“Ah c’mon Dad. Do I really need to get a license? I’ve been riding dragons since I was seven. And what’s the reason for getting a dragon-riding license anyway? It’s not like everybody’s got a dragon in the first place.”

“Right. Only snot-nosed brats of the knight class.”

“Hey! I resemble that remark.” Trey smiled at his father.

Omar smiled back and tousled his son’s hair. “You know... It is not really a license. It is a right of passage. Children of knights and royalty get dragon-riding licenses. Your sisters got theirs when they turned 16. Now it’s your turn. And after that, it will be your brother’s turn. It’ll be fun. After all, it’s not like you’re going to get to ride your sister’s dragon, Damocles.”

Trey’s jaw dropped.

“Oh. I thought for sure that your sister’s would have told you.” Omar smiled. “Then again, it makes sense that they didn’t. I suppose that is tradition too.”

Omar put his arm around his son and they walked out of his room. Ophelia and Julia grabbed their brother and looked at their father. “Did you tell him yet?”

Trey grumped, “He told me. I don’t get to ride Damocles.”

His sisters’ eyes went wide. They looked to their father and back to their brother.

Ophelia, the eldest, practically screamed with excitement, “Oh Daddy. Can I tell him?”

Omar nodded.

“You and all the others who are coming of age this year are going with the the knights to the Valley of Doom.”

Julia continued, “They have wild dragons there for you to ride. You’ve got to ride them for five minutes before being thrown off. If you can stay on for longer than that, they even let you bring it home and train it.”

Trey raised an eyebrow. “Well, that would be better than sharing your dragons all the time.”

Both of his sisters slugged him.

Omar smiled at his children. Then, he frowned at his daughters. “You were not supposed to tell him where we are going. But I guess the cat is out of the bag. Still…”

Ophelia squealed, “Can I put Trey’s head in the bag? Please, Daddy?”

Julia frowned. “No. She got to bag me. It’s only fair that I bag Trey.”

Omar nodded back. He held the black bag out to Julia. “You may bag your brother, milady.” Omar smiled.

Julia took the black velvet bag and placed it over Trey’s head.

***

Trey squinted when the bag was taken off his head. He knew that he had ridden behind Ophelia on Damocles. It was her dragon after all. He saw that their father and mother rode on their own dragons, As did Julia. Hermes and Damocles were two of the fastest dragons of the realm. Their father’s and mother’s dragons, Penelope and Apollo, were known for being loyal and true steeds for their warrior parents.

They stabled their dragons at the top of the shallow valley, then they walked as a family down the hill. Trey knew the other children of knights who were coming of age that they passed on their way down the hill. He knew that his family would be at the bottom. The closest to whatever was going to happen. After all, they were, as he had been told many times, at the top of the food chain when it came to nobles.

Omar stood by his son as they took their place at the front of the crowd at the bottom of the Valley of Doom. In front of them stood the king. And behind the king was a stable of wild dragons. Ten. One for each of the children of knights who would be 16 in this calendar year.

Trey was the youngest of the ten, but his father explained that he would be first. “As the child of the First Knight of the Realm, you will go first. Like your sister said, if you stay on your dragon for five minutes, you get your license. Which really means that you become a person. A real person in everybody’s eyes. If you can ride it and bring it back to the pen, you get to keep it and train it. It will be your battle steed. Your bond will never be broken. It’s what your sisters did. It’s what your mother did. It’s what I did.”

“It’s what my grandfather and his father before him did.”

Omar nodded. “Our family has long been the family of the First Knight of the Realm. We protect the king. We protect the realm. And we ride, then train our dragons when we come of age.” Omar turned his son to look at him eye to eye. He placed his hands on Trey’s shoulders. “You must choose wisely. Do not choose the one who you think you can ride for five minutes. Do not pick the one who you think you can tame. Pick the best one of the lot. It might be the fiercest. It might be the fastest. It might be neither. But you will know the dragon for you. You will know the best dragon for you when you feel its spirit. Trust you instincts. Listen to that still small voice.”

***

The king stood in front of the knights of the realm. There were no spectators here. Only those who had come of age and become knights and those who were hopefully about to. It was a solemn rite. And only the initiated could watch. Only the ones who were to be initiated could participate.

The king raised his hands and the crowd of knights quieted. “You men and women of the realm. You have brought your children here to take the first step to becoming knights of the realm as you are. You initiates who wish to become knights of the realm, you are about to take the first step. And after you pass this, your first test, you will start to train in earnest to become knights of the realm. Welcome all. Welcome to the future.”

The crowd erupted in cheers.

The king waited for the crowd to quiet before continuing. “You parents of the initiates. You have given your final instructions?”

The parents yelled in unison, “Aye, aye!”

“Then Trey, first son of the First Knight of the noble and true family of the First Knight, come forward and choose your beast.”

The crowd cheered again.

***

Trey stepped up to the pens where ten dragons were being held. He stepped up to each one in turn. He looked at each dragon’s face. Then, he looked at their haunches. Some reared up as he approached their pens and they spread their wings. He looked at each one in turn. But he did not see any that he liked on first inspection. He was disappointed.

Trey walked back and forth in front of the pens. He wondered whether he should choose one of what appeared to be the fiercest two. The ones who reared up. Who even shot out flames. But there was something missing. He thought of his sisters’ and her parents’ dragons. They were fierce, but only when they needed to be. These two dragons seemed to be showing off or perhaps they were scared. Neither was the choice for him.

He did not like the timid ones either. There were three of them. He knew he could ride them. He knew he could tame them. But he did not know if he could train them. He did not know if they would be steeds he could trust in a raging battle. He walked back and forth in front of the dragon pens.

Trey could feel the glares of the sons and daughters of the other knight families. He knew they wanted him to make a decision. But he knew that this was a choice that would last a lifetime. His dragon would be his partner in war and peace. So he knew he had to choose wisely. Regardless of how long he kept the others waiting.

Trey kept feeling himself being drawn to the next to the last pen. He was not sure why though. Here was a dragon that had met his eyes the first and second time he passed. But when Trey passed by a third and fourth time, the dragon had turned around. She would not meet Trey’s eyes. In fact, Trey had stopped going that far in his walks in front of the dragons. None of the last three had been to his liking. But finally, he decided that he needed to take a fourth or fifth look at number nine.

The dragon looked like she had fallen asleep with her back to the front of the pen. Trey decided that he would walk to the back to meets her eyes again. When he got to the back of the pen, the dragon met his eyes. Trey thought there was something there, but he could not place it. Mischief? She blew smoke from her nostrils and turned around to face the front of the pen.

Trey ran to the front of the pen. The dragon had lain her head on the ground and shut her eyes. Was she taking a nap? Was she faking it? What kind of dragon was this? Trey decided to try something. He had heard his father sing to his dragon. A march of sorts. A song that always stirred Trey’s blood. It made him think of loyalty and pride.

Trey hummed the tune. He was quiet. But he saw the dragon’s ears perk up. None of the other dragons took any notice when he started singing. And Number Nine, as Trey had thought of her through this selection process, tried to keep her eyes closed. But she could not keep her body from reacting. Trey could see her getting ready for something. Battle, flight, something.

Trey stopped singing. He stood in front of the pen. Number Nine opened her eyes wide, and Trey knew that he had found his dragon.

***

The dragon keepers took Number Nine out of her pen. They had put reins on her head, and were about to put a muzzle around her jaws.

“No. Let her mouth be free.” He looked at the wranglers who had a saddle. “Just put the saddle blanket between her shoulder blades. No saddle.”

Trey looked at his father. He looked concerned, but said nothing. He glanced at his mother and sisters who were smiling. He grinned back.

Trey held the reins in his hands and looked the dragon in the eyes. She huffed again. But the smoke she exhaled was just a puff. Trey bowed deeply to the dragon and looked her in the eyes. Then, he stepped close to her ear and whispered, “I have chosen you not to be my servant, but to be my partner. We will work together in peace and in war. We will be one battle unit, you and I. We will rule the skies and the ground. If… If you would have me.”

Trey stepped back just far enough to look the dragon in the eyes. She closed her eyes and dropped her head. The crowd gasped.

Trey went around to the dragon’s neck. She lowered her head so that he could climb between her shoulder blades. The crowd murmured at the behavior of the wild dragon. The wranglers unshackled her feet and wings. Number Nine shot into the sky as soon as she heard the last chain clang on the ground.

Trey was ecstatic. He never knew such speed. Such acceleration. His sister’s dragon, Damocles, was tame compared to this one. She was on fire. She raced all around the valley. Trey gave the dragon her head and let her travel wherever she wanted however fast she wanted. He was not afraid that she would try to get rid of him. They were one.

***

Omar was afraid. He watched the sky not knowing what had happened to his son and the dragon. Nobody ever flew off with a wild dragon without some sort of muzzle or restraint. He looked at his wife. He looked at his daughters. None of them had a bit of worry on their faces. What did they know that he did not?

The crowd gasped. Somebody pointed to the sky. “Look.”

It had barely been three minutes, Trey and his dragon were back. He still had two more minutes to ride that monster. They buzzed the crowd, who instinctively ducked even though the pair was 100 feet above their heads. Then, the dragon shot straight up. Omar watched in amazement. That amazement turned to horror when he saw his son tip backward off the dragon. It did not even look like she had done anything to cause it. Omar hoped that the trainers would do their job and catch his son before he hit the ground.

He need not have worried. The dragon had done a loop and was diving. She pulled even with Trey. Then somehow Trey was mounted again. The only thing that kept falling was the blanket from between her shoulder blades, which had fallen off with Trey. The crowd shouted with glee. Omar breathed. He had been holding his breath since his son started his fall from the dragon.

***

Trey and his dragon had been far across the valley when they heard the horns signaling that time was up. They were greeted with cheers when they landed.

Trey’s family ran to him on the valley floor. His mother and sister gave him big hugs and many kisses. His father stood with his mouth open.

“What in the world?”

Trey stepped back and opened his arm toward his dragon. “Everybody, I’d like you to meet Amelia, who, by the way, told me her name when we were flying.” He faced his dragon and opened his arm toward his family. “Amelia, I’d like you to meet your new family.”

Omar and his family all bowed to the newest member of their family. Amelia bowed back.