~The Hatching Journey~ [PR]

Rhaenys smiled proudly. She enjoyed surprising people with her skills. She watched Thélowên split the arrow with awe; Rhaenys would never be able to do that. She nodded when Thélowên started to speak about their upcoming journey, and a bold of excitement shot through her. At the same time, she could feel the dragon’s excitement like her own. She nodded.
“Well, I haven’t heard anything from you, but I’m certain the egg is ready” she said and nodded towards her bag. That was the thing with dragons; they chose when they were ready to hatch. It could take years, because it chose to be ready in an appropriate time. Rhaenys had heard stories about dragons waiting for hundreds of years before allowing themselves to hatch. She was happy it had only taken her dragon two years since she found it.

Rhaenys opened her bag and looked inside. The egg pulsed a bit, probably because it felt Rhaenys excitement talking about the journey. They were truly connected, which felt incredible. Having a soulmate who wasn’t even fully there yet made Rhaenys wonder how it would be the day the dragon hatched. She had also thought about another, horrifying thing; what would happen the day one of them died? Yes, elves were immortal when it came to age and diseases; but they could still die of wounds or in the battlefield. The rumours were that a dragon and its rider were connected both mentally and spiritually which meant that if one of them died, the other died as well. Rhaenys didn’t know if it was true, but she did not want to find out.

She put her bow in the quiver, looking over at Thélowên.
“I know you’re the one going with me, and since you’re the strong one, you’ll probably decide when. But everything points towards as soon as possible” she said with a smile. She just wanted to start her journey, because every step of the way would mean one step towards her dragon and an entirely new life. A life she had unintentionally been waiting for during the last 995 years.

Rhaenys nodded. The council. She had met them a few times, mostly to make herself acknowledged for them. They were the ones deciding the fate of her future, after all.
“I see, I hope they decide soon. As you said, we don’t want to catch the winter, and the sooner we arrive at Mount Doom the better” she said. That was true, because the moment her dragon hatched, there would be significant less people out after her, since the dragon had arrived. The dragon needed to lay its eyes on its rider to complete the connection, which meant that if it was taken and hatched and never saw Rhaenys, the dragon could be forced to work for someone else, although unwillingly.

“It’s probably a good thing to seek them out. Maybe they will reach a decision faster when they realise the egg is ready, too” she suggested with a smile. However, it was probably a bit hard to understand how an egg could decide things for themselves, but then again, dragons were peculiar animals. Rhaenys scratched her neck and looked around the training grounds. She looked over at the swordsmen area, where the swordsmen- and women trained, and the sound of metal meeting over and over again sounded over the entire training ground. Rhaenys spotted her friend Eonë who was concentrating on his opponent, a very powerful swordswoman.

Rhaenys turned to Thélowên again, giving the brown-haired elf her full attention. “Do you think we can meet in front of the house when you’ve spoken to the council? I need to go to the forest for a while” Rhaenys said and smiled. The forest was a perfect place to collect your thoughts and getting away from all the impacts from the city and all the sounds that came with it. The calming air and feeling of the trees and the ground there were perfect to reduce stress.

Rhaenys nodded. She knew she had to train, but her head was feeling foggy and she needed to get away from all the impacts around her.
“I promise we’ll train after, and I will give it my full attention” she said with a smile. She put the quiver away and looked over at Thélowên.
“I’ll see you here in three hours, then” she said, turning her back to the training grounds and started walking towards the forest.

When she arrived at the edge of the forest, it felt like walking through an invisible wall. The second Rhaenys nentered the forest, she felt her body calming down. Her bare feet felt the earth, stones, leaves and roots in the ground. She listened to the tree crowns bending at the wind’s will, moving slowly back and forth. She heard the sounds of the birds, the crawling of the bugs and the steps of the deer. It was truly beautiful. She moved quietly through the forest, until she arrived at a glade. The sun’s rays went through the tree crowns surrounding the glade and made it look like it was glowing.

At the very centre of the glade, Rhaenys sat down. She lied the bag with the egg next to her and crossed her legs. She closed her eyes, breathing in the fresh air of the forest. She put her hands on the grass, trying to feel every little detail of the ground and listened to every sound around her. Rhaenys was one of the more spiritual elves, meaning that she believed every living creature had a spirit which was reachable if you worked hard enough. These spirits could either turn good or bad, depending on the individual that held the spirit. All the spirits of the world were connected, and it was said that some people could even see the spirits surrounding their host, like an aura. When an individual died, it was said that their spirit went to another place, making sure their host would rest in peace. Meditating was a way of trying to connect with the spirits, but also a way of calming the mind.

Rhaenys sat in the forest for a long time, breathing and listening, using her senses to feel the world around her. She was at completely peace with her mind when she opened her eyes, breathing out slowly for the last time. She looked down at the egg, which had stopped pulsing. It had calmed down, too. Rhaenys smiled and put her hand on the boiling hot egg, feeling the red scales which made it a bit ragged to feel. She stood up and put her bag over her shoulder. She bent her head in the direction she had faced before, as a gratitude to the spirits, before heading out of the forest.

When she got out of the forest, the sounds of the city and the people were the same, but at the same time very different. It was more…… Comfortable to handle. Rhaenys walked quickly back to the training grounds, but she did not see Thélowên. Although, it hadn’t been three hours yet. Rhaenys decided to try and practice herself, mostly to make the time go faster. She picked up the quiver and put an arrow on the bow. She focused on the dummy she had shot before and took a deep breath. She tried to feel everything around her and let go of the arrow. It flew in a beautiful trajectory and hit the dummy in the upper part of the chest. Not in the heart, but close. She took another arrow, aimed towards the dummy's heart, and let it go.

The saying goes; practice makes perfect. Rhaenys had realised that it was quite true, especially since she had started practicing archery. She actually hit the dummy in the chest area multiple times, which she considered good. In a battle, it would at least slow her opponent down, with a few arrows in his or her chest. She took a break, and took the egg out of the bag. Immediately, some of the eyes at the training grounds were turned towards her. She didn’t care, but she was on her guard, ready if something was to happen. Behind the legs of her trousers, she had a double sheath around each ankle. She had two beautiful daggers in each sheath, just to be cautious.

Rhaenys put the egg down in the grass, she had a sense that the egg didn’t want to feel the inside of her bag all the time. Since the day she had laid her hands on the egg, she had developed something like a sixth sense about the egg. She guessed it was part of the connection between them. Rhaenys looked around the training grounds again, and the eyes had moved from her and the egg to wherever they were supposed to be. Rhaenys breathed out for a second, feeling calm again. She knew that if someone from the army decided to turn against her, she would probably not have a chance, at least not if they were many. However, she hadn’t heard anything at all that was even close to a revulsion towards her. Elves usually protected their own, no matter where they came from. She liked that about her own species, the honesty and friendly approach. Instead of jealousy because of her relationship with the last dragon, the elves tried to help her in every possible way. Humans on the other hand, had probably been jealous and not as helpful. They were, to be fair, a different kind of species, with a different mindset and ways of living.

She picked up the arrow and quiver again.
“I’ve practiced, I’ll be able to protect you for real this time” she told the egg and shot an arrow, again in the chest area of the dummy. She was about to let go of yet another arrow when someone calling her name disturbed her. The arrow flew in a bent trajectory, but it accidently went through the dummys head. Rhaenys turned to Thélowên, and looked over at the arrow, laughing.
“Do that again when we have an enemy nearby, and I’ll take care of it” she said but became quiet when Thélowên told her that they could leave at sundown. Rhaenys felt a bolt of excitement through her entire body. It was finally happening! She smiled and looked down at the egg, picking it up. It had started pulsing, feeling Rhaenys excitement. She looked at Thélowên again.
“Really? That’s great! Even though sunrise would probably have been better” she said and scratched her neck. The forest was not the loveliest place during the night, but the council probably had a reason why they were sending them away after dark. The council always seemed to have a thought behind every decision they made.

Rhaenys looked up at the sun. It would be hours before sundown, but at least that gave her time to prepare even more. She needed to pack, and mentally prepare for the adventure to come. It was a long way to Mount Doom, but every step of the way meant a step closer to the egg hatching. However, that also meant a step closer to her enemies, which frightened her a bit. Especially the risk of meeting Rydor once again. However, if she did, she would be ready for him this time and not taken by surprise. She met Thélowêns eyes and held the egg tight in her hands.
“We are as ready as we can be” she said and smiled.

The excitement was palpable between the two, this would be the adventure of a lifetime. And that was saying something considering the lifespan of elves. Thélowên studied Rhaenys as she held the egg tightly in her grasp. In there was the last dragon of its kind and she wold have the privilege of protecting the egg and its master on the journey and be one of the first to see the actual dragon take form. She was highly grateful for the friendship of Rhaenys and the upcoming journey. Even though it would be dangerous.
"We still have a few hours, lets get some more training done before we pack up and head out." she said with a smile lined with playfulness, "I have a special training session for you that will help prepare you for what's out there. You game?" Thélowên said with a grin and sparkling eyes.

What she had planned was a real hunt in the forest, for Rhaneys to actually practice on living things. shooting a dummy with a deadly arrow was one thing but to actually kill something was a different matter entirely. They had had some problems with the araneae, the twelve legged spiders that made their home out of the forest when the dark time were at its peak. They weren't welcome in the silver forest and the council wanted them gone. Perfect training targets according to Thélowên since there were a few araneae that were unprotected by the hoard, living closer to Harlond than the rest of them - outcasts so to speak. Thélowên was always up for spider hunting, the disgusting creatures were a menace and were better dead than alive if you asked her.

Rhaenys put the egg back in her bag. She was a bit upset that they couldn’t leave right away, but at the same time she knew they needed the few hours to prepare for the long trip that awaited them. Rhaenys knew it would take time to reach Mount Doom, but she wanted to start as soon as possible, because it meant that they would be one step closer to their goal. She nodded to what Thélowên told her, more training was probably good. However, the way Thélowên phrased her sentence made it sound like Rhaenys was actually going to kill real, living things. She didn’t want to do that. Hurting creatures and disturbing their spirits without purpose didn’t quite go with Rhaenys ways of living. She cleared her throat.
“You don’t mean for me to shoot towards actually living things, correct?” she asked, clenching the bow in her hand. She had a feeling she knew the answer Thélowên was going to give her, even before she asked the question.

She knew of the Araneae, the enormous spiders living in the forest. It was said that they were horrible creatures that needed to be gone, but for Rhaenys, they were a part of the world’s nature. The only time Rhaenys considered killing something, was if she, or someone close to her, was in immediate danger. She had, for example, tried to kill Rydor when she escaped from his dungeon two years ago. She hadn’t succeeded, even though one of her daggers had buried itself in his neck. That was a different thing, she had been in danger and only hurt him to protect herself. If she was going out in the forest just to kill living things for fun – what was the point? She didn’t quite see the reason to kill another creature only for the sake of it. However, she knew the Araneae were seen as menace, but they didn’t destroy anything or disturbed Harlond in any way, as far as Rhaenys knew, that was.
“I feel more comfortable shooting at non-living things” she said and put her bag over her shoulder, meeting Thélowêns brown eyes. She hoped that her friend would understand and not nag her about it. Rhaenys understood that she needed to practice shooting towards moving targets, in case something happened during their journey. However, she hoped it was possible to achieve without harming something in the process.