The Secrets We Hide from the Dark

 It's already been a week. A week. A week of training, a week of classes, and a full week of dreaming about food every night. A week of having breakfast every day, and a full stomach every night. Sometimes, I wonder if I came here not only for the benefit of my family but also for the benefit of myself. But if I don't survive all three years, then all this will have been for nothing.

Like Violet, I chose breakfast duty because we both wake up early in the morning. Sometimes, I catch Violet wrapping her knee, or taking a tonic for her broken shoulder. Also every morning, Mr.Overprotective walks her to the Gathering Hall. She's happy around him, but I can tell that she hates the babying.

Once, I caught Rhi sneaking out, though for a completely different reason. She has been into Tara, the girl from Morraine since we first got here. I don't know where they go, but it's none of my business.

Once we've all finished breakfast, Rhi, Violet, Sawyer and I walk to our next class, Dragonkind. We talk about a variety of dragons, but sometime during the class, the subject switches to Sgaeyl and the blue dragons.

"There are a couple of other blues in service, and you'll find most of them along the Esben Mountains in the east, where there is the most fighting. They're all ruthless, intimidating, and powerful, but Sgaeyl and her sister are the most powerful of them all." Sgaeyl and her sister, who must be the other blue dragon that I saw on Conscription Day. I shudder. I do not want to see her ever again. She was scary as heck and probably didn't get any less scary in the last week. She had stared at me with her golden eyes as if considering turning me into toast.

Mmm, toast. Toast is delicious. It can go with almost anything. Butter, almond butter, peanut butter, hazelnut spread, cheese spread, more toast, cream cheese, cheese, milk, jam, jelly, avocado, bananas, even more toast, yogurt, ho–

"Kathleen!" Someone shouts in my ear. Seriously, why? Why does everyone have to shout in my ear right when I start my amazing daydream about food? I want to punch the person in the face, but it's Rhiannon, and I like her enough to not sock her in the face.

"What?" I ask, exasperated. All I want is five minutes to daydream about toast.

"Class has ended. We're going to Battle Brief." Already? Last time, I checked, there were fifteen minutes left of Dragonkind. Okay, now I want forty-five minutes to just daydream about toast.

We go to Battle Brief, and we talk about a past battle because there aren't any recent ones. There haven't been any attacks by gryphon riders, but you can tell from the tension in the room that everyone is expecting it.

After lunch, we have the first day of sparring challenges. Each person has one challenge per week, and this is when you can earn or lose your daggers, depending on whether you lose or win your fight. I have been practicing all week, and I feel pretty confident. I have two daggers that I brought over from Calldyr, and there is no way I'm losing them. I have had them for years, and they even have my name carved into the hilts. So if my opponent wins, they are going to get a dagger that has "Kathleen" carved into it.

Luca from our squad is one of the first to be called, and he loses miserably. Rhiannon wrestles a boy from Second Wing and wins after he passes out by cutting off his air supply. And then it's Violet's turn. She's called to wrestle Oren Seifert, who is pretty well known among the first-years. He has lots of muscle, but no agility or grace. One could beat him easily if they knew his weaknesses. They start circling each other, and Seifert says something along the lines of "I'm going to kill you, sorry not sorry." But he's slow, and soon Violet has him pinned, and he retches. Did she hit a nerve? And then I remember. I stood next to her while serving breakfast, where she attempted to subtly sprinkle some kind of powder into his breakfast. She half-succeeded. She got him sick, but it wasn't very subtle. But how did she know that she was going to challenge Seifert? A hint from her squad leader friend? It's possible, but also unlikely, seeing as Dain is a perfect rule follower.