“I suppose they are trying to teach us about camp food.” Xoco carefully eyed the meal, poking at it with a fork as the low hum of a busy dining hall echoed all around them. “I should have known lessons would start immediately.”

Zyn stared at the jungle troll across the five person table currently seating three, his concerned frown growing. “Xoco...what did camping look like to you?”

“Oh it was wonderful! My aunt and uncle and the servants would all go- Isak what’s wrong?” It was Xoco’s turn to grow ever more concerned as she noticed the human staring down his meal and weeping, with Zyn looking over at her mention. “It may be somewhat simple but-”

Isak completely and utterly failed to hold back the tears as he looked over the grilled fish topped with roasted coconut on a bed of sauteed greens with a side of roasted sweet potatoes and fried plantains. “It’s...it’s beautiful...is...is this just a special welcome feast or-”

“Uhh no all the meals are like this, you okay?” Zyn slowly reached out a hand, quickly pulling it back as Isak dug in and started scarfing down his meal. The tears did not stop.

“It’s...it’s just as delicious as it looks!” He said in between bites of fish and greens.

Xoco blushed a deep green. “Oh! I didn’t mean to...this is good to you?”

“It’s incredible!” Isak said as he washed another mouthful down with a goblet of coconut water.

Zyn stabbed at a bit of fish, nodding after biting into it. “Gonna have to agree with Isak here, I could get used to this!”

Nelli eyed the food from her place around Xoco’s neck as Xoco tried to hide her shame in Nelli’s feathers. Quickly finding this ineffective, she forced herself to speak. “I...I’m sorry. I did not mean to look down on anyone I just thought...what meals are you normally accustomed to?”

Ozzy gave a happy squeak as Zyn fed him a morsel of fish before responding. “Not this. This is fine dining where I’m from!”

Xoco winced.

Isak took another long drink of coconut water before taking a deep breath, remembering that manners were a thing. “Uh...you know, stew. Like with eggplant and zucchini and rice...chicken if things were going well. All of that in a stew.”

“Hey that doesn’t sound half bad.” Zyn said with a smile between bites.

Isak pushed a bit of sweet potato around his plate. “It was...hearty?”

Xoco winced harder, then horror set in as she realized how rude she was being in regards to the wealth of her newfound friends. “Well that all sounds...wonderful!”

The two boys stared at the troll girl with raised eyebrows.

“I am realizing how sheltered I was…” Xoco pouted as she finally took a fork full of fish and greens. Her own eyebrow shot up. “Hmmm, not bad.”

Isak sighed. “Hey uh...don’t worry about it. Just a different upbringing! Right Zyn?”

Zyn was caught off guard, offering a quick nod and unsure smile.

“See? Same for me! I just had…heartier cuisine growing up. And you just happened to have a cuisine as great as you are!” Isak said with a smile bearing plenty of teeth.

The drow shoved another fork of food in his mouth as he stared at the round wooden table, feeling sympathetic agony for his friend yet unable to look on.

“You should try the sweet potato!” Isak speared a slice of the orange vegetable, holding it up to demonstrate and take a bite. “It’s good!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” A shout rang out from nearby as a plate clattered to the ground and a lizardfolk student leapt at Isak before anyone knew what was happening.

Except Vidalm who caught the young lizardfolk in his hands to leave him helplessly dangling in the air. Despite being immobilized, the young lizard lad still reached and grabbed at Isak’s fork.

“Shall I dispose of the interloper, Master Isak?” Vidal asked.

This only encouraged the lizardfolk to try harder to reach out to grab the fork away. “No! He is in grave danger! Sweet potato is poisonous to humans!”

Isak, Zyn, and Xoco were all still so stunned by the random outburst that they only finally noticed many of the nearby tables all staring at the scene.

“Uh, no Vidal. No disposing of other students. Just set him down.” Isak blinked a few times, starting to wither under all the attention. “And no, I’ve had sweet potato before. Still alive.”

The lizardfolk of pale green with black markings stopped making ineffectual grabbing motions at the fork of sweet potato as his eyes went wide. Vidal set him down on his feet once more but still loomed over him as a warning.

“....really? You’re sure it was sweet potato? Because I swear I had heard...well, now I feel silly.” The lizardfolk coughed into his hand as his yellow eyes stared at the ground.

Isak sighed. “No, I love sweet potato. See?” He ate the sweet potato slice that had been awkwardly sitting on his fork for what felt like an eternity now.

The lizardfolk flinched as he saw him eat it, then squinted hard as he narrowed his eyes at the sight. “It appears I was very wrong then. Apologies uhh...well my name is Tonauac, and yours is…?”

“Isak.” He held out a hand to the lizardfolk, who flinched once more and took a step back and into Vidal.

Isak frowned until Xoco nudged him. “Handshakes aren’t really a thing back home when all the original peoples of Aztlan have claws.” She said with a flourish of her own black talons.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The human quickly withdrew his hand with a nervous laugh. “Well, call it even on the cultural misunderstandings?”

Tonauac gave a sharp, toothy grin while standing tall once more. “Of course! If I am to be mindful of others’ health then I must take every opportunity I can to learn! I shall leave you now, as I have no doubt caused enough distress. Humans, trolls, and drow alike all hate increased attention!”

And with that, the wiry lizard was slinking off and collecting his previously spilled plate as he went.

“Well that was something alright.” Zyn shook his head, avoiding the stares that were finally losing interest as he focused on his meal.

Xoco tried to relax a bit, finding her shoulders still stiff as Nelli’s puffed up feathers helped her hide a bit in the floof. She finally took a bite of sweet potato and voiced her approval. “I can admit when I am wrong, and I was very wrong.”

“Hey don’t worry, you just didn’t know! Like I didn’t know about the claws thing!” He pointed to her hands. “Which are intense...in a good way! Good...because we’re here to learn!”

Zyn kicked his friend under the table but stuck to eating as the human flailed about.

“Speaking of, what do you make of Vidal’s newest symbol?” Isak deflected onto the stalwart rock man still keeping a watch for any further overzealous flying students.

Xoco took another bite, leaning closer to Vidal. “Hmmm, I made the mistake of thinking dinner would be boring and I left my journal at the dorm. But I think there might be some small similarity to the previous symbol? Did you discover any more forms?”

Isak shook his head. “No, but we discovered that air isn’t a form. So I hope you appreciate me blowing on Vidal’s hand with all my might to see if we could activate a flying rock man.”

The troll girl laughed at the mental image, even Nelli tilting her head in apparent amusement. “It is good to know. Do you know why that element is left out?”

“I have to be careful with stray tears...still from very valid happiness...so my guess was that it’s a safety measure so I don’t have to worry about breathing on him too hard.” Isak savored a final bite of fish, feeling rather bittersweet about said safety feature.

“Also, he only changes forms for Isak! We tried that in the dorm. No ice Vidal...yet.” Zyn said with narrowed gaze at Isak.

Isak put his hand and defensive fork up. “Trust me I’m just as eager to see Ice Vidal, so I’ll be more than happy to have you help me with learning a frost spell.”

Xoco put a hand to her chin. “Tears worked for water which would mean that the source of the element presented does not need to be magical, correct? Unless human tears are magic?”

Zyn and Xoco alike both leaned in, suddenly very eager to know the answer. Isak scowled. “No they are not.”

“Hmm, well in that case could you take some fire to Vidal for Fire Rocks?” Xoco started sounding even happier at the prospect, even Zyn perking up while chewing through a mouthful of food.

“Huh...yeah I suppose I could use a spark of storm magic to light something on fire and then use that! But it would probably be a bad idea to have a rock man engulfed in flames inside.” Isak grew more and more focused, thinking of the possibilities.

Xoco nodded before giving a weak smile. “I meant just using the candle.” She said pointing to the candle lit centerpiece at the table. “But good resourceful thinking!”

“Oh.” Isak felt his face grow a slight shade of red. “Yeah that works too.”

As he reached for the candle, Zyn quickly blocked his hand with his own. “As cool as that would be, and as much as I am looking forward to seeing how cool it is, maybe not a great idea to have an actively burning large rock man in the dining hall?”

Isak and Xoco both got similar looks of disappointment followed by silent acceptance that the drow was right.

Xoco held up a finger. “But what if-”

“If I have to be the responsible one any longer I might die, please don’t kill me.” Zyn pleaded, pained resignation clear in his red eyes.

The jungle troll grumbled before stuffing her face with more food.

“You know...we’re allowed on the beach at night, so long as we don’t go into the water. So that would be a good place to test out a bit of fire without worrying about burning anything down, right Zyn?” Isak said while munching on sweet potato.

Zyn put a hand to his chin. “Yeah that sounds safe- wait, how dare you make me continue being so responsible!”

Just as he went to give a light punch to his friend’s shoulder, the grinding of rock on rock as Vidal moved a step closer had him pulling his punch into a vague gesture accompanied by a nervous smile to the rock man.

“Pssst, Isak. You gotta let him know that I’m not actually trying to hurt you. Just, you know. Hurt you in a friendly way.” Zyn said as the tiniest bead of sweat made it down his forehead while Ozzy hid behind his neck.

Isak grinned. “Hmmm nah, this is way too amusing.”

Xoco almost choked on her food as she laughed, even Nelli letting out a small squeak in approval. The trio finished their meals in silence, eager to head down to the beach. As they dumped their plates in a bin at the kitchen counter they passed by Tonauac waving to them.

“Apologies for earlier. Again.” He said, clearly still feeling bad. “I want to be a healer, so I strive to look out for my fellow student and keep them from harm! Or! Heal them up if harm is unavoidable! My current healing abilities are limited but I digress!”

His smile was broad, turning to confusion as the trio avoided all eye contact and looked off to anywhere but the lizardfolk currently hitting them with so much guilt.

“...did I say something wrong?” Tonauac’s smile had completely faded into a frown by the time Isak could wave him off.

“So we just...so Vidal here-” He pointed to the rock man. “He can change elements. So we were going to go try that with fire. On the beach where there’s only sand.”

“It’s in the pursuit of knowledge!” Xoco waved her arms about while forcing a smile. “You see, the symbol on his chest changes and it’s in a language I don’t know and-”

“Can I go with you? Good go have a healer on hand!” Tonauac asked, smile returning

Zyn shrugged and Isak waved him onward with a sigh. “Come on.”