"I mean, I don't use a hover platform, I can fly, but they're pretty popular," says Korulen.

"You can fly? Without a ship or a platform or anything? Is that a thing dragons do?"

"I'm not a dragon, but yeah, in my other form, I have wings," she says.

"Most flying things I know use hydrogen to fly, it'd be interesting to see it done with wings. Would you mind?"

"I don't mind. Do you want me to grab your stuff as long as I'm shifting?"

"It'll come along? Great, sure, here."

"Wow. You look like nothing I've ever seen before. What's that called, the... Things covering your skin?"

"...Scales?"

"Scales. Interesting. They look heavy, but tough."

"They're sort of metallic textured," she says. "I don't have any loose or I could see if I could get it off for you to have a look at. Anyway, flying is like -" She checks the area around her, finds she has space for her wingspan, and lopes a few steps, flapping, to take off. She goes up over the buildings, makes a circle, and then comes in for a landing.

Nick claps his hands. "Beautiful. Muscle alone bears you aloft. That would be a bad idea where I come from, since there's barely any land to land on you'd risk getting tired before finding a safe place."

"I can soar for a long time, but I wouldn't, like, try to cross an ocean," she agrees.

"Exactly." He starts walking back to the school.

She follows on all fours, wings folded. Possibly just to avoid carrying the bags.

"You're not going to fly back? I can find my way. Hm, you'd have to wait for me once you're there, I guess. Oh, I never did see a map like I wanted to. Where can I find one?"

"I'm supposed to escort you, and I have your bags," she points out. "We could get you an atlas at a bookstore."

He makes a face. "I'd rather not buy books I only want to read once. Is there a library?"

"In the school, yeah. You can use it."

"If you want you can totally do that."

Silence for a while. "It's just so strange to not need to do anything. I could just stand here, I won't run out of hydrogen or get caught in a storm, I won't collide with anything, I won't get attacked by wild animals or pirates."

"I mean, if you just stood here forever you'd get hungry eventually."

"Keo told me the cafeteria would feed me. And there was a sort of fountain there. Infinite water just - coming out of a hole. You guys don't need to worry when it goes a whole week without raining. I have come to the conclusion that my home planet is just a terrible place to live."

"Esmaar is probably nicer than most countries," says Korulen. "I mean, they don't have any of that in Ryganaav."