A/N chapter 2/4 of the first 'arc'.

After Daisy departed Janet left me to play around with Zan while she got herself ready. After a couple minutes of jumping around though Zan has begun to tire and curls up on my lap. Down beside the bed I find an old satchel bag, made of rough leather.

I empty it of its contents and place a blanket in the bottom before piling Zan on top. He looks at his makeshift bed a little before returning to rest.

“I see you found a solution.” Janet had opened the bedroom door, “Now come on, we must get going.” I put the bag on and we head down to the village.

Our trip down to the village is filled with one liners and smalltalk. She seems to have relaxed slightly compared to earlier.

“Have you managed to cast magic yet Kadimae?” She asks me to which I reply in the negative. “I can't guide you there, to take the entrance test you must at least be able to do magic yourself.” I already know this…

That particular topic has become a bane of mine. Born with supposedly amazing potential and the backing of the most powerful man in the kingdom. Still can't use a little mana.

“How’s he holding up? Janet asks me, referring to Zan. I stick a finger inside to prod him a little. His head brushes against it and I feel something wet and rough. His tongue?

Then he bites me. “Fucking…” Janet slaps me, “Language, we can't have you offending the nobles when you attend school.”

“What's the worst they can do?” I ask, curious and concerned with equal measure.

“It depends on who you anger, if it's a prince? Or a duke's son? Typically the punishment fits the crime.

Slap them and they cut off your hand. Insult them it's the tongue.”

She pauses for a moment then continues, “And if you go near their sisters? Well I don't expect you to do that too soon but… you like being a boy right?” She breaks out in laughter at her own ‘joke’.

A shiver creeps down my spine, the idea of being powerless to another's whims. Just because they are noble? That a misplaced word is all that stands between me and undue punishment?

Janet must be able to tell that my mood is soured from our conversation because she stays quiet for the remainder of the journey.

The village is especially busy today passing the dirty huts on the outskirts we enter the heart of the village, despite Janet's prominence as the local magician even she goes unnoticed in the commotion.

Sadly for us the crowd is densest at our destination, the Sheriff's estate. There's no sign of a riot breaking out though. From what I've been taught the Sheriff typically manages civil duties, he's the tax man among other things. Our village is part of the King's own holdings, so no other Lord can curtail his authority here.

Although I say that I've never heard anyone complain about him. No one is stupid enough to attack the sheriff either way.

“Remain orderly, make way! Make way!” A booming voice emanates from the center of the crowd. A surge of worry seems to come over everyone and the crowd parts, for a man in iron armour.

Just pain armour, no engravings. Holding only a sword with no shield. It doesn't  look enchanted or extraordinary at all. No it is the man...

The man in the armour is terrifying. My chest felt like I had taken one of those cocktails the apothecary calls remedies. My hands are sweaty, my limbs are stiff and I'm scared to look down in case I pissed myself.

I can't even move my legs to run away.

A trembling hand is on my shoulder, Janet ends up leaning on me however. “Just bare with it, that man's aura. It's immense.”

Not a moment after the feeling subsides the crowd begins to depart, some yelling and others deathly silent. Others still wouldn't move at all. I fall into the latter category, staring at the man but at the same time absent thought.

Janet tugs my hand and brings me closer to the gate, releasing me from my stupor. I see the armoured man closer, his left arm has only a stub where his hand should be. Our sights cross for but a moment before his eyes turn to the women holding my hand.

“Jane, you had another child?” A voice much more like an old man came out than I expected. Haggard and worn, he even limps as he approaches us.

“Hardly Tannon, he is my student.” Our eyes meet again but this time he is inspecting me with less caution and more curiosity. The man's face is wrinkled and he looks like he just came out of a storm. The lines of his face become even more defined as he inspects. His hair is white, not a speck of grey or any other colour.

“Not bad, not bad at all.” He says, his gold-coloured eyes flicker and become a dark green as he turns back to Janet. “So is he to marry your daughter?”

“I have a son Tann-” She begins to correct him however she is interrupted.

“Of course I know! I'm not senile.” Tannon bellows at my teacher before remarking. “But if you stuck him in a dress it's not like anyone would notice.” He mutters a few choice phrases about our lack of humor as a whine comes from the bag. As Zan could only passively sit though this attack on his masculinity.

“Was there any need to scare the villagers Tannon?”

“Naught else I'm good for these days.” He says shaking his stump in the air. “What brings the mighty bush mage to our humble halls Miss Cecil?” The words ‘bush mage’ hold some connotation I'm unable to grasp but Janet ignores the obvious provocation.

“I need to have someone perform a blood test on young Kadimae here.” The man's eyes widen and says, “I reckon one fourth Welkani, one fourth Kadem and half Tanil. If you look, the slightly thinner eyes is a Welkan trait but his jawline isn't as soft as Welkan get. So there's certainly Kadem blood in there. Black hair and blue eyes are common Tanil traits.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What do you think Janet? Willing to bet some gold with me?” A wide grin spreads across his face.

“Hm quarter Kadem blood? Isn't that a bit much for a race with only a couple hundred left?” Janet questions Tannorn, while I start to feel uncomfortable.

“The old King lived for thousands of years, you know the stories right? Of how an embittered maid might walk the wrong way in the hall and fall into his arms. Or how more than one petty lord would find a royal visit had occurred in their daughters bedchambers.” Tannorn laughs in a slightly creepy way, “Why if it were so easy for us all.”

“Not in front of the child Tannorn!” Despite her anger she seems to have conceded that point.

“Anyway Janet, even if they don't have the blood red hair Kadem features are clear. Welkani is harder but few others have mixed with the Kadem compared to the other five races. You can guess why I said Tanil as well right?”

He is implying I'm the bastard of some travelling knight… that bastard? I feel that I need some other word to curse him with.

“Well we'll find the truth today either way. May we enter the estate Sir Tannorn of Eldwyre?” The old man gives a quick nod to a nervous gate guard who then gestures us to come in.

“Unpleasant.” Janet almost whispers, I don't think she wants my input. Zan hasn't stirred for a little while now, I wonder if he's sleeping.

The Sheriff's estate is a sprawling complex, not including his own residence there are hundreds of rooms. And dozens of buildings. Darting through the narrow passages we finally come upon our destination in a small alleyway.

Janet knocks on the dusty door lightly. A couple light bangs and a groan are heard from inside before the door slowly peers open. Out from it pops the head of a small man, with a crude pair of glasses and  “Ah miss, what business do you have here?”

“This is the office of birth and villager records correct? I need you to perform the blood test, racial not lineage based.”

“On whom?” The bespeckled man asks, “Normally newly blessed mothers ask…”

She grabs my shoulder and pushes me towards him. “This boy and actually.” She sticks her hand into the satchel to pull out a squirming Zan. “Do him as well.” While surprised at the turn of events the clerk invites us in.

“Now please take a seat.” He points towards a set of chairs before a desk as he walks into the back of the office. Which is far deeper than I first thought, extending both down and across at least ten metres in depth and fifty in width.

After only a couple minutes he returns with an arcane looking device covered in runes. A circular plate covered with thin gold separated by the sparkling runes. In his other hand is a worn book, which looks like the manual.

“Now I require a sample of blood from each. Which of you is first?” Before the man even finishes Janet grips Zan more firmly in her hand, I can hear him squeal. A finger traces up the young dragon's head and quickly forces his mouth closed. Causing him to bite his tongue before she holds her son above the plate, causing a drop to escape his mouth as he cries.

Both I and the clerk are speechless, he stares at Janet his jaw dropped and trembling slightly. “Need you be so cruel?”

“Do you have a knife that can cut dragonscale?” She asks in a deadpan voice. Ok so my teacher isn't insane… It seems he didn't consider that either and suddenly his expression lightens up. Janet releases her grip on Zan and he worms his way onto my lap, whining dejectedly.

“Now but a moment.” The clerk passes his finger across the edge of the device and the runes light up. A circle with smaller circles made at twelve points regularly. The blood on the plate is absorbed as if it were never there and in its place the twelve small circles grow with different levels of brightness and colour.

“Now, now… second circle blue. Around thirty percent Tanil, this boy is Zan right? Isn't he blonde?” It's a rather uncommon combination from what I've heard. Tanil all tend towards darker hair colours. “Well, as expected fifth circle red. Around fifteen percent terrestrial dragon. As well as sixth circle gold, around thirty five percent Imperial dragon. Very nice purity.”

He checks the reference book and then the plate again. “The rest is a various mix it seems, a bit of Harpy too. Which is strange in a male but can coexist thanks to the high dragonblood.”

“Uh I have no Harpy ancestors…” Janet tries to explain.

“No, he likely inherited it from the father. Dragons are sexless naturally, it's only their human forms which need to differ. Harpy blood otherwise dies out long before it reaches low levels.” The clerk begins to note this all down a piece of paper and resets the device by tapping the plate.

“Now Kadimae was it? You are next.” I was about to move my hand from my lap but Zan bites my finger. Whatever, blood is blood. I let the droplet escape my finger and land on the golden plate. It's disappears like a drop of water into desert sands.

A single circle on the plate shines ever brightly.