None of them pick it up as quickly as Bloom did. Picking letters based on sounds seems deeply weird!

"Fluent readers pay more attention to the whole shape of a familiar word anyway," the tutor assures them.

Longfeather wanders away after it proves to be a significant effort. Two other students decide there's nothing better to do since Bloom is somewhere else, though.

The tutor is slightly annoyed but doesn't say anything about it when Longfeather leaves.

The Draak don't seem to even notice the annoyance. They're making reasonable if slow-ish progress.

About an hour in, all three Draak twitch at once, feathers fluffing out and heads perking up.

Bloom will be angry- Star begins.

-I will deal with it. Replies Ink. Apologies, o teacher, but I must go. She slinks off surprisingly quickly.

...One of us is bothering Bloom's pets, Star explains. Idiot.

"...why are they doing that?"

I don't know. Overwhelmed by city smell and bored and tense?

"They don't have... coping mechanisms?"

Getting bitey is a coping mechanism. So is staring at your Treasure but we're all young except for Ink and Bloom and don't have that much of it.

"What is Ink going to do?"

In increasing order of probability of success, the quiet one called Sleeper suddenly pipes up, Logic, intimidation, and violence.

"...mmm."

We're not Amentans.

"I know."

Ink comes back out.

I made him understand that annoying his teacher is a bad idea. And annoying a bear with magic powers is also a bad idea. Back to the lesson?

Back to the lesson!

Ruan arranges a visit with the Harank Recursive Orange Academy.

Star is delighted! He stares around curiously on the way there and settles with his wings folded up small and claws pinned under his central body once there.

Out come a troop of assortedly sized orange children from their school, eight in all.

"You're not as big as I thought you were gonna be," says a two year old peevishly.

"Neb! That's not nice!" scolds a three year old.

I'm only twelve! I'll get bigger in time. Hello! I am called Star. My full name is a lot longer. I'm excited to meet oranges because Draak don't do child care.

"Don't your babies miss their parents?" says the other two year old. "Babies need attention like all the time."

Eggs need someone to protect them and teach them things, but not hatchlings. I remember being new-hatched. I was alone, but didn't feel lonely. Draak like being alone most of the time.

"That's not good for people," says a four year old, "if they don't talk to anybody they wind up too weird to make friends later."

His tail wobbles. I'm pretty sure Draak work differently, but that's interesting. Do you know why?

"They don't learn any social skills. Those need practice like riding a bike or playing an instrument."

I bet I don't have many of those. I was horribly rude the first time I met another Draak. Tail-wobble. We talk to animals a lot, but they're very simple in comparison.