EATING GRAPES AFTER CHEWING MINT GUM IS LIKE HAVING THE ARCTIC IN YOUR MOUTH

Emilia Rook, resident of lower Ravenspire jogged through the city as she headed for the square. Despite being officially labelled as a city, Emilia though Ravenspire looked more like a large town. The lower part of Ravenspire especially as it was nowhere near as modern as the upper half... but I guess you could call it quaint? The square was located in Upper Ravenspire and it was here that Emilia would have the chance to see if she was bonded to any of Ravenspire's dragons.

Ravenspire has always been known for it's abundance of dragons, more so than any other place in the world. It has always been a tradition in Ravenspire to take in dragon eggs from all over the world when they are found abandoned, or sometimes, willingly given up by the parents. These eggs are kept in a hatchery, sometimes for hundreds of years before they finally hatch. Because of this, it is here that most people find the dragon or dragons they are bonded to.... or not as the case may be. Not everyone is bonded to a dragon, though the total number of these people is very few. Most just do not find the dragon they are bonded to within their lifetime.

Emilia stopped at a house on the way and knocked on the door.
"WIL. ARE YOU UP YET!?" she shouted, not wanting to be late for the ceremony.

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So yea. Emilia's appearance goes like this. She has long blonde hair and blue eyes.
What she wears on the top half of her body is stylised sorta like the picture below, only it's a lot shorter and less flowing and isn't a dress. It's just looks a lot like the dress if you catch my drift. She wears pale blue three quarter length trousers and like.. simple converse like shoes.

Yea you've already seen this:

I would attempt to draw what I mean but I am horrific at drawing people as of right now. I need anatomy practice xD

Wil groaned as she sat up amongst her blankets and pillows. She rubbed her eyes and winced when she discovered the time via the clock on her wall. "Yiiikes. Never on time for anything am I?" She wrinkled up her nose as she yawned, clambering out of bed and throwing on her outfit for the day. She groaned again when she saw her hair in the mirror. It was times like these that she wished she had chopped it all off. With a sigh she brushed it, yelping in pain every so often when the bristles caught on the knots.

Jogging downstairs, Wil struggled to hop and put her foot in her shoe at the same time. She faceplanted at the base of the staircase soon after her third attempt. "Morning Emi," she spoke into the floor as Emilia's calls reached her ears. She stood back up, straightened her clothes nervously, and stepped out into the sunshine. "Ahhhh~" She mock sighed. "Smell that nice polluted morning air~" She grinned vibrantly and then dashed ahead, taking no careful precautions to keep her clothes looking nice at all. This is why her once spotless shoes ended up thoroughly coated in mud before she was even half way to the square.

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Spoiler:

Emilia laughed as she pushed open her friend's front door to see Wilona's face on the ground at the base of the staircase. Once they were out of the house she began walking towards Upper Ravenspire once again.
"Well put it this way, you might not have to smell it for much longer."

This wasn't the first time the duo had been to a Solstice ceremony in the square, but every time they had gone, it had been to no avail. Neither of them had met a dragon they were bonded to, though they never gave up hope. A dragon needed to learn to fly before it could be included in the ceremonies, so of course the dragons there changed every time. Some would find their destined partners, others would be stuck in Ravenspire for years... and some would leave, deciding they would rather live out their lives than wait for a human who may have already passed on.

They reached the square in record time, Emilia keeping her own clothes rather clean, unlike Wil. Emi immediately began to mingle in with the crowd, attempting to get a place nearer to the front.

Once the duo had reached the ceremony, Wil stretched her neck and waddled along on her tip toes as long as she could in an attempt to spot the dragons who were participating in the ceremony. She pouted when she realized that Emi was no where to be found and then proceeded to shove people not so kindly out of her way. Younger people were usually given the ability to stand closer to the front seeing as the peak time for dragons and humans to be bonded was twelve. This fact made shoving others out of her way a lot simpler than it could have been.

After finally reaching the front, Wil slowed to a stop and stared in awe. Before her were dozens of dragons, scales shimmering in the sun, eyes bright and naive, although they were old by human standards. She imagined herself riding them, high above the clouds. Perhaps it would be that bright sunflower yellow one? Or maybe that purple one? Or even that one with the peculiar stripes! She laughed when one flapped its wings to stretch them and created a huge wind that whipped her hair about.

For a long moment, there was no one but Wil and the dragons. However, she soon realized that she still had no clue where Emi had run off to. She reluctantly turned away from the dragons and squinted across the crowd. "Emiiii~" She called, not moving in a hope to keep her spot at the front.

Emilia was not far away. She had also gotten a space near the front of the crowd and was staring in awe at one dragon in particular. She had glanced over one with beautiful silver scales and her gaze had rested on with with emerald green scales and a paler, creamy coloured belly. Her wings, which were furled neatly by her sides were the same colour as her scales, though when she stretched her wings, you could see that the undersides were brown like the leaves in the fall. The dragon also had a line of fur stretching from what looked to be almost like her shoulders, to the base of her tail.

Dragon looks like this only she has wings like I described and only small horns on her head, not trees xD:

Emi heard Wilona's voice and reluctantly pulled herself away from where she was standing to go and find her. Once she arrived next to her friend, she smiled.
"Hey again Wil. Sorry I disappeared like that."
After she rejoined with her friend, she glanced at the dragons again. Despite how much she had been enchanted by the leafy dragon, no one else seemed to be looking at her... at least not in the way she did. They were all more concerned with the silver one and the one with the odd stripes. She frowned, wondering why no one else seemed to appreciate her.

"It's fine." Wil waved her off, turning back towards the dragons once more. She heard a noise and noticed something shifting in the shadows of the tower on the corner. Squinting, she soon was able to make out a shape. The longer she observed, the clearer the details appeared. She gasped and stepped back. The shape was a huge black scaled dragon and it's bright yellow eyes were peering directly at Wil. She wondered why it was sitting all by its self and she soon began to wonder how she had missed him. He (For she could tell he was a male), was massive but still didn't appear to be over twenty years older than the other dragons. She leaned forwards and attempted to make out more detail.

He appeared to be as black as obsidian with scales that seemed to capture the dark. Wil found herself wondering whether he shimmered in the sunlight like the others did. His wings were furled tight against his body and he looked as if he was looking down on the other dragons as if he wished to join them. She was contemplating why he didn't join them when she was jolted back into awareness by a loud trumpeting sound.

Spoiler:

Down the street came the representative of Ravenspire, otherwise known as Sir Richard Whittmore. He was smiling fondly at the people of Ravenspire and the dragons that were gathered along the square as he came to a stop and stepped up to a podium. The source of the trumpeting noise, Whittmore's dragon Blue Starstreak , was padding along behind him, nodding at the humans and the dragons alike. Her body and wings were blue, her face with dashes of gold and her wings lined with gold. She paused at the side of the podium, beside of her bond partner.

"My lovely citizens of Ravenspire," Whittmore began, speaking into the mic and gesturing widely with his arms. "I will not bore you with an obscenely long speech, but will explain the basics, as always, so that our newer members can understand." He paused and beamed brightly at a child who could be no older than six who was sat atop his father's shoulders. "Today we are gathered to find who these dragons," he gestured to the group of dragons the crowd had been gawking at, "And you humans of course," He grinned a bit "are to be bonded to for life." He went on to explain a few more points that Wil had known for ages and thus, she zoned out.

"Now that I have you all thoroughly bored, let the bonding commence!" Whittmore grinned brightly and stepped away from the podium.

Wil straightened up at turned back to the dragons. She closed her eyes and listened.

Emilia smiled as Whittmore appeared on the stand and gave the same speech that he gave every Solstice Ceremony. She did as she always did and stood admiring Blue Starstreak throughout the speech. Her colouring was so unique and since first seeing the dragon, she had never seen another like it.

When the speech was over and the Ceremony began, she too closed her eyes and listened.
There was a tense moment where nothing happened, before a hesitant "H-hello..?" appeared in her mind.
Emilia blinked, her eyes flying open. The voice still echoes in her mind as she glanced around to see which dragon it had come from. Realising this probably wouldn't help, she closed them again to help her concentrate.
"Hello!" she imagined herself saying it in a cheerful voice, replying to the dragon who had managed to speak with her. All the times she had been to the ceremony she had wondered what a dragon might say to try and attract their partner's attention. A simple greeting seemed to do the trick just fine.

"Emilia?" the voice in her head replied, "Where are you?"
Emi was too ecstatic to wonder how the dragon knew her name and so instead replied out loud.
"Here!"

Some of the members of the crowd just stared at her as she raised her hand from her position at the front of the crowd. That is, they stares until one of the dragons flapped their wings again and took a few tentative steps towards her. It was the leafy one. The same one she had seen earlier and had been almost enchanted by. She seemed to have an expression of almost smiling on her face as she slowly but surely padded over to the front of the crowd. Emilia held her hand out to the dragon as she had seen so many do before her and the leafy dragon nudged her head into her hand. This was the universal symbol that showed the crowd that the dragon had found it's partner. And indicator to the Ravenspire representative to congratulate the new duo.

Emi grinned and petted the leafy dragon's snout. She had golden scales on the tip of her nose.
"What's your name?" asked Emilia out loud.
"Whispering Leaf-fall," replied the dragon, quietly but with a happy tone to her voice.

Wil cracked one eye open to watch Emi bond with the leafy dragon. She grinned widely, extremely happy for her friend. However, she couldn't help feeling a pang of sorrow that she hadn't found her dragon yet. She closed her eyes again in the hopes of her own dragon finding her. She wasn't really sure what was going to happen, but she knew she was supposed to listen.

The last thing she was expecting was a deep voice to boom in her head, however.. She squeaked a bit and hopped backwards. She heard the voice make an odd noise, as if not knowing whether to chuckle or be respectful. "Hello young one. Are you the one called Wilona?" Wil wrinkled her nose. She responded via thought, seeing as that was where the voice was coming from. "I prefer the name Wil, thanks. Who are you? Wait." Suddenly it all clicked. This was what she was listening for! This was the voice of her dragon! "Where are you? Which one are you?"

Suddenly, the large dragon from the shadows broke free from the shade. He strode into the light, sunbeams bouncing off of his black scales. "I am here, Wyll." The dragon made a peculiar sound when he pronounced Wil's name, one that could only be described as ancient.

Wil gulped and shakily walked forwards. She stretched her palm up to the large dragon who nuzzled it in turn. "What is your name?" He blinked slowly before answering. "I am called Armored Night."

A few days later....

"Alright then Whisper. Let's try this again."
It had been three days since the Solstice Ceremony and Emi was getting on swimmingly with her new dragon. They had already created some memories that would be fit for any scrapbook or diary. On the evening of the second day, they had flown off to one of the hills near Upper Ravenspire to watch the sun as it set, falling asleep there on the grass. Emilia had woken to find Whispering Leaf-fall curled around her to protect her from the cold.

Now, they were back on that same hill attempting to try some aerial tricks. Whisper's wings were powerful, but she wasn't as speedy as some dragons were. What she lacked in speed however, she made up for with grace.
Emilia positioned herself once again on Whisper's back before the leafy dragon took off. She did a spin in the air before diving downwards and skimming the grassy ground with her tail.
"Lets see if we can spot Wil," she grinned.

In the three days since the Solstice Ceremony, Wil and Night had been mostly flying leisurely and learning about the culture of the other. Wil would lie down along Night's back, believing she was perfectly safe and Night would glide over the thermals that rose up in the hills. Presently, the duo were playing a very peculiar game. Well, peculiar to Night. He didn't really understand the concept of Hide and Seek.

"Night! You have to hide! I'm supposed to go look for you. When I find you, I win. Buuut if I can't find you, you win and then come out," Wil explained for the tenth time.

"But why would I hide from you, Wyll? I am perfectly safe, there is no reason to be hiding."

Wil sighed dramatically. She flopped herself down on the ground and gave up on him. Night made a rumbling noise that reminded Wil of a purring cat as he settled down and curled around Wil. She started up a running game of theirs. "What can you smell?"

"I smell new life growing. There are seedlings all around. The people in Ravenspire are celebrating something. I believe it is what you would call a 'birthday.'" He began the list of scents that were around.

Wil stopped him. "Hold on, what's that?" She squinted up at an emerald dot in the sky which appeared to be coming closer and closer. Night stared and sniffed for a bit before announcing "It is the pair called Whispering Leaf-fall and Emilia."

"They're down there," smiled Whisper, nodding her head to indicate where Wilona and Armoured Night were. Unlike Wil's dragon, Whispering Leaf-fall seemed to speak in a more modern manner. Whether she had just decided to do this or whether she had always spoken like that was to be determined. Emilia asked Whisper to land and the emerald dragon did so, gently touching down on the ground near to the darker dragon.

She lay down so that Emi could get off her back before rising again and padding over to the duo.
"Hey Wil!" grinned Emilia.
Whisper nodded her head to Armoured Night as a polite greeting.
"Hello," she smiled

Wil sat up, back resting against Night's side. "Hey!" She called brightly. She had been fooling about with Night for the past few days and hadn't seen Emi for quite some time. "Sit down, let's have a chat." She grinned crookedly.

"Hello." Wil had told Night earlier that he gave off a vaguely scary aura so he attempted to be a bit more charming in his greeting. He attempted a smile and ended up with a really strange snarl/smirk hybrid.

Wil snorted with laughter. "You tried."

Emilia laughed and sat down, giving room for Whispering Leaf-fall to curl around her as she liked to do.
"Hi there," she smiled to Wil's dragon even though she knew he couldn't personally reply. She thought it just courteous to greet him. After all, dragons were revered creatures whose powers were not fully understood.

Whisper laughed quietly at Armoured Night's attempt at a smile, Emi smiled, having heard the pleasant noise of her dragon's laugh in her mind.

"How have you been these past few days Wil?" she asked.

Armored Night nodded to Emi in greeting. He laid his head back on his feet, keeping his yellow eyes on Wil.

Wil thought for a moment. "Eh, pretty good. It's hard to be in a bad mood on the back of a dragon!" She grinned. Night's 'ears' twitched in agreement.

"What about you and Whisper? What have you been up to? And what the heck do you want to do, I'm booored~" Wil moaned. Night rolled his eyes, having already gotten used to Wil's moaning and sarcastic comments.

"True," she chuckled, thinking back to just now when they had been flying, the wind blowing through her hair as Whisper carried her over the hills.

"We've been great!" she grinned before chuckling in an almost nervous way.
"Whisper's been answering my many questions."

The leafy dragon seemed to chuckle at Emilia as she heard her say this. She sure did ask a lot of questions.

"How can you be bored already?" asked Emi in disbelief. They had just gotten dragons! There would never be a dull moment in their lives again!