Ginger and Reiss sucked in a deep, pungent breath.

Of all things to have emerged from today, at this particular time...

It was almost too dramatic how Professor Alexandros' sudden emergence was, as if attempting to speedily answer one of Ginger's greatest concerns – the fate of this arch-backed Professor.

The color fled from Ginger's face, and the same was true for Reiss.

Professor Alexandros looked down at the two with a displeased look, his eyes taking in their finer details.

Ginger felt the older dragon's Kardia wallop him like the wind – cold and unseen.

Shunting Shamans....

Did this mean the Professor was about to punish them for what happened two days ago? Whatever Ginger did to him didn't look like it had any lasting effects, but the fact that he was even able to incapacitate a Professor should have been spread around the school staff like wildfire.

'What is he going to do? Is he going to ask how I did it?' Ginger panicked.

"So, Ginger and Reiss, is it?" Professor Alexandros said with a low, creepy tone. His sight then fell on Ginger. "And to think I even measured for you on the first day..."

Ginger dropped his head.

That's right. How messed up was it that Ginger had done something like that – however he did it – when it was Professor Alexandros that helped with his First Burning? Well, it was mostly Professor Mara, but still.

"Professor, it's not what you think..." Ginger said while trembling.

"It's not? You just got me entangled in all THIS. How else should I compel myself to think about it, boys?" Professor Alexandros said with disgust.

Reiss shrank.

They were done for. Loitering after hours was one thing, but...

Ginger gulped. He could already picture Ancor's disappointed face – if he would ever even see it again – saying, "Well, I guess I tried. You'll have to stay here in the Wild and hope an army of dragons doesn't suddenly come looking for you."

Ginger shuddered.

His head spun a couple of times.

"Goodness. Why should I have to be stuck with you for the next ten hours, hmm? Delegation, she said! Have you two any idea what having a wife like that feels like?" Professor Alexandros said darkly.

"... What?" Reiss was the first to speak while Ginger blinked, a look of stunned surprise on his face.

"Yes, you're completely oblivious, aren't you? Because of your little adventures doing whatever two nights ago, I have been implicated now. I have to take you from pen to pen monitoring your punishment for the day."

"Madam Agathe... is your wife?" Reiss asked.

"Well, of course. Why else would I agree to this? She has better things to do, apparently. Luckily for me, you two are just as lousy at stool cleaning as the Third Years," Professor Alexandros replied while glaring at the stacks of Olarmander stools that remained scattered on the stones.

It took Ginger a little while, but to Reiss, it clicked immediately.

Professor Alexandros had no recollection of what happened to him at all!

It should have been obvious really, since the old man had been asleep when it all happened, but because paranoia was good at playing charades, Ginger and Reiss had assumed the worst.

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Professor Alexandros was only bothered by the fact that he had been pinned by his wife to this task on account of him 'ignoring' her on the night that Ginger and Reiss had their little escapade.

Ginger's eyes exploded in shock and pure joy.

Reiss gazed at him, and for a moment, they shared a moment of triumph, even though this really didn't have that much to do with the dwarfish dragonling.

The wave of relief that caught up with Ginger could not have been tainted by the puke-summoning smell in the pen.

'He doesn't know! He really doesn't know! I was worrying over nothing! Maybe Reiss didn't see right! Yeah. Maybe I didn't do anything to Professor Alexandros at all, and he was just in a deep sleep and fell from his chair. He is pretty after all. Or maybe...' Ginger's mind raced in excitement.

All of it was cut short, however.

"Finish up, boys! I don't want to be assigned to this for the entire Breather! It's called a Breather for a reason, and that reason has nothing to do with me taking in this nasty air for three days!" Professor Alexandros hissed before going on to mutter about how he always stressed to Agathe that they were of different statuses, him a respectable teacher and she a lowly...

The two boys responded energetically to the hunchbacked Professor's ignorance, and they cleared the work quickly.

***

The first day of the penance ended finally.

Thankfully, the two dragonlings had managed to work fast enough to clear most of the day's designated pens and earn two thorough showers before most of the other First Years returned from the outing.

Thankfully, the shower stalls were incredibly private in addition to being unoccupied, which allowed the two boys to enjoy a relaxed, quiet bath.

Unfortunately, Ginger had to endure carrying some of the smell from the pens even after airing his singular set of uniform out.

This was the most treacherous part about this punishment, in his opinion. No casual clothing – besides scarves and perhaps light accessories – were allowed within the school grounds when the term began, after all.

Thankfully, the uniforms were made to be highly resistant to energies of several kinds, so the war had only been with the odor.

Speaking of the odor, Reiss and Ginger garnered more than a few curses from their roommates because of the residuals, and they quickly earned themselves the name Skunk Dragons. The boys from the other dorm had come to take a whiff too, just for some dark fun.

Ginger and Reiss didn't talk to each other, but in a way, they felt some comfort in not having to deal with the ridicule alone.

Unfortunately, the second day of the Breather turned out to have the exact same atmosphere as the last.

The two had to endure the ridicule from the other First Years as they headed to the pens again only to meet a grumpier Professor Alexandros who screamed that they were late. He was filling in for Madam Agathe again.

This setup didn't change for the third day. For Ginger, it actually got worse, because he was so exhausted from staying up. He occasionally dozed off, but he got no more than two hours of sleep. The effect of such an experience was hanging under his eyes, plain for everyone to see.

Reiss didn't miss it.

Thankfully, as life wasn't all fun and games in the Wild, losing sleep to tension wasn't all that knew to Ginger. This was the only reason he hadn't become utterly miserable.

As usual, the boys got to scooping the smelly wonders from the pens, which they had gotten a little faster at. In silence, even Ginger could have sunk into the prospect of the work, but with Professor Alexandros constantly chattering nonstop to remedy his own displeasure at being stuck here...

"Goodness boy, scoop it up. Up! And be careful with that one by your left foot. See its scales? It could burn your hand to medium at least. The uniform can't protect what it doesn't cover, now can it?" he said while pointing at an Olarmander growling by Ginger's foot with a nasty glare in its eye.

The plump boy hurriedly drew away.

The Olarmander had silver scales that had a rough texture to them, and that spelled danger.

'So even Olarmanders can get good casts, huh?' Ginger thought with a solemn look.

The reason why the cast of scales was so important had finally been revealed to Ginger some days ago by Professor Lyall in class. The cast of a dragon's scales determined their potential quality, and this extended to all Cinder-Born.

The potency of Kardia and its volume.

The kind of flame a Cinder-Born could naturally generate when their potential peaked.

The shape a dragon would take when they mastered Denaturing.

The type of abilities they would have.

And finally, if a dragon could earn an Exalted Name or not.

All this was determined by the cast of scales.

The rarity of the cast was ranked according to that of the most prominent dragons in history. The Ancient Elders.

It went from Ebony, Vermillion, Azure, Violet and then Argent, five in all, though variations of these counted in the same line; like a sky-blue cast to the azure cast, and like ordinary red to vermillion.

This had been exciting to learn at first until Ginger saw where he stood. What about his cast – a deep gingery orange?

Well, all casts unrelated to the five, were pretty much in the same boat.

Past the argent cast - the lowest among the five best ones - it didn't matter if you had a more unique cast, be it green, pink, or whatever else.

This was what caused much of the divide among dragons.

This was why they were hesitant to reveal their scales. Usually, even if you had outstanding talent in school, the cast, which determined your potential affected the view of the majority.

Interestingly though, since Ancient Elder Draggard-Phoenix, no other Cinder-Born in history had ever manifested the ebony cast or a variation of it. Ever.

This was why, even though the bird-faced dragon had a dark past, he was still revered even to this day.

Ginger had never hoped or even dreamed to be the strongest dragon ever, which was why the news about the casts didn't hit him as hard. He was more interested in preserving his life in such fragile times. Like now, when faced up against the silver casted Olarmander which was likely to burn him with a dense flame.

A few hours of working later, Madam Agathe came and delivered Professor Alexandros from supervising duty. Ginger and Reiss heard a hilarious argument between the two outside the Pine, and moments later, Madam Agathe with a victorious smile walked in to inspect.

After merely looking at their work for a few moments, she told them she would come back to release them in two hours before going off again.

Minutes after she left, Reiss surprisingly broke the ice.

"This has been really disgusting," he said.

Ginger, surprised by the dwarfish dragon's sudden urge to converse, responded quickly.

"Y-yeah. I won't be sleepwalking anytime soon," he said, the dark rings under his eyes seeming to swell at his words.

Reiss wore a shallow smile. Since yesterday, he had begun to rethink his stance on Ginger. There was something about watching the plump dragon walk out of bed and go into the study, never to return for the night that pinched at him.

Ginger was not only refusing to sleep. He was trying to stay away from Reiss and everyone else in case he dozed off and dragged someone to the lower floors again.

"You know, I wouldn't mind keeping an eye on you at night. In case... it happens again," Reiss said with a sincere look on his face.

Ginger was caught off guard. He gaped, but quickly switched his expression to a calm one.

"Really? I mean, that would be great. I could use some sleep," he said with a smile.

Reiss nodded with a deeper smile of his own.

"Just don't try to stop me the same way you did last time," Ginger said with a subdued laugh, hoping it wasn't too soon for the jab.

It was.

An Olarmander flew in Ginger, and as he collapsed on the dark, smelly stones, Reiss laughed heartily at the look on his face.