“Robe. Check. Wand. Check”

He ran through his very simple checklist for the eighth time. Today he had an exam. Not a final exam, it was far too early for that, but each subject would have small exams, assignments, to check up on his progress.

The history test had been easy. Kis had already spent plenty of his life inside books.

Although some of the other exams were a little harder, it was the magic test that he feared the most.

“Hello Trouble”, Val had been waiting for him outside the hall.

He’d been so lost in his double-and-triple checking that he’d almost glided past her.

“Hi Val... are you here for me”, Kis mumbled

“How did you guess. Yes, I am here for you. You remember the rules”

“Use the wand. Don’t show off.”

“How is the wand?”

It wasn’t in a good state. “Uhh. It isn’t absorbing as much mana as before but...”

“Don’t worry, you’ve been exempted from most of it, especially the combat”

"…combat?”, he asked

“Technically, attacking you is treason. The whole dragon empire thing and them being the dragon and you being the assistant. Treason”. Val nodded.

“What?”, he asked, still confused

She smirked “It’s fine. Think of it more like a check up, than an exam. There isn't passing or failing, but understanding what work comes next. "

"Now get going”, she pushed him into the examination hall.

Kis sighed.

Despite being full of mana, human magic was still very tricky for him. Dragon-tongue was easy. Fun. After the fireballs, he’d finally gotten the hang of talking with Auntie without the mana shredding his mouth apart.

Human magic, well, if you needed something burned to the ground, or perhaps perpetual daylight, he could do that. Smaller magic was still a work in progress. The wand had helped, and even Jess gave him a few pointers, but he was always a bit terrified of everything going out of control.

At least Val was here.

He recognised some of the other students in the testing hall, although it would be fair to say that everyone recognised him.

Making friends hadn’t gotten any easier. When Auntie wasn’t wrapped around his neck, Light was attached to his arm.

Today, he had neither.

Kis tried to imagine nicer reasons for the stares. Jess filled him in on some of the rumours. Her favourite was that Kis was secretly a dragon, hiding his wings.

Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the group of students, and introduced himself.

“Uh, Hi, is this group 8?”

Everyone stared back, one student slowly nodded.

“Thanks”, Kis responded.

He found a seat at the back, pouring himself onto the chair, staring down at his feet to avoid staring back at the group.

“Hey, can I sit here?”, a student approached Kis.

“Uhhh... Sure”, Kis replied.

Kis waited for the questions to start.

“You’re the dragon kid, right?”

“and the arachne kid, yeah”, he sighed.

“Ummm, uhh...”, the student fumbled out his words, “... are you doing the combat tests”

“The head teacher told me that i’ve been exempted. I’m here to cast one fireball, maybe a light spell, and a barrier”

The student breathed a sigh of relief, then paused, unsure of what to say next.

“It’s cool, go tell the rest of the group. I don’t mind”, Kis replied.

The student rushed off before he could find out their name. He did mind.

He closed his eyes and resumed his breathing exercises.

In. Out. In. Out. Once it had stopped hurting, the flames really did help him relax.

As Kis practiced, Val had arrived with four other teachers.

"“… I'll need your help with one student, over… HEY KIS! KNOCK IT OFF”, Val shouted.

The relaxation technique worked well for him, but he footlong flame spewing from his mouth did not calm the other students.

Kis mumbled, “Uhh, Sorry”

“Whatever, I was going to leave you until last but”, she rolled her eyes, “I think it would be better if you went first, come up to the platform”

He shuffled up to the stage, awkwardly avoiding eye contract with the rest of group 8.

She waved the four older mages over, who took positions around the stage. “After he’s done you can head back, thank you”

With a barrier firmly in place around the pair, Val felt confident enough to start.

Kis asked, “Aren’t you going to ... you know”, he pointed off stage, “get out of the way?”

She grinned, “Think of me as an incentive not to lose control, and besides, if you can get through my barrier, then, well...”, but decided not to finish the sentence.

“Anyway, let’s see what you’ve got”, she pulled a pair of goggles over her eyes, “I’m ready. Everyone, Look away now.”

Kis started with a light spell.

Although he'd learned some control, it was still like pouring oil on a bonfire. The spell roared into life, with a bright flash. A few students had ignored the warning, now sat temporarily blinded.

Kis had dispelled the spell quickly.

Val nodded, “Good”, with a smirk on her face. “Now, let's see if you can make it dimmer this time”

This was where the test started. He tried to hold back his mana, pushing more of it into the wand than into the spell, and cast another spell.

Not blindingly bright this time, but it was much harder to dispell. The wand was absorbing less and less mana.

"Kis?" "I'm trying"

He could blitz the area with mana, but that often caused more problems. He had to use more control to remove a spell, to avoid unbalancing everything around him.

"Done"

Val nodded, and removed her goggles, "Next up, fireballs"

"Are you really sure you want to stay here Val?", Kis asked.

"If you're not confident yet, I guess we can pass …"

"No, No", Kis mumbled, "I'm just"

"I'm fine, Kis", Val nodded, "Just try"

He took a breath, and conjured a small fireball in his hand.

“Perfect... wait .... Kis... ”, she walked carefully towards him. “You’re wrapping that in a barrier?”

“Umm.. Yes Mage”

Val rubbed her forehead. “I mean, technically that is harder, and I appreciate you taking the safe route but...”

“Um, I can do a real one, but... I’m sort of compressing it down”

The flame was almost white hot. It looked more like a light spell than a fireball.

“Ah. Ok Kis. I think I'll stand on the other side of the barrier first”, Val quickly shuffled off the stage, standing next to the other elders.

“Kis? I’ll reinforce the barriers”, she nodded to the other elders, “We *should* be fine”

He nodded back. He carefully dismissed the fireball, cooling down the magic spell first, sealing the barrier tight to extinguish it.

With his trusty metal pole, he tried again. A ball of flame, almost half his height appeared in front of him.

He focused, trying his best to drip feed mana into the spell. It somewhat worked.

The fireball wasn’t growing in size, but it was burning hotter and hotter. He had a few more seconds before it would spiral out of his control.

He tried to cool down the fireball, as before. Unfortunately he’d forgotten to put a barrier around it first. The water spell became a steam spell, and subsequently a steam explosion spell.

A large bang, and he was thrown off the stage, into the barrier. Instead of coming to a halt, he glided through the barrier, landing on a wall with a thump.

Val sauntered over to him, “Well well well”

“Hey Val, did I pass?”

She looked around, “Anyone Injured?”, one student raised his hand. “No, that does not mean you get out of being tested”, the hand was withdrawn quickly, “anyone else? No? Good.”

“You passed Kis”, she helped him get back on his feet, “but uh, looks like your wand didn’t”

She pointed to the ceiling, where a large metal pole had embedded itself in the roof. “I managed to stop the shrapnel going everywhere, but”, she sighed, “You’re trouble.”

The four elders didn’t stare. They knew better than to make a scene in front of the students.

“You know I’m meant to be the best barrier mage on the continent, Kis, You’re embarrassing me”, she mumbled quietly

He looked down at his feet, shuffling in place.

“Anyway, come on, I’m not finished with you, yet, let’s...”

Another loud bang. Val looked over to find the source and saw that the doorway had been smashed open at speed.

Val looked back to find Kis thrown to the floor, again, but with Light hovering over him, waving their legs erratically.

“KRRRHHRHRHH!!”, Light had felt the explosion and rushed over to find him.

“Hello Light, Kis is fine”, Val giggled. She caught the attention of another teacher. “Take this group next door. No-one is using it, I made sure of it. I’ll arrange repairs, don’t worry”

Kis had managed to stand up, but couldn’t disentangle themselves from the arachne. They’d manouvered behind him, wrapping him up safely in their legs.

Val was still giggling, “I think they like you, Kis”

“I know, Val. Light, um, can you let go? Please?”, he asked

“Krrssh-shchhhk”

“No no that was me, my magic. An accident”, he explained

“krrrr”, a quiet hiss.

“[Light], please”

They pulled back their legs, but wouldn’t let go of his hand. It would do.

Val stared at the pair. “I was going do a few more tests but…”, she looked around the room, and then back at Light, “I think we should take Light home, and inspect the damage”

Thankfully, Light had only smashed open one set of doors. They’d leapt from roof top to roof top, rather than ploughing through the streets.

On the route back, Val asked questions to Light, asking Kis to translate when they couldn't find the right word to spell out.

Kis' translation duties were intterrupted by a stranger running into him, pushing him to one side.

Kis hadn’t noticed someone running towards him, but he did feel the impact.

“Hey wait?”, he asked.

“Krrrrrr!”, Several legs appeared behind Light and quickly grabbed the person in question.

Dangling upside-down, the person screamed “Let me go Let me!”

Light growled at them to be quiet. Shaking them violently.

“Light! Wait, stop?”, Kis tried to calm them, while Val stood nearby, laughing.

“KRRRRR! KRRSHHHH!”, the arachne was angry. Another leg quickly poked the person, rummaging through their clothes.

"Krrr!", Light held out a coin purse.

"Light you can't.." "KRRRRR" "… that's my purse!"

"Krr", even Val could understand the hisses: 'Told you so'

The pickpocket was trembling, and a small pool of liquid had formed underneath them.

"Light, can I take over?", Val asked, and the arachnid obliged, dropping the pickpocket onto the floor.

"Val? Don't hurt them!", Kis was not a fan of Val's more percussive methods of conversation.

She rolled her eyes. "Kis, I'm not going to hurt them, but…"

"Can't we just let them go?", Kis pleaded

"Kis. No."

"… but what if they were hungry"

"Hungry people don't get that good at pickpocketing Kis", Val said

"They wouldn't have to if someone gave them food Val", he frowned.

Taking a few coins from his purse, he handed them over to the pickpocket.

"Take this, feed yourself"

Val rolled her eyes, "Whatever. You heard the Emissary, get lost"

She kicked the pickpocket, and glared, "Go"

The pickpocket grabbed the coins, along with a few other things that had fallen on the floor, and bolted.

"I'm sorry for not believing you Light", Kis apologized. "Krrrsg" ".. and thank you for looking out for me" he smiled

"Right, Kis", Val interupted, "care to explain"

"Val?", Kis was confused.

She prodded him a few times, "When did you learn to keep your aura in? That pickpocket shoudn't have been able to get close"

"The breathing exercises. I've been able to control the flow inside me"

Val frowned. As they made their way back, She asked a few more questions about the changes he'd felt,

At the penthouse, Light finally let go of Kis. Inside, Val grabbed a seat, and encouraged Kis to do the same.

"I wanted to run more tests, but …", Val hesitated, "before then, can you stand-in for Auntie?"

She handed over a large cube of stone, with a circuit engraved into the top.

"Fill it up, thank you", Val asked

Kis obediently placed his hand onto the brick and began to push his mana into it.

"What is this, by the way?", he asked

"A container for mana. One of the old agreements between the dragons and the empire was that the dragons would provide mana for city defense"

She pointed to the brick, "We'd bring them to the dragon, fill it, and in exhange, we'd support their assistants, the church, and so on. It became ceremonial a few hundred years ago, better advancements in city defense, but, we still get Auntie to charge the bricks, and we still offer a large feast on demand"

"A feast?"

"Yep. You know the human story, the emperor uniting the kingdoms? The way auntie tells it, the dragons wanted snack food but the humans kept getting in the way of hunting. A truce, we'd pay rent to live by the dragons, and open up six cities to feed them as and when required, and then countless small terms and conditions over time"

"… Oh, Done already?", she looked at the cube, "Feeling resistance yet?"

"A little", Kis replied

"Push a little harder. This is one of the few things built to handle a dragon, it can take it"

He managed to stuff a little more mana inside, but no more. He slumped to his chair with a sigh, it was a little exhausting.

"How do you feel? Tired? A little?", she asked.

"Kinda Ok?", he wobbled, "Like I've run, but not like I am tired"

She shook her head, "That's several lifetimes supply of mana you've just donated Kis"

Val carefully took the brick back, and placed it inside her bag.

"I know this sounds weird, but Kis, you really should have exploded, like your wand did"

"I'm sorry about the wand!", Kis began to apologise but Val stopped him abruptly.

"Nonsense. That was a pipe with a couple of barrier enchantments to waste your mana. I just thought it would last longer, well, I didn't think you'd get stronger, Kis"

"I'm getting stronger?"

"Well, Imagine a tiny bucket of mana, that's you. Imagine a small pipe, that's your body", Val pointed at him, "and it's riddled with leaks"

"Mana draining?"

"Yep, and no matter how much you collected, it would always leak out. Then we stuff half a dragon's worth of mana into that tiny bucket"

She mocked a explosion with her hands

"This is you casting magic, back when I first met you."

"Thanks, Val"

"Kis", she shook her head, "What should have happened was that the bucket overflowed, leaking out mana. Instead, you got better at cycling it, holding your aura in"

He nodded

"… and now, your body has been adapting. I suspect your breathing exercises have helped the most, but now, your pipes are getting wider, stronger, and cycling your mana has concentrated it"

"So I need a stronger wand?"

"Yes, but, Kis, I'm not sure I can make a wand that strong. I'm not sure I can give you a safe place to practice"

Kis sat in silence. It had been a long while since he'd thought about negative consequences.

"This is good news Kis, I mean, I don't think you're going to explode anymore. I mean, I was always a little worried, but your mana is finally under control"

She prodded him, "You're not going to burn down a building by accident, or a spell out of control. "

Val sighed, "The bad news is that I just don't know if I can teach you how to turn down the power. Magic is about amplification, Kis, and well, you don't need that."

"No explode, I guess", Kis mumbled

"… but I haven't given up on making a wand for you", Val grinned, "well, a wand fit for a dragon. More like a surgical tool, something for delicate operations. Until then, no more spells, ok?", she asked

"Even Dragon-Tongue?"

"Just Human Magic, Kis. Your breathing practice or whatever", Val frowned, "that should be fine"

She was still quite jealous of Kis.

"Kis, I know a thousand mages who'd desperately give up spells in order to speak dragon-tongue", she smirked, "even just a word. Kis, stopping magic practice isn't the worst thing, but unless you need to burn a house down, lay off the spells, ok? at least until I make a new wand?"

He nodded, "Ok, but do you keep having to mention burning a house?"

“Yes", Val confirmed, "… and Light”

The arachne nodded

“Your friend here is far tougher than you think.”, she flicked a fireball at Kis’ forehead. It dissipated on impact. "Nothing will get through that aura, it's strong enough to push past my barriers, and I don't think you had to push hard, Kis"

"Umm", Kis hesistated. Light began fussing over Kis, checking his head and hair for damage.

“Light, You need to protect *us* from *him*”, Val smirked

Laughing to herself and petting her new battery, She left Kis to ruminate.

A little restless, not tired enough to sleep, he ended up refusing Light's attempts to cook for him. Instead, he went back to teaching them more of the written language.

Their mimicry of speech was still unpleasant, but they'd' begun to spell out longer sentences. The arachne had watched him learn various skills through childhood, and would often divert the conversation to some art or practice they'd seen him do. In particular, they wanted to learn more words about textiles, sewing. It had been a little clumsy to have Kis translate for them, although they did enjoy the attenton.

It wasn't until much, much later in the evening that the dragon returned.

Kis was already in bed, but hadn't begun to sleep. The dragon flew into his room, landed on his bed, and kicked him gently.

“So, how did it go little man”, the dragon asked

“Badly. I blew up my wand. I scared everyone, and that was before I started the test”

He recounted the morning, including hurting himself, summoning the arachne by accident.

Auntie was amused, “ha! … and you may have crushed Val’s ego, too. She’s quite proud of her barriers”

“I didn’t mean to slip through it, my spell exploded”

The dragon roared with laughter, “She’ll be fine. Was she making a face like this?"

Kis wasn't sure what face the dragon was pulling. "Frowning, Folded arms, Head forward", he offered

"That's the one! I remember the first time she lost a magic duel, same face, same grumpy expression”, they wheezed

Kis sighed, and pulled himself up in bed.

Light had been pretending to ignore the conversation, curled up in a hammock on the other side of the room. They gently rolled over to spy on the two.

“Ok, what’s really up?”, the dragon flew onto his shoulder. “You can tell Auntie”

“I feel like a monster.”

The dragon waited for him to continue

“... it was bad enough being locked away but now, everyone looks at me as if I should be in a cage.”

“That’s the problem with mages, young man. They all want power but they all fear it. Look at Light over there, they’re a monster, just like me, and you treat us the same. We get the same reactions too…”, they growled

“... maybe, young man, the problem is that you aren’t monstrous enough”

“Auntie?”

They growled back, “Your language is so fiddly, much like your human magic”, and growled again.

“Ohhhh”

“You see now?”

The dragon didn’t call him a monster, but they did point out that he wasn’t that human anymore. Pretending to be a simple mage wouldn’t fool anyone, he needed to embrace those parts of him, find ways to make it work.

Kis nodded, “[Srmr] Maybe us monsters should stick together”, he smilled, “You too , [Light]”

The arachnid spun back around, curling up into a ball, embrassed from being acknowledged.

“That’s the sprit young man. You’re a little dragon in my eyes–you need to stop trying to fit in with the humans. It’s the humans who have to learn how to fit in around you”, Auntie grinned. “Maybe I should teach you some proper dragon-tongue too”

“Proper?”

Kis had got to the point where he could repeat back new words, hit the pronunciation first time, and had started to build out a vocabulary.

“Yes!”, she smiled, “Dragon, well, it isn’t just about describing, like with your name, or creating, like fire breath, but changing. Haven’t you wondered how I can change size, fly?”

“Uh, Magic?”

“No child. A human mage performs magic, a request, an attempt. Dragon-tongue is simply how things are. Our words don’t shape reality, reality comes from our words. Where do you think the sun came from? Huh. The oldest dragon roared it into place.”

Kis was slack jawed.

“Wait wait Auntie what?”

“You heard me. My ancestors spoke this world into existence”

“Not that... but, [Light]... did I change… Light, did you change when I named you”

The arachne rolled back over, and gently nodded.

“It was a good name, [Kyzr]”, it wheezed, “Perfect for the one arachne who lives outside, amongst people”

Light nodded eagerly.

The dragon turned to the arachne, “[Light], could you make Kis a new uniform?”

“Auntie? and no, Light, you don’t have to..”

Light frowned, ‘Krrsh-krssh’

“They want to help. Let them. [Kyzr], it’s time for you to stop pretending to be a student and start acting like the emissary.”, they growled, "step one, stop dressing like a student"