Someone called his name and Tate was shaken out of his dark memories of staring up at his best friend's falling flesh and the pain of his body on the horrible day. He jumped but didn't drop the egg he was polishing. Even as he felt the person approaching him, he calmly and slowly lowered the white and silver egg back onto its silks, an onlooker would never know how hard his heart was pounding by looking at his smooth movements or his stoic face. His gloved hands had just left the shell when a body skidded to a halt so close to him they were almost touching.
"Tate, Tate, Tate, I've missed you, Big Brother!"
Tate looked down to see the eager and energetic face of Lou Veylin. Tate blinked at the younger man's face suddenly appearing so close to his own. He was a young dragon rider whom Tate had taught at the academy two years ago. Tate inwardly sighed, he couldn't help but marvel at Lou's ever present optimism and childish antics, especially since he'd grown to be both taller and broader than Tate.
Tate's expression didn't change much but he was pleased to see him. He had never admitted it to anyone but he had a real soft spot for the kid and had ever since he'd dealt with him as a student. Lou had started out in Tate's class on basic swordsmanship a very cocky young lord. Lou had learned the basics of wielding a sword from his father's sword master when he was very young and didn't know why he had to relearn it from some "has been, who didn't even have a dragon." Tate could still remember the day he'd had enough of the brat's mouth and had challenged him to a sparring match.
Tate's rules were simple, Lou had been allowed to have his dragon by his side while Tate obliviously was alone and the first to be disarmed or surrender would be the winner. The entire point of Tate's class at the academy was ground combat with your dragon. It was not as straightforward as newbies tended to think. You had to have great coordination and communication with your dragon to make it flow. It was rare a dragon landed and they and their rider fought from the ground but it was a vital skill to learn in case of emergency or if needed in certain battle strategies.
Lou had smirked as he faced off with, what to him had seemed, an old has been. In reality, Tate had been eighteen at the time to Lou's thirteen. Lou had synced with his dragon Lancec and they readied for battle. It was over in less than a minute. Lou had Lancec fire a blaze immediately but Tate was an expert in dodging fire attacks from his time on the battlefield. As soon as Lancec's fire endurance or "FE" ran out Tate had easily bobbed and weaved around Lou's sweeping sword and around Lancec's attempts to crush him with his tail and paws. He had jumped, a feat which to the young trainees had looked like and impossible and unnatural feat due to the height and power of the jump, and hit the dragon on the back of the skull three times in quick secession with the hilt of his sword. The dragon had been stunned by the force of the blows. The young creature had almost passed out actually, but neither Lou nor Lancec would ever admit that. When Tate had jumped from Lancec's back Lou had raised his sword hectically in defense only for it to fly out of his hands before he could react. Lou had stared at Tate dumbly with his jaw on the ground and his sword hand smarting.
From that day forward Lou was a different person. Tate had become his idol, and through much hard work on Lou's part weaseling past the closed-off boy's defenses he became his "apprentice." The title of "apprentice" was not an official position at the Dragon Academy but it was what people started calling him after watching him follow Tate so persistently for so long. His friends had secretly cheered when Tate had finally begrudgingly agreed to give him private lessons and his enemies made fun of him. Lou didn't care who cheered or jeered at his success, he just wanted to know everything Tate knew no matter what it took. At first, a part of Lou had worried that Tate's lack of dragon would hinder his mentor but that was soon proved false. Under Tate's almost indifferent guidance, Lou and Lancec soon scored top marks in every subject to do with actual dragon riding. When it came to regular academics he was mediocre at best, but it wasn't something that he cared much about.
All his life growing up Lou had dreamed of becoming a Dragon Rider. When his wish had come true he'd been over the moon. Dragon riding was Lou's life and passion and Lancec was his world. Having Tate as his mentor was just the icing on the cake, looking back now he wouldn't be where he was today if not for Tate.
"I've only been gone a week," Tate said answering Lou's greeting at last.
"I know, but that's a long time for me, I would follow Big Brother anywhere."
"I've told you not to call me Big Brother," Tate said with a sigh as he reached for the last of the three eggs.
Lou pretended not to hear him. "So, Big Brother, how is it going? Are you ready for the Choosing? I can't believe the Emperor entrusted you personally with transporting, cleaning, displaying, and monitoring the eggs. If it was me I'd be so nervous about dropping one. What an honor for you to be asked personally. I've never met the emperor is he nice or terrifying?" Lou went on and on uninterrupted for a while. He was a talkative kid and Tate was used to his rapid-fire questions that didn't leave room for a response and changes of subject. "There hasn't been anyone chosen since my year, what do you think of this year's chances?" Lou asked, and miracle of miracles he shut up to hear an actual answer.
Tate's mouth tilted up at the corners with affection for his apprentice as he replied. "How should I know, it's up to the eggs. I'm their keeper today, not their mind reader."
Lou nodded and his gaze looked thoughtful. His face suddenly brightened. "Hey, wouldn't it be so cool to know what dragonlings are thinking inside their eggs?"
Tate shook his head. "Honestly I hope they are mostly dreaming and not thinking much at all."
Lou looked surprised. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, think about it. Eggs can sit for hundreds of years or more unhatched as they wait for the right master. Wouldn't it be incredibly boring to be fully aware for that long, any creature would go mad from it." He said simply.
"Hummm, you have a point."
Tate gestured to the egg he had put down on Lou's arrival "Take this egg for instance, I'm sure you know it." Lou did indeed know it. He looked at it properly and remembered his own Choosing. He'd placed his hand on this legendary egg that was said to be almost eight hundred years old but had never hatched. He remembered how the hair on his arms had stood on end and how he'd been relieved to take his hand away and move on to the next egg, which joyfully had been Lancec's egg.
"Can you imagine eight hundred years completely alone with your thoughts?"
Lou nodded and decided that he agreed with his mentor. He hoped the little dragonlings were dreaming of nice things or were not thinking at all.
Tate interrupted his thoughts. "While you're here, help me straighten the silks, the Choosing will be starting shortly." Lou nodded and jumped in to help his mentor.
By the time they were done, Lou had also helped arrange the eggs on display, sent away a few gawkers who were standing too close, and bowed with his mentor to greet the Emperor and the Empress as they arrived to take their seats underneath the large, covered pavilion under which the Choosing was taking place. Their guards surrounded them and pushed the crowds back and the expected line of noble children began to form at the bottom of the steps to await their turn to touch the eggs. There was not a common child among those in line, it was not expressly forbidden for a commoner to join in on the choosing, nowhere was that written into a law. The reason only the children of the nobility lined up was that in all the time that the Choosing had been taking place no child of common birth had ever been chosen. Now it was just assumed that it wasn't possible and it had become the preconceived notion that only the nobility were worthy of a dragon. Tate wasn't sure if this was actually the case, but he was one of the few people who had studied the long history of the choosing. Either way, at this point in the Empire of Lya's history there wasn't much point in trying to change the tradition.
Tate looked out at the candidates and wondered if any of them would succeed in hatching an egg. The people of the city were lined up and down the streets straining to see from their positions behind the security agents of the City Guard. Tate looked at his master, the Emperor, and nodded that all was ready to begin. The Emperor looked at Tate and nodded back. He stood to open his mouth, and a hush fell over the square. Before words could leave the powerful man's throat a yell broke the silence.
"Stop that mangy street urchin, stop that thief!" A girl broke through the City Guard without effort because she was so small. Her eyes were wild and her clothes were tatters. In her hands, she clutched a piece of bread. A man tried to break through the guards and kept yelling that she was a thief. Several of the City Guards and the members of the Emperor's Guard unsheathed their swords. She was running so fast, she was only a blur in her panic. She darted this way and that, like a mouse caught in a trap, Tate watched her uncoordinated movements, his body in an unconscious state of readiness. He didn't move until she was too close to the table of eggs his muscles twitched, but in the end, it happened so fast that Tate had just shifted his weight to move and shove her away from the precious artifacts. Eyes spinning, she tripped and slammed into the table of eggs seemingly so terrified that she was unaware of her surroundings. The table shook and the eggs rocked precariously on their resting places. Everything seemed to move in slow motion but nothing felt slower than his own body as he tried to reach her. Time seemed so slow that he was able to take in every detail of her eyes landing on what was in front of her. Her eyes stilled their wildness and widened in something that might have been terror or shock as the white and silver egg rocked once, twice, three times on its silks before the shell made contact with her small knuckles. The moment her hand made contact, the world went into chaos.