Learning the languages wasn't actually going to be actually that hard. It helped that both used the same writing system. A writing system that worked like the alphabet, just with different symbols and 2 more letters. Aside from that, the two languages had a plethora of differences. It was like comparing English to French. But, we were going to be slowed down, since we only got to learn one at a time. It was annoying, but it’s not like I could say anything. Luckily, we got to start with Duengish. The language Thet speaks.

 

As for Vyth, I honestly expected him to lag behind me quite a bit. And though I was ahead of him, it certainly wasn’t by much. It seemed his intellect wasn’t just for battle tactics, but language as well. He’s been constantly excited about learning more and more. The moment he could hold a decent conversation, he immediately started talking with Thet. I hadn’t been sure what she thought of us up until now, but it can’t have been bad, as those two have become swift friends. It was genuinely heart-warming to see him so happy. He was as giddy as a little kid.

 

I talked with her as well the day after. She was somewhat rough, but had a good heart. She usually either joked around or told stories of her past adventures. Despite her cheerful personality, I wasn’t much around her for the few days we’d already spent there. Nor was I much around Eidechse. When I wasn’t studying, I was sneaking around the church-like building which turned out to be something akin to a library to them. I was mainly interested in finding anything on magic. It had honestly become an obsession at this point. I wasn’t having any luck, but I knew there had to be something. 

 

Once during study time, I had seen our teacher cast a spell to shoo some of the village kids away that had been staring at us through the windows. I figured that she’d surely learned it through books of her own. There was a possibility that she was born with it, like our late chief, but her chants sounded familiar. Nothing I knew, but the sounds were the same as the ones in my chanting language.

 

Of course, I asked her first if she’d be willing to teach me, but she strictly forbade it. According to Dragonkin tradition, one should not learn more than one thing at a time, but instead strive to perfect that one thing first. Now, I may have shown patience in the past, but I wasn’t going to wait around for no good reason. So, I decided that sneaking in after class was the best solution.

 

Throughout my last attempts, I had found some informative books, but nothing about magic. There were books on local plants, local animals, cookbooks and more. There were also books on religion. None were actual religious texts, but more informative books on them. I may have been determined, but I wasn’t stupid. So, if I knew my search was over for the day, I looked into the book that had interested me the most. That was one such book. It seemed like the Dragonkin, or Ternokiri as they called themselves, were not religious. There wasn’t any text that said that, but the tone of these books seemed like the authors had pity on the religions’ followers.

 

As I kept reading through the fifth book, it became clear that the author believed in the existence of the deities the majority of this country, Aldera, worshipped. Even so, the same tone of pity was still present. The deities themselves were fairly standard. One for war, one for agriculture, one for the sea,... I didn’t get further than that. The door opened and Turasijr stepped in. I quickly snuffed my candle and hid behind one of the upper floor shelves I had sat next to. She was looking around. Her gaze slowly moved across the shelves and walls. Yet, she never found me. Nor did she seem to notice the missing books. After a good few minutes, she left again. I waited another ten to make sure she was gone. Wanting to avoid another chance to get caught, I returned the books to the bottom shelf I had found them in and left through a little opening in a wall.

 

The sixth day I found another book that caught my interest. It was about the history of the country, Aldera. The history dated back 2000 years, but the way it was written was more like a myth than actual history. My guess is that the story was more than likely made up. It began with the people of this land being oppressed by a tyrant, only to be saved by a band of heroes 10 years later. On top of that, it spoke of the Dragonkin as traitors who stood on the tyrant’s side. Well, it was far more vulgar and demeaning than that. I saw why they had given this book no attention. It’s just a made up story that serves as propaganda.

 

Having had enough, I closed it and put it back. I jerked back suddenly when I felt a finger landing on my shoulder. It was Turasjir, the librarian. She crossed her arms and just looked at me for a second.

 

“I, euh,...”, I began.

 

“No need”, she said, “I see you’ve read ‘that’ book”.

 

“Yeah….”.

 

I was conflicted and confused and a bit scared. What was I supposed to say? I was just caught going against her rule, reading a book she was probably appalled by. Yet, she said nothing. Just looked at me, waiting for me to say something. I felt the pressure rising.

 

“Why… Why is this here?”, I managed.

 

“Because I don’t throw away any book”.

“But, it insults your people”.

 

“Precisely. It’s a reminder that not everyone accepts us. Something we must always be aware of, lest we get into a bad situation. Moving on from that, what are you doing here?”.

 

“I was just… reading”.

 

“This isn’t your first night sneaking around, is it? What did I tell you about studying more than two things at once?”.

 

“I should first strive for perfection”, I said in a melancholy tone.

 

“You still don’t get it. No matter. Eventually you will. For now, you can go back to that irresponsible brute. Your punishment can wait till tomorrow”.

 

With that, she sent me away. There was no point in arguing. She was as stubborn as the bear. At least her timing was impeccable, as it had already started getting dark. I must’ve been reading for far longer than I thought. It was a bit comfortable, though. Everyone had already gone inside, leaving me alone on the street. It’s funny how this exact thing had the opposite effect on me before I died.

 

I relaxed and tried to forget all about what had just happened. All that was for tomorrow’s me to deal with. For now, I could enjoy the quiet and the view of the moon. It was rather large tonight. Larger than any of the buildings around me. As I gazed at it, a shadow darted from the corner of my eye. I turned around quicker than I expected. I guess the old me hadn’t fully died.

 

The shadow was just a field mouse minding its own business. I felt stupid. At least no one was there to see me. I continued onwards back to the place we were staying.

 

It was a rather large house, owned by Eidechse’s father. He’s the chief of this village, so it stands to reason he has such a large home. Once inside, I immediately went to my room. Tomorrow was going to be a pain, so I thought it best to sleep early. Vyth hadn’t gone to bed yet. Kinda made me feel lonely. I didn’t let it bother me too much, though, and closed my eyes. I drifted off to slumber, only to wake up at some point later.

 

Vyth had come in. For as good as he is at hunting, you’d think he’d be able to sneak into bed. But, even though he tried, the moment he opened that door I was wide awake.

 

“Oh, sorry”, he apologised.

 

“...Don’t worry about it”.

 

“So, how’d it go?”.

 

“I got caught. She’s gonna give me hell tomor…”.

 

As I was speaking, I noticed a field mouse underneath Vyth’s bed. Staring directly at me. It looked like the same one from before, though I realise I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference anyway.

 

“What is it?”, Vyth asked.

 

“...Nothing… Just wondering how that mouse got here”.

 

“Mouse?! Where?!”

 

I pointed to it and Vyth looked down. His snout was maybe 2 inches away from it. The two looked at each other for a good second, with the mouse having seemingly no reaction. Not until Vyth said: “I bet you’d taste best grilled”.

 

The mouse dashed behind our clothes chest. Vyth got up and started chasing it. It took him a while, but with the door closed and no holes for it to escape to, it was only a matter of time. He punctured it’s skull to kill it and stored it’s corpse in a small leather pouch for tomorrow's breakfast. With that dealt with, I once again drifted into a slumber.

 

The next morning, I jumped right awake. Outside, a green Dragonkin was shouting for someone. The others around him took notice and soon began looking around for this person as well.

 

“Should we help?”, Vyth asked, suddenly standing next to me

 

“Ah! Why are you now suddenly quiet?! Anyway, we could if you want to. We still have a good hour or three before Miss Turasjir expects us”.

 

“Alright!”, he shouted in joy.

We grabbed our stuff and headed out to the man. Once outside, it seemed everyone had joined in. Whatever was going on was serious. We quickly ran to the green Dragonkin to get any information on the one missing.

 

“Hey, who’re you looking for”, Vyth immediately asked.

 

“My daughter, Charis. If you’d be willing, can you please lend me some aid?”, he said.

 

“Sure, we’ll see what we can do”, I answered, “Anywhere that’s not being covered?”.

 

“The village is fully covered. Maybe the area outside, down that way. There’s a stream there and I’m afraid she might have fallen in it. I’ll check the other side of that stream, if you two can check there”.

 

“What does she look like?”, Vyth asked.

 

“Green scales, short snout, three spikes on her head and about your size. I’d really appreciate it if you found her for me”.

 

“We will! Don’t worry! We’ll make sure she’s safe!”, Vyth proclaimed with full confidence.

 

Following the way he pointed out, we ran as past as we could. Soon after leaving the village, we could hear streaming water. It was behind a thick layer of bushes, and even once we got past them, there were still some that partially obscured our view.

 

We looked around for a bit, but found no one. As we were about to head further upstream, we heard a short shout from behind, yelling: “Hel…”.

 

We quickly turned around and sprinted towards it. Pushing past the leaves and branches, we arrived by a small waterfall about a foot taller than us. There, we stopped dead in our tracks as we saw a large lizard, about the size of Eidechse, on top of a rock in the middle of the stream. It was blood red with thick, black stripes. It had two large horns, both at least 2 feet tall, on top of a relatively small head. A thick, wrinkly neck connected it to it’s large, slender body. It had large spikes running down it’s spine and a whip-like tail at least twice it’s size. Said tail was being used to hold a small, green Dragonkin underneath the water. I swear that as we arrived, I could hear a coarse chuckling coming from the creature.

 

It did notice us, however, and turned to look at us. Luckily, we distracted it enough for it to loosen its grip on the girl. She swam out of the water, though the moment she did, the tail lunged at her again. Acting quickly, I cast my freezing ray, while Vyth threw one of his spears. The tail wrapped itself around her neck, ready to drag her back down. It’s grip loosened again when my ray landed and froze part of its hide. Vyth spear, meanwhile, flew into a foot. The creature shrieked in pain. A shriek that sounded like a coarse voiced frog being exorcised of a demon.

 

It’s attention was now fully on us. The girl, after taking some rapid, deep breaths, got up and ran back to the village. Now, we had to escape without being dragged in ourselves.