“Ya look terrible.”

“Hello to you, too.”

Beryll chuckled before sitting down next to me. We were on a pile of boulders that were against a cliff overlooking one of the stretches of flat land throughout the school grounds. The day was over, so students were taking flight and heading towards the city. I decided to stick around for a while, and Beryll found me.

“Wanna bite?” He held out a half-eaten pastry that I couldn’t recognize.

“No thanks.” He shrugged and tossed the rest into his mouth.

“How have the ‘special’ classes been goin’?” He asked after swallowing. “I mean, must not be all the grand, considerin’ you appear to have been on the wron’ side of a Scale Skinner and left to rot on a hot day to be picked apart by insects.”

Lovely imagery as always. “They’re okay but exhausting. Today, Windshift had us performing flight drills for half an hour as a warm-up, and then started making us perform flight patterns I’ve only read about before! Yesterday, Wildfire had us swinging swords and hacking away without a break! Two days before that, Flicker literally threw fireballs at us and told us to intercept them, except they exploded every time you did so! Ugh, I hurt all over.”

Beryll chuckled and flapped his wings. “Well, this is what ya get for being such an overachiever. Ya could’ve had a rest period with me, but ya choose to try and be a Forged-Scale. Ya work yourself to the bone anyway, so I’m not surprised you're tired.”

“It’s not like I’m the only one working hard.”

“But the rest of them don’t put in as much work outside of class as ya do,” He wagged his tail as he swayed his head to some tune only he could hear. “I don’t know where ya get the energy to do all that studyin’ and practicin’ at home, but ya push yourself a lot. School only started a couple’a weeks ago, but you're already burned out.”

“I guess that’s just what happens,” I laid back on the rock and covered my eyes with my arm. “I’ve got to work hard if I want to pass.”

Beryll muttered something to himself that I couldn’t hear. Then, he shoved me with his foot and sent me toppling off the rock. I crashed onto the ground and sat up with a surprised yelp. Beryll looked down at me and said, “Come on, we’re goin’ to get somethin’ to eat.”

Dusting myself off, I asked, “The usual place?”

Beryll nodded and flared his wings. “Try to keep up.” He launched himself into the air and took off towards the city. I followed, racing to catch up.

Hearth, the beating heart of the Dragonic territory. A ten-minute flight from Meltingpot, the capital rose up to stand out majestically over the landscape. The city was a creation spawned from the cooperation of Dragonics, Gleameyes, and Naiads from hundreds of years ago. Hearth was built with a layered layout, and each grew smaller as they reached the top. Always present around Hearth was the specks in the sky that flashed various colors. While we had roads, it was easier to fly if you were in a hurry, especially to get to a different layer.

The back of the bottom three levels was built against a cliffside, so each of these levels was in the shape of a half-circle. The bottom layer is a jumble of roads leading to and from fields for local crops, spanning for several miles. The next layer is the market, always bustling and swarming with Dragonics out to buy something. It was much smaller than the previous layer but took up miles of elevated land. The third was for the residential area, so homes and parks were a common sight there. This is also where you would find restaurants and other places where you wanted to grab a bite eat, so it was our destination.

We dodged wings as we landed outside a building dubbed The Happy Lizard. The building had a coat of bright paint in shades of red, orange, and yellow. Outlines of lizards were stationed here and there in darker colors. We entered and we were instantly surrounded by a roar of merriment and laughter. The regular crowd consisted of Dragonics who had just finished work or school and wanted a delicious meal. Many of them waved and said hello as we moved toward a small table in the far corner. The moment we sat down, plates with slabs of roasted meat slathered in sauce were set in front of us. A female Dragonic in her forties smiled warmly at us and gave me a swift hug. “Good to see you again, Talon. It’s been too long!”

“I’ve been here every day for years now,” I said while smiling back.

“I know, but it’s always good to see your friendly face. Especially since you put up with my son.”

“That’s fair,” Beryll chimed.

Hestia had the same orange scales as her son, but her hair was wavy and deep red. I had known her since I was young, and she was like my second mother. Hestia treated me like I was part of her family, and always smiled when she saw me.

A shout came from the kitchen, making Hestia start backing away. “They need me in the kitchen, but I hope you two enjoy.” She was gone a second later.

I looked down at the meat on my plate and felt my stomach rumble. Like everything else on the menu, this smelled delicious even if I didn’t know what it was. I took my knife and dug in. It was a minute before I realized that Beryll was just watching.

“What?”

“Really?”

“What?”

“Come on, your rippin’ into that thing like a beast. You’re not even usin’ your utensils anymore.”

He was right. In the short time since I had started eating, I had abandoned my knife and fork and just started shoveling my food into my mouth with my hands. This, sadly, was not the first time.

“Sorry,” I said, looking for a rag

“Oh, just lick your fingers! You’re goin’ to anyways.”

I did just that, giving up my search for a rag and just tasting the sauce and meat on my fingers.

“You can really be a slob sometimes,” Beryll said as he picked up his fork.

“I’m not ashamed,” I said, tucking back into the rest of the meal left on my plate.

Beryll snorted. “Prim and proper until a plate of food is in front of your face. I would be scared about losin’ a finger if I tried to get in between you and your food.”

“As you should be,” I said truthfully.

The rest of the meal continued as we talked about how the school day had gone. I suggested that we should study for our history review, which Beryll respond to by dropping his face onto his plate and the leftover sauce. We continued back and forth until a stomping of fists and mugs roared to life to my left. A couple of tables over, a messenger was talking with a group of his buddies. Based on the blue scarf wrapped around his bicep, he delivered messages from the Dragonics to the Naiad territory. The group around him listened with enraptured expressions as the messenger spoke to them, retelling his most recent delivery.

Beryl’s eyes lit up as the messenger waited for the noise to lessen. “That’s Smoketail!” He whispered with delight.