The Elder took Anilla away, and Yewan turned to Cara.
"{ I get it now! Moms are only scary in private. They’re nice when other people are around, and then you get in trouble in private, so they don’t embarrass you in front of your friends.}"
Cara shrugged. "You’re not entirely wrong.
Now, it’s time for us to explore while the Karl gets back to the important parts of his day, like keeping the Elders happy, and the Elves fully dressed."
Yewan laughed. "{But it’s work time. If you’re going to be muddy anyhow, why would you wear clothes?}"
The badger laughed. "They have taught you well, young dragon."
Karl picked up Yewan. "You’re not leaving me behind on this adventure, little one. Let’s go find ourselves a bookstore so that we can keep the blue dragon happy."
Yewan extended a claw forward, eager to get moving.
"{To the bookstore!}"
With the energetic dragon trying to see everything as he shifted to drape himself over Karl’s shoulders, the group made their way toward the gates.
Naturally, that attracted more than a little bit of attention.
Black Dragon Hatchlings were not a common fashion accessory.
Plus, Yewan was excited about everything, so it was obvious that he was newly hatched, and hadn’t seen anything before. People, buildings, even two cats fighting over a field mouse were all noteworthy to the little dragon.
"{Where are we going first? I smell books in some of those stores.}" Yewan asked.
"We’re going to go see the Trade Elder first. He will likely know where we can get a full set of books, instead of borrowing them one at a time from the Library. That’s not going to work for a hundred hatchlings." Karl explained.
Yewan giggled at the thought of all of them trying to share one book at a time.
That would not work at all.
"{What is his name? Or is it a her? It can’t be Anilla’s mom, or you would have asked earlier. Are they friendly? Will there be a fight? I can sense something small dying. Oh, over there too. I think it’s the mice.}"
The morning crowd in the streets smiled at Yewan’s narrative, and Karl noticed that a few had changed direction to discretely follow them.
Likely not for malicious reasons, but you could never be too careful.
Elder Malcolm was near the docks this morning, Karl could sense his aura over the others as they made their way through the Clan. He was surrounded by people, though. Meaning it might not be a short wait to see him.
That’s what Yewan was for.
Bringing a cute thing that asked incessant questions tended to get you to the front of most lines.
"{Look, even the trading Elder likes cute Elves. Is that a thing?}" The dragon asked as Karl moved to wait with the others who wanted the Elder’s attention.
Between them and Elder Malcolm was the crew of a Blue Elf ship, who had all turned to see who was implying things about their Captain. Once they realized that it was a hatchling black dragon, the Elves just laughed.
"Most people are afraid of us, little dragon," the first mate informed them, smiling with one eye hidden under a black metal patch.
"{Why is that? I understand being afraid of her, Ship Moms are likely as scary as other Moms. But why do they think you’re scary?}"


"More than that. She really likes berserkers."
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