Once Draco had taken one of the empty seats at the back of the hall, the lesson went by quite quickly. All in all, he wasn’t really surprised, as Instructor Carter briefly outlined what the current term would look like, what they would be studying and under whose supervision, and what materials they would need. The latter matched the list of books the dragon had previously received from the retired officer. However, he was somewhat surprised by the presentation of riding as preparation for competitions held every spring, in which cadets from military courses compete against one another in over a dozen disciplines. The way their supervisor presented this, and the class’s reactions, suggested that these internal championships came with some sort of prize. The dragon decided he would have plenty of time to investigate this matter further, so he focused more on observing the other pupils.
As he quickly realised, he wasn’t the only one trying to size up the others. It was very easy for him to make eye contact with those watching him. At first, this sent him into a state of inner panic, but he quickly got it under control by telling himself that this wasn’t Dagos, and that they weren’t prejudiced against him. At least, that’s what he wanted to believe. Feeling slightly calmer, he returned their gazes with greater confidence. Interestingly, he noticed that those watching him were doing so without hesitation and with genuine curiosity. The reptile chose to take this as a positive sign.
Now, with a clear head, he could assess his new group. Apart from the six he’d already noticed, there were eighteen young people in the class, mainly humans, but among them were also two elves, a vampire and a halfling. For the time being, it was hard to say what the relationships between them all were like, but he suspected they weren’t all that bad, and they were certainly a far cry from what he’d been through in the dragon capital.
‘That concludes today’s theoretical session,’ the instructor finally announced. ‘As you have no other lectures today, we’ll
