That may help. If you can tolerate probably one or two fights a day - that will not have lasting harm on our ability to work together, I think - it is not necessary. This is why I should have arranged a place to teach them more carefully before leaving.

"The cleaning crew is on their way."

Alright. A fight or two is really nothing to be very concerned about. We're getting access to that empty town in a few days, yes?

"Yes, unless they find a problem with a pipe - less than fifty percent likely but it hasn't been maintained in a while so not by much."

I am strong in Earth and most of my students are too, but perhaps I underestimated how stressful this would be for them because I have had a season to get used to it.

"I'm sorry. The crew thinks three hours to get the next warehouse swept out and there's more cubicle dividers coming."

Thinking about how to run a school or accommodate others is not a natural mode of thought for me. I'm not even charging tuition - the Seeker gave me gold and promised more.

...Thank you.

"You're welcome."

She nods and goes back into the warehouse and stands sentinel against any further fights occurring while they do that. Then she sends Ink and three other students over to the other place.

Ink can be strange but she is my friend and she knows how important not causing trouble here is to me. Perhaps you should get to know her, too.

"Hello, Ink," says Ruan. "Is there anything besides the cubicle walls you four will need to be comfortable in here?"

Hello! Life is not all comfort and indolence, and expecting that makes a weak soul. But strong scents might make it less obvious to the primal spirit inside me that there are three other Draak who might want to kill me or steal my stuff very close by. Nobody sleeps at Moots.

"Like scented candles and perfume sprays? I can have some in."

Those would help. Bloom was a bit silly not to secure space for us in advance, but that's her. So careful and thoughtful in some things, utterly oblivious in others. Ink radiates fondness. She has spoken well of you, Ruan.

"I'm glad to hear it. Our whole world has been grateful for her presence."

She is one source of hope for you. Not the stars brought into grasp, but an ancient pain given succor. She doesn't feel what she is to you, though. It is an interesting problem to solve: Pinch and twist in exactly the right way, and everything lines up just so. Like origami!

"We're aware Draak don't have the same range of social emotions. I do think she's enjoyed her popularity."

Yes! If only in the abstract. I think it might be better for her if she did feel it, though.

"Maybe it would, but she doesn't seem to have picked it up telepathically."

That's because she's oblivious and considers brief moments of wondrous hope and joy - fleeting and not representative of the true worth of what she does. Such fleeting joy may be gone soon and does not necessarily represent an actual good. If she met some of her patients again after six months, perhaps?

"Huh. I suppose I can list it as a nice-to-have when advertising for jobs that may get facetime with her."

That is a trap a lot of us fall into. "I may die some day, but the eldest Kin have seen thousands and thousands of years! What matters a moment of peace and contentment and happiness? A fleeting minute of joy does not matter and is no good compared to the vast time I will exist, nor does a few days of pain and hunger and stress indicate a problem of any kind: Only the long arc is important." But I hold that each moment is a mote of color in the landscape that is your life, and you want warm summers and not cold winters to dominate it.

"That seems reasonable to me."

I see my role here as feelings-nudger as much as Enkindling-student. As a Draak I may have better insight into us. And though I will try my best, I do not have the sheer talent she does.

I would like to hear about you and the other people who have worked with Bloom, though when the scent things arrive I will try to sleep.

"They'll be here in about ten minutes, they're trying to get a variety in case it turns out you don't like some of the smells. What would you like to know?"

What drives you? What brought you here? What frustrates you? What makes you proud? What do you think and feel about we Draak? And things I will have to puzzle out over more than a few minutes, what is it like to be Amentan? How do you form friendships and how is it different to how Draak do it? How do castes affect perception and behavior? How does romantic love work? Minds are fascinating.