The first day

Zander spent the rest of his day wandering the castle halls and eventually made his way back to the dining hall. He fixed his plate and joined Marc and the others but ate in silence as he replayed the events of the hatchery in his head. One of the petrified eggs wasn't actually petrified and had chosen him to be its rider. He couldn't wrap his mind around what had happened and politely excused himself after dinner so he could go to his dorm and relax. Once he arrived, he found five identical outfits on both beds. One for him and one for Marc. They had been given the same dorm and their uniforms as well as their personal belongings had been delivered to the room while they attended the introductory course in the hatchery. The hatchery, he couldn't stop his mind from playing those events again. That egg could hold the strongest dragon to ever exist and he was meant to be its rider. This was ludicrous. There had to be some sort of mistake. It was meant to be petrified from being so old.

"Not everything can be understood by men." The woman's voice whispered to him.

"So, are you going to be in my head forever now?"

"Yes and no. I will always have access to your mind just as you will to mine, but I do understand the need for privacy and I won't deprive you of that. I just wanted to check up on you. I should also tell you, until I hatch these occurrences will actually be rare. I have to draw extra mana in to do this and it could end up hurting you. I was just too excited to resist."

"OK then, allow me one more question before you go."

"Of course."

"I hear a female voice when you speak to me. Does that mean you are a female?"

"Yes I am. You should also know it is your responsibility to name me."

"I'll start thinking of a name immediately. If I pick one you like, you can reach out with your mana to let me know."

"Sounds like a deal to me, my young rider." Zander could feel amusement behind those words and smiled. At least she was a happy dragon. Zander awoke the next day feeling a little happier than he had since reviving his mark. He had discovered that he would be bound to a dragon that was believed to be petrified in her egg, and from what he could tell, she was happy. He rose and went to bathe. The magic in this castle was extraordinary, he could wake up and immediately take a warm bath. At home, he would have had to heat the water first. As he sank into the warm water he could feel grime lifting from him and all of his muscles relax. It was Saturday morning, which meant he had all day to do as he pleased. After his bath, he quickly got dressed in clothes he had brought with him and ran to the dining hall. Once there, he piled bacon, eggs, biscuits, and sausage onto his plate and found Marc and Austin sitting at the same table as yesterday. "Hey, where's Wren and Bethany?"

"I guess they're still sleeping or getting dressed. Who honestly knows? The girls have different dorms from the guys, so until they show up we don't have any way of finding out," Austin informed him through the night's grogginess which still hung over him.

"Austin here doesn't seem to be a morning person, Zander." Marc laughed at their new friend. As the three of them continued to eat and make fun of one another, the doors to the dining hall eased open and Wren and Bethany walked in. Without glancing at the three, they both piled plates high with food and joined them. "Good morning ladies." Marc's greeting was met with icy stares and complete silence from both girls. "I guess they aren't morning people either."

"I think we might be in the minority around here, Marc." Zander looked around at all the bleary-eyed people in the room and suddenly felt as though he was standing out just by being awake enough to have coherent thoughts first thing in the morning. "Oh, I almost forgot; good morning to you, too." Zander thought towards his dragon's egg but was only met by her magic pushing annoyance towards him. He laughed to himself and shook his head.

"What's so funny," Marc whispered.

"Look around and you tell me." Marc looked around and began laughing as well.

"I see what you mean, we are in the minority here." They finished their meal and cleared the table. Once they finished this task, they exited the dining hall and the girls immediately left them. "Where you 'spose they're off to?"

"Bethany usually spends her free time in the library, I would bet a dragon hoard that Wren is going to join her for today at least."

"That sounds so boring. Is there anything fun to do around here?"

"Some of us have sparing matches. We are allowed to wadger any personal belongings, including money, then there are practice fields for every type of weapon. Finally, we have a smith forge and shop. Anyone is allowed to work on the forge and sell whatever they make in the shop. The best part is that you get to keep whatever money you make, minus a small fee for using the forge, of course."

"I guess I'll see you guys later."

"What? Where are you going, Zander?"

"He is off to the forge since he was a blacksmith when he got marked. See you later buddy." Marc slapped Zander on the back and turned to Austin. "How 'bout you show me where these sparring matches take place?" Marc wrapped his arm around Austin's shoulders and pulled him away. Zander smiled as the two disappeared from view and made his way through the castle. He eventually found the forge and smiled at the warmth that washed over him and the familiar symphony of hammers ringing out as they collided with steel.

"Looks like we have a newcomer!" A voice reached him as a young man approached. "Glad to see a new face. Honestly, I get tired of seeing the same ugly mugs every day." He slapped Zander on the arm as he laughed at his own joke and Zander couldn't help but laugh with him. His joy and excitement were infectious. "Name's Robert, but everyone calls me Rob."

"Zander, and it's nice to meet you."

"Like wise, Zander. Now, let's get you set up with a work space so you can start making money." Rob led Zander to an empty work space with plenty of steel, its own smelter, a work bench, and even a grinding wheel. "You should have everything you need here. We don't gotta share nothin' but the steel, but there's always plenty of that to go around."

"Great. Thanks a lot, Rob."

"Don't thank me. My dad was an artisan, made all the fancy- lookin' metal bits smiths used to decorate the weapons they made. I love meeting new people who enjoy working in the forge out here. I took up his craft after all and can't sell my stuff to anyone that don't make weapons or armor." The two laughed and Rob headed off back to his work station, leaving Zander alone to his work. He began heating steel and soon he found himself lost in his work, his mind had turned off and all that existed in the world was the steel, his hammer, and the heat. After awhile, someone grabbed Zander's shoulder and brought him back to reality.

"Hey man, do you realize what time it is?" Zander was staring at Marc, as he began to regain awareness of his surroundings. "You missed lunch and I thought I just missed you at dinner. Maybe you had eaten before I got there or somethin', but then this guy named Rob came to our dorm to ask how your work was comin' and said you still had to be out here. He said he hadn't seen you leave the forge all day." Zander looked around and realized the forge was now empty. He could see that no light was coming in from the open doorway that led to the castle grounds. He had lost himself to his work and spent the entire day on it. He turned back to his work and saw two daggers on his bench, one finished while the other needed grinding. It looked as though they were a matching pair.

"Sorry man, let me just finish this dagger and we can head up to the dorm."

"Yeah, sure. I'm definitely not leaving you out here by yourself again." Zander smiled and finished grinding the dagger. They were beautiful blades. Better than any he had made before and as he worked on it he could feel whispers of magic within them that matched his own. He slid the two daggers into his empty sheathes and followed Marc back to their dorms. As they arrived at the door, Zander's stomach growled. "I figured you might be hungry," Marc said as he swung the door open, "so I brought you somethin' back." He stepped aside to reveal a plate piled high with an assortment of meat, vegetables, and bread.

"Marc, are you sure you're not a God?" Zander smiled at Marc and rushed to the plate to begin eating. In no time, every morsel was gone and Zander laid back breathing out a sigh of relief.

"So, what happened to you today, man?"

"I don't really know. I got out there and started working, the next thing I knew, you grabbed my shoulder."

"You really didn't know what time it was when I asked that." Marc's amazement was clear in his voice.

"To be completely honest with you, I still don't."

"Has that ever happened to you or was that the first time?"

"First time I swear. Anyway, how did your day go?"

"Made a good bit of money betting on matches. It's pretty easy, honestly, I just looked for the same things I would if I were hunting strong deer or something and bet on those. I won every time."

"Gotta say that's just a little creepy. The fact that you can look at people and categorize them just as easily as animals is very murderer feeling." The two laughed and decided to get ready for bed. Zander felt the grime from the forge on him and headed to take another bath. Once he was clean again, he got dressed in his bedclothes and laid down. He slept soundly through the night that night and awoke early the next day. Marc was gone again this morning, but Zander knew he would be down at breakfast. He got dressed and headed down. As he approached the dining hall, an older man stepped in front of him.

"Excuse me, young man, but where did you acquire those daggers?"

"I made them myself. Now, if I may be so bold, who are you?"

"My apologies, my name is Carth. I am the instructor for the mana control and magical arts classes. I was merely wondering about your daggers because, for these two at least, it would seem that you have managed to infuse them with your own mana."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Oh no, not at all! It's just extremely difficult, even at the low range that you seem to have managed here." Carth smiled as he spoke to Zander, his interest apparent on his face. "I wonder if I might observe you while you work at some point so that I may study the process you used? I will, of course, not share my findings with anyone without your permission. A smith must have his secrets to stay ahead, I understand this much."

"Sure, that sounds fine with me. Honestly, I wouldn't mind knowing how I did it either."

"You mean you don't know! That's incredible!" Carth shook Zander's hand and said " I will clear next Saturday if that works for you and see you at the forge."

"Sounds good," Zander said with a smile, and with that Carth hurried off. From that point on Sunday,  seemed to follow the same course as Saturday, with the exception that Marc came to the forge at meal time to make sure Zander would be in attendance.