Beginning Author's Note: I'm pretty sure this won't be too good, but I hope you all enjoy it anyways. I know, chapters will probably be super short. I hope no one minds. So here goes nothing!

Summary: Kali Bling is born into a world where magic and dragons exist right next to the mortals. At her house, she strives to perfect her magical skills and hopes to be chosen to join the Dragon's Keep. To have a dragon as her closest friend... it's all she's ever wished for, all she's ever thought about. Will she succeed? This is her journal and the journals of some others in this world.

Chapter One:
Kali Bling
Day One

Dear Journal,

Right now it is just after sunset and I am supposed to be in bed. Who in the world goes to sleep so early? So I decided to follow my father's advice; his only good advice, mind you. I closed the door to my room and took out a blank notebook. The cover was a dappled blue, my favorite color.

Father told me I should keep a journal... so here I am. He said that all proper people who use magic and people of the Dragon's Keep have journals. My family is small by normal standards in the Ariann Hold. I have two grandfathers, two grandmothers, a mother and a father, four sisters, and one brother. Ymallik, my brother, is the only one of my siblings that I can stand, other than Elliana. My other sisters do not care to do magic; they simply care about how they look and other stupid things like that. I need to find a good spell to keep people out of this book; people like my sisters, like my father, like my mother... The only person I would allow taking a look at this journal would be my grandmother; she taught me basic magic. She's been my friend throughout my life. If I ever become a powerful magician or a dragonbond, I must thank her. If I don't... I'll run away from home. I'm pretty sure I could survive in the world by myself... I'm sure Elliana would come with me. I wish I had a chance to teach her magic, too.

Today began like every other day. I got out of bed, washed my face, and went down to the kitchen on a cushion of air. (That's the latest element I've been working on; the power over air. If I ever become a dragonbond, I probably won't need it, though.) My family was not up yet, as always. I made breakfast for myself and my grandmother; she was too sick to come down the stairs. Maybe I could ask Ymallik to make some contraption to help grandmother down the stairs... maybe... It wasn't really worth bothering him with, as he was always busy with some job or other. So I continued with my morning routine. I finished eating my breakfast of magically made egg and waffles, used an old spell Grandmother had taught me to clean up, and went back up the stairs with the plate of food for Grandmother.

She was in bed, as usual. But something was different; I looked around the room, listened, and then looked back at Grandmother. And then I realized what was different; Grandmother seemed to be breathing without difficulty; she seemed to be sleeping peacefully for once! I set the plate down on her bedside table and walked out of the room, using air to cushion my steps. Maybe Grandmother had found enough energy to create a sleeping potion. That would explain the natural sleep. I shook my head, deciding to ask her about it later, and went to my room again. Once there, I lifted the window and jumped out, manipulating the wind to catch myself just before I hit the hard dirt ground. I hurried over to the shelter of the trees before anyone saw me. Then I slowed down and made my way through the forest, drinking in the forest scents and the fresh air. Today I would practice my shadow-walking. Maybe I would try to catch a rabbit or two as well. I would need to disguise my scent and shadow-walk at the same time. It would be the first time I tried to use two elements at the same time. But I was confident that I could do it, with practice. So I began with just shadow-walking. I used air to make my footsteps silent, and shadows to become virtually invisible to the human eye. Then I tried to cover my scent. I lost concentration and reappeared in the world, and my feet crunched down on the covering of dry leaves that carpeted the entire forest floor. I stopped moving and tried again. And again. And again. Finally I was able to move a few steps using air, shadows, and the element of pure nature to mask my very strong human scent. After about two steps, though, I lost my concentration again and leaves crackled under my feet. I decided to take a break; magic was very tiring, after all. I propelled myself a few feet into the air and caught a current of warm air that took me straight home. I leapt up and climbed in through the window to my room. I changed from my practice clothing to my fancy clothes, which I wore only because my sisters would nag me if I wore something "unclean" or something "unfashionable" to a family meal. It was time for lunch.

I walked down the stairs, in case Elizabeth (Beth) was watching. She insisted that I call her Beth. I don't understand why, and I don't think I ever will. There's nothing wrong with Elizabeth; Elliana doesn't tell me to call her Ianna, or Elli, or something unreasonable like Beth. All my sisters (other than Elliana) did not like to see magic; so of course Mother made me humor them and never use magic in the house. I listened, most of the time. The only time I used magic was before anyone else was awake; that was why I was always up a few hours early than the rest of my family.

As I entered the room where we ate our meals (this was the formal room; I had breakfast in the kitchen, but I was supposed to eat it in the formal room), a delicious smell hit me full in the face. And I saw something that shocked me more than ever before. Grandmother, the grandmother that hadn't been out of bed since I was a little girl, was sitting at the table. Acting as if she always ate with us. "Thank you, Kali, for bringing breakfast up the stairs for me everyday, but that won't be necessary anymore." Grandmother smiled and then ignored my very strange looks. I wasn't sure what I was thinking at the time, but it was something along the lines of this.

'Why didn't anyone tell me that Grandmother was better? I deserve to know!' I didn't say anything, of course. I just acted normal and ate my lunch. And that was only the first strange thing that happened this day.

I continued eating, and when we were all finished, Father stood and announced, "I am sending Beth and Adrianna to Ladie's School. You two have been asking me since the beginning of this year, and I guess you're right. There's nothing you can do here that you can't do there. So you will leave tomorrow. It'll take a few days to get there, so when you get there you'll have two days to settle in and get ready for school. Good luck." Adrianna is another of my sisters. I suppose I should list everyone in order of age. From eldest to youngest.

Grandfather, Grandfather, Grandmother (who just miraculously got better), Grandmother, Father, Mother, Ymallik, Elizabeth (Beth), Adrianna, Kelly, Me (Kali), and Elliana. It's funny. The only siblings I can stand are my eldest sibling and my youngest sibling. Everyone else... I won't even say anything. So tomorrow Elizabeth and Adrianna will be leaving. I wonder how Kelly will cope with that? She'll be stuck with her "useless" and "annoying" other siblings, as she would say. This will be very interesting. "Kelly, you'll start working as a..." That's all I heard. I was too excited to pay attention to anything else Father said, although I did see the look of intense relief on Kelly's face. So two sisters of mine would be at school, Kelly would be working, and me? I decided to start paying attention again. "Kali and Elliana, I will see you in my office after this meal." I gulped. It sounded like I wasn't sticking to my normal schedule. But I just nodded with Elliana.

We shared a look that said, 'What did we do wrong this time?' Father got up and walked off towards his study, so we followed him. I still hadn't gotten a chance to ask Grandmother about her very-fast recovery. I made a note to myself to ask her later, immediately after this meeting with Father.

"So, did you notice that Grandmother was eating with us?" Father began. I wanted to say well, duh but I knew that would just get me in trouble. I could tell that Elliana was thinking the same thing by just looking over at her.

Instead, we said, "Yes, Father."

He looked pleased. I, for one, didn't understand why. "I want you both to look out for her, you know, help her around. She may look as healthy as she was before the... the illness, but she isn't. So just make sure she's okay. Your brother has a job already, and your sisters are all leaving, so you two have to look out for your grandmother. Yes you, Kali," he said, misinterprating the look on my face.

I had been thinking, 'I was planning on looking after Grandmother in the first place. Way to state the obvious!' But I guess Father thought I had been thinking along the lines of, 'How do I get out of this chore?' Well, I bet he didn't remember that I'd been getting Grandmother breakfast for years now, without him saying anything! So life was good, still. Just because he thought I had been trying to sneak out of the "job," I said, "Yes, Father, I know. Is that all?" He nodded, so Elliana and I left. Elliana was sixteen years old, and had only just finished school. She was smart, so she had finished a whole two years before everyone else. My siblings are 27, 24, 22, and 21. I'm nineteen, almost twenty. So we went up to our own rooms, and I wrote out a schedule. I'd finished school at 14 years old, the earliest in my family. I finished the schedule and slipped it under Elliana's door. Five minutes later, Elliana was in our established meeting place; a small clearing in the forest. We discussed this new "chore," and decided that we would follow the schedule; we'd take turns spending time with Grandmother; an hour at a time. This way, we would have time to do what we wanted, without being interrupted too frequently. We would start the next day, after our sisters left. This decided, I went back to perfecting my catch-a-bunny skills, and Elliana went off to do what she did best: painting.

After dinner that day, I practiced some more, and then I checked on Grandmother just because. She was fine, and it was almost time to go to sleep; well, not really sleep. Just up to my room. During the meeting with Father, he'd also suggested that we both keep a journal. So that's what I did. I've decided that I will always write in it after my evening practice, just before bed. Now I am done writing, and I should turn out my light.

Goodnight,
Kali Bling