Sara’s amended speech happened later that same day.

Caltyr attended eagerly, sitting close to the front for maximum exposure to Sara’s microexpressions that would undoubtedly flash through her face during her presentation. He didn’t want to miss a second of it.

Seeing all the students in their school gathered in the same place at the same time was rare; an occasion reserved only for the very most important of meetings.

While his new school, called Mountainhollow Elemental Learning Facility, was more ‘official’ than his last one and valued emulating more of a structured environment, they still only gathered once every three or four months. Sometimes less, but rarely more.

It was a well-known and accepted fact that most of the dragons residing in the hollows had nowhere else to go. What they experienced here was their home life as well as their school life, and so the faculty tried to allow for as much freedom as possible. This meant choosing one’s own classes, how many classes they attended, and whether they wished to wield multiple elements or not.

And at the end of their day of learning, they would sleep in the hollows, and socialize with their peers.

So today, a day with them all gathered in the largest mountain they had, was especially unusual - particularly given the amount of armored faculty lining the walls.

One could say a dragon was always wearing armor. They had hard, chitinous scales that provided them resistance to the elements and all sorts of damage, but that hardly counted when their opponent would come in boasting dagger-like claws and wings. Nothing canceled out the protective qualities of a wyrm’s hide quite like another dragon.

So, the faculty donned sets of armor when they were expecting their assailants to be one of their own kin.

Caltyr could see T’allyandria propping up the mountain wall on the other side of the room, outfitted in hammered, blackened metal that looked like it had seen a lot of use.

Vermonysis and three other dragons he didn’t know had been tasked to guard Emily’s room. While Vermonysis wasn’t on the council or faculty, being the top student had its ‘perks’, meaning he was made to do the council’s bidding with no compensation.

Sometimes, Caltyr was happy with his casual, easy spot in the top ten.

Sara stepped out from behind the metallic curtain, which shimmered and fluttered as she pushed past it. The sound of its shhhwing caused the students on the floor to settle and quiet.

Under the glaring light of the ceiling gem, which projected a magical illumination strong enough to keep the room lit with a cast of white at all times, the lightning dragon still looked clearly wounded from the tussle that had landed her here. The seams running through her scales made her resemble a poorly sewn plushie.

A pang of guilt fluttered through his chest at the memory of her getting those seams, especially now that they had been emboldened by their battle.

“My fellow students,” she boomed, “may I have your attention, please.”

Dragon necks of varying shapes and sizes swiveled toward her voice; commanding, yet with a quiver of something at the end.

“You’ve been called here because the council and faculty has some news to present to you.” Her neon yellow claws clacked against the raised stage as she walked closer to its edge. “I’m going to start by saying that this isn’t a decision that was made lightly. A Battle of Wills was even held in the council chambers to break a tie, and to ask the elements to point us in the right direction.”

She didn’t mention that she had been one of the ones who had participated in the battle, but the grooves in her hide said it for her. “So, as of two weeks from today, a new student will be beginning her learning here. She came to this school under circumstances similar to mine and to yours, so the official stance of the council is that we ask for your patience and understanding as we welcome her in.”

The student body was silent. So far, nothing worthy of calling a meeting for had been presented, so naturally they waited for the other shoe to drop.

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“Her name is Emily and she is a part-dragon human.” Sara wanted to close her eyes and turn away. She talked her body down to wincing in preparation instead.

A change swept over the room like a wind carrying the harsh chill of winter. Caltyr stayed where he was, but several dragons around him scurried physically backward, leaning away from Sara and the news like it was a monster hunting them down.

Questions arose from every corner of the room, shattering any semblance of order.

“Does this mean there will be other humans?”

“It’s super obvious that whoever this ‘Emily’ is is just a way for the humans to get on our good side so they can strike later.”

“Does this mean we have to move soon?”

“We’re letting a flesh eater live with us?”

But not all of the questions were so angry. A surprising ratio of students accepted the news in stride and with only a few curiosities.

“What classes will it be starting with?”

“Can humans even cast elementally without using our body parts?”

“How could a human and dragon ever make a kid together? Does that even happen? That’s got to hurt…”

“What do you mean, circumstances like ours? Is she an orphan?”

Sara opened her mouth to try to answer some of the questions flooding in, but she was cut off by another wave of them.

Frustrated, she slapped a hand down like a gavel. “Do you want answers to any of the stuff you’re saying or do you just want to yap?”

“I just want to yap,” someone in the crowd answered smugly.

“Well, we didn’t call you here so you could yap. Do that on your own time. We called you here for a mature discussion,” Sara fired back, popping some of the bubbles of conversation.

“So…” She straightened herself up and looked downward at the sea of draconic faces, some of them frightened, many of them curious. “Anything you want to know about Emily, you’ll have to ask her about. I’ve been told that as a student in this school, she has a right to her privacy, so I’m not allowed to answer personal questions on her behalf. But, for general questions like how dragons and humans mate; we’ll be getting those questions answered in some of our upcoming lectures.

“Your teachers will be teaching you in the coming weeks about humans, and how humans and dragons have interacted in the past. There will be slightly fewer elementally-focused lessons as we learn about how to be respectful of our new human… friend.” A shiver ran up the back of the lightning dragon’s neck, but she hid it before it fanned out along her facial frills involuntarily.

“I heard questions about how the human might bring more humans with it. We want to assure you that this is a one-time situation and that we’re only housing this one human, this one time, because she has no other place to go. She has been fully rejected by the humans and any who wish to visit her will be rejected.

“Emily will also be heavily surveilled, so we will know if she is reporting back to any of her kind. We’ll also be increasing the security level around our school. Some of you who are deemed more capable may be asked to join in on patrols that will help us be more aware of any incoming attacks before they happen. We can’t run forever, so for now we will be staying here until we’re absolutely sure there’s a good reason to evacuate. As-is, we are not viewing Emily’s presence as a reason to take emergency measures.”

“Okay,” one of the dragons up near the stage answered, satisfied.

“I don’t see why her being here is such a big deal. I, for one, welcome an alliance with the humans—like I’ve been saying for years, by the way!” another dragon added, elbowing the other students in his group jovially.

A soft voice floated to Caltyr’s ears from somewhere behind him. “I think we should be willing to give her a chance. She didn’t ask to be raised by humans,” Malika added with her musical, trilling voice, to no one in particular.

“I agree,” Caltyr said over his shoulder in her direction.

The light dragon’s mouth fell open in a scaled approximation of an ‘o’. “I didn’t know I was saying that out loud,” she cursed.

“I think this is a mistake, but there’s not much I can do about it now. I guess we’ll have to see how it goes.” Shrugged another dragon nonchalantly, in response to Malika’s accidental words.

Sara cleared her long throat to recapture the crowd’s attention. “If there are no more questions, I’ll make my closing statement. Emily will be starting classes in two weeks, and anybody who is caught harassing her in the meantime will face immediate reprimand and possible expulsion. The council needs your cooperation while we try to navigate this ever-changing situation with the utmost grace.”

“You will all have to take your next class off,” she informed them in a monotone way, as if reading from a page, “as the teachers and council members will be busy, and some of you may be asked to go on a patrol immediately. You are now dismissed.”

The sun-colored dragon bowed to the student body and left the stage in a hurry, the curtain closing behind her with an aggressive swissssh.

It was the most aggressive outburst she had made all night, and it was so tame. This had been the most composed Caltyr had ever seen her.

The drama lover in him had been hoping for more. The dragons encircling the outskirts of the meeting room had donned their armor for nothing.

Or so he thought, until he heard the commotion.