“Are you sure we shouldn’t just try?”

“It has been a long, long time, Vermonysis. If they wish to make amends after all it is they’ve done to our people, it will be one of them that makes the first move. Not one of us. They’ve driven us nearly to extinction, down from the proud spire of power we used to sit upon. Metaphorically speaking, that is. Most of your classmates and teachers have terrible memories of them. They have a lot to make up for, and I will not rob my students of their vengeance unless I have a very good reason.”

“Is us only being able to kill one of the demons not a very good reason?”

“You are a very powerful student, kid, but you are just a student. I’m going to need more than just one patrol, and then we’ll talk.”

Caltyr strode into the supply room, into the echoes of a conversation that was already happening. Fellithe’s, Vallath’s, and Shriken’s gear was sitting on the floor in a heap, showing they’d redirected to return their things. Caltyr’s armour weighed heavily upon his back.

Vermonysis noticed him as he passed the pile and began to undo the belts fastening his own padding on. “Hey, man. Kraven and I were just talking about–”

“Another patrol,” Caltyr stated, ending his sentence for him. “Whenever that happens, Kraven, I’d like to be considered for it.”

“I know you would,” Kraven rumbled, but he didn’t betray whether or not he was considering adding him to the list.

Maybe this was just more of him being a busybody, and Kraven wasn’t impressed.

“Caltyr basically saved my leg,” Vermonysis gushed. He turned his leg around to show him his work, in that it looked just like a regular dragon leg. It clashed with the rest of him, which still bore the line-like scars of the past. “He was a worthy addition to the team. Alright, I’m going to take this stuff off and then get back to my classes. Let me know if you need me again.”

The yellow-and-red dragon flicked his tail and joined him in removing his armor and bag. It thudded heavily to the ground. They’d used maybe a third of what had been included.

“Don’t forget the communication stones. Everyone always walks off with ‘em, just like the damn pens in my office,” Kraven grumbled. His eyes lingered on Caltyr and the perfectly healed leg, which stood out from the rest of Vermonysis’ bag, a little too long.

Caltyr triple checked that he had removed the correct communication necklace, and then made himself scarce.

Vermonysis may have said something, a faint goodbye or thank you, but he was gone too swiftly to tell.

Vermonysis and Kraven had been talking about getting in contact with the humans, he was almost sure of it. The busybody inside of him was stirring, awake and alive with ideas.

Water dragons were known for having long periods of dormancy, followed by sudden bursts of action, even impulsiveness. It was just the nature of the element trapped inside of him. Already, his mind was racing with idea after idea for what he could do to nudge the humans along.

Kraven was right about him, he thought, but that didn’t mean he was going to stop any time soon. They’d already made one agreement to seal a part of himself away.

He wasn’t about to do it a second time.

Caltyr was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice Malika waving him down until he was walking into her bright white hand.

“Helloooooo?” she half-shouted, as if this wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get his attention.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He took a few startled steps backward. “Oh, Malika. Hi. Sorry about that, I was just… thinking.”

“I’ll say,” she huffed. “I’ve been yelling for you for almost an entire minute, spacehead.”

As usual, yelling, for Malika, was at the volume of a meek cartoon mouse.

“You’ve got my attention now. Did you need something? I was just on my way to…” He trailed off, because he wasn’t fully aware where his legs had been taking him.

She tried to wait for him to finish, but when the end of the sentence didn’t come, she moved on. “I just wanted to answer your question from yesterday. You asked me about rare flowers, and I have an answer for you.

“They’re in a dangerous place, so I don’t want you to take this lightly, but there are some that are quite close to here. The humans built a small city a few miles outside of our ring of mountains, around where the flowers are known to bloom. They say it’s something in the soil there that makes them appear, and they’re extremely useful for growing one’s own flowers, because they nourish the soil around them.”

She smiled sheepishly, a pinkness appearing around her face and across her cheeks. “I’m talking a lot, aren’t I? But, um, if you wanted me to take you there… I’m available in an hour. I wouldn’t want you going alone, because like I said, they’re in the middle of a human city. But I’ve been stealing them for years now, so I know a way in where we won’t be noticed.”

Caltyr grinned in turn. Here he was, mulling over how he was going to get in touch with the humans, and an opportunity had just walked right up and plunked in his lap. For him, this was an uncharacteristic streak of luck. Caltyr wasn’t used to progress he didn’t have to fight for, but it was sure as hell welcome.

The only problem was that Malika would also be there, and she would want him to leave with her. She would want him to stay safe.

Maybe he could find a way that both plans could work: his secret, unformed internal one, and Malika’s silent infiltration.

“That would be awesome,” he said gratefully. “I’ll be ready in an hour too. Let’s meet by the exit doors.”

Malika stirred gleefully in place, like she had so much energy swirling around inside of her she didn’t know what to do with it all. “Okay.”

Caltyr left with a wave of his tail, and allowed his legs to keep bringing him where they wanted.

They wanted to drop by his room first, predictably. He opened the door to find it still and just as he’d left it, plain besides his heap of shiny bottle caps.

He didn’t know if this trip to the human city was going to require stealth or defense, so he just left his personal set of armor hung up where it was. He considered bringing it, but his own scales were the best armor in most situations.

He returned to the hallway and checked his door twice to make sure it was locked securely.

He found himself at Emily’s door next.

He looked at the door guards, a little confused. They stared back. He must not have gotten much sleep, or it must not have helped, because he hadn’t even noticed their presence until now, as if they were ghosts. They shared awkward eye contact.

“I’m here to see Emily,” he told them after a pause.

“Alright.” They shifted out of the way and allowed him inside, and shut the room up behind him. He heard the shuffling of their feet as they returned to their places.

Emily let out a truly inhuman noise at the sight of him. “Caltyr draggy!” she exclaimed, and pitter pattered across the rock floor in bare feet to hug him.

“Hi, part-dragon Emily,” he replied. She still wasn’t quite getting the ‘calling him Caltyr’ thing, so he responded in turn.

But since she was still teeming with excitement about being part-powerful and intimidating dragon, she wiggled in place, pleased at the title.

“What are you doing here?” she asked bluntly, but with a disarming child-smile.

“I think,” he questioned his own mind as to why he was present, and his voice answered, “I’m here to ask you about how humans live. We were told we were going to be learning more about them, but they’re still putting together the lesson plan and I… can’t wait.”

“Why would you wanna know about those guys? They’re dumb.” She puffed her cheeks out and crossed her small arms over her midsection.

But of course she wouldn’t want to talk about them, he remembered. She had been exiled by them and left to die, and her parents had lied to her about her part-dragon nature. He considered leaving now, and not pressing her further, but where else was he going to get this kind of information?

“Because they’re trying to kill us all, Emily. Anything you can tell me about them would be helpful, anything at all.”

She blinked her wide eyes, the color of black tea diluted with too much milk, and then dropped her arms. “So if I told you stuff about them, you might be able to fight them better?”

“Exactly.”

“What do you want to know?” she asked tentatively, swaying back and forth, as if motion helped her brain work better.

“Anything.”