It was the day Cordelia Tavis had spent most of her life training for: Conscription Day. She was going enter the riders quadrant and bond with a dragon. A fucking cool dragon. She knew it. This was her destiny. Even before the separatist kids from the rebellion were forced to choose the riders quadrant when entering Basgiath War College, she wanted to be a dragon rider.

And here she was, standing in line to put her name on the roll for the potential to become a rider. Her black shirt covered most of the rebellion relic that began at the tip of her middle finger, spanning across her forearm and most of her upper arm. Most relics begin at the wrist, but hers was different. She would have worn it proudly, not in any way embarrassed from where she came from, but Cordelia was not going to wear a tank top and get distracted by the cold and wind against her skin on the parapet.

Two eager potentials stood in front of Cordelia, making her peak over their shoulders to see if anyone she knew sat at the roll table. At the glimpse of the rebellion relic on the boy who sat at the roll table, she smiled. Her gaze moved down to her hand and fingers, lifting the cuff of her sleeve a bit to show off the relic more.

"How did you braid your hair like that?" Cordelia jumped as she felt a finger at the top of her milk maid braid, and her head snapped to face the boy behind her, her grip moving to the dagger in the sheath of her pants. "Woah, fuck." The boy raised his hands into the air in defense, his eyes wide.

"Don't fucking touch me." Cordelia growled, her fingers never leaving the dagger.

The boy nodded, his eyes drifting from her eyes to the dagger. "Got it, princess. No need to kill me before we even get past the parapet." A smile cracked across his face.

The boy's wavy hair flopped across his forehead, his brown eyes finally landing on the stacked braids at the top of her head. She could not deny that this boy was very good looking. His features similar to Bodhi's. He was quite small, but Cordelia was sure he would bulk up by the end of year one. "Seriously though, could you braid my hair like that?"

Cordelia's eyes rolled before she heard "Next!", and her body snapped back to facing the desk, and it was finally her turn.

The rider seated next to the scribe taking roll's eyes widened as Cordelia stepped up to the desk. "You're Cordelia?" The boy questioned.

Her eyebrow cocked. "Has my brother been bragging about me?"

He nodded, "Yeah, but not just him."

Bodhi.

Cordelia's stomach flipped at the thought of Bodhi Duran being in the rider's quadrant. Garrick had written to her, saying he had survived, but that's all she got from her "dick" of a brother. He would pussyfoot around the subject of Bodhi, never actually letting Cordelia have that satisfaction.

She missed that boy.

She missed that boy more than she's ever missed anyone.

"Name?" The scribe glanced up at her, his tunic softly jumping with his upper body.

"Cordelia Tavis."

The scribe froze, staring at the girl. "As in Garrick Tavis?" Cordelia nodded, a soft smirk landing across her lips.

The rider chuckled, his hand resting on the table in front of him. "This girl landed second in her year for the entrance exam. Garrick's quite proud." He leaned forward, his eyes glistening with mischief. "But don't tell him I told you that." Cordelia gave the boy a soft nod, her gaze moving to the tower behind them. "Just in there, Tavis."

As Cordelia began passing the table, the rider grabbed her wrist, his fingers landing on her relic. "Please don't die on the parapet. Those boys are counting on you being in there." Warmth filled Cordelia as she remembered the boys she grew up with. Garrick and Bodhi, of course, but Xaden Riorson as well. They would finally all be reunited.

Cordelia stalked up to the tower before hearing a "Wait!" coming behind her.

The girl groaned, immediately knowing it was the incredibly obnoxious boy who had been behind her in line. She ignored his yell, entering the tower. Her eyes lifted to the two-hundred and fifty steps that stood between her and the parapet. "I told you to wait."

Fuck, he caught up.

Cordelia turned to the boy, her face hard. "Yeah, and I kept walking."

"You're kind of mean."

"Kind of?"

"You're really mean."

"Thank you." A smile finally landed on her face as she turned sharply and began her descent across the tower stairs.

Cordelia heard his loud, obnoxious feet behind her, his breathing also quite loud, and her fingers gripped at the straps of her rucksack, desperately stopping herself from shoving this man off of the stairs. A few candidates would fall off the stairs every year, so no one would question it.

"I like it." Cordelia would practically hear the goofy grin across his face, trying to walk up the stairs faster than him and finally get away from this boy. "Slow down, Cordelia."

"Huh?" The girl frowned. "How do you know my name?"

The boy chuckled, easily keeping up with Cordelia, much to her dismay. "I've been watching you secretly for years. I'm your very secret stalker. So secret you didn't even know I was there."

She immediately knew he was joking, which for some reason made it worse. Cordelia began to realize that nothing that came out of the boy's mouth was serious. He was always joking. "Funny." Cordelia groaned.

"I heard the rider gawking at you. He was pretty loud."

"Or maybe you just need to not listen to other people's conversations."

"No. He was really fucking loud. He yelled your name." The laughed as the two climbed. "He literally was like 'CORDELIA'!" The boy screamed into the tower, his hands waving into the air.

Cordelia's eyes widened as a soft chuckle escaped her lips, but she immediately covered it up with a cough, not wanting to give the boy the satisfaction of making her laugh. "I'm Ridoc." She heard a melody in his steps, and glanced towards the boy, and he was skipping up the stairs.

Who the fuck is this boy? Where did he come from?

"Are you skipping? Up stairs?"

"Why, yes. Yes, I am." Cordelia let out a sigh as relief as the top of the tower finally came into sight. "Skipping brings me joy. Maybe you should try it, Deli." Cordelia's feet froze at the nickname. He did not just call her fucking Deli. She faced him quickly, her hands leaping up, almost landing on his chest. "Are you going to push me off the tower because I called you Deli, Deli?" Ridoc smirked, drawing out the nickname the second time, almost challenging her to actually do it.

Cordelia huffed, her heading rushing back towards the stairs as she quickly marched up the final few. Thank the Gods. One step closer to getting away from this boy. Ridoc.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the parapet in front of her. Cordelia knew what the parapet would entail, but actually being up there was terrifying.

She could die today.

But she wouldn't.

The rider had said her boys were counting on her making it in, so she could not disappoint them.

This is when she saw them, standing at the entrance to the turret. At least two of them: Garrick and Xaden. A smile cracked Garrick's hard exterior as his sister came into his view. "Cordy." Garrick rushed past his best friend, enveloping his sister in his arms.

It was the first time the two had seen each other in two years. They had never been apart for even longer than a week before that. But here they were, together again.

"Garrick." The girl coughed out, her brother almost cutting off her breath. Garrick chuckled, dropping his arms and looking downs towards his sister.

"Fuck, I missed you, Cordy."

"I missed you, too, Gar."

Xaden cleared his throat at the entrance to the turret, both their heads turning to him. "We told you no special treatment, Garrick." The oldest marked one joked as he strutted towards the dark haired girl, pulling her into a hug. "Please don't die out there." He harshly patted her back, causing her to burp against his chest.

Both of the boys eyes widened at the burp before they burst into laughter. Garrick began jotting his sister's name down on his log of candidates. "Get on the turret, Cordy. And don't fucking fall. Keep your arms out."

The girl nodded slowly, her eyes falling back to the turret in front of her. "Fucking finally. That took forever." How could Cordelia have forgotten about her new annoying friend that would not shut up.

Garrick's hard shell returned, his eyes sizing up the boy in front of him. "Name?"

"Ridoc Gamlyn."

"I think I'll write dick-wad instead. What do you think, Xaden."

Xaden cocked his scarred eyebrow, his arms crossing over his chest. "Works for me." His head snapped back to Cordelia who was still standing below the step up to the parapet. "Move your fucking ass, Tavis." The boy called out.

Cordelia nodded, stepping up to finally land on the parapet. "Fuck." She gasped, refusing to look below to the river that ran under the parapet. Her arms slowly lifted to the side, trying desperately to hold her balance. Her feet began making their way across the thin stones that lined the air.

"Just you and me again, Deli."

"Don't fucking call me that." Cordelia snapped at his, not even daring to look back at the boy.

Ridoc chuckled as he shuffled his feet across the turret. "I think you like it." Cordelia's eyes rolled once again at this boys words. If Ridoc kept it up, Cordelia might strain her fucking eyeballs from rolling them so much.

The girl kept up her pace, desperately trying to get across the parapet. Not many things scared Cordelia, and she had never felt as terrified as she did at that moment.

"The view is amazing from back here." Cordelia scoffed at Ridoc's comment. "Being behind you is best case scenario, actually."

"Being in front of you is worst case scenario."

They had made it about a quarter of the way across before the weather suddenly turned to rain. "Aww, you don't like my company, Deli?" The boy's voice was dripping in sarcasm, and Cordelia could picture the goofy grin on his face. "You wound me."

"I wish I could."

As Cordelia spoke, the sole of her shoe suddenly caught in a snag of the stone of the parapet, her balance tumbling. "Fuck." Ridoc gasped, jumping forward. His hands landing on her waist, steadying her.

Cordelia felt Ridoc's chest flush against her back, his breath heavy as the rain came down on them. Her own breath hitched slightly as her focus shifted to his hands. This man's hands were fucking massive on her waist. "You okay?" Ridoc whispered. Cordelia felt his breath against her ear and shivered.

Fuck, why did she shiver?

She peeled his hands off of her waist and returned to her crossing the parapet, her arms landing back out to the side. "You're welcome!" Ridoc called after her, and it was clear he had stayed back there as she walked on.

"Thanks, dick." She called back to him. "Are you going to push me off the parapet cause I called you dick, dick?" Cordelia mimicked his earlier remark.

"Fuck, you're so hot." Cordelia could hear he had begun moving again. "Bully me more, please." Once again, where did this boy come from?

"Shut up." Cordelia barked, as she crossed the halfway mark of the parapet.

Ridoc practically giggled, gaining on her. "You love me already. I know you do." He tossed his hair. "I mean, how could you not."

"You're so right, how could I not." Cordelia groaned, her pace quickening as his voice grew closer at every word.

The rain had finally begun and to slow down as the two walked on. "Was that your boyfriend back there, or something?"

Cordelia practically choked at the boys words. "That's my fucking brother, Gamlyn." Her eyes slammed shut at the realization that he hadn't told her his last name, and she had yelled at him earlier for listening into her conversation. "You were the fucking loud one this time."

"I'll always scream my name with pride."

She heard his gasp of air, and did not want to experience his shriek again. "If you scream again, I'm actually going to throw you off the parapet." She threatened, her pace not slowing as they crossed into the final quarter of the turret.

Ridoc furrowed his eyebrows in a sarcastic show of hurt. "Deli, I just saved your life, and now you're threatening to end mine?" Cordelia did not even entertain this. That boy did not save her life. Or at least she would never admit that. She could not stand him, and she just wanted him to leave her alone!

Cordelia's view of the citadels courtyard grew more clear, and she knew she had made it. Cordelia's feet moved before her brain told them to, sprinting to the end of the parapet.

A gasp left her mouth as she landed at the courtyard where two riders sat, waiting with their logs to record who survived. "Name?"

"Cordelia Tavis."

"Tavis?"

"Yep."

A rush of wind came in as Ridoc jumped in next to Cordelia. "You left me back there, Deli. How could you?"

Word Count : 2295
An :
Omg first official chapter. Yay!
I love Ridoc yall. And I can't wait to remeet Bodhi against soon!