"Oh, I wouldn't say most people do it, but it's enough of a popular hobby to have its own little culture. And of course some greens do it professionally."

Interesting. Are there a lot of those? I think Enkindlers have something like it. We discuss projects and the history of the art on the rare occasions we do meet, and sometimes collectively look down on Draak that don't have the skill. We have a reputation for being... Detached? Closer to the Onesong. Which some consider good and others bad.

"A lot of - hobbies? Yes, most people have some."

No. Things that 'have their own little culture'. I'm confused by this, what are they like? How does it work?

"Oh, I think most hobbies have at least some of that. People who like something are friends with other people who like the same thing, and they develop shortcuts for talking about it, and so on. Even if they're just thrown together without a hobby things like that can happen. There are phrases and jokes I'd only use around other people from my college."

That's very strange now that I think about it! Even as I notice that Draak do it too! Not nearly as much, I think, but especially the different subspecies seem have different habits of thought and a sort of shared identity. Though, I have met Onyx clan Draak who resemble me far more than some of my fellow Emeralds, too.

"Sure, I might make one of the college jokes with a yellow who worked there even though all the students and instructors were orange."

The clans are not very much like castes, I think.

"I wouldn't know. What are they like?"

Your clan determines where you can live, where you can explore, but not what you can do. Perhaps Emeralds might make better gardeners on average than other clans but it would be absurd to say 'you are not Emerald, therefore you cannot live your life gardening or dwell in a forest, you must find some other thing to do'.

Amentans approach blues with more deference and respect, each caste seems to generate many weak assumptions in your minds, and you cannot tolerate the thought of reds at all... If we had castes, I might expect any Sapphire stranger to be strong in Water, obsessed with the ocean and fish, deeply tolerant of changing circumstances and adversity. But we don't. I expect them to act like any other Draak does, I greet them just the same as a fellow Emerald or a Ruby. Though perhaps I would assume they can swim well.

She nods.

I might like to read your nephew's story. It could be good practice. Mostly I just read you and Ruan's emails and the subtitles on Nature View.

"- I'm sure there are some already online and they have ways you can sort them by how many people think they're good."

Could you show me?

"All right." She looks up "draak" on Fiction Closet and finds a well rated story with no sex or crossovers. "This is from before the news about the ice magic, should I find a newer one?"

There has not been much time to write new ones yet, correct? I'll read some of the others first.

The story is about an original Draak character called Cloud finding a habitable planet and helping some Amentans build a colony there without messing up the local ecology too much; the Amentans in the story live in treehouses and underground and in dirigibles wherever the habitats are sensitive to conventional living. It's mostly a series of vignettes but does keep revisiting some perspectives.

This is charming and believable! Treehouses and dirigibles and underground cities are much better than the standard ones. How much is from Cloud's perspective? Does any of it show Cloud's internal thoughts?

It has some Cloud-perspective, mostly about the ecosystem and some about the Amentans where the narration dwells on things the author guesses would stand out to a Draak about them.

She reads it all the way through, then writes a long and rambling review peppered with minor criticisms, with several paragraphs attempting to describe what flying feels like.

"Do you want to post this anonymously or make an account?" asks her tutor.

I will make an account so nobody thinks I am Lying about being Draak.

"You'll have to confirm that it's your account on another site that has you verifiably connected."

...I don't really understand. Does Nature View count? I should just ask Ruan to deal with this maybe?

"Ruan can announce that the Fiction Closet account is yours, probably, if it's really important nobody think you're an Amentan posing as you."