𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒

𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬

A week had passed since Isolde made the deal with Tomas, and yet regardless of how many times she checked the rota to see if she had been added, she never saw her name scrawled onto the paper. Regardless, she had spent more time with him in and out of lessons as she realised he was actually quite funny and rather helpful in History. His knowledge rivalled hers massively, but she wasn't complaining as he often helped her with the answers she couldn't quite grasp.

Alongside him, she had also spent an increased amount of time with Garrick, Xaden, and Imogen. It seemed that for the current moment she relaxed her 'don't befriend the people that would kill you if they knew who you were' policy and just basked in the enjoyment of other people's company, that she had previously prayed years for.

Xaden had also taken it upon himself to speak to her as often as he could whether it was about trivial things such as 'When was it finally going to stop raining?' or talking about more serious topics such as aspirations, attributes they value and more. However, whenever Tomas appeared and joined the conversations Xaden often stiffened up and both Garrick and Imogen glared into the side of his head until Isolde noticed and she left with him.

***

"It is important that you all know which dragons to approach and which to run from at Threshing," Professor Kaori says, looking over the cadets making sure they were paying attention. Professors here will be encouraging you to be paying the most attention to Battle Brief but as the likelihood of you being called into battle is slim, this is your next most important class. Not paying attention is a disadvantage none of you can afford. So, listen to what I have to say, and you might survive Presentation and see yourself through to Threshing." He had a seriousness in his voice that left no room for jollity. He completely fascinated her when she found out that he was an illusionist. Each time he showed a new dragon to the class an exact replica was present to them in the front of the course, in a smaller scale.

"Red Scorpiontails, like Ghrian here, are the quickest to temper," Professor Kaori continues, his perfectly trimmed moustache curving as he walked around the 3D illusion. Isolde scribbled down a rough sketch of the Red Scorpiontail along with a quick note saying- quickest to temper. "So, if you offend him, you're—" He did his best to find the most amicable way to put it. "Well let's just say that your new home will be lining their stomach."

"So, what's the best way to approach a Red Scorpiontail?" He glances around the room. Xaden piped up from my left. "Simple, don't do it. Wait for it to approach you." Kaori let out a chortle and agreed with him. He rattled through the rest as Isolde did her best to sketch and jot down her notes. By the end she had six drawings for each of the sorts of dragons: Green, Brown, Orange, Red, Blue, and Black. Alongside this she added sketches for the different sorts of tail shapes they could have: Sword, Dagger, Scorpion, Club, Morningstar and Feathertail for the younger dragons.