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There was a knock on Zaryen”s door very early on the day of the searching ceremony, and he rolled out of bed and stumbled towards it, only to see Feraan as he opened it.

”Hey, I came to see if you”re ready.” As Feraan looked him up and down, he sighed. ”You aren”t.”

Zaryen moved to the side and motioned him into the room.

”It”s early, I still have time.”

”You haven”t even packed yet.” Feraan stepped around his open suitcase, overflowing with clothes. ”Do you… need help?”

Pausing in his attempt to clear enough space for Feraan to sit on, Zaryen frowned.

”With packing?”

”Well, I can throw things in and sit on top of a suitcase hoping for it to close like everyone else, but I meant it more in general terms. Do you have questions about the ceremony? Or about anything else? I explained some things on your first day, but I thought you may want to know more.”

When Feraan took a seat on the armchair, Zaryen sat down on his unmade bed and pulled his legs up to his chest, circling his arms around his knees. Neither of them had to say out loud why Feraan was doing this, but Zaryen was still touched by his concern. It didn”t feel like pity, more like an understanding.

And who knew, maybe Feraan did understand.

”How was your family about… this?” he heard himself ask and barely resisted hiding his face against his knees.

Subtle. Very subtle.

Feraan”s face froze for a second before he looked away towards the window.

”I”ve been at the Academy for two years now,” he said, which seemed like no answer at all, until he continued. ”If I were to become eligible now, I might not have gotten to come here at all.”

Zaryen swallowed hard. ”Oh.”

Feraan glanced at him before turning away again. ”I know it”s not easy to go against your elders, regardless of the reason. We”re bound to our families in different ways and while we come here when we”re technically of age, we both know it doesn”t mean we”re independent—far from it, really. We still need their agreement to attend any school, after all. So there”s no shame in not going against them, if you so choose. But since they let you come, it”s not all lost, is it?”

Wind”s curse.

This was what Zaryen got by running his mouth. He”d done a pretty good job skirting around the truth of his situation so far, saying as little as possible about his circumstances and letting others fill in the rest, but now… Now there was no way around it without lying, because if he didn”t correct Feraan, if he didn”t tell him—

”I”m sorry, forget it.” Feraan tucked his hands under his thighs. ”I shouldn”t have said that.”

”No, it”s not that,” Zaryen assured him quickly, because the last thing Feraan deserved was to feel bad for trying to have a difficult conversation with him, especially after opening up about his own situation. ”It”s just… It”s hard to believe not all is lost, you know? I actually wasn”t sleeping when you came. I was staring at the ceiling imagining them storming in here, demanding for me to return home.”

This, at least, was completely true.

Feraan met his gaze. ”Yeah, I did that, too.”

”Really?”

”Not at the beginning, but when Caleen had made his announcement after Taveris”s… disappearance, I definitely worried. I”m sure you remember what followed, and I expected my family to join in with the other conservatives.”

”Did they?”

Feraan grimaced. ”I received a few pointed letters throughout last year, but they hadn”t gone to the press or stormed into the Academy, so I guess it could”ve gone worse.”

”They wouldn”t be able to take you out of the Academy now, anyway, right?” Zaryen asked, knowing the answer in theory, but suddenly needing reassurance.

He put everything on this, after all. His goal was to make it to the searching ceremony, since from the moment he met his companion, his candidacy couldn”t be withdrawn. And even if his family tried, well… They weren”t the ones who had sent the final agreement to the Academy, so there was nothing for them to withdraw.

They could—and likely would—disown him over this, however, and if they put enough pressure onto the headmaster that Master Raizen felt the Academy”s standing was seriously threatened, who knew what would happen.

But it was too late to worry about that now, anyway. Zaryen was here and he was about to meet his companion in a few hours.

Assuming you meet him today, a nagging voice reminded him, but he refused to follow that line of thinking again. Fewer than one in a hundred human candidates had to wait for the second searching ceremony to meet his match. Zaryen wasn”t going to be so unlucky.

He couldn”t afford to be.

* * *

Feraan didn”t leave his side until the last possible moment, which Zaryen appreciated more than he could say.

”Thank you, honestly,” he tried anyway, as they reached the room only the unbonded humans participating in the ceremony could enter. ”For everything.”

”You have a habit of repeating yourself, don”t you?” Feraan shook his head, but he still reached out and clasped Zaryen”s shoulder. ”You deserved to have someone with you for this and I was willing to be a stand-in, that”s all. But as much as I tried to explain stuff to you, you”ll probably have more questions, so if you ever need it, come find me and ask, okay? If I”m unable to answer something, I”ll find someone who will.”

”Something”, in this case, was a code for sex questions. Feraan hadn”t stated it out right, but from the context and from the things he hadn”t said during their earlier discussions, Zaryen was fairly sure he guessed correctly.

Which was fine. He didn”t worry about that part at all.

It might not matter, anyway, if his bond turned out to be a platonic one.

And if his bond was platonic, maybe his family…

No. Not going there.

”Okay?” Feraan pressed, raising his eyebrows, and Zaryen realized he hadn”t answered him earlier.

”Yes, yes, okay. I”ll be fine.” I have to be. ”Are you going up there to watch?”

He pointed towards the steps up to the balcony, where both guests and bonded students could observe the proceedings. He”d heard it was the most boring of the Academy ceremonies to witness, since no one outside of a future bonded pair could see the spark, but that didn”t stop some people, anyway.

”I may as well. Since I”m here already and all that.”

”Some may start to think you”re a romantic at heart,” Zaryen teased, causing Feraan to snort.

”Absolutely no one would think that.” He nudged Zaryen towards the door. ”Now go on, get in. You came too far to be late for this.”

”We”re too early, you menace,” Zaryen grumbled, but turned around and put his hand on the handle as his heartbeat sped up.

Here we go.

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him before the doubt could start creeping in again. There were eight other guys already there, so he nodded in greeting and took a seat on the side. Nobody was talking and he didn”t feel like starting anything, either. They were all on the edge of something they”d been most likely dreaming about for a long time. This wasn”t the time for idle chit-chat.

Staring at the clock on the wall, Zaryen begged it in his head to go faster, but it seemed to be doing the exact opposite, instead.

Five minutes prior to the start of the ceremony, one last guy stumbled in, literally, but caught himself before he could fall.

”Sorry,” he mumbled and took the empty seat next to Zaryen.

Then, after another two minutes, the door on the other side of the room opened and in walked the headmaster and one more dragon in teacher”s robes.

All the candidates stood up.

”Good morning, gentlemen.” Master Raizen looked around the room. ”The time has come for you to take part in the searching ceremony, where you may meet your dragon companion, who will be by your side forever. You will create a bond that will aid you for the rest of your life and allow you to grow as a man and as a defender of the land and the people you will consider your home, either here in Teranea or in Paryada. Don”t forget that you owe your partner as much as he owes you—your best. The Academy will help you expand the horizon of what you think possible and develop skills you”ll need going forward. And we will be here to assist you every step of the way. Now, are you ready?”

Zaryen nodded his head quickly.

Wind”s curse, he was more than ready.

He was desperate.

They came out onto the small space that was normally used for fight practice, but now there was a giant wall in the middle of it, separating them from the dragon candidates. Their future bondmates.

The headmaster was talking again, but Zaryen couldn”t understand a word, focused on what was about to happen any second now.

Please, be there, he repeated in his head, again and again. I have nothing left, if you”re not.

Then the wall started moving, and his heart was louder than ever before, thundering in his chest so hard it was difficult to breathe.

He was supposed to recognize the spark, but he could see several dragons now and no one—

There.

Right there.

The glow seemed to radiate from the man, and all Zaryen could do was stare. His future bonded was tall, had short hair that seemed almost white and… were those freckles?

Zaryen swallowed hard. They were.

And he wanted to trace them all with his mouth, and his fingers, and—

His companion”s eyes widened as he turned and saw him, and a moment later, both of them were moving.

Zaryen barely took a few steps, and yet he was still out of breath when he paused in front of the dragon who was still glowing—and grinning, now.

”It”s you,” Zaryen whispered, grinning back.

”It”s me.”

Zaryen”s heart jumped at the sound of that voice, surprisingly deep for a guy so young.

Then he remembered he needed to issue the invitation.

”My name is Zaryen, and I come from Kingdom of Teranea.”

As he spoke, he reached out his arm with his palm facing up, and the dragon in front of him clasped his forearm in a blink of an eye.

Zaryen felt his whole body responding as a shiver ran through him despite the heat.

”My name is Meveris. I come from Paryada, the Land of Southern Skies. And I”m yours.”

That last part wasn”t a part of the customary greeting, but it suddenly felt necessary.

”And I”m yours,” Zaryen echoed, still staring into his companion”s eyes, which, now that the glow lessened slightly, he could tell were yellowish-brown.

Turning away from Meveris now that Zaryen had found him seemed impossible, even when the headmaster appeared by their side.

”Congratulations,” Master Raizen said. ”The spark you share is a great honor and privilege, but it”s also a source of great joy. Now that you are on the brink of the journey that will bind you together, please follow me. There are things we need to discuss.”

Zaryen”s breath caught in his chest as the words registered. Each new pair was escorted off the field by someone from the staff and he”d hoped they would get the headmaster, since it would make things easier afterwards, but now that it was happening, he wished he could drag it out more.

He wished he could stay in the happy bubble with his companion for a while longer.

And Meveris could tell something wasn”t right, if the way he tightened the grip on Zaryen”s arm and tugged him a bit closer was any indication.

”What is it?” Meveris asked quietly, confirming Zaryen”s suspicions. ”What do you need?”

The answer was obvious, easily the truest thing Zaryen had ever said.

”You. I need you.”

Meveris leaned even closer, his breath brushing Zaryen”s cheek.

”You have me. Now and forever.”

Closing the rest of the gap between them, Zaryen threw his free arm around Meveris”s neck, hiding his face there and inhaling deeply.

He was never letting him go.

Not ever.