Dragon Rider in the Modern World.

Russia and Diana

This chapter is dedicated to FantasybkLover for all the votes and comments.
Hans POV:

I woke up, and looked around me. I seemed to be in a pastel blue tent. Then, I remembered. I had been sleeping under Fjord, and now I recognized that what I had taken to be a tent, was actually his wing.

"Morning Fjord."

"Morning Hans. How did you sleep?"

"Good, thank you. You?"

"Ok. You should get ready. I think the idea is to leave early."

"You're right. Do you know who else is awake?"

"Just Valerie and Raven. As well as their dragons."

"Ok."

I stretched, rolled up my sleeping bag, and put it in Fjord's saddle bag. Fjord tucked his wing, and I put the saddlebags on his back. Next, I put on his saddle, which took a while, considering there was there were many straps, and I still wasn't used to doing it efficiently.

"Will you please wake up Natalia, Elizabeth and Eric?" Valerie asked. I had noticed that her best friend, Raven, didn't talk much, and when she did talk to the rest of us, her tone was cold. The only one that she really talked to was Valerie, and occasionally Natalia and Elizabeth.

I walked over to the dragons, who were also sleeping, and stretched out my mind them. They had strong barriers, like a fortress made to resist even the strongest attacks. However, I knew that if he recognized my mental signature, they would let me in. After a minute of waiting, the barriers were lowered just enough for me to slip through.

"Wake up! We need to get moving if we want to arrive to Russia early." I said. I had already asked Valerie where we were heading next, and that's what she'd replied.

"Ok. Ok." They said reluctantly.

"And wake up your Riders while you're at it."

A whole after that, we were all packing the last of her things, having already had breakfast. When we were done, we mounted, rising quickly and turning north, in the direction of Russia. I must admit, I was really excited to have the opportunity to travel to other countries. The architecture must be amazing! I could use inspiration of what I saw for my own designs too.

While we flied, I talked mostly to Valerie and Elizabeth. They told me about the Riders, and their own experiences. I told them about my dream to be an architect, and how I loved to analyze buildings. Valerie told me about her love of horseback riding, and her Hanoverian mare, Flicka. Elizabeth told me about all the languages she knew, including Spanish, French and German. I was amazed when I asked you to show it is extremely good considering she hadn't practiced for a while, and the time she'd been learning my mother language.

We landed in St Petersburg at about 10:30 in the morning. We decided that even if it was cold that we would camp until we left. When we landed we set up camp once in for all, and Isaldrí made a fire to keep us warm. The harsh winter wasn't over, but we were closer to the summer months, and I was glad that we hadn't arrived at another time of the year, when it could have been colder.

"So, what are we going to do next?" I asked, curious.

"Well, I'm all for having lunch in a while, then going to look for the new Rider." Eric commented.

"I agree. I think everyone is at least a little hungry."

"Yeah, I want to get a head start on finding the Rider. I'm used to living in the tropic, and the faster we leave this cold, the better." Natalia said. The change of climate must have been hard for her. She was used to warm weather all year long, and going from that to the low temperatures of Russia would probably be hard. I don't think that I could do it.

"Totally agree. England can be cold sometimes, but Russian cold is way too much."

"So now that we all agree, what do you want for lunch?"

"Something warm!" Said everyone in unison.

"How about a soup?" Valerie suggested. "My dad loves cooking, and he taught me how to make several."

"Yes! I love your dad's recipes." Raven said excitedly. The change in her tone was shocking.

"Sure." The rest of us agreed. Whatever could make Raven act like that must be good.

"Ok. I'll make the goulash soupe, but it will take a while."

While Valerie prepared it, the rest of us talked. The conversation was mainly about random topics that just popped up, and different views on things. A while later, when the soup was about halfway done, I could already smell it. It was delicious. I couldn't wait to taste it.

Two and a half hours later, it was ready. Valerie took out some bowls and spoons, and served it to us. I don't understand how so many things fit in the bags, but I really didn't think about it much. When I tried it, bursts of flavor hit my tongue. It was delicious.

When we finished, the dragons went off to find the new Rider's, and we went to find the Rider themselves. The city was absolutely stunning. I admired almost every building, and sometimes the other Riders had to pull me away from one.

"Hans, we found the dragon. Sardius says that you'll find Diana at the ice skating rink. We're sending directions now to all of you."

"Ok. Thanks Fjord. See you later."

We arrived to the rink, where many people were practicing different ice skating routines. One person in particular caught my eye. She was tall, elegant and had warm brown eyes. However, her most striking feature was her almost white hair. She was preforming a complex routine to music from the Nutcracker, and for some reason, I had the feeling that she was Sardius' Rider, Diana.

"So, any suspicions on who is the Rider?"

"Yeah. I think it's the white haired girl over there." I answered. "Something about her aura is different.

"I agree." Natalia said.

"Me too." Chimed in Elizabeth.

"Should we talk to her?" 

"She's coming over." Raven noted.

"Hi, my name is Diana. I noticed that you were looking at my routine. I want to ask you for your opinion."

"We all agreed that it is wonderful. You are very talented."

"Thank you."

"So, how is Sardius?" Raven said, subtle as ever.

Diana looked nervous, and a little weary of us.

"How do you know him?"

"Don't worry, we are Riders too." Valerie cut in. She took off her gloves, and showed Diana her mark. Diana lifted her own, and I saw that just as I had the same mark as Natalia, Diana had the same as Valerie, only that Hera was a pinkish color, instead of the bronze and blue of Valerie's. It was weird that Isaldrí was the only one that had two colors, but there really wasn't any explanation.

After Diana changed from her skating outfit to some more comfortable clothes, she led us to where Sardius was. He was a hot pink dragon, with lighter pink eyes. We explained our mission to both of them and they agreed.

"At least I know that there are ice skating rinks in Canada. I don't know what I'd do without one."

"Yeah, well I think that all of us who do sports understand perfectly." Eric commented.
We all laughed. Typical Eric.

Hi guys, I can't believe how fast I got this done. I literally only took two days. Then again, I already had half in my writing notebook. As I said on my message board, I am going to start updating Into the Books again, in the spirit of the new Eragon stories. However, that will mean that updates here will be slower. I'm thinking that every two weeks, meaning that one week I'll update this one, and the next, Into the Books. I am at my farm right now, so I don't have my notebook, so expect the first Inheritance chapter in two weeks. Remember to vote, comment and review.

~Valerie.

Ps: Who is your favorite character and why?
Pps: Goulash Soupe is actually one of my father's recipes, for some reason, he never wants to make it, even if it is delicious.