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Night had fallen, yet the village was lit by many torches that had been set up in preparation. Gathering, they crowded together in a giant ring, only leaving a path open leading from the Elder's house.

The Five Candidates stood in the center of the ring, awaiting the dragons who would choose from among them.

The three came, Arainya leading them. In the flickering torchlight, the dragons were a fearsome visage. Their tails swished loosely about their feet. Their pupils were vertical slits, while fangs were just visible through their lips.

Arainya stepped forward and spoke. "Candidates! From when you first exited your mothers' wombs, you were reserved for a special honor! For each of you were born upon the night of a full moon, a night when magic is at its strongest. As you have all been told by your Wise Woman, all who are born on the full moon are reserved to be Dragonfriends. Five of you stand before us, yet only three of you are needed."

"By the laws and traditions that have been passed down, we hereby deem a Trial necessary. You will be given three tests, one from each of us, from which we shall judge your actions." Hartellya smiled, her fangs fully visible.

Madarick smirked. "The Trial is nothing to poke fun of, sister. If you choose a Candidate incorrectly, you will ultimately pay the price."

Hartellya glared at him and snarled. "I wouldn't dare! Do you imply that I am that prone to fall to the Great Void?!"

"Silence, both of you!" Arainya hissed.  She turned back to the Candidates.  "The Tasks shall now be revealed." With a flourish, she and her companions pulled their cloaks off. Wings spread wide briefly then furled about them. Their scales seemed to glow in the firelight. Hartellya's scales were as silver as the moon that shone above. Madarick's scales shone like well-polished copper. Arainya's, however, were bronze. Her scales shone brightly, almost a pale gold. "The colors of our scales have been revealed, and now the Tasks! Madarick!"

The Copper stepped forward and smiled at them. With their wings now clearly visible, there was no mistaking them. Madarick paced before them, seemingly in thought. "Now, what shall I have you do?" He rubbed his chin in a mocking manner. "A sharp mind is what I seek; therefore, I believe riddles shall be my task. Now, what of you Hartellya?"

The silver dragon was somber as she observed the five humans. "I seek one skilled in the healing arts. My task shall be one of alchemy. I will present a poison; they shall try to derive an antidote. Arainya?"

The bronze surveyed them with a skeptical eye. "I seek one who is pure of heart. One who will not falter in their conviction. Who will seek out the truth and ensure justice be done. Therefore, I shall test their morality."

Madarick sighed. "Now, I suppose we decide who goes first?"

Arainya stepped back. "I have every intention of going last."

Hartellya nodded and smiled at Madarick. "You can have first choice."

Madarick nodded and turned to the five humans. "Very well then." Again he stroked  his chin, more serious this time.  "There was a man who was to be sentenced. The judge said to him, 'You may make a statement. If it is true, I'll sentence you to four years in prison. If it is false, I'll sentence you to six years in prison.' After the man made his statement, the judge decided to let him go free. What did the man say to the judge?"

The Five stared at the copper. One boy spoke up. "What was the man's crime?"

Madarick smirked. "What does that have to do with the price of tea in the southern lands?" The boy hung his head, his cheeks reddening. The dragon sighed. "Really? Is it so difficult? My mother first told me this five days after hatching, and it took me but a minute to give her the answer!"
"Simple, the man told the judge, 'You will sentence me to six years in prison.'" A girl spoke up. The dragon turned to her, eyes narrowed.

"And how do you figure that?"

"The judge said that if the man told him a true statement, he would only be sentenced to four years. However, if the statement were false, the man would receive six years in prison. But the man told him would be sentenced to six years. If the judge said it was true, the man would be sentenced to four years, making the statement false. However, since the statement would then be true, it creates a paradox. Therefore, the judge did not want to contradict himself, and he let the man go free." The girl answered.

The copper rubbed his chin and nodded. "Very good. That is correct." Again he paced and thought. "You are a clever thief and are caught robbing a bank. The king sentences you to death, but since he is kind, you are allowed to choose your own manner of death. How would you choose to die?"

To everyone's surprise the same girl who had answered the first riddle laughed. "It's obvious isn't it? Since I'm a clever thief, I'd choose to die of old age!"

Madarick frowned. "What is your name?"

"Mia." She answered.

Madarick turned away, then whipped back around.  "Four brothers were born in this world, all born together. The first runs, yet never wearies. The second eats and is never full. The third drinks and is always thirsty. The fourth sings a song that is never good."

Mia was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Water runs in rivers. Fire will consume everything if left unchecked. The earth constantly drinks. The wind brings forth storms."

The copper was smiling now. "When you are full, you still want to eat it. Even if it is completely dark you still can see it with your naked eyes. If you happen to fall on a heap of cotton, you will suffer from it. And, even if you are completely broke, you still have it. What is this strange thing?"

Mia smiled. "Nothing."

The copper smirked. "A man is traveling to a town and comes to a fork in the road. If he chooses to go left, he will arrive to the liars' village. If he goes right, he goes to the village of truths, where he wants to go. However, he does not know which way is which.
As he has no time to go both routes, he talks to a stranger who is standing in the middle of the fork. The stranger tells him that he may only ask three questions and he will answer them.
The man asks: 'Are you from the village of truths?' The stranger says, 'Yes!' However, the man is still facing a dilemma: If the stranger was from the village of truths he can only tell the truth, but if he was from the village of liars, he would say he was from the village of truth.
So then he asks the stranger, 'Are you telling the truth?' The stranger says, 'Yes!' But sadly this leaves the man in the same position as before. The man has but one question left. What should he ask?"

The other four Candidates murmured to themselves, each determined to try and show up Mia. Mia was deep in thought, murmuring it over to herself. "Three questions. A man who may be from the village of liars. Trying to get to the village of truths. One question left." At least two of the others shook their heads in defeat. The two that were still thinking both gave answers, but they were wrong. After several minutes, Mia snapped her fingers and lightly smacked her head. "Of course! It's obvious, isn't it? The traveler asks the man to take him back to his village! If he is from the village of truth, the man will take him there. Even if the man is a liar, because he is a liar, he will still take him to the village of truth!"

Madarick smirked and didn't bother with a reply. Turning to Hartellya, his face sobered. "Don't make it too far beyond their reach."

The silver dragoness smiled innocently. "If I go easy on them, I will not get the desired effect, now will I?" Her face became stoic as she observed the Five. "Madarick was easy on you. All he sought were answers to riddles. In a sense, I also have a riddle for you." Weaving her hand before her, a vial appeared, filled with a sickly, green, bubbling liquid. "For those of you who do not know, this is venom taken from a newly hatched cockatrice.  As you are well aware, cockatrice venom is almost as deadly as basilisk venom. Yet there is a profound difference. Perhaps one of you knows?"

A boy off to the side nodded. "The only cure for basilisk venom is phoenix tears. The tears of the phoenix can heal any wound, any poison. Cockatrice venom, however, does have other cures. There are several rare herbs, each deadly on their own, that if mixed correctly, can produce a cure for such venom. Furthermore, the use of all ten is not necessary. In fact, it's risky because of the very nature of the herbs. Therefore, it's generally best to use a maximum of only two in any given antidote, occasionally going up to three in emergencies."

Hartellya smiled and nodded. "That would be the correct answer. However, this is not just a simple antidote. Cockatrice venom is the only poison that can only truly be cured through the use of all ten of the Herbs of Death." Her fangs glinted in the torchlight. Weaving both her hands before her, five small cauldrons, as well as a tableful of herbs appeared. An elegant hourglass also sat on the table, which Hartellya grasped in her hand. "You have one hour to brew the correct antidote. Beginning now." She flipped the hourglass. The boy who had answered was the first to the table, immediately measuring out herbs, glancing every so often at the vial of poison.

Kiara stood with her father towards the edge of the crowd. While the rest of her family (at least those old enough to attend; her mother had stayed with the younger children) were up towards the front, she had remained near the back. She found herself gazing up at the moon again and shook her head. What is up with me? A feeling kept hovering about her, a feeling that she was supposed to be somewhere. But try as she might, she couldn't think of anyplace. Again, she looked up at the moon, just as the town bell out ten o'clock. Two hours. She frowned. In two hours, the Trial would be drawing to a close.

The Candidates continued with their potions, two failing not long after starting, their cauldrons billowing out black smoke. Hartellya waved her hand, and their cauldrons vanished. The boy who had answered first never took his eyes off his work. While the others either whispered, or glanced at everyone else's, he focused solely on his own. The town bell rang out eleven o'clock. As one, the Candidates stepped back from their cauldrons. Hartellya gracefully stepped among them, observing their antidotes. As she came to the boy who had answered, she paused. "What is your name?"

He swallowed and answered. "Noah, dragoness."

The dragoness nodded. "Out of all the antidotes made here tonight, yours was the only one that is even close to appearing acceptable. Now, to test to see if it works." She gestured for a girl to step forward. She took the vial of poison and raised it to her lips. The crowd gasped and several cried out as she drank it, falling to her knees. Hartellya looked at Noah with a grim expression. "Measure out and administer the correct dosage."

Noah, his hands trembling slightly, did as the dragoness had bid him do. She silently admired at how he had managed to remain so calm. Noah made his way to the girl, lifted her head, and tipped the antidote into her mouth. With bated breath, the crowd watched. Hartellya smiled in satisfaction as her breathing returned to normal. The antidote had been successful.  The dragoness turned to Arainya, giving a slight bow.

The bronze dragoness stepped forward. "And now we have come to the last trial. My trial. Is there a just heart among you?" The Candidates remained silent, awaiting their instructions. "While my brother tested your intelligence, my sister tested your knowledge." She whirled about, her cloak billowing about her. There was a glint of bronze scaled wings. "I will test your conviction! Your determination! Your very will!"

Kiara's father nudged his daughter. "Kiara?" She shook herself, having been staring at the moon again. "Are you alright?"

She smiled. "I'm fine, father. I just…," she looked away, "I just can't shake this feeling that I need to be somewhere…"

They both jumped as Yelsa spoke from behind them. "It is time, Kiara. You must finish what was started."

Kiara stared at the wise-woman. "Finish….what was started…." An image flashed through her mind…A crypt stood before her, covered in runes. A stone dragon was curled around the low building, rising up above it, wings spread.  She turned and looked down the path towards the cemetery. "….are you….calling me?" She glances at her father. "I need to go…" Without realizing it, her feet begin to move. She turns her back to the ceremony, and she runs from that place. Vaguely, she heard shouting behind her, but her focus remained ahead. The moon was almost dead center in the sky; time was running out.