It all felt like a blur after Myra finished the conversation with Sayer.
The thoughts were heavy on her mind and she felt unsure of herself. She has never felt so much pressure in her life and now the lives of everyone in the kingdom depend on her.
Myra wanted to tell herself that she was good enough and that she wasn’t too weak to meet those new expectations but after practice today, she wasn’t so sure.
Presence of the white dragon has provided a strange new comfort. It was hard to be lonely when you always had someone next to you, when Myra felt that link between their minds and their silent understanding.
Thankful for not doing this by herself.
Myra could talk to her sister, but Ayra wouldn’t understand and would just be fawning over the prince or her sister's new title in the palace. Madri would have a more of an understanding since she has worked in the palace for so long, but with both of their busy schedules it was unsure when she would be able to see her friend again.
Myra felt like she needed to share the knowledge she got today with someone.
She needed to talk about it. Talk to someone that would be able to help her understand everything.
Especially help her understand what issue Prince Cairo has with her.
If he give her another one of those looks from across the room, Myra would be sure in her previous life she must have murdered his family or commit another grave sin against him.
It was day one and she already felt so out of place.
Her companion kept close to Myra’s leg for the rest of the day and it was hard to stop her from also getting into Myra’s bed once they arrived back home.
The moment the dragon put her big white paw on the bed it started squeaking and shaking.
Somehow, even though apparently the dragon was “small” compared to others, she already struggled moving around the house and soon she will only be able to stay in the garden.
Myra remembered seeing Astarot and his horrifying size, looking at her small companion Myra was thankful she had enough time to get used to the dragon sizes and their growth.
Astarot could probably squish this whole house under his leg, not just Myra’s bed.
Darkness eventually embraced her, letting her mind quiet at least for a few hours.

The wet tongue of the dragon woke her up yet again and luckily this morning it was much earlier giving Myra more time to get ready.
She wrapped the cloth around her, following every step that the prince showed her.
Hoping he isn’t going to mock her efforts like the day before.
Ideally not even going to see her.
It was very unrealistic of her to hope for that considering they train and work at the exact same place but she didn’t want to deal with him for at least one day.
Her parents briefly stopped her and admired the fine clothing. The golden cloth glowed in the sun, making the armour look a lot more elegant and mesmerising.
With how the prince has treated her, Myra still didn’t come to a conclusion why he shared the cloth with her or if eventually she would have to give it back and get her own colour like the other riders.
Her dragon in tow, they made their way back to the castle.
Myra couldn’t help but feel the soreness in her body.
Maybe she should have joined her sister on those morning runs that she avoided everyday. Maybe if she had done them the prince wouldn’t be so ashamed of her being a rider.
When Myra saw Wamir standing at the gates she considered trying to speak with him. Yesterday he was missing from the front gates and the day before she was the biggest mess he probably ever saw her.
Technically being a dragon rider outranked him significantly and Myra didn’t know if the palace had any policies to say if those of different ranks can interact together.
However, any hopes she had in her head were quickly dismissed when Wamir looked at her and quickly went the other way.
The bread was still warm in the basket when she placed it on the kitchen counters, quickly hugging her friend and making her way towards the training ground once more.
Instead of Astarot, today there was a purple dragon laying near the entrance. It must have been a few years younger than the prince’s dragon, even though the size was still breathtaking, Myra felt no one near as afraid.
The beast shifted its bright amethyst coloured eyes to her and it seemed to assess her.
“Don’t mind her, she's grumpy today.” Imran shouted over from the other side of the building.
Similar to yesterday her dragon abandoned her in an attempt to play with the older creature and Myra made her way towards Sayer and her fellow rider.
The prince and Astarot were still missing from yesterday.
“That’s Brenna. She’s my lovely companion.” Imran said. “However, I didn’t have time to take her for a morning flight today, so she is throwing a tantrum, like a child.”
In response, the dragon turned her head away and sharply moved her wing causing all weapons to rattle and some to fall off the shelves.
Myra couldn’t help but chuckle at the interaction between the two.
“Just wait till yours is in her rebellion stage.”
“With the warning years ahead, I am sure I have time to prepare.”
Sayer sighed next to them. “Imran, go clean that up then we will begin for today.”
With a grunt her fellow rider moved towards the weapons and started to pick them up.
The trainer was quick to put her to work as well, quickly making her jog between one wall to the other and asking her questions about what they did yesterday.
If she thought it couldn’t get worse than that she was wrong.
Sayer then made her stop every few minutes and told her to do push-ups while explaining more methods of fighting to her.
This was a quick way to convince her the man is a devils incarnate.
When Imran finished cleaning up the weapons, she was finally told to stop and make her way towards them.
Heavy breathing and sweat running down her face, she collapsed on the ground as she looked up to Sayer.
Confirming her earlier suspicions, the prince is away on a mission and dealing with a group of rebels near the eastern border. Sayer explained that he will need to join the prince and the soldiers down there to assess the situations, leaving Myra and Imran to train together.
A loud thud echoed through the building as Sayer nailed two lists onto a wall.
First being what he expected Myra to do everyday, with a list of exercises and practices, and the second list was for Imran.
When she saw how many laps the rider next to her was expected to do each morning, she was suddenly thankful for the plan she had been given. When she met Imran’s eyes she tried to show how sorry for him she felt.
Sayer left soon after leaving the two of them alone to start their training.
There wasn’t much that the public knew about the rebels, only that to run the other way if one is spotted and report it as soon as they can. So many villages have been burned and even more people killed by that group. Most of their powers were a mystery and the threat they presented was unknown.
Myra couldn’t help but worry about Sayer and the prince.
The kingdom could not afford to lose any more dragon trainers. Especially one that is supposed to be the future king.
Each thought burned through her blood, giving her more determination to complete the hell plan.
She will protect her family even if it kills her.
For a while her and Imran trained side by side in silence, their dragons watching them closely.
“I wasn’t aware a baker could throw punches like that.” Imran snickered.
“Then I guess you have much to learn.”
Imran asked her so many questions she lost count.
She told him about her family and how long they have been in business. All about her sister Ayra and how nagging her mother sometimes can be. She told him stories of Madri and how she doesn’t know what she would do without her best friend and how scared she is to talk to her again after starting the training.
He listened closely and laughed alongside her, it honestly surprised Myra how comfortable the conversation was. It almost felt like the two of them have been friends for years. Or maybe Imran being a trainer for so long has given him skills on how to make everyone feel this relaxed around him.
“And how did you end up here Imran?” She questioned.
“Well, eight years ago I arrived at the palace in hoped of getting an audience with the king.” Imran said with a small smile on his lips. “At the time it was my dream to be a blacksmith for the royal family, I trained for it all my life and I wanted to be of service to our country. But picture this.” He giggled. “This scrawny kid standing in front of the king, muttering about wanting to be a blacksmith and the whole crowd starts screaming and this purple baby dragon is charging right at this terrified scrawny kid. Yes, this kid was me and when Brenna jumped on me I fell right on my face in front of the king and the whole royal family. Most embarrassing day of my life.”
Myra laughed alongside him as he told his story. And she pointed out the similarities between them, both falling because of their new companions. Myra did give Imran the point of his being more embarrassing as at least she did it in a market and not the royal halls.
They joined their training together, practising combat, admittedly at a much slower pace then Imran was used to so that Myra could learn all the moves he was showing her.
He continued telling his story as and how hard the beginning was hard for him. Imran explained how even though everyone was proud of him for becoming the second rider he couldn’t help but feel devastated for the first few months. After all the dreams he had got crushed in a matter of seconds and he spent his whole life practising for something he would never now achieve.
When he said Cairo was the one who helped him get better, Myra practically barked out a laugh.
“I think we know two different princes.”
“I know it doesn’t look like it, but he means well Myra.” Imran spoke. “He has had a hard time as the only heir to the throne and it doesn’t help that he was the only rider for 4 years of his life, thinking that he was the last hope. Now he can be a bit cold but it’s mostly because he’s not good at talking to people and he has a hard time trusting others.”
“Then you cannot blame me if I accidentally punch him one day.” Myra muttered.
Imran burst out laughing while looking at her in disbelief. “No, I guess no one could blame me.”
And for the first time, Myra thought that maybe being a trainer won’t be so bad.

The two of them trained till Myra thought she was on the brink of collapsing on the floor. She was proud of herself for completing the whole plan and very thankful for Imran’s presence.
If there was anything she could not understand or something she didn’t do correctly, Imran was right there ready to help. He stopped his own training to demonstrate anything she wanted him to or came up to her and corrected her posture and showed her how to do something better.
How he completed his own training as well was a miracle in her eyes.
Although you would not go from a scrawny kid, as Imran described himself, to the current walking body of muscle that he is without hard work.
And she was not going to tell Sayer this, but Imran was much better at being patient and explaining the exercises.
Now that both of them were done, they were slowly walking towards the kitchens to grab dinner.
Well, if you could call what Myra was doing walking. It was more being dragged by Imran and her shuffling her feet on the ground.
The plates for them were ready and Myra quickly waved to Madri, who sneaked her a muffin as a reward for the hard training she’s been doing.
They made their way outside, to breathe some fresh air with their dragons after a long day breathing in the dust of the old barn.
“If you told me that having a friend in the kitchen would mean extra muffins, I would have been trying to befriend them all.” Imran was practically salivating at the muffin on Myra’s plate.
She wrapped her hands around it and broke it in half, putting one side on Imran’s plate.
“And being friends with me means you get half.” Myra smiled.
“A new rider and muffins? Honestly dreams do come true.” Imran chuckled softly.
They ate mostly in silence and Myra's mind drifted to Madri. She has to make sure to talk to her sooner rather than later. There is so much she wants to talk about and so much she wants to get off her chest.
And not talking to her friend for longer than five minutes honestly was giving her Madri withdrawals. Myra needed to know if her friend came up with any new recipes or if the head chef finally noticed her talent and moved her up in the kitchens.
Plus Madri was one of the only things that Myra could not lose from her old life.
“You know you can invite your friend over to the training barn sometime, Sayer won’t like it but he isn’t here so it won’t hurt anybody.”
“What? I surely can't do that.” Myra said in disbelief.
“I was in your position, you know. I know how lonely it can feel and how bad you want something to stay the same. So ask your friend to come see us sometime at the barn, so you don’t have to feel like me or Cairo did when we first started.” Imran stated. “Plus if you continue your friendship I get muffins, so you know, there is something in it for me too.”
Myra chuckled at Imran. She didn’t know she was that easy to read or if he truly understood what she felt, either way she was thankful for his reassuring words and she would definitely offer that to Madri.
Well, if she dared to enter a barn with dragons she was so scared of.
She lifted her gaze and watched her dragon still trying to play with Brenna.
Maybe it was going to be hard and her life was going to change in a way she never expected it to.
But, at least she had this companion with her. Together they will learn all these new things and they will help keep this kingdom safe.
“Nythe.” Myra whispered.
“Huh?” Imran looked at her in confusion.
“Her name is Nythe.”