He glided in and touched down on the grass so lightly she barely felt it, and swiftly ducked low so she could dismount. She slid from the dragon’s back and ran for her spear, glinting in the grass where she’d dropped it, praise all the Mothers and Fathers.

“Byen, woman! I told you if I wiggle my left shoulder it means I’m banking left!” He was a man once more. “You almost scared my heart to a stop!”

Yenni ignored him and snatched up her spear before sprinting for the training ground.

“You’re welcome!” the lackwit dragon shouted after her. “Oh, and Byen’s favor!”

Yenni slipped through the big wooden doors as two burly Creshen men pulled them shut. She hurried down the short steps, her sandals slapping the stone, and came to stand with the murmuring crowd, corralled like a herd of cattle on the sands of the open-air training ground. They were hemmed in by tall walls of dark lumber, reminding her of a ship’s hull. Out of the corner of her eye she caught other students glancing at her but she stared ahead, her chest heaving. She had no time for small talk.

All the leather-clad backs in front of her were depressingly broad shouldered. It seemed most of the applicants were male, the same disturbing trend that had taken over the Sha Islands. Here and there she spotted skin of a darker hue, likely men from the Northern Sha Islands, or the Sunrise Isles, as the Creshens called them.

The din from the group dropped in volume until all was quiet, and Yenni startled when a booming voice shattered the silence. It was louder than she’d ever heard anyone speak before, and it occurred to her the speaker must be amplifying it somehow with ach’e.

“Welcome, young hopefuls! I’m Captain Augustin. Today’s test will put you through the paces so we can get a sense of your abilities in melee and with basic weapons.”

Yenni stood on her toes but couldn’t see anything over the tall, shaggy heads before her.

“Square up!” the voice shouted.

They moved instantly, leaving Yenni looking left and right. Square up? What did this mean? The others were spreading into a wide circle . . . no, a square! Yenni scrambled to fit herself between two of her fellow candidates. At last they were all in place, and in the center of the square stood a squat Creshen man with close-cropped hair. His arms and calves bulged as if he’d stolen them from someone else’s body, and his wide smile betrayed more than one missing tooth.

“Nice lot,” he said as he paced the square. “But then, the first group of the day is always the most keen.” As the captain’s eyes fell on Yenni she once again experienced “the look.” He came over to her.

“Oho!” he said. “Where are you from?”