The Study Sessions Pay Off
#4 of Fledgling Study Group
After months of study sessions, exam season is almost over when Reylin gets some unexpected news
Knaster watched as Reylin paced around in a three-legged trot, moving in circles but stopping every few seconds to sit back on her haunches and glance over a sheet of paper held in a forepaw. That paper was covered with detailed equations and dense paragraphs of meticulous writing. As part of the requirements for many examinations, students were allowed one single sheet of paper in standard size, on which they could write whatever equations or facts they thought could be useful as reference for the exam.
Reylin had made her exam reference sheet many weeks ago, yet even now in the very last few minutes before the exam would begin, she kept glancing over the paper. From having done revision with her, Knaster knew that Reylin had already all but memorized every single nugget of information on that paper, but still the young dragon worried whether she would do well in the exam.
Knaster wasn't worried--not for himself, and not for Reylin either. They would both pass, certainly, and he was also sure that Reylin would do very well. Their grades all throughout the semester indicated they had a good understanding of the concepts taught for this school subject (history). However, that didn't mean he wasn't still slightly nervous, though he remained calm enough to just relax and wait for the exam to begin.
Knaster and Reylin were currently waiting out in the open, standing outside a vast, metallic, rectangular building. There were tens--no, hundreds of fledglings also waiting around, spread out over the paved area as they all waited to be granted admission. Knaster wasn't fully sure why, but the final examinations at the end of each academic semester were conducted not in the same individual classrooms where the topic had been taught. Instead, students from all across the city's various schools all converged in sector one, in a portion of the docks where several huge airships hangars had been emptied and converted into temporary examination halls.
Glancing around, Knaster briefly inclined his head in greeting as he spotted one of his fellow schoolmates strolling by. There were so many fledglings here all waiting to be granted access to take the exam today, and there was much nervous last-minute revision as many young dragons flipped through stacks of notes and looked over reference sheets.
Taking a deep breath, Knaster collected his feelings and thoughts. Though today's exam wasn't for an easy class, he did still feel reasonably confident that he had studied sufficiently. Nevertheless he felt a tense anxiety given the importance of doing well in the next few hours. However, after today's exam was finished, he would be done. Knaster had spent the past week taking exams but this was the last one he needed to do, as was the case for Reylin too.
Glecion and Caden had it even easier--their exams had finished yesterday because they didn't take history class, and they already could start relaxing as their semester was over. But for Knaster and Reylin, there was still one last morning of exams.
It was with some amusement that Knaster watched Reylin. She looked like she wanted to nervously pace around, but at the same time she was engrossed with sitting back on her haunches to repeatedly look over her exam reference sheet, with her tail flicking from side to side. "They should be opening the doors any minute now," Knaster said to her.
Reylin growled softly at him, but more from general worry than from any specific anger at him. "Rrr... How are you so calm? I feel so stressed right now! I thought I would be less worried because every other exam is done and this is the last one for the semester, but I'm just as nervous as always."
Knaster had no response except to shrug his shoulders. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll do well."
"I'm not so sure. Ugggh, I should have studied harder. I spent all of last night sleeping instead of studying. Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe I should have just revised more on the Second Heroic Age, or about the early years of the frontier expansion..."
"It's fine. You don't need to memorize every single historical fact they mentioned in class," Knaster assured her. To distract Reylin from worry about their imminent history exam, he asked, "How did you griffin-speak exam go yesterday?"
Sitting down, Reylin folded up her exam reference sheet and kept it back into her flight harness. "It went alright. My teacher said I mispronounced fwee-twre-tlk during the oral exam, but then almost everyone in class always does. It's just hard to do a whistle-click if you don't have a beak. Fwee-twre-slk. No, I did it wrong again. Fwee-twre-tlk."
Knaster chuckled. "Hah. And what exactly is that supposed to translate to?"
"Fwee-twre-tlk_means biggest of rocks--mountain. _Fwee-twre-tlk-tsuw_means biggest of rocks in the sky, which is what they call the City of Wings." Reylin shook her head. "It's not important anyway, that exam is done. Now I just have _history to worry about. I wonder if the essay prompts will focus more on Avaeria or on the Outer Colonies?"
Before either of the two fledglings could say anything further, there was commotion and noise from the airship hangar. With a dull metallic rumble and the grinding hum of heavy machinery, the huge doors started to slide open as the hangar was opened up for students to enter. Inside the huge enclosed area was not an airship having maintenance work done, as would normally be the case, but instead were hundreds of desks and floor cushions for each student to take the exam. The exam was to begin soon, and they were being allowed in to take their seats.
"Alright. Here we go! Good luck, Reylin! See you afterwards? We're meeting Glecion and Caden for lunch, right?" Knaster said.
Reylin nodded. "Right. And... and Knaster, can I just say that... I... uh... I think..."
"Yes?" Knaster asked.
Reylin froze up for a few seconds, then she covered her snout with a paw and shook her head. "Never mind. It's not important."
"Oh. Ok then. Good luck with this exam--ooh!" Knaster had been standing up to head inside the exam hall, but he was interrupted when Reylin suddenly lunged forward and hugged him. Her forepaws pulled his waist close, while her wings wrapped around his upper body.
Reylin released him after just a second, before he could even return the hug. "I changed my mind and decided it was important. I've always wanted to do that..." she admitted.
Knaster smiled. "If you feel too stressed and need a hug, you can always just ask."
"What about if I want more than that?" Reylin stared at him for a moment. She hesitated once, then she leaned in and kissed the side of his snout--just a quick lick, a brief spot of warmth and wetness against his scales--but time seemed to slow down. All around them, other fledglings were starting to move into the hangar, but through all the movement and chatter it was just the two of them standing still.
Both of the two young dragons just stared at each other for a moment. "That was... unexpected but a pleasant surprise," Knaster said.
Reylin giggled, but she glanced away with an embarrassed smile. "Hehehe... Oh no! Why did I do that? I thought I couldn't get more stressed before this exam, but apparently I can. I'll just... I'll just go now. Good luck with the exam, Knaster!"
Before Knaster could say anything else, Reylin scampered off, though she did briefly pause to glance back over her shoulder.
Knaster smiled, and he nodded at her. "See you later," he said, but in the midst of the crowd he didn't think Reylin heard him. But she got his meaning anyway, and she grinned back before strolling forward into the exam hall.
Reylin breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the invigilator in charge of the exam hall rang a bell and announced the paper was over. "Time's up! Stop writing, stop writing. Cap your ink pots and clean your tails. Finish your last sentence, students! Remain seated and calm."
Taking a deep breath, Reylin wiped the ink from her tail tip and then she slid down under she was lying on all fours on her floor cushion and resting her head on her desk. All around her in this temporarily repurposed airship hangar were numerous rows and columns of desks, all occupied by hundreds of young dragons who had also been taking this examination. Yet now the time was up and the exam was over. The questions had been answered and the essays had been written, and how well each fledgling would score was up to their teachers to determine now.
Reylin felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest, and she could breathe easier now that all her exams were done. School vacation had officially begun now! No more exams, no more homework, no more school projects, not even any need to attend school until the next semester came around, and that would be more than a month away.
Even as the teachers strolled around the exam hall to collect all the exam booklets, Reylin sat back up and glanced to her side. Knaster was sitting at a desk near the middle of the hangar, and though Reylin had spotted him, he didn't seem to have spotted her. Reylin stared at Knaster, but she didn't dare to speak up or wave--the exam was over, but the atmosphere of silent calm would remain until the exam papers had all been collected by invigilators walking up and down the rows.
It took minutes for this process to be done, and then all the fledglings had to wait for a few more minutes as their teachers assembled at a table at the front of the hangar to count every exam paper before they were taken away to be marked. However, the moment finally came--the teacher who was head invigilator rang his bell again, and he raised his voice. "Thank you, students. You may now--"
He didn't even managed to complete his sentence and say, "You may now leave the exam venue", for instantly every single fledgling in the hangar leapt to their feet to begin strolling out and/or started to noisily discuss the paper with their nearby friends, classmates, or even just random other students from other schools.
Reylin folded up her exam reference sheet. She was tempted to scrunch up that paper and throw it away, but after the hours she had spent rereading her textbooks and condensing a semester's worth of important information into that one sheet of paper, she couldn't bring herself to get rid of it. Instead she folded away the sheet and kept it into her flight harness, and then she slid to her feet and turned to look for Knaster.
Knaster was standing up now and he was speaking to another student that Reylin didn't recognize. However, before she could run over to speak with her friend, Reylin heard someone else calling her name. "Reylin!"
Turning around, the young fledgling saw one of the teachers walking up to her--it was her history teacher from school. "Drak?" Reylin asked hesitantly.
"Reylin, before you go off, there was a drakka who turned up a few minutes ago who asked to see you after you finished the exam. You aren't busy now, I hope?"
Reylin glanced at Knaster, but her lunch with her friends could wait. "Ok? What's this about?"
"I wasn't told, but certainly I have my suspicions. If you would follow me, please," said her teacher.
"Of course, drak." Reylin followed her teacher over to the front of the exam hall, but instead of any of the other teachers, he took her to the side, where another adult dragon was waiting.
The drakka had blue-scales over most of her body with wings of dark green, and her flight harness looked expensively well-fitted with sleek, form-fitting pouches. The drakka was also wearing formal-looking pennants around her wingtips, but Reylin couldn't quite see the insignia. On seeing Reylin, this unidentified drakka glanced her over and checked a sheet of small notepad she had been holding. "Reylin Hasitas?"
Reylin nervously nodded. Even now as a fledgling, she still felt small sometimes compared to adult drakken, and that feeling of being insignificant was always worse when she was nervous and facing the unknown. "Yes? That's me. I'm Reylin."
"Excellent. If you're ready to depart, we can go now." The drakka unfurled a wing and extended it towards her. Reylin understood the gesture--it was rare, but certain dragons possessed a type of magic called displacement affinity that let them bend space, allowing them to teleport around and use their affinity for fast transportation of goods, messages, and, most commonly, other dragons. Such services usually weren't cheap, however, especially to directly hire a displacer instead of relying on the city's planned, publicly available teleportation transit routes.
"Oh. Ok?" Though Reylin still didn't know what was going on, she obligingly stepped closer so that she was just within the mantle of the drakka's outstretched wing. "Where are we going?" asked the young fledgling.
"Taslin Tower," explained the displacer. "You have an appointment, yes?"
"I do?" Reylin asked.
The displacer glanced at her notepad again. "My scheduling assignment says to pick you up and bring you to headquarters, so I presume you do."
"I guess I do, then," Reylin said.
"Congratulations, Reylin!" She heard her teacher say, but before she could ask any more questions, the displacer flicked her wing and tendrils of magic spread out from the limb, growing into a whirling sphere of magic that engulfed them both, distorting the world in scintillating patterns of colour.
They were elsewhere in an instant, and Reylin found herself standing on a large, flat rooftop atop a tall but also wide tower. Her ears popped from the sudden change in air pressure--they were higher than they'd been before, though they hadn't gone that far. In fact they were still within the city's central sector, but instead of the airship docks they were now in the business district. The area was busy with various other dragons coming and going from the rooftop, either taking off, landing, or being teleported by other displacers.
The blue-scaled drakka tore a slip of paper out from her notepad and handed it to Reylin, then she waved her towards the doorway. "In you go, then. Speak with one of the receptionists and they'll redirect you. Then when you're done, again tell one of the receptionists and they'll assign a displacer to drop you off to wherever you want."
"I..." Reylin murmured, but she felt almost fully overcome by nervousness and shock. This tower was tall, it was large, and it was clan territory. Glass doorways led to an elevator lobby, bordered off by security gates and several clerks working at desks. Several rooms with tables and seats were also visible, with some of them occupied by dragons holding meetings.
Glancing down at the slip of paper she'd just been given, Reylin saw it was stamped with the Taslin insignia and had her name written on it, along with the time and date. Putting away the slip of paper into a harness pouch, Reylin hesitated for a moment, then she strolled forward towards the glass doors separating the rooftop landing zone from the interior. She felt very out of place. All the other drakken who were entering or leaving the building were wearing formal clan pennants, with the Taslin insignia being the majority, though Reylin also spotted logos from numerous other clans big and small. Reylin had no clan pennants and she felt small and insignificant--however, everyone else walked with a brisk, impatient pace, and no one slowed to ask questions or even stare at her.
The glass doors separating the rooftop from the interior lobby were automatic, and they swung open before Reylin could even push them. The fledgling trotted up to one of the front desks, and the receptionist made a quick, impatient bow of his head as she approached. "Good morning welcome to Taslin Tower how may I assist you?" asked the drake in a rapid-fire of merged sentences.
Reylin froze for a second before she could get her mouth working. "I... I think I have an appointment?"
The receptionist had been working with a light-field projector and scrolling through some sort of spreadsheet displayed in front of him, but now he glanced up and noticed for the first time that Reylin was a fledgling. His impatient frown softened just the smallest amount. "May I have your name, please, and your host's name and department?"
"I'm... Reylin Hasitas," Reylin said. After a moment's hesitation, she took out the slip of paper she'd gotten from the displacer and passed it over.
The receptionist took a quick glance at it, then returned it. "This is just a transit receipt--once you're done with your appointment here, it's so that our displacers can take you back to where you first came from, or anywhere else if you so prefer." Frowning at his display again, the receptionist tapped at the control panel with brisk movements. "Let me just check for you... Ok, you're Reylin Hasitas, correct? You're scheduled with... looks like capdev. I've sent an alert to your appointment host, and they'll be along shortly. You can take a seat first."
"Oh, ok." Reylin went to the side of the lobby, where there was a row of immaculately clean floor cushions with a few other dragons sitting down and also waiting. She didn't have to wait long--barely a minute later, another drake came out from the elevators and approached her.
Just like all the other dragons here, this drake was well-dressed and he walked with an impatient, brisk gait as if he was perpetually in a great hurry. He bowed his head at her politely. "Good morning, Reylin. Sorry for asking you to come here on short notice, but we've had an acceleration of schedule so I thought it would be best if we discussed things in person."
Reylin bowed her head in return. She didn't mind the abrupt change of plans--if this was clan business, she would gladly bend her schedule. And if it was the type of clan business she suspected (hoped?) it was, then she would have happily been kidnapped just to get here.
"Now I'm not sure if you remember me," continued the drake, "but I was on the panel of dragons who interviewed you several months ago."
Reylin nodded. "I remember you. I remember this place. It's fancy."
The drake chuckled, and he beckoned for her to follow him over to one of the meeting rooms. "I'm glad you like the décor. Now just in case you need a reminder, my name is Izic Taslin, and I'm part of my clan's talent management and capacity development division. And I have some good news for you..."
It was nearing lunchtime and the restaurant was already modestly crowded when Knaster arrived, but fortunately he could skip the queue. Strolling inside, he headed to the table where Glecion and Caden were already sitting at. The two female fledglings were seated side by side, and Caden was reading from a magazine, dictating the text for Glecion to listen along.
Caden put down her magazine and nodded at Knaster as he came over. "Ah, there you are. Hi, Knaster."
"Hello, Caden. And hello to you too, Glecion," Knaster said, and he dipped his head in a quick bow to the two other fledglings. Caden acknowledged this gesture with a lazy flick of a paw. "What's that you were reading over there?" Knaster inquired.
"Hello, hello! Caden was just reading a magazine, and we were discussing the articles," Glecion replied. The blind fledgling adjusted her blindfold, tightening it around her head.
Knaster moved to sit down at the other side of the table, opposite the two other fledglings. "Interesting articles?" he prompted.
Rolling up her magazine, Caden slipped it into a flight harness pouch. "Just the usual type of reading material about the usual stuff--news, entertainment, fashion, strategic analysis about the latest power plays between clans, advice on how to keep your claws sharp--that sort of boring thing. How'd your exam go?"
"I think it went well. It was easier than expected." Knaster nodded towards the empty floor cushion beside him. "Where's Reylin?"
"I was just about to ask you that exact question," Caden replied.
"Did my sister not come with you from the airship docks? I thought you were both taking the history exam this morning?" Glecion asked.
"We were," Knaster confirmed. "I saw Reylin before the exam, but I couldn't find her afterwards. I thought maybe she had finished the exam early and come over here to meet you two first, though apparently not."
Caden snorted. "Pft. Come on, Knaster. You know Reylin better than that. Even though she's got the brains to finish the paper quickly, she would never leave the exam hall early. She's the sort of person who would just keep repeatedly checking her answers till the time ran out."
"True. But after the exam I waited for half an hour until the hangar was all empty, and I even circled around the whole building and yet I couldn't find her. Everyone else had gone, even the teachers," Knaster said.
"Maybe Reylin just... had to use the toilet after the exam and that took her some time?" Glecion suggested. "I know that I always feel the need during and after the exam. It's not even that I drink that much water, it's just the nervousness," Glecion said. She picked up a drinking glass and started slowly lapping water from it.
Caden chuckled softly, and she leaned close and licked the side of Glecion's snout. "Heh. I think you're cute when you're nervous." That comment made Glecion laugh too, and she sputtered and spilled a small amount of water over her mouth and chest. "You're also cute when you're wet..." Caden continued.
"Caden!" Glecion hissed. She hurriedly put down her glass of water and wiped her mouth with the back of her paw, which also let her hide her embarrassed grin.
Ignoring the joking antics of his friends, Knaster slid to his feet. "I'll backtrack the path to the airship docks. Maybe I can find Reylin on the way. She must be... she must be somewhere. She was taking the exam, and she knew that we were meeting up here for lunch afterwards."
"I'm sure she'll turn up sooner or later," Caden said.
Having sat down for barely even a minute, Knaster left the table and headed back out the exit of the restaurant, taking a sidestep to avoid a waiter who was leading more patrons to their seats. Outside on the street, Knaster threw open his wings and dashed forwards. A jump, a flap, and then he was in the air.
Both the airship docks and the restaurant they had agreed to meet up in were in the city's sector one, and it was a short flight between them. However, Knaster barely had been airborne for five seconds when he did a double take--right off that same street, a short distance from the restaurant, he spotted a familiar dark grey-scaled, faintly green-striped female fledgling standing inside a small alleyway. It was Reylin.
Knaster twisted his wings sharply, feeling the sudden, drastic strain against his flight muscles as he abruptly reversed his increasing speed and altitude. Stalling awkwardly, he dropped straight down and landed back in the street with a short stumble. "Reylin?"
Reylin had just been staring blankly at the opposite wall of the alleyway, but on hearing her name she turned her head. "Oh. Hi."
"Reylin!" Knaster trotted over to her. "Where have you been? I was looking for you after the exam. Are you alright? Why are you just... standing out here?"
Reylin took a deep breath and just held until Knaster thought she was going to pass out, then she let it all out in a huff. "Hi, Knaster. Nice to see you. I was... I had... an urgent appointment that literally appeared from nowhere?" She stopped talking again, and instead she just handed him a wooden scroll tube that she had been holding in a paw. "Could you... read this for me and tell me that it says what I think it says? I feel like I must be imagining things."
"What's this?" Knaster took the scroll tube and examined it. Such tubes were used to transport messages and letters, and the first thing he noticed was that the end caps were inscribed with a very familiar insignia. This was official mail from one of the largest clans in the city--Taslin--his clan. Knaster quickly popped off the cap and slid out the rolled out letter within. As he skimmed over the elaborate clan letterhead and started reading through the formal, eloquently phrased printed text, his eyes went wide.
"This is...? Did they...? Oh, your name is right here in the letter. They offered you a... You actually did it!" Lowering the letter, Knaster looked Reylin right in the eyes and he grinned. "You got into a clan! And not any clan, but Taslin! That's incredible!"
Reylin gasped softly, as if only now that Knaster had also read the letter was she fully starting to believe what it said. "Huuh!" Dashing forward, she grabbed Knaster and hugged him as tightly as she could, clutching her fore limbs around his waist and wrapping her wings around his upper body. "Yes! Yes, I couldn't believe it! Whooooo!"
Knaster laughed, and he returned Reylin's hug, carefully holding the letter with one paw to make sure it wasn't crushed, and using his other paw to pat Reylin's head. "You did it. Wow, Reylin! How did you even do it? I thought Taslin didn't recruit fledglings?"
Reylin was still leaning into the hug, and she pranced about on her hindpaws, nearly making them both trip and fall over. "I don't know. I don't know! I thought any clan would at least want to wait for my final exam marks to be released, but one of the recruitment wingleaders--his name's Izic--told me that the committee had approved me based on my midyear and preliminary results, and based on other things like my interview. This is amazinnnng! I've been waiting for this my whole life!"
Knaster was grinning widely, and he shared Reylin's obvious elation. "You earned this! If there was ever anyone who was smart and worked hard enough to deserve a good clan, it would be you."
"Yes... I still can't believe this." Reylin briefly pulled away from the hug and took back the letter, which she carefully rolled back up to return to its tube. "Give that back. I want to hold it." Then she resumed hugging Knaster. "Hnnng... I've literally dreamt about this since I was a hatchling. Tell me I'm not dreaming?"
Knaster nodded. "You're not dreaming. Although I've never had a dream when I realized it was a dream, so maybe you are in a dream and I'm just part of the dream," he speculated. He ruffled Reylin's neck frill and patted it down, which made her shiver and lean against him even further.
"Oh ffoohehaa... If this is just a dream I'm in, then I can do_whatever I want_." And then Reylin straightened herself up and kissed the side of Knaster's snout--just a quick peck, the briefest of moments where she licked the side of his muzzle, but there was no way he missed that gesture. Reylin suddenly blinked, and her neck frill drooped. She took a step back and wrapped her wings around herself. "Wait, why did I just do that? Um. Um. Knaster! I'm so sorry."
"Hahaha." Knaster burst out into laughter, and he smiled at Reylin's sudden awkward nervousness. "I'm not complaining. Don't apologize."
"Ok, good. Knaster you're just... I... uh..." All of a sudden, Reylin looked completely unsure and uncertain, and she couldn't look him in the eye. "Thanks for... thanks for the past few months. If it hadn't been for you, I might not have gotten this offer for membership in Taslin."
Knaster shook his head firmly. "This isn't me. If I could have asked my clan wingleaders to give you a place, I would have, as would have Caden. But we're not allowed to interfere. This offer you've gotten is all on you, because you worked for it and you deserve it."
Reylin still didn't meet his gaze. "Even still, you've been a great help and a great friend. The studying sessions have been really useful. I... I enjoyed them. And I think they helped pull up my assessment grades and preliminary exam results--so it's fully possible that they played a part in helping me get this offer.
Knaster grinned. "You're welcome. I think it was good for all four of us to revise together."
"Caden and Glecion were helpful too, but you were the most helpful. There were so many times when it was just the two of us studying together. We should keep doing it after the exams are over. Meeting, I mean. Not studying. Nothing to study during vacation time," Reylin murmured. "I know we already said the four of us would meet up to play games or chat, but maybe sometime it could be just the two of us. If you want, that is."
Knaster's grin widened. "Are you asking me out?" he asked.
Reylin finally made eye contact. She looked nervous and stressed, yet unlike before, also slightly excited. "No! Or yes? I don't know! I don't know how any of this works. You're smart and helpful and I just feel like you're one of the few people who actually listens to me. And... and it's just that yesterday Caden told me to ask you out because she said it was obvious we got on well and would be a good match, and I thought she was joking and I told her that was nonsense and a silly thing to do. But then I couldn't stop thinking about it last night when I was in bed, and I'm not sure if I was more stressed about that or about the history exam this morning. Cause you're so friendly and nice and honourable and you just... seem to have life figured out more than I do. And I mean we're both fledglings now and in just a few years we'll be adults and... I don't want to be alone forever because I'm always feeling so stressed and lonely except when I'm with you because then somehow everything just feels like it will be alright and I just feel happier when I see you and... I like when you pat my head and say nice things but then again you did that just as a friend and I don't want to lose that by doing weird things to our friendship? And maybe you're already romantically dating someone else even though if you were then I think Caden wouldn't have told me to ask you out on a date because she's way more sociable and knows about these things but still I don't know." Reylin cut off her rant with a gasp, and she stared at Knaster. "Your thoughts?" she prompted.
Knaster was still grinning. "My thoughts are currently--you're cute when you think too much, which is almost all the time. You could try to relax and be less stressed... Especially now that you're going to be recruited into a clan. I assume that takes a lot of stress off your mind?"
"Maybe! I hope so. I don't know." Reylin fidgeted, nervously shifting her weight between her paws. "Can I... uh...? Oh, I'm still stressed but now it's about a different thing! I think I... sort of really like you, Knaster, but I also don't know if you think I'm extremely weird and you just put up with me to be polite because you seem like such a nice polite person."
Knaster chuckled. "You're not weird. I like you too, Reylin."
Reylin shook her head. "Oh, I'm definitely in a dream, aren't I? Are you just saying that to be nice? Whatever! I don't care. I'm not worried or stressed, I'm just relaxed. I can do whatever I want, except for the things that I actually can't do." Another moment of hesitation, then Reylin's neck frill twitched. "Hey, uh, can I kiss you?"
Knaster smiled. "Sure--" he started to say, which was as far as he got before Reylin kissed him.
Reylin was reasonably certain that she wasn't any good at kissing given a complete lack of experience, yet Knaster didn't seem to mind. He pulled her against him, and all of her many thoughts and worries fell out of her head in that one moment. It was just him and her--two dragon fledglings sitting back on their haunches, uncoordinatedly but enthusiastically kissing, trying to figure it all out.
Reylin wasn't even quite sure what she was doing. It just felt so nice to be so close to Knaster, feeling his body against hers and having one of his wings wrapped around her side, brushing against her back. Most any dragon would be familiar with the idea of licking their own scales to keep them clean, but licking another dragon's scales was far more intimate a gesture, and if it was snout to snout in a kiss, that was clearly beyond friendship and had strayed into the realm of romance. Reylin had no idea about how to be romantic--love and a partner had never been things she'd even worried about, right up until the moment just yesterday when Caden had pointed out that maybe Knaster might fit her.
Both fledglings pulled back after a moment, no longer kissing but now just holding each other and staring. A shudder ran down Reylin's back, and her tail flicked from side to side. It was so... bafflingly easy to stare at Knaster, letting him stare right back at her and enjoy a shared moment.
"Reylin, I..." Knaster started to say, before trailing off. He normally seemed so collected and certain about himself, but now he looked flustered but excited. "That was new. And... also kind of fun. We certainly never did that during a study session before."
Reylin shivered again, and she tapped her tail against the ground. "Oh yes. Oh we should definitely do this again. Actually, we could do it again right now."
"That sounds like a fun idea. Although..." Knaster was grinning, but he jerked his head in the direction out of the alleyway, back towards the main street. "Caden and Glecion are waiting for us in the restaurant. We shouldn't keep them waiting too long, or they'll wonder where we disappeared off to."
Reylin instantly felt split--out of nowhere she felt a new, uncertain, but hungry desire to just keep kissing Knaster and hugging him and enjoying that wonderful, reassuring closeness. Simultaneously a more reasonable part of her mind wanted to go find Caden and Glecion and share the good news with them, and she did also feel literally hungry since it was lunch time. But, oh, she felt like she could stay right here all day, as long as Knaster was with her. Reylin cleared her mind and made her decision. "Ok. How about... uh... once more, for luck? Just a quick kiss," she suggested, and then Knaster kissed her once more, for luck, and it wasn't quick at all.
Knaster tried to act perfectly normal as he strolled into the restaurant, though part of him felt like everything had changed. Reylin had an offer to join a clan, which opened up a myriad of opportunities for her--and not just any clan, but Taslin, the same clan which he and Caden were in. Knaster was happy for her success, yet that wasn't the only reason he was happy.
Reylin was still his friend, certainly, but now she'd made it clear that she was at least interested in exploring how their friendship might become more than that, and that was such a lovely thought that made him grin. Reylin was trotting right beside him with an energetic skip in her step, and she seemed as happy and joyful as he had ever seen her before--her cheer was highly contagious, and Knaster find himself smiling without even thinking about it. Occasionally her shoulder bumped against his, and that brief, singular, miniscule point of contact felt oddly reassuring.
They went over to join the table where Caden and Glecion were already seated, and Caden immediately seemed to notice their good mood. "Finally! I already ordered drinks for Glecion and me while we were waiting for you two to turn up and... What are you two jokers smirking about?"
Reylin happily bounced up and down before plopping down on a floor cushion, and then she took out that scroll tube and passed the letter inside to Caden. "I did it! I did it!"
Caden looked confused, but Glecion's ears and neck frill all perked right up instantly. The blind fledgling let out a gasp. "Huuh. You did it? Seriously?! Which one? No joke?"
"Taslin! No joke!" Reylin confirmed gleefully, and she made a happy noise that couldn't be described any other way but as a squeal. "Eeee!"
"Eeee!" Glecion squealed too, and then Reylin leapt out of her seat and dashed to the other side of the table to hug Glecion. The two sisters embraced tightly. "Wow, wow!"
Caden tried to maintain her chill demeanour, but even she allowed a warm smile when she read over the letter. "Hmm. You mean that you...? Oh, you did. You didn't even just get a scholarship--they offered you direct membership rights too! That's a huge accomplishment. You would be Taslin just as much as Knaster or I would be. Congratulations, Reylin!" Caden briefly exchanged a nod with Knaster. "It seems right that it was our clan that's finally giving Reylin a place. Maybe clan leadership aren't all complete idiots, since they're recognizing her worth. That's--ahhh." Caden let out a feigned complaint as Reylin reached over and pulled her into the hug.
A few other restaurant patrons glanced over to their table, looking to see why the group of fledglings seemed so happy, but none of the four young dragons cared. Reylin kept up hugging Caden and Glecion for a few more seconds, then she slid right underneath the table and went back to her floor cushion, only to immediately grab Knaster and hug him again. Knaster hugged her back--no kissing this time, though. Not in front of the other two fledglings, or in public just yet.
"You did well," Knaster murmured to her, which made Reylin grin and hug him just a bit tighter.
"Congratulations, Reylin!" Caden repeated.
"I always knew you could do it," Glecion added.
"Thanks!" Sitting back down in her seat, Reylin let out a pleased sigh. "I'm so happy." She snatched up a menu and began flipping through it. "Let's eat! I'm starving. Lunch is on me today--I want to celebrate."
After they quickly ordered their food from the waiter, the other fledglings managed to eke out more details from Reylin. They got her to recount her experience with applying to get membership with Taslin, as well as the whole process of being interviewed and tested by clan recruitment, and even about what Reylin had been told less than an hour ago.
"The wingleader said... he talked all about clan _culture_and how they had a big goal to foster a more welcoming environment for dragons both in and out of the clan," Reylin explained.
Caden snorted. "Pfft. Yeah, that sounds like something Izic would say. He's one of those type of wingleaders who's obsessed with clan values and ideology and that sort of thing."
Reylin was still grinning. "I wasn't even listening to him! Or at least, I was only half listening because I was so shocked from when he told me that they were offering me a clan scholarship with membership rights. This is just... everything I've ever wanted. And apparently there's some sort of special meeting coming up in a few weeks' time, where Taslin leadership will formally grant and confirm new clan members. And at the last moment the recruitment department managed to get one last new membership spot for me!"
Knaster nodded. "The annual general meeting. It's a big deal."
Reylin tapped her paws against her cushion excitedly. "I've never been to a clan meeting before! Sounds interesting."
"It's very boring," Caden said.
Knaster threw a mildly disapproving look at Caden, not that she cared. "It's a major yearly event that celebrates the anniversary of the clan's," he explained. "The whole day is a street festival, but the evening is when the meeting is held. Every Taslin member is invited, as well as all the allied clans. Guests are allowed too, so something like one in five people out of the whole city will turn up for at least some of it. It's a big event for reunion and celebration--starting with dinner, and then there will be announcements about new members, new hatchlings, new mated pairs, and all the achievements and progress for the clan over the past year, along with by the plans for next year."
"Big fancy clan things... But it's going to be my clan's big fancy clan things?" Reylin snatched up her glass of water and gulped it down. "Wow, this is huge. I feel like I could fly to the moons and back. So much has changed!"
Knaster extended his wing to pat Reylin on the back as she sat next to him. "Already making more plans for the future?"
Reylin leaned into his embrace just for a second, then Knaster furled up his wing. This made Reylin frown slightly, and without saying anything she grabbed his wing and draped it around her shoulders again. Knaster had no objections, while Caden look mildly amused and she murmured something in Glecion's ear which the blind fledgling's neck frill perk up--but no one said anything, and Reylin continued.
"Oh yes. Even after I was done talking with the wingleader, Drak Izic Taslin, I spent just as long talking with some other clan advisor. I've got so much to think about. It's not just clan membership--it's a scholarship program, with an allowance provision and an internship requirement at any Taslin-run business, and _ooh_that's exciting."
Knaster nodded agreeably. "It is exciting."
"So exciting! The scholarship program also requires me to stay in one of the Taslin Sector One communes for at least a couple of years, which means that..." Reylin nudged Knaster. "It means that I'd have to go to a school that's closer to city central, and so they even offered me a place in District Central School. I could go to school with you and Caden!" Curling her tail forward and under the table, Reylin tapped her sister's paws. "And with the scholarship allowance, we could afford for you to take your lessons as Lighthouse Academy, where they actually cater their classes to be for the blind."
Glecion grinned, and she shifted her own tail. Feeling curious, Knaster briefly glanced over the table and he saw that Reylin and Glecion had briefly entwined the tips of their tails. "You really did it, sis. I always knew you would get a clan, but this is earlier than even I would have dared to believe."
"I know! Taslin! A big clan! Now three of us at this table will be from Taslin." Reylin was still grinning widely, but now her smile faded slightly, just for an instant. "I tried to ask about getting a place in Taslin for you too, but they said there weren't any more slots, and that you would need a separate application..."
Caden suddenly looked serious too. "Glecion, you'll get a clan one day--I promise you that. But this is your moment, Reylin."
Glecion laughed. "Haha. Don't worry about me, Reylin. This is your moment. You have a clan now, and an offer to go to District Central School--I heard the teachers, lessons, and classrooms are better there. You deserve the best." Glecion paused, then she asked, "So you're going to move out from the shelter now that you have a clan?"
Reylin hesitated again, and Knaster could see she was thinking hard. "I... I have to. The scholarship requires me to spend at least a couple of years staying in a Taslin communal residential hall to socialize and get used to the clan culture. I also asked and... and there's an option where I could get a room for you too. We could both stay in the residential hall, if you... if you don't mind moving out too."
"As long as I'm not being trouble for you," Glecion agreed.
"Family isn't trouble," Reylin murmured. "It would definitely be easier for us, assuming I change school to District Central, and you go over to Lighthouse Academy. So different to live in sector one! Though maybe we'd still go back to the clanless sheltered home on weekends, just to visit. I'm not forgetting my existing friends." Reylin took a deep breath, and she glanced around the table. "New friends, new clanmates..."
"From one clanmate to another, welcome to Taslin, Reylin_._ Congratulations_._ You earned this." Knaster smiled and lowered his head in a slow bow towards her.
Even Caden finally dipped her head too. "Reylin, you sure as_anything_ earned this. I have a sneaking suspicion that you'll go far, and this is only just the beginning. Remember us when you're wildly successful..." With a smirk, Caden reached over and gently used her paw to tap Glecion's snout and tilt it down too.
"What? Oh, are we doing a thing? Congratulations, sis!" Glecion happily added. At this moment the waiter happened to come over, pushing a trolley filled with food, but he obligingly didn't interrupt.
Reylin bowed back at each of the other fledglings in turn. "Thank you!" Then she straightened up and broke into a wide grin again, beckoning for the waiter to proceed and serve their food. "This is the best!"
TO BE CONTINUED
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