The Sixth Dragon Rider

Part 22

(Previous chapter...)

She pushed open the gargantuan library door and stepped outside, the light streaming in the windows blinded her temporarily and she had to blink a few times before she could properly see. She was about to start towards her next class when a figure moved out of the shadows next to the door and stepped towards her.

"I had a feeling it was you in there, Aura" the person said.

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"I-um...Janson!" Aura said frantically her mind whirring with possibilities for why he might be standing outside the door and what he wanted. "What are you doing here?  Are you trying to get in a last minute library run before lunch break is over," she finally continued, landing on what seemed like a likely reason for the boy to be standing outside the door.

"I think the question is what were you doing in there," Janson said, "I've been in the library for most of lunch and I never saw you enter so I cannot fathom how you could possibly be exiting after me."

Aura stood wringing her hands, not really sure how to respond.  An uncomfortable silence choked the air and Aura gasped for a breath.  Janson just stared at her, the kind of accusing stare that could make even an innocent person feel guilty.  Nirvana twitched on Aura's shoulder, bristling slightly at Janson's look.  Aura and Janson seemed locked in a deadly duel of will, Janson trying to will Aura to talk and Aura willing Janson to give up.  Finally Aura's eyes slipped to the ground, a silent admission of guilt.  Even a will as strong as her's was unable to hold up under such scrutiny from someone who had been nothing but kind and honest to her.

If you're not going to say anything then that's your choice, I guess," said Janson, who didn't seem to see the guilt Aura felt etched across her face, "I don't know what you were doing in there, but here's what I do know.  You have secrets, like a lot.  And you don't like or trust anyone here, and that's fair people haven't really done anything to deserve your trust, but you also don't give anyone a chance.  And there's one more thing I know, someone was sneaking around in the restricted section of that library, and I'm not saying it was you for sure, but you're the only other person I know who goes in there and you're the only person who's come out of the library since I heard that person sneaking around.  So there it is, and I know you probably won't tell me anything, at least anything true, but I wish you'd trust me because I honestly just want to be your friend."

Aura stood, unsure how to respond, for a second.  Janson's words had taken her aback and she felt even worse then before.  When she regained her senses all she said was, "I'm really sorry, but I have to get to class," and then, seeing his crestfallen face as she stepped away she added, "And it's not that I don't want to trust people, it's just that there's a lot to lose if I put my trust in the wrong person, but maybe that's not you."

As soon as she finished speaking Aura turned and ran down the hall, wanting to escape the situation as fast as possible.  She meant what she said, that maybe Janson wasn't the wrong person to trust.  He really did seem genuine, and it wasn't like he had a lot to lose, at least not that is seemed like, by becoming her friend.  Still, Aura wasn't sure, Kasha and Salarah were easy to trust, they weren't gaining anything from Stone Haven, not really, but Janson was getting education and a respected place in society from the school, two things that were fairly hard to come by.

"How do I know who to trust?" Aura mused to Nirvana.

"I don't think you really ever do," the dragon admitted, "but if you want my opinion, I'd say to give that boy back there a chance.  You don't have to let him in on everything, but maybe lower your walls a little, you might at least be a little less lonely."

"Okay, okay, you're right.  In fact.." Aura said, pulling a sheet of parchment from her bag, "I think I'll write him a note, asking him to meet me at dinner tonight.  Will you deliver it to him for me?"

"Yep," Nirvana said, as Aura finished off the note with a flourish and bound it, before handing it to the dragon.

"Thank you!" Aura said as the dragon winged away out the window to find Janson.

As soon as Nirvana was out of sight Aura hurried off again back down the hall.  She felt a slight chill on her shoulder where the dragon usually sat, and silently hoped she would be back soon.  Luckily her Dragon Teachings class wasn't too far from the library, so she didn't have as much of a risk of running into a group of boys who might try to start something with her now that Nirvana wasn't with her.  They might not respect her, but any dragon, no matter who it belonged to, was feared and respected.  Aura felt a wave of relief wash over her when she reached the classroom door with no confrontations and quietly slipped inside the classroom.  Since all of the students had discovered their power on the first day, except Aura who was pretty much 100% convinced water was not  her power, they were now all practicing their powers in elemental groups.  The room showed it too.  There were leaves, rocks and pools of water scattered every which way on the ground, and the walls bore so many burn marks it was surprising it hadn't toppled over yet.  Most of the students were already in the room and had begun practicing and Aura felt slightly ashamed for showing up after them even though she wasn't late.  She quickly went over to join Telleren, the other person from her class who had been determined to have water powers, over by the pool.  He was currently constructing a mini tornado of water which was spinning quickly, and seemed to be getting out of his control, though he tried to contain.  Having already experienced being doused by one of his creations when they got out of control Aura quickly moved to the far end of the pool and began trying to make waves form in the water.  This was supposed to be a simple task for someone with water powers, but Aura had no clue what she was supposed to be doing.  She had no clue how to get water to do something without touching it and the only waves she could create were by splashing.  Heran had told her that it was alright and not abnormal to experience powers that would show only during tunes of need, such as the attack he had staged, and couldn't be used any other time when you were first learning, but Aura didn't think that was the problem.  When she started to feel a headache coming in from concentrating so hard she sat down to take a break.  It didn't make sense, she had to have some power, but what was it?  As she was trying to puzzle out her situation she noticed a small white object for in through the window and barely had time to process what it what before it barrelled into her.

"Message delivered, he'll see you at dinner," Nirvana said as Aura regained her balance.

Suddenly Aura realized exactly what she was going to trust Janson with: knowledge of her weird and latent powers.  He had said he was studying dragon rider powers the first time she met him and she had a feeling he would be able to help her if anyone would.

A/N: Next chapter, yay!  I hope y'all enjoyed it!  As always everything is unedited so if you notice any glaring mistakes feel free to point them out so I can correct them.  Have a great day!

Bye for now, Kat