Violet was the dragon's name he had gained the trust from. A simple but effective name and quite rare. Normally dragons and wyvern alike carried much more difficult names with a special meaning. Violet being Violet was just... too simple but who was he to complain. She was not his dragon. No, she belonged to the tall young woman who was still screaming and pushing Eldon around. She actually had the nerve of pushing the guy around despite him being the one destined to free the lands. Joseph did not know whether to praise her or think of her as a fool. He couldn't blame her though. Eldon was being a rather... annoying prick to say the least. It was almost as if he was enjoying riling the woman up.

Joseph watched the whole thing with curiosity while he had stepped back a little to be out of their way. He had caught on to the dragon's name and bit and pieces of other information. The girl was a healer, that much was obvious, and Eldon had, together with the war council, offended her greatly Joseph assumed. Well, he did not only assume. The way Eldon had spoken to him about the violet dragon had shown everything Joseph needed to know.

"And you!" When the fuming woman stopped in front of Joseph he burst into a coughing fit, not expecting her to turn on him. He was so lost in thoughts he had not even noticed her waltzing up to him. Now that she stood in front of him she was really intimidating and Joseph thoughtless took a step back. Right now, she was one bulk of aggression. Not something you would expect from a healer.

"You just stand here and..." She stopped talking, her finger floating in the air between them as she was ready to jab that into his chest as she had done with Eldon.

She glanced over to the stable where Violet was standing and glanced back at Joseph. Only now did he notice her anger filled eyes. They were beautifully shaped like almonds but their color was what surprised him the most. Hazel with flecks of green in them. The most beautiful color he had ever seen on a woman.

"Oh for Rocknuts sake! You are darn lucky Violet likes you." She spat at him before turning around back to Eldon who had crossed his arms in front of his chest and watched them with an amused smile. "This is not the last you have seen from me, Oh great Eldon!" She sarcastically added, concluding her tirade and barging out of the stables with the same speed she had barged in.

Joseph stared dumbfounded at the door she had disappeared through. He didn't even notice his mouth was hanging open until Eldon closed it for him with a big grin on his face. Joseph, being pulled from his thoughts once more, swatted Eldon's hand away and immediately increased the distance between them.

"Don't touch me!" Joseph exclaimed while rubbing his jaw tentatively.

Eldon burst out in a short loud laugh. "You're quite the entertainer, Joseph. Don't even bother trying anything with Hazel. She's still as hotheaded as I remember. She might actually be useful if that dragon of hers has the same spirit."

"Hazel?" He asked. Her name being the same color as her mesmerizing eyes confused him. It was strange; odd but it fit her.

"Yes, Hazel. Hotheaded healer Hazel. Triple H for short. I've known her for a lot of years as we come from the same village. I never expected her to get a dragon though and never in my twenty-one years of being alive would have guessed her dragon's name to be Violet. Hazel with her hazel eyes and Violet the purple dragon. As if they were made for each other." Eldon mused.

"But back to the matter at hand before we were so rudely interrupted. I want you to work for me. Knowing your father, he probably taught you to fight so you can train with me while taking care of my dragon. Who knows, you might actually get a job in the position you so desperately want. Your father won't be disappointed when he sees you with me, you have a better outlook on the future and you're away from this hellhole."

"What if I prefer this 'hellhole' over what you have to offer!" Joseph surprised himself with his sudden outburst. 

He looked around the stables, the few dragons that were present at the time, and the place he had spent the last four years in. How often he had wished to leave, to do something meaningful with his life instead of scooping dung and cleaning. And now, faced with that opportunity he was hesitating. It was like he never had full control of his life from the moment he was born. Eldon the arrogant, as Joseph had named him in his head, wanted to use him just as much as his father had wanted to use him he realized bitterly. His life never truly had been his own.

"If you prefer this hellhole over my offer you have something else coming to you. I'm not offering, Joseph. I'm ordering. I just hoped you would comply if I asked nicely." Eldon spoke with a smug smile on his face.

It was then Joseph realized he would see a whole lot more of 'arrogant Eldon' and perhaps 'hotheaded healer Hazel.' He had no choice, his life was, again, being dictated by someone else.

*

"Arrogant, Hotheaded and Bitter." Joseph softly spoke to himself as he stared at himself in the glass which reflected his own image back at him. 

Not only had Eldon ordered him to work but he also had called back on Hazel and given her a position to take care of the Golden Dragon together with Joseph. A cruel joke which Eldon seemed to love. Whenever the three of them were together things just exploded. Eldon and Hazel usually would argue while Joseph would stand back, brooding over how his life had come to this. Never in a million years would he have guessed the rider of the Golden Dragon to be this arrogant.

The woman was done giving him a haircut. His beard was now trimmed neatly to a little more than a stubble and his hair was cut short and washed thoroughly. He looked like his father Joseph realized with a shock. He glanced away, no longer wanting to look at himself and thanked the woman who had given him his haircut. Joseph had managed to delay this for a week after Eldon had forced him to work for him but now he had run out of excuses. It frustrated him that a man, only a year older, could force everyone to his bidding. There was one plus side to the whole arrangement though. Joseph was finally fighting again. Well, training. He hadn't touched a sword for over four years now and it had felt so good to have one in his hands again.

Eldon often trained with him and sometimes Joseph joined the other fighters. He had been rusty at first but soon found out he had not forgotten everything of his earlier training. In fact, Joseph soon discovered he was actually besting most of the regular soldiers and that fact filled him with joy and pride for the first time in a long while. Just whenever he fought with Eldon he was clearly the weaker one. Eldon was a class of his own. He was swift, strong and rather eager to beat the crap out of Joseph. He often fought dirty, claiming the enemies would also resort to this and would not play by the rules. Joseph knew Eldon had a point, but that did not lessen his frustration every time Eldon beat him.

"Hey, Stableboy!" Joseph turned to the familiar voice of Hazel as she rushed towards him. She was wearing more appropriate clothes since she came to work for Eldon. Her dress now long enough to cover the knees and her hair mostly braided to keep it out of her face. "Looking good there! You sure clean up well with just a haircut and a trim."

She smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder as a guy would normally do. "Going to the Golden Dragon himself again? The great all-knowing Golden Dragon who apparently still has no name?"

"He has a name, Hazel." Joseph bruskly replied. "Eldon just doesn't deem it needed to enlighten us about it. I actually think no one around here knows the Dragon's name. They all seem to know your Violet though." He sneered. 

It wasn't that he resented her. In fact, he rather liked her. She was a breath of fresh air in this container he had been stuffed in by other people. Something about her just made him forget everything he wanted to say, jumbled his brain and made everything come out bitter, cold and heartless. They mostly worked in silence because of this whenever they were in the stables of the Golden Dragon. She never retaliated against him though. The rest of the circus around them did not have that privilege. Especially Eldon. 

"Well, that's what they get for under-appreciating Violet. She's a fighter, like me. Eldon might not think he needs a healer but I'll prove him wrong after he finally starts fighting for the country. I've seen battles, Stableboy. I've seen men, women, and dragons getting hurt or dying. even the best fighters never come out without a scratch. Eldon might have a prophecy on his side, he still needs to prove he can actually do it." Hazel did not look at him once while she talked. She just walked towards the stable and stopped as she came eye to eye with Golden Dragon.

The beast was magnificent. He was larger than any dragon Joseph had ever seen. His head was lined in sharp long spikes, his teeth long and pristine white and his eyes betrayed his intelligence. Even in the darkest of places, his scales would reflect any speck of light that managed to reach him, making him shine everywhere he went. He was bulky, strong and just as arrogant as his rider.

Joseph was allowed to touch him, but it had taken him almost four days. Hazel, on the other hand, was not even allowed near him. The Golden Dragon would snap at her every time she came close so she had given up on even trying. She was supposed to check him to see if he was healthy but as long as he was acting like this, she deemed nothing to be wrong with him and claimed he was as healthy as could be for a dragon.

"I really don't know why Eldon insists on me monitoring this Disasters health." Hazel gestured to the Golden Dragon. Joseph shrugged and walked closer to the imposing beast before extending his hand and letting the Dragon touch him first. If the Dragon touched him first, it was a sign he would allow Joseph to do whatever he needed to do.

"Yeah well, Eldon likes to push people's buttons. He has too much power and no one to tell him off. Everyone worships him." As Joseph spoke, he grabbed a bucket and filled it with water and grabbed a big broom which he dunked in the cold water once the bucket had filled up. 

"Lay down please otherwise I won't be able to reach your back, Goldie." He had named the dragon Goldie and the Golden Dragon actually listened to it. Once the Dragon laid down, Joseph casually climbed up on his hind leg with the broom firm in his hand until he was on top of the dragon and started brushing and scrubbing the golden scales. The big body underneath him started resonating content when Joseph started and he smiled as the fearsome Golden Dragon turned to a giant pushover underneath him.

Hazel carefully observed the interactions between Joseph and the Golden Dragon and leaned against a wall, cocking her head to one side. "You truly do have a way with dragons. Violet completely trusts you after just a few hours of being here and here you have the fearsome Golden Dragon acting like a puppy while you stomp around on his back. For a stableboy, you are pretty smart. How come you never bonded with a dragon yourself?"

"Hey, Joseph!" Eldon walked in and flashed both him and Hazel the most innocent smile he could muster. "Guess what, your father just arrived!"

Joseph's blood had run cold the moment Hazel asked him about bonding but that was nothing compared to how his body reacted to the news of his fathers' early arrival. His vision turned black, his grip on the broom softened and before he truly knew what was going on, he felt himself fall.