"Something is wrong with you, Alar. You're too cautious even for a beginner rider."
"And how would you know that? I'm your first rider."
"Common sense. Besides, I watched enough flights from the aviary to differentiate between rookies and experienced riders, and you're acting as if this is your first solo flight."
"I'm just being careful."
She banked toward the third waypoint."Careful is checking your straps before launch. What you are doing now is flying rigid and fighting me on every turn instead of moving with me. Perhaps this rider thing is not for you."
Her accusation felt like a slap."Can you cut me some slack? I'm new to this, and so are you. Some caution would not kill you, but the lack of it might kill me."
"You don't trust me."
"I do."
"You don't. Every time we enter a gap, you brace as if you expect to fall. Every time I adjust my angle, you overcorrect in the opposite direction instead of leaning into the turn. You are working against me instead of with me, and by doing so you are courting the exact outcome you fear."
The words were akin to a splash of cold water.
Was that what I was doing? Was I actually increasing the likelihood that it would come true? If I kept flying rigid and fighting Veynathei's instincts, eventually she would make a correction that I resisted at the wrong moment, and the resulting imbalance could be exactly what sent me over the edge.
The prophecy could be self-fulfilling.
"I need to tell you something,"I said. There was no point in keeping this from her if I was doing the exact thing I'd feared she would do once she learned about Kailin's vision.
"At last. Talk to me, Alar."
I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with thin mountain air, and told her about Kailin's nightmare and me falling from a dragon with shifting scales through a mountain pass. I also told her about the first two nightmares that had nothing to do with her.
She was quiet for a long time after I finished.
We flew past the third and fourth waypoints in silence, the only sound the rhythmic beat of her wings and the whistle of wind past my ears.
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"I didn't want you to start second-guessing every move, but I was doing it myself, so I figured we might do better if we are on the same wavelength."
"Thank you for telling me. It's a relief to know that it's not your lack of confidence in me because I'm so young. Now I can compensate for your fear rather than fight against it. But just so you know, prophetic dreams are not set in stone. I'm not saying they should be dismissed, but they should be regarded as possibilities, not certainties."
"Even when the one having these dreams is Kailin? The Hero of Elucia whose dream saved our capital city from a massive Shedun attack?"
"Even then. It is not destiny. It is a warning."
"How do you know that?"
"Dragon smarts. We know a thing or two about the mysteries of the universe."
I didn't know if what she was telling me was true or just something she'd made up to ease my mind, but there was wisdom to her words.
The dreams were a warning, not a destiny. A possible future, not an inevitable outcome.
"You must stop flying as though you expect to fall,"Veynathei said."If you want to survive, you must trust me."
"I'll try,"I responded truthfully.
"Trying is for ground dwellers. Doing is for flyers."She banked right so sharply that my stomach lurched, then dove toward the fifth waypoint with a speed that pressed me back in the saddle."Don't close your eyes, and don't stop breathing. Fly with me, not against me. Move when I move. Lean when I lean. Stop overthinking everything and start feeling. Trust me and trust your instincts."
I gripped the straps, took a breath, and let go of the fear. I let Veynathei's confidence flow through the bond, let her instincts guide my body, let the wind and the mountains and the magnetic currents become a language I could read through her.
