Dragon's life in college

chapter 11

"Nigel, are you getting sick?" Oceania cocked her head sideways in her characteristic manner.

"No," Nigel protested, his voice stuffy. "I just have a blocked-nose!" The last part of his sentence erupted in a spray of green flames that shot out of his nose in the form of a violent sneeze.

Oceania didn't jump out of the way, as most dragons would have. By now Nigel's reputation for accidentally setting tails on fire was well known around the school. Oceania, as a water dragon, had nothing to fear from Nigel's or any fire dragon's flames. Instead she watched with concern as Nigel sneezed several more times, thankfully without any fire coming out.

"You are getting sick," she said, after Nigel had finally stopped sneezing.

"No, I'm not," Nigel insisted.

"Yes, you are. You really should take the rest of today off to rest. This might get worse." She watched as Nigel coughed.

"I'm fine," Nigel insisted, hoping that another spurt of fire wouldn't come out. "Besides, I don't want to miss math class."

"Nigel," Oceania stared into his eyes. "You already know all the material. You could teach the class if you wanted to. You can afford to miss one class. Besides if you get worse, you'll have to miss even more classes."

"I'll be fine," Nigel insisted, even though he could feel another sneeze coming. "I just need to-"whoosh, another spurt of fire erupted.

Oceania watched. "All right," she said. "But if you start getting any worse, I am taking you back to your cave to rest."

Nigel nodded, too busy trying to get his fire back under control. To be honest, he didn't feel as well as he was pretending. And looking at Oceania's expression, he guessed that she already knew that. Still, he thought, it was probably a slight cold that would pass in a couple of days. He just needed to avoid accidentally setting anything on fire until then. The last time he had been sick he'd almost set Comet and Dragonfly on fire. Only Ember and Firefly's quick tackle of their siblings had knocked them out of the way in time. Still, they had had to explain to mother why there was a giant scorch mark on the floor and wall. Nigel chuckled, remembering as his siblings had somehow managed to be perfectly clueless about an event they knew had happened. His mother had known from the beginning and hadn't said anything.

Nigel and Oceania made their way to math class. To Nigel's disappointment, it turned out to be the only class that they shared together. Still, their schedule worked out for them to spend time together almost everyday, and Oceania always made time to spend with him. Nigel had met a few of her other friends, mostly water dragons but some fire dragons as well. While they were nice to him, he guessed Oceania had instructed them to not say anything, he was still more comfortable with Oceania than any other dragon. But that still didn't mean he wanted her escorting him to his cave in order to recover.

During math class, Nigel did his best to conceal his more frequent coughs and sneezes. That wouldn't have been a problem if he sneezed and coughed like every other dragon. However, he didn't. Unlike other dragons, whenever Nigel sneezed or coughed fire could come out of his mouth or nose. Other dragons didn't have this problem as they had complete control over their fire. Nigel's lack of control, however, meant that fire could come out at any moment. And as math class continued, more and more fire began to come out.

From across the room, Oceania could see the increasing flashes of bright, green flames. Shaking her head at the stubbornness of male dragons, she quickly estimated how much time was left in class. Whether Nigel wanted to or not, he was going back to his cave to rest until he was better.

As soon as class was finished, Nigel quickly packed up his typewriter and headed for the exit as quickly as possible. He knew Oceania would be waiting for him and for once since he had met her he wanted to get away. But he wasn't fast enough.

"Not so fast," Oceania said, stepping in front of him.

"Oceania..." Nigel began in a very congested voice, but she cut him off.

"No arguments. You're going straight to your cave to rest right now, Nigel." She nudged him toward his cave. "Come on. You barely made it through class without blasting the entire area with fire. And you look ready to topple over. Come on."

Nigel went with her, partially because he actually did want to rest and mostly because he knew Oceania wasn't going to let him escape. She had the same look in his eyes his mother got whenever one of them tried to avoid doing something. She wasn't going to take no for an answer, and Nigel knew enough that arguing was completely pointless. Still, he didn't want to spend the next day in his cave with Ryu.

"But Oceania," he said, trying to convince her to least let him stay somewhere other than his room, "what about my roommate?"

"What about him?" Oceania didn't sound very sympathetic. "He hasn't damaged you yet, has he?" She knew about Nigel's fear of Ryu, and actually seemed to think that it was reasonable. She hadn't said why though, and Nigel hadn't thought of it. He was already terrified enough without wondering.

"He might, if I stay in the cave too long."

"Nigel." Oceania stopped and stared at him. "Ryu is not going to hurt you. And even if he wanted to, you're still going to rest until you're better. And if your roommate actually does do something threatening, besides walk through the door, just let me know. I'll handle it."

Nigel nodded. For a brief moment, he almost felt a little worried for Ryu. The last dragon he had seen look that fiercely protective was his mother when his father had subtly hinted that they would have better off leaving their five youngest to fend for themselves.

His mother had drawn herself up to her full height, flared her wings, and glared at his father with such a death glare that Nigel was concerned his father might fall over dead there. Then his mother had stated in an icy voice that no one left her babies to fend for themselves, not while she was still alive. And that if his father thought his life would be better without them, then he was free to go. With that she had turned and swept away, leaving Nigel's father looking genuinely scared. He hadn't said a word again, at least not directly, about abandoning children.

But even with Oceania's protective look, Nigel still was terrified of Ryu. Oceania couldn't stay with him all the time, and if Ryu actually did damage Nigel, then Nigel wasn't sure if he would be able to let Oceania know.

But in the end, he had no choice but to curl up on his bed and rest while Oceania busied herself making sure he had everything he needed. Everything except guarantee that Ryu wasn't going to harm him.

"I'm leaving now," Oceania announced. "Don't worry. I'll be back later tonight and Ryu isn't going to damage you. Like I've been saying, if he was going to damage you then he would have done so when the semester started. Now relax and try to get better. Bye." And with a rustle of blue wings she was gone.