Dragon's life in college

Oceania

Nigel unwrapped the bundle. If there was anything he had learned in life it was not to argue with a female dragon, even if this dragon was his own age.

Inside the bundle was a long, silver fish. Nigel wondered if she had caught it herself or if she had brought it from the college cafeteria.

"Don't you want some?" he offered, managing not to stammer as his tears slowed a little.

The water dragon tilted her head to one side. "No," she replied. "I brought it for you. Go on and eat it, you won't insult me." She settled onto the ground. "Eat," she repeated.

Nigel began eating the fish. Surprisingly, it tasted much better than he had expected. As he ate, doing his best to be polite while doing so, he studied the dragon.

Her scales were a mixture of sea-green and ocean-blue, arranged in a beautiful color combination that he was sure Comet would approve of. A necklace of royal-purple scales was around her throat, a unique marking that at first caused Nigel to wonder if it was a real necklace. Only when she moved her head did he realize that it was her scales. Her wings shimmered like sunlight on water, and he could make out ripple patterns on them. While out of water she held them at a normal angle, but Nigel had seen enough water dragon to know that some preferred to wear their wings like a sheer wrapping around their body then held out at a normal angle.

A somewhat dented looking earing dangled from one ear. The metal looked bronze-colored, although it was hard to tell for sure with the seaweed caught in it. A single jewel sparkled in the middle, although it looked as though it might have been stepped on by a dragon. An also dented, although unmatching, armlet spiraled up the dragon's upper left arm. This armlet looked like tarnished silver and appeared to be rather old. It was shaped like a seahorse and Nigel could see places where it had obviously been through a lot. An onyx eye glinted at him from the seahorse's surprisingly life-like face.

"Feeling better now," the dragon asked with another slight cock of her head after Nigel had finished eating.

"Yes," Nigel answered, surprised. The tears had all passed, although if that was due to the fish or due to the fact that he had cried them all out was debatable.

"Good," the dragon said. She stood up. "I'm Oceania by the way. What's your name?"

"Nigel." He waited for the teasing.

"Nigel," the dragon repeated. The way in which she said the name seemed almost like she was tasting it. "Nigel," she repeated. "It's a nice name. It fits you very well."

"You like it?" Nigel asked. Every other dragon thought his name was odd.

"Yes. Don't you?"

"I do. It's just that most dragons don't like it."

"Then most dragons are wrong." She glanced overhead. "I need to get to class. I would stay longer if I could."

"I should get going as well," Nigel realized. He stood up, picking up the towel as he did so. Math class was next and Nigel didn't want to be late for that. "I'm going to be late for Math."

"Hmmm, I have math class next as well." Oceania looked at him. "What class is yours?"

Nigel told her. As he did so, he saw her face light up.

"That's the same class I'm in. Perfect, we can go together."

"Uh, wait-I mean-you don't," Nigel didn't know what to say.

"I'm not letting you go alone, Nigel," Oceania said in the same tone his mother used sometimes. "You need a friend right now, and I'm willing to be one. Come on, you can tell me all about your family. How many siblings do you have?"

And so Nigel followed her, wondering what in the world he had gotten himself into.