I fell into a routine of lessons and exhaustion as the days dragged on. At the end of the first week, Leera came back without her saddle. She said only that Goldenfire—Sarafin's dragon—had convinced her to return. As glad as I was to no longer be the only dragon-less rider at the Academy, her return meant that I had to join the others in riding-related activities. That only made me more exhausted in the evenings, during the time when Callah insisted I spend practicing fire magic. Getting up in the mornings was an exceedingly difficult chore.

For a while, things went okay with Leera and me. We didn't talk much, and we certainly weren't friends, but we worked kinda well together. Then I upset her somehow, and she shook me off her back when we landed after an exercise. I fell on my hands, sending me to the infirmary with a sprained right wrist. In the infirmary, I was attended on by an elderly Nurse Isma. Once she was done wrapping my wrist with magi-bandages, she handed me a small vial of blood-red potion.

"What is this?" I held it up to eye-level with my good hand. It sloshed from side to side.

"A trobluffer potion. It separates a dragon from their rider."

I tried to give it back.

"You don't have to take it now, but if your beast is dying in the future, don't let it take you down too."

"I- I don't want it." I tried to block my thoughts from Leera so she wouldn't know exactly how much I wished I could take it. It could be my ticket home, back to fire powers so weak I didn't have to worry about them and an almost normal life.

"Both my sons died 'cause of their dragons. I know most you riders don't listen when I tell you all there's a better choice, but if I have the opportunity to save just one life, I'm gonna try. Please, just keep it with you." She curled my fingers around the vial and gave me a pleading look.

I hesitated to refuse it again after seeing the sadness in her eyes. "I'll keep it, but I won't use it." It was a promise as much to myself as to her.

She seemed delighted all the same, apparently sure that the potion would save me when the time came.

As the days wore on, the first Academy Competition drew ever closer. I was constantly focused on training, on not setting something on fire, or both. Even so, I noticed that something strange was going on. Swarms of slivers—gray messenger fish—flew to and from Callah's office at every time of day, making me think that something was going on. I worried that it had something to do with the Ferentisians, but with everything I had to do, I didn't have much time to wonder what messages the slivers could be bringing.

Time passed so quickly that I hardly noticed a month had passed until Sarafin announced that the competition started the day after tomorrow.

After lessons the following evening, we headed out on dragon-back with our camping gear. Sarafin was in the lead on Goldenfire, followed by the others and their dragons, then Leera and I at the rear. He led us out past the island's edge and down to the Darkened Forest. We were far from any land-based civilization, and the trees looked different than they had been near Marysburg. These were taller, older, and spaced farther apart.

[The island moves,] Leera said.

A while back, I'd figured out how to mind speak with her, so I didn't bother responding out loud. [How does it move?]

There wasn't an answer, and I wondered if she had heard me.

[I heard.]

Apparently, she was still being difficult. [You know, competing will be pretty hard if we don't talk.]

She snorted, a sound that vibrated the scales below her new saddle. [I'll compete. You just worry about holding on.]

A few minutes later, Sarafin took us down into a large clearing, and I was glad to be on my own two feet again. He gestured for us all to gather round.

"See that marker?" he asked, gesturing towards the way we'd came. I looked around to see a string of golden light hovering about ten feet off the ground. It stretched as farther than I could see into the distance on either side.

"Stay on this side of the border. There are enchantments keeping you all relatively safe inside it. They keep the shadow wolves out and make it so you will only feel as if you've been hurt, just like during your training exercises. You won't actually be injured.

Tawny crossed her arms at the mention of fighting, but he ignored her.

"But what's the goal?" Liz asked.

"You are to work as a team with your dragons to retrieve your opponents' gemstone and bring it back here, using whatever weapons you would like. The competition starts at first light tomorrow. Here is your team's stone." He pulled a spherical purple stone out of his bag the size of his head and handed it to Liz. As soon as she took it, he climbed back onto his dragon's back.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"This is your test, not mine. I'll be watching with the generals from above, but I am not allowed to intervene under any circumstances, not even if you stray outside the playing field."

Tawny huffed. "You haven't given us many details. Who are our opponents? Where are they located, and how are we expected to find them?"

"I can't tell you any of that. You wouldn't know those facts in an actual surprise battle, so you won't know them here. Goodbye." He took of, leaving us in a somewhat stunned silence.