"That's the cutest thing I've ever seen," I bumbled, watching Amber and I's dragonets. Avyn and Rainsong were curled up right next to each other, Avyn's head on Rainsong's shoulder, both of them snoring lightly.

"Dragons who connect with each other from a young age usually become very good friends," Amber informed me, reading from a thick library book she had picked up about dragons.

Today was the first official day of classes at Starsky Academy. The dragonets grew fast, and most of them were about the size of German Shepherds (Avyn and Rainsong were; Alya was a naturally small dragon and she was half their size).

Avyn.

Yesterday and the day Avyn had hatched, I had been practicing mental communication with him. It would still be a couple days until he could form words to say back to me, but as for now he understood the general concept I was trying to tell him.

The indigo dragonet opened one eye, and I could see it was green. He then closed the eye again. I rolled my own eyes.

Avyn. This time it was a little louder in his head.

After a few seconds, the dragonet rolled away from the still sleeping Rainsong, and stretched, arching his back like a cat. He stretched his wings as well, and I marveled at their smooth finish.

In my head, I saw the clear image of annoyance from Avyn. Not actual anger at me, just annoyance that he had to wake up.

"Come on," I spoke aloud. Avyn blinked a few times, and when he looked at me, his eyes turned a bright pink. I now recognized that as his way of showing love. Not romantic love. Just love for me, his rider.

"What's our first class," I pondered rhetorically, but Amber answered for me. "Melee combat," She clarified. "It's a day 2."

"Thanks," I smiled at her. She gently woke Rainsong, and then the four of us headed out the door.

Just as we expected, Shana and Alya were nearly to our door when we came out. "Hey!" Shana greeted us with a smile.

"Mornin'!" I replied back, and now the six of us headed towards the school's exit, towards the forest boundaries.

Melee combat was actually a very interesting class - we learned self-protection, because, as Professor Rapashka explained, there would be times when our dragons weren't by our sides.

Next we had Mathematics and ELA, which was taught by a scrawny man named Professor Lupis. The class itself wasn't interesting, but I saw it's point. We were still just sixteen, and we needed to be educated in everyday, normal stuff as well as everything else that was magical.

Our third class was dragon bonding. Professor Nunda led us through a few simple activities to improve the telepathic connection we would have with our dragons. He also allowed some time for the dragonets to sniff and greet each other. Avyn found a lot of playmates there.

Lunch was good. The food at Starsky was delicious - you'd expect that from the most prestigious school in the world, wouldn't you? - and the dragonets were also fed portions of red/white meat, fish, even vegetables; whatever they desired.

Magical history was very interesting. It was taught by the Dean of the School, Dean Ramino. I learned all kinds of things that I hadn't known before, including the names of various magical entities, wars between different species, and current alliances and turmoil in Yer.

Finally, there was dragon combat. The class was held at the school's battlefield, and was led by a man named Professor Ophaz. It might have been a spell, but the teacher looked nearly as young as me and the other students. Our dragons learned the differences between play and real fighting, and I could tell Avyn would be a strong fighter once he could master his muscles and claws. Professor Ophaz also told us how to effectively communicate with our dragons when we needed to, in a dire circumstance, like a battle.

At the end of the day, I was exhausted.

Avyn, who was much too big to sleep in the first nest I had made for his egg, now slept next to my bed in an array of blankets that formed a snuggly bed for him. Soon he would outgrow that, too, and eventually he would have to stay in the official "Dragon Nest". The Dragon Nest was just like a horse stable in the sense that there were different stalls for different dragons.

Moonlight washed over my face from the huge window. I sighed, rolling over, facing the wall. I had just closed my eyes and let my breathing even out when I heard some quiet whimpering.

My eyes opened, but I didn't move until I heard the small whining sound again. I flipped over, deciphering quickly where the sound came from, before I realized it was Avyn. He was dreaming, and whining and twitching.

I watched him for just a few seconds, until he yelped and woke himself up. He panted, his eyes maroon, a color I had never seen them be before.

Scared.

Avyn, what's wrong? I asked, seeing his wide, fearful eyes.

Suddenly I gasped as the dragonet transferred an ominous emotion to me. There was no picture, no visual, just a feeling, deep in his bones, and now in mine, that something was wrong.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.