Iden had awakened early that morning, the buzz around town was this new Circus that had taken up residence in a large pasture just outside of the Towns limits. He rushed through breakfast horking down a large slice of ham and bread, and hastily packing a few slices of the salted meat, cheese, and freshly baked bread thanks to his mother, then he was out the door. No one had been awake, not his father, nor his mother, but that was a good thing, because then he wouldn't get asked to do chores, nor what he was doing, or where he was going. For God's sake he was 21 years old, and was still treated like a child, but that was probably more out of concern and Iden's tendencies to get into large amounts of trouble.<br/><br/>It hadn't taken him long to saddle Duke, his black coated Clydesdale, who doubled as his plow horse, and ride towards town where he was meant to meet Batya, but she wouldn't be there for another couple hours or so, with her chores and all, so instead he had rode toward the circus.<br/><br/>As he neared the area, the sun was just barely peaking on the horizon and the pasture was already bustling with noise of strange beasts, laughter, and the smell of grits, eggs, and ham cooking. Iden stayed within the shadows of the small stretch of forest line to keep out of sight as he watched the strange people, some of them were dressed in vibrant colors, ridiculous hats, shoes, and anything really, there had even been a man who wore horse shoes for bracelets! Sliding off of Duke's back he gave the horse a soft pat and chuckled.<br/><br/>"This place is, amazing..." His bright blue eyes took in the morning routines of the lion tamer, warming up the large predatory cats, and rewarding with slabs of meat, then the horse riders standing on their hands as the horses galloped in a circle, then looking up to the Clydesdale he shook his head, "You think we could do that?" his only reply was a snort and a disgruntled nicker as Duke began to become antsy. Iden frowned at the horse's demeanor and looked toward the circus to see if anyone was approaching...but he saw no one. The only thing new was that there was a large cage being pulled by a team of grey skinned beasts with long noses and sharp white fangs, the cage was covered with a large fabric, but from within it shook violently, and growls, like no beast he had ever heard came from within and echoed in the clearing. Biting his lip he climbed atop Duke and turned away from the scene, rushing into town.<br/><br/>That growl, he had heard something like that, maybe not as deep and grown, but, it reminded him of someone that was very dear to him, a long time ago him and Batya had found a young Drake, sure he had been the size of a horse when they had found him, but the dragon was young. They had befriended the beast, and then...Batya's parents turned him over to the authorities, which was also how Iden got thrown into the stocks for the first time as punishment for using his sling at the guards attempting to corral the Dragon at the time...That was also when he had heard that growl... Despite it being such a sad memory, it did bring a smile to his face that shown brightly as he trotted into town atop his horse.<br/><br/>He was spacing out, thinking and in deep thought looking down at the cobblestone streets and remembering his childhood, that dragon and his friend Batya... where was she anyway? Blinking he looked up and found himself stopped at the watering troughs outside the town's stables, he shook his head giving Duke a pat as the horse drank, and slide from his back, eyes still searching for his friend.