My plan had solidified after a single, sleepless night. My parents would never accept my choice to follow the dragons to Rhindar. Therefore, I wouldn’t tell them. Instead I would write them a detailed letter explaining my decision and leave it with them prior to my departure from home. Until then, I would diligently complete my studies in preliminary school, applying the extra time to work at the dragon-keepers’ lodge, maybe even the hatchery. With everything relating to dragons in an almost literal uproar, the keepers were hard pressed to manage, and help was welcome. While I would work with dragons for free, the money I could make would help fund my trip to Rhindar, as well as making a life for myself there.

Tomorrow I apply to the keepers’ service. For now I pursue my studies, all the more unbearable now that I know I will not continue them. These calculations and schematics have become meaningless to me. And all the while that I work away by moth-circled candlelight, our dragons are taken by the dozens.