"Sounds exciting."

"It's not for the faint of heart."

"What d'you do with it?"

"Stuff! I built a house with it, that was fun."

"Ooh, neat! Do you have to know architecture to do that?"

"It was kind of a learn-by-doing deal? And a pretty small house. I probably would've been better off if I'd known more architecture than I did, but I managed."

"That's really neat."

"Aw, thanks!"

"So I'll see you tomorrow!" He manages to turn into an eagle who is somehow already perched politely on her arm, and takes off without taloning her.

She waves to him, giggling, as he flies away.

The next day, she has managed to figure out when eleventh-and-naught is!

A shiny gold dragon lands outside the school. "Hi!" says the shiny gold dragon. He's a lot bigger than Korulen.

"Goodness," says Anlei. "Hi! You're very shiny!"

He laughs. "Thank you! How're you doing?"

"Pretty good! You?"

"Doing all right. We've got time for dinner before the theater if you like street food."

"That sounds like an excellent idea. So how does one ride a dragon—?"

"I've got a saddle on, see?" He shifts a wing, crouches.

"Aha!" She climbs up. "Comfy."

"There's straps if you're not sure you can hang on or don't wanna count on me catching you. I could though."

"I believe you!"

"Say when!"

"When!"

And into the air leaps a shiny gold dragon!

He circles the city once but it's still a really short flight. He comes in for a landing over a pond in a park and winds up neatly on the shore.

"I'm not gonna be able to do that in urban areas in a hundred years," he comments. "But it's fun."

"That was awesome," she cackles, climbing down.

"I'm glad you had fun." He shifts, offers her an arm.