to go in, and your goal is to stop me, OK?"

"One, two, three!"

I closed my eyes, and reached out to Raven's mind. I could see that she had an image of Amethyst in her mind, and was focusing on how much she loved her partner.

"Common mistake," I told Isaldrí. "I can use it against her, kind of how Voldemort used the information of Sirius against Harry, but for only learning purposes."

I imagined how it would feel to loose my partner, and I formed those into a pike to start poking at Raven, to get her walls to fall. She really didn't take that long to fall, because she kept getting distracted and that allowed me to slip into her mind.

"Hi." I said cheerfully.

" Ahhh!" She screamed.

"Sorry for startling you." I said, and retreated. I really didn't want to stay in her mind very long. I knew that something must have happened in her past to make her edgy like this, and I really didn't want to intrude on her privacy.

"Don't worry."

"So you managed to hold your own pretty well, but there are several mistakes. First, that information about Amethyst could give other people an edge over you. Remember when Voldemort tricked Harry about Sirius in Order of the Phoenix? Same theory. Try to focus on any object, or maybe repeating a song or poem over and over could work, specially the ones who really stick to you like Shotgun."

"Ok."

Over the next week, before the Christmas show we practiced with me trying to break into Raven's mind. She really had improved a lot, and sometimes I told her that she could try with a dragon pressing against her mind. It really was a lot harder, seeing how powerful a dragon was. I was able to, but that was because I'd trained against her extensively, since the beginning.

Time seemed to have flown by, and before we knew it, we had competed in the Christmas show, in which we all did really well, and in just a few days it would be Christmas Eve. Obviously, we were on winter break, so all of us got more time to practice everything. Raven's judo competition had also passed, and she had won first place, which had helped a lot in her Dragon Rider training, as she didn't have to worry about any of the events now.

For presents, I had gotten Anne a new monogrammed bride for Aquata, my mother a book by Dan Brown she had been wanting to read, (I did too) my father a new collection of pot holders, since he loved to cook and his old ones new a little burned. But most important of all, I had gotten Raven a saddle for Amethyst, as a kind of initiation to the Riders. It was just like Isaldrí's, and I had gotten them both monogrammed with the dragon's name in the color of their scales. I really hoped everyone liked their presents.

On Christmas morning, I woke up, and immediately headed downstairs. My sister wasn't up yet, something that wasn't surprising, and I knew that I would have to wait fo her. About fifteen minutes later she did, and I was finally able to open presents. I got a beautiful leather halter from Anne, but when I looked closer, I saw it said Flicka and in smaller writing, strong, beautiful girl, the meaning of the name in Swedish. Raven got me some gloves I could use when riding both Flicka and Isaldrí. I knew that they would really come in handy. My parents got me a few books I'd been waiting to read for ages, and a sapphire blue saddlepad. One could never really have too many. Finally, I opened my present from Sarah. I'd gotten her new covers for her iPad and Phone, as well as a jacket that said I love horses. However, I hadn't expected her to give me a necklace with a small sapphire in the center. How could she have known? Then again, it had always been my favorite stone. I would have to ignore it for now, but keep on my guard, just in case.
We all had Christmas lunch, and I met up with Anne and Raven in the afternoon, even if our parents didn't allow us to go to the stables, something that made me mad, since I wanted to see Isaldrí for Christmas. I guess I would have to wait until tomorrow.

Overall, it was one of the best Christmases I had ever had, and I was really thankful for all the opportunities that this year had given me.

Hi guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. From now on, updates will be slower, since I already started school, but I will still try to keep up with a consistent schedule. Be prepared, because the next chapters are big, and extremely important. I'm going to leave you on that note, but please remember to vote and comment if you think that it deserves it.
~Valerie.