CHAPTER 6
More or less utterly terrified, Ariel Nellen walked into her first class, which she had decided to mentally refer to as "the Dragon class" (the real title was way too long). The classroom was like a normal one back on Earth, but considerably bigger. Ariel sat at a desk at the center of the front row. She liked having a clear view of a teacher. Also, if the teacher was small (such as a dragon), she wanted to be in a place to see it, not just see a blob of color, as one would from the back of the classroom.
A girl sat down next to Ariel. Ariel studied the stranger. She had black hair and brown skin. Ariel smiled and said "Hi, I'm Ariel." The girl grinned and nodded. "I'm Alicia." Idly chatting, the two got their things ready. Ariel had her textbook, a binder, a notebook, pens, and pencils, as well as her precious laptop.
The students slowly filed in. Every seat filled. The classroom was still for about five minutes.
The door opened. Two people walked in. One wore jeans and a T-shirt; the other wore a long, beautiful black skirt and a deep red blouse. Both were followed by dragons. One of the dragons was silver, the other was gold.
Liara and Kiara walked up to the teacher's desk and sat (Ariel realized that there were two chairs). The dragons landed on the desk.
"I am Liara," Liara said, "That's Lady Liara to you. This is Kiara. She is not my twin. We are teaching the course 'Dragons: All You Need To Know (and a lot you don't)'. For your information, those of you who are also taking 'Magic: Do You Have It?' should pay even more attention than the others. We have a surprise planned for you."
Both of the women grinned evilly, as did the dragons.
"Moving on," Kiara said. "We're here to teach you about dragons. Kanth and Lanth here are only here because they have decided to help educate you and provide an example. Well, we did bribe Kanth with sugar, but I think he would have done it anyway."
"Kiara," Liara said warningly. "This is Kanth," she indicated the gold dragon, "and this is my dragon, Lanth. He's not really mine, he just likes me, I guess. Now, let's begin. Those of you that have laptops, take them out. You will need notes." She paused as the students with laptops turned them on and those without computers took out notebooks and binders.
"Dragons are immortal," said Kiara. "They can become less spry over time, though. After a very long time - several millennia, at least - some dragons become old. Their strength runs out more easily; they are not as powerful as the young ones, even when rested. They only really die when killed. If you ever kill a dragon, the four of us will hunt you down and make you immortal. Then we will give you to our evil platypi.
(Please note: evil platypi copyright The Golden Dragon)
"Dragons lay eggs. These take several hundreds of years to hatch. We have some here that are a couple hundred years old already. They will probably hatch this year. Do not attempt to tamper with the eggs. They are guarded by the platypi. They need meat to survive. If for some absurd reason one of you comes to bond with a dragon, do not attempt to make it live on vegetables. Dragons much prefer fingers to vegetables, so it's not very safe. The platypi, also, are carnivorous. Platypi have photographic memory and enjoy pursuing people to kill them and use Earth recipes on them. The platypi enjoy revolutionary culinary experiments involving unique ingredients."
The class turned rather green.
"She's just joking," Liara said. "The platypi, though, are notoriously evil. You had to set one on fire the other day, didn't you, Lanth? Poor you." She stroked his head."
"Poor platypi!" someone blurted. Kiara looked at a list on the desk with a rather nasty grin. "You would be Brooke. Our list says you pretend to be evil, have written 83 Mary Sues with you and Raistlin. You pride yourself on being the only person who truly deserves the Dragonlance books. Hmm."
Brooke turned bright red.
"All right then," said Liara. "We're getting a little sidetracked." She glared at Kiara, who looked back innocently. "Today you learn about the parts of a dragon. Keep taking notes. Lanth?"
Lanth was nibbling a Lindt chocolate bar. He looked up. "Yes." Liara grinned. "We need you."
Kiara reached under the desk and pulled out a platform about a foot high. Lanth calmly jumped up on it. Liara and Kiara stood to be better seen.
"This is the wing," Liara said, touching one of Lanth's outstretched wings. "This is the wing tip." She touched the point at the tip of the wing. "Were you to ride a life-sized dragon, without a dragon saddle, you would sit here." Lanth lifted both wings and she touched the hollow between his wings. "This is the tail," she added, tapping his tail. "This is the neck and the head, and the eyes and nose and ears, obviously," she said, touching the respective places. "This is the mane. Individually, these are spikes." She touched the ridges along his neck.
Kanth hopped up onto the platform. "These are claws," he said cheerfully, as he and Lanth automatically played rocks, paper, scissors. "They hurt when you are stabbed with them. They're attached to paws, which are attached to legs. That's all you need to know."
Lanth stepped down from the platform, as did Kanth. Ariel stifled a laugh. She was enjoying the class more and more.
"Pack up," Kiara said, feeding Kanth sugar. Liara unwrapped a truffle that was in the desk and gave it to Lanth. "Class is over soon. Read the first chapter of the book. Make a summary. Hand them in. Don't think that we won't grade them or read them carefully. There's four of us, after all. See you tomorrow."
A bell tolled - not the kind in a normal school, but more like those in a church.
Ariel picked up her books and laptop and went to her next class.
-~-*-~-
To reply to Lady Eowyn of Rohan's first review: Ariel was not modeled on you, believe me. I would never, ever model a *good* character on you. To answer the second: I may fix your nitpicky grammar rule if I have a chance. If I don't . *thinks of wildly amusing and inappropriate quote from Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow* Raistlin is NOT . ew. That's just . ew. I am *not* naming it Mopsie.
-Alexa
More or less utterly terrified, Ariel Nellen walked into her first class, which she had decided to mentally refer to as "the Dragon class" (the real title was way too long). The classroom was like a normal one back on Earth, but considerably bigger. Ariel sat at a desk at the center of the front row. She liked having a clear view of a teacher. Also, if the teacher was small (such as a dragon), she wanted to be in a place to see it, not just see a blob of color, as one would from the back of the classroom.
A girl sat down next to Ariel. Ariel studied the stranger. She had black hair and brown skin. Ariel smiled and said "Hi, I'm Ariel." The girl grinned and nodded. "I'm Alicia." Idly chatting, the two got their things ready. Ariel had her textbook, a binder, a notebook, pens, and pencils, as well as her precious laptop.
The students slowly filed in. Every seat filled. The classroom was still for about five minutes.
The door opened. Two people walked in. One wore jeans and a T-shirt; the other wore a long, beautiful black skirt and a deep red blouse. Both were followed by dragons. One of the dragons was silver, the other was gold.
Liara and Kiara walked up to the teacher's desk and sat (Ariel realized that there were two chairs). The dragons landed on the desk.
"I am Liara," Liara said, "That's Lady Liara to you. This is Kiara. She is not my twin. We are teaching the course 'Dragons: All You Need To Know (and a lot you don't)'. For your information, those of you who are also taking 'Magic: Do You Have It?' should pay even more attention than the others. We have a surprise planned for you."
Both of the women grinned evilly, as did the dragons.
"Moving on," Kiara said. "We're here to teach you about dragons. Kanth and Lanth here are only here because they have decided to help educate you and provide an example. Well, we did bribe Kanth with sugar, but I think he would have done it anyway."
"Kiara," Liara said warningly. "This is Kanth," she indicated the gold dragon, "and this is my dragon, Lanth. He's not really mine, he just likes me, I guess. Now, let's begin. Those of you that have laptops, take them out. You will need notes." She paused as the students with laptops turned them on and those without computers took out notebooks and binders.
"Dragons are immortal," said Kiara. "They can become less spry over time, though. After a very long time - several millennia, at least - some dragons become old. Their strength runs out more easily; they are not as powerful as the young ones, even when rested. They only really die when killed. If you ever kill a dragon, the four of us will hunt you down and make you immortal. Then we will give you to our evil platypi.
(Please note: evil platypi copyright The Golden Dragon)
"Dragons lay eggs. These take several hundreds of years to hatch. We have some here that are a couple hundred years old already. They will probably hatch this year. Do not attempt to tamper with the eggs. They are guarded by the platypi. They need meat to survive. If for some absurd reason one of you comes to bond with a dragon, do not attempt to make it live on vegetables. Dragons much prefer fingers to vegetables, so it's not very safe. The platypi, also, are carnivorous. Platypi have photographic memory and enjoy pursuing people to kill them and use Earth recipes on them. The platypi enjoy revolutionary culinary experiments involving unique ingredients."
The class turned rather green.
"She's just joking," Liara said. "The platypi, though, are notoriously evil. You had to set one on fire the other day, didn't you, Lanth? Poor you." She stroked his head."
"Poor platypi!" someone blurted. Kiara looked at a list on the desk with a rather nasty grin. "You would be Brooke. Our list says you pretend to be evil, have written 83 Mary Sues with you and Raistlin. You pride yourself on being the only person who truly deserves the Dragonlance books. Hmm."
Brooke turned bright red.
"All right then," said Liara. "We're getting a little sidetracked." She glared at Kiara, who looked back innocently. "Today you learn about the parts of a dragon. Keep taking notes. Lanth?"
Lanth was nibbling a Lindt chocolate bar. He looked up. "Yes." Liara grinned. "We need you."
Kiara reached under the desk and pulled out a platform about a foot high. Lanth calmly jumped up on it. Liara and Kiara stood to be better seen.
"This is the wing," Liara said, touching one of Lanth's outstretched wings. "This is the wing tip." She touched the point at the tip of the wing. "Were you to ride a life-sized dragon, without a dragon saddle, you would sit here." Lanth lifted both wings and she touched the hollow between his wings. "This is the tail," she added, tapping his tail. "This is the neck and the head, and the eyes and nose and ears, obviously," she said, touching the respective places. "This is the mane. Individually, these are spikes." She touched the ridges along his neck.
Kanth hopped up onto the platform. "These are claws," he said cheerfully, as he and Lanth automatically played rocks, paper, scissors. "They hurt when you are stabbed with them. They're attached to paws, which are attached to legs. That's all you need to know."
Lanth stepped down from the platform, as did Kanth. Ariel stifled a laugh. She was enjoying the class more and more.
"Pack up," Kiara said, feeding Kanth sugar. Liara unwrapped a truffle that was in the desk and gave it to Lanth. "Class is over soon. Read the first chapter of the book. Make a summary. Hand them in. Don't think that we won't grade them or read them carefully. There's four of us, after all. See you tomorrow."
A bell tolled - not the kind in a normal school, but more like those in a church.
Ariel picked up her books and laptop and went to her next class.
-~-*-~-
To reply to Lady Eowyn of Rohan's first review: Ariel was not modeled on you, believe me. I would never, ever model a *good* character on you. To answer the second: I may fix your nitpicky grammar rule if I have a chance. If I don't . *thinks of wildly amusing and inappropriate quote from Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow* Raistlin is NOT . ew. That's just . ew. I am *not* naming it Mopsie.
-Alexa