The Sixth Dragon Rider

Part 28

Aura fell back onto her bed with a smile as the final bell for curfew tolled.  Ever since she'd shown the secret room to Janson, and they'd begun researching together, she'd finally started to feel like she had a place at the school.  It didn't matter anymore that she got weird looks in the halls, or that some of the boys pulled pranks on her, or even that Jerald was still as surly as ever, because she finally had someone who understood her.  Finally there was one person in the school she could talk to about dragon rider stuff and have them understand.  Kasha and Salarah were great and all and Aura was incredibly glad to have them, especially since having so many boys around meant she definitely needed some girl talk once in a while, but they weren't dragon riders and try as they might there were just things that they couldn't understand. Janson understood though, and he was more than happy to talk with her, commiserate with her, and, perhaps most importantly, train with her.  That was the other thing that had Aura feeling so happy; she was, after months and months of confusion, finally getting somewhere with her training. 

After Aura had come up with the time theory, everything had just seemed to click into place.  All the times she'd nearly been late to class but had somehow managed to make it just in time, the way she'd been able to save the boy from falling to his death, even the way she'd been able to shoot the moving targets so well during combat class that one day.  It was all because of her time power.  In each instance time had always seemed to slow down or stretch out longer and then she'd been able to accomplish something she shouldn't have been. And not only was she starting to understand her power, but she was finally getting to the point where she was able to use it. Just that day she'd been able to slow down an inkwell that fell off the table so it didn't hit the ground and spill everywhere.  She was still only able to slow down time though, and not even that sometimes, and she'd never been able to mimic the time bubble she'd created on her first day of skills class.  Janson assured her it was normal though.  Apparently it was common for people to experience bursts of incredible power when they were in great need of it, like Aura had been, but be unable to access that power once the situation that called for it was ended.  Practice, he said, would get her to that point though.  That, and a better understanding of her powers and how they worked of course.  Which was why they'd been meeting in the secret room of the library for the past several weeks every day to study and practice.  She still hasn't told anyone else, besides Kasha and Salarah of course, about her newfound power though.  She was already a social pariah under the scrutiny of the whole school and she didn't need to give them any more reasons to think she was weird or different.  So for now it was a secret, although she was still holding out hope for the day when it wouldn't have to be.  But that was all future, and for the time being she was pretty happy with the present.

So, as the final echoes of the bell faded into the evening she let out a contented sigh and let herself sink into the blissful comfort of her bed.

"Your face looks weird," Nirvana said as she fluttered down next to Aura, "I think there might be something wrong with you.  Shouldn't you be, like, frowning or something?"

"Haha" Aura said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Seriously, it's good though.  You're finally happy and stuff," Nirvana said.

"Yeah, yeah, I really am, I guess," Aura said.

She was just about to curl up on her bed and fall asleep when she felt something crinkle under her hand.  "What's this?"

"What?" Nirvana asked.

"I don't know, it's a piece of paper all folded up.  It looks like a note," Aura said and she unfolded the paper and began scanning the words scrawled across it.

"And what does it say?" Nirvana asked.

"It's from Kasha and Salarah. There's not much written, it just says that we need to talk sometime.  Sounds urgent," she said.

"Just when things were finally getting normal," Nirvana moaned and flopped dramatically onto the bed.

"Don't be so dramatic, it might not be anything bad.  We've been so busy recently maybe they just want to chat," she said.

"Didn't you just say it sounded urgent.  I mean, I don't know about you, but usually when I just want to chat with someone I don't leave urgent notes on their bed," Nirvana said.

"That's because the only person you ever talk to is me.  It says to meet them after my Basic Teachings class tomorrow, so that's what we'll do.  Anyway, I'm sure everything's fine." 

"If you say so.  I just wouldn't retire that frown quite yet," Nirvana said, "just in case."

"Alright, enough out of you, just go to bed," Aura said as the last rays of sun slipped down behind the horizon and the last traces of light faded from the room.  As she lay in the dark Nirvana's words started to seep into her mind though, disturbing her calm.  What if the dragon was right, and something was wrong?  What if there was some problem?  Before she wouldn't have cared, would have been happy, even, for the distraction from the general terribleness of being at Stonehaven. Now though, now she was happy, and she really wasn't ready for that to end.  She didn't want some new problem, she just wanted to be a normal student.

Desperate for sleep she turned over in her bed and placed her pillow over her head, trying to block out all the thoughts that were running rampant through her brain.  They refused to settle though and the longer she lay trying to sleep, the more terrible thoughts wormed their way into her head.  Try as she might she couldn't stop the thoughts and they poured into her mind like water from a broken dam, with more and more awful situations and problems piling on until it felt like she was drowning in a sea of difficulty with no life preserver to save her.

"Why'd we even come here, Nirvana?" she burst out.

"I don't know, I was like a few hours old at the time, remember?" Nirvana mumbled.

"Everything has just gone wrong since we got here.  Nothing was wrong back in Elvenmire, you know?  No, everything was fine there!  We should have just stayed!  Stayed and been happy, because as soon as I find any sort of happiness here something just has to come and ruin it, doesn't it?  We could go back now.  Leave in the dark.  No one would even know until we were long gone, and they probably wouldn't care either," she said.

"Some people would," Nirvana said.

"What?"

"Some people would care.  Like Kasha, and Janson, and Salarah, and even that cook lady who is translating the journal for you.  They're your friends, they'd care.  And if this is about all that stuff I said about the note, forget it.  If something truly terrible was happening you'd probably already be involved, if you weren't the cause that is," Nirvana said, a slight laugh creeping into her voice, "so just relax alright.  I was just trying to keep you realistic, if I'd known this would happen though..."

"That's the point though, isn't it?" Aura said, "It's become the realistic thing to do to expect something bad, or at least not good, to happen!"

"Uh, yeah, because that's life.  Things don't always go right, and not just for you but for everyone.  Doesn't mean they can't or won't go the way you want, it just means you should be prepared for the possibility. Oh, and as for why you're here, you're here because it's where you belong Aura.  It might be difficult and it may not always seem like it, but it's true. So just go to bed and we'll deal with everything else in the morning, alright?" Nirvana said.

"Alright."

A/N: Hey y'all.  It's been forever, I know, sorry about that.  Thanks for sticking with me and my unpredictable updating, I really do appreciate it.  This chapter definitely didn't go the way I'd planned, but I kind of like where it ended up going.  Aura apparently had a lot to get of her chest, and she decided she wanted to let everyone hear it, so that's what we did.  Anyway I hope you liked this chapter, and please let me know what you thought in the comments!  I love all of you and I hope you have a great day!

Bye for now, Kat