Oision had settled Ghynyvhyr in her room, and gone in search of water and plenty of it. He could still feel bits of plants between his teeth. All of his animals, and most of Ghynyvhyr's flowed around his feet like a low tide. As always, their cats and dogs were gloriously healthy and sweet-spirited. They both remembered the old adage, "A dragon is only as good as the poorest of his animals." And it showed in how they treated all the students studying at and the animals ranging the halls of the academy.

He decided a relaxing bath was in order; his neck spines were still quivering from the stresses of the morning. Skrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk! Skrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeekk! His talons scraped the steps and he grunted sourly, "Don't go soft now, you old son-of-a-lizard!" He altered his stride and the noise was reduced to an unnerving clack, echoing through silent halls.

Back in his quarters, he realized he still had some of the hog clinging to him. He growled unhappily and slid quickly into the hot pool in a cavern off the far end of his quarters. He took one deep breath, two, and all of the dogs and one of Ghyn's cats piled happily into the pool with him with a boisterous attitude and plenty of noise. He sat in the pool and laughed at the animals' antics; at last he noticed the rubbery feel to his scales and knew it was time to emerge.

He rumbled a breath of a hum, and the waters went mad as dogs all claimed a cloudy scale and pulled. One by one the scales ready to be shed slid off the new scale underneath, glimmering in their newness, yet to be dulled by flight and age.

Up, shake, roll in the scrubbing sand at the edge of the hot pool, and then rinse in a cooler pool. Finishing it off with an energetic shake, he settled neck spines and fresh scales into place. Even his talons were shiny after such a long bath. What better way to kill whatever Ghynyvhyr had caught? And if it was just her getting so busy she forgot to take care of herself, well!!! He would have plenty to say about that!

His black Atlini guard dog claimed the largest shed scale and trotted to the warmest corner to gnaw on it. Dogs claimed scales in surprising peace, there was even a goodly chunk for his gray Ishtarine cat from Lemuria, who had a fondness for sharpening his claws on scales. He rarely cried a tie in battle and never had he ceded victory.

Refreshed and clean, Oision leaned over the new crop of tablets. He looked at some of them and winced. These dragons certainly hadn't been graduates of Derkais! The symbols were blurry and wandered drunkenly across each tablet.

"Jishi Mushi!" He was almost snarling. "How are the students ever to be masters if the tablets are illegible?"

He took the most offensive tablet and flung it across his quarters. The way that it exploded, he knew the tablet material was also inferior.

"Who ordered this dreck?!" Muttering unhappily he found the tablet showing everything in this shipment. Aaaaaaaahhhhhh... It was...

"Gorgons take it! I ordered this dreck!" He blinked slowly and began to laugh at himself. His sensual, rueful rumble echoed through the academy.

He quickly found an older version of the same text. Yes, this was much clearer, and the edges remained sharp even after repeated uses. In a tablet-by-tablet comparison, there was so little changed, he could just add the few sentences to a lecture and have tablets new dragons could read.

He filled out the return form, as well as adding a letter of complaint to the producer of the tablets. "We'll see how long you have the contract to supply texts to Derkais now, you puny scribbler!" As soon as Ghyn was well he would have a word with her.

There was the screech of metal on stone and Oision growled unhappily. In a matter of three effortless jumps he was at her door. Without knocking he butted the doors open and saw Ghyn propped up in bed with a stack of tablets next to her.

"Oision! Weren't you going to be checking the tablets for this coming term?"

"I'm sending them back. They're so poorly made they wouldn't last half a term..."

"Thank you for telling me, now I know to seek a contract with another producer." She peered at him over the two large magnifying lenses perched on either side of her snout; she used them to see the tablets clearly.

"Is there aught else you need?" Her voice was the only indication that she was other than well.

"I...are you sure you'll be all right, in here alone?"

"With as quickly as you flew to my rescue? How could I feel other than safe with you so close?"

"Now, if you stay, you'll catch what I have and I would feel terrible if that happened. Back you go, back to your rooms. I shan't be awake for much longer."

Oision chuckled and took a slower pace back to his rooms. Ghynyvhyr was altogether too independent and too skilled at getting her own way. He understood why she was thus, so he did not take her to task for being as she was.

~Gwen, the Dragon Mistress~

moon phase