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She shook her head when Kerrigan finished the test. There had only been one snag that was different than Fordham’s impeccable memory, and she’d faltered but recovered.
“I must admit,” Alura said when she reached Kerrigan and Tieran, “I didn’t think ten days was long enough to make up for what we had done in a month, but you passed. You keep surprising me.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Alura circled her, pacing softly around the dirt-covered arena. “You practiced with Fordham?”
“Yes. We were in my home of Corsica for a week and used ancestral land to work on it.”
Alura stopped just outside of Kerrigan’s vision. “Corsica? Were you near Lillington by any chance?”
Kerrigan’s heart hammered as she nodded. “Yes. We celebrated Geivhrea with the locals.”
“Interesting.”
“Your mother is from there, isn’t she?”
Alura came into her view. “How do you know that?”
“My father told me.”
“Your father is a swine,” Alura snarled.
Kerrigan arched an eyebrow. “No argument there.”
A smile cracked Alura’s hard features. “My mother always said she would take me there one day, but it’s never happened.”
“You are more than welcome.”
Alura narrowed her eyes. “My mother wouldn’t be though.”
“I think she would. It all happened a long time ago.”
“Feuds sustain themselves,” she said under her breath.
“Sir?” Kerrigan said.
“You’re dismissed, Argon. Come back tomorrow with the others, and we’ll get to work on formations.”
“Yes, sir,” she said and then patted Tieran’s side before traipsing out of the arena.
She found Fordham, Audria, and Roake seated around the dining room table, chowing down on roasted chicken, vegetables, and bread. Kerrigan reached for a skin of water and took the seat farthest from Fordham. They might be back to how things had been, but it didn’t make it any easier to see him. It only made it worse.
“You passed?” Audria asked.
Kerrigan nodded. “Formations tomorrow.”
“Finally,” Roake grumbled around a bite of chicken.
“Where’s Noda?”
The three of them went silent.
Kerrigan glanced between them. “What? What am I missing?”
Audria sighed. “She’s not coming back.”
“What?” she gasped.
“She decided to return to Concha.”
“But what about Avirix?” she asked about Noda’s dragon.
Roake shook his head. “They sent her back to wherever she came from.”
“Gods,” she whispered.
Fordham finally looked up at her. “Her bond was weakening, and she didn’t think that she could keep doing it. When she made the decision not to stay, it broke the bond. They wouldn’t let either of them stay after that.”
Kerrigan swallowed. Right. No one was allowed in the Society without a bonded dragon.
“That’s terrible.”
“They said one in three can’t hack it,” Roake said. He looked between us. “They guessed two would be gone.”
They all gulped.
Audria shook her head. “Noda has been frazzled for months. Think about what she said—that she wasn’t good enough. She could have made it if she had confidence. We all said we’d make it at the beginning, and we are all going to make it.” Audria said it with such veracity, as if just by proclaiming it, it would make it true.
No one argued with her regardless. No one wanted to be next.
It was late, and Kerrigan was at her desk, taking notes on her latest history assignment when there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
To her surprise, Valia appeared.
“Valia!” Kerrigan gushed, rising to her feet. “I haven’t seen you in ages. How was your holiday?”
“Hi, Kerrigan. My holiday was relatively boring. Everyone was out of the mountain on Geivhrea, and I had the run of the place.”
Kerrigan frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. It must have been lonely.”
“I’ve grown accustomed to my own company. I did see several of the other stewards, and we exchanged gifts. Nothing big and extravagant like the Season party at Belcourt Palace,” Valia said with a wink.
“Oh, it was… nothing really. I wasn’t even there long.”
“Don’t downplay it. It sounded amazing.”
Kerrigan laughed. “Thanks. What brings you my way?”
“Helly,” Valia said as if it were obvious. “She said that she received a missive regarding you and to fetch you. Any idea what that’s about?”
Kerrigan winced. She certainly did. It had been two weeks since she’d been back. She’d been back to flying every day, and she’d had no other blackouts. But she should have gone straight to Helly about what had happened at court. She’d just been so busy.
“Afraid I do.”
“Well, let’s go then. She doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
Kerrigan looked longingly back at her history assignment. She’d be up all night to finish this, if she went to see Helly now. But if she didn’t go to see her, it would only be worse.
She sighed and nodded. “All right.”
They chatted about the holiday as they trekked through the mountain. Training had taken time away from all of her friends. She’d be glad when it was over in a matter of months and she could start seeing people again. It wouldn’t be easier, but it would at least give her a less strict schedule. She could only hope.
