Prologue
"Congratulations." A voice whispered into Adia's ear from behind her. She could not help but roll her eyes at the fact that the voice was male.
"How does it feel? To finally be out of training?" The voice said again and Igor stepped in front of her, a cocky grin on his casually handsome face. The man had dark brown hair that fell into his brown eyes before framing his face. His body was built and he knew girls often took a moment to take an extra glance over him.
Adia was not one of those girls. She never would be.
"It feels wonderful!" She said, smiling at him with her mouth, but not with her amber eyes. With this man, she had perfected the art of hiding her contempt for him and his continuous advances. After all, she had put up with them, put up with him, for the five years that it took to train. Now she was 'legally' a rider, the rules set up for trainees no longer applied to her. Unfortunately, it seemed like Igor no longer had to hide his advances in dark corners and suggestive glances. Figuring she should keep up her normal level of constant glee, Adia continued.
"I mean, come on. We've worked for five years and now we can finally get jobs!" This brought the thought she had been trying to ignore back to the front of her mind. Once riders graduated, they chose a job. If you were good enough and showed enough potential, a job was offered to you.
"Or…" Igor purred, "We could hang around, and enjoy the freedom of no longer being trainees." He took a step towards her, slipping his arms around her short, but nicely curved frame. "What do you say?" He pressed himself against her.
Adia thought she was going to be sick. Trying to hold down her stomach, she pushed herself out of Igor's grip and forced a smile on her lips.
"I don't think so Igor." She said, trying to once again get him to lay off. "We all know how I'm a workaholic, and you…really aren't my type."
His grin turned into a sneer. "What? You don't think that once I bed you I'll be loyal?"
Adia ran a hand through her very short, spiked blonde, tan, and light brown hair, really not wanting to explain her view to this man.
"I could really care less if you slept around after sleeping with me." She replied frankly, suddenly really wanting to check the Notice board.
"Then why won't you give me a try?" His look became sly. "I can do all sorts of-"
"Because you aren't female and don't have luscious boobs, Igor." She snapped, cutting him off. A grin of triumph graced her face at his baffled and stunned expression. "Yeah, so. If I'm gay, what does that make you?" A smirk was glued to her face when she turned away from him.
With that annoyance taken care of, she strode in the general direction of the common buildings. She wanted to check the Notices, and then of course spend the rest of the day with Kaejht. After all, it was the first day after graduation. She had plans with him, and her best friend Taiyls, to play an epic game of tag over the deep waters.
As Adia rounded a corner, she almost ran straight into Taiyls, who appeared to be rushing somewhere, and came to a stop before her stunningly beautiful friend. It always confused her as to why Taiyls was her friend. The woman was a little older than her, and she looked it. Her hair was long, and blonde, while Adia's was short and various colors. Taiyls saw the world through bright blue eyes, where Adia's were a shimmering amber, a color that people often found odd or creepy. Their heights were a half a foot difference with Adia being the lesser. Even their clothes were worlds apart, Taiyls wearing dressy black pants, a nice collared button up white shirt and a dark blue sleeveless jacket that fell to her ankles and Adia wearing ripped jeans, a faded t-shirt, and a zip up sweatshirt that probably did nothing to keep in the warmth.
But still, when Taiyls ran into her friend, she bent and gave Adia a very friendly kiss of greeting.
Oh yeah! Adia thought, That's why she's my friend!
"Hi!" Adia said excitedly once Taiyls released her. However pleased she was by a kiss, it was not something she often got and the excited gleam in Taiyls' eyes told her something was up.
"Have you seen the Notice board?" The taller woman asked, her voice smooth and almost silky, but kind and caring at the same time.
"No, why?"
Without an answer, Taiyls grabbed Adia's hand and dragged her through the streets until they came up to the huge Notice board just inside the doors to the main meeting hall, where all the riders went to hear what was going on in their little island of a world. Adia scanned over the 'Requests' sheet that had been posted somewhere around one in the morning. When her eyes found her name she screamed with joy, throwing her arms around Taiyls.
"You and I are both Trackers?" She asked, her voice a little too loud and her words a little too fast.
Taiyls chuckled at her. "Yes, I already accepted for both of us. They were very pleased to have us. I also requested that we be on the same team."
Unable to contain her utter joy, Adia squeezed Taiyls tighter. "I love you!" She squealed. "Only…. You know…. Not."
Taiyls laughed as Adia let go of her and started running.
"Where are you going?" She called, completely used to her friend's behavior.
"To tell Kaejht!" Adia called back, spinning for just a second to answer.
The other woman laughed. "Chances are Saojra already did!"
"If she did, I'll skin her and make a very pretty silver coat out of her!"
Once again, Taiyls just laughed.
Though it was at the very edge of the base it did not take long for Adia to get to the dragon grounds at a full sprint. Finding her dragon, on the other hand, was a completely different challenge. Impatient, Adia ran to the random gate(that had no fence on either side of it) and did something she almost never did. She turned to the small dragon there(a dragon about the size of a very large horse) and bowed slightly to it.
"Excuse me, can you call Kaejht for me?" The girl asked the beast.
In its eyes, it smiled before it raised its startlingly loud call into the air above. All the dragons on the base could speak multiple languages, they had to so they could speak to the people who came from all over the world, they also had a language amongst themselves to make it easier for them to communicate with each other when their partners were not around. It was also natural for them, and the riders did whatever they could, whenever they could, to make things natural for their dragons.
The Caller dragon looked at Adia, the smile still in its eyes.
"He has been very anxious to see you." Now that it had spoken, Adia could tell the Caller was a female.
Adia grinned. "Has he now? Can he really not go a night without seeing me?"
Before the small dragon had time to reply, a roar above them caused them both to look up, and Adia to brighten with a huge smile.
A large steal grey shape came barreling towards the earth, only to stop at the last second, landing lightly on claws that could have easily held onto Adia. The dragon was indeed large, but only so big that only three people could fit on his neck and shoulders, where as some could carry ten to fifteen. He did not have a particularly long or narrow body, but his tail was the length of of beasts three times his size. His spine was smooth all the way up to a small horn that was on his nose. His features were round and pleasant. Perfect, he had found, for nuzzling beloved riders. Which he did very often.
"Adia." He said in his deep, pleasant rumble that always gave her shivers. "I missed you late last night."
"I know lovely." She crooned, going away from the gate so she could speak to her dragon on her own. "But I had to go to the ceremony."
Kaejht sighed, ruffling her short hair with his breath. "I do not think they should have had that. If you are ready, you are ready. There is no need for your name to be called and for people to stand up and cheer for you."
The girl shook her head at the dragon running her hand over his scaly hide. "But it is an honor. And besides, if I had not been there they might not have found us ready."
He perked up a little. "Ready?"
"Yes." She smiled. "We were chosen to be Trackers."
A shiver and pleasure ran down the creature's body. "Adia, I'm so happy." The girl kissed her dragon on the nose and he continued. "Saojra was telling me that she had a secret for me." He mumbled. "But obviously she would not tell me. Was this the secret?"
Adia smiled. "Probably part of it. The other part is that we might be paired with her and Taiyls."
Kaejht went up onto his hind legs and flapped his wings a few times in excitement. Unsure of what else to do, he lifted his head into the air and called for his friend.
No need to call to me so loudly. A train of thought said in both their minds as a silver dragon dropped to the ground beside them. I am usually eves dropping on you anyway.
Saojra, since the day she had been born, had not been able to use her voice but had been gifted with the power of telepathy. All dragons were born looking different no matter their genes and they all had some type of gift that would help them in their life. But they only ever had one. Saojra had telepathy, Kaejht could become invisible while making whoever was currently riding him invisible as well.
Besides Kaejht, Saojra was an interesting contrast, just like their riders. Only this time, Kaejht was considered the more impressive. Saojra was on the small side, only being able to bear two riders. She was tall, her neck nice and long, with her tail as long as her neck. Her wings were large, making her a good flyer, but her light, shining silver coloring made her easy to pick out and an easy target. Where Kaejht's features were smooth, Saojra was sharp and angular. Her muzzle was narrow, her scales armor like, and spines trailed down her back, leaving two places for people to sit at her neck and shoulders before growing along her spine to the tip of her tail. Though many dragons shunned her for being a 'mute' and almost wicked looking, Adia thought she was just as wondrous as her rider.
The silver head angled low and blew gently on Adia, looking at the girl through surprisingly black eyes. Taiyls comes. She has news.
Sure enough, five minutes later, Taiyls showed up, out of breath, clearly not as in shape as Adia was.
"Adia…" She gasped, trying to breath. "We're paired together, pack your bags, we need to leave."
Taiyls was about to leave but her friend grabbed her.
"Why? What's wrong?"
Taking a deep breath, the blonde spilled all she knew. "All the Base Leaders are having their Trackers sent out. There were apparently a series of thefts last year." She smiled weekly. "They thought they would be able to hunt them down by now, but they haven't had any luck. Since now is about the time they would hatch, we have to go out and find them."
Adia logged all this into her mind. "Where are we being sent?"
The corners of Taiyls' mouth twitched. "America."
In the stunned silence that followed, Taiyls climbed onto Saojra and took off to the housing sector to pack.
Adia had to lean against Kaejht so she would not fall while she absorbed it.
It had been five and a half years since she had been to America. When she had left, she had vowed never to go back. She remembered the reasons why she left, seeing the dragon that had in turn brought her here. A hand flew to her head, pressing against the headache that was starting to rage.
What a wonderful day.