The Leaving

         Karah bounced enthusiastically on her heels in the back of a small wagon. She leaned over and grabbed the back of the front bench where her parents were seated, her father holding the horse's reins. Her smile was broad, her grip tight, and her eyes wide. Her stomach tightened as they approached and made their way through the gates, entering the walls of Garint.
         “What do you think?” Her father asked turning back slightly and smiling at her.
         They were passing fields and farmhouses but the city was rapidly approaching. Karah had spent her nine years in a small village surrounded by farms, but the sheer number and size of the buildings looming in the distance were new to her. “It’s so big.” Her voice was slow and breathy in awe. The excitement overwhelming her small body, she turned around and sat down, her back pressed against the front bench. She reached over and stroked the head of her father’s bond, Lahios a dragon the size of a large dog. The creature hissed and looked up at Karah then slithered closer to her side.
         Even facing backward, Karah saw enough too keep her adrenaline high. As they approached the city limits, more and more people and dragons could be seen working, walking, and flying. The dragons were all basically the same size as Lahios, some slightly bigger and some slightly smaller. Karah had grown up with dragons all her life, including her father’s bond, but the beauty of the variety of different colors was more wonderful than she could have imagined.
         Karah pushed herself onto her knees to look in front of them again. They had just passed the first line of houses and buildings, the street leading into the center of the city. After a few moments of working through the crowds, glimpses of a building, different than the others could be made out. It was shaped like the top part of a dragon's egg, panels layered up the sides looked like dragon scales. This was where everything would change, where everything would begin.
         Karah’s father pulled the cart into a space between other carts lined along the side of the building. “Here we are,” he said patting her hand that was resting on the cart back. He jumped down and reached over the side, lifting Karah out of the cart.
As they began walking she gripped his sleeve tightly with one hand and reached out to find her mothers hand with the other. Lahios climbed onto her fathers back and his tail lightly over Karah’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.
         One of the scale panels swung open, allowing them to enter the building. The inside was well lit, though one could not see from the outside, the tip of each scale had a small opening like a window directing light into the interior.
         The center of the building there was a thick pillar from the floor to the tip of the ceiling. A circular table with chairs behind it surrounded the pillar. Families were entering the building and lining up to speak with workers seated there. Around the edge of the building were lines of chairs where families were seated after they checked in. Slightly up the wall, above the chairs was a shelf like perch where the dragons waited with the families of their bonds. Circling around and above the chairs and perch was a staircase encircling the inside wall of the building.
         Led by her father, Karah’s family approached the center table. “Name?” A pleasant looking young man asked flipping a page in his notebook.
         “Jaseh Hadyl. Occupation: Armorer.” Karah’s father said.
         “Confirm. Spouse?”
         “Sahida Hadyl,” Karah’s mother responded. “Occupation, teacher.”
         “Confirm. Children?”
         Jaseh responded this time. “Kahi Hadyl, age seventeen. Occupation: Blacksmith. Nyal Hadyl, age fourteen. Apprentice armorer. Karah Hadyl, Age nine. Undetermined.”
         Karah squeezed her father’s hand tighter at the word undetermined. So much of her life was still unknown, but this was where she would figure it all out.
         “Your information has been heard, checked, and recorded. Today is Karah’s leaving?”
         “That is correct.”
         “Please take a seat,” he motioned to the chairs along the wall. “A mentor will be with you shortly.”
         Karah wiggled herself onto her father’s lap as they claimed chairs. Lahios reached up from is perch on Jaseh’s shoulder to pull himself onto the upper perch with the other dragons.
         Karah glanced, wide eyed around the room, taking in the other family units (both human and dragon) bringing their children for the Leaving.
         “What do you think of Garint so far?” Jaseh asked, wrapping his arms around Karah and squeezing playfully.
         “There are so many buildings, so many people,” was all she could say. Nervousness and excitement melded together, gripping her insides.
         He smiled. Every one in the entire country of Alterrah with children your age are here now. It is always the busiest time of the year.”
         Sahida took one of Karah’s hands in hers. “I know this is frightening now, but remember, your brothers have gone through the training and they did very well.”
         Karah nodded. She knew all of this, and more. Her whole life had been spent under her mothers tutelage preparing for this step of her life.
         They all shifted as another young man approached them. “Hello, I am Mehio, I will be your mentor. If I may ask a few questions…” he motioned his his hand. The dragon seated on his shoulder adjusted with the movement.
         Jaseh put Karah on the chair so he and Sahida could step over to the man.
         “Your mother is right, your bothers did well and you are like them. You will excel here.” To most people this would have sounded like a random series of hisses and growls. Lahios, however, had taught Karah to understand dragon speech.
         Karah turned, kneeling in the chair now even though she still had to crane her neck to look up at the dragon. “I know,” she replied in kind, quietly hissing back. “I know how it is all supposed to work. But I cannot make the feeling go away.” She glanced around to make certain no one had heard her. It was said that very few Alterrians could understand, let alone speak dragon. Most now did not believe that anyone possessed the skill. Even Karah’s parents fell into this category.
         Lahios attitude changed, he slid of the perch and started nudging her forward. “Come.”
         Karah turned to see Mehio and her father motioning for her to join them.
         “Hello Karah,” Mehio said as she drew near. “I understand that it is your time for the Leaving. Before we go to the dormitory You will answer a few questions.” They had walked to the back of the building where there was a quieter space a few small tables and chairs that were used only when the mentor did their evaluations. He motioned for Karah to take a seat and he sat across from her. Her parents stood a little to the side. “Can you tell me what the Leaving is?” He also pulled out a notebook and flipped a few pages.
         Karah clasped her hands in front of her, resting them on the table. Her tiptoes just reached the ground and she slightly bounced her legs up and down. “For a human child, the Leaving takes place every year at the New Year, shortly before, or shortly after they reach their ninth year.” She recited. “This is a time when children leave their parents homes to finish their education, train for their occupations, and build relationships with our dragon neighbors.”
         Her tone shifted slightly as the content of the recitation changed. “Over the next three years, I will learn more of our history and see if I am worthy to bond.” She finished with a slight bow of her head.
         Mehio looked pleased. Every child said this, or a version of it when they came to the Leaving. He had probably already heard this a hundred times today. “Why do we have relationships with the dragons and work with them?”
“The ancients believed that the gods created dragons and humankind to be companions to each other and to protect each other. Long ago it was decided that both humans and dragons were equals as citizens of Alterrah, we continue to live and work as one nation.”
         “Why do we start the leaving on this day?”
         “Today, *dayname* the first of *monthname* is the day when *dragongoddess* joined the humans and the dragons…” Karah paused to make sure she used the right words. “She joined them in the fight against *evildragongod*. We celebrate it as the first day of a new year, a time of new beginnings.” Her face flushed slightly in embarrassment. She and her mother had spent months drilling the responses so that she wouldn’t hesitate, yet she had hesitated.
         “That was very well said. You have learned well.” Mehio said writing in his notebook. “You have been fully examined and everything is satisfactory. You and your family may enjoy the city of Garint as you see fit.” He tore off a piece of one of the papers and handed it to her. “You will return in three hours to this building, your year will be gathered and then we will go to the dormitories together.”
         Karah nodded, taking the paper and sliding off the chair. She made her way back to her parents who were talking amongst themselves. Lahios had found a small group of dragons to converse with. She slipped her hands, one into each of her parents and they left to explore the city together.