Bonding Ceremony

The Riders of Kuvonee descent do not celebrate the day of a person's birth. The year of their birth is recorded, only to remember when a rider turns double digits. It is during that year, six months after the birthing season of the Vaukela that Rider children are sent in pairs and in groups to travel to the mountains where the Vaukela reside.
When the children reach the mountain, they are expected to climb from cave to cave in search of the Vaukela that make the light of their third eye shine the brightest (a note on the third eye . . . it is not an eye so much as a glowing orb birthmark which every Kuvonee has somewhere on their body). From there, the Rider children will acknowledge the parent first before the youngling Vaukela and the Rider Child complete a ritual that creates a lifelong bond.
This ritual provides a bond so strong that when one dies, the other cannot soon live without them. Rider children will fly back to their home with their newly found lifelong friend and will enter into adulthood upon returning. Any Rider child who is not able to form a bond with a Vaukela knows not to return. For some, this may take days or weeks -- for others, it may take years.
There has been concern about the Bonding Ceremony among the Riders with the increased poaching of Vaukela by certain groups of humans. It has been the cause of many conflicts between the Riders and humans who live near the mountains where the Vaukela reside. Fewer Rider children return into the fold as full-fledged Riders because of decreased Vaukela, as well as kidnappings (or "mercy rehoming") of Rider children. Additionally, some children who have tried to defend Vaukela from these poachers have ended up dead themselves.