set off briskly towards the table. ‘I’m just absolutely ravenous.’
‘You got moving?’ the elf asked, surprised.
‘I was all a bit stiff this morning…’ The dragon slumped into his seat and immediately began piling everything within reach onto his plate. ‘And as a bit of exercise has always helped me, I decided today that I should stick to that approach. I must admit, it was a bit of a struggle at first, but I soon got the hang of it.’ The dragon fixed his gaze on the food and began to tuck in, once again paying little heed to social conventions.
‘Shouldn’t you be resting rather than wearing yourself out straight away?’ Concern flitted across Gizel’s face, though it was different from the concern Darius had seen before. Now it seemed deeper, more complex. The mage found it hard to put his finger on it; he didn’t even know where to begin.
‘Dr Herpetes said that everything should be back to normal by morning.’ The dragon looked up for a moment, but seemed oblivious to the emotions both speakers were feeling. ‘Of course, I haven’t tried any magic or anything like that,’ he hastened to add, as if fearing another reprimand.
‘Do you feel up to it?’ Bleist assumed that by now his pupil should have regained enough energy to cast simple spells safely.
‘I think so…’ Draco stopped eating, staring blankly at the table in front of him. ‘There's less of the mana; it hasn’t all returned yet. Apart from that, everything’s fine.’
‘Please cast a Firefly,’ Darius instructed calmly. The simple spell could easily serve as an indicator of whether his apprentice’s source was functioning properly. Ideally, of course, it would be best to examine the space of consciousness itself, but he was well aware of the state the pupil’s dragon aspect must be in. It wasn’t hard to imagine the boy’s subconscious having been stirred by a previously unknown and extremely dangerous accident.
Draco nodded, and several small, golden spheres of energy, emanating a warm light, appeared around him. The sudden glow made the shadows in
