Chapter Five


Lilly slowly, reluctantly opened her eyes. Lyra had, again, interrupted her midday nap. Oh, well. Who would want to sleep when rambunctions little Lyra wanted to play?

Lilly pulled herself from the bed, and was greeted by her Draconic companion. The elegant Cerulean Blue had become a Dragonet at last. Her wings were growing, and she was quite a bit larger than before. Her head reached Lilly's shoulders!



"Hey there, little lady!" Lilly laughed.

Hi, Lyra said. She was developing a vibrant, cheery mental voice. It seemed to be sky blue in tone, reflecting her glistening scales. You be up out bed happy now?

Hoping she understood Lyra's youthfull jibberish, Lilly nodded. "Yes, I'm awake. What do you need?"

Much people be at door, Lyra said firmly. May, Iva, Legi. They much want see you.

Maya, Ivan, and Legatus were here. Lilly wondered what they wanted. "Well," she said, "we'd better go see them, right?"

Yes! Lyra cried, scurrying out to the living room. Lilly followed. She paused at her door, glancing up at the fancy framed certificate on her wall. 'This document states that Lilly Tempelton is an official Guardian of a Glenn Dragon.' She had received it after Legatus had deemed her test one-hundred percent correct. All that studying and instinct had paid off big-time.

"Hey!" Maya said happily as Lilly entered the living room. Ivan was there, too, grinning. "What's up?"

"Not much here," Lilly sighed, stretching. "Lovely Dragonet Lyra just woke me from a nap. Isn't she gorgeous?"

"She really is," Ivan said. The smile wouldn't leave his face. "We have something to show you, too, Lilly."

"They do," Legatus said, placing his hands on the two teenager's shoulders. "You see, they quite envied you for having such a beautiful companion. As a little treat for them, I got in contact with an old friend of mine who prefers to go by The Master Dreamer. She runs Skyhaven Keep, a lovely place with all kinds of exotic creatures available for adoption. I took Maya and Ivan there, and they found some friends of their own. If they would be so kind as to introduce the new residents of our Walled City...?"

As Lilly watched eagerly, Maya pulled something from her sweater. It was a glistening egg. Nothing special about it. However, as Lilly looked closer, she noticed a small crack running the length of the purple ovoid.

"She hasn't hatched yet," Maya explained, "but she should any time now. I'm naming her Sethifolovar. Sef," she said quickly, noticing Lilly's confused expression.

Ivan, eager to contribute to the discussion, stepped up. "Now, I am pleased to introduce...Isicha--" Ivan looked behind himself, and, seeing nothing there, he sighed with exhaustion. He stepped over to the door, and opened it. "ISICHAR!" he shouted.

An indignant squawk was the reply to his call. Moments later, an elegant, peacock-like bird hopped into the room. It looked normal, except for the fact that its feathers were all a vibrant, shining blue-grey. Its entire body seemed to glow with a spectacular aura, expecially its eyes.



The bird stared dryly up at Ivan, as if to ask "what?" It glanced over at Lilly, and squawked again in recognition. In greeting to the Dragon present, however, it touched its beak breifly to the ground before glaring back up at Ivan.

"This is Isichar," Ivan sighed, scratching the bird behind its head plumage. "He's a stubborn little bird. A phoenix, I believe. He just decided to hop onto my shoulder as I was walking through his room. He wouldn't leave, so I just brought him back with me. He's great, just a big feathery jerk-wad sometimes."

Isichar trilled with pride.

"My egg will hatch into a gryphon," Maya said. "Sef will be a purple variety. Are we surprised at all?"

"No," Ivan said quickly. "Isichar's an Air plumage variety. He's got gorgeous plumage, in my opinion."

"This is Lyra," Lilly said dryly. "She's a Dragon."

"LOOK!" Maya cried, distracting everyone from the friendly fued taking place. Her egg's crack was widening. She gently laid the egg on the soft carpet on Lilly's floor. Man and beast alike watched as the egg shattered, revealing Sef.



Maya was speechless. Love for her new friend radiated in her eyes. She gently scratched the baby gryphon's soft down with her fingertip. The creature looked up at her, and, after a moment's thought, decided on its mother. Sef crawled over to Maya on wobbly legs, and Maya lifted the hatching into her lap.

"She's...beautiful!" Maya whispered, biting her lip. "All that incubation crap was worth it, wouldn't you say?"

"You bet," Ivan said. "Geez, I wish Isichar had fur." He quickly took back what he said after a nip on the ear from a very indignant phoenix.

"She is beautiful," Legatus said. The three kids had almost forgotten he was there, and they looked up in surprise.

"Congratulations, Maya," Legatus said, nodding, "but let us not forget the other reason we came to Lilly today. It is time for our Guardian to return the the spotlight, at least for a little while. Lilly, it is time for you and Lyra to begin your training."

Lilly blinked, and then remembered. She wasn't just raising this Dragon for fun. She was going to protect her city! She groaned.

"Yes," Legatus said, "the less pleasurable half of the Job, to be sure. However, it is necessary, and you will need to report to the mountain base tomorrow morning. Wear something comfortable. Maya, Ivan, Isichar, Sef, you are welcome to attend if you so choose."

The four nodded in appreciation, and Legatus beckoned to Lilly and Lyra. "I'll need you bright and early," he said. "About 6:30. I'll see you then."

Lilly, still shellshocked, nodded. "Come," Legatus said. Lilly then noticed that Legatus's grey Morsani had been present the entire time. She had been so relaxed around it! Lyra didn't seem all too impressed with the creature, and was trying to avoid it as much as possible.

Scary! whimpered the Dragon, scurrying over to Lilly as the morsani looked at them. The cat-like creature simply waved its tail, and trotted away after its master.

"You two should probably leave Lilly alone as well," Legatus said, beckoning to Maya and Ivan. "She needs to rest and concentrate. She's in for a hard training tomorrow, I'm sure. Come along, now."

"Bye, Lilly!" all three called, accompanied by chirps and meows from the respective creatures. They stepped out the door, and closed it. Lilly, watching out the window, was slightly amused at Maya fussing over Sef the entire walk away, while Ivan was struggling with Isichar, who seemed to want to stay and fly around some more. Legatus's morsani was perched on his shoulder, calmly surveying the forest around it. It was really quite beautiful, in its own way, just like Sef and Isichar.

Lilly was quite happy for her friends, really. She knew they would enjoy their new friends immensly. Just as she enjoyed having Lyra around to talk to.



That night, Lilly could be found gazing out the window of her room. She could see outside onto the walls of the dome. She shook her head, thinking about her family. She wondered how they were. She knew that Legatus would allow them to visit someday. She wasn't quite sure why they hadn't come already.

Well, she'd ask him tomorrow at training. She began to think. A few months ago, she would have reveled at him and called him High Governor, Sir. Now, she just called him Legatus, like a good friend. Which was kind of what he was becoming. Like...a father to her. Or, perhaps, a grandfather, she thought, chuckling to herself. I should really get to bed, she thought to herself. Lyra's already asleep, and I need some rest for tomorrow.

She was about to turn away from the window, when she saw a flash of movement. She jumped slightly, and squinted out into the forests. She saw a flash of blue in the trees near the clearing. She tried to look closer.

At that moment, a powder-blue horse trotted into the clearing. Its mane and tail seemed to be somehow transparent or translucent, and Lilly could see the surrounding forest through them. It looked up at her with dark eyes, and she knew that it knew she was watching it, somehow or other. It stood stock-still for a moment, before galloping away into the depths of the forest.

Lilly gazed after it, transfixed. There had been something distinctly strange about that horse, but she couldn't decide what. She figured that it was another hologram projected from the mechanisms that surrounded her dome. But, when it had run, and when it had looked at her...it just seemed so real.

Well, she'd have to sleep on the matter. She crawled into her bed, yawning softly as she pulled the warm covers over her shoulders. In seconds, she was nearly asleep. As she drifted off, she could have sworn she heard a soft whinny, but it was probably a product of her horse-filled dreams of the powder-blue thundering over the plains, wild and free.



The next morning, Lilly awoke to a sharp nip on the finger. She looked at the clock. 6:00! She needed to be with Legatus in half an hour!

Normally, this would be no problem. However, the walk down the mountain was a long one, and a hard one. She groaned, and jumped out of bed.

She somehow managed to eat her breakfast of buttered bread in the shower, not minding her meal a bit damp. She scrambled out, dried herself, and put on a comfy sweatsuit. She quickly brushed her teeth and hair, and burst out the door with Lyra at her heels.

She made it down the mountian by 6:45, and stumbled into the clearing where she had seen the powder-blue horse last night. She looked around briefly, and didn't see any tracks. She must have been imagining things.

"Ah, there you are," Legatus said, emerging from the shadowy forest. "I was waiting for you. Don't worry, it takes a while to get into the routine, eh?"

Lilly heartily agreed.

"Now," Legatus said firmly, "it is time for you to begin your training."

Legatus said it in such an abrupt, no-nonsense manner, that Lilly got chills. "Yes, sir," she said quickly. Lyra, who had been sniffing the nearby flowers, perked up as well.

"Before we begin work on fighting tactics," Legatus began, "we must perfect the fundamentals of your partnership. Our first step is obedience. You must learn to follow each other's commands." At Lilly's confused expression, he added, "Lyra will have important commands as well, you know."

Lilly and Lyra were silent, awaiting their first instructious.

Legatus nodded in approval. "All right, Lyra, do you respect Lilly?"

Yes, Lyra said, nodding her head vigerously.

"Lilly, do you respect Lyra?"

"Yes."

"Then this should be easy." Legatus beckoned to Lilly, showed her a large rubber ball, and proceeded to blindfold her. He then rolled the ball away from Lilly, and out farther into the clearing. Lilly listened, and Lyra watched. Both were slightly confused at the whole thing.

"Lyra," Legatus said as he began to spin Lilly around. "You'll need to give your partner directions in order to retrieve that rubber ball. Ready, Set, Go."

Legatus whipped out a digital stopwatch, and began to time the two. Lilly wited patiently for some kind of mental contact from Lyra. Finally, her patience was rewarded.

Start walking forward.

Lilly began to walk forward.

Okay, looking good. No, left a little...right...ah, you've walked right past it! No, turn to your right, aaand...stop! Perfect! Now, walk forward one step at a time...riiight...no, you've kicked it! Wait...yes, you're right on it! Bend over...you've got it.

Lilly grasped the cool ball in her hands, and removed the blindfold. She saw Legatus stop the stopwatch.

"Four minutes, fifty-two seconds. Five minutes, basically. Not bad, for your first session. Okay, switch places."

Lyra covered her bright green eyes with a blindfold, whirled around in a circle enough to disorient herself, and the whole process started over again.

"Walk forward...turn left...slow down, you'll hurt yourself! Right...."




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