[b] “Gotta enjoy the little things in life, Milly.” [/b]

"I could drink to that," Kai said, a half-hearted attempt at a joke as he pulled out a small flask of his own and offered a pour to anyone interested, "butterbeer with a splash of muggle whiskey. Enough of a kick to keep you alert, not enough to muddle your brain over much."

Kaiden moved to take a place at the table, passing Taenar and the impressively sized dog that was practically a wall of fur and drool around her chair. Without thinking about it, he slipped a hand down towards Storm Cloud, his palm facing upwards and empty for sniffing as a way of introducing himself to the dog. Rottweilers, like most dogs, had a bad reputation for being aggressive guard hounds but the truth was always found in how their owners raised them. 

[b]But I do hope that I do well teaching the class. I almost Chose Mystic Animals. I have a rather large collection of Dragon Scales. I hope to collect one of each species. They've all fallen off Naturally – when they’ve molted. From yearling to Juvenile. I’d never take one from a Dragon, that would be incredibly rude, and would hurt.[/b]

Kai hid a small chuckle, resisting the urge to point out that there would definitely be a great deal of pain, likely more so in her direction. Still, it was always nice to hear someone speaking well of beasts, and not cowering in fear of what they had never really tried to understand. It was very ambitious for anyone to take up a collection of dragon scales. The creatures were increasingly rare, almost always dangerous to the point of requiring several wizards to chase off, and could potentially live for a millennia if maintaining a healthy diet and reasonable exercise.

When Taenar began excitedly showing off her newest addition, Kai narrowed his eyes slightly at the scale then seemed to react with surprise. It was indeed a dragon scale, likely a tail scale from one of the great beasts. He had intended to keep to himself for the meal and perhaps most of the walk, but it was a rarity indeed to be able to examine a piece of these creatures up close. When she began to describe the way dragons molted, Kai at first was wondering why they had hired him for this job, but something about the way she described the scales molting off various types of dragons...

"That's from a book," he said, interrupting her on accident and then narrowing his eyes once again at her face, leaning a bit to one side, then the other. "Dragons, a Yearly Yearning... right? Bugger me, you're that Tygath?"

"Your chapters on the Welsh Green and Swedish Short Snout are practically required reading at the farm. We check up on several of them every year and your book provides the foundation of dragon education for anyone that goes on the runs with me," he said, "I'll have to send word back home. I don't suppose you would be up for signing a few copies?"

"While we're on the subject, anyone else here get published?," he asked, opening up the conversation for others to chime in.