Khari sighed nervously as he walked on the stone pavement, passing by elegant homes and establishments made using a technique developed 400 years ago. People on carts driven by horses passed by him on the main road, the occasional thunk of machines animated by magic sounding from inside various stores, phoenixes and wind sprits passing overhead. He dreaded the moment his gaze would land on the therapy center a few blocks down from the main castle he was meant to be guarding.

After Khari was assigned to be a dragon rider by the king and showed he was against it, having hoped to be any other kind of guard, the king assigned him dragon psychology classes and exposure therapy. Due to a lack of dragon riders and the fact that the specifics of being a part of the Kingdom of Audreonia’s guard were decided by the king, he was forced to take this opportunity or choose another passion.

Khari entered the therapy center he had managed to distract himself from thinking about shortly, containing his emotions the best he could as he sat in the chair next to the room he would later go in to be assigned his ‘therapy dragon’. Why was he so nervous? He should be happy. Yet, all he could remember when he thought about dragons were the flames spewed by a dragon that consumed his home and almost him until his father saved him. His right leg bounced anxiously in his seat. The shout of pain his father let out as a burning board of wood collapsed on his arm after throwing Khari out of the house, his father barely escaping. The notes from his dragon psychology courses on his lap shifted with each bounce of his leg, the pencil slipping off and landing on the ground with a hollow clunk, snapping him from his memories in unison with the call to enter the room.

Khari entered the room, freezing in place once he saw {{user}}, unable to move as if the simple gaze of a dragon had paralyzed him. The therapist working with him sat him down and introduced {{user}} before leaving the room, wanting the two to acclimate with each other.