The Provocation

Brand and Alreya walked down to the first floor and quickly spotted the room the cafeteria was in. Inside the room were rows of wooden tables and benches that were currently seating a number of elves. They walked down the open lane to an open window that had a kitchen beyond. Alreya ordered a soup and some bread from the elf behind the window and Brand ordered the same. They waited a few minutes until the elf returned with their food upon wooden trays.

After grabbing the trays, Brand and Alreya found an open table, sat down, and began to eat. In the middle of their meal, an elf unlike any Brand had yet seen strolled up to where they were sitting flanked by two other elves. The elf was wearing a dark blue coat with a fancy looking white shirt with flower embroidery underneath. He was also wearing black pants and black boots. He had red, curly hair, and two shiny red orbs for eyes. He would have looked menacing if it wasn't for the fact that he was incredibly rotund. The elf was almost as wide as he was tall. Brand had never seen a fat elf before and almost started to laugh before he covered it up with a cough.

"And what exactly is this?" the fat elf began. "A human dragon rider candidate? From the Ostish Forest? How preposterous. Some of the small and uncivilized outlying villages must be getting extremely desperate to start sending every human that wanders into the forest to try and perform the ritual. I assume that is why you are here, is it not human?" The fat elf gestured at Brand but began talking again before Brand could respond. "Of course that is why you are here. Only dragon rider candidates are allowed in this hotel during the weeks leading up to the ritual."

"Why ask something you already knew?" Brand sighed in his heart.

"You there." The fat elf pointed at Alreya who looked like she was having a hard time keeping her cool. "What are you doing sitting there with this human? You do know that they are the most uncivilized race on the continent? It is hard to imagine why some of their countries were even allowed into the free countries alliance in the first place. Do not worry, dear elf maiden, you may sit with me and my entourage. We will prove to be much better company than this human, who probably will not even be able to summon a dragon when we perform the ritual."

Starting to get annoyed himself, Brand asked "And who might you be?"

"You do not recognize me? Typical of a human. My name is Ernagcio, son of the dragon rider Erpalio, who in turn is the son of Erglapia, who of course owns almost half of Ragash. The Ostish Forest does not have royalty, but my family is the closest you will find to kings and queens of the forest." Ernagcio said sticking out his chest. The two minion elves behind him looked at Ernagcio with green and purple eyes filled with admiration. "And what, perchance, is your name my lovely orchid? And from what city do you hail?" Ernagcio continued holding out his hand to Alreya.

"I am from Masarch." Alreya said through gritted teeth. "The same village that Brand here is representing."

"Masarch?" Ernagcio laughed heartily from his round face while his belly flopped up and down. "That small village has sent two dragon rider candidates? How unusual. And a human candidate as well." He began to shake his head and said to the elves behind him "I see what is happening here. Masarch is desperate for money so they sent a fake rider candidate along with a real one. Maybe even two fakes. How dishonorable. I had believed that only humans would be capable of stooping so low as to basically steal from their own country in a time of war." Ernagcio tsked a few times as he shook his head again.

Looking back at Alreya, who Brand noticed was absolutely fuming, Ernagcio extended his hand once again. "Please join me anyway my periwinkle. I know that this underhanded plot was no fault of yours. Leave this fraud alone and eat with us elves. Who knows? Maybe we shall even become classmates in the future." Ernagcio smiled expectantly as his hand hovered next to Alreya.

Brand, feeling quite insulted, was about to say something when Alreya abruptly swatted Ernagcio's hand away from her face. "Get your sweaty hand away from me you obnoxious and rude schlag." she yelled. Brand had no idea what a schlag was, but going off the look on Ernagcio's face he assumed it was pretty bad. Ernagcio looked absolutely mortified as Alreya continued. "Brand is no fraud. He will absolutely summon a dragon from the ritual just as easily as I do. And I can not wait to see the look on your face when he does. Excuse me." And with that Alreya picked up her tray, left it with the other finished meals, and marched angrily back to her room.

The cafeteria was completely silent as Ernagcio recovered from looking dumbfounded and pointed a finger at Brand. "How dare you!" he yelled at Brand with a scrunched up face. "It was not a wise move to make a fool of me and my family. I will be watching you with bated breath at the ritual, and if you do not summon a dragon as I suspect will be the case..." Ernagcio then gave a threatening gesture and then skulked off with his two minions behind him glaring at Brand as they did.

"Me?" thought Brand. "What did I do?" He was surprised at Alreya's lack of a temper, but was grateful that she had stood up for him. On the other hand, he himself suspected that he was a fraud considering what he had was a dinosaur tooth and not a dragon tooth. Now instead of looking like just another failure, Brand was certain that him and Alreya would look like idiots when he failed the dragon summoning ritual. Sighing loudly, Brand picked up his tray, placed it near the others, and followed Alreya out of the cafeteria and back to his room.

Inside his room, Brand fell onto the feather cot that was placed against the far wall. The hotel room was very basic, with only a bathroom with a magic toilet and a metal sink, a desk with a chair, and the cot he was lying on. Brand fell asleep still worrying about the upcoming ritual.

The next few days passed quickly. They ate all of their meals in the hotel since they didn't have that much money. But other than meal times, Brand and Alreya spent their free time touring around the city taking in all it had to offer. They went and walked along the sturdy walls that encircled the city, looked at all the blue, green, and a couple of purple colored wyverns in the large dragon roost from a distance, and even saw a play in the city's amphitheater. Brand really enjoyed his time with Alreya in Ragash except for the occasional dirty glance from Ernagcio and his cohorts in the hallways of the hotel.

Alreya and Brand talked a lot during this time as well, mostly about their different worlds. Brand learned that the Ostish Forest wasn't the only country of elves in the free countries. Not counting the elves that lived in the Capital Country, there was one other country of elves that lived in the Startoch Forest in the south of the continent. He also learned that there were five total sapient races living on the continent. They were the elves, humans, dwarves, beastians, and illums. He knew about elves and humans, so Alreya explained the rest of the races. Dwarves were about as short on average as the elves, but had tusks that grew from their chin along with their scraggly beards. Beastians had the most diversity amongst the races with numerous tribes varying differently in appearance and size but mostly all having furry arms, ears, and tails. The illums were giants standing almost seven feet tall on average with horns of numerous shapes and sizes protruding from their heads. Brand wondered if he'd ever get to meet these different races if he didn't succeed in summoning a dragon, which probably wasn't going to happen.

After a week had passed, the day of the ritual finally arrived. All of the candidates including Brand, Alreya, and Ernagcio gathered in the courtyard of the hotel. A dashing looking elf with white hair and green eyes flew up in front of the gathered crowd wearing a green robe and started speaking in a loud voice. "Congratulations on becoming a dragon rider candidate for the Ostish Forest! My name is Perenu. I shall guide you all to the Guild of Dragons temple in Ragash to perform the ritual to hopefully summon your dragon partner! If you succeed, you will be travelling to the Capital Country, along with your dragon, to immediately begin your training as a dragon rider. If you fail, do not be discouraged. It was simply not your calling in life. We all have a part to play. Do not forget that. Now, everyone line up into four rows, and follow me to the temple! The ritual awaits!"