Ring Bond Chapter 1
Author's Note; any resemblances to people, places, or events, real or imagined, is entirely coincidental, and completely unintended, and any flamers are welcome to PM me, because, as I read once: A young actor was talking to an older actor in a bar one night, and was reading some reviews of his recent performance. Most of them were fairly bad, so the young actor turns to the older and says, "Well, I guess you have to learn how to ignore the bad reviews." The older actor claps him on the shoulder and says, "Son, you must also learn how to ignore the good ones."
In my case, I prefer to expose myself to any and all opinions, because the good reviews show how well I have done, while the bad ones show me where I can improve. Also, kudos to anyone who can figure out the secret of the protagonist's name; if anyone does, I'll see what I can do to give you an appearance in the next chapter. And yes, I am aware that this one is very short, but I'm new at this, so I want to start slowly.
Every year in Farvale, dozens of Magi who had just turned sixteen went to their local dragon farms, picked out their first dragon, and set out to build a battle-dragon team. Balteus Orion was no exception. He awoke at dawn on the first day of his journey, ready to begin training.
After showering and checking to make sure the saddlebags for his dragon were ready, he headed down to breakfast. Sani, the only dragon left from either of his grandparents' teams, was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. As a result, the temperature in the room was unseasonably warm, even for the middle of summer, as she exerted her control over her element to move things around. She turned to Balteus as he entered the room, her collar and harnesses jingling and dipped her head, saying "Good morning Master Balteus."
Balteus looked her over as he entered the room, noticing new tears in her wing membranes, as well as fresh scars on her fore and hind legs. "Good morning Sani, and I've told you before that you can just call me Balteus."
"Of course, Master Balteus." She replied, dipping her head again, this time with a glance toward the window. Balteus saw that the window was open, and noticed the shifting reflections on the ceiling, indicating that his grandfather was out in the garden, but wanted to keep an ear out for Sani's activities. Balteus sighed. Sometimes he wondered why his grandfather couldn't be a little nicer to Sani, since she used to be his grandmother's best fighter. But he supposed people didn't change. Still shaking his head, he sat down and asked "So, what's for breakfast?"
"Toast, coffee, an apple, and some - eggs." Balteus heard the slight pause, and knew Sani was uncomfortable with the idea of cooking eggs, since she herself laid eggs in her younger days. "Just remember Sani, they're chicken eggs; chicken. Eggs."
"I know, I know." She said, setting the food and drink in front of him, turning away to wash the dishes, tear tracks tracing their way down her cheek scales. Balteus picked up his fork and started eating. He knew the problem. Though his grandparents were never so cruel as to actually eat their own dragon's eggs, they did sell the eggs on occasion to people who wanted a special delicacy. More often than not, it was Sani's eggs they sold. He could remember many nights when he was younger, he'd wake up to her crying because another of her eggs was taken while she slept. She may have only been sixteen in human years, but in dragon years she was passing 88. When his grandparents - now just his grandfather - were around, Sani was composed but Balteus knew she still sat up at night and cried over the children she never had. Sure, they let her keep some of them to hatch, but once those were old enough, they were gone too, all of them to homes just like his grandparents'.
Finishing his breakfast, Balteus carried his dishes over to the sink and set them on the counter. He wanted to do them himself, but his grandfather was still under the window and he knew that if he tried to make things easier for Sani, his grandfather would be harder on her when he'd left.
As he set his dishes down, Sani looked at him and said "Are your bags ready Master Balteus?"
Balteus nodded, then thought for a second and added "Just let me check to make sure, then we can head out."
"All right, I'll be waiting down here whenever you're ready."