Silfmont was large for a town, but still not large enough to be a city. The dux lived nearby, so it was often called the seat of the duchy, but it was no center of trade. All of its food was grown and raised locally, and its water came from an extensive system of springs which were fed by runoff from the nearby mountains. The public baths were slightly larger than in most towns, owing to the plentiful water table, but they were closed this time of year -- not that most would want to bathe when the nights were this cold.

The winters were always tough for Waver. The dry air made it that much harder to take care of his skin.

The children of Silfmont, at least those who couldn’t afford tutoring, would be taught to read, write, and perform arithmetic at a brick schoolhouse during the winter and summer seasons. The building had a single wood-burning stove that barely heated the single classroom, all ages were taught at the same time, and the teacher changed twice a year because the dux only allocated a pittance to the education of the commons. Indeed, most of the commoners believed they had little need of such labors, but enough talented bureaucrats and secretaries had come from poverty that the duchy kept the school running.

The teacher for this winter was a portly man with pale skin, closely cropped red hair, and a wool hat, only half a decade older than Waver. There was kindness in his eyes as he greeted Waver at the entrance. He had pretended to tie up Valor nearby, and knocked on the door while holding Pentwec’s cage.

“Hello,” the teacher said. “You caught me in the middle of preparing. I’m surprised you knew anyone would be here.”

Waver privately extolled the information network of dragon gossip once more.

“A lucky guess,” Waver offered. “My name is Waver, from the dragon consulting service Valor Grotto.”

“Ah, Waver. My name’s Katsk. A dragon consulting service, eh? I’ve heard of Valor Grotto, but... ah, come in.”

Katsk ushered him in with an urgent wave. Waver bowed his head and stepped through the threshold. Pentwec, for her part, was being very quiet, and only making little “peep” noises in dragon tongue. she said. The teacher obviously paid her words little mind, but he looked at her with a warm expression.

The stove was not in use - presumably, the man in the wool cap had felt it unnecessary when he was there alone. The classroom had six sanded but unvarnished wooden tables, but two of them were shoved against the wall out of the way. The rest were lined with pinewood stools. The only light at that moment came from the windows, and the sunbeams revealed the dusty air.

At the front of the classroom, a podium sat, covered in ten or so sets of wax tablets, each with its own stylus attached with a leather cord. The ten stacked cords dangled and tangled haphazardly. It seemed that Katsk had been in the process of decorating; one of the tables had nails and a mallet on one end, and a series of colorfully painted strips of vellum, each depicting some fantastical and whimsical scene or a reference that may be useful to students.

“Did you paint those yourself?” Waver asked, impressed.

“I did,” the teacher admitted. “The lady before me had no time or patience for color, so I had to take matters into my own hands. Hope the next guy doesn’t throw it all out, eh?”

Pentwec squeaked, naturally beyond the older man’s ken.

“Ah, I was gonna ask about that. You said you’re a dragon consult. What’s that got to do with the schoolhouse?” Katsk squinted, as if -- no, almost definitely suspecting that Waver was going to try make him spend his limited budget.

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“Mm,” Waver led off. “Yeah, we recently hatched Pentwec here, and we were hoping to get her used to all different kinds of troublesome people so she could be with clients.”

“A baize? As a social animal?”

“She’s very social herself, sir,” Waver said. Pentwec’s orange eyes flickered at the teacher. she said, with a good natured peep.

“I see. So, what’s the proposal?”

“I want to leave her in the classroom during the day when classes start. I’ll drop her off and pick her up daily, as if she were a student, but she’ll have a chance to get used to children. On your end, I suppose you’d be getting students used to being around dragons? I won’t ask you to feed her or anything, but we care for her a lot, so if you notice the students picking on her, please step in. Can you promise me that?”

“Hmmmm...” The teacher considered. “I’d like to. I’d hate to see such a cute young thing being harmed. But I’m going to need to leave the kids alone sometimes to do their work. I may not have eyes on them at all times, so if something’s happening, I might not know. Is that acceptable?”

Unnoticed by the man, the baize in the cage narrowed her eyes deviously.

Waver nodded. “I’m very observant when it comes to dragons, so I’ll be able to tell if anything’s going on, and we can talk about it then. In the meantime, do we have some sort of deal?”

Katsk placed his hands on his hips. “Yeah, we have a deal. I’m a little surprised you don’t want payment for lending your precious dragon out, but if you did, I guess you wouldn’t have come here.”

“Oh, please. We don’t have to bring money into it; this helps both of us.”

With that, the two shook hands. They discussed when school would start and which four days a week Pentwec would attend, and Waver left with his charge in check.

“That guy was nice,” Pentwec whispered, on the way out. Waver glanced around urgently, but luckily no one had been around to hear.

Valor asked with a throaty growl. They picked up the rope that was supposedly tying them to a hook on a nearby wall, and wrapped it around their neck deftly. If the passersby who were supposedly relying on the rope’s protection noticed, no one said anything.

Pentwec whined.

Waver mounted his friend’s back in a single fluid motion, and Valor began to trundle along while lecturing the little one, who was still kept in a cage to help her fit in.

Waver was oddly quiet in response to that.

“No, it’s not that,” Waver quickly interjected, then continued in dragon tongue.

Valor stepped slightly heavier and louder to accentuate their point.

Pentwec was wide-eyed.

Valor turned their head and gave Waver a glare. Look what you’ve done! their blue eyes seemed to say.