"Kaida." Someone whispers in my ear. "Nooooo," I moan, not wanting to stop sleeping. "You need to get up." The voice is Komel's. I groan and roll over, "Fine, but you asked for it," Komel teases before calling someone over. I wonder who it is until I am rudely awakened by the feeling of teeth on my wings. "Thunder," I yell, exasperated, standing up and shaking my wing out of his grip. "Not. The. Wings." I tell thunder as I glare at Komel. "Well, at least now we know you aren't a morning person. "I am a morning person, but even you would be mad if someone used you as a chew toy," I say, stretching. "Well, we really should get going," Komel observes, flexing his wings and looking at the cave entrance where we can see the sun rising. "Go grab some breakfast for the trip." I walk over to the cave's food side and see an abundance of rabbits piled in the middle. I pick a fat one up in my mouth and head to the front of the cave where Komel is waiting. The flight was long, and we briefly stopped a couple of times to get a drink and rest. Throughout the trip, we hardly spoke, except when Komel reminded me to hold my temper at school, and I mostly watched the scenery change. It went from snowy and cold, rainy and grassy, to ashy and hot. Yes, ashy. Ash was falling from the sky. "Why is it raining ash," I ask Komel, trying to shake the warm powder off me. "This is the Kingdom of Teosan, the land of the dragons. You shouldn't be surprised. But I know it doesn't stop them from showing off its beauty," he replies. And truthfully, I'm not. Normal dragons breathe fire. And I guess if you have a bunch of fire, there would be a bunch of ash. I'm still deep in thought when I hear Komel whisper, "We're here," When I look, my jaw drops, and I understand what Komel means. You would think that dragons can only destroy, but here was proof that they can build too. The school is covered in pillars intricately carved out of several types of stone. It incorporates so many fiery shades that I know I will stand out, but I hardly care. We descend and walk up to the gate guarded by two dragons. "Sorry, but you can't bring your pet," one of them tells me. "I am her guardian," Komel explains calmly while I, on the other hand, tense up. The guard shrugs and opens the gate. The courtyard is filled with statues of dragons and actual dragons. There are students and their parents or guardians. I weave through the crowd looking around until I bump into a particularly handsome dragonet. He has an ombre of red and orange scales. "Are you ok," he asks, turning around before stopping completely. "Woah." he stares at me with his emerald green eyes. "Your scales are really breathtaking, and your eyes are gorgeous." I blush and become interested in my talons. "Wait, did I say that out loud," he asks me, blushing, and I nod, not trusting my voice. "Let me start over," he says as I laugh. "I'm Jex," he retracts his claws holding out his paw. I retract mine and shake his. "I'm Kaida," Jex smiles. "Kaida? What kind of name is that? And what happened to your scales? It looks like the ocean threw up." I turn to see a scarlet dragonet insulting me; her friends surround her, laughing. I feel my temper getting the best of me until I feel Komel's fur against my scales and hear him telling me to calm down. I do until she speaks again,223Please respect copyright.PENANAUvBDkech8H