Chapter 563: Squires Of A Kind

Oh beans...

"Twenty-one new squires, that’s an amazing start," Dragon Knight Instructor Adoq laughed chuffingly as she regarded the assorted people in front of her. She was a wolfkin woman of slight but wiry build, dressed in flight leathers, and Snow was absolutely terrified of her. "Enjoy this next year, since this will be the easiest time you have as future Dragon Knights..."

To be fair, Snow was scared of a lot of things. She was scared of large crowds, which the Academy subjected her to daily. She was scared of failure, which compromised her decisions constantly. And most of all she was scared of disappointing her parents... which would happen the moment they figured out she’d actually succeeded at bonding with a dragon.

Most of Instructor Adoq’s words passed over her head as she rocked back and forth on her lengthy tail, cradling the head of the dragon that was now her responsibility and future. Snow had wanted to name her Aeslahren, after a mythical dragon that haunted the northern ocean before the Apocalypse, but she’d stuttered so much that the most she’d been able to get out was ’Aes’, and so her dragon was Aes.

Snow and Aes. She was already pre-emptively groaning at the jokes she’d set herself up for.

Acrrky, the little mistwing croaked at her, sensing her distress and cuddling closer. Snow let her state of shock relax just a little as she scratched a claw right under Aes’ chin, eliciting a happy trill that was half-purr, half-raptorous scraw.

"Hey!" Arc said in a low voice as she scooted closer, her dragon padding over behind her. Even further back, Snow saw Margaret staring at Arc’s back, her hands on the head of a heavensred that glared in the same direction. Snow was glad she hadn’t gotten one of those, since they were notoriously domineering, even amongst dragons.

"Hi Arc..."

"I want you to meet Ascala!" the angel said proudly as Snow realized she’d hatched a nightshadow. There was an unhealthy-looking belt of pink across the dragon’s body and wings, but other than that, it seemed happy to be alive.

"This is Aes," Snow said.

"Like Aeslahren? That’s so cool," Arc beamed.

"Glad someone gets it..."

The two listened for a bit as the instructor demonstrated how to feed a young dragon, using a young leaftail and their squire as volunteers.

"I’m a bit surprised... I thought you wanted to be a druid," Arc said.

"I... might have fibbed a bit. My parents want me to be a druid, and I sort of do... but I didn’t really know what I want so I just sort of... went along with it."

Arc nodded like she understood, which Snow doubted since Arc had been so confident about becoming a Dragon Knight. "I think you’ll make a great Knight... and I also wanted to ask for your help."

Oh beans... "Me... help you?" Snow flinched, feeling guilty because Arc was already helping her with her advanced studies. "A-are you sure?"

"Well, yeah. You’re learning healing arts. Not just magic stuff but also regular stuff. If we’re going to be doing medical retrieval for our start, I’d like to learn what I can before my magic becomes an issue."

Snow felt unsure. There were always plenty of people, even mages, who didn’t have a mind for healing magic. Surely the Dragon Knights had their own plans for training...

"I’d consider us even if you did," Arc said. "I don’t like having you owe me, since we’re friends and all."

"Even though I..." Arc waved her off before she could reiterate her crime.

"Water under the bridge," Arc said. "Today’s a fresh start for both of us, isn’t it?" she smiled.

"Y-yeah... fresh beans..." Snow said, feeling oddly relieved. "I’ll do it. In class we did identifying healing plants and moss last week, but I still have my notes."

"By the way... I just learned Johan is an angel."

Snow’s jaw dropped. "No way!"

For the rest of the lessons, they chatted in between and even shared lunch, though Arc fed hers to Ascala, who devoured her sandwich and chirped for more as Arc nibbled the tart for a bit before giving it to Snow. "Not a fan of cherries and cheese," she said.

When Snow fed her own dragon, Aes bit a little further up than was safe, but other than a few scratches of teeth against her claws, Snow was fine. After, they were informed that they would be required to visit once a week, as their schedules allowed, in order to learn more about caring for their dragons and deepen their bonds.

Around mid-afternoon, the squires were all released and shown to a teleporter that brought them to the ground floor.

Arc was met by a giantess of a demoness, one with a purple crystal at the center of her forehead like a horn, and enough muscle to make her seem like the most threatening person in the room, and a catkin male dressed in feminine clothing. She hugged the latter but seemed far more emotionally restrained with the former. The giant boy, Owyn, seemed a bit paralyzed as he stood behind Arc, waiting for his turn to talk to her.

Snow looked around for any of her family members but there were none to be seen, and she was about to sigh and make her exit when she was hugged from behind.

"Congratulations!" Raven said, bent far forward to reach around Snow. "I knew you’d make it. Any dragon would be blessed to have you."

"Th-thanks..." Snow mumbled.

"Come with us," Raven said, "We’re going to the Lyre and Bow."

"I uh..."

An hour later, Snow found herself sitting at a table where half the people present were her celebrating friends, and the other half were... celebrities. From the House of Stars.

Knight Commander Amarena. The Tri-Tailed Archon, Ferrovia. The Lightcaster Archon, Sin Korabodur-Mora-Montmorency, and the Four Elements Archon, Lapins Montmorency-Mora-Korabodur, the Princesses who host the Norneau News...

Just those four represented so much magical and political power... Snow was glad the rooftop dining area they’d rented was sheltered from view, because she was on the verge of melting.

And then Arc’s fathers arrived, appearing together without even a ripple in the local magic.

Rainier Eros, the Storm Archon, and Kir Gale... the Metatron. The Devil of Pride. A member of the city Council.

Shortly after, a four-armed demon maid and a clearly angel female of generous proportions came up via the stairwell, ribbing two of the most powerful beings in the city, no, the world, for showing off, before they went for their seats.

Snow was absolutely terrified as Kir approached.

What if she made a mistake? What if she accidentally insulted one of them? What if... Oh no. She had to sneeze.

And because she’d chosen the seat across from Arc, that meant Arc’s father was about to be right in the blast zone...

Ach-

Suddenly, a handkerchief was at the front of Snow’s nose as the four-armed demon maid appeared out of nowhere.

"Thank you, Anko," Kir said, as Arc met Snow’s penitent eyes. She mouthed a word Snow couldn’t understand before inching her seat to an angle that would put her father out of her peripheral vision. She started talking excitedly with Owyn and Raven, telling them about Ascala.

"Oh, beans, I’m so sorry," Snow said the moment the handkerchief was removed, tensing up and having her scales scrape against the chair as her tail tried to curl defensively.

"Relax," the Devil of Pride said.

"Y-yes, um, Honored Councillor..."

Kir let out an amused huff. "No need for formalities. Snow, right?"

"Y-yes... Um... How do you know my name?"

"I worked with your grandmother for a time," he said, lowering his voice and leaning in a bit. "I’m glad Arc has you for a friend, someone of a kind that she can grow with as a Dragon Knight... Try to keep her out of trouble, please."

What was she to do? The most powerful person in the whole world was asking her, a nobody pangolkin who got lucky, or unlucky, cheating off his daughter on an exam, to look after that same daughter.

"I-I’ll try, um, I promise... Mr. Gale... Sir."

As if the universe was mocking her promise, Arc loudly replied to someone by declaring, "Alright! I’ll try the wine!"

She sipped from a glass of liquid that glowed slightly purple and might have been worth more than anything Snow owned, for the amount of mana she could sense in it.

"Oh wow, that’s great!" Arc said, before taking a longer pull from the glass.

Snow may not have had experience with alcohol, except for coffee liquers whose boxes she’d helped pack for her grandmother, but she knew about alcohol well enough to know that drinking it on an empty stomach was a recipe for disaster.

It didn’t take long for Arc to start gushing about Ascala, and even roping Snow into telling everyone about Aes. And the entire time, she continued to sip at the wine in her hand. When Malzkael and Kordia arrived by portal, they took an acute interest in talking to Owyn for some reason, and Arc wasted little time berating them over something Snow couldn’t hear.

At the end of the dinner, the House of Stars went their own ways, some by portal while others said they were going to take a walk.

Councilor Gale was the last to stand.

"Can I offer you a teleport back to the Academy?" he offered the four students.

Owyn spoke first, "That would be-"

"No," Arc interrupted, clearly drunk. "We can walk..."

"I think you need a portal," Raven said, nodding her respects to Arc’s father.

Arc scoffed and looked at Snow. "C’mon... you wanna walk, right?"

Snow looked from her friend to her friend’s father.

"I-I think it would be best if we took a portal?" she replied in a sheepish voice.

Arc’s glare could have melted iron. But realizing she was outvoted, she grumbled a half-hearted assent.

"Alright then. All of you hold hands."

One second, Snow was awkwardly holding Raven’s hand, and the next, Kir patted Owyn’s shoulder, and they were all standing just outside the gate to the Academy, Arc’s father nowhere in sight.

A not insignificant part of her wished she had whatever magic she’d just experienced, if only to avoid awkward situations like the one in front of her, as Arc started loudly exclaiming about her friends’ "betrayal."

Oh beans...

It came as a relief when Owyn said he’d take her to her room and look after her.

Snow had no idea what she would need to do to keep her promise to a being that could vaporize her without even moving, but one thing was for sure: she was never going to let Arc go drinking if she could help it.