The Odd Dragon Out: Reckoning of the Cinder-Born

"Good morning, boys!" Madam Agathe's voice scratched against Ginger's ears. He smiled somewhat politely at the old dragon, as did Reiss.

"Good morning, Madam," the two said in unison.

They obviously couldn't fully express it, but the hundreds of thumping steps sounding behind them from practically the whole school leaving for the small town past the bridge, while they were here, awaiting the verdict for the nature of their punishment, jabbed furiously at them.

What made it worse was seeing Fillys and Alcaeus grin at them with twisted glee as they walked to the school's entrance, following behind a certain boy who, like them, didn't hide the sky-blue cast of his scales.

Ginger and Reiss frowned.

They both knew who the boy was, though with differing degrees of understanding.

The young dragonling was like Principal Phoenix. He was a descendant of one of the Five Ancient Dragons, the Vermillion Dragon, Avecsalot.

There were five families that claimed to carry the blood of the Ancient Elders in Ravi, dubbing themselves the Flame Seeker Families. Under them, were what were called Carrier Houses – families of dragons that devoted themselves to the Flame Seeker Families.

Fillys and Alcaeus were part of a Carrier House, the Doukas. As such, they had befriended this dragonling from the Avecsalot Family, parading themselves as his best friends.

Ginger didn't like the idea of that trio. Reiss also shared the same sentiment.

Madam Agathe was very pleased by the two boys' hidden reactions – specifically the suffering they tried so hard to conceal. She had been around dragonlings long enough to recognize subdued fury, agony, and yearning.

They could try to hide it if they wanted, but she was about to expose them.

"Well, shall we go the pens, then?" she said while turning to lead the two, a dark grin on her face.

"Pens?" both Ginger and Reiss shook at her words.

"Pens," Madam Agathe emphasized.

The air around Ginger and Reiss became several degrees darker, which was all the more grave since they hadn't been leaping for joy to begin with.

Like corpses held upright by Sorcery, the two dragonlings lumbered forward, following Madam Agathe to a dreadful location. Of all the things that they could be punished to do. Of all the places they had to endure for the Breather.

What did it have to be the pens?

Ginger, Reiss, and all their classmates had gotten well acquainted with the wonders and terrors of the pens during one of their courses – Universal Knowledge of Unnatural Creatures.

In this course, they studied all the various types of less intelligent, wild beasts that could be found in Ravi. There was quite a lot to learn, as one would imagine, and if taking notes, attempting to pat the friendlier among these wild creatures, and feeding them, was all there was to this course, all the First Years would have had Universal Knowledge of Unnatural Creatures as their favorite thing to learn.

However, just like its instructor, the course had a darker, smelly side that was dunked in the opposite of fun.

The First Years had been reminded that unlike sentient beings, wild and instinct-driven beasts dropped their 'loot' everywhere they could. And it was part of the learning experience to get acquainted with this 'loot'.

Now, as a full class, it wasn't such a hassle to scrap off the pungent chocolate, but as two small boys...

'Why do we have to do this in our uniforms?!' Ginger grunted frustratedly.

Indeed. Madam Agathe was comfortable making the boys do this dirty work with their uniforms. She had said nothing about them getting additional clothing to work in.

"I should have you know, boys, my job doesn't necessarily involve asking questions. That task falls on your Prime Instructor, and I'm sure you have had a good chat. With any luck, all your other Professors have already caught wind of your actions, and I hope they steer you down the correct course..." Madam said while increasing her pace.

Ginger and Reiss groaned. The former remembered that 'scoundrel' line from Professor of History and frowned.

'Oh they caught wind alright,' he thought.

It was probably Madam Agathe who told their other Professors too, despite her feigning ignorance.

The plump dragonling resigned himself to getting more familiar with the area outside the Frost Mount's Tooth since he would be serving his sentence for the next three days until the next Stride.

Because the last Stride had offered very little respite from courses, coupled with the fact that Ginger couldn't maneuver with the Waiting Furnaces himself, the boy had barely been able to explore to his heart's content.

This was his chance.

A series of tall, thin, and fat buildings were scattered around the large premises of the Draggard-Phoenix Institute for the Cinder-Born. Others seemed to be reserved for advanced courses for the Fourth and Fifth Years, which couldn't be done in the cubical castle.

All these buildings had some connection to the Frost Mount's Tooth though. The ones closer to it featured bridges that led to specific floors, and Ginger had already been to some of these for his other courses.

Aside from the rising structures, Ginger saw several fields a distance away. The perfectly defined dimensions seemed to allude to some specific purpose for the fields, but as to what it was, Ginger could only guess.

Soon, the trio arrived at a great tower that started out fat from the bottom and grew thinner with its height. Its least bulky point was still enough to fit a thousand Gingers though.

This tower was called the Pine, a name whose inspiration Ginger couldn't imagine. It housed all beasts that were used for learning and sending messages within the school.

Madam Agathe led the two inside and through a door that was opposite the entrance several paces away. Past it, the clean floor from just a moment ago, turned dirty, marred by a smelly type of stone all over.

Thick bursts of smoke that weaved about so suddenly as the trio emerged, made Ginger start coughing vehemently.

Ah, it was this place.

Within the wide, rectangular room which was about three hundred square meters large, were dozens of Olarmanders.

With a full Stride of learning, Ginger had finally learned what the creatures he called 'little dragons' were actually called. And here they were, swarming all over.

They flew about, wrestled among themselves, and as for the large ones, they piled up the dark, smelly stones, breathed out fire from their mouths to warm them up, and lazily laid over them.

Ginger and Reiss grimaced at the sight. The creamy droppings that were strewn about, barely distinguishable from the piles of dark stone made their skin crawl.

"Lovely. I'll go get your gear," Madam Agathe said cheerfully and darted agilely somewhere, returning with a pair of gloves and scrapers which looked like flat-ended spoons, one for each of the two.

"Since you can't use a Custos Zoe yet, these will do. You should thank me for being merciful. As you are First Years, I've decided to be lenient. I'll be back in two hours. By the end of the Breather, we should have cleaned every installment on this floor. Have fun in the meantime."

With that, the ancient lady disappeared.

Ginger and Reiss looked at their work and hesitantly began.

It wasn't pleasant. The way recently delivered chocolate evils turned the scrapers warm because of the intense heat, the overwhelming smell that seemed to whisper audibly to the nose, flirting with the nostrils...

"Shunting Shamans!" Ginger had screamed when he smelt a particularly pungent one.

Olarmanders mostly served as messengers for the staff inside and outside the school. As Ginger had witnessed a Stride ago from Ira's own, they were very quick on their wings and highly efficient.

Through the basic lessons Ginger had gotten so far from Universal Knowledge of Unnatural Creatures, he had learned more about these little things and others similar to them.

Apparently, there were four types of Cinder-Born entities – creatures that could breathe fire – in Ravi.

The first were dragons, Qin Asha, as the more exclusive dialects of the dragon tongue termed them. This extended to beings like the students, the teachers and Ginger himself.

The second were the least intelligent. Wild and domesticated Olarmanders. Apparently, they could grow up to the size of a full-fledged dragon, but they lacked the potential to grow into Qin Asha.

The third and fourth types, Ginger had only gotten to know superficially. There were the Blighted and the Condemned. All the plump dragonling knew was that they were like fully grown Olarmanders, but infinitely more dangerous.

They were a threat that dragons often struggled with, especially when given time.

Following the first thirty minutes of nonstop work, Ginger rushed to the window and took in deep breaths of fresh air mixed in with Mana Essence.

When he returned to the job, shooing some Olarmanders that flocked to his feet, he looked at Reiss. The dwarfish dragon wore a stone-like expression without buckling at all.

Ginger made a complex face.

"Hey, uh, can I ask you something?" he said.

Reiss didn't reply.

As expected, Reiss was still not willing to speak to him.

But Ginger didn't give up. Why should he? Trying to make up with Reiss was the best thing he could do for himself. After all, he was the only student who even bothered to speak to him.

"Look, I know you're still angry about what I... what I did. I'm really sorry. You're wasting your time here all because of me. I'd be angry at myself too. I just hope we... that you can forgive me and we can be friends..." Ginger said.

His dragon tongue in actual, extended dialogue was still a bit slow, but that didn't stop him from cringing at his own words. He never did learn how to befriend children his age. A joyride of nine years with Ancor didn't have such stops.

There was no response from Reiss. He scooped up some more Olarmander stool and threw it in a pile dangerously close to Ginger.

The plump boy sighed.

"Reiss, we sleep in the same dorm and the same bunk bed. I think it would be better if we got to know each other. We have the same problems... at least when it comes to appearance... so maybe we could..."

"The same?" Reiss' annoyed voice came.

'Finally!' Ginger leaped inside.

"Well, yeah. Similar," he said.

Reiss looked offended.

"You really think you've had to endure anything close to even half of what I've had to deal with?" he said with a frown.

To this, Ginger didn't dare say 'yes'. He didn't think so.

"That's what I thought," Reiss said before scoffing and getting back to work.

Ginger felt a little defeated. But only for a little while.

"What have you had to deal with?" he asked.

"If you have to ask, then why should I even bother."

Reiss left no more room for further questions after that.

Ginger didn't feel like he could make any more attempts anyway.

Two hours finally passed, and soon, the door to the pen opened.

It wasn't Madam Agathe that walked in, though.

It was Professor Alexandros.